XXXIX

Annabeth and Bob bring the poisoned Percy to Damasen’s bone-and-leather hut in Tartarus. Despite Annabeth’s fear, Damasen brews a chewed-herb broth, gently feeds Percy, and restores his color, prescribing several hours of sleep. He requests payment in the form of a story, so Annabeth recounts her past, Percy’s role in Bob’s amnesia, and their mission to stop Gaea.

Damasen confirms Gaea is his mother and Tartarus his father, warning that Tartarus actively thwarts them and that the landscape itself is a manifestation aware of their presence. He admits the Doors of Death are located at Tartarus’s heart but claims they are too well guarded for the group to reach with only Bob’s aid.

Pressed to help, Damasen refuses, explaining his origin as the anti-Ares: a peaceful giant who tended sheep in Maeonia. After he slew the Maeonian drakon to protect a human friend, Gaea punished him by exiling him to this swamp, where the drakon reforms daily to attack him. His curse traps him here; attempts to leave only return him to the hut.

Bob proposes using Akhlys’s Death Mist to conceal them; Damasen calls it their best and worst option, warning Akhlys aids no one. Still, he agrees to obscure their trail, prepare supplies, and give them a chance to rest. Drained but safe for the moment, Annabeth lies down beside Percy and falls asleep.