Life and Death Don't Mix

Chapter 5

        We tacked through the dark land of Tartarus as Bob led us. The fire river stayed by our side as we continued. Every few hours we would stop to drink some. After a while, I began feeling sick and unable to drink any more of the water. I would watch Percy and Annabeth stop and drink, but I would wait for them to continue before following behind, hoping they would not notice I wasn't drinking.

I stayed at the back as Bob continued leading the wall.

I watched as Percy and Annabeth walked hand in hand. I could see him squeeze her hand and tell her that everything would be okay. My heart hurt as I watched how devoted to her he was. A part of me knew that they were not purposely acting the way they were, but it hurt to see them like this when I had no one.

I missed the warmth of Leo's embrace. Whenever I thought of him, I felt cold and like I was missing something.

I could hear Percy and Annabeth talking to Bob about something, but my head was still thinking of so many different things I could not listen to what they were saying. I could tell by Annabeth's expression that she still was cautious of Bob, but I could tell by just looking at him he meant no harm. I looked back at the ground, wondering if I would always feel left out and forgotten. Would they forget me eventually and leave me behind.

"You jumped into Tartarus!" Annabeth said, causing me to look up, "Because Percy said your name?"

They all stopped walking as they continued to talk. I was unsure what they were talking about, but I figured it had to do with why Bob was there.

"He needed me," Bob said, his silver eyes shining in the darkness. They reminded me of the moon, "It is okay, I was tired of sweeping the palace. Come along! We are almost to the rest stop."

I looked at him, confused. Where could their possibly a rest stop in Tartarus, the whole place was designed to kill us. The red sky was like poison, the land waiting to swallow us and the monster waiting to eat us. I could see the confusion in Percy and Annabeth's faces, too, as we started walking again. This time it was silent Annabeth no longer had any questions.

After several more minutes of walking, we arrived at a tall ridge. I slowly walking in front of everyone, looking over the side.

"Here," Bob told us.

I looked below the ridge finding a valley at the bottom. I could make out a shape of what seemed to be an alter. I did not understand how one got here, or whos shrine it was.

"Hermes' Shrine," Bob said as Percy and Annabeth looked below.

"A Hermes shrine in Tartarus?" Percy asked what we all thought.

Bob simply laughed at him, "Yes, it fell from somewhere long ago. Maybe the mortal world, maybe Olympus. Anyways monsters stay clear, mostly."

"How did you know it was here?" Annabeth asked.

I watched Bob smile fall as he looked like an empty shell, "Can't remember."

I felt my face turn into a frown as I looked at his face. My heart ached for him. He could not remember anything past working in Hades palace. I do not know what happened to him, but I knew it must be awful not to remember anything. I felt sorry for him, but I was afraid if he remembered he would turn into the other Titans trying to kill us.

Promising myself, I would help him any way I could. I wanted him to live a life for himself the way he wanted to.

"That's okay," Percy said, quickly drawing me out of my thoughts.