ΉӨЦƧΣ ӨF ΉΛDΣƧ

WHEN THEY REACHED THE LEDGE, Lucia was almost certain that she'd signed their death warrants.

The cliff dropped more than eighty feet. At the bottom stretched a canyon gorge: a river of fire cutting a path through a jagged obsidian crevasse, the glowing red current casting horrible shadows across the cliff face.

Even from the top of the canyon, the heat was intense. It radiated into her causing her to burn up like a furnace. Lucia stepped further away from Percy to keep him from burning up, he frowned in disappointment as a bead of sweat fell from his forehead, simultaneously a breath of relief fell from his lips at the loss of her heat.

The chill of the River Cocytus hadn't left her bones, but now her face felt raw and sunburned.

Lucia never got a sunburn before, She always tanned. But if she were to guess how a sunburn felt she'd guess it was like this, her skin felt like it was burning, it was hot to the touch. The usual comforting warmth she always felt within her now felt suffocating.

Every breath took more out of her, Almost as if her chest was filling with lead. The cuts on her hands bled more rather than less. Lucia started seeing a blur the longer she looked around, this darkness took over her, her aura flickered on and off...She needed to get to the river before it managed to kill her.

Assuming they could make it down to the fiery river, which she didn't have much hope for, her plan seemed certifiably insane.

"Luz, hey..." Percy tried to reach out.

She moved away, avoiding his touch. "Stop, it'll hurt you.."

"But..." Percy frowned and ran a hand through his hair in frustration, he looked around and examined the cliff. He pointed to a tiny fissure running diagonally from the edge to the bottom. "We can try that ledge there. Might be able to climb down."

He didn't say they'd be crazy to try. He managed to sound hopeful.

Lucia was incredibly grateful for that, but she also couldn't shake that she was leading him to his doom. She didn't want anything to ever happen to Percy, but if he ever got hurt because of her... The guilt and grief would eat her alive.

She wished desperately that Annabeth were here to tell her whether her plan sucked or not. She then quickly chided herself for thinking of her best girlfriend in this miserable place.

She wanted to borrow the blonde's levelheadedness, Lucia wasn't thinking too rationally right now. Her emotions were swirling in her stomach and made her feel like she was about to implode. All she wanted to do was survive with her boyfriend.

They had to try, they had to do anything. If they stayed there, they would die anyway.

Blisters had started to form on their arms from exposure to the Tartarus air. The environment was like a nuclear blast zone. Lucia felt like there was toxic waste rising in her throat.

Percy went first. The ledge was barely wide enough to allow a toehold.

"Be careful, Don't rush." She warned. "And one step at a time."

"No, really Luz? I was going to skip my way over there ." He muttered as she followed.

She pouted and narrowed her eyes which were watering due to the sulforous air. "Hey watch the sass with me, You Kelp Head,"

He chuckled, a small soft chuckle but it caused Lucia's chest to feel lighter.  "It'll never happen again, Sunlight."

Their hands clawed for any crack in the glassy rock. Every time Lucia put pressure on her hands, she wanted to yell. She'd ripped off the sleeves of the nurse's dress and used the fabric to wrap her bloody palms, but her fingers were still slippery and weak.

A few steps below her, Percy grunted as he reached for another handhold.

"So..what is this fire river called?" He asked.

"The Phlegethon," she responded. "Now concentrate Bobo."

"The Phlegethon?" He shimmied along the ledge. They'd made it roughly a third of the way down the cliff still high enough up to die if they fell. "Sounds like a marathon for hawking spitballs."

"Please don't make me laugh," Lucia muttered, "I'm trying not to fall to my death right now."

"Just trying to keep things light."

"I know, Thanks love," she grunted, nearly missing the ledge with her foot. "I'll have the happiest face on as I plummet."

"Wow, that's a real dark thought, sunlight."

"A pun, Seriously?" She grumbled, but there was a hum in her voice that showed she was trying to keep things light for him as well. Lucia wasn't the only one terrified and lost right now. "Why am I dating you again? Y'know I could've had Annabeth. We'd be an amazing couple I think."

"Here we go again." His voice held the same subtle air of playfulness, "You chose your Kelphead, now deal with it."

"Oh, I will." She singsonged, Percy let out a small sigh at the sweet sound of her voice.

They kept going, one step at a time. Lucia's eyes stung with sweat. Her arms trembled. But to her amazement, they finally reached the cliff's bottom.

When she reached the ground, she stumbled. Percy caught her in his arms and cried out in pain.

The sound of his cry jolted her away from him  "No!" Her eyes widened and fixed on the boy in front of her with a mix of horror, concern, and guilt. "Percy, Perce, are you okay!"

She was alarmed by how feverish his skin had felt. Red boils had erupted on his face, and arms so he looked like he was a smallpox victim.

"All good, sunlight." He gave her two weak thumbs up and stumbled back. Lucia grabbed onto his shirt to keep him from falling. He gained his balance, but there was now a fist-shaped hole seared onto it.

We have to hurry, she thought.

Her vision was going from blurred figures to spots of darkness. Her throat felt blistered, throbbing with pain, and her stomach was clenched tighter than a fist.

"Just to the river," she told Percy, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. She failed. "We can do this."

They staggered over slick glass ledges, and around massive boulders, avoiding stalagmites that would've impaled them with any slip of the foot. Their tattered clothes steamed from the heat of the river, but they kept going until they crumpled to their knees at the banks of the Phlegethon.

"Drink," Lucia told him. Her body ached. "We need to, drink from it."

Percy swayed, his eyes half-closed. It took him a few seconds to respond.

"Uh...drink fire?"

"The Phlegethon flows from Hades's realm down into Tartarus."

She could barely talk, her voice didn't sound like her own anymore. Typically, there was a soothing cadence to it, like the gentle hum of a harp string. Even when she was angry, it resonated like notes from a piano. Now, as her throat closed up, she sounded as raspy as her stepmother without the layers of autotune.

"The river is used to punish the wicked. But also...some legends call it the River of Healing."

"Some legends?"

Lucia swallowed, trying to stay conscious. "I learned that the Phlegethon keeps the wicked in one piece so that they can endure the torments of the Fields of Punishment...it might be the Underworld equivalent of ambrosia and nectar."

Percy winced as cinders sprayed from the river, curling around his face.

"But it's fire. How can we—"

"Like this."

"Whoa wait—!"

Lucia thrust her hands into the river and flames danced on her palms.

Was it impulsive of her to just reach into a river of fire?

Well, Yes.

But she was convinced they had no other choices. If they waited any longer, they would both lose consciousness and eventually die. And Lucia already knew she would be the first to go.

Better to try something reckless and hope it works.

On first contact, the fire wasn't immediately painful. It felt strangely comforting, the intense heat was overwhelming Lucia's nerves. Without giving herself a chance to second-guess, she cupped the fiery liquid in her palms and raised it to her mouth.

Expecting a taste akin to gasoline, she was taken aback. It was much worse. Lucia felt as though her respiratory system was on the verge of collapsing.

Drinking from the Phlegethon felt like gulping down a handful of Carolina reapers. Her sinuses filled with liquid flame. Her mouth felt scorched, every sip was a torment. Boiling tears streamed from her eyes, and every pore on her face seemed to pop. She collapsed, gagging and retching, her entire body shaking violently.

"Luz!" Percy grabbed her arms and managed to stop her from rolling into the river. He hissed but made sure she was safe before he let himself let go. His hands were now blistered and throbbing in pain.

The convulsions passed. Lucia took a ragged breath and managed to sit up.

She felt feeble and nauseous, but her next breath came more easily. The blisters on her arms began to fade. The color returned to her face, and a dim golden aura shimmered in the darkness.

"It worked," she croaked. "Percy, you've got to drink."

His eyes rolled up in his head, and he slumped against her. This time, their contact didn't seem to burn him. She was incredibly grateful to be able to touch him again.

Desperately, she cupped more fire in her palm. She ignored the pain that erupted from them and dripped the liquid into Percy's mouth. He didn't respond.

She tried again, pouring a whole handful down his throat. This time he spluttered and coughed.

Lucia held him close to her as he trembled, the magical fire coursing through his system. His fever disappeared. His boils faded. He managed to sit up and smack his lips.

"Ugh, That has to be the worst way you've ever healed me," He spat into the river. "Spicy, yet disgusting."

Lucia laughed weakly. She was so relieved, she felt light-headed. "Yeah. Way worse than my cooking."

He smiled, his hand ran down her arm and held hers. He kissed it, appreciating the fact that he could feel her warm skin. "You saved us."

"For now," she muttered miserably. "The problem is, we're still in Tartarus..."

Percy blinked. He looked around as if just coming to terms with where they were. "Holy Hera. I never thought... well, I'm not sure what I thought. Maybe that Tartarus was empty space, a pit with no bottom. But this is a real place."

Lucia recalled the landscape she'd seen while they fell—a series of plateaus leading ever downward into the gloom.

"We haven't seen all of it," she warned. "This could be just the first tiny part of the abyss..."

"The welcome mat," Percy muttered.

Lucia groaned, "Now, why'd you have to say that."

They both gazed up at the blood-colored clouds swirling in the gray haze.

No way would they have the strength to climb back up that cliff, even if they wanted to. Now there were only two choices: downriver or upriver, skirting the banks of the Phlegethon.

"We'll find a way out," Percy reassured. "The Doors of Death."

Lucia shuddered. She remembered what she had said to Nico before they fell into Tartarus. She made him promise to lead the Argo II to Epirus, to the mortal side of the Doors of Death.

'Please Nico, Do this for me' Was the last thing she said to the boy.

Lucia nodded, even though she truly thought this idea seemed even crazier than drinking fire. How could the two of them wander through Tartarus and find the Doors of Death? They'd barely been able to stumble a hundred yards in this poisonous place without dying. But she had to have hope and force herself to be optimistic... For more than just her sanity.

"We have to," Lucia hummed. "Not just for us. For everybody we love. The Doors have to be closed on both sides, or the monsters will just keep coming through. Gaea's forces will overrun the world."

They had no way of locating the Doors. They didn't know how much time it would take, or even if time flowed at the same speed in Tartarus. How could they possibly synchronize a meeting with their friends? And Nico had mentioned a legion of Gaea's strongest monsters guarding the Doors on the Tartarus side. Lucia and Percy couldn't exactly launch a frontal assault.

She decided not to mention any of that.

They both already knew the odds were bad, so Lucia instead gave him a comforting smile.

"Together?" She asked.

"We win." He finished.

Besides, after swimming in the River Cocytus, Lucia had heard enough whining and moaning to last a lifetime. She promised herself never to complain again.

"Well." She took a deep breath, grateful at least that her lungs didn't hurt. "If we stay close to the river, we'll have a way to heal ourselves. If we go downstream—"

It happened so fast, Lucia would have been dead if she'd been on her own.

Percy's eyes locked on something behind her. Lucia spun as a massive dark shape hurtled down at her a snarling, monstrous blob with spindly barbed legs and glinting eyes.

She had a moment to recognize who really advanced at her: Arachne.

But then, she became frozen in terror when her monstrous face distorted into Agatha's.

Greying blonde hair and grueling blue eyes pierced into hers, manicured claws reached for her throat. Blood poured out from a burn wound in her stepmother's chest...

Then she heard the familiar SHINK of Percy's ballpoint pen transforming into a sword. His blade swept over her head in a glowing bronze arc.

A horrible wail echoed through the canyon.

Lucia stood there, stunned, as yellow dust—the remains of Arachne—rained around her like tree pollen.

"You okay?" Percy scanned the cliffs and boulders, alert for more monsters, but nothing else appeared. The golden dust of the spider settled on the obsidian rocks.

Lucia stared at her boyfriend in amazement. Riptide's Celestial bronze blade glowed even brighter in the gloom of Tartarus. As it passed through the thick hot air, it made a defiant hiss like a riled snake.

"She...she would've killed me," Lucia stammered. She was too afraid to voice what she saw, that would've made it more real...

Percy kicked the dust on the rocks, his expression grim and dissatisfied.

"She died too easily," He growled, "She tortured Annabeth, and she attacked you, She deserved worse..."

Lucia didn't argue with that, but the hard edge in Percy's voice unsettled her. She'd never seen him get that angry or vengeful on her behalf.

It almost made her glad Arachne had died quickly. "How did you move so fast?"

Percy shrugged. "Gotta watch each other's backs, right? Now, you were saying...downstream?"

Lucia nodded, still in a daze. The yellow dust dissipated on the rocky shore turning to steam. At least now they knew monsters could be killed in Tartarus...though they had no idea how long Arachne would remain dead.

Either way, she wouldn't be staying long enough to figure it out.

"Yeah, downstream," she managed. "If the river comes from the upper levels of the Underworld, it should flow deeper into Tartarus—"

"So it leads into more dangerous territory," Percy finished.

"Yes...Which is probably where the Doors are." Lucia exhaled, "Lucky us..."

She didn't have the heart to tell him that she had no idea how in the world she—a daughter of the sun god—a girl terrified of the dark—a soldier who had seen enough monsters, was ever going to survive this darkness and make it to those doors with him.

At the onset of what felt more like a torment tailored just for her, Lucia trembled.

It's okay, be brave, Lucia...

She tried to comfort herself and curtail her panic,

...Be brave.

A/N: Hi hi! it's been a while, but here's a new chapter for Greek tragedy! I wanted to focus a little more on developing some of my other stories and now I feel prepared and confident enough to work on all of them! The thing is that since this is hoo it takes a little longer to write for than pjo also since I am adding a lot of original plots. Anyways, I really hope you guys enjoy and stay for the ride with me. I just saw that Heliophilia reached 160k and couldn't actually believe it! It has gained so much attention and I'm so grateful. Thank you all so much for your support. I love seeing everyone's thoughts <3

P.S. If you'd like I have started a Pinterest for all my stories and my @ is Veronicasplanet, the same as my Spotify, also I have added more graphics (I am a writer, not an editor!) to the beginnings of my story if you want to check it out!

—V