COME WHAT MAY — rory sends a message from beyond the grave (sort of)
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Rory recalled how dangerous Kelli had been the last time they had fought in the Labyrinth. Despite those mismatched legs, she could move fast when she wanted to. She had snuck up on Rory and would have eaten her face if Annabeth hadn't stabbed her from behind.
Now she had four friends with her.
"And Aurora is with you!" Kelli hissed with laughter, running her tongue across her fangs. "How tasty! Oh, I wish your friend Annabeth was here too." She touched her own sternum, where the tip of the knife had exited when Annabeth stabbed her in the back.
Rory tried to think. She and Percy stood shoulder to shoulder as they had many times before, ready to fight. But neither of them was in good shape for battle. They were hopelessly outnumbered. There was nowhere to run. No help coming.
"So..." Percy started, "I guess you're wondering what we're doing in Tartarus."
Rory resisted the urge to smile. Percy was brilliant. He was using Annabeth's favorite tactics: trickery, talk, delay.
Kelli snickered. "Not really. I just want to kill you."
Percy faltered, so Rory chimed in. "Too bad," she 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. The ex-cheerleader only snarled, crouching out of reach of their blades.
"We know enough," Kelli said. "Gaea has spoken."
"You're heading toward a major defeat." Rory tried to sound as confident as she could. She 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 our 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."
The other empousai muttered and shifted uneasily.
"Enough!" Kelli's fingernails grew into long black talons. She glared at Rory as if imagining her sliced into small pieces. "The girl lies. 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!"
"The demigods have united!" Rory yelled. "You'd better think twice before you attack us. Romans and Greeks will fight you together. You don't stand a chance!"
The empousai backed up nervously, hissing, "Romani."
"Yeah, you bet Romani." Percy bared his forearm and showed them the brand he had gotten at Camp Jupiter — the SPQR mark, with the trident of Neptune. "You mix Greek and Roman, and you know what you get? You get BAM!"
