Percy In Tartarus

12: The House of Night

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Word Count: 4,455 words

POV: Percy

Chapter 12: The House of Night

Percy had never feared the dark before. Even as a child, he hadn't feared it; in fact, he found comfort in dark closets, where the shadows would cradle and hide him. Then again, the dark wasn't normally forty feet tall, bore giant black wings, had a whip made of stars, and led a chariot pulled by vampire horses.

Night was almost too much to take in.

Looming over the chasm, Night was a churning figure of ash and smoke as big as the Athena Parthenos. Her dress was a black void mixed with the colours of a space nebula, as if galaxies were being born in her bodice. Her face was hard to see except for the pinpoints of her eyes, which shone like quasars. When her wings beat, waves of darkness rolled over the cliffs, making Percy shiver with the cold. The goddess' chariot looked to be made of the same material as Nico's sword – stygian iron – and was pulled by two massive horses, all black except for their pointed silver fangs. The beasts' legs floated in the abyss, turning from solid to smoke as they moved. On their backs were vampiric wings.

The horses snarled like predators and bared their fangs at Percy.

Night lashed her whip – a thin streak of stars like diamond barbs – and the horses reared back.

"No, Shade," the goddess said. "Down, Shadow. This little prize is not for you."

Percy eyed the horses. As the son of Poseidon, creator of horses, Percy could usually understand any animals in the horse family. But these black beasts weren't speaking coherently. Percy wasn't even sure they were really horses. They sounded like wailing banshees begging for Percy's flesh; just mindless animals being controlled against their will. Their cries made Percy want to scratch his ears off.

"Prize?" Percy heard himself ask, then flinched as Night used her whip again. The stars crackled and made a sound like a gunshot, and the vampire horses reared back and roared. Percy shuffled backwards. "I mean, um ... it was really nice to meet you," Percy started. His hands itched for Xenia at his waist, but he was hesitant to do anything that could be seen as a threat in front of the goddess. He was stupid, but he wasn't that stupid. "But I need to ... I-I need to go, now."

"Little god-killer," Night crooned, voice like molten honey. Percy's blood froze in his veins at the title Night bestowed upon him. "You came all this way; it would be a shame for you to leave so soon."

"I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome," Percy insisted, still backing away slowly.

"And yet," Night said, "you have been living in the Pit for how long?"

"Only a month ... or two ... I think ..." Percy stumbled over his words, suddenly doubting the track of time.

"And what an eventful few months those have been!" Night seemed to praise. She cracked her whip again in excitement. "Tell me, have you ever killed a god before?"

"I didn't kill Akhlys," Percy denied. When Night answered in silence, he swallowed thickly. "I didn't ... I didn't mean to! She'll come back soon, won't she? She's a god!"

"Even gods have limits," Night said. "And my daughter won't be back for a very, very long time ..."

"Your daughter?" Percy asked, horrified.

"Yes, one of my oldest," Night said, sounding dismissive.

If Percy wasn't sure about his imminent death before, he was now. He had just killed a goddess' daughter, and even though she seemed not to care about Akhlys, Percy knew how fickle the gods could be. At any moment, Night could decide to smite him, and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. He was exhausted and still burning on fumes from his fight with Akhlys. He was shaking where he stood, partially from fatigue and partially from fear. Night was the mother of Akhlys. Percy had just thrown her daughter off the cliff into nothingness. And his one trump card, his new abilities – controlling poison and ichor – he didn't have a lot of faith in, especially in such a tired state. Night seemed powerful, and not someone you wanted to make an enemy of. It was just Percy's luck.