The Veiled Legacy | PJO - Book Two

nine

CURSES

"Left!" Ariana dragged Annabeth, slicing through the arai to clear a path.

She probably brought down a dozen curses on herself, but she didn't feel them right away, so she kept running.

The pain in her chest flared with every step. She weaved between the trees, leading Annabeth at a full sprint despite her blindness. Percy ran in front.

Ariana realized how much she trusted them to get her out of this. She couldn't let her down, yet how could she save her?

And if she was permanently blind ... No. Ariana suppressed a surge of panic. She 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, Percy slashed his sword across the trunk. Ariana 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?

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

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

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

"Cliff." Percy gasped. "Big cliff."

"Which way, then?"

Ariana 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 she doubted 'the best' ever happened in Tartarus.

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

Ariana was about to choose randomly when a winged demon descended in front of her, 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.

Ariana and Percy 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.

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

"We're right here."

Percy 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 further away.

It was like trying to grab something in a tank of water, with the light shifting the image away.

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

"We didn't!" Ariana turned on the arai, her 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 you abandoned. You punished an innocent soul by leaving her in her solitude. Now her most hateful wish has come to pass: Annabeth feels her despair. She, too, will perish alone and abandoned.