VAL WAS RELIEVED when the demon grandmothers closed in for the kill.

Sure, she was terrified. She didn't like the odds of four against several dozen. But at least she understood fighting. A little bit.

Besides, she, Percy, and Annabeth had fought together many times, together and apart. And now they had a Titan on their side.

"Back off." Percy jabbed Riptide at the nearest shriveled hag, but she only sneered.

We are the arai, said that weird voice-over, like the entire forest was speaking. You cannot destroy us.

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

"Bob doesn't like curses," Bob decided. The skeleton kitten Small Bob disappeared inside his coveralls. Smart cat.

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," Percy said. "But my mom told me not to accept curses from strangers."

The nearest demon lunged. Her claws extended like bony switchblades. Percy 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!" Annabeth cried, which was kind of obvious at that point. "Oh, gods, on both sides."

It was true. The left and right hems of his tattered shirt were sticky with blood, as if a javelin or an arrow had run him through.

"Geryon," Percy said. "This is how I killed him . . ."

The spirits bared their fangs. More arai leaped from the black trees, flapping their leathery wings.

Yes, they agreed. 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!

"I don't understand," Percy muttered.

Bob's voice seemed to echo from the end of a long tunnel: "If you kill one, it gives you a curse."

"But if we don't kill them . . ." Annabeth said.

"They'll kill us anyway," Val guessed.

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 winged hags pressed in, their breath sour, their eyes burning with hatred. They looked like Furies, but Val decided these things were even worse. At least the three Furies were under the control of Hades. These things were wild, and they just kept multiplying.

Well, at least Val was already cursed.

One of the demons lunged at Annabeth. Instinctively, she dodged. She brought Val's knife down on the old lady's head and broke her into dust.

It wasn't like Annabeth had a choice. Val would've done the same thing. But instantly Annabeth dropped the knife and cried in alarm.

"I can't see!" She touched her face, looking around wildly. Her eyes were pure white.

Percy and Val ran to her side as the arai cackled.

Polyphemus cursed you when you tricked him with your invisibility in the Sea of Monsters. You called yourself Nobody. He could not see you. Now you will not see your attackers.

"I've got you," Percy promised. He put his arm around Annabeth. Val picked up her knife and wielded them at the aria. But as the arai advanced, she didn't know how she could protect them.

A dozen demons leaped from every direction, but Bob yelled, "SWEEP!"

His broom whooshed over Val's head. 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. The others backed away.

Val held her breath, waiting for their Titan friend to be laid low with some terrible curse, but Bob seemed fine — a massive silvery bodyguard keeping death at bay with the world's most terrifying cleaning implement.

"Bob, you okay?" Val asked. "No curses?"

"No curses for Bob!" Bob agreed.

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

Bob's spearhead dipped.

"Bob, don't listen to them," Annabeth said. "They're evil!"

Time slowed. Val wondered if the spirit of Kronos was somewhere nearby, swirling in the darkness, enjoying this moment so much that he wanted it to last forever.

Bob turned. His wild white hair looked like an exploded halo. "My memory . . . It was you?"

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

Percy stared up at the Titan. "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!

Annabeth stared ahead at nothing. "Which way?" she whispered. "If we have to run?"

Val understood. If Bob wouldn't protect them, their only chance was to run — but that wasn't any chance at all.

"Bob, listen," Percy said, but his face was guilty. "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," Bob murmured. His lower lip quivered. "The other one did. As did Val."

Percy frowned. "The other one?"

"Nico." Bob scowled at him, his eyes full of hurt. "Nico visited with Val. Told me about Percy. Said Percy was good. Said he was a friend. That is why Bob helped."

"But . . ." Percy's voice disintegrated.

The arai attacked, and this time Bob did not stop them.

* * *

"Go!" Val screamed, slicing through the arai to clear a path. Percy and Annabeth ran, and Val felt no other curse on her as she ran after them.

Leathery wings beat the air above them. Angry hissing and the scuttling of clawed feet told her the demons were at their backs.

Val caught up to them just as Percy slashed his sword across the trunk. She heard it topple, followed by the satisfying crunch of several dozen arai as they were smashed flat.

"My gods, you almost hit me," she said indignantly, running ahead and pulling Annabeth between them so Percy was more exposed to the demons. Oops, but Val could see better in the dark.

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. Val stopped Annabeth and Percy right before they charged off the side of the cliff.

"What?" Annabeth cried. "What is it?"

"Cliff," Val gasped. "Big cliff."

"Which way, then?"

Val couldn't see or sense 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 she doubted "the best" ever happened in Tartarus.

So, two options: right or left, following the edge.

Val was about to choose randomly when a winged demon descended in front of Percy, 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.

Val 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? Val?" she called, panic creeping into her voice.

"We're right here."

Val tried to put her hand on her shoulder, but she wasn't standing where she thought. Percy tried, only to find Annabeth was several feet farther away. It was like trying to grab something in a tank of water, with the light shifting the image away.

"Percy! Tina!" Annabeth's voice cracked. "Why did you leave me?"

"We didn't!" Percy 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? Tina?" Annabeth spread her arms, trying to find them. The arai backed up, letting her stumble blindly through their ranks.

"Who did I abandon?" Percy demanded. "I never—"

He stopped. Oh dear. Val suddenly hated Percy for having so many enemies.

"She wouldn't," he mumbled. "She'd never curse me."

Annabeth wandered among the demons, desperately calling their names. Val longed to run to her, but she knew the arai wouldn't allow it. The only reason they hadn't killed her yet was that they were enjoying her misery.

Percy yelled in fury and attacked them all before Val could say anything.

"don't study for hours," says my aphg teacher. fuck you. i'm doing that. late updates tmrw, sorry <3

<3 maybel