TERRIFIED . . . annabeth chase

fifty three.

Val 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."

Akhlys spread her gnarled fingers. More plants bloomed along the edge of the pit — hemlock, nightshade, and oleander spreading toward Val'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," Annabeth said.

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

"Yes," Val, Annabeth, and Percy said together.

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

"Yeah, yeah," Percy growled. "Let's get to the fighting."

He drew Riptide, but the blade was made of smoke. When he slashed at Akhlys, the sword just 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.

* * *

The dumbness came back again.

The goddess's claws raked across Percy's chest and he stumbled, throwing his backpack. That idea did not work.

Akhlys snarled, crouching to spring. That was when the stupidity transferred to Val, and she charged and screamed, "HEY!" right in the goddess's ear.

Akhlys flinched, turning toward the sound.

She lashed out at Val, but Val was better at moving than Percy. And everything else.

Val dove straight between the goddess's legs and somersaulted to her feet. Akhlys turned and attacked, but Val dodged again, using the shadows to her advantage.

On Akhlys's third attack, Val wasn't so lucky. She tried to veer aside, but the goddess grabbed Val's wrist and pulled her hard, sending her sprawling.

Before the goddess could pounce, Percy advanced, yelling and waving his sword.

"Hey, Happy!" he yelled.

Akhlys spun, dropping Val's arm. "Happy?" she demanded.

"Yeah!" He ducked as the goddess swiped at his head. "You're downright cheerful!"

"Arggh!" She lunged again, but she was off balance. Percy sidestepped and backed away, leading the goddess farther from Val. Annabeth ran toward Val and checked if she was okay.

"Pleasant!" he called. "Delightful!"

The goddess snarled and winced. She stumbled after Percy. Each compliment seemed to hit her like sand in the face.

"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!"

Annabeth started rifling through her pack, no doubt looking for something that might help. Val got to her feet and frowned, searching for something that could help.

"Cuddly!" Percy yelled. "Fuzzy, warm, and huggable!"

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. Green-and-white sap trickled out, collecting into pools, and began flowing across the ground toward Percy.

"Percy!" Annabeth screamed. "Uh, hey, Miss Wonderful! Cheerful! Grins! Over here!"

But the goddess of misery was now fixated on Percy. He tried to retreat again. The poison ichor was flowing all around him now, making the ground steam and the air burn. He was stuck on an island of dust not much bigger than a shield. His backpack smoked and dissolved into a puddle of goo. Percy had nowhere to go.

He fell to one knee. Val tried to do something, but she was too weak right now. She probably couldn't use her powers if it was life or death.

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

Annabeth shouted, throwing random pieces of drakon jerky at the goddess. Val tried to charmspeak the goddess, but her charmspeak never worked on goddesses. Weird.

Suddenly, the poison tide stopped.

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

Akhlys shrieked. "What is this?"

"Poison," Percy said. "That's your specialty, right?"

He stood menacingly. As the flood of venom rolled toward the goddess, the fumes began to make her cough. Her eyes watered even more. The look in his eyes were filled with mania. Val felt fear crawling up the throat.

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

"Percy!" Annabeth called.

She'd retreated to the edge of the cliff, pulling Val with her, even though the poison wasn't after them.

"Stop . . ." Annabeth pleaded, her voice hoarse.

He didn't stop. Annabeth pulled on Val's arm.

"Percy, stop!" Val charmspoke, though her voice was full of fear. "Please."

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

"Leave!" he bellowed.

For an emaciated ghoul, Akhlys could run pretty fast when she wanted to. She scrambled along the path, fell on her face, and got up again, wailing as she sped into the dark.

As soon as she was gone, the pools of poison evaporated. The plants withered to dust and blew away.

Annabeth stumbled toward Percy. She gripped his arms.

"Percy, please don't ever . . ." Her voice broke in a sob. "Some things aren't meant to be controlled. Please."

"Yeah," Percy said. "Yeah, okay."

"We have to get away from this cliff," Val said, walking up to them, stretching her arms. "If Akhlys brought us here as some kind of sacrifice . . ."

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

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

Val backed away from the edge as a presence emerged from the void — a form so vast and shadowy, 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."