ΉӨЦƧΣ ӨF ΉΛDΣƧ

LUCIA MISSED HAVING BOB AROUND. She had gotten used to having the caring Titan on their side. Now their only guide was a miserable emaciated corpse lady with serious self-esteem issues.

As they struggled across the dusty plain, the fog became so thick that Lucia had to resist the urge to swat it away with her hands.

The only reason they were able to follow Akhlys's path without getting lost was because poisonous plants sprang up wherever she walked.

If they were still on the body of Tartarus, Lucia figured they must be on the bottom of his foot—a rough, calloused expanse where only the most disgusting plant life grew.

Finally, they arrived at the end of the big toe. At least that's what it looked like to Lucia. The fog dissipated, and they found themselves on a peninsula that jutted out over a pitch-black void.

"Here we are." Akhlys turned and leered at them. Blood from her cheeks dripped on her dress. Her sickly eyes looked moist and swollen but somehow excited. Can Misery look excited?

"Uh.. great," Percy asked. "Where is here?"

"The verge of final death," Akhlys said. "Where Night meets the void below Tartarus."

Lucia inched forward and peered over the cliff. "Chaos?"

"Oh, Yes, You're a smart one....." Akhlys coughed. "Even Tartarus had to rise from somewhere. This is the edge of the earliest darkness, which was my mother. Below lies the realm of Chaos, my father. Here, you are closer to nothingness than any mortal has ever been. Can you not feel it?"

Lucia knew what she meant. The void seemed to be pulling at her, stealing the breath from her lungs and the oxygen from her blood. She looked at Percy and saw that his lips were tinged blue.

"We can't stay here," He said.

"No, indeed!" Akhlys said. "Don't you feel the Death Mist? Even now, you pass between. Look!"

White smoke gathered around Lucia's feet. As it coiled up her legs, she realized the smoke wasn't surrounding her. It was coming from her. Her whole body was dissolving. She held up her hands and found they were fuzzy and indistinct.

She turned to Percy and stifled a yelp. "You're—Oh gods..."

She couldn't believe it. He looked dead. It made her skin crawl and bile rise in her throat.

"You too..." His voice dragged on. His skin was sallow, his eye sockets dark and sunken. His beautiful hair had dried into a skein of cobwebs. He looked like he'd been stuck in a cool, dark mausoleum for decades, slowly withering into a desiccated husk. When he turned to look at her, his features momentarily blurred into mist.

Percy's blood moved like sap in his veins. For years, he had worried about Lucia dying. When you were a demigod, that was something you knew to prepare for. Most half-bloods didn't live long. You always knew that the next monster you fought could be your last. But seeing Lucia like that was too painful. He'd rather stand in the River Phlegethon, or get attacked by arai, or be trampled by giants.

It was clear she felt a similar pain.

"Oh, gods," Lucia choked on a sob. "Percy, the way you look..."

Percy studied his arms. He took a few steps, though it was difficult. "I've looked better," he decided. "I can't move very well. But I'm all right. I promise Luz."

Akhlys clucked. "Oh, you're definitely not all right."

Percy frowned. "But we'll pass unseen now? We can get to the Doors of Death?"

"Well, perhaps you could," the goddess said, "if you lived that long, which you won't."

Lucia's eyes narrowed,

Akhlys spread her gnarled fingers. More plants bloomed along the edge of the pit hemlock, nightshade, and oleander spreading toward Percy's feet like a deadly carpet. "The Death Mist is not simply a disguise, you see. It is a state of being. I could not bring you this gift unless death followed—true death."

"It's a trap."  Lucia huffed.

The goddess cackled. "Didn't you expect me to betray you?"

"Yes," Lucia and Percy said together.

"Well, then, it was hardly a trap! More of an inevitability. Misery is inevitable. Pain is—"

"Yeah, Yeah,  let's skip the whole evil speech,"  Lucia growled. "Let's get to the fighting."

She notched an arrow and the next moment Percy drew Riptide. She shot it as he sliced forward, but their blades were made of smoke.

The arrow passed right through her, and when the sword slashed at Akhlys it floated across her like a gentle breeze.

The goddess's ruined mouth split into a grin. "Did I forget to mention? You are only mist now—a shadow before death. Perhaps if you had time, you could learn to control your new form. But you do not have time. Since you cannot touch me, I fear any fight with Misery will be quite one-sided."

Her fingernails grew into talons. Her jaw unhinged, and her yellow teeth elongated into fangs.

༄

AKHLYS LUNGED AT PERCY, LUCIA DOVE IN FRONT OF HIM.

The goddess's claws raked across her chest and stung like boiling water.

"Luz no!" He cried,

Light emitted from her wounds. Lucia huffed, her chest rising up and down as she stumbled backward.

He tried to catch her but he wasn't used to being smoky. His legs moved too slowly. His arms felt like tissue paper.

In desperation, he threw his backpack at Akhlys, thinking maybe it would turn solid when it left his hand, but no such luck. It fell with a soft thud.

"I'm okay." She winced, trying to stay on her feet. Golden light shone through her wounds making her feel unnaturally warm. "Just peachy ocean eyes!"

Akhlys snarled, crouching to spring. She would have bitten Lucia's face off if Percy hadn't charged and screamed,

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" right in the goddess's ear.

Akhlys flinched, turning toward the sound.

She lashed out at Percy, he seemed to have gained a good sense of moving around as smoke.

Percy dove straight between the goddess's legs and somersaulted to his feet. Akhlys turned and attacked, but Percy dodged again, like a matador and unsheathed riptide.

Lucia thought furiously, trying to come up with a way to defeat Misery. How could she fight when she couldn't touch anything?

On Akhlys's third attack, Percy wasn't so lucky. He tried to veer aside, but the goddess grabbed his wrist and pulled him hard, sending him sprawling.

Before the goddess could pounce, Lucia advanced, yelling out a cry. She still felt unsolid, she couldn't move like before, but her anger seemed to help her go faster.

"Hey, Akhlys!" She yelled. "Brighten up, Sunshine!"

Lucia squeezed her eyes shut to gain focus, she grunted as a bright flash of light erupted from her chest.

Akhlys groaned, dropping Percy's arm. "Sunshine?" she demanded. "How dare you! Stop it with that stupid light!"

"Aw come on!" Lucia ducked as she swiped at her head. "Be cheerful!"

"Arggh!" She lunged again, but she was off balance. Lucia sidestepped, golden light flicked from her fingertips and she backed away, leading the goddess farther from Percy.

"Pleasant!" She called, her voice getting angrier. "Delightful!"

The goddess snarled and winced as the light burned her flesh. She stumbled after Lucia. "I will kill you slowly!" she growled her eyes and nose watering, blood dripping from her cheeks. "I will cut you into pieces as a sacrifice to Night!"

Percy struggled to his feet.

"Cuddly!" Lucia screamed. "Fuzzy, warm, and huggable! That's what you need to be!"

Akhlys made a growling, choking noise, like a cat having a seizure. "A slow death!" she screamed. "A death from a thousand poisons!"

All around her, poisonous plants grew and burst like overfilled balloons.

"Percy!" Lucia screamed,

Green-and-white sap trickled out, collecting into pools, and began flowing across the ground toward Lucia. The sweet-smelling fumes made her head feel wobbly.

"Luz!" Percy's voice sounded far away. "Uh, hey, Miss Wonderful! Cheerful! Grins! Over fucking here!"

But the goddess of misery was now fixated on Lucia. She tried to retreat again. Unfortunately, the poison ichor was flowing all around her now, making the ground steam and the air burn. She found herself stuck on an island of dust not much bigger than a shield. A few yards away, Percy's backpack smoked and dissolved into a puddle of goo. She had nowhere to go.

She fell to one knee. She opened her mouth to tell Percy to run, but she couldn't speak. Her throat was as dry as dead leaves. Her aura flickered like a faulty flashlight as she began to cough.

I am so sick of poison!

"You will feed the eternal darkness," Akhlys said. "You will die in the arms of Night!"

She was dimly aware of Percy shouting, slashing riptide forward. He tried charging Akhlys who blocked him and continued on her pursuit against Luz. The white-green poison kept pooling, little streams trickling from the plants as the venomous lake around her got wider and wider.

Lake, Percy suddenly thought. Streams. Water. Probably it was just his brain getting fried from secondhand poison fumes, but he croaked out a laugh. Poison was liquid. If it moved like water, it must be partially water.

He remembered some science lecture about the human body being mostly water. He remembered extracting water from Jason's lungs back in Rome... If he could control that, then why not other liquids?

It was a crazy idea. Poseidon was the god of the sea, not of every liquid everywhere.

Then again, Tartarus had its own rules. Fire was drinkable. The ground was the body of a dark god. The air was acid, and demigods could be turned into smoky corpses.

So why not try? He had nothing left to lose. Anything to get her away from them. Anything to save Lucia...

He glared at the poison flood encroaching from all sides. He concentrated so hard that something inside him cracked—as if a crystal ball had shattered in his stomach.

Warmth flowed through him. The poison tide stopped. Lucia gasped out, choking out coughs. "P-Percy—"

The fumes blew away from her back toward the goddess. The lake of poison rolled toward her in tiny waves and rivulets.

Akhlys shrieked. "What is this?"

"Poison," Percy spat, smiling slightly. "That's your specialty, right?"

He stood, his anger growing hotter in his gut. As the flood of venom rolled toward the goddess. The fumes began to make her cough. Her eyes watered even more.

Oh, good, Percy thought.

More water.

Percy imagined her nose and throat filling with her own tears.

Akhlys gagged. "I—" The tide of venom reached her feet, sizzling like droplets on a hot iron. She wailed and stumbled back.

"Percy?" Lucia called.

He didn't want to stop. He wanted to choke this goddess. He wanted to watch her drown in her own poison. He wanted to see just how much misery, Misery could take.

Lucia walked closer to him once the poison wasn't after her. Her voice was steady but her eyes were widened.

He stood and stepped forward. The goddess was sputtering, choking on her own tears. Percy didn't relent, but continued to guide the poison streams toward Akhlys.

Lucia spoke slowly. Her throat constricted. The Death Mist clung to Percy like armor. Power rolled off him in waves. His hands were balled into fists and his green sea eyes were darkened. His stare unwavering.

"Percy." Lucia tried again

Akhlys gagged.

"Percy she can't die," She tried to remind him. "She's the personification of misery and sadness..."

He met Lucia's worried eye. The intensity of his gaze softened, and he turned his attention back to the goddess. "Leave!" He bellowed.

He turned to the goddess. He willed the poison to recede, creating a small path of retreat along the edge of the cliff.

She ran for her life.

She fell along the path, on her face, and got up again, wailing as she sped into the dark.

Lucia looked at him and surged forward, stumbling on auto-pilot in Percy's direction.

She looked like a corpse wreathed in smoke, but she felt solid enough when she gripped his arms. He responded in seconds.

The muscles where she grabbed him were pulsating rapidly. He met her eyes and she was relieved to see that they had returned to their normal color.

"Luz, I—" Percy began

"I'm so glad you're alive!" She cried, tears streaming down her face.

Percy's mouth fell open, He wiped away her tears, "I'm so glad you're alive."

"We have to get away from this cliff," Lucia told him. "If Akhlys brought us here as some kind of sacrifice..."

His whole body tingled with power, but the anger was subsiding. The broken glass inside him was beginning to smooth at the edges, but it was still broken glass... "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, okay."

Percy tried to think. "She said something about feeding us to the night," he remembered. "What was that about?"

The temperature dropped. The abyss before them seemed to exhale.

Percy grabbed Lucia and backed away from the edge as a presence emerged from the void—a form so vast and shadowy that she felt like she understood the concept of dark for the first time.

"I imagine," said the darkness, in a feminine voice as soft as coffin lining, "that she meant Night, with a capital N. After all, I am the only one."