Umbra

Chapter 39

Emilia's feet hurt.

She cursed her desire to always wear some sort of casual shoe that didn't suit her for long walks. If she needed to run anytime soon, she was going to be in for an even greater wave of pain.

She remained alert as they moved, even as Bob's cleaning bottle kept sloshing monotonously and attempting to lull her back to sleep. She tried to ignore each time she noticed Percy taking Annabeth's hand and whispering an encouraging comment. How she wished she wasn't alone here. Not because she'd wish Tartarus on Hylla but because if she were right here, it'd be a lot easier to not let the effects of the Pit get to her.

Despair. Each step spelled out horrors that would come. She could tell they were getting closer to the Doors– obviously, yet still she knew it in herself– and all she felt in the pit of her stomach was the sensation of oncoming danger. Bob had explained that they had to wait for the darkness to get darker, and then they'd go sideways to find the lady with the Death Mist. He wouldn't name her because names were powerful. Emilia wished she'd read more about Tartarus.

"I sense something," whispered Emilia after a few more yards.

Bob stopped, sensing it too. He raised his hand to motion them to wait. "Shh. Ahead. Something moves." From somewhere in the fog came a deep thrumming noise, like an idling engine. Vibrations seeped into their shoes. "We will surround it. Each of you, take a flank."

Emilia handed Incubo back to Annabeth and produced her own substitute as they swept around the immediate area. "Ready?" murmured Bob.

They all crouched, ready to attack. "On three– one, two–"

"Wait!" shrieked Annabeth just as a figure appeared in the fog. Bob had already raised his spear and froze just in time, the point of the spear hovering an inch above the head of a tiny calico kitten.

"Oh my goodness." Emilia dropped to the ground against her better judgment, immediately reaching out to it. "Oh, my goodness. You are so sweet."

The kitten went to Bob first, butting its head against Bob's foot and purring loudly. As it did, the ground vibrated and pebbles danced. It turned its yellow lamp-eyes on one particular rock near Emilia's knee and pounced. She scooped it up and cuddled it to her cheek, the bony thing turning its head and nuzzling into her cheek. She felt like crying, it was so sweet.

"How did–?" Annabeth couldn't speak as she knelt beside Emilia, rubbing the kitten's back. "What is a kitten doing–?"

As Emilia lifted it up, the kitten's fur shimmered. In a flash, it became a ghostly skeleton, as if it had stepped behind an X-ray machine. Then it was a regular kitten again. "It's one of Atlas's kittens," realized Emilia, placing a kiss on its forehead.

"Oh, man," said Percy. "From the Smithsonian."

"That's one of them?" asked Annabeth as the kitten scrambled out of Emilia's arms and went to Bob. As soon as he knelt, the kitten climbed onto the Titan's arm, making itself at home on his shoulder. "How did it get here?"

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

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

Percy laughed. "Somebody likes you, Bob."

"It must be a good monster." Bob scratched under the kitten's tooth. "I will call him Small Bob. He is a good monster."

The kitten became part of their group. As they kept walking, Small Bob remained on Bob's shoulders, purring and occasionally glowing into a skeleton. Now that he'd found his little nook there, he had no more interest in Emilia. She hoped another kitten would come and choose her.