The Demigod Files(24)

Nico kicked the monster away and stabbed it. All I could do was collapse and curl into a ball, trying to endure the horrible burning.

The sound of battle died. Thalia and Nico rushed to my side.

‘Hold still, Percy,’ Thalia said. ‘You’ll be fine.’ But the quiver in her voice told me the wound was bad. Nico touched it and I yelled in pain.

‘Nectar,’ he said. ‘I’m pouring nectar on it.’

He uncorked a bottle of the godly drink and trickled it across my shoulder. This was dangerous – just a sip of the stuff is all most demigods can stand – but immediately the pain eased. Together, Nico and Thalia dressed the wound and I only passed out a few times.

I couldn’t judge how much time went by, but the next thing I remember I was propped up with my back against a rock. My shoulder was bandaged. Thalia was feeding me tiny squares of chocolate-flavored ambrosia.

‘The Keres?’ I muttered.

‘Gone for now,’ she said. ‘You had me worried for a second, Percy, but I think you’ll make it.’

Nico crouched next to us. He was holding the potted carnation. Only five petals still clung to the flower.

‘The Keres will be back,’ he warned. He looked at my shoulder with concern. ‘That wound… the Keres are spirits of disease and pestilence as well as violence. We can slow down the infection, but eventually you’ll need serious healing. I mean a god’s power. Otherwise…’

He didn’t finish the thought.

‘I’ll be fine.’ I tried to sit up and immediately felt nauseous.

‘Slow,’ Thalia said. ‘You need rest before you can move.’

‘There’s no time.’ I looked at the carnation. ‘One of the daemons mentioned Iapetus. Am I remembering right? That’s a Titan?’

Thalia nodded uneasily. ‘The brother of Kronos, father of Atlas. He was known as the Titan of the West. His name means ‘the Piercer’ because that’s what he likes to do to his enemies. He was cast into Tartarus along with his brothers. He’s supposed to be still down there.’

‘But if the sword of Hades can unlock death?’ I asked.

‘Then maybe,’ Nico said, ‘it can also summon the damned out of Tartarus. We can’t let them try.’

‘We still don’t know who them is,’ Thalia said.

‘The half-blood working for Kronos,’ I said. ‘Probably Ethan Nakamura. And he’s starting to recruit some of Hades’s minions to his side – like the Keres. The daemons think that if Kronos wins the war, they’ll get more chaos and evil out of the deal.’

‘They’re probably right,’ Nico said. ‘My father tries to keep a balance. He reins in the more violent spirits. If Kronos appoints one of his brothers to be the lord of the Underworld –’

‘Like this Iapetus dude,’ I said.

‘– then the Underworld will get a lot worse,’ Nico said. ‘The Keres would like that. So would Melinoe.’

‘You still haven’t told us who Melinoe is.’

Nico chewed his lip. ‘She’s the goddess of ghosts – one of my father’s servants. She oversees the restless dead that walk the earth. Every night she rises from the Underworld to terrify mortals.’

‘She has her own path into the upper world?’

Nico nodded. ‘I doubt it would be blocked. Normally, no one would even think about trespassing in her cave. But if this demigod thief is brave enough to make a deal with her –’

‘He could get back to the world,’ Thalia supplied. ‘And take the sword to Kronos.’

‘Who would use it to raise his brothers from Tartarus,’ I guessed. ‘And we’d be in big trouble.’

I struggled to my feet. A wave of nausea almost made me black out, but Thalia grabbed me.

‘Percy,’ she said, ‘you’re in no condition –’

‘I have to be.’ I watched as another petal withered and fell off the carnation. Four left before doomsday. ‘Give me the potted plant. We have to find the cave of Melinoe.’

As we walked, I tried to think about positive things: my favourite basketball players, my last conversation with Annabeth, what my mom would make for Christmas dinner – anything but the pain. Still, it felt like a sabre-toothed tiger was chewing on my shoulder. I wasn’t going to be much good in a fight, and I cursed myself for letting down my guard. I should never have got hurt. Now Thalia and Nico would have to haul my useless butt through the rest of the mission.

I was so busy feeling sorry for myself I didn’t notice the sound of roaring water until Nico said, ‘Uh-oh.’

About fifteen metres ahead of us, a dark river churned through a gorge of volcanic rock. I’d seen the Styx, and this didn’t look like the same river. It was narrow and fast. The water was black as ink. Even the foam churned black. The far bank was only ten metres across, but that was too far to jump, and there was no bridge.

‘The River Lethe.’ Nico cursed in Ancient Greek. ‘We’ll never make it across.’

The flower was pointing to the other side – towards a gloomy mountain and a path leading up to a cave. Beyond the mountain, the walls of the Underworld loomed like a dark granite sky. I hadn’t considered that the Underworld might have an outer rim, but this appeared to be it.