Emilia's feet hurt.

She cursed her desire to always wear some sort of casual shoe that didn't suit her for long walks. If she needed to run anytime soon, she was going to be in for an even greater wave of pain.

She remained alert as they moved, even as Bob's cleaning bottle kept sloshing monotonously and attempting to lull her back to sleep. She tried to ignore each time she noticed Percy taking Annabeth's hand and whispering an encouraging comment. How she wished she wasn't alone here. Not because she'd wish Tartarus on Hylla but because if she were right here, it'd be a lot easier to not let the effects of the Pit get to her.

Despair. Each step spelled out horrors that would come. She could tell they were getting closer to the Doors– obviously, yet still she knew it in herself– and all she felt in the pit of her stomach was the sensation of oncoming danger. Bob had explained that they had to wait for the darkness to get darker, and then they'd go sideways to find the lady with the Death Mist. He wouldn't name her because names were powerful. Emilia wished she'd read more about Tartarus.

"I sense something," whispered Emilia after a few more yards.

Bob stopped, sensing it too. He raised his hand to motion them to wait. "Shh. Ahead. Something moves." From somewhere in the fog came a deep thrumming noise, like an idling engine. Vibrations seeped into their shoes. "We will surround it. Each of you, take a flank."

Emilia handed Incubo back to Annabeth and produced her own substitute as they swept around the immediate area. "Ready?" murmured Bob.

They all crouched, ready to attack. "On three– one, two–"

"Wait!" shrieked Annabeth just as a figure appeared in the fog. Bob had already raised his spear and froze just in time, the point of the spear hovering an inch above the head of a tiny calico kitten.

"Oh my goodness." Emilia dropped to the ground against her better judgment, immediately reaching out to it. "Oh, my goodness. You are so sweet."

The kitten went to Bob first, butting its head against Bob's foot and purring loudly. As it did, the ground vibrated and pebbles danced. It turned its yellow lamp-eyes on one particular rock near Emilia's knee and pounced. She scooped it up and cuddled it to her cheek, the bony thing turning its head and nuzzling into her cheek. She felt like crying, it was so sweet.

"How did–?" Annabeth couldn't speak as she knelt beside Emilia, rubbing the kitten's back. "What is a kitten doing–?"

As Emilia lifted it up, the kitten's fur shimmered. In a flash, it became a ghostly skeleton, as if it had stepped behind an X-ray machine. Then it was a regular kitten again. "It's one of Atlas's kittens," realized Emilia, placing a kiss on its forehead.

"Oh, man," said Percy. "From the Smithsonian."

"That's one of them?" asked Annabeth as the kitten scrambled out of Emilia's arms and went to Bob. As soon as he knelt, the kitten climbed onto the Titan's arm, making itself at home on his shoulder. "How did it get here?"

Percy spread his hands helplessly. "Atlas told his servants to take the kittens away. Maybe they destroyed the cats and they were reborn in Tartarus? I don't know."

"It's cute," said Bob as the kitten sniffed its ear.

Percy laughed. "Somebody likes you, Bob."

"It must be a good monster." Bob scratched under the kitten's tooth. "I will call him Small Bob. He is a good monster."

The kitten became part of their group. As they kept walking, Small Bob remained on Bob's shoulders, purring and occasionally glowing into a skeleton. Now that he'd found his little nook there, he had no more interest in Emilia. She hoped another kitten would come and choose her.

"Here," announced Bob, stopping suddenly. He stared off to their left, as if deep in thought. "Darker, then sideways."

Emilia couldn't exactly tell it was darker through the coloring, but she felt a deeper sense of cruelty and danger and coldnow that they'd arrived. Bob struck off to the left. They followed him into some sort of forest. Towering black trees soared into the gloom, perfectly round and bare of branches, like monstrous hair follicles. The ground was smooth and pale.

"Guys." Emilia motions for them to stop. "I feel something."

"So do I," said Annabeth, on high alert. "It's moving... above us. Gather up."

They closed ranks, all standing back-to-back. The spears were exchanged quickly again. The first monster dropped to the ground only five feet away from them, a wrinkled hag with batlike wings, brass talons, and glowing red eyes. She wore a tattered dress of black silk, and her face was twisted and ravenous.

Bob grunted as another one dropped in front of him, and then another in front of Percy, another in front of Emilia. Soon there were half a dozen surrounding them. More hissed in the trees above.

At first glance, they could have been mistaken for the Furies. But Emilia had only three aunts that were classified as such. These– no, these had to be something worse...

"What are you?" demanded Annabeth.

The arai, hissed a voice. The curses!

Annabeth seemed to be trying to maintain a tone of confidence, "What– what do you want?"

The voice cackled maliciously. To curse you, of course! To destroy you a thousand times in the name of Mother Night! Child...."

It was hard to tell who was speaking because none of them were moving their mouths. But suddenly, Emilia got the sense they were all looking at her. The one directly in front of her reached a ghastly hand out.

"Yes?" she asked. Did her weird aunts want to catch up?

You may proceed, came the voice as the glowing red eyes fixated on her. We will not bring these torments upon a member of our family. Lady Strife awaits you. Proceed.

Emilia wasn't just going to leave them. "No." She raised her spear of shadows. "If you come for them, I will slice you all to bits, family or not. I'm sure Mother Night wants me to arrive at her Mansion in one piece. That includes my friends."

We are the arai, said one of the voices. You cannot destroy us. Mother Night and Lady Strife speak only for you. Proceed.

"I never said I'd destroy you," said Emilia in a hard voice. "But I can make you wish you could die. Back off now." She tilted her spear forward, ready to strike.

"Don't touch them," warned Annabeth quickly, leaning against Percy. "They're the spirits of curses."

"Bob doesn't like curses," decided Bob. Small Bob had already disappeared inside his coveralls. The Titan swept his broom in a wide arc, forcing the spirits back, but they came in again like the tide.

We serve the bitter and the defeated, said the arai. We serve the slain who prayed for vengeance with their final breath. We have many curses to share with you.

"I appreciate the offer," said Percy. "But my mom told me not to accept curses from strangers." The nearest demon lunged at him, claws extended. He cut her in two, but as soon as she vaporized, he stumbled back, clamping his hand to his rib cage. His fingers came away wet and red.

"Percy, you're bleeding!" cried Annabeth. "Oh, gods, on both sides."

Realization seemed to hit him, examining the left and right hems of his tattered shirt, as if something had run him through. "Geryon. This is how I killed him..."

The spirits bared their fangs. More arai leaped from the black trees, flapping their leathery wings. Yes. Feel the pain you inflicted upon Geryon. So many curses have been leveled at you, Percy Jackson. Which will you die from? Choose, or we will rip you apart!

"Each time we kill one, we receive a curse," said Emilia worriedly. Okay, that was going to be difficult to deal with.

Choose! the arai cried. Will you be crushed like Kampê? Or disintegrated like the young telkhines you slaughtered under Mount St. Helens? You have spread so much death and suffering, Percy Jackson. Let us repay you!

The arai closest to Emilia crooned, Do you wish to learn who has cursed you, Daughter of Shadows? You can still choose to proceed.

As if to test her, one of the demons lunged at Annabeth. Instinctively, she dodged, plunging Incubo into its back. Instantly, she dropped the spear and cried in alarm. "I can't see!" She touched her face, looking around wildly. Her eyes were pure white.

Polyphemus cursed you when you tricked him with your invisibility in the Sea of Monsters, cackled the arai as Percy ran to her side. You called yourself Nobody. He could not see you. Now you will not see your attackers.

"I've got you," promised Percy, looking at Emilia desperately. Bob moved first, yelling out, "SWEEP!" His broom whooshed over their heads. The entire arai offensive line toppled backward like bowling pins. More surged forward. Bob whacked one over the head and speared another, blasting them to dust.

"Bob, you okay?" asked Percy as the other arai backed away. "No curses?"

"No curses for Bob!" he agreed.

The arai snarled and circled, eyeing the broom. The Titan is already cursed. Why should we torture him further? You, Percy Jackson, have already destroyed his memory.

Bob's spearhead dipped. Annabeth tried to plead, "Bob, don't listen to them. They're evil!"

He turned to Percy. "My memory... it was you?"

Curse him, Titan! the arai urged, their red eyes gleaming. Add to our numbers!

Percy made the mistake of saying, "Bob, it's a long story. I didn't want you to be my enemy. I tried to make you a friend."

By stealing your life, the arai said. Leaving you in the palace of Hades to scrub floors!

"Bob, listen," pleaded Percy. "The arai want you to get angry. They spawn from bitter thoughts. Don't give them what they want. We are your friends."

You see his face? the arai growled. The boy cannot even convince himself. Did he visit you, after he stole your memory?

"No," murmured Bob. His lower lip quivered. "The other one did. Nico. Nico visited. Told me about Percy. Said Percy was good. Said he was a friend. That is why Bob helped."

Emilia knew that Bob would do nothing the next time the arai attacked. She barely had a moment to figure out what she intended to do before they charged— but not at her. She wasn't fast enough to stop two of them that went right for Percy and Annabeth as they started to run— Percy had one hand around Annabeth, the other holding both his sword and his side as he tried breaking through the arai, dragging them both away.

Emilia focused her attention on those who didn't catch up as quickly. She raised her hands, starting to pull them back toward her as if in a vacuum, beginning with the ones closest and ending with all but the two who Percy and Annabeth were already dealing with— though from the screams, it didn't sound good.

The arai were forced to halt in place, all turned to face Emilia. She glared up at them. "What curses await me, hmm?" She coiled her hands into fists, glaring at each of the demons as she kept them from even squirming. "I doubt the demigods who died serving Kronos cursed me. Those monsters wouldn't have cursed me, either. Kronos himself... oh, he wouldn't because as far as he knew, I never betrayed him. Even if he perceived me as a failure near his end, he would not have said anything..."

She was squeezing her hand so tight, they couldn't even speak. She heard a hiss that sounded suspiciously like they were choking. If she burst them into dust, would the curses still flow? Would she feel what she did to Torque, the cyclops? To Lycaon's wolves? To the monsters who came for them at the Wolf House?

"You refrained from hurting me because of my connection to Mother Night and Lady Strife," said Emilia, imagining the trees beginning to bend around the arai, as if molding into a prison that would hold them. "Now you will hurt no one. I have decided it. I may have no power over curses but I control darkness and you will answer to me."

One by one, they began to lean toward her, some lifted out of their roots and guided onto the arai, not quite crushing them but not leaving them room to escape. Could she claim they suffocated themselves with their proximity and do away with any blame that could leave her cursed?

Some of the arai looked ready to pop, beady red eyes bulged as she focused all the shadows in a tight ball, pushing the group of them closer and closer together as the trees knit themselves into a dome. The floor began to crack beneath her feet, and she imagined a large crevice opening up, big enough to bury them, keep them trapped, and render them unable to pursue.

Emilia drew a deep breath, some of the shadows seeping into herself. She drank them in, feeling her body energized. She guided pieces of the others into the tip of Incubo, laying at her feet, as if the spear was being fed, too. The arai let out a collective snarl of agony as she chipped away pieces of them, consuming part of their darkness without killing them.

She wondered if they could even enact their curses on her. They said they wouldn't make her suffer but what if it wasn't even a possibility? And if they could curse her, if she turned them to shadow and the curses came like an ocean wave... what then? She imagined it was a risk she would need to take. Being overwhelmed by pain.

If I think of Hylla, maybe it won't hurt as bad.

As a fissure opened beneath her, she slammed her hands down, forcing the arai into the opening like sardines in a can. The trees swept over them, creating a trapdoor that they rattled into as soon as she let go, screeching like feral cats.

In a split second, when she realized it wouldn't be enough, she imagined the darkness solidifying. The arai becoming one with the fissure, the trees melting into the ground. All of it turned to shadows, beings without form, unable to torment anymore. She let out a deep breath, accepting what might happen, and swept her hands through the air in front of her, the darkness taking a new form. The trees became gravel, the hole plugged, and she heard a terrible sound like a vacuum sucking up a piece of metal reverberating in the air around her before silence arrived.

She doubled over, anticipating pain that did not arrive. Maybe she'd simply made the arai re-materialize elsewhere, shadow-traveled them by force to a new location where they couldn't easily catch up. Maybe in changing their state, she repurposed them into a new bit of dark matter. Whatever the reason, she didn't stick around to question it. She turned to look for Percy and Annabeth, finding that Bob had gone to them– he was kneeling in front of Annabeth, hand on her forehead as if he was trying to restore her vision.

Percy, however, was in bad shape. He was barely conscious, sweating like he'd just woken up from a nightmare, and making noise as if he wanted to speak and couldn't. He looked up at Bob guiltily, eyelids fluttering. "What happened to him?" cried Emilia. She should have come up with her plan sooner...

"Lots of curses," said Bob as Annabeth cradled Percy's face in her hands. "Percy has done a lot of bad things to monsters."

"Can you fix him?" pleaded Annabeth. "Like you did with my blindness? Fix Percy!" When Bob frowned, she begged, "Bob—"

"Iapetus," said Bob. "Before Bob, it was Iapetus."

"I like Bob better." Annabeth's voice was surprisingly calm. "Which do you like?"

The Titan regarded her with his pure silver eyes. "I do not know anymore." He crouched next to her and studied Percy.

"Bob," said Emilia gently, hoping she wasn't pushing her luck. "I... I know we shouldn't expect you to continue leading us anywhere. We can never thank you enough for the help you've already given. We owe you our lives. Percy.... I know he's sorry for what he did to you. None of us can ever give you back what was taken from you. But I plead you to remember that he's a boy. He's a boy, he didn't ask for any of this. He's saved us all more times than I can count. He saved me and gave me a chance after Kronos used me. We can't lose him. We need your help. Please... please, I will do anything."

He stared at her for a moment. "I promised. Nico asked me to help. I do not think Iapetus or Bob likes breaking promises." He touched Percy's forehead. "Owie. Very big owie." Percy went limp, barely breathing. "Bob cannot cure this. Too much poison. Too many curses piled up."

"What can we do, Bob?" asked Annabeth. "Is there water anywhere? Water might heal him."

"No water," he replied. "Tartarus is bad. Tartarus kills demigods. It heals monsters but you do not belong. Tartarus will not heal Percy. The pit hates your kind."

"I don't care," said Annabeth desperately. The way her voice broke— was this how Hylla sounded like now, not knowing where Emilia was? "Even here, there has to be someplace he can rest, some kind of cure he can take. Maybe back at the altar of Hermes or—"

In the distance, a deep voice bellowed, "I SMELL HIM! BEWARE, SON OF POSEIDON! I COME FOR YOU!"

"Polybotes," said Bob. "He hates Poseidon and his children. He is very close now."

Emilia and Annabeth struggled to pull Percy up. "Let's just keep moving," pleaded Emilia. "We have to keep going. We can't take on Polybotes right now. Bob, it's your choice. Will you come with us?"

She noticed Small Bob mewing and purring along Bob's chin. The Titan looked at Percy, as if still uncertain about him. "There is one place we can go. There is a giant who might know what to do."

"A giant?" asked Annabeth, almost dropping Percy. "Bob... giants are bad."

"One is good," insisted Bob. "Trust me, and I will take you... unless Polybotes and the others catch us first."

Emilia tried to keep a more positive attitude as they moved along, knowing Bob was choosing to help them even if he didn't have to.

He moved so fast, it was difficult to keep up. Emilia didn't want to run or even speedwalk, intent on preserving her energy. It was hard enough helping Annabeth carry Percy (eventually Bob slung him over his shoulder), and hard still to keep Annabeth upright once Percy was a bit aways from them. Poor Annabeth must have felt powerless.

Emilia imagined the shadows carrying them ahead and discovered a fluid brush across her feet. It was like shadow-traveling continuously, letting the shadows push her onward as if she were standing on a travelator at the airport.

She imagined further applications with this intense darkness– shadow-traveling so quickly that she could appear to be teleporting. In a fight down here, that could come in handy. Instead of exerting herself by jumping and dodging, she could have the shadows propel her in the direction she wanted. She could appear suddenly behind an enemy and attack where they weren't expecting it. If only shadow-traveling could be this easy in the world above.

She wished she could use shadows to heal. Already she could see Annabeth deteriorating again– it'd been a long time since they last drank from the Phlegethon. Her skin blistered and she limped as if extremely sore. She was probably incredibly hungry and thirsty after running from the arai. Emilia may have stopped them before the curses became unbearable, but she hadn't exactly kept her friends unharmed. Percy could be dying and what had she done to help him? Nothing. She hated that.

The landscape was changing around them. They were still going downhill, but the ground sloped at just the wrong angle– too steep to jog, too treacherous to let one's guard down. The surface was sometimes loose gravel, sometimes patches of slime. The ground contained some bristles sharp enough to impale their feet and other clusters that looked like rocky warts. Emilia did her best to carry Percy and Annabeth with shadows, though she had a bad feeling she was making them nauseous through it.

Bob stopped suddenly. "Look."

Ahead in the gloom, the terrain leveled out into a black swamp. Sulfur-yellow mist hung in the air. Even without sunlight, there were actual plants– clumps of reeds, scrawny leafless trees, even a few sickly-looking flowers blooming in the muck. Mossy trails wound between bubbling tar pits. Directly in front of them, sunk in the bog, were footprints the size of trash-can lids, with long-pointed toes.

"Drakon?" asked Annabeth.

"Yes." Bob grinned at her. "That is good! We are close." He marched into the swamp without hesitation.

The girls followed, with Emilia doing her best to solidify the shadows into a formal path along the moss patches within the swamp. Finally the yellow mist parted, revealing a muddy clearing like an island in the muck. The ground was dotted with stunted trees and wart mounds. In the center loomed a large, domed hut made of bones and greenish leather. Smoke rose from a hole in the top. The entrance was covered with curtains of scaly reptile skin, and flanking the entrance, two torches made from colossal femur bones burned bright yellow.

Fifty yards into the clearing, about halfway to the hut, a massive oak tree jutted from the ground at a forty-five degree angle. The jaws of a dragon skull encircled the trunk, as if the oak tree were the dead monster's tongue.

"Yes," murmured Bob, Percy flopping around on his shoulder. "This is very good."

"Stop!" Emilia looked around nervously. "The drakon. I can feel it."

Small Bob agreed. He arched his back, hissing at the path they'd come down. A mighty roar echoed through the swamp. Within seconds, a charging drakon became visible. Its hide was dappled green and yellow, like sunlight through a forest canopy. Its reptilian eyes were sea green. When its frills unfurled around its head, it reminded Emilia of a regal peacock.

It was easily as long as a subway train, its massive talons digging into the mud as it pulled itself forward, its tail whipping from side to side. The drakon hissed, spitting jets of green poison that smoked on the mossy ground and set tar pits on fire, filling the air with the scent of fresh pine and ginger.

"Bob," said Annabeth nervously. "What are we facing here?"

"Maeonian drakon," said Bob helpfully. "From Maeonia."

"Both of you, run," said Emilia, calling the shadows up from the ground. "I'll deal with it."

"You don't have to," said Bob. "Any minute–"

Emilia almost jumped out of her skin as another roar came from the hut. The giant was about twenty feet tall, with a humanoid upper body and scaly reptilian legs. He held no weapon. Instead of armor, he wore only a shirt stitched together from sheep hides and green-spotted leather. His skin was cherry red; his beard and hair the color of iron rust, braided with tufts of grass, leaves, and swamp flowers.

Bob pulled them out of the way as the giant stormed toward the drakon. The giant lunged expertly each time the dragon spewed poison. He grabbed the oak tree and pulled it from the ground, roots and all. The old skull crumbled to dust as the giant hefted the tree like a baseball bat. The drakon's tail lashed around the giant's waist, dragging him closer to its gnashing teeth. But as soon as the giant was in range, he shoved the tree straight down the monster's throat.

The tree pierced the dragon's gullet and impaled it to the ground. The roots began to move, digging deeper as they touched the earth, anchoring the oak firmly. The drakon shook and thrashed, but it was pinned fast. The giant brought his fist down on the drakon's neck. One sharp crack and it went limp, dissolving until it left only scraps of bone, meat, hide, and a new drakon skull whose open jaws ringed the oak tree.

Bob grunted. "Good one." Small Bob purred in agreement.

The giant kicked at the drakon's remains, examining them critically. "No good bones," he complained. "I wanted a new walking stick. Some good skin for the outhouse, though." He ripped some soft hide from the drakon's frills and tucked it in his belt.

Annabeth awkwardly cleared her throat. "Bob, do you want to introduce us?"

Bob didn't seem to realize who she meant. "Annabeth..." He patted Percy's legs. "This is Percy."

She gritted her teeth and it took everything in Emilia not to burst out laughing– this was not the time. "I meant the giant. You promised he could help."

"Promise?" The giant glanced over from his work. His eyes narrowed under his bushy red brows. "A big thing, a promise. Why would Bob promise my help?"

Bob shifted his weight. Compared to the giant, he looked like a runt. "Damasen is a good giant," he said. "He is peaceful. He can cure poisons."

"Damasen." Emilia stared up at him in wonder. She wasn't sure about 'peaceful' considering he was ripping chunks of bloody meat from the drakon carcass with his bare hands. Unproblematic, however, that she could see.

Damasen stood up straight and studied Emilia and Annabeth closely. "Come inside. We will have stew. Then we will see about this promise."