Umbra

Chapter 42

Emilia felt weighed down.

She couldn't be sure if it was her own worries causing it or if the final stretch of road toward the Doors of Death had that effect.

She was practicing her invisibility every few paces, finding it easy to maintain with all the darkness around them. Percy and Annabeth looked terrible, arms resembling bleached leather pulled over sticks, skeletal legs seemingly ready to dissolve into smoke at any given moment. Under their feet, the ground glistened a nauseating purple, pulsing with webs of veins.

The closer they got to the Doors, the more she saw of the army. In the dim red light, the horizon was lined with bodies. Flocks of winged arai, tribes of lumbering Cyclopes, clusters of floating evil spirits, maybe tens of thousands of monsters milling restlessly, pressing against one another, growling and fighting for space.

Bob led them toward the edge of the army. He made no effort to hide, not that it would have done any good, given he was ten feet tall and glowed silver. Percy and Annabeth walked directly behind him while Emilia remained at his side, completely invisible. Small Bob purred seismically over his shoulder, sniffing at the air where Emilia stood but not daring to jump out at what he couldn't see.

"Bob," came Annabeth's voice. "If we're invisible... how can you see us? I mean, you're technically, you know..."

"Yes," said Bob. "But we are friends."

Annabeth hesitated, looking to where she knew Emilia was walking. "Emilia, you said Nyx and Eris could see us."

"They could," said Emilia. "Maybe because you were in the Mansion of Night... all truths are revealed there. Here, I imagine you choose who sees you. We're not in my grandmother's domain anymore. We should be safe. Stay together and let me handle things."

They plunged into the crowd. A few feet away, a group of empousai tore into the carcass of a gryphon while other gryphons flew around them, squawking in outrage. A six-armed Earthborn and a Laistrygonian giant pummeled each other with rocks, though there wasn't any clear indication that they were just playing around... it could have been a real fight. A dark wisp of smoke– perhaps an eidolon– seeped into a Cyclops, made the monster hit himself in the face, then drifted off to possess another victim.

A stone's throw away, a familiar man in a cowboy outfit was cracking a whip at some fire-breathing horses. The wrangler wore a Stetson hat on his greasy hair, an extra-large set of jeans, and a pair of black leather boots. His upper body was split into three different chests, each one dressed in a different-color Western shirt.

"Geryon," muttered Emilia. "Chrysaor's weird ass son."

She could tell it was starting to affect Annabeth and Percy. To see their old enemies, to feel themselves having to hide here, not having been guaranteed safety since they first arrived in Tartarus. Emilia worried about what Nyx had said, how her survival was sure but theirs wasn't.

How was she going to get them out of here? If she had to sacrifice anything to get them out, how would she escape?

Somewhere in front of them, a deep voice broke their self-imposed anxious silence. "IAPETUS!"

The hairs on the back of Emilia's neck stood as a Titan strode toward them, casually kicking lesser monsters out of the way. He was roughly the same height as Bob, with elaborate Stygian iron armor, a single diamond blazing in the center of his breastplate. His eyes were blue-white, like core samples from a glacier, and just as cold. His hair was the same color, cut military style. A battle helmet shaped like a bear's head was tucked under his arm. From his belt hung a sword the size of a surfboard.