𝙩𝙪 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 - p. jackson [₂]

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒊.

―✧―

𝐌𝐘 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐁𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐊𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈.

she'd nearly killed percy in the labyrinth two years ago. and she kidnapped nico, my child. she also happened to bite me and force ethan to join the titans if he wanted to save my life. all in all, i didn't like her.

"and your friend riley is with you!" kelli hissed with laughter. "oh, yeah, i totally remember her."

kelli touched her own sternum, where the tip of the knife had exited when i stabbed her in the back.

"and the daughter of athena," she grinned wickedly at annabeth. "don't have your weapon? bummer. i'd use it to kill you."

i tried my best to think of some way out. i wondered if i could call on the J.A.R.V.I.S. chip in my bracelet, or if it even worked. i could use it to call my dad's suit, but there was still one problem.

we were in tartarus.

there was no help coming for us down here.

"so..." percy started, "i guess you're wondering what we're doing in tartarus."

kelli snickered. "not really. i just want to kill you."

we would've died after that if it weren't for annabeth.

"well that sucks," she said quickly.

playing along, i backed her up.

"yeah, you guys have no idea what's going on in the mortal world," i added. "like, none. at all. zero. zilch. na — ow!"

i rubbed my shin where annabeth kicked me,

"we know enough," kelli said. "gaea has spoken."

"you're heading toward a major defeat." i sounded so confident, i even impressed myself.

annabeth looked at the empousai, pointing an accusatory finger at kelli. "this one claims she's leading you to a victory. 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."

the other empousai muttered and shifted uneasily.

"enough!" kelli's fingernails grew into long black talons. "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!"

the other vampires gnashed their teeth in a frenzy of excitement.

"mortals have united with demigods," annabeth blurted.