The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus Book 4)

meddle!’
    Meddle?
Tartarus turned.
I am the lord of
all
creatures of the darkness, puny Iapetus. I can do as I please.
    His black cyclone face spun faster. The howling sound was so horrible that Annabeth fell to her knees and clutched her ears. Bob stumbled, the wispy comet tail of his life force growing longer as it was sucked towards the face of the god.
    Bob roared in defiance. He charged and thrust his spear at Tartarus’s chest. Before it could connect, Tartarus swatted Bob aside like he was a pesky insect. The Titan went sprawling.
    Why do you not disintegrate?
Tartarus mused.
You are nothing. You are even weaker than Krios and Hyperion.
    ‘I am Bob,’ said Bob.
    Tartarus hissed.
What is that? What is Bob?
    ‘I choose to be more than Iapetus,’ said the Titan. ‘You do not control me. I am not like my brothers.’
    The collar of his coveralls bulged. Small Bob leaped out. The kitten landed on the ground in front of his master, then arched his back and hissed at the lord of the abyss.
    As Annabeth watched, Small Bob began to grow, his form flickering until the little kitten had become a full-sized, translucent skeletal sabre-toothed tiger.
    ‘Also,’ Bob announced, ‘I have a good cat.’
    No-Longer-Small Bob sprang at Tartarus, sinking hisclaws into Tartarus’s thigh. The tiger scrambled up his leg, straight under the god’s chain-link skirt. Tartarus stomped and howled, apparently no longer enamoured with having a physical form. Meanwhile, Bob thrust his spear into the god’s side, right below his breastplate.
    Tartarus roared. He swatted at Bob, but the Titan backed out of reach. Bob thrust out his fingers. His spear yanked itself free of the god’s flesh and flew back to Bob’s hand, which made Annabeth gulp in amazement. She’d never imagined a broom could have so many useful features. Small Bob dropped out of Tartarus’s skirt. He ran to his master’s side, his sabre-toothed fangs dripping with golden ichor.
    You will die first, Iapetus
, Tartarus decided.
Afterwards, I will add your soul to my armour, where it will slowly dissolve, over and over, in eternal agony.
    Tartarus pounded his fist against his breastplate. Milky faces swirled in the metal, silently screaming to get out.
    Bob turned towards Percy and Annabeth. The Titan grinned, which probably would not have been Annabeth’s reaction to a threat of eternal agony.
    ‘Take the Doors,’ Bob said. ‘I will deal with Tartarus.’
    Tartarus threw back his head and bellowed – creating a vacuum so strong that the nearest flying demons were pulled into his vortex face and shredded.
    Deal
with me?
the god mocked.
You are only a Titan, a
lesser
child of Gaia! I will make you suffer for your arrogance. And as for your tiny mortal friends …
    Tartarus swept his hand towards the monster army, beckoning them forward.
DESTROY THEM!

LXX
     

ANNABETH
     
    DESTROY THEM
    Annabeth had heard those words often enough that they shocked her out of her paralysis. She raised her sword and yelled, ‘Percy!’
    He snatched up Riptide.
    Annabeth dived for the chains holding the Doors of Death. Her drakon-bone blade cut through the left-side moorings in a single swipe. Meanwhile, Percy drove back the first wave of monsters. He stabbed an
arai
and yelped, ‘Gah! Stupid curses!’ Then he scythed down a half-dozen telkhines. Annabeth lunged behind him and sliced through the chains on the other side.
    The Doors shuddered, then opened with a pleasant
Ding!
    Bob and his sabre-toothed sidekick continued to weave around Tartarus’s legs, attacking and dodging to stay out of his clutches. They didn’t seem to be doing much damage, but Tartarus lurched around, obviously not used to fighting in ahumanoid body. He swiped and missed, swiped and missed.
    More monsters surged towards the Doors. A spear flew past Annabeth’s head. She turned and stabbed an
empousa
through the gut, then dived for the Doors as they started to close.
    She kept them open with her foot as she fought. At least with her back to the elevator car, she didn’t have to worry about attacks from behind.
    ‘Percy, get over here!’ she yelled.
    He joined her in the doorway, his face dripping with sweat and blood from several cuts.
    ‘You okay?’ she asked.
    He nodded. ‘Got some kind of
pain
curse from that
arai
.’ He hacked a gryphon out of the air. ‘Hurts, but it won’t kill me. Get in the elevator. I’ll hold the button.’
    ‘Yeah, right!’ She smacked a carnivorous horse