²𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐃𝐘✸ percy jackson

XXXIV.

ΉӨЦƧΣ ӨF ΉΛDΣƧ

LOSING HER SENSES HAD BEEN BAD ENOUGH. Being isolated from Percy had been absolutely horrible.

But now that she could see again, see as he died slowly from gorgon blood poison without any ability to do anything to purge it out of him— well that felt like the worst curse of all.

Bob slung Percy over his shoulder like a bag of sports equipment while the skeleton kitten Small Bob curled up on Percy's back and purred.

Bob lumbered along at a fast pace, even for a Titan, which made it almost impossible for Lucia to keep up.

Her lungs rattled. Her skin had started to blister again. She could feel herself burning up, black spots were in her vision. She probably needed another drink of firewater, but they'd left the River Phlegethon behind. Her body was so sore and battered that she'd forgotten what it was like not to be in pain.

"How much longer?" she wheezed.

"Almost too long," Bob called back. "But maybe not."

Yeah, 'cause that made a whole lotta sense Bob, Lucia thought, but she was too winded to say her remark.

Bob. She thought again. Bob.

What's your name? B.o.B?

So, they calling you Bob?

Lucia snickered to herself, She was a little delirious after the fight against the Arai. But at least she had enough memorized lyrics to distract herself from grieving over her iPod.

The landscape changed again. They were still going downhill, which should have made traveling easier; but the ground sloped at just the wrong angle—too steep to jog, too treacherous to let her guard down even for a single moment.

The surface was sometimes loose gravel, sometimes patches of slime. Lucia stepped around random bristles that were sharp enough to impale her foot, and clusters of... well, they weren't rocks exactly. More like humongous warts.

Lucia took careful steps. Her eyes kept flickering to the boy on Bob's shoulder. Her heart dropped to her stomach when she saw Ethan lying over Bob for a split second, red splotches on his forehead. Lucia needed to do a double take for Percy to reappear again...

Ugh. I hate it here.

If she had to guess (and she really didn't want to) she supposed Bob was leading her down the length of Tartarus's large intestine.

The air got thicker and stank of sewage. The darkness maybe wasn't quite as intense, but she could only see Bob and Percy because of her aura, the glint of the Titan's white hair, and the point of his spear.

She noticed he hadn't retracted the spearhead on his broom since their fight with the arai. That didn't reassure her too much.

Percy flopped around, causing the kitten to readjust his nest in the small of Percy's back. Occasionally Percy would groan in pain, and Lucia felt like she was punched in the gut.

She flashed back to her tea party with Piper, Hazel, Annabeth, and Aphrodite in Charleston. It seemed like so long ago. Aphrodite had sighed and became nostalgic about the good old days of the Civil War: how love and war always went hand in hand. The girl cringed at the time. (Especially as the grandchild of Clio, Lucia couldn't fathom thinking of the Civil War as the good ol' days )

Then, the Goddess gestured proudly to Lucia, using her as an example for the other girls: I once promised to make your love life interesting. And didn't I?