CHAPTER        SIXTY
PERSEUS  JACKSON

Percy was relieved when the demon grandmothers closed in for the kill.

Sure, he was terrified. He didn't like the odds of three against several dozen. But at least he understood fighting. Wandering through the darkness, waiting to be attacked—that had been driving him crazy.

Besides, he and Sylvie had fought together many times. And now they had a Titan on their side.

"Back off." Percy jabbed Riptide at the nearest shriveled hag, but she only sneered.

We are the arai, said that weird voice-over, like the entire forest was speaking. You cannot destroy us.

Sylvie pressed against his shoulder. "Don't touch them," she warned. "They're the spirits of curses."

"Nemo doesn't like curses," Nemo decided. The skeleton kitten Marlin disappeared inside her chiton. Smart cat.

The Titaness swept her wiper spear in a wide arc, forcing the spirits back, but they came in against like the tide.

We serve the bitter and the defeated, said the arai. We serve the slain who prayed for vengeance with their final breath. We have many curses to share with you.

The firewater in Percy's stomach started crawling up his throat. He wished Tartarus had better beverage options, or maybe a tree that dispensed antacid fruit.

"I appreciate the offer," he said. "But my mom told me not to accept curses from strangers."

"His mom is very knowledgeable," Sylvie nodded.

The nearest demon lunged. Her claws extended like bony switchblades. Percy cut her in two, but as soon as she vaporized, the sides of his chest flared with pain. He stumbled back, clamping his hand to his rib cage. His fingers came away wet and red.

"Perce, oh, gods!" Sylvie cried. "Both sides! You're bleeding on both sides?"

It was true. The left and right hems of his tattered shirt were sticky with blood, as if a javelin had run him through.

Queasiness almost knocked him over. Vengeance. A curse from the slain.

He flashed through his memories for an encounter that fit this description, but there were too many. Percy had been attacked too many times. He'd slain too many monsters. It made him feel awful—he'd lost track of the creatures he'd killed.

"Is this... how I killed it...?" Percy said.

The spirits bared their fangs. More arai leaped from the black trees, flapping their leathery wings.

Yes, they agreed. Feel the pain you inflicted. So many curses have been leveled at you, Percy Jackson. Which will you die from? Choose, or we will rip you apart!

Somehow he stayed on his feet. The blood stopped spreading, but he still felt like he had a hot metal curtain rod sticking through his ribs. His sword arm was heavy and weak.

"I don't understand," he muttered.

Nemo's voice seemed to echo from the end of a long tunnel: "If you kill one, it gives you a curse."

"But if we don't kill them..." Sylvie said.

"They'd kill us anyway," Percy guessed.

Choose! the arai cried. Will you be crushed like Kampê? Or disintegrated like the young telkhines you slaughtered under Mount St. Helens? You have spread so much death and suffering, Percy Jackson. Let us repay you!

The winged hags pressed in, their breath sour, their eyes burning with hatred. They looked like Furies, but Percy decided these things were even worse. At least the three Furies were under the control of Hades. These things were wild, and they just kept multiplying.

If they really embodied the dying curses of every enemy Percy had ever destroyed... then Percy was in serious trouble. He'd faced a lot of enemies.

One of the demons lunged at Sylvie. Instinctively, she dodged. She brought Halcyon down on the old lady's head and broke her into dust.

It wasn't like Sylvie had a choice. Percy would've done the same thing. But instantly Sylvie dropped her xiphos and cried in alarm.

"I can't see!" She touched her face, looking around wildly. Her eyes were pure white.

Percy ran to her side as the arai cackled.

Polyphemus cursed you when you chopped off his toe in the Sea of Monsters. He could not see you. Now you will not see your attackers.

"I've got you," Percy promised. He put his arm around Sylvie, but as the arai advanced, he didn't know how he could protect either of them.

A dozen demigods leaped from every direction, but Nemo yelled, "BACK!"

Her windshield wiper whooshed over Percy's head. The entire arai offensive line toppled backward like bowling pins.

More surged forward. Nemo whacked one over the head and speared another, blasting them to dust. The others backed away.

Percy held his breath, waiting for their Titan friend to be laid low with some terrible curse, but Nemo seemed fine—a massive silvery bodyguard keeping death at bay with the world's most terrifying car part.

"Nemo, you okay?" Percy asked. "No curses?"

"No curses for Nemo!" Nemo agreed.

The arai snarled and circled, eyeing the wiper. The Titan is already cursed. Why should we torture her further? Silviana Duvall has already destroyed her memory.

Nemo's spearhead dipped.

"Nemo, don't listen to them," Percy said. "They're evil!"

Sylvie looked more terrified than she ever had in her life. Time slowed. Percy wondered if the spirit of Kronos was somewhere nearby, swirling in the darkness, enjoying this moment so much that he wanted it to last forever.

Nemo turned. Her wild charcoal hair moved upon its own accord. "My memory... Sylvie, it was you?"

Curse her, Titaness! the arai urged, their red eyes gleaming. Add to our numbers!

"Nemo," Sylvie choked out, "it's a long story. I didn't want you to be my enemy. I—I tried to make you a friend."

By stealing your life, the arai said. Leaving you in your own lair to fall into Tartarus alone!

Percy gripped Sylvie's hand. He looked for a place to run. If Nemo wouldn't protect them, their only chance was escaping—but that wasn't any chance at all.

"Nemo, listen," Percy tried instead, "the arai want you to get angry. They spawn from bitter thoughts. Don't give them what they want. We are your friends."

Even as he said it, Percy felt like he was a liar. Sylvie had been terrified of Nemo's presence the entire time since her quest for the Demeter of Knidos. Percy had held resentment against Nemo for putting Sylvie through everything she did. What made them friends? The fact they needed her now? Percy always hated it when the gods used him for their errands. Now Percy and Sylvie were treating Nemo the same way.

You see his face? the arai growled. The boy cannot even convince himself. Did the girl ever explain the situation that led to you and her in Tartarus?

"No," Nemo murmured. Her lower lip quivered. "I trusted her too much to ask."

"Nemo, please—"

"Thought you were good." Nemo scowled at them, her eyes full of hurt. "Thought you were a friend. That is why Nemo helped."

"But..." Sylvie's voice disintegrated like someone had hit it with a Celestial bronze blade. She'd never sounded so low and dishonorable.

The arai attacked, and this time Nemo did not stop them.

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

"Left!" Percy dragged Sylvie, slicing through the arai to clear a path. He probably brought down a dozen curses on himself, but he didn't feel them right away, so he kept running.

The pain in his chest flared with every step. He wove between the trees, leading Sylvie at a full sprint despite her blindness.

Percy realized how much she trusted him to get her out of this. He couldn't let her down, yet how could he save her? And if she was permanently blind... No. He suppressed a surge of panic. He would figure out how to cure her later. First they had to escape.

Leathery wings beat the air above them. Angry hissing and the scuttling of clawed feet told him the demons were at their backs.

As they ran past one of the black trees, he slashed his sword across the trunk. He heard it topple, followed by the satisfying crunch of several dozen arai as they were smashed flat.

If a tree falls in the forest and crushes a demon, does the tree get cursed?

Percy slashed down another trunk, then another. It bought them a few seconds, but not enough.

Suddenly the darkness in front of them became thicker. Percy realized what it meant just in time. He grabbed Sylvie right before they both charged off the side of the cliff.

"What?" she cried. "What is it?"

"Cliff," he gasped. "Big cliff."

"Which way, then?"

Percy couldn't see how far the cliff dropped. It could be ten feet or a thousand. There was no telling what was at the bottom. They could jump and hope for the best, but he doubted "the best" ever happened in Tartarus.

So, two options: right or left, following the edge.

He was about to choose randomly when a winged demon descended in front of him, hovering over the void on her bat wings, just out of sword reach.

Did you have a nice walk? asked the collective voice, echoing all around them.

Percy turned. The arai poured out of the woods, making a crescent around them. One grabbed Sylvie's arm. Sylvie acted on instinct, judo-flipping the monster and holding Halcyon against its neck before slitting the arai's throat.

The demon dissolved, but when Sylvie got to her feet, she looked stunned and afraid as well as blind.

"Perce?" she called, panic creeping into her voice.

"I'm right here."

He tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she wasn't standing where he thought. He tried again, only to find she was several feet farther away. It was like trying to grab something in a tank of water, with the light shifting the image away.

"Percy!" Sylvie's voice cracked. "Why'd you leave me?"

"I didn't!" He turned on the arai, his arms shaking with anger. "What did you do to her?"

We did nothing, the demons said. Your beloved has unleashed a special curse—a bitter thought from someone she couldn't save. She got everything that the other never could. Now the soul's most hateful wish has come to pass: Silviana feels her despair. She, too, will perish alone and abandoned.

"Percy?" Sylvie spread her arms, trying to find him. The arai backed up, letting her stumble blindly through their ranks.

"Who would wish that on her?" Percy demanded. "Sylv is the—"

Suddenly his stomach felt like it had dropped off the cliff.

The words rang in his head: Someone she couldn't save. Got everything that the other never could. Alone and abandoned. He remembered hearing about a lost sister's deepest desires. He recalled bearing witness to fights upon Mount Tamalpais and Olympus. He knew that Sylvie got to have it all—love, power, recognition, care, concern, a pure heart. He knew there was another daughter of Demeter that never did.

Eurydice.

"I'm gonna kill that bitch again," he mumbled.

The eyes of the demons blurred together like their voices. Percy's sides throbbed. The pain in his chest was worse, as if someone were slowly twisting a dagger.

Sylvie wandered among the demons, desperately calling his name. Percy longed to run to her, but he knew the arai wouldn't allow it. The only reason they hadn't killed her yet was that they were enjoying her misery.

Percy clenched his jaw. He didn't care how many curses he suffered. He had to keep these leathery old hags focused on him and protect Sylvie as long as he could.

He yelled in fury and attacked them all. 

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

He only heard it. He heard Sylvie's scream, and then he heard the crunch.

Percy's heart stopped for half a second.

The crunch was the kind of sound that made his stomach twist. It was sharp, violent—bones breaking under pressure. He turned toward Sylvie, the chaos around him fading into background noise.

Sylvie was on the ground, clutching her side. An arai loomed over her, its skeletal hands poised to strike again. Its face was a mix of malice and satisfaction, as if it relished the damage it had done. Sylvie's face was pale, twisted in pain, her breath coming in short, shallow gasps.

"Sylvie!" Percy shouted, his voice cracking.

But she couldn't hear him. And Percy couldn't get to her. One of the arai had just broken Sylvie's ribs, and he couldn't do anything to help his girlfriend.

In pain, Sylvie wheezed, "You just—"

"Hurt her," Percy said lowly. "You just hurt her."

That was a mistake they wouldn't live to regret.

Riptide felt heavier in his hand, weighed down by the curses he'd already absorbed, but Percy didn't care. He charged, adrenaline pushing aside the pain from the latest curse—a dull ache in his chest, like his ribs were trying to mimic Sylvie's injury in sympathy.

Percy drove Riptide through the nearest arai's chest with a roar, twisting the blade until the creature dissolved into dust. He didn't care about the curse he felt in response. They'd hurt Sylvie.

For one exciting minute, Percy felt like he was winning. Riptide cut through the arai as though they were made of powdered sugar. One panicked and ran face-first into a tree. Another screeched and tried to fly away, but Percy sliced off her wings and sent her spiraling into the chasm.

Each time a demon disintegrated, Percy felt a heavier sense of dread as another curse settled on him. Some were harsh and painful: a stabbing in the gut, a burning sensation like he was being blasted by a blowtorch. Some were subtle: a chill in the blood, an uncontrollable tic in his right eye.

Seriously, who curses you with their dying breath and says: I hope your eye twitches!

Percy knew that he'd killed a lot of monsters, but he'd never really thought about it from the monsters' point of view. Now all their pain and anger and bitterness poured over him, sapping his strength.

The arai just kept coming. For every one he cut down, six more seemed to appear.

His sword arm grew tired. His body ached, and his vision blurred. He tried to make his way toward Sylvie; she couldn't speak, or breathe, or even move, really. She was in so much pain from breaking her ribs that she lay there amongst the demons, blindly trying to make her way back to Percy.

As Percy blundered toward her, a demon pounced and sank its teeth into his thigh. Percy yelled. He sliced the demon to dust, but immediately fell to his knees.

His mouth burned worse than when he had swallowed the firewater of the Phlegethon. He doubled over, shuddering and retching, as a dozen fiery snakes seemed to work their way down his esophagus.

You have chosen, said the voice of the arai, the curse of Phineas... an excellent painful death.

Percy tried to speak. His tongue felt like it was being microwaved. He remembered the old blind king who had chased harpies through Portland with a weed whacker. Percy had challenged him to a contest, and the loser had drunk a deadly vial of gorgon's blood. Percy didn't remember the old blind man muttering a final curse, but as Phineas dissolved and returned to the Underworld, he probably hadn't wished Percy a long and happy life.

After Percy's victory then, Gaea had warned him: Do not press your luck. When your death comes, I promise it will be much more painful than gorgon's blood.

Now he was in Tartarus, dying from gorgon's blood plus a dozen other agonizing curses, while he watched his girlfriend writhe in pain from her broken ribs, helpless and blind and believing he'd abandoned her. He clutched his sword. His knuckles started to steam. White smoke curled off his forearms.

I won't die like this, he thought. 

Not only because it was painful and insultingly lame, but because Sylvie needed him. Once he was dead, the demons would turn even more of their attention to her. He couldn't leave her alone.

The arai clustered around him, snickering and hissing.

His head will erupt first, the voice speculated.

No, the voice answered itself from another direction. He will combust all at once.

They were placing bets on how he would die... what sort of scorch mark he would leave on the ground.

"Nemo," he croaked. "She needs you."

A hopeless plea. He could barely hear himself. Why should Nemo answer his call? The Titaness knew the truth now. Percy was no friend.

He raised his eyes one last time. His surroundings seemed to flicker. The sky boiled and the ground blistered.

Percy realized that what he saw of Tartarus was only a watered-down version of its true horror—only what his demigod brain could handle. The worst of it was veiled, the same way the Mist veiled monsters from mortal sight. Now as Percy died, he began to see the truth.

The air was the breath of Tartarus. All these monsters were just blood cells circulating through his body. Everything Percy saw was a dream in the mind of the dark god of the pit.

This must have been the way Nico had seen Tartarus, and it had almost destroyed his sanity. Nico... one of the many people Percy hadn't treated well enough.

You see the horror of the pit? the arai said soothingly. Give up, Percy Jackson. Isn't death better than enduring this place?

"I'm sorry," Percy murmured.

He apologizes! The arai shrieked with delight. He regrets his failed life, his crimes against the children of Tartarus!

"No," Percy said. "I'm sorry, Nemo. We should've been honest with you. Please... forgive us. Protect Sylvie."

He didn't expect Nemo to hear him or care, but it felt right to clear his conscience. He couldn't blame anyone else for his troubles. Not the gods. Not Nemo. He couldn't even blame all the beings that had placed bitter curses on Percy out of despair.

It took all his remaining effort, but he got to his feet. Steam rose from his whole body. His legs shook. His insides churned like a volcano.

At least Percy could go out fighting. He raised Riptide.

But before he could strike, all the arai in front of him exploded into dust. 

╰━━━ ◦ ✸ ◦ ✸ ◦ ━━━╯

Nemo seriously knew how to use a windshield wiper.

She slashed back and forth, destroying the demons one after the other while Marlin the kitten sat on her shoulder, arching his back and hissing.

In a matter of seconds, the arai were gone. Most had been vaporized. The smart ones had flown off into the darkness, shrieking in terror.

Percy wanted to thank the Titaness, but his voice wouldn't work. His legs buckled. His ears rang. Through a red glow of pain, he saw Sylvie a few yards away, not even able to flip off her back.

"Uh!" Percy grunted.

Nemo followed his gaze. She bounded toward Sylvie and scooped her up. Sylvie cried out and tried squirming away, but she was too weak to defend herself, and Nemo didn't seem to care. Nemo carried her over to Percy and put her down gently.

The Titaness touched her forehead. "Owie."

Sylvie's eyes cleared, but her rib situation didn't resolve itself. She strained and still clutched her side. "Where—What—?"

She saw Percy, and a series of expressions flashed across her face—relief, joy, shock, pain, horror, more pain. "What's wrong... with him?" she cried, her ragged voice punctuated by winces with every word. "What—happened?"

With all of her last remaining strength, Sylvie cradled his shoulders and ran her fingers through his hair. She kissed his scalp. Of course, despite her injury and inability to move without excruciating pain, she was trying to comfort Percy.

Percy wanted to tell her it was okay, but of course it wasn't. He couldn't even feel his body anymore. His consciousness was like a small helium balloon, loosely tied to the top of his head. It had no weight, no strength. It just kept expanding, getting lighter and lighter. He knew that soon it would either burst of the string would break, and his life would float away.

Sylvie heaved a ragged breath. She took his face in her hands, kissing him and trying to wipe the dust and sweat from his eyes.

Nemo loomed over them, her windshield wiper planted like a flag. Her face was unreadable, luminously white in the dark.

"Lots of curses," Nemo said. "Percy had done bad things to monsters."

"Can—you fix him?" Sylvie struggled to get enough air. Each word was short and clipped. "Like you... did with my blindness? I don't care about—my ribs. Fix Percy!"

Nemo frowned. She picked at the gold band along her collar like it was a scab.

Sylvie tried again. "Nemo—"

"Mnemosyne," Nemo said, her voice a low rumble. "Before Nemo. It was Mnemosyne."

The air was absolutely still. Percy felt helpless, barely connected to the world.

"Yeah, you tried to kill me as Mnemosyne," Sylvie snapped, without even meaning to. Then she winced in both overwhelming pain and instant regret. "I like... Nemo better. Which do you like?"

The Titaness regarded Sylvie with her misty eyes. "I do not know anymore."

She crouched next to Sylvie and studied Percy. Nemo's face looked haggard and careworn, as if she suddenly felt the weight of all her centuries.

"I promised," she murmured. "You asked me to help. I do not think Mnemosyne or Nemo likes breaking promises."

She touched Percy's forehead.

"Owie," the Titaness murmured. "Very big owie."

Percy sank back into his body. The ringing in his ears faded. His vision cleared. He still felt like he had swallowed a deep fryer. His insides bubbled. He could sense that the poison had only been slowed, but not removed.

But he was alive.

He tried to meet Nemo's eyes, to express his gratitude. His head lolled against his chest.

"Nemo cannot cure this," Nemo said. "Just like Nemo cannot cure your ribs. Too much poison in Percy. Too many curses piled up."

Sylvie hugged Percy's shoulders, repressing her own overwhelming pain. He wanted to say: I can feel that now. Ow. Hurting us both.

"What can we—do, Nemo?" Sylvie asked, words coming out as a low whisper. "Is there... water anywhere? Water might heal him."

"No water," Nemo said. "Tartarus is bad."

I noticed, Percy wanted to yell.

At least the Titaness called herself Nemo. Even if she blamed Sylvie for taking her memory, maybe she would still help Sylvie if Percy didn't make it.

"No," Sylvie wheezed. "No, there has to be a way. Something to heal him."

Sylvie broke out into coughs, which consequently made her groan in more pain, which put her in even more pain. Percy tried reaching for her wrist to wipe his thumb across the inside of it, but he couldn't move his fingers.

Nemo placed her hand on Percy's chest. A cold tingle like eucalyptus oil spread across his sternum, but as soon as Nemo lifted her hand, the relief stopped. Percy's lungs felt as hot as lava again.

"Tartarus kills demigods," Nemo said. "It heals monsters, but you do not belong. Tartarus will not heal Percy. Tartarus will not heal your ribs. The pit hates your kind."

"I don't care," Sylvie seethed, glaring through the pain to make her point. "Even here, there has to—be some place he can rest... some kind of cure he can take... Maybe back at the—altar of Hermes, or—"

In the distance, a deep voice bellowed—a voice that Percy recognized, unfortunately.

"I SMELL HIM!" roared the giant. "BEWARE, SON OF POSEIDON! I COME FOR YOU!"

"Polybotes," Nemo said. "He hates Poseidon and his children. He is very close now."

Sylvie struggled to get Percy to his feet. She struggled to get herself to her feet, at that. He hated making her work so hard, but he felt like a sack of billiard balls. Even with Sylvie supporting almost all of his weight, he could barely stand.

"Nemo," Sylvie heaved in a rattling breath, "I'm going on, with or without you. Will you help?"

The kitten Marlin mewed and began to purr, rubbing against Nemo's chin.

Nemo looked at Sylvie, and Percy wished he could read the Titaness's expression. Was she angry, or just thoughtful? Was she planning revenge, or was she just feeling hurt because Sylvie had lied about being her friend?

"There is one place," Nemo said at last. "There is a giant who might know what to do."

Sylvie almost dropped Percy, though if it was from pain or shock, he didn't know. "A giant. Uh, Nemo, giants are bad."

"One is good," Nemo insisted. "Trust me, and I will take you... unless Polybotes and the others catch us first."

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BAILEY YAPS...

I said Sylvie come here, she said Oh am I getting a break? I said Lmao yeah a break in the ribs

Is this how it feels being an Act 3 Wildfires reader please be honest: