The House of Hades hoo-4

by Rick Riordan

  Following Bob through Tartarus was a crazy risk. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of a better plan.

  They picked their way across the ashen wasteland as red lightning flashed overhead in the poisonous clouds. Just another lovely day in the dungeon of creation. Annabeth couldn’t see far in the hazy air, but the longer they walked, the more certain she became that the entire landscape was a downward curve.

  She’d heard conflicting descriptions of Tartarus. It was a bottomless pit. It was a fortress surrounded by brass walls. It was nothing but an endless void.

  One story described it as the inverse of the sky—a huge, hollow, upside-down dome of rock. That seemed the most accurate, though if Tartarus was a dome, Annabeth guessed it was like the sky—with no real bottom but made of multiple layers, each one darker and less hospitable than the last.

  And even that wasn’t the full, horrible truth.…

  They passed a blister in the ground—a writhing, translucent bubble the size of a minivan. Curled inside was the half-formed body of a drakon. Bob speared the blister without a second thought. It burst in a geyser of steaming yellow slime, and the drakon dissolved into nothing.

  Bob kept walking.

  Monsters are zits on the skin of Tartarus, Annabeth thought. She shuddered. Sometimes she wished she didn’t have such a good imagination, because now she was certain they were walking across a living thing. This whole twisted landscape—the dome, pit, or whatever you called it—was the body of the god Tartarus—the most ancient incarnation of evil. Just as Gaea inhabited the surface of the earth, Tartarus inhabited the pit.

  If that god noticed them walking across his skin, like fleas on a dog…Enough. No more thinking.

  “Here,” Bob said.

  They stopped at the top of a ridge. Below them, in a sheltered depression like a moon crater, stood a ring of broken black marble columns surrounding a dark stone altar.

  “Hermes’s shrine,” Bob explained.

  Percy frowned. “A Hermes shrine in Tartarus?”

  Bob laughed in delight. “Yes. It fell from somewhere long ago. Maybe mortal world. Maybe Olympus. Anyway, monsters steer clear. Mostly.”

  “How did you know it was here?” Annabeth asked.

  Bob’s smile faded. He got a vacant look in his eyes. “Can’t remember.”

  “That’s okay,” Percy said quickly.

  Annabeth felt like kicking herself. Before Bob became Bob, he had been Iapetus the Titan. Like all his brethren, he’d been imprisoned in Tartarus for eons. Of course he knew his way around. If he remembered this shrine, he might start recalling other details of his old prison and his old life. That would not be good.

  They climbed into the crater and entered the circle of columns. Annabeth collapsed on a broken slab of marble, too exhausted to take another step. Percy stood over her protectively, scanning their surroundings. The inky storm front was less than a hundred feet away now, obscuring everything ahead of them. The crater’s rim blocked their view of the wasteland behind. They’d be well hidden here, but if monsters did stumble across them, they would have no warning.

  “You said someone was chasing us,” Annabeth said. “Who?”

  Bob swept his broom around the base of the altar, occasionally crouching to study the ground as if looking for something. “They are following, yes. They know you are here. Giants and Titans. The defeated ones. They know.”

  The defeated ones…

  Annabeth tried to control her fear. How many Titans and giants had she and Percy fought over the years? Each one had seemed like an impossible challenge. If all of them were down here in Tartarus, and if they were actively hunting Percy and Annabeth…

  “Why are we stopping, then?” she said. “We should keep moving.”

  “Soon,” Bob said. “But mortals need rest. Good place here. Best place for…oh, long, long way. I will guard you.”

  Annabeth glanced at Percy, sending him the silent message: Uh, no. Hanging out with a Titan was bad enough. Going to sleep while the Titan guarded you…she didn’t need to be a daughter of Athena to know that was one hundred percent unwise.

  “You sleep,” Percy told her. “I’ll keep the first watch with Bob.”

  Bob rumbled in agreement. “Yes, good. When you wake, food should be here!”

  Annabeth’s stomach did a rollover at the mention of food. She didn’t see how Bob could summon food in the midst of Tartarus. Maybe he was a caterer as well as a janitor.

  She didn’t want to sleep, but her body betrayed her. Her eyelids turned to lead. “Percy, wake me for second watch. Don’t be a hero.”

  He gave her that smirk she’d come to love. “Who, me?”

  He kissed her, his lips parched and feverishly warm. “Sleep.”

  Annabeth felt like she was back in the Hypnos cabin at Camp Half-Blood, overcome with drowsiness. She curled up on the hard ground and closed her eyes.

  LATER, SHE MADE A RESOLUTION: Never EVER sleep in Tartarus.

  Demigod dreams were always bad. Even in the safety of her bunk at camp, she’d had horrible nightmares. In Tartarus, they were a thousand times more vivid.

  First, she was a little girl again, struggling to climb Half-Blood Hill. Luke Castellan held her hand, pulling her along. Their satyr guide Grover Underwood pranced nervously at the summit, yelling, “Hurry! Hurry!”

  Thalia Grace stood behind them, holding back an army of hellhounds with her terror-invoking shield, Aegis.

  From the top of the hill, Annabeth could see the camp in the valley below—the warm lights of the cabins, the possibility of sanctuary. She stumbled, twisting her ankle, and Luke scooped her up to carry her. When they looked back, the monsters were only a few yards away—dozens of them surrounding Thalia.

  “Go!” Thalia yelled. “I’ll hold them off.”

  She brandished her spear, and forked lightning slashed through the monsters’ ranks; but as the hellhounds fell, more took their place.

  “We have to run!” Grover cried.

  He led the way into camp. Luke followed, with Annabeth crying, beating at his chest, and screaming that they couldn’t leave Thalia alone. But it was too late.

  The scene shifted.

  Annabeth was older, climbing to the summit of Half-Blood Hill. Where Thalia had made her last stand, a tall pine tree now rose. Overhead a storm was raging.

  Thunder shook the valley. A blast of lightning split the tree down to its roots, opening a smoking crevice. In the darkness below stood Reyna, the praetor of New Rome. Her cloak was the color of blood fresh from a vein. Her gold armor glinted. She stared up, her face regal and distant, and spoke directly into Annabeth’s mind.

  You have done well, Reyna said, but the voice was Athena’s. The rest of my journey must be on the wings of Rome.

  The praetor’s dark eyes turned as gray as storm clouds.

  I must stand here, Reyna told her. The Roman must bring me.

  The hill shook. The ground rippled as the grass became folds of silk—the dress of a massive goddess. Gaea rose over Camp Half-Blood—her sleeping face as large as a mountain.

  Hellhounds poured over the hills. Giants, six-armed Earthborn, and wild Cyclopes charged from the beach, tearing down the dining pavilion, setting fire to the cabins and the Big House.

  Hurry, said the voice of Athena. The message must be sent.

  The ground split at Annabeth’s feet and she fell into darkness.

  Her eyes flew open. She cried out, grasping Percy’s arms. She was still in Tartarus, at the shrine of Hermes.

  “It’s okay,” Percy promised. “Bad dreams?”

  Her body tingled with dread. “Is it—is it my turn to watch?”

  “No, no. We’re good. I let you sleep.”

  “Percy!”

  “Hey, it’s fine. Besides, I was too excited to sleep. Look.”

  Bob the Titan sat cross-legged by the altar, happily munching a piece of pizza.

  Annabeth rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was still dreaming. “Is that�
��pepperoni?”

  “Burnt offerings,” Percy said. “Sacrifices to Hermes from the mortal world, I guess. They appeared in a cloud of smoke. We’ve got half a hot dog, some grapes, a plate of roast beef, and a package of peanut M&M’s.”

  “M&M’s for Bob!” Bob said happily. “Uh, that okay?”

  Annabeth didn’t protest. Percy brought her the plate of roast beef, and she wolfed it down. She’d never tasted anything so good. The brisket was still hot, with exactly the same spicy sweet glaze as the barbecue at Camp Half-Blood.

  “I know,” said Percy, reading her expression. “I think it is from Camp Half-Blood.”

  The idea made Annabeth giddy with homesickness. At every meal, the campers would burn a portion of their food to honor their godly parents. The smoke supposedly pleased the gods, but Annabeth had never thought about where the food went when it was burned. Maybe the offerings reappeared on the gods’ altars in Olympus…or even here, in the middle of Tartarus.

  “Peanut M&M’s,” Annabeth said. “Connor Stoll always burned a pack for his dad at dinner.”

  She thought about sitting in the dining pavilion, watching the sunset over Long Island Sound. That was the first place she and Percy had truly kissed. Her eyes smarted.

  Percy put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, this is good. Actual food from home, right?”

  She nodded. They finished eating in silence.

  Bob chomped down the last of his M&M’s. “Should go now. They will be here in a few minutes.”

  “A few minutes?” Annabeth reached for her dagger, then remembered she didn’t have it.

  “Yes…well, I think minutes…” Bob scratched his silvery hair. “Time is hard in Tartarus. Not the same.”

  Percy crept to the edge of the crater. He peered back the way they’d come. “I don’t see anything, but that doesn’t mean much. Bob, which giants are we talking about? Which Titans?”

  Bob grunted. “Not sure of names. Six, maybe seven. I can sense them.”

  “Six or seven?” Annabeth wasn’t sure her barbecue would stay down. “And can they sense you?”

  “Don’t know.” Bob smiled. “Bob is different! But they can smell demigods, yes. You two smell very strong. Good strong. Like…hmm. Like buttery bread!”

  “Buttery bread,” Annabeth said. “Well, that’s great.”

  Percy climbed back to the altar. “Is it possible to kill a giant in Tartarus? I mean, since we don’t have a god to help us?”

  He looked at Annabeth as if she actually had an answer.

  “Percy, I don’t know. Traveling in Tartarus, fighting monsters here…it’s never been done before. Maybe Bob could help us kill a giant? Maybe a Titan would count as a god? I just don’t know.”

  “Yeah,” Percy said. “Okay.”

  She could see the worry in his eyes. For years, he’d depended on her for answers. Now, when he needed her most, she couldn’t help. She hated being so clueless, but nothing she’d ever learned at camp had prepared her for Tartarus. There was only one thing she was sure of: they had to keep moving. They couldn’t be caught by six or seven hostile immortals.

  She stood, still disoriented from her nightmares. Bob started cleaning up, collecting their trash in a little pile, using his squirt bottle to wipe off the altar.

  “Where to now?” Annabeth asked.

  Percy pointed at the stormy wall of darkness. “Bob says that way. Apparently the Doors of Death—”

  “You told him?” Annabeth didn’t mean it to come out so harsh, but Percy winced.

  “While you were asleep,” he admitted. “Annabeth, Bob can help. We need a guide.”

  “Bob helps!” Bob agreed. “Into the Dark Lands. The Doors of Death…hmm, walking straight to them would be bad. Too many monsters gathered there. Even Bob could not sweep that many. They would kill Percy and Annabeth in about two seconds.” The Titan frowned. “I think seconds. Time is hard in Tartarus.”

  “Right,” Annabeth grumbled. “So is there another way?”

  “Hiding,” said Bob. “The Death Mist could hide you.”

  “Oh…” Annabeth suddenly felt very small in the shadow of the Titan. “Uh, what is Death Mist?”

  “It is dangerous,” Bob said. “But if the lady will give you Death Mist, it might hide you. If we can avoid Night. The lady is very close to Night. That is bad.”

  “The lady,” Percy repeated.

  “Yes.” Bob pointed ahead of them into the inky blackness. “We should go.”

  Percy glanced at Annabeth, obviously hoping for guidance, but she had none. She was thinking about her nightmare—Thalia’s tree splintered by lightning, Gaea rising on the hillside and unleashing her monsters on Camp Half-Blood.

  “Okay, then,” Percy said. “I guess we’ll see a lady about some Death Mist.”

  “Wait,” Annabeth said.

  Her mind was buzzing. She thought of her dream about Luke and Thalia. She recalled the stories Luke had told her about his father, Hermes—god of travelers, guide to the spirits of the dead, god of communication.

  She stared at the black altar.

  “Annabeth?” Percy sounded concerned.

  She walked to the pile of trash and picked out a reasonably clean paper napkin.

  She remembered her vision of Reyna, standing in the smoking crevice beneath the ruins of Thalia’s pine tree, speaking with the voice of Athena:

  I must stand here. The Roman must bring me.

  Hurry. The message must be sent.

  “Bob,” she said, “offerings burned in the mortal world appear on this altar, right?”

  Bob frowned uncomfortably, like he wasn’t ready for a pop quiz. “Yes?”

  “So what happens if I burn something on the altar here?”

  “Uh…”

  “That’s all right,” Annabeth said. “You don’t know. Nobody knows, because it’s never been done.”

  There was a chance, she thought, just the slimmest chance that an offering burned on this altar might appear at Camp Half-Blood.

  Doubtful, but if it did work…

  “Annabeth?” Percy said again. “You’re planning something. You’ve got that I’m-planning-something look.”

  “I don’t have an I’m-planning-something look.”

  “Yeah, you totally do. Your eyebrows knit and your lips press together and—”

  “Do you have a pen?” she asked him.

  “You’re kidding, right?” He brought out Riptide.

  “Yes, but can you actually write with it?”

  “I—I don’t know,” he admitted. “Never tried.”

  He uncapped the pen. As usual, it sprang into a full-sized sword. Annabeth had watched him do this hundreds of times. Normally when he fought, Percy simply discarded the cap. It always appeared in his pocket later, as needed. When he touched the cap to the point of the sword, it would turn back into a ballpoint pen.

  “What if you touch the cap to the other end of the sword?” Annabeth said. “Like where you’d put the cap if you were actually going to write with the pen.”

  “Uh…” Percy looked doubtful, but he touched the cap to the hilt of the sword. Riptide shrank back into a ballpoint pen, but now the writing point was exposed.

  “May I?” Annabeth plucked it from his hand. She flattened the napkin against the altar and began to write. Riptide’s ink glowed Celestial bronze.

  “What are you doing?” Percy asked.

  “Sending a message,” Annabeth said. “I just hope Rachel gets it.”

  “Rachel?” Percy asked. “You mean our Rachel? Oracle of Delphi Rachel?”

  “That’s the one.” Annabeth suppressed a smile.

  Whenever she brought up Rachel’s name, Percy got nervous. At one point, Rachel had been interested in dating Percy. That was ancient history. Rachel and Annabeth were good friends now. But Annabeth didn’t mind making Percy a little uneasy. You had to keep your boyfriend on his toes.

  Annabeth finished her note and folded the napkin. On the outside, she wrote
:

  Connor,

  Give this to Rachel. Not a prank. Don’t be a moron.

  Love,

  Annabeth

  She took a deep breath. She was asking Rachel Dare to do something ridiculously dangerous, but it was the only way she could think of to communicate with the Romans—the only way that might avoid bloodshed.

  “Now I just need to burn it,” she said. “Anybody got a match?”

  The point of Bob’s spear shot from his broom handle. It sparked against the altar and erupted in silvery fire.

  “Uh, thanks.” Annabeth lit the napkin and set it on the altar. She watched it crumble to ash and wondered if she was crazy. Could the smoke really make it out of Tartarus?

  “We should go now,” Bob advised. “Really, really go. Before we are killed.”

  Annabeth stared at the wall of blackness in front of them. Somewhere in there was a lady who dispensed a Death Mist that might hide them from monsters—a plan recommended by a Titan, one of their bitterest enemies. Another dose of weirdness to explode her brain.

  “Right,” she said. “I’m ready.”

  ANNABETH LITERALLY STUMBLED over the second Titan.

  After entering the storm front, they plodded on for what seemed like hours, relying on the light of Percy’s Celestial bronze blade, and on Bob, who glowed faintly in the dark like some sort of crazy janitor angel.

  Annabeth could only see about five feet in front of her. In a strange way, the Dark Lands reminded her of San Francisco, where her dad lived—on those summer afternoons when the fog bank rolled in like cold, wet packing material and swallowed Pacific Heights. Except here in Tartarus, the fog was made of ink.

  Rocks loomed out of nowhere. Pits appeared at their feet, and Annabeth barely avoided falling in. Monstrous roars echoed in the gloom, but Annabeth couldn’t tell where they came from. All she could be certain of was that the terrain was still sloping down.

  Down seemed to be the only direction allowed in Tartarus. If Annabeth backtracked even a step, she felt tired and heavy, as if gravity were increasing to discourage her. Assuming that the entire pit was the body of Tartarus, Annabeth had a nasty feeling they were marching straight down his throat.