LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

VI.

THEY FOLLOWED BOB through the wasteland, tracing the route of the Phlegethon as they approached the storm front of darkness. Every so often they stopped to drink firewater, which kept them alive, but Mia wasn't happy about it. Her throat felt like she was constantly gargling with alcohol that Sophia had dared her to drink one time at a charity event. Not fun.

Her only comforts were Bob, Annabeth, and Percy. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed Bob during this entire adventure. His silvery light was keeping her going. And having Annabeth and Percy next to her helped.

"Bob knows what he's doing," Mia promised.

"You two have interesting friends," Annabeth murmured.

"Bob is interesting!" The Titan turned and grinned. "Yes, thank you!"

"So, Bob . . ." Annabeth croaked nonchalantly, and Mia nearly rolled her eyes. Did she not trust Percy? "How did you get to Tartarus?"

"I jumped," Bob said, like it was obvious.

"You jumped into Tartarus," Annabeth said, "because Percy and Mia said your name?"

"They needed me." Those silver eyes gleamed in the darkness. "It is okay. I was tired of sweeping the palace. Come along! We are almost at a rest stop."

A rest stop.

Mia couldn't imagine what those words meant in Tartarus, but she desperately needed to rest. Wherever Bob was taking them, she hoped it had clean restrooms and a snack machine. She repressed the giggles. Yes, she was definitely losing it.

Mia hobbled along, trying to ignore the rumble in her stomach. She stared at Bob's back as he led them toward the wall of darkness, now only a few hundred yards away. His blue janitor's coveralls were ripped between the shoulder blades, as if someone had tried to stab him. Cleaning rags stuck out of his pocket. A squirt bottle swung from his belt, the blue liquid inside sloshing hypnotically.

Mia hated that Mother's idea for "looking after Bob" meant making him into a janitor. It was painful, especially after making the promises that she had to free her maids from doing grueling work. But at least she could be a friend to Bob. He needed one.

They picked their way across the ashen wasteland as red lightning flashed overhead in the poisonous clouds. Just another lovely day in the dungeon of creation. Mia couldn't see far in the hazy air, but the longer they walked, the more certain she became that the entire landscape was a downward curve.

Thanatos told her that Tartarus was like an endless adventure that you didn't want to embark on. Searching for the exit for years until you find it and become reborn. Of course, the exit was easier to find now that the Doors of Death were chained.

But even he didn't go down here for a reason. Mia guessed that what he told her was the truth, but not the whole thing. She'd find out the truth. Probably.

They passed a blister in the ground — a writhing, translucent bubble the size of a minivan. Curled inside was the half-formed body of a drakon. Bob speared the blister without a second thought. It burst in a geyser of steaming yellow slime, and the drakon dissolved into nothing.

Bob kept walking.

Monsters are zits on the skin of Tartarus, Mia thought. She was certain they were walking across a living thing. This whole twisted landscape — the endless adventure — was the body of the god Tartarus — the most ancient incarnation of evil. Just as Gaea inhabited the surface of the earth, Tartarus inhabited the pit.

If that god noticed them walking across his skin, as if they were a virus flowing through his body . . . Enough. No more thinking.

"Here," Bob said.