SANITY; heroes of olympus

04.8

"That shield," Dom murmured. "That's his. I thought it was just a story."

"Oh, no," the old hag wailed. "The shield of Hercules. He painted me on its surface, so his enemies would see me in their final moments—the goddess of misery." She coughed so hard, it made the demigod's chest hurt. "As if Hercules knew true misery. It's not even a good likeness!"

Dom hesitated. When she and her friends had encountered Hercules at the Straits of Gibraltar, it hadn't gone well. The exchange had involved a lot of yelling, death threats, and blood and gore.

"What's his shield doing here?" She asked.

The goddess stared at the girl with her wet milky eyes. Her cheeks dripped blood, making red polka dots on her tattered dress. "He doesn't need it anymore, does he? It came here when his mortal body was burned. A reminder, I suppose, that no shield is sufficient. In the end, misery overtakes all of you. Even Hercules."

Dom tried to focus on why she was there, who and what she was fighting for. Friends. Family. A better world. The chance to live past seventeen. But as she looked at Akhlys, all of that seemed to fade slightly, and the pain that the goddess radiated began to overtake...everything.

"Bob," she said, "we shouldn't have come here."

From somewhere inside Bob's uniform, the skeleton kitten mewled in agreement.

The Titan shifted and winced as if Small Bob was clawing his armpit. "Akhlys controls the Death Mist," he insisted. "She can hide you."

"Hide her?" Akhlys made a gurgling sound. She was either laughing or choking to death. "Why would I do that?"

"She must reach the Doors of Death," Bob said. "To return to the mortal world."

"Impossible!" Akhlys said. "The armies of Tartarus will find you. They will kill you. They already hunt you."

Andy grinned. "So your Death Mist wouldn't help me, anyways, right?"

The goddess' eyes drilled into her with blinding fury, but Andy didn't even flinch. "And who are you?"

Mania came to life in the redhead's hand, glinting under the harsh, red light of Tartarus. "The daughter of Dionysus."

Dom took a step back when Akylys laughed, wicked and sharp. The sound echoed all around, like it was taking over and drawing out every other noise in this horrible, dark, deadly place.

"I didn't travel all of this way, across this hellhole to get to the Doors of Death just for you, a minor Greek goddess to tell me no." Dom spat.

The dust quivered at their feet. Fog swirled around them with a sound like agonised wailing.

"Minor goddess?" Akhlys's gnarled fingernails dug into Hercules's shield, gouging the metal. "I was old before the Titans were born, you ignorant girl. I was old when Gaea first woke. Misery is eternal. Existence is misery. I was born of the eldest ones—of Chaos and Night. I was—"

"You were sadness and misery and everything absolutely horrific. I know the story. I've felt that way before and I have fought long and hard to escape it. And I overcame that sadness and misery, I overcame it and I refuse to go back." The girl took a step forward, clenching her jaw. "Like I said before, you wouldn't help me. Useless."

Andy's voice was cautious, Um, Dom? Maybe don't—

Work with me. Was Dom's only reply.

"You sit here, wallowing in your grief, staring at a shield that reflects you perfectly." Dom pointed at Bob. "And Bob has come all this way, right alongside me, protecting me, keeping me alive, only for you to come as a disappointment."