ENTRAPPED ₂

78

ANNABETH, BLESS HER HEART, LITERALLY FELL ON THE SECOND TITAN.

After entering the storm front, they plodded on for what seemed like hours, relying on the light of Percy's Celestial bronze blade, Madeleine's knives, and on Bob, who glowed faintly in the dark like some sort of crazy janitor angel. Madeleine found it hard not to stare at him. In a sick, wild way, the aura around him reminded her of the one Zoe had carried.

Despite the faint ambience, though, Madeleine couldn't see more than five feet in front of her. Strangely, the Dark Lands reminded her of San Francisco, on that fateful day that Zoe had died. She remembered climbing the mountain in Dr. Chase's car, while the fog bank rolled in like cold, wet packing material and swallowed everything outside of the windows, and the air lingered with the smell of eucalyptus. Except here in Tartarus, there was just a burning smell in the air, and the fog was made of ink instead of mist.

Rocks loomed out of nowhere. Pits appeared at their feet, and they kept stumbling over them. Madeleine knew that the others were trying to stay alert, but she counted more than once that Annabeth grabbed her hand to steady her, or Percy hauled Ethan away from a gaping hole before the other boy could stumble into it.

"Damned depth perception," Ethan snarled the third time this happened.

Monstrous roars echoed in the gloom, but Madeleine wasn't sure where they came from. She kept her knives at the ready, but really, the only thing she felt certain of at the moment was that the terrain was still sloping down.

Down seemed to be the only direction allowed in Tartarus. If Madeleine backtracked even a step, she felt tired and heavy, as if gravity were increasing to discourage her. Assuming the entire pit was the body of Tartarus, Madeleine had a nasty feeling they were marching straight down his throat. She cringed at the idea of primordial mucus.

She was so disgusted by this concept that she would have fallen with Annabeth. Fortunately, she was a few feet behind the other girl, so Ethan and Percy had time to pull Madeleine back. Unfortunately, Annabeth didn't get the same luxury. She stepped right over the ledge and disappeared.

"Whoa!" Percy yelled. He had grabbed for Annabeth's arm, but she was already gone. Hastily, without missing a beat, Percy lunged off the ledge right after his girlfriend.

"Idiots," Ethan snapped. He didn't look very happy about another drop-off, but he dutifully followed Madeleine to peer over the edge.

Fortunately, it was a shallow depression. Most of it was filled with a monster blister. Annabeth had landed directly on its surface, and Percy was scrambling down toward her when Annabeth peered at what she had landed on and screamed at the top of her lungs. She flailed, toppling sideways off the mound as Percy leaped to her side, sword raised.

Madeleine and Ethan picked their way down more carefully than the other two. Madeleine glanced at the blister, though, and her heart sank. A very large face was staring back at her. The face of a Titan. The face of Hyperion, in particular.

Curled in the membrane was a fully formed Hyperion in golden armor, his skin the color of polished pennies. His eyes were closed, but he scowled so deeply he appeared to be on the verge of shouting. Even through the blister, Madeleine could feel the heat radiating from his body.

"We should pop it," Ethan murmured.

Madeleine glanced warily at Bob.

"Hyperion," Percy said as Ethan and Madeleine reached them. He had pulled Annabeth to her feet and had a protective arm around her as he stared at the reforming Titan with obvious distaste. "I hate that guy."

Madeleine hadn't been there when Percy and Grover had killed Hyperion, but she had heard the story. And, on principle, she hated all Titans, of course.

"I thought Grover turned this guy into a maple tree," Annabeth said shakily.