CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
SILVIANA           DUVALL

Sylvie literally stumbled over the second Titan.

After entering the storm front, they plodded on for what seemed like hours, relying on the light of their two Celestial bronze blades, and on Nemo, who glowed faintly in the dark like some sort of crazy angel.

Sylvie could only see about five feet in front of her. The fog was made of ink. Rocks loomed out of nowhere. Pits appeared at their feet, and Sylvie barely avoided falling in.

Monstrous roars echoed in the gloom, but Sylvie couldn't tell where they came from. All she could be certain of was that the terrain was still sloping down.

Down seemed to be the only direction in Tartarus. If Sylvie backtracked even a step, she felt tired and heavy, as if gravity were increasing to discourage her. Assuming that the entire pit was the body of Tartarus, Sylvie had a nasty feeling they were marching straight down his throat.

She was so preoccupied with that thought, she didn't notice the ledge until it was too late.

Percy yelled, "Woah!" He grabbed for her arm, but she was already falling.

Fortunately, it was only a shallow depression. Most of it was filled with a monster blister. She had a soft landing on a warm bouncy surface and was feeling lucky—until she opened her eyes and found herself staring through a glowing gold membrane at another, much larger face.

She screamed and flailed, toppling sideways off the mound. Her heart did a hundred jumping jacks.

Percy helped her to her feet. "You okay?"

She didn't trust herself to answer. If she opened her mouth, she might scream again, or cry, and that would be undignified. There wasn't room for screaming, and especially not crying, when there were things far more important than Sylvie going on.

But gods of Olympus... Curled in the membrane bubble in front of her was a fully formed Titan in golden armor, his skin the color of polished pennies. His eyes were closed, but he scowled so deeply he appeared to be on the verge of a bloodcurdling war cry. Even through the blister, Sylvie could feel the heat radiating from his body.

"Hyperion," Percy said. "I hate that guy."

Sylvie's shoulder suddenly ached from an old wound. During the Battle of Manhattan, she and Percy fought this Titan at the Reservoir. It had been the first time Percy had summoned a hurricane—which was something Sylvie would never forget—and the first time she summoned an earthquake. "I thought I turned this guy into a maple tree."

(This was the moment Sylvie realized she had a rather ruthless track record when it came to defeating Titans.)

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "Maybe the maple tree died, and he wound up back here?"

Sylvie remembered how Hyperion had summoned fiery explosions, and how many satyrs and nymphs he'd destroyed before she and Percy stopped him.

She was about to suggest that they burst Hyperion's bubble before he woke up. He looked ready to pop out at any moment and start charbroiling everything in his path.

Then she glanced at Nemo. The misty Titan was studying Hyperion with a frown of concentration—maybe recognition. Their features looked so much alike...

Sylvie bit back a curse. Of course they looked alike. Hyperion was her brother. They were both children of Gaea and Uranus. Hyperion was the Titan lord of the east. Mnemosyne, Nemo, used to be the Titaness of memory (until Sylvie stripped away that title).

"Nemo," Percy said, "we should go."

"Gold, not silver," Nemo murmured. "But he looks like me."

"Nemo," Sylvie said. "Hey, over here."

The Titaness reluctantly turned.

"Am I your friend?" she asked.

"Yes." Nemo sounded dangerously uncertain. "We are friends."

"You know that some monsters are good," Sylvie said. "And some are bad."

"Mhmm." Nemo nodded slowly, though Sylvie didn't know how much of a confirmation that truly was.

"Right," Sylvie said. "And some mortals are good, and some are bad. Well, the same thing is true for Titans."

"Titans..." Nemo loomed over them, glowering.

Percy looked at Sylvie like she'd just made a huge mistake.

"That's what you are," Sylvie said calmly. "Nemo the Titaness. You're good. But some Titans aren't. This guy here, Hyperion, is full-on bad. He tried to kill me—tried to kill a lot of people."

Nemo blinked her silver eyes. "But he looks... his face is so—"

"He looks like you," Sylvie agreed. "He's a Titan, like you. But he's not good like you are."

"Nemo is good." Her fingers tightened on her windshield wiper. "Yes. There is always at least one good one—monsters, Titans, giants."

"Uh..." she grimaced. "Well, I'm not sure about the giants."

"Oh, yes." Nemo nodded earnestly.

"We should go," Percy urged. "What do we do about...?"

"Nemo," Sylvie said, "it's your call. Hyperion is your kind. We could leave him alone, but if he wakes up—"

Nemo's windshield wiper swept into motion. If she'd been aiming at Sylvie or Percy, they would've been cut in half. Instead, Nemo slashed through the monstrous blister, which burst in a geyser of hot golden mud.

Sylvie wiped the Titan sludge out of her eyes. Where Hyperion had been, there was nothing but a smoking crater.

"Hyperion is a bad Titan," Nemo announced, her expression grim. "Now he can't hurt my friends. He will have to re-form somewhere else in Tartarus. Hopefully it will take a long time."

The Titaness's eyes seemed brighter than usual, as if she were about to cry the liquid from her old fountain.

"Thanks, Nemo," Sylvie said.

She had no clue how she was keeping her cool. Nemo was still the same Titan goddess who had tried killing her multiple times in just one interaction. It made Sylvie feel a little bit dirty—she'd just manipulated Nemo into making that choice. Or she'd trusted Nemo enough to make it. Either way, Sylvie felt uneasy with herself.

Judging by the way Percy was staring at her, he felt the same way too. 

"We'd better keep going," he said.

Sylvie and Percy followed Nemo, the golden mud flecks from Hyperion's burst bubble glowing on her white chiton.

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After a while, Sylvie's feet felt like Titan mush. She marched along, following Nemo, focusing on the foggy bottom half of the woman's figure.

Sylvie told herself to stay alert, but it was hard. Her thoughts were as numb as her legs. Less and less would Percy try taking her hand or making any encouraging comments. The dark landscape was getting to him as well. His eyes had a dull sheen—like his spirit was being slowly extinguished.

He fell into Tartarus to be with you, said a voice in her head. If he dies, it will be your fault.

"Shut it," she said aloud.

Percy frowned. "What?"

"No, not you." She tried for a reassuring smile, but she couldn't quite muster one. "Talking to myself. This place... it's messing with my mind. Uh, but it's fine."

The worry lines deepened around Percy's mossy eyes. "Hey, Nemo, where exactly are we heading?"

"The lady," Nemo said. "Death Mist."

"But what does that mean?" Sylvie asked. "Who's this lady?"

"Naming her?" Nemo glanced back. "Not a good idea."

She sighed. The Titaness was right. Names had power, and speaking them here in Tartarus was probably very dangerous.

"Can you at least tell us how far?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," Nemo admitted. "I can only feel it. We wait for the darkness to get darker. Then we go sideways."

"Sideways," Sylvie muttered. "Naturally."

She was tempted to ask for a rest, but she didn't want to stop. Not here in this cold, dark place. The black fog seeped into her body, turning her bones into moist Styrofoam.

She wondered if her message would get to Rachel Dare. If Rachel could somehow carry her proposal to Reyna without getting killed in the process...

A ridiculous hope, said the voice in her head. You have only put Rachel in danger. Even if she finds the Romans, why should Reyna trust you after all that has happened?

Sylvie was tempted to shout back at the voice, but she resisted. Even if she were going crazy, she didn't want to look like she was going crazy.

She desperately needed something to lift her spirits. A drink of actual water. A moment of sunlight. A patch of earth to lay in. A hug from her dad. A kind word from her mother.

Suddenly Nemo stopped. She raised her hand: Wait.

"What?" Percy whispered.

"Shh," Nemo warned. "Ahead. Something moves."

Sylvie strained her ears. From somewhere in the fog came a deep thrumming noise, like the idling engine of a large construction vehicle. She could feel the vibrations through her shoes.

"We'll surround it," Nemo whispered. "Each of you, take a flank."

For the millionth time, Sylvie wished she had her other dagger. She held out Halcyon and crept to the left. Percy went right, his sword ready.

Nemo took the middle, her wiper spear glowing in the fog.

The humming got louder, shaking the gravel at Sylvie's feet. The noise seemed to be coming from immediately in front of them.

"Ready?" Nemo murmured.

Sylvie crouched, preparing to spring. "On three?"

"One," Percy whispered. "Two—"

A figure appeared in the fog. Nemo raised her wiper.

"Wait!" Sylvie shrieked.

Nemo froze just in time, the point of her wiper hovering an inch above the head of a tiny calico kitten.

"Rrow?" said the kitten, clearly unimpressed by their attack plan. It shimmied through Nemo's dense fog and purred loudly.

It seemed impossible, but the deep rumbling sound was coming from the kitten. As it purred, the ground vibrated and pebbles danced. The kitten fixed its yellow, lamp-like eyes on one particular rock, right between Sylvie's feet, and pounded.

The cat could've been a demon or a horrible Underworld monster in disguise. But Sylvie couldn't help it. She picked it up and cuddled it. The little thing was bony under its fur, but otherwise it seemed perfectly normal.

"Poor thing," Sylvie cooed, frowning. "How did—I mean, what is a kitten doing...?"

The cat grew impatient and squirmed out of her arms. It landed with a thump, padded over to Nemo, and started purring again as it shimmied around her fog.

"Somebody likes you, Nemo," Percy commented. 

"It must be a good monster." Nemo looked up nervously. "Is it?"

Sylvie felt a lump in her throat. Seeing the huge Titaness and this tiny kitten together, she suddenly felt insignificant compared to the vastness of Tartarus. This place had no respect for anything—good or bad, small or large, powerful or powerless. Tartarus swallowed Titans and demigods and kittens indiscriminately.

Nemo kneeled down and scooped up the cat. It fit perfectly in Nemo's palm, but it decided to explore. It climbed the Titaness's arm, made itself at home on her shoulder, and closed its eyes, purring like an earthmover. Suddenly its fur shimmered. In a flash, the kitten became a ghostly skeleton, as if it had stepped behind an X-ray machine. Then it was a regular kitten again.

Sylvie blinked. "Did you see—?"

"Yeah." Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh, shit... Sylv, we know that kitten. It's one of the ones from the Smithsonian."

She tried to make sense of that. Back when Annabeth had been captured by Atlas, Sylvie and Percy had gone on a quest to rescue her. Along the way, Percy had watched Atlas raise some skeleton warriors from dragon teeth in the Smithsonian Museum.

According to Percy, the Titan's first attempt went wrong. He'd planted saber-toothed tiger teeth by mistake, and raised a batch of skeletons from the soil.

"That's one of them?" Sylvie asked. "How did it get here?"

Percy spread his hands helplessly. "Atlas told his servants to take the kittens away. Maybe they destroyed the cats and they were reborn in Tartarus? I don't know."

"It's cute," Nemo said, as the kitten sniffed her ear.

"But is it safe?" Sylvie worried.

The Titaness scratched the kitten's chin. Sylvie didn't know if it was a good idea, carrying around a cat grown from a prehistoric tooth; but obviously it didn't matter now. The Titaness and the cat had bonded.

"I will call him Marlin," said Nemo. "He is a good monster."

End of discussion. The Titaness hefted her wiper spear and they continued marching into the gloom.

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Sylvie walked in a daze, trying to forget that she'd been starving for days. To keep herself distracted, she watched Marlin the kitten pacing across Nemo's shoulders and purring, occasionally turning into a glowing kitty skeleton and then back to a calico fuzz-ball.

"Here," Nemo announced.

She stopped so suddenly, Sylvie almost ran into her.

Nemo stared off to their left, as if deep in thought.

"Is this the place?" Sylvie asked. "Where we go, uh, sideways?"

"Yes," Nemo agreed. "Darker, then sideways."

Sylvie couldn't tell if it was actually darker, but the air did seem colder and thicker, as if they'd stepped into a different microclimate. She was reminded of San Francisco for a moment, wondering if the Titans had built their place on Mount Tamalpais because the Bay Area reminded them of Tartarus. Then she shook her head, because she hated thinking of Mount Tamalpais.

Nemo struck off to the left. They followed. The air definitely got colder. Sylvie pressed against Percy for warmth. He put his arm around her. It felt good being close to him, but she couldn't relax.

They'd entered some kind of forest, which should have made Sylvie happy. But towering black trees soared into the gloom, perfectly round and bare of branches, like monstrous hair follicles. The ground was smooth and pale. With their luck, they were marching through the armpit of Tartarus.

Suddenly her senses were on high alert, as if somebody had snapped a rubber band against the base of her neck. She rested her hand on the trunk of the nearest tree.

"What is it?" Percy raised his sword.

Nemo turned and looked back, confused. "We are stopping?"

Sylvie held up her hand for silence. The tree trunk was quivering. She wondered momentarily if it was the kitten's purr, but Marlin had fallen asleep on Nemo's shoulder.

A few yards away, another tree shuddered.

"Something's moving above us," Sylvie whispered. "Gather up."

Nemo and Percy closed ranks with her, standing back to back.

Sylvie strained her eyes, trying to see above them in the dark, but nothing moved.

She had almost decided she was being paranoid when the first monster dropped to the ground only five feet away.

The creature was a wrinkled hag with batlike wings, brass talons, and glowing red eyes. She wore a tattered dress of black silk, and her face was twisted and ravenous, like a demonic grandmother in the mood to kill.

Nemo grunted as another one dropped in front of her, and then another in front of Percy. Soon there were half a dozen surrounding them. More hissed in the trees above.

"What are you?" Percy demanded.

The arai, hissed a voice. The curses!

Sylvie tried to locate the speaker, but none of the demons had moved their mouths. Their eyes looked dead; their expressions were frozen, like a puppet's. The voice simply floated overhead like a movie narrator's, as if a single mind controlled the creatures.

"What—what do you want?" Sylvie asked, trying to maintain a tone of confidence.

The voice cackled maliciously. To curse you, of course! To destroy you a thousand times in the name of Mother Night!

"Only a thousand times?" Percy murmured. "Oh, good... I thought we were in trouble."

The circle of demon ladies closed in.

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BAILEY YAPS...

I blew my nose and Sylvie came out? I don't know who this kid is

Sylvie keeps pushing down all her issues and justifying it with the belief that they have bigger issues to deal with GIRL EAT!!!! THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT MINDSET FOR YOU!!!!

"Dark Sylvie" and it's just her convincing an amnesiac to stop an evil Titan from being regenerated