Life and Death Don't Mix

Chapter 6

           We walked for hours with no break. Soon I began to feel faint. My feet were sore, and I wished we could stop, but there was nowhere safe anymore. We were being hunted and could not risk stopping.
I walked in the front with Bob talking here and there. Most of the time, we all walked in silence; it was probably better that way, then no wandering monsters could hear us. Unfortunately, we walked was in the middle of nowhere, making us in plan sight if there were any monsters around us.
"Stop it," Annabeth shouted behind us. We all stopped looking at and around her to see who she was talking too.
"What?" Percy asked, frowning.
"No, not you." She said, giving him a reassuring smile, but I did not buy it, "Talking to myself. This place...its messing with my mind. Giving me dark thoughts."
I knew what she meant. I felt the weight of this place and what it was trying to do. If we did not die from monsters, we might end up hurting each other.
"Hey, Bob, where exactly are we heading?" Annabeth asked.
"The lady," he said, "Death mist."
"But what does that mean? Who is this Lady?"
I looked up at him as he opened his mouth, "Naming her, not a good idea." I noticed his eyes looking around, making sure there was no one watching. The lady must be bad business, would she actually help us or was it just another trick.
Annabeth sighed, not happy with his answer, "Can you at least tell up how far?"
"I do not know," Bob admitted. She looked down at the ground letting out a groan. "I can only feel it. We wait for the darkness to get darker, then we go sideways."
"Sideways?" I asked.
Bob nodded before we both looked at Annabeth. She was still looking at the ground, but I noticed she was muttering something under her breath. I knew she wanted answers, and not getting them was annoying her. Either way, right now was not the right time for them. I glanced as Percy, who intertwined his hand with hers as we began walking.
I quickened my pace walking in front of Bob.
After just a few minutes of walking, I froze. Something was coming, I did not know how I knew, but I could feel it.
I turned to look at Bob, who was also glancing around for something. He held up his hand, telling Percy and Annabeth to stop. Percy grabbed his sword looking at the Titian.
"What?" he whispered.
"Shh." I said, looking in the direction I felt it from, "There is something ahead."
I reached to my ring, turning it into my sword as I prepared for whatever it was.
"We will surround it," Bob whispered to us, "Each of you, take a flank."
I nodded as we all began to move. The ground was jagged, large chunks of obsidian creeping out. Watching my step, I carefully crept to the left of where the creature was coming form. Bob stayed in front of Percy, took Annabeth moving to the right.
"Ready?" Bob murmured.
"On three?" Annabeth asked as I nodded at her.
"One..." Percy whispered, "Two-"
I held my sword tighter, ready to strike. Soon I could make out the creature approaching. I raised my sword, prepared to hit before I noticed what it was. "Wait!" I shouted, turning my sword back into my ring. Out of the shadows walked a small Calico kitten. Bob's spear came a few inches above it, causing me to let out a breath.
"Rrow?" the litten said, rubbing its head against Bob's foot, purring.
The kitten fixed its bright yellow eyes on a pebble before pouncing on it. Annabeth walked over, lifting the kitten to her chest.
"How did..?" She started but could not seem to come up with anything. "What is a kitten doing..." the kitten grew impatient and squirmed out of her arms. It landed with a loud thud on the ground before walking back to the titian rubbing its head against his boot again.
"Somebody likes you, Bob," Percy said, laughing.
"It must be a good monster," Bob said hopefully. "Isn't it?"
"Yes, Bob, it must be. How could anything like it be bad?" Bob looked at me, smiling, which I returned.
The kitten turned its attention on me before walking over. It began running its head on my leg. I slowly bent down, picking it upholding it in my arms. I itched it behind the ears like I had done with stays I had found. As I purred in my arms, I realized just how thin the kitten was, I could feel its bones through its fur. I knew the poor thing must be hungry.
Carefully putting the kitten on the ground, I reached into my pocket, pulling out a bent slim-jim. I kelt down, giving the kitten pieces of the food watching as it scarfed down the food.
"Angel, we should start moving again." Percy said.
I looked at him before looking back at the kitten. Feeding it the last piece, I picked up the kitten again and started off with the others.
When I caught up with Bob, the kitten jumped out of my arms and climbed up on Bob, finding a home between his shoulder and neck. I could hear the kitten purring as its fur suddenly shimmered. In a flash, the kitten looked like a ghost skeleton before it returned to the calico fur.
"Did you see-?"
"Yeah," Percy and I interrupted.
"Oh, man...I know what that kitten is. It's one of those from the Smithsonian." I remembered the story. Along the way to beat Atlas, he raised some skeleton warriors from Dagon teeth. He messed up and ended up planting saber-toothed tiger teeth instead and raised a bunch of skeleton kittens from the ground.
"That is one of them?" Annabeth asked, "How did it get here of all places?"
"Atlas told his servants to take the kittens away. Maybe they destroyed the cats, and they were reborn in Tartarus? I don't really know."
"It's cute." Bob said as the kitten began moving again.
I smiled, looking at the two of them together, "Yes, it is."
"I will call him Small Bob," he said, scratching the cat's head. "He is a good monster."
I giggled as I watched the kitten sniff his ear before lying back down. We began walking again, knowing we wasted enough time. I feared that he had told too much time. Hopefully, the other Titians were still farther away, leaving us with plenty of time.

"Here," Bob announced, stopping suddenly.
I looked up at Bob, confused before I remembered where we were going. I had been so distracted that I had not noticed the path getting darker.
"Is this the place?" Annabeth asked, "Where we go sideways?"
"Yes." Bob agreed, "Darker, then sideways."
I looked at the side, noticing just how dark it was. The air around it seemed thicker, and almost like all light was swallowed up.
Bob started walking again, Percy and Annabeth followed. I felt like my feet were glued to the ground. Something was wrong. I did not know what, but I felt a pit in my stomach as if it was trying to warn me about something.
Slowly I lifted my foot, taking a step, and then another until I was slowly following the others.
The deeper in we went, the darker it became. I could barely make out the outline of trees. We had walked into a forest, which I did not know existed in a place like Tartarus. The trees were black and so tall it was like they soared into the gloomy sky. The branches were round and bare, the ground smooth and pale. It was nothing like I ever thought I would see. This forest almost had a beauty to it.
I noticed the others stopped looking around. Annabeth walked to the nearest tree placing her hand on it. Percy stopped to ask her what she was doing, but she only shushed him.
There was something else here, the pit in my stomach only growing deeper.