XXX
PERCY
‘Left!’ Percy dragged Annabeth, slicing through the arai to clear a path. He probably brought down a dozen curses on himself, but he didn’t feel them right away, so he kept running.
The pain in his chest flared with every step. He weaved between the trees, leading Annabeth at a full sprint despite her blindness.
Percy realized how much she trusted him to get her out of this. He couldn’t let her down, yet how could he save her? And if she was permanently blind … No. He suppressed a surge of panic. He would figure out how to cure her later. First they had to escape.
Leathery wings beat the air above them. Angry hissing and the scuttling of clawed feet told him the demons were at their backs.
As they ran past one of the black trees, he slashed his sword across the trunk. He heard it topple, followed by the satisfying crunch of several dozen arai as they were smashed flat.
If a tree falls in the forest and crushes a demon, does the tree get cursed?
Percy slashed down another trunk, then another. It bought them a few seconds, but not enough.
Suddenly the darkness in front of them became thicker. Percy realized what it meant just in time. He grabbed Annabeth right before they both charged off the side of the cliff.
‘What?’ she cried. ‘What is it?’
‘Cliff,’ he gasped. ‘Big cliff.’
‘Which way, then?’
Percy couldn’t see how far the cliff dropped. It could be ten feet or a thousand. There was no telling what was at the bottom. They could jump and hope for the best, but he doubted ‘the best’ ever happened in Tartarus.
So, two options: right or left, following the edge.
He was about to choose randomly when a winged demon descended in front of him, hovering over the void on her bat wings, just out of sword reach.
Did you have a nice walk? asked the collective voice, echoing all around them.
Percy turned. The arai poured out of the woods, making a crescent around them. One grabbed Annabeth’s arm. Annabeth wailed in rage, judo-flipping the monster and dropping on its neck, putting her whole body weight into an elbow strike that would’ve made any pro wrestler proud.
The demon dissolved, but when Annabeth got to her feet she looked stunned and afraid as well as blind.
‘Percy?’ she called, panic creeping into her voice.
‘I’m right here.’
He tried to put his hand on her shoulder, but she wasn’t standing where he thought. He tried again, only to find she was several feet further away. It was like trying to grab something in a tank of water, with the light shifting the image away.
‘Percy!’ Annabeth’s voice cracked. ‘Why did you leave me?’
‘I didn’t!’ He turned on the arai, his arms shaking with anger. ‘What did you do to her?’
We did nothing, the demons said. Your beloved has unleashed a special curse – a bitter thought from someone you abandoned. You punished an innocent soul by leaving her in her solitude. Now her most hateful wish has come to pass: Annabeth feels her despair. She, too, will perish alone and abandoned.
‘Percy?’ Annabeth spread her arms, trying to find him. The arai backed up, letting her stumble blindly through their ranks.
‘Who did I abandon?’ Percy demanded. ‘I never –’
Suddenly his stomach felt like it had dropped off the cliff.
The words rang in his head: An innocent soul. Alone and abandoned. He remembered an island, a cave lit with soft glowing crystals, a dinner table on the beach tended by invisible air spirits.
‘She wouldn’t,’ he mumbled. ‘She’d never curse me.’
The eyes of the demons blurred together like their voices. Percy’s sides throbbed. The pain in his chest was worse, as if someone were slowly twisting a dagger.
Annabeth wandered among the demons, desperately calling his name. Percy longed to run to her, but he knew the arai wouldn’t allow it. The only reason they hadn’t killed her yet was that they were enjoying her misery.
Percy clenched his jaw. He didn’t care how many curses he suffered. He had to keep these leathery old hags focused on him and protect Annabeth as long as he could.
He yelled in fury and attacked them all.