CURSES

"too many enemies to count"

     ANNABETH LITERALLY STUMBLED OVER THE SECOND TITAN.

After entering the storm front, they plodded on for what seemed like hours, relying on the light of Ariadne's mixed-metal blade, and on Bob, who glowed faintly in the dark like some sort of cray janitor angel.

Ariadne could only see about five feet in front of her. In a strange way, the Dark Lands gave her the nostalgia and longing for what once was the labyrinth her namesake had wandered through, and one she hadn't seen in two years.

Rocks loomed out of nowhere. Ours appeared at their feet, and they barely avoided falling in. Monstrous roars echoed in the gloom, but Ariadne 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 allowed in Tartarus. If she 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, Ariadne had a nasty feeling they were marching straight down his throat.

Annabeth looked so preoccupied with her thoughts she didn't notice the ledge until it was too late.

Ariadne yelled, "Whoa!" She grabbed 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 landed 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.

The blonde screamed and flailed, toppling sideways off the mound.

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

But gods of Olympus...curled in the membrane bubble in front of them 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 very of a bloodcurdling war cry. Even through the blister, Ariadne could feel the heat radiating from his body.

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

Her shoulder suddenly ached from an old wound. During the Battle of Manhattan, Percy had fought this Titan at the Reservoir—water against fire. It had been the first time Percy had summoned a hurricane—which wasn't something she could ever forget. "I thought Grover turned this guy into a maple tree."

Annabeth 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.

The she glanced at Bob. The silvery Titan was studying Hyperion with a frown of concentration—maybe recognition. Their faces looked so much alike...

"Bob," she said, "we should go."

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

"Bob," Ariadne said. "Hey, buddy, over here."

The Titan reluctantly turned.

"Aren't we friends? Isn't Percy your friend?" Ariadne asked.

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

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

"Hmm," Bob said. "Like...the pretty ghost ladies who serve Persephone are good. Exploding zombies are bad."

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

"Titans..." Bob loomed over them, glowering. Annabeth was pretty sure her best friend had just made a big mistake.

"That's what you are," Ariadne said calmly. Her face was serene, contrasting one of broiled anger she often wore. "Bob the Titan. You're good. You're awesome, I'm fancy. But some Titans are not. This guy here, Hyperion, is full-on bad. He tried to kill me and Percy...tried to kill a lot of people."

Bob blinked his silver eyes. "But he looks...his face is so—0

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

"Bob is good." His fingers tightened on his broom handle. "Yes. There is always at least one good one—monsters, Titans, giants."

Annabeth senses they'd already been in this place too long. Their pursuers would be closing in.

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

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

Bob's broom-spear swept into motion. If he's been aiming at Annabeth or Ariadne, they would've been cut in half. Instead, Bob slashed through the monstrous blister, which burst in a geyser of hot golden mud.

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

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

The Titan's eyes seemed brighter than usual, as if he were about to cry quicksilver.

"Thank you, Bob," Ariadne said. Her hand gripped one of his much larger ones and squeezed enough to convey her message of gratitude.

How was she keeping her cool? The way she talked to Bob left Annabeth awestruck...and maybe a little uneasy, too. If Ariadne had been serious about leaving the choice to Bob, then she didn't like how much power Ariadne had in being this quick witted and strong. If she'd been manipulating Bob into making that choice...well, then, Annabeth was stunned that Ariadne could be so calculating.

She met the blonde's eyes, but she couldn't read her expression. That bothered her, too.

"We'd better get going," the brunette said.

Annabeth and Ariadne followed Bob, the golden mud flecks from Hyperion's burst bubble glowing on his janitor's uniform.

After a while, Ariande's body felt like Titan mush. She marched along, following Bob, listening to the monotonous slosh of liquid in his cleaning bottle.

"Stop it," Annabeth said aloud in the tense silence.

Ariadne frowned. "What?"

"No, not you." She tried Friday a reassuring smile, but she couldn't quite muster one. "Talking to myself. This place...it's messing with my mom. Giving me dark thoughts."

Ariadne didn't worry for that. Although Tartarus was a heavy presence on her back, the worry lines deepened around her amethyst eyes for Annabeth only. "Hey, Bob, where exactly are we heading?"

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

Annabeth fought down her irritation. "But what does that mean? Who is this lady?"

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

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

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

Ariadne grit her teeth. "Sideways. Naturally."

She was faced with her own thoughts for the first time in a while. Would her father know where his only daughter was? Deep in the pits of true nightmares he could only imagine, while she climbed her way up this immortal being's throat to freedom at her grasp.

Suddenly Bob stopped. He raised his hand: Wait.

"What?" Ariadne whispered.

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

Ariadne 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 mangled shoes.

"We will surround it," Bob whispered. "Each of you, take a flank."

Annabeth picked up a chunk of jagged black obsidian and crept to the left. Ariadne went right, her sword ready.

Bob took the middle, his spearhead glowing in the fog.

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

"Ready?" Bob murmured.

"One," Annabeth whispered. "Two—"

A figure appeared in the fog. Bob raised his spear.

Something was wrong. This wasn't malicious, in fact, she could hear whatever it was in her head.

"Wait!" Ariadne shrieked.

Bob froze just in time, the point of his spear hovering an inch above the head of a tiny calico kitten.

"Rrow?" said the kitten, clearly unimpressed by their attack plan. It butted its head against Bob's foot 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 it's yellow, lamp-like eyes on one particular rock, right between Ariadne's feet, and pounced.

The cat was no demon or a horrible Underworld monster in disguise. The little thing was bong under its fire, but otherwise it was perfectly normal.

Her fingers brushed through its fur and it purred loudly once more. Ariadne chuckled when hearing the happy thoughts racing through its head, cuddling the cat into her chest who wriggled and squirmed while maneuvering its body to butt her head.

Eventually, it jumped from her arms and landed with a thump, padding over to Bob and started purring again as it rubbed against his boots.

Around laughed. "Somebody likes you, Bob."

"It must be a good monster." Bob looked up nervously. "Isn't it?"

Bob knelt down and scooped up the cat. Ig fitted perfectly in Bob's palm, but it decided to explore. It climbed the Titan's arm, made itself at home on his shoulder and closed its eyes, purring like an earthmover. Suddenly it's fir 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.

Annabeth blinked. "Did you see—?"

"Yeah." Ariadne knitted her eyes. "Oh, I know that kitten. It's one of the ones from the Smithsonian."

She recalled several years ago, when the Titan Atlas had captured Annabeth. Ariadne, Percy, and Thalia has led a quest to rescue her. Along the way, they'd watched Atlas raise some skeleton warriors from dragon teeth in the Smithsonian Museum.

According to Ariadne, the Titan's first attempt went wrong. He's planted a sabre-toothed tiger teeth by mistake and raised a batch of skeleton kittens from the soil.

"That's one of them?" Annabeth asked. "How did it get there?"

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

"It's cute," Bob said, as the kitten sniffed his ear.

"But is it safe?" Annabeth asked.

The Titan scratched the kitten's chin.

"I will call him Small Bob," said Bob. "He is a good monster."

Ariadne gave Annabeth a teasing look for being in Tartarus. "Want to make sure it's actually a boy?"

She laughed when Annabeth gave her a bland look, clutching her stomach as the foreign sound echoed off the dark walls around them.

End of discussion. The Titan hedges his spear and they continued marching into the gloom.

Ariadne kept herself busy by watching Small Bob the kitten pacing across Bob's shoulders and purring, occasionally turning into a glowing kitty skeleton and then back to a calcio fuzz-ball.

"Here," Bob announced.

He stopped so suddenly, Annabeth almost ran into him.

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

"Is this the place?" Annabeth asked. "Where we go sideways?"

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

Ariadne felt it become colder and thicker, as if they stepped into a different microclimate. The hair on her arms and legs stood in end, pressing to Annabeth for limited warmth. They stood close for comfort, as well.

They'd entered some sort of forest. Towering black trees soared into the gloom, perfectly round and bare of branches, like monstrous hair follicles. The ground was smooth and pale.

Suddenly her senses were on high alert, as if somebody had snapped a rubber band against the base of her neck. Or when Percy had woken her up the morning after he said he loved her, wrapped in a blanket while he peppered kisses across the column of her neck.

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

Annabeth held up her hand for silence.

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

Bob and Ariadne closed ranks with her, standing back to back.

Ariande's first thought: The Furies.

The creature looked almost exactly like one: a wrinkled hag with bat-like 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.

Bob grunted as another dropped in front of him, and then another in front of Annabeth. Some there half a dozen surrounding them. More hissed in the trees above.

They couldn't be Furies, then. There were only three of those, and these winged gags didn't carry whips. That didn't comfort Ariadne. The monsters' talons looked plenty dangerous.

"What are you?" Annabeth demanded.

The aria, hissed a voice. The curses!

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 all the creatures.

"What—what do you want?" Annabeth 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," Ariadne murmured. "Oh, good...I thought we were in trouble."

The circle of demon ladies closed in.

***

     THE ONE THING SHE KNEW HOW TO DO WAS FIGHT.

Sure, she was terrified to the bone. The odds of three against several dozen, no matter how good a swordswoman she was, was limited. But she understood the art of fighting. Wandering through the darkness, waiting to be attacked—that had been driving her crazy.

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

"Get the hell back." Ariadne jabbed her sword at the nearest shriveled hag, but she only sneered.

Not having a name for her sword didn't possess the same power that Lunacy had in her enemies.

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

Annabeth pressed against her shoulder. "Don't touch them," she warned. "They're spirits of curses."

"Bob doesn't like curses," Bob decided. The skeleton kitten Small Bob disappeared inside his overalls. Smart cat.

The Titan swept his broom in a wide arc, forcing the spirits back, but they came in again like the tide.

We serve the bigger 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 Ariadne's stomach started crawling up her throat. She forgot just how many enemies she had in Tartarus.

"Appreciate it," she said. "But I've learned not to accept curses from strangers."

The nearest demon lunged. Her claws extended like bony switchblades. Ariadne cut her in two, but as soon as she vaporized her chest flared with pain. She stumbled back, clamping her hand to her sternum and dropped to her stomach. Her fingers came away wet and a deep purple, almost black.

"Ari, you're bleeding!" Annabeth cried, which the brunette gave her a look at the obviousness. "Oh, gods, chest and stomach."

It was true. The front of her tattered shift was sticky with blood, as if a blade had scrapped her through.

Or a sword...

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

She flashed back to an encounter in a gladiator pit two years ago—a fight with a Titanic son of Poseidon who allied with the late Luke and Kronos. Who died while strung from chains and plunged through by a sword and bleeding dust.

"Antaeus," Ariadne said. "This is how I killed him..."

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

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

Somehow she stayed on her feet. The blood stopped spreading, but she still felt like a hot pole was stuck in her body. Her sword arm was heavy and weak.

"I...I don't under—shit," she muttered.

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

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

"They'll kill us anyway," Ariadne guessed.

Choose! The arai cried. Will you be crushed like Kampe? Or disintegrated like the monsters you slaughtered on the Andromeda in the Sea of Monsters? You have spread so much death and suffering, Ariadne Phoenix. Let us repay you!

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

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

It wasn't like Annabeth had a choice. But instantly Annabeth dropped her rock and cried in alarm.

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

Ariadne ran to her side as the arai cackled.

Polyphemus cursed you when you tricked him with your invisibility in the Sea of Monsters. You called yourself Nobody. He could not see you. Now you will not see your attackers.

I've got you," Ariadne promised. She put her arm around Annabeth, but as the arai advanced she didn't know how she would protect either of them.

A dozen demons leaped from every direction, but Bob yelled, "SWEEP!"

His broom whooshed over Ariadne's head. The entire arai offensive line toppled backwards like bowling pins.

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

Ariadne held her breath; waiting for their Titan friend to be laid low with some terrible curse, but Bob seemed fine—a massive silvery bodyguard keeping death at bay with the world's most terrifying cleaning implement.

"Bob, you okay?" Ariadne asked. "No curses?"

"No curses for Bob!" Bob agreed.

The arai snarled and circled, eyeing the broom. The Titan is already cursed. Why should we torture him future? Your love, Percy Jackson, has already destroyed his memory.

Bob's spearhead dipped.

"Bob, don't listen to them," Annabeth said. "They're evil!"

Time slowed. Ariadne 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.

Bob turned. His wild white hair looked like an exploded halo. "My memory...it was Percy?"

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

Ariadne stuttered a response. "Bob, it's a long story. I didn't want you to be the enemy. He tried to make you a friend."

By stealing your life, the arai said. Leaving you in the palace of Hades to scrub floors!

Annabeth gripped Ariadne's hand. "Which way?" she whispered. "If we have to run?"

She understood.

"Bob, listen" the daughter of Dionysus tried again," the arai want you to get angry. They spawn from bitter through us. Don't give them what they wants. We are your friends."

You see his face? the arai growled. The girl cannot even convince herself. Did Percy Jackson visit you, after he stole your memory?

"No," Bob murmured. His lower lip quivered. "The other one did."

Ariadne's thoughts moved sluggishly. "The other one?"

"Nico." Bob scowled at her, his eyes full of hurt. "Nico visited. Told me about Percy. Said Percy and Ariadne was hood. Said they were a friend. That is why Bob helped."

"But..."

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

"Left!" Ariadne dragged Annabeth, slicing through the arai to clear a path. She probably brought down a dozen curses on herself, but didn't feel them right away; so she kept running.

The pain in her chest and stomach flared with every step. She weave between the trees, leading Annabeth at a full sprint despite their blindness.

Ariadne realized how much she trusted her to get them out of this. She couldn't let her down, she needed to be saved. And if she was permanently blind...Ariadne couldn't handle it. One person she wanted so desperately to save was not going to die by her hands.

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

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

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

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

"Cliff," Ariadne gasped. "Big cliff."

"Which way, then?"

Ariadne 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.

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

A winged demon descended in front of her, hovering over the void on her hat wings, just out of sword reach.

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

Ariadne turned. The arai poured out of the woods, making a crescent around them. One grabbed Annabeth's arm. Annabeth wailed in rage, judo-flipping the monster and dropping on its neck, putting her whole body weight into an elbow strike that would've made any pro wrestler proud.

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

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

"I'm right here."

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

"Ari!" Annabeth's voice cracked. "It's so hot! What do you mean you can't help me?"

"I didn't!" Ariadne turned on the arai, her eyes blazing with anger. "What did you do to her?"

We did nothing, the demons said. Your family has unleashed a special curse—a brief, bitter thought from someone who died so young. You gave up on an innocent soul by promising him a false peace. Now he comes to haunt you despite you mourning his presence: Annabeth feels the hope of you leaving. She, too, will perish alone and without hope.

"Ari?" Annabeth spread her arms, trying to reason with a ghost.

"Who did I give false hope?" Ariadne demanded. "I never—"

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

Trio of Twelve. We make it out—alive.

She remembered pinkies kissed as they were interlocked. The promise of dinner on her at the shabby diner they all loved. A final smile.

"He wouldn't," she mumbled. "He'd never curse me."

The eyes of the demons blurred together like their voices. Ariadne's heart throbbed. The pain in her chest worse, as if someone was slowly twisting a dagger.

Annabeth wandered among the demons, desperately calling her name. Ariadne longed to grab her, but she knew the arai wouldn't allow it. The only reason they hadn't killed her yet was that they were enjoying her misery.

Ariadne's jaw clenched. She didn't care how many cursed she suffered. She had to stop Annabeth from facing his wrath.

She yelled in fury and attacked them all, crying out in the name of her brother, Castor, who abandoned all hope for her the moment she accepted his death.

***

IT FELT LIKE SHE WAS WINNING. Her sword 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 Ariadne sliced her wings and sent her spiraling into the chasm.

Each time a demon disintegrated, Ariadne felt a heavier sense of dread as another curse settled on her. Some were harsh and painful: a stabbing in the gut, a burning sensation like she was blasted by a blowtorch. Some were subtle: a bruised eyes and cut from a ring, the feeling of a broken jaw.

Ariadne knew that she'd killed a lot of monsters, but she never thought from the monsters' point of view. Now all their pain and anger and bitterness poured over her, sapping her strength.

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

Her sword arm grew tired. Her body ached, and her vision blurred. She tried to make her way to Annabeth, but she was out of reach, calling his name as she wandered among the demons.

As Ariadne blundered toward her, a demon pounced and sank its teeth into her thigh. Ariadne roared. She sliced the demon to dust, but immediately fell to her knees.

Her throat burned worse than when she had swallowed the fire water of the Phlegethon. She doubled over, shuddering and wincing with every swallow, as a dozen invisible snakes bit at her face.

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

Ariadne tried to speak. Her tongue felt like stone. Head was splintered in two by a pounding headache, a searing feeling like she was severed neck down. Ariadne remembered the gorgon who targeted any lost or wandering souls to her emporium.

Along her legs was the chipping feeling. Now, in Tartarus, dying from the feeling of blood swallowing her whole plus a dozen again using curses, and the realization through blurry eyes her body was turning to stone an inch every few minutes. She watched her best friend stumble around, helpless and blond and believing she'd abandoned her. Her hands clutched her sword. Knuckles started to steam. White smoke curled off her forearms.

I won't die like this, she thought.

Not only because it was painful, but because so many people needed her. Once she was dead, the demons would turn their attention to Annabeth. She couldn't leave Percy alone for however long they had left together.

The arai clustered around her, snickering and hissing.

Her legs will crumble first, the voice speculated.

No, the voice answered itself from another direction. She will turn all at once.

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

"Bob," Ariadne croaked. "I need you. I know you may not like Percy, but, please—I will allow you to leave us afterwards. You're my friend."

A hopeless plea. The Titan knew the truth now.

She raised her amethyst eyes one last time. Her surroundings seemed to flicked. The sky boiled and the ground blistered.

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

The air was the breath of Tartarus. All these monsters were just blood cells circulating through his body. Everything Ariadne 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. She was the spawn of madness, so although her sanity was intact, her body couldn't handle it. Nico...one of the many people Ariadne hadn't treated well enough or saved quickly. She and Annabeth had only made it this far through Tartarus because Nico di Angelo had behaved like Bob's true friend.

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

"I'm sorry," Ariadne murmured.

She apologizes! The arai shrieked with delight. She regrets her failed life, her crimes against the children of Tartarus'

"No," Ariadne said. "I'll never be sorry for that. I'm sorry, Bob. I should've been honest with you. Percy should've been honest. Please...forgive us. Protect Annabeth."

She couldn't blame anyone else for her troubles. Not the gifs. Not Bob. She couldn't blame Castor, her brother who she let believe one of them was not going to die for the prophecy, because deep down she knew by the cursed land.

It took all her remaining effort, but she got to her feet. Steam rose from her whole body. Her legs shook. Her throat burned like a volcano.

At least Ariadne could go out fighting. She promised to see Percy again.

But, before she could strike, all the arai in front of her exploded into dust.

Bob seriously knew how to use a broom.

He slashed back and forth, destroying demons one after the other whole Small Bob the kitten sat on his shoulder, arching it's 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.

Ariadne wanted to thank the Titan, but her voice wouldn't work. Her legs buckled. Her ears rang. Through a red glow of pain, she saw Annabeth a few yards away, wandering blindly towards the edge of the cliff.

"Uh!" Ariadne grunted.

Bob followed her gaze. He bounded towards Annabeth and scooped her up. She yelled and kicked, pummeling Bob's gut, but Bob didn't seem to care. He carried her over to Ariadne and put her down gently.

The Titan touched her forehead. "Owie."

Annabeth stopped fighting. Her eyes cleared. "Where—what—?"

She saw Ariadne, and a series of expressions flashed across her face—relief, joy, shock, horror.

"What's wrong with her?" she cried. "What happened?"

She cradled her shoulders and wept into the brunette's scalp.

Ariadne wanted to reassure her, but of course it wasn't. He couldn't even feel her body anymore. Her consciousness was like a small helium balloon, loosely tied to the top of her head. It had no weight, no strength. It just kept expanding, getting lighter and lighter. She knew that soon she'd be dead.

Annabeth took her face in her hands. The blonde was wishing Ariadne not to speak, for fear she would use her limited energy and plead for Percy to know her last words.

She missed Ariadne's forehead and tried to wipe the dust and sweat from her eyes.

Bob loomed over them, his broom planted like a flag. His face was unreadable, luminously white in the dark.

"Lost of curses," Bob said. "Ariadne has done bad things to monsters."

"Can you fix her?" Annabeth pleased. "Like you did with my blindness? Fix Ariadne!"

Bob frowned. He picked at the name tag on his uniform like it was a scab.

Annabeth tried again. "Bob—"

"Iapetus," Bob said, his voice a low rumbled. "Before Bob. It was Iapetus."

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

"I like Bob better." Annabeth's voice was surprisingly calm. "Which do you like?"

The Titan regarded her with his pure silver eyes. "I do not know anymore."

He crouched next to her and studied Ariadne. Bob's face looked haggard and careworn, as if he suddenly felt the weight of all his centuries.

"I promised," he murmured. "Nico asked me to help. I do not think Iapetus or Bob likes breaking promises." He touched Ariadne's forehead.

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

Ariadne sank back into her body. The ringing in her ears faded. Her vision cleared. She still felt like her head was loose from her body. Her insides bubbled. She could sense the stoning of her body had only been slowed, but removed.

But she was alive.

She tried to meet Bob's eyes, to express gratitude. Her head lolled against her chest.

"Bob cannot cure this," Bob said. "Too much stone one her body. Too many curses piled up.@

Annabeth hugged Ariadne's shoulders.

"What can we do, Bob?" Annabeth asked. "Is there any soil anywhere? Soil could help her body kick in healing."

"No good soil," Bob said. "Tartarus is bad."

At least the Titan called himself Bob.

"No," Annabeth insisted. "No, there has to be a way. Something to heal her."

Bob placed his hand on Ariadne's chest. A cold tingle like eucalyptus oil spread across her sternum , but as soon as Bob life's his hand the relief stopped. Ariadne's lungs felt hard as rock again.

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

"I don't care," Annabeth said. "Even here, there has to be someplace she can rest, some kind of cure she can take. Maybe back at the altar of Hermes, or—"

I'm the distance, a deep voice bellowed—a voice Ariadne recognized, unfortunately.

"I SMELL HER!" roared the giant. "BEWARE, DAUGHTER OF DIONYSUS. WE COME FOR YOU!"

"Otis," Bob said. "He hates Dionysus and his children. He is very close now."

Annabeth struggled to get Ariadne to her feet. Even with Annabeth supporting almost all her weight, she could barely stand.

"Bob, I'm going on, with or without you," she said. "Will you help?"

The kitten Small Bob mewed and began to purr, rubbing against Bob's chin.

Ariadne felt a loud vibration in her skull of comfort.

Bob looked at Ariadne.

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

Annabeth almost dropped Ariadne. "A giant. Uh, Bobs, giants are bad."

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

Ariadne swore she heard a whisper in her ear, unlike snakes slithering on her skin.

"Ariadne. Come back to me."

Percy was calling for her, and slowly, but surely, her vision faded.

authors note:

To start off, hi!

I hope you enjoy this 6000 word chapter which I took time to do to make it fit towards Ariadne more so than Percy, cause it was originally in his pov in the books.

First, I know, Castor, what the hell?

Well, I've always struggled with forgiving family, and Castor, as a demigod, cursed the Dionysus family for giving him this fate. Ariadne is apart of that family, and the one who dealt with the arai, so she was receiving it. Her hope of getting out alive all three was a lie for herself who suspected something about her part in the prophecy in the Labyrinth and Annabeth's original quest.

Medusa came in because she had a soft spot for Ariadne's eyes, and thought of her last and cursed her for not surrendering as a statue, forcing her to slowly become one and feel the pain of losing her head.

I hope that clears it up.

Any other ideas on an impactful curse from the course of the series? I'd love to know for my curiosity!

Love you guys and let me know what you liked the most!