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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX xxxvi. i suppose we have to try and save the world _______
They'd only travelled a few hundred yards when Sebastian heard voices.
This is what made him the most annoyed about now being mortal. When he was a vampire, he would've heard them approaching ages ago. But now, as soon as they came into earshot, Sebastian had to grab Percy and force him to the ground before they were seen.
Percy knew better than to argue. He'd learnt to trust Sebastian's instincts, and still would despite them not being as sharp as they once were. Besides, just a moment later, he heard the voices too.
They were huddled behind a boulder, wedged so close against the riverbank that they were almost in the fire. On the other side, in the narrow path between the river and the cliffs, voices snarled, getting louder as they approached from upstream. The voices sounded vaguely human, but Sebastian knew that wouldn't make them any friendly - they could just have a more civilised conversation before they battled to the death.
What really unsettled Sebastian was the fact that monsters could smell demigods - especially powerful ones like Percy, son of Poseidon. Sadly, Sebastian doubted that hiding behind a boulder would do any good when the monsters caught their scent.
Still, as the monsters got nearer, their voices didn't change tone. Their uneven footsteps didn't get any faster.
"Soon?" one of them asked in a raspy voice, as if she'd been gargling in the Phlegethon.
"Oh my gods!" said another voice. This one sounded much younger and much more human, like a teenage mortal girl getting exasperated with her friends at the mall. "You guys are totally annoying! I told you, it's like three days from here."
Percy gripped Sebastian's wrist. He looked at him in alarm, as if he recognised the mall girl's voice.
There was a chorus of growling and grumbling. The creatures - maybe half a dozen, Sebastian guessed - had paused just on the other side of the boulder, but still they gave no indication that they'd caught the demigods' scent. Sebastian wondered if demigods didn't smell the same in Tartarus, or if the other scents here were so powerful, they masked a demigod's aura. Or perhaps all these monsters just happened to not have a sense of smell.
"I wonder," said a third voice, gravelly and ancient like the first, "if perhaps you do not know the way, young one."
"Oh, shut your fang hole, Serephone," said the mall girl. "When's the last time you escaped to the mortal world? I was there a couple of years ago. I know the way! Besides, I understand what we're facing up there. You don't have a clue!"
