I knew a bit about Tartarus. I knew that Medusa was a pain in the ass and much more convincing than she was played out to be. I knew there was a small drakon bone hut and a few abandon sheep (Damasen killed most of them for food but there was one or two left) and that the monsters were intolerable. I'd heard before that the hundred-handed Hecatonchires were somewhere down here too, imprisoned and forced to work. Not sure if they were still here, but the small forge-like camp Charlie and I found suggested they might be. The camp was guarded by large spiked rock walls with lava flowing from the cracks. A leathery winged monster with a long first whip walked around the inside with an angry scowl. Every once in awhile she would whip one of the hundred handed. My parents told me she was buried under a pile of rocks at Camp Half Blood. Apparently she ended up here again.
She came back just for you
"I didn't think they were still here," I said. Charlie shushed me as the whip carrying monster (she must be Campe) turned towards us sharply.
"Not good," he whispered. I nodded in agreement and pulled him further down so she wouldn't see us. "We should help them escape. They don't deserve to live like this. Nobody does." The look in his eye told me he was serious, but the idea was insane.
"You're not kidding, are you?"
"Nope."
I groaned and facepalmed before glancing back over my shoulder at the whip-wielding monster.
You can't defeat her
"We were just nearly killed by Medusa and her scorpion pet like a week ago, and now you want to try and go defeat one of the most powerful monsters that exists?"
"I guess so." He looked determined. I had a feeling he was going to try whether I helped him or not. It's not like I could say no to that face of his anyway.
He will be the death of you
"You distract," I finally succumbed.
"Why do I have to be the distraction?" Charlie whined.
I rolled my eyes. "Do you want to try and break these guys out?"
"...no."
"That's what I thought. You're the distraction."
Charlie groaned and rolled his shoulders as he lit his hands on fire. "Hurry up," he prompted. Before he left, I grabbed the cut collar of his shirt and pulled his lips to mine for a short moment.
"Just in case," I told him. My dad used to say that he kissed Mom before every battle because you never knew which one would be your last, and he also really liked kissing her.
Charlie smiled and ran off, waving his hands in the air wildly. "Help! Help!" he cried dramatically. I rolled my eyes and waited for Kampe to go after him. While Charlie ran around acting like some helpless tourist, I ran to see what I could do about the Hecatoncheires.
"Hey!" I whisper yelled. A few of the giants turned their heads, but none of them seemed very interested in me. "Hello? Can you even hear me? I'm here to get you out!"
I think one of them scoffed. I groaned and ran into the camp. There was nothing guarding the gates, but the Hecatonchires were broken.
You will be too
I took my dagger and tried slicing through their chains. Surprisingly, it actually worked. But the giant stepped away from me once his ankles were free. It was as if he wanted to stay here forever.
"What are you doing? I can help you!"
"You can get us killed, again," came a gravelly voice. They didn't even turn their heads to look at me.
"Or you could survive!"
They didn't respond. None of the Hecatoncheires even considered it. I glanced back at Charlie, who was still running around like a madman and screaming for a taxi. I rolled my eyes. The dagger had worked, so I was going to use it. Even if they didn't want my help. I worked quickly, cutting all the chains on every one of the giants. By the time I had finished, Charlie had gone quiet.
He's dead
My stomach filled with dread and I slowly turned around with my dagger raised. I couldn't see Charlie anywhere. I didn't see Campe either. I slowly crept forward, peaking around every corner. One of the giants dropped it's hammer and I whipped around. When I faced forward again, Campe was standing in front of me. She held Charlie at the scruff of his neck and had one hand clamped over his mouth. She threw him to the ground in disgust. Charlie scrambled to his feet and ran to my side. I didn't notice my hand immediately reach out for his as I pulled him behind me. Campe carefully let her eyes skim across the broken chains of her captures. She raised her whip.
"Sing for me!" she screamed. The whip stung, and I cried out when it cut my skin. I pressed my hand over the slash on my chest as Charlie and I ran away. We hid under one of the workshop tables and crawled for freedom. She slowly followed us, brandishing her whip and terrifying any giants in her path.
"I said sing for me!" she repeated with a manic laugh. The Hecatoncheires screamed and wailed, satisfying the monster's rage for a short moment.
"Screams are a melody, child. Listen to your own and free the song with in, allow me to break it." She aimed the whip at us again but Charlie jumped across me and stuck his hands out.
"Shit!" he cursed as the leather weapon sliced open the skin on his palms. I grabbed his wrist and yanked him out of the line of fire before the whip came down again.
"This song sucks!" Charlie hissed.
"I think it's what she gets her energy from. Have you noticed that she hits harder when they scream?" I mentioned.
Charlie paused to give me a disgusted look. "That is so evil. Why did we get ourselves into this?"
"We?! I have a distinct memory of me saying that we should not do this!"
We were reminded of the situation when Campe's whip collided with the table above us. It tumbled down and collapsed onto us.
You're going to die
"Are sirens related to Poseidon?" Charlie asked quickly as we crawled from the rubble.
"What? Charlie we are about to get killed by the Campe, guard of Tartarus and torturer of the hundred handed ones. I don't think this is really the right time for a history lesson!"
"Just answer the question!" he insisted
"Yes! They're grandchildren of Poseidon."
He made a face. "You're cousins? Nevermind, sing!"
"What are you talking about?"
We jumped into one of the stampeding giants path and had to roll across the arena in order to not get stepped on.
"You're cousins with the sirens! So sing like a siren and make her leave us the flipping-fudge alone!"
"That's not how it works!" I argued. The whip came down again, hitting the back of my calf and upper part of Charlie's arm.
"How do you know? Come on, Jase! Karaoke in Tartarus! Just try, we're probably going to die anyway!"
He had a point. If I was going to die, I might as well take after my dad and do it in embarrassment. So I crawled out from under one of the tables and stood out in front of Campe.
I began to sing. I couldn't tell what words came from my mouth, if any at all. I got caught up in the sound. At first, Campe was nearly thrown to the ground. It was working. Then, she fought against me and began to step away. But she was struggling. It was actually working. I sang with more force, taking a step towards the monster and balling my fists. Campe dropped her whip and slowly walked towards me as if she was a zombie in the old horror films. I should have raised my dagger but I was too submersed in the power of my song. Charlie jumped in front of me at the last second and sliced Campe in half with his Drakon bone sword. I stopped singing once the two parts of her body fell to the ground. I dropped to my knees, gasping for breath. Charlie knelt beside me as Campe dragged herself towards us. He stood momentarily to smash her face in with his foot before he helped me up.
"You ok?"
