This Cold Year ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase²

―vii. percy gets cursed... a lot

"LEFT!" PERCY DRAGGED ANNABETH as Naomi brought up the rear. He sliced through the arai to clear a path, probably bringing down a dozen curses on himself, but he didn't feel them right away, so he kept running.

He and Naomi wove between the trees, leading Annabeth in a full sprint despite her blindness.

Percy realized how much she trusted them 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 Percy the demons were at their backs.

As they ran past one of the black trees, Percy slashed his sword across the trunk. He heard it topple, followed by a 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?

They kept going. 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.

Percy and Naomi grabbed Annabeth right before they all charged off the side of a cliff.

"What?" Annabeth cried. "What is it?"

"Cliff," Percy 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 Percy was pretty sure "the best" didn't happen in Tartarus—like, ever.

That left them with two options: right or left, following the edge.

Before they could decide, 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 of the arai 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 John Cena proud.

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

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

"I'm right here." Percy reached for her, but Annabeth wasn't standing where she had been before. He tried again, only to find her several feet farther away. It was like trying to grab something in a tank of water, with the light shifting the image away.

"Percy!" Annabeth's voice cracked. "Why did you leave me?"

"I didn't!" He looked to his left, but Naomi was gone, too. Where—?

He found her at the edge of the cliff, looking around wildly, confused and terrified.

"Naomi!" Percy yelled, but she didn't hear him. He tried to get to her, but the image shifted again, and she was in the midst of the demon ladies. She looked as lost and panicked as Annabeth, though they couldn't seem to reach each other, either.

He turned on the arai, his arms shaking with anger. "What did you do to them?"

We did nothing, the demons said. Your lover has unleashed a special curse—a bitter thought from someone you abandoned. You punished an innocent soul by leaving her in her solitude. Now her most hateful wish has come to pass: Annabeth and Naomi feel her despair. They, too, will perish alone and abandoned.