The fall lasted an eternity.

Emilia felt empty even as Percy and Annabeth pulled her close, the three sailing into the abyss like a massive boulder chucked off a mountain.

"What are you most afraid of?"

Emilia had tilted her head at Hylla. "I don't know. I can't really say any typical fears... I'm not afraid of the dark, obviously. I dislike bugs and predatory animals but I wouldn't say I'm afraid of them. You go first, I don't know."

Hylla mulled it over, rocking back and forth on her heels, the Iris-message rippling with each movement. "Being forgotten."

"Really? Why?"

"I suppose it's both being forgotten and being misremembered... I don't want the world to forget the impact I made and I wouldn't want to be remembered as someone who was selfish, useless, and weak. I've made a name for myself and I wish it to remain in the histories."

Emilia considered it. "I'm afraid of... being alone. Well, maybe that tied with losing the people I love. When I arrived at Camp and it dawned on me that I had no one... I felt misery unlike anything else. I hated having no one to rely on. Since then, I've built a whole family for myself. If I were without them... if I lost any of them... gods, I suppose that doesn't even encompass it. I'm afraid of who I'd become in that instance."

Annabeth had once given her a book with poems by Hesiod, back when she'd first come to camp and was still too afraid to go to the library on her own. Hesiod had written that it would take nine days to fall from earth to Tartarus. They'd been falling for so long, Emilia wondered if it was true. The further they got, the more relaxed she felt. The air was hotter and damper, filling her with warmth and moisture. She'd seen Percy's wounds heal in the sea and could feel the scrape on her knee closing– all the physical pain she had was fading.

But the emotional pain lingered. She was terrified of what would happen when they landed. They were gathering so much velocity that they might splat on the ground and that would be the end of them. And if they survived, either in one piece or many, could they really get out?

Emilia felt fear rising in her throat, not because they were approaching Tartarus, but because Tartarus called to her. It felt safe and familiar in a way she couldn't explain. What would this place turn her into? Would she still be the same person when she got out? If?

She'd struggled to learn how to work in a team. Could there be a team here, or would it need to be Emilia standing alone to protect all three of them? She had the advantage here, she knew it. Already the darkness enveloped her in an embrace. Percy and Annabeth couldn't possibly feel such a thing.

Tartarus was welcoming her home but eyeing them as flies lured into a trap.

Already she missed her family. She wondered if Piper, Leo, and Jason would contact her aunt, Pollux, and Hylla or would elect to not worry them. Would they even tell Chiron?

She had to try to stay alive no matter what happened. She at the very least had to reach the Mansion of Night and recruit her mother's help. She could survive if she tried– she just had to make it happen. For herself, for the people waiting for her, for Percy and Annabeth. If she expected to be there when her siblings went on to do great things in the future, she needed to fight tooth and nail to make it back to them. She'd claw her way out of Tartarus if she had to.

She'd claw her way out of her own grave to make it back to them. To Hylla.

The air around them changed. Emilia drew a deep breath, a rush of wind reaching her nostrils and filling her lungs as if she'd emerged completely replenished from a sort of rejuvenation treatment. The smells were different– like rotten eggs, like acid. The air was suddenly hotter. The chute they'd been falling through opened into a vast cavern.

Half a mile below them came the bottom. Red clouds hung in the air like vaporized blood. The landscape was rocky black plains, punctuated by jagged mountains and fiery chasms. To the left, the ground dropped off into a series of cliffs, like colossal steps leading deeper into the abyss.

"Percy!" yelled Annabeth, looking down at a ribbon of glittering black liquid. "Water!"

"We're going to hit it fast!" said Emilia, wiggling one of her arms out. "I can slow our fall but Percy–"

He nodded. She lifted her hand, concentrating on the shadows. Faster than ever before, they responded, tendrils shooting out of every surface, ripping through clouds and cliffs, forming a ghostly hand that grabbed onto her arm to tug them up. They began to decelerate, though not fast enough to stop them from splatting onto the water. At the last second, Percy yelled defiantly. The water erupted in a massive geyser and swallowed them whole.

The water was freezing. Emilia couldn't breathe for a moment, and ripped herself away from Percy and Annabeth as she flailed, trying to get back to the surface. She could hear wailing in her ears, voices telling her not to struggle, that she'd die here anyway, what was the point of fighting?

She imagined them shutting up and immediately, she stopped hearing them. She wasn't sure why or how but she blocked them out, a vague muffle sounding with no phrases she could understand.

She broke the surface, the shadows still clinging to her arm. They ripped her out of the water, dragging her to the riverbank. As she clawed her way out, she turned back, seeing Percy and Annabeth's heads bobbing out of the water.

She could see them struggling– both physically and mentally. She didn't know how she knew that the voices were getting to them– perhaps it was seeing Annabeth whispering something in Percy's ear. Whatever Annabeth was saying to distract him wasn't working all that well. Emilia flung shadows at them like a life preserver, grabbing hold and pulling them until they, too, reached land. The shadows lifted them onto the riverbank, both shivering and gasping.

She imagined the shadows spreading over them like a blanket, and clapped them hard on their backs to help them cough out all the water they'd started to drink. "Your knee," said Annabeth as Emilia hoisted her up. "It's healed."

"It healed before we could see this cavern," said Emilia quietly. "Hey– you okay? Percy–?"

He nodded. "That river... what did you say it was, Annabeth?"

"The Cocytus," said Annabeth, glancing back at it. "The River of Lamentation." She looked like she was about to fall into another coughing pit. The air reeked of sulfur, but Emilia felt no burning against her skin. Annabeth and Percy, on the other hand, had rashes already spreading across their arms.

They were bleeding, too. The beach they stood on wasn't sand– it was a field of jagged black-glass chips, some now embedded in Annabeth's palms. Percy huffed, "This place smells like my ex-stepfather."

Emilia summoned Incubo, swiping it down to cut the rest of the cobwebs off of Annabeth's foot, freeing it. "Can you walk fine?"

"I think so," said Annabeth. "I had some ambrosia in the tunnels."

"Good." Emilia knelt, removing the bubble wrap and freeing her ankle completely. "So... none of us have any supplies."

Annabeth seemed ready to cry when Emilia reminded her of the backpack she no longer had. Daedalus's laptop was gone. And now she noticed Annabeth didn't even have her dagger anymore– the dagger Luke had given her. Between the three of them, they had no food and no water and only two weapons.

"Whatever you're doing with the shadows," said Percy, still shivering, "can you... keep it up? It's warming us up."

"I can," said Emilia. "I'm not getting fatigued here. The shadows, they respond so easily, it takes nothing out of me."

"At least one of us is in fighting condition," said Percy, probably in an attempt to lighten the mood. He and Annabeth were leaning onto each other already– if they didn't find something to replenish them quickly, they weren't going to make it very long. "Look." He pointed downstream.

A hundred feet away, one of the Italian cars had crashed head first into the sand. "Arachne," muttered Emilia. "I can feel her presence..." She gestured to a trail downriver, like what would be made by a heavy creature with multiple legs. "She isn't very far."

"It's Tartarus," said Percy. "Monster home court. Down here, maybe they can't be killed." He realized this wasn't helpful. "Or maybe she's badly wounded, and she crawled away to die."

"Doesn't matter," said Emilia, carefully lifting her spear. "Stygian Iron can consume them all the same. I will trap her in here if she comes for you, Annabeth. She'll never reform again. Worst case scenario, for weapons, you can use my spear. I'll make myself a weapon out of the shadows."

"This place is killing us either way," said Annabeth quietly. "Or... me and Percy. It's going to kill us unless... gods... we need to find the River of Fire."

They followed the beach as it stretched inland about fifty yards before dropping off the edge of a cliff. As they reached it, they saw it dropped more than eighty feet. At the bottom stretched out a large canyon, a river of fire cutting a path through a jagged obsidian crevasse, the glowing red current casting horrible shadows across the cliff faces.

"Uh..." Percy examined the cliff. He pointed to a tiny fissure running diagonally from the edge to the bottom. "We can try that ledge there. Might be able to climb down."

"I can shadow-travel us," offered Emilia, noticing the blisters beginning to sprout on their arms. Her skin remained perfectly fine. "You two might throw up but it could be safer." She offered her hands. Reluctantly, they took them.

It had never been this easy. She barely had to concentrate. In the blink of an eye, she felt a small jolt and found herself at the bottom. Percy and Annabeth didn't look much sicker, either. Either they were already too ill to feel very affected by it, or Emilia had made it too smooth of a transition for them to be bothered.

"What is this?" asked Emilia as they approached the edge of the water.

"The Phlegethon," said Annabeth.

Percy made a face. "Sounds like a marathon for hawking spitballs." He put his arm around Annabeth, though he winced as red boils began to erupt on his face. "Just to the river, we can do this."

"We have to drink," croaked Annabeth as they reached the banks of the fiery river, heat spewing into their faces.

Percy swayed, his eyes half-closed. "Uh... drink fire?"

"The Phlegethon flows from Hades's realm down into Tartarus." Annabeth sounded like she was choking on her saliva. "The river is used to punish the wicked. But also... some legends call it the River of Healing. The Phlegethon keeps the wicked in one piece so that they can endure the torments of the Fields of Punishment. I think... it might be the Underworld equivalent of ambrosia and nectar."

Percy winced as cinders sprayed from the river, curling around his face. "But it's fire. How can we–"

"Like this." Annabeth thrust her hands into the river. She made a quick scooping motion, cupping the liquid in her palms and bringing it to her lips. Immediately after drinking, she began to cough violently– so violently she nearly toppled into the water. Emilia caught her as she sank back, gagging and retching, body seized up.

"Annabeth!" Percy grabbed her arm, eyes widened desperately. He seemed afraid of touching her, afraid to hurt her, but all the same he clung to her as if to make sure that in every moment, she knew he was right there with her.

(Emilia felt alone.)

"It worked!" gasped Annabeth suddenly, the blisters on her arms beginning to fade. "Percy, you've got to drink."

"I..." His eyes rolled up in his head, and he slumped against her. Without hesitating, Emilia reached into the river– it didn't feel painful, it was simply cold. She cupped the fire and brought it to Percy's mouth, pouring it down his throat.

Annabeth clung to him as he spluttered and coughed. She held him to her chest, upright so that he didn't choke. Again, there was that tentative touch, that sweet gesture that let him know she had his back. At last, he gave a gasp, the boils fading. He managed to sit up and smack his lips. "Ugh. Spicy, yet disgusting."

Annabeth laughed weakly. "Yeah. That pretty much sums it up."

Emilia was glad she didn't have to drink it. "Are you both all better now? We need to keep moving."

Percy nodded, letting her hoist them up. "Holy Hera. I never thought... well, I'm not sure what I thought. Maybe that Tartarus was empty space, a pit with no bottom. But this is a real place."

"We haven't seen all of it," warned Annabeth. "This could be just the first tiny part of the abyss, like the front steps."

"The welcome mat," muttered Percy.

Overhead, the blood-colored clouds swirled into the gray haze. Emilia could have shadow-traveled them back up the cliff, but there were other options– downriver or upriver. And they had no idea which way led to the Doors of Death.

"Where to now?" mumbled Emilia. "I don't know if I can summon my mother here. I don't know if I can shadow-travel us right to the Mansion of Night. I've never seen it and I don't know if I need an invitation... it's my grandmother's house. An important magical place."

She concentrated, imagining herself appearing at the entrance. Nothing happened. "Maybe not." She stopped. "Duck!"

She didn't know how she knew Arachne was about to come for them. She swung Incubo over Percy and Annabeth's heads as they sank down, the tip slicing into Arachne's chest. A horrible cut-off wail sounded before the blade glowed purple, Arachne's essence fully absorbed.

Annabeth looked like she might throw up. "She... she would've killed me."

"Thanks, Emilia," said Percy gratefully. He considered the spear for a moment, as if imagining Arachne gone into it. "Honestly, Arachne died too easily, considering how much torture she put you through. She deserved worse."

Annabeth gulped, maybe appreciative of his words or maybe mildly unsettled by them. "Um... anyway, downstream. If we go that way, we'll be close to the river. We'll have a way to heal ourselves. If the river comes from the upper levels of the Underworld, it should flow deeper into Tartarus–"

"So it leads into more dangerous territory," finished Percy. "Which is probably where the Doors are. Lucky us."

Emilia became hyper-aware of her own steps as they moved. She hated feeling every bit of her breaths, knowing where everyone was relative to her. It was like the shadows were whispering to her, keeping her updated on what to expect. She had a vague feeling that they were going the right way, like an invisible tug leading her to the Doors. Or maybe, it was simply tugging her toward the Mansion of Night. The Doors couldn't be very far from that, she imagined.

She tried to imagine Hylla's face. Something beautiful that would motivate her. How easy it could be to just give up. To let despair take her over. But she couldn't do that, not if she expected to get back out. There was no telling how long they'd be in here. It could be days, could be weeks. One thing was certain– the longer they were here, the more danger they were in.

Emilia sensed the bodies before they even heard the voices. She swept her hand out, stopping Percy and Annabeth from moving and motioning for them to stay silent. With a small flick of her wrist, she rolled a layer of shadows over them, concealing them from view and simultaneously nudging Percy and Annabeth's shoulder to make them duck.

Emilia guided them behind the nearest boulder, the shadows making it seem much larger than it was to hide them from view. On the other side of the riverbank, in the narrow path between the river and the cliffs, voices began to sound– like an argument. The snarls grew louder as they approached from upstream.

The monsters hadn't sensed them. Their footsteps were uneven– scrap, clump, scrap, clump– and slow. "Soon?" asked one in a raspy voice.

"Oh my gods!" said another voice in exasperation. Emilia went rigid, recognizing it. "You guys are totally annoying! I told you, it's like three days from here."

Percy and Annabeth recognized the voice, too. There came a chorus of growling and grumbling, followed by a gravelly voice saying, "I wonder, if perhaps you do not know the way, young one."

"Oh, shut your fang hole, Serephone," said Kelli the empousa. "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!"

"The Earth Mother did not make you boss!" shrieked a fourth voice.

More hissing, scuffling, and feral moans. At last, Serephone yelled, "Enough!" The scuffling stopped. "We will follow for now. But if you do not lead us well, if we find you have lied about the summons of Gaea–"

"I don't lie!" snapped Kelli. "Believe me, I've got good reason to get into this battle. I have some enemies to devour, and you'll feast on the blood of heroes. Just leave one special morsel for me– the one named Percy Jackson. Believe me, Gaea has called us, and we're going to have so much fun."

Emilia narrowed her eyes. She dared to peek around the boulder, seeing five of them moving along, hair made of fire, skin white as bone, one mechanical bronze leg and one shaggy cloven-hoofed leg. All but Kelli wore tattered Ancient Greek dresses. She remembered Kelli in her cheerleader get-up leaning all over Luke and urging him closer to Kronos.

Percy rose once they were far enough away. "They're heading for the Doors of Death. You know what that means?"

"Yeah," mumbled Annabeth. "We need to follow them."

Emilia was the best person to lead the way. She could sense the empousai ahead without them needing to be too close and constantly scrambling behind things to avoid being seen. She walked them along the riverbanks of the Phlegethon, glad the empousai couldn't walk very fast. At one point, the demons swarmed a beached carcass, having a feast while Emilia, Percy, and Annabeth continued to go without eating.

After a few more miles, the empousai disappeared over a ridge. When they caught up, they found themselves at the edge of another massive cliff. The River Phlegethon spilled over the side in jagged tiers of fiery waterfalls. The demons were picking their way down the cliff, jumping from ledge to ledge like mountain goats. The landscape below was a bleak, ash-gray plain bristling with black trees. The ground was pocked with blisters, and every once in a while, a bubble would swell and burst, disgorging a monster like a larva from an egg.

All the newly formed monsters were crawling and hobbling in the same direction– toward a bank of black fog that swallowed the horizon like a storm front. The Phlegethon flowed in the same direction until about halfway across the plain, where it met another river of black water. The two floods combined in a steaming, boiling cataract and flowed on as one toward the black fog.

"We'll give it a moment," advised Emilia, motioning for them to rest. "Once they're far enough away, I can shadow-travel us down there, and hopefully we won't alert any of the monsters that we're coming."

"Wish we could just fly," said Percy dejectedly.

Annabeth rubbed her arms. "Remember Luke's winged shoes? I wonder if they're still down here somewhere."

This didn't seem like a pleasant memory for Percy. "I'd settle for a hang glider."

"Maybe not a good idea." Annabeth pointed. Above them, dark winged shapes spiraled in and out of bloodred clouds.

"Furies?" wondered Percy.

"Or some other kind of demon. Tartarus has thousands."

"And Titans." Emilia's skin crawled, and she took her eyes away from the empousai. She didn't want to think of Kronos. "And the others, they might still be out here. Krios, Koios, Hyperion, Iapetus..."

Percy blinked several times at this. "Iapetus. He said it meant the Impaler or something."

"You know him?" asked Emilia in disbelief. "I remember Ethan Nakamura was going to bring him up and then... I never actually saw him. I never knew what happened to him."

"Me, Nico, and Thalia saw him," said Percy, lip twitching. "We battled. I pulled him into the River Lethe with me. My memory was fine because I didn't actually touch th water but he... forgot who he was. I told him his name was Bob. I don't know what came after that. We left him in Hades's Palace. The other titans... where would they be if they were here? Would they be chained up?"

"Knowing what's going on up there, they could be roaming free," said Emilia honestly. "I... I imagine even Kronos's particles are somewhere. Never again able to reform but... preserved here in Tartarus."

He put his hand on her shoulder, perhaps only to let her know she didn't have to talk about that if she didn't want to, but perhaps also to let her know that he and Annabeth weren't going to let Kronos get to her again. He peered down the cliff. "I don't see the empousai anymore. I think it's safe to go down."

Emilia held out her hands again. They grabbed on for the small second it took for her to shadow-travel them to the bottom. Ahead of them now stretched miles of wasteland, bubbling with monstrous larvae and big insect-hair trees. To their right, the Phlegethon split into branches that etched the plain, widening into a delta of smoke and fire. To the north, along the main route of the river, the ground was riddled with cave entrances. Here and there, spires of rock jutted up like exclamation points.

"We're going to be completely exposed, crossing this path," said Annabeth uncomfortably, gazing toward the darkness on the horizon. About a hundred yards ahead of them, a blister burst on the ground. A monster clawed its way out... a glistening telkhine with slick fur, a seal-like body, and stunted human limbs. It managed to crawl a few yards before something shot out of the nearest cave, so fast that Emilia could only register a dark green reptilian head. The monster snatched the squealing telkhine in its jaws and dragged it into the darkness.

"Oh, yeah," said Percy. "This'll be fun. Let's keep going."

"Stop." Emilia looked around. "I don't... I don't feel their presence ahead. I feel... I don't know what to make of this, I feel monsters around us. It's these stupid blister-things... I assume they went forward but... I don't feel them there. We should be able to see them in the distance. I should feel them."

Annabeth scanned a three-sixty, her gray eyes bright with alarm. Percy drew his sword just as the empousai emerged from the rocks all around them– five of them forming a ring. Emilia pushed Incubo into Annabeth's hands, replacing the spear with shadows, coiling them tight until they gave her a weapon just like the one she'd given up.

Kelli limped forward on her mismatched legs. Her fiery hair burned across her shoulders, tattered cheerleader's outfit splattered in rusty-brown stairs. "Well, this is interesting. Percy Jackson– how awesome! I don't even have to return to the mortal world to destroy you! And your friend Annabeth is with you! Oh, yeah, I totally remember her. Just like I remember you, Dark One. Kronos's little protégé. His favorite, his Mistress of Chaos. Last I heard, you were meant to be his Queen. Look how far you've fallen."

"Save your words," said Emilia curtly. "They bring me no insult."

"No, I suppose you've owned up to being a traitor, haven't you?" said Kelli. "I'll make your death nice and slow for it."

"So!" said Percy, calling Kelli's attention to him. "I guess you're wondering what we're doing in Tartarus."

Kelli snickered. "Not really. I just want to kill you."

"Too bad," chimed Annabeth. "Because you have no idea what's going on in the mortal world. You're heading toward a major defeat. Kelli claims she's leading you all to victory, but she's lying. The last time she was in the mortal world, Kelli was in charge of keeping my 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."

This made the other empousai shift uneasily. It was sort of working. "Enough!" snarled Kelli defensively. Emilia remembered how she'd fawned over Luke. "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!"

"You didn't manage that the first time around," said Emilia, leaning on her new spear. "In fact," she tried to follow Annabeth's train of thought, "you made that same promise to the other monsters in the army before, didn't you? And now they're all dead. I didn't fail Kronos at all. I turned once the war was lost. But you? You weren't a very good leader, were you? That's why the war was lost and now the demigods have united."

"Yes!" agreed Annabeth enthusiastically. "You'd better think twice before you attack us. Romans and Greeks will fight together. You don't stand a chance!"

The empousai backed away nervously, hissing, "Romani."

"Ita, Romani," said Emilia. "Romani et Graeci ad te venient. Iam nonnulli Terrae Matris fortissimi bellatores sic dictae vicerunt." (T: Yes, Romans. The Romans and Greeks will come for you. They have already defeated some of the Earth Mother's so-called strongest warriors.)

Percy bared his forearm, revealing the SPQR mark from Camp Jupiter. "You mix Greek and Roman, and you know what you get? BAM!" He stomped his foot, and the empousai scrambled back.

"Bold talk," said Kelli, "for three demigods lost in Tartarus. Lower your weapons and I'll kill you quickly. Believe me, there are worse ways to die down here."

"Lost?" Emilia laughed darkly. "Oh, I'm not lost. I am home. I remember you and the others avoiding me like I was a plague. Here, my scent may not be so strong, but in the mortal world, all of you should've seen how far Kelli stayed from me because I reminded her of Tartarus. I was born here, carried into the world by Eris and Nemesis. Kelli is a coward and a weakling."

"Not to mention she's angering Hecate," said Annabeth cleverly. "Empousai are servants of Hecate and she is on our side now. She has a cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Some of her demigod children are my friends. If you fight us, Hecate will be very angry."

One of the other empousai growled as if this was news to them. "Is this true, Kelli? Has our mistress made peace with Olympus?"

"Shut up, Serephone!" screeched Kelli. "Gods, you're annoying!"

"I will not cross the Dark Lady."

Annabeth took the opening. "You'd all be better following Serephone. She's older and wiser."

"Yes!" shrieked Serephone. "Follow me!"

Kelli lashed out at Serephone out of nowhere. For half a second, the two demons were a blur of slashing claws and fangs. Then it was over. Kelli stood triumphant over a pile of dust. From her claws hung the tattered remains of Serephone's dress.

"Any more issues?" snapped Kelli. "Hecate is the goddess of the Mist! Her ways are mysterious. Who knows which side she truly favors? She is also the goddess of the crossroads, and she expects us to make our own choices. I choose the path that will bring us the most demigod blood! I choose Gaea! For two years I churned in the void. Do you know how completely annoying it is to be vaporized, Annabeth Chase? Slowly re-forming, fully conscious, in searing pain for months and years as your body regrows, then finally breaking the crust of this hellish place and clawing your way back to daylight? All because some little girl stabbed you in the back? I wonder what happens if a demigod is killed in Tartarus. I doubt it's ever happened before. Let's find out."

The shadows exploded forward before Percy even had a moment to react. Emilia had only meant to swirl her new shadow-spear, but instead, a whole flurry of them had slammed into the empousai like a hurricane-level wind, blowing them almost ten yards away. When Kelli tried to get up, Emilia forced the shadows to press into her chest, keeping her down. She imagined enough pressure to keep them all from moving and it simply happened. They were paralyzed on the ground, only their eyeballs darting back and forth as they watched Emilia approach.

"Hmm." Emilia abandoned the shadow-spear. She willed the shadows to pull Kelli to her feet, and saw some of the darkness flickered out of Kelli's own body, the flames of her hair flickering as particles were drawn into the shadows that held her.

"Emilia?" asked Annabeth, sounding both confused and impressed. "How–?"

"I remind the monsters of Tartarus," mumbled Emilia, mostly to herself. "I remind them of darkness. Of our home. And the funny thing is... they are darkness, too. They are something I can manipulate. Like... puppets."

Without thinking of the shadows, she focused on Kelli, imagining her lifting her arms. She did so, pathetically. "She's all yours," said Emilia, stepping aside. "Right in the heart, Annabeth."

Carefully, Annabeth stepped forward, holding Incubo out and directing it toward Kelli. She couldn't even try to scream. Emilia had imagined her keeping her mouth shut and it simply happened. Annabeth shoved the spear right into her heart, absorbing her essence.

"Good." Emilia plucked the spear away, then thought of the remaining empousai being dragged toward her. One by one, she pierced them, until they stood alone surrounded by blisters. "Wait..." She sensed something else coming their way. "Something is coming toward us. Something–?"

She let out a shriek as a Titan dropped out of the sky.