LUNACY; percy jackson

4.07

[act four; chapter seven     -     a smelly reunion]

They finally stopped in a room full of waterfalls. The floor was one big pit, ringed by a slippery stone walkway. Around them, on all four walls, water tumbled from huge pipes. The water spilled down into the pit, and even when Percy shined a light, he couldn't see the bottom.

Andromeda, still clutching his hand, crouched down and pressed her palm over her mouth as relieved laughs fell from her lips.

Briares slumped against the wall. He scooped up water in a dozen hands and washed his face. "This pit goes straight to Tartarus," he murmured. "I should jump in and save you trouble."

"Don't talk that way," Annabeth told him. "You can come back to camp with us. You can help us prepare. You know more about fighting Titans than anybody."

"I have nothing to offer," Briares said. "I have lost everything."

"What about your brothers?" Tyson asked. "The other two must stand tall as mountains! We can take you to them."

Briares's expression morphed to something even sadder: his grieving face. "They are no more. They faded."

The waterfalls thundered. Tyson stared into the pit and blinked tears out of his eye.

"What exactly do you mean, they faded?" Percy asked, glancing at his friends. "I thought monsters were immortal, like the gods."

"Percy," Grover said weakly, "even immortality has limits. Sometimes...sometimes monsters get forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal."

"But...what—"

Andromeda looked up at him, "Gods and monsters, all of them, as time goes by, as generations pass, stories and myths, they disappear. And whoever they're about, disappear, too." She seemed sad when she spoke. Her voice was cracking, and it sounded like she hadn't had any water in days. "It just happens, and there isn't much anyone can do about it."