Sunset: For your first comment, thank you. I try to put humor in my author's notes. And if you've read the chapters carefully, I've already hinted something that could counter or support your hypothesis (trying not to give it away, but read chapter 5 again, maybe chapter 3 if you need it).

As for your second review, I've got plans for the Kako, don't worry. I've already addressed that Ithuriel is an angel from Cassandra Clare's famous series. You'll figure out who he is, but he's not an angel in this story. Just a guy named after one. For reasons.

Enjoy!

:)

First Person: Lucy

I recalled a certain story about how dangerous Kelli had been the last time Percy had fought her in the Labyrinth. Despite those mismatched legs, she could move fast when she wanted to. She'd dodged his sword strikes and would have eaten his face if Annabeth hadn't stabbed her from behind.

Now she had four friends with her.

I knew how to fight empousai, and with my weapon double-bladed (so to speak), I could strike at everything in front of me with enough speed to hit them, but Percy couldn't even take on Kelli alone, let alone half of these vamps at best. I knew these weren't even considered the worst of creatures in Tartarus, so no use wasting my bullets. Besides, those were for long range, and these girls would be fighting close quarters.

"And your friend Annabeth is with you!" Kelli hissed with laughter. "Oh yeah, I totally remember her."

Kelli touched her own sternum, where the top of the knife had exited when Annabeth stabbed her in the back.

"What's the matter, daughter of Athena? Don't have your weapon? Bummer. I'd use it to kill you."

"Big talk for a donkey," I said. "Then again, your speech is about as half-assed as the rest of you."

Kelli turned her attention towards me, although I could only see about 50% of her through the spots dancing across my vision. My entire head was spinning and stinging, and it was hard to stay focused. It took concentration just to keep myself from losing stability or giving away how dizzy I was. Let's be honest though. With that outfit, seeing only 50% of her was an improvement.

"And who's your new friend? Clearly not another spawn of the wisdom goddess. Ares, maybe, with their brute force and ignorance."

"I'm mostly known for being a granddaughter of Zeus and Apollo - okay, that can be taken the wrong way out of context - but I am the daughter of Zenobia. I've fought many of your kind before, and I am to escort these two safely through Tartarus."

She smirked. "Well, great job so far."

Percy and Annabeth were clearly panicking. Neither of them were in good shape for a battle, my head was still killing me and only seemed to be getting worse, Annabeth was empty-handed, we were surrounded and outnumbered with no place to run and no help coming.

At best we could try calling for Mrs. O'Leary, the shadow-traveling hellhound. Even if she heard, would she be able to make it to Tartarus? This was where monsters went when they died. Calling her here might kill her, or turn her back to her natural state as a fierce monster. I had a certain hatred for hellhounds, as they had been the ones to kill my father, but in the end, they weren't all bad, and some even followed Hades' and Veon's command. Mrs. O'Leary didn't need to take that risk for us.

That left the all-important technique and Annabeth's favorite tactics: trickery, talk, delay your doom for as long as possible and hope for Deus ex Machina.

"So…" Percy started. "I guess you're wondering what we're doing in Tartarus."

Kelli snickered. "Not really. I just want to kill you."

"Too bad," Annabeth said. "Because you have no idea what's going on in the mortal world."

The other empousai circled, watching Kelli for a cue to attack: but the ex-cheerleader only snarled, crouching out of reach of Percy's sword and even my bow. I tried to use my ears to focus on the footsteps, trying to be alert for when any of them moved, but each of their footsteps sounded like a drum pounding through my skull.

"We know enough," Kelli said. "Gaea has spoken."

"You're heading towards a major defeat." Annabeth sounded so confident that maybe I was just having lowered standards from my headaches, but I was actually impressed. She glanced at the other empousai, one by one, then pointed accusingly 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. She glared at Annabeth as if imagining her sliced into small pieces. It seemed as though Kelli seemed to have had a thing for Luke Castellan. Luke was described as the kind of guy that had that effect on girls - even donkey-legged vampires - and I wasn't sure bringing up his name was a good idea. From everything that I'd heard of Luke, the only reason I'd really want to meet him was to take up that challenge. The more handsome they are, the more I want to punch them in the face (did I just insult Veon there?). I guess it bought us more time, even if it was just to provoke them into making our deaths even worse. Or maybe it would make it quicker because they'd rip us apart so fast.

"The girl lies," Kelli said. "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. I had been in the middle of a school of sharks when the water was full of blood with my feet chained to an anchor (do not ask). I'd say this was mildly equivalent in fear levels, and that was just because my head was pounding so much that I couldn't come up with a plan, and I hated being without plans.

"Well, you're gonna run out of them pretty quickly at that rate," I muttered. "You people realize you're not the only guys that Gaea's promised will destroy demigods and humanity, right? Monsters these days…"

"The demigods have united!" Annabeth yelled. "You'd better think twice before you attack us. Romans and Greeks will fight you together. You don't stand a chance!"

The empousai backed up nervously, hissing, "Romani…"

I had a feeling they'd had experience with Rome before, and it hadn't worked out well for them.

"Yeah, you bet Romani," Percy declared, baring his forearm and showing them the brand he'd gotten at Camp Jupiter - the SPQR mark with the trident of Neptune. "You mix Greek and Roman, and you know what you get? You get BAM!"

"You get bam alright," I thought to myself.

Except I didn't think it myself. I barely had the ability to keep conscious at this point, and my thoughts couldn't form words anymore. But that was my voice, ringing out throughout my head's pounding, almost coming from the tremors surging through me.

"My dear, do you know how rare you are?"

Percy stomped his foot, and the empousai scrambled back. One fell off the boulder where she'd been perched. That made me feel a bit better, but they recovered quickly and close in again.

"Grab me, now!"

My hand crept to Veon's lance on my belt. Great, now the lance was becoming psychic and was telling me to grab it. I must've been going insane. Then again, I've been insane before. It was a lot more fun back then.

"Bold talk," Kelli said. "For three demigods lost in Tartarus, that is. Lower your sword, Percy Jackson, call your body-guard off, and I'll kill you quickly. Believe me, there are worse ways to die down here."

"You'll have to tear me to shred first," I said.

"Oh, I'd be happy to oblige!"

I chuckled. "I wish you luck. I have Tartarus on my side!"

I pulled out the lance and stabbed it into the ground in front of me. At first, nothing happened, and I began to panic, but energy began to gather around us and the ground shook. A moment later, the energy popped around us like a bubble, knocking a few of the empousai back in the shockwave.

"Empousai, servants of Hecate. I wonder. Do they know of Hecate's alliance with the demigods?"

Well, it wasn't me, but the voice seemed to know what it was doing, and as it talked, my head seemed to become clear, or at the very least, it became numb. Everything was getting a bit far away, like looking through a pair of binoculars backwards, and my voice rang through me kind of far away, a bit deeper, but then again, not really an abnormal deepness. The vibrations were nice, like being a passenger in a car driving smoothly down the road.

"She has a cabin at Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth agreed quickly. "Some of her demigod children are my friends. If you fight us, she'll be angry."

One of the other empousai growled. "Is this true, Kelli? Has our mistress made peace with Olympus?"

"Shut up, Serephone!" Kelli screeched. "Gods, you're annoying."

I waved my hand in front of me, and the air where I swiped shimmered to reveal an image of a beautiful young woman in a dark, silky, sleeveless gown, her golden hair gathered into a high-set ponytail - Ancient Greek style. She had deathly pale skin with solid black eyes, and she almost seemed to be flickering out when she shifted even just slightly. The empousai all hissed and retreated at her image, especially as she spoke, her voice just slightly scratchy since it was a recording.

"But I have learned, as you demigods must as well, that leadership will never be perfect. When put beside each other, the Olympians prove to be an annoyance, but certainly better than the Titans, or worse, Gaea. I believe the saying is, 'Pick your poison.' I have made peace again with Olympus. Even now, when they are laid low - their Greek and Roman personas fighting each other - I will help them. Greek or Roman, I have always been only Hecate. I will assist you against the giants, if you prove yourself worthy."

The image faded, and the empousa that had spoken out against Kelli, Serephone, turned to her accusingly. "I will not cross the Dark Lady," She declared, and the other empousai seemed to murmur in agreement.

Annabeth took the opening, the hope rising in her voice. "You'd all be better following Serephone! She's older and wiser."

"Yes!" Serephone shrieked. "Follow me!"

Kelli struck fast, and my muscles tensed at the slightest hint of movement, but whatever possessed me held my back. Kelli wasn't going for me, or even Percy/Annabeth. Kelli lashed out at Serephone. For half a second, the two demons were a blur of slashing claws and fangs, and I followed them like those guys in Dragon Ball whenever people fought beyond the speed humans could keep track of. Then, it was over. Kelli struck significantly faster and harsher as she attacked in her rage, and so it was little surprise when Kelli stood triumphant over a pile of dust in moments by real-time standards. From her claws hung the tattered remains of Serephone's dress.

"And more issues?" Kelli snapped at her sisters, who looked around at each other hesitantly. "Hecate is the goddess of the Mist! Her ways are mysterious. Who knows which side she truly favors? She is also the goddess of the crossroads, and she expects us to make our own choices. I choose the path that will bring us the most demigod blood! I choose Gaea!"

Her friends hissed in approval. Annabeth and Percy shared looks. They were out of ideas. They'd gotten Kelli to eliminate one of her own. Now there was nothing left to do but to fight.

"For two years I churned in the void," Kelli said. "Do you know how completely annoying it is to be vaporized, Annabeth Chase? Slowly re-forming, fully conscious, in searing pain for months and years as your body regrows, then finally breaking the crust of this hellish place and clawing your way back to daylight? All because some little girl stabbed you in the back?" Her baleful eyes held Annabeth's. "I wonder what happens if a demigod is killed in Tartarus. I doubt it's ever happened before. Let's find out."

"Well, it was your fault for getting yourself into demigod affairs," I said. "You stuck to humans, you might not have gone through that. Then again, if you did anything to draw attention to yourself, you were asking to get killed. I hope you've learned to endure reformation, my dear. I shall make sure that this time, you are trapped in that pain for millennia. My special treat. Only gods and the extremely powerful get to have that long in the darkness of the void, the more power, the longer to recreate."

Percy sprang in one direction, my body took me in another. Percy and I slashed our weapons in a huge arc, my bow in my left hand, Veon's lance in my right, swinging outwards in a semi-circle with blades of energy arcing out from my weapons. Percy cut one of the demons in half while I took out another, clipping two others as they used their speed to dive out of the way. Kelli dodged and charged Annabeth, the two empousai that I'd barely missed killing launching themselves at Percy, each grabbing an arm.

"Another step and he's dead!" One shouted, the desperation in her voice evident.

Annabeth tumbled to one side, evading Kelli's claws and coming up with a rock in her hand, which she smacked into Kelli's nose.

"Cover your eyes," I ordered, before kicking the ground hard.

Percy and Annabeth had just enough time to process the order before a wave of dirt and debris from the ground washed over the whole lot of them, the empousai shouting in pain. Percy thrashed from side to side and tried to throw off the empousai, but the vamps only gripped him tighter, their claws digging into his arms and shoulders. Kelli lunged at Annabeth, her vision impaired but her rage clearing things up enough for her to locate the blurry blob that was the target. She raked her talons across Annabeth's arm despite her attempts at dodging and taking advantage of Kelli's blindness, causing Annabeth to scream and fall.

One of the vamps holding Percy sank her teeth into his neck and his knees buckled as searing pain coursed through his body. The other bit into his sword arm, and Riptide clattered to the ground. I kicked the one on Percy's sword arm in her distraction away with the sound of a skull cracking accompanying a screech, before I took the other empousa and gripped her head and jaw, pulling her off of Percy without causing her sharp teeth to dig into his neck even more, knowing that it would be disastrous if even more damage was done. I nocked an arrow and aimed, shooting Kelli in the eye as she loomed over Annabeth, savoring her moment of triumph.

My vision started to become blurry again, and this time it was more like a recording going static and fuzzy. I looked down at my arm to see that it had darkened to a pretty unhealthy shade of blue (ugh, nightmares from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory returning to me - you know, the one with Johnny Depp and the girl Violet with that gum? *Shudders* That movie haunted me for days, and I had been through much worse by the time I watched it). Luckily things were different from that as ice crystals were beginning to form across my skin (was 'lucky' really the right word?)

I looked up again, my consciousness returning and my ability to feel the cold seeping in slowly creeping through me once more. I could feel the sting of frostbite increasing across my whole body, I couldn't breathe, and I could barely see as my vision blurred further in and out of focus. I think I fell to my knees, or maybe I just plain collapsed on the ground completely. I was freezing alive from the inside out.

Just past Kelli, who ripped the arrow out of her eye with a scream of both pain and rage before turning to me, I thought I saw myself, smiling at me behind the vampire with a coy look. She winked at me and then put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion.

Then, she took a deep breath.

"BOB!"

The sound of her scream shook the earth, and it took me a moment to realize that the sound wasn't coming from nowhere - it was coming from my own mouth. A shadow fell across the fighting ground, my own scream faded to be replaced by a deep war cry bellowing from somewhere above, echoing across the plains of Tartarus. And then a Titan dropped onto the battlefield.

I thought I was hallucinating.

A huge, silvery figure dropped out of the sky and stomped Kelli flat, trampling her into a mound of monster dust. The Titan was ten feet tall, with wild silver Einstein hair, pure silver eyes, and muscular arms protruding from a ripped-up blue janitor's uniform. In his hand was a massive push broom, and his name tag read BOB.

Annabeth yelped and tried to crawl away, but the giant janitor wasn't interested in her. He turned to the two empousai who had approached Percy once more now that I was disabled. One was foolish enough to attack - not the one who had come up with the plan to hold Percy hostage, so I guess she was the dumb one. A spearhead jutted from the end of Bob's broom. With a single deadly swipe, he cut her to dust. The last vampire tried to run, but Bob threw his broom like a massive boomerang (was there such a thing as a 'broomerang?' I bet Audrey would love to claim the rights to coming up with that name), and it sliced through the vampire and returned to Bob's hand.

"SWEEP!" The Titan grinned with delight and did a victory dance worthy of Final Fantasy. "Sweep, sweep, sweep!"

Percy and Annabeth looked stunned. "H…How…?" Annabeth stammered.

"Cee-Cee called me!" The janitor said happily. "Yes, she did."

Annabeth crawled a little further away, her arm bleeding badly. "Called you? Wait…you're Bob? The Bob?"

The janitor frowned when he noticed Annabeth's wounds. "Owie."

Annabeth flinched as he knelt next to her.

"It's okay," Percy said, still woozy with pain. "He's friendly."

I remembered when I'd first met Bob. I was going on one of my visits to Veon during the months we'd been building the Argo II when I'd noticed the Titan in the halls of the palace. I remembered the tale of the memory-erased Titan and kinda felt bad for him. I struck up a conversation with him, and he turned out to be a sweetheart, like a little child but with the strength of a Titan. I'd heard that Veon often talked to him as well, even Nico, and Bob said he enjoyed having friends to talk to. He speculated that he would have tons of friends at that rate, and though I doubted it, I was happy the Titan believed so. Because Bob didn't interact with a lot of people, I introduced myself as Lucy and told him all my nicknames. He liked Cee-Cee, and it stuck.

The Titan could heal bad wounds just by touching them, and sure enough, the janitor tapped Annabeth's forearm and it mended instantly. Bob chuckled, pleased with himself, then bounded over to Percy and healed his bleeding neck and arm. The Titan giggled again, this time heading over to me and putting his hand on my chest.

This time, the Titan frowned. "Weird owie."

I suddenly felt like a weight had been lifted off of my torso, and warmth spread over me again and the color returning to my body. I gasped for breath, the pain of the cold receding to be replaced by a wooziness, the warmth that replaced the icy feeling making me tired.

"Better," The Titan said, as though he was critiquing my outfit. "I am Bob, Cee-Cee's friend! Percy's friend!"

"Uh…yeah," Percy managed. "Thanks for the help, Bob. It's really good to see you again."

"Yes!" The janitor agreed. "Bob. That's me. Bob, Bob, Bob." He shuffled around, obviously pleased with his name, and I smiled at his excitement like a proud parent. "I am helping. I heard my name. Upstairs in Hades's palace, nobody calls for Bob unless there is a mess. Bob, sweep up these bones. Bob, mop up these tortured souls. Bob, a zombie exploded in the dining room. Bob, please help me with this dude who keeps yelling."

Annabeth gave Percy a puzzled look, but he didn't seem to have an explanation.

"Then I heard my friends call!" The Titan beamed. "Cee-Cee and Percy said Bob! Cee-Cee is loud."

I chuckled. "Sorry if I screamed a little too loud, big guy."

He grabbed Percy's arm and hoisted him to his feet.

"That's awesome," Percy said. "Seriously, but how did you-?"

"Oh, time to talk later." Bob's expression turned serious. "We must go before they find you. They are coming. Yes, indeed."

"They?" Annabeth asked.

Percy scanned the horizon, but he saw no approaching monsters - nothing but the stark gray wasteland.

"Yes," Bob agreed. "But Bob knows a way. Come on, friends! We will have fun!"

The Titan, surprisingly gentle for such a large and strong creature, lifted me up onto his shoulder and began to lead Percy and Annabeth away as I passed out from exhaustion.