ENTRAPPED ₂

76

MADELEINE WAS MORE WORRIED THAN SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN. She remembered how dangerous Kelli had been while alive. She had manipulated Nico, twisted Luke, and would have killed Percy had Annabeth not intervened.

Kelli could move fast. She knew how to dodge a sword. She could predict a move before it happened. An empousa was not something Madeleine enjoyed fighting, and even less so in the middle of Tartarus.

"And your friend Annabeth is with you!" Kelli hissed with laughter. "Oh, yeah, I totally remember her."

Kelli touched her own sternum, where the tip of the knife had exited when Annabeth stabbed her in the back. "What's the matter, daughter of Athena? Don't have your weapon? Bummer. I'd use it to kill you."

"Oh," Ethan snarled, "don't worry. We have plenty of weapons." He held up his own knives for emphasis.

Kelli frowned at him, looking more annoyed than threatened. "Who are you? Another one of Percy Jackson's loyal, annoying pests?"

"Ethan Nakamura," Ethan answered in a low, steady voice. "I'm no one's pest, but I will kill you before I kill Percy."

Kelli didn't seem to know what to make of that. She frowned at Ethan until Percy spoke.

"So..." he started, "I guess you're wondering what we're doing in Tartarus."

Kelli snickered. "Not really. I just want to kill you."

Madeleine was tempted to call her boring and unimaginative, but she didn't think that would help their chances very much.

"Too bad," Annabeth said. "Because you have no idea what's going on in the mortal world."

The other empousai circled, watching Kelli for a cue to attack; but the ex-cheerleader only snarled, crouching out of reach of Percy's sword.

"We know enough," Kelli said. "Gaea has spoken."

"You're heading toward a major defeat." Annabeth sounded so confident, even Madeleine was impressed. The daughter of Athena glanced at the other empousai, one by one, then pointed accusingly at Kelli. "This one claims she's leading you to a victory. She's lying. The last time she was in the mortal world, Kelli was in charge of keeping my friend Luke Castellan faithful to Kronos. In the end, Luke rejected him. He gave his life to expel Kronos. The Titans lost because Kelli failed. Now Kelli wants to lead you to another disaster."

Madeleine had not heard Annabeth speak of Luke since before... well, not since his death. The wistfulness in the other girl's voice―the pride―unnerved her. Luke had barely done an inch of good for Annabeth, but Madeleine was a little afraid she would never stop honoring him. If they survived Tartarus, they would have to talk about that.

Meanwhile, though, Madeleine let Annabeth go to work. The other empousai shifted uneasily, muttering among themselves.

"Enough!" Kelli's fingernails grew into long black talons. She glared at Annabeth as if imaging her sliced into many small pieces.

Madeleine was fairly sure that Kelli had had a thing for Luke Castellan, actually. She was no love expert, but she could see chemistry. In fact, she wouldn't have been very surprised if Luke and Kelli had slept together―Luke had been very lonely. Madeleine wasn't sure if that thought amused or repulsed her. Either way, she knew that Annabeth bringing up Luke's name might have been a bad idea.

"The girl lies," Kelli said. "So the Titans lost. Fine! That was part of the plan to wake Gaea! Now the Earth Mother and her giants will destroy the mortal world, and we will totally feast on demigods!"