I was never afraid of the dark, or at I thought I wasn't until now. The shadowy figure was forty feet tall. She had black wings, a whip made of stars, and a shadowy chariot pulled by vampire horses. Night was a churning figure of smoke and ash. Her dress was void black, mixed with colors of a space nebula. Her face was hard to see except for her eyes that shone like quasars. When her wings beat, waves of darkness rolled over the cliffs, making me feel heavy and sleepy.
The chariot was made of Stygian iron and pulled by two massive horses that were all black except for their fanged teeth. The beasts' legs floated in the abyss, turning from solid to smoke as they moved. The horses snarled and bared their teeth at me. Nyx lashed her whip and the horses reared back.
"No, Shade." The goddess said. "Down, Shadow. These little prizes are not for you."
Percy eyed the horses as they nickered. He was still shrouded in Death Mist, so he looked like an out-of-focus corpse-which broke my heart every time I looked at him. It also must not be very good camouflage since Nyx could see us still. I couldn't read Percy's expression well with the Death Mist. All I could see was that I knew Percy didn't like what the horses were saying.
"Uh, so you won't let them eat us?" Percy asked the goddess. "They really want to eat us."
"Of course not." Nyx's eyes burned. "I would not let my horses eat you, any more than I would let Akhlys kill you. Such fine prizes, I will kill myself!"
"Oh, don't kill yourself!" I blurted out. I didn't know where I was going, but all I knew was I had to distract her long enough to get answers and find a better plan. "We're not that scary."
"What?" The goddess lowered her whip. "No, I didn't mean-"
"Well, I'd hope not!" I continued, looking at Percy and forced a laugh. My eyes pleaded for him to follow along. "We wouldn't want to scare her, would we?"
"Ha, ha." Percy weakly laughed. "No, we wouldn't."
The horses looked confused. They reared and snorted and knocked their heads together. Nyx pulled back on their reins.
"Do you know who I am?" She demanded.
"You're Night, I suppose." I said with a shrug. "I mean, I can tell because you're dark and all do that, though the brochure didn't say much about you."
"What brochure?" Nyx's eyes winked out for a second.
"Let me..." I patted my pockets and pretended I lost the brochure. A frown grew on my face before glancing at Percy. "We had one, didn't we? Did I have it last?"
"Uh-huh." Percy licked his lips.
"Anyway," I flicked my hand in dismissal and gave Nyx a smile, "I guess the brochure didn't say much because you weren't spotlighted on the tour. We got to see the River Phlegethon, the Cocytus, the arai, the poison glade of Akhlys, even some random Titans and giants, Nyx...hmm, no. You weren't really featured."
"Featured? Spotlighted?"
"Yeah." Percy said, warming up to the idea. "We came down here for the Tartarus tour-like, exotic destinations, you know? The Underworld is overdone. Mount Olympus is a tourist trap-"
"Gods, it totally is!" I agreed. "So we booked the Tartarus excursion, but no one even mentioned we'd run into Nyx. Huh. Oh, well. Guess they didn't think you were important."
"Not important!" Nyx cracked her whip.
The horses bucked and snarled. Waves of darkness rolled out of the chasm, turning my insides to jelly from fear. I had to push it aside to continue the act I had going. I noticed Percy starting to raise his sword. I gently pushed his sword arm down to lower his weapon. This was an Ancient goddess, much older than anything we've faced so far. We had no chance if we fought her.
"Well," I faced the goddess with innocence, "how many other demigods have come to see you?"
"None." Nyx's hand went slack on the reins. "Not one. This is unacceptable!"
"Maybe it's because you haven't really done anything to get in the news." I shrugged. "I mean, I can understand Tartarus being important. This whole place is named after him. Or, if we could meet Day-"
"Oh, yeah." Percy chimed in. "Day? She would be impressive. I totally want to meet her. Maybe get her autograph."
"Day!" Nyx gripped the rail of her chariot. The whole chariot shuddered. "You mean Hemera? She is my daughter! Night is much more powerful than Day!"
"I don't know. I kind of liked the arai, or even Akhlys better." I said.
"They are my children as well!"
"Got a lot of children, huh?" Percy stifled a yawn.
"I am the mother of all terrors!" Nyx cried. "The Fates themselves! Hecate! Old Age! Pain! Sleep! Death! And all of the curses! Behold how newsworthy I am!"
She lashed her whip again. The darkness congealed around her. On either side, an army of shadows appeared-more arai; a withered man who had to be Geras, the god if old age; a younger woman in a black toga, her eyes gleaming and her smile like a serial killer's was Eris, the goddess of strife. More kept appearing, all of Night's children.
Every instinct told me to run. I was facing a brood of horror that could snap anyone's sanity. But if I were to run, I would for sure be killed. Percy's breathing turned shallow. Even through his misty ghoul disguise, I could see he was on the verge of panic.
I just had to continue acting that everything was fine. That I wasn't scared. I had to convince Night and her children that they did not terrify me. This was to be an acting experience of a lifetime.
"Yeah, not bad." I admitted, making sure my voice was strong. "I guess we could get a picture for the scrapbook, but I don't know. You guys are so...dark, you know? Even if I used a flash, I don't think it would come out right."
"Y-yeah." Percy managed. "You guys aren't photogenic."
"You-miserable-tourists!" Nyx hissed. "How dare you not tremble before me! How dare you not whimper and beg for my autograph and a picture for your scrapbook! You want newsworthy? My son Hypnos once put Zeus to sleep! Hypnos hid in my palace for safety, and Zeus did not follow. Even the king of Olympus fears me!"
"Uh-huh." I turned to Percy. "Well, it's getting late. I'm starved. We should probably get lunch at one of those restaurants the tour guide recommended. Then we can find the Doors of Death."
"Aha!" Nyx cried in triumph. Her brood of shadows stirred and echoed her. "You wish to see the Doors of Death? They lie in the very heart of Tartarus. Mortals such as you could never reach them, except through the halls of my palace-the Mansion of Night!"
She gestured behind her. Floating in the abyss, maybe three hundred feet below, was a doorway of black marble, leading into some sort of large room. My heart pounded against my rib cage. Our way out was through that palace down below. It was an impossible jump. If we missed, we'd fall into Chaos. Even if we could make the jump, Nyx and her most fearsome children stood in our way.
My mind raced as I tried to think of what to do now. How can we manage to distract them to get to the mansion? What usually stirs chaos among parents and their children? Favoritism.
"I suppose we could do one picture, but a group shot won't work." I heaved a sigh. "Nyx, how about one of you with your favorite child? Which one is that?"
The brood rustled. Dozens of horrible glowing eyes turned toward Nyx. The goddess shifted uncomfortably. Her shadow horses huffed and pawed at the void.
"My favorite child?" She asked. "All of my children are terrifying!"
"Seriously?" Percy snorted. "I've met the Fates. I've met Thanatos. They weren't so scary. You've got to have somebody in this crowd who's worse than that."
"The darkest. The most like you." I told her.
"I am the darkest." Eris hissed. "Ears and strife! I have caused all manner of death!"
"I am darker still!" Geras snarled. "I dim the eyes and addle the brain. Every mortal fears old age!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm not seeing enough dark." I told them. "I mean, you're the children of Night! Show me dark!"
The horde of arai wailed, flapping their leathery wings and stirring up clouds of blackness. Geras spread his withered hands and dimmed the entire abyss. Eris breathed a shadowy spray of buckshot across the void.
"I am the darkest!"
"No, I!"
"No! Behold my darkness!"
There wasn't an inch of light surround us. A blanket of pitch black covered the area. I gripped Percy's hand and tried my best not to panic.
"Wait!" Nyx called, suddenly panicked. "I can't see anything."
"Yes!" Shouted one of her children proudly. "I did that!"
"No, I did!"
"Fool, it was me!"
Dozens of voices argued in the darkness. The horses whinnied in alarm.
"Stop it!" Nyx yelled. "Whose foot is that?"
"Eris is hitting me!" Someone cried. "Mother, tell her to stop hitting me!"
"I did not!" Eris yelled. "Ouch!"
The sounds of scuffling got louder. If possible, the darkness became even deeper. My eyes dilated so much, it felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets. I squeezed Percy's hand.
"Ready?" I muttered.
"For what?" After a pause, he grunted unhappily. "Poseidon's underpants, you can't be serious."
"Somebody give me light!" Nyx screamed. "Gah! I can't believe I just said that!"
"It's a trick!" Eris yelled. "The demigods are escaping!"
"I've got them!" Screamed an arai.
"No, that's my neck!" Geras gagged.
"Jump!" I told Percy.
We leaped into the darkness, aiming for the doorway far, far below. I would've thought falling the three hundred feet would've felt quick compared to the fall into Tartarus. Then my feet hit solid ground. Pain shot up my legs, but I stumbled forward and broke into a run, hauling Percy after me. My eyes quickly shut.
"I've got them!" Nyx and her children scuffled and yelled above us. "My foot! Stop it!"
"Keep your eyes closed." I muttered to Percy.
I kept running. I had to rely on my other senses-listening for the echo of open spaces, feeling for cross-breezes against my face, sniffing for any scent of danger such as smoke, poison, or w. The squabbling sounds of Nyx's children got farther away. Percy was still running by my side.
In the distance ahead of us, I began to hear a throbbing sound that resembled a heartbeat. It was so powerful, the floor vibrated underfoot. The sound filled me with dread and figured that had to be the way to go. As the beat got louder, the smell of smoke lingered in the air and I could hear the sound of flickering torches on either side. A crawling sensation walked across my neck.
"Don't look." I squeezed my eyes tighter.
"Wasn't planning on it." Percy said. "You can feel that, right? We're still in the Mansion of Night. I do not want to see it."
Whatever horrors lay in the Mansion of Night weren't meant for mortal eyes. Seeing them would be worse than staring at the face of Medusa. It was safer to run in darkness.
The throbbing got louder, causing the vibrations to go straight up my spine. I could sense the walls opening up on either side of us. The air smelled fresher-or at least not quite as sulfurous. The sound of water that was closer than the deep pulsing. That had to be out of the Mansion of Night. I picked up my pace, desperate to get out.
"Ivy!" Percy pulled me back just as my foot hit the edge of a drop-off. I almost pitched forward into whatever was below us. My heart beat wildly in my chest as Percy grabbed me and wrapped me in his arms. "It's okay."
"Thanks." I shakily breathed out, pressing my face into his shirt. My body trembled. Percy placed a hand on the back of my head and held me tighter to his chest. "Can you tell what's in front of us?"
"Water." Percy said. I gently disentangled myself from his arms, not really wanting to leave the security of his arms. "I'm still not looking. I don't think it's safe yet."
"I agree."
"I can sense a river...or maybe it's a moat. It's blocking our path, flowing left to right through a channel cut in the rock. The opposite side is about twenty feet away."
"Is there a bridge, or-"
"I don't think so." Percy said. "And there's something wrong with the water. Listen."
I strained my ears to try to hear. Within the roaring current, thousand of voices cried out-shrieking in agony, pleading for mercy.
Help! They groaned. It was an accident!
The pain! Their voices wailed. Make it stop!
"It has to be the River Acheron." I assumed as tortured souls were swept but the current deeper into Tartarus. "The fifth river of the Underworld."
"I liked the Phlegethon better than this." Percy muttered.
"Me too. This is the River of Pain. The ultimate punishment for the souls of the damned-especially murders." I explained.
Murders! The river wailed. Yes, like you!
Join us. Another voice whispered. You are no better than we are.
My head flooded with images of all the monsters I'd killed over the years.
That wasn't murder. I protested, trying to get the images out of my mind. It was self-defense!
People's faces started to appear in my mind. Michael Yew and Silena Beauregard, along with others who had died in the Battle of Manhattan.
You could have prevented it. The river told me. You should have seen a better way.
Then Castor came to mind. My heart strings felt like they were being pulled out one by one. The image of Castor lying dead on the ground. His blood soaking the ground. I should've gotten to him on time. I could've saved him.
His blood is on your hands! The river wailed. You could have prevented it!
My lower lip started to wobble. I've been wrestling with that thought for years now. I could have been able to protect him. To save him. I could have been able to control the vines to take the enemy away from him before Castor was killed.
You not saving him made you an accomplice. You murdered him! The river cried. Jump in!
I felt myself lean towards the edge. Percy gripped my arm and pulled me towards him. I could feel his hand trembling.
"Don't listen." Percy thickly told me.
"But-"
"I know." His voice sounded as brittle as ice. "They're telling me the same stuff. I think... I think the moat must be the border of Night's territory. If we get across, we should be okay. We'll have to jump."
"But you said it was twenty feet!"
"Yeah. You'll have to trust me." Percy said. "Put your arms around my neck and hang on."
"There!" Cried a voice behind us. "Kill the ungrateful tourists!"
The children of Nyx had found us. I quickly wrapped my arms around Percy's neck.
"Go!"
With my eyes closed, I could only guess how Percy managed it. He could have used the force of the river somehow. He could have used his adrenaline. Percy leaped with more strength than I would have thought possible. We sailed the light the air as the river churned and wailed below us, splashing my bare ankles with stinging brine. I buried my face into the crook of Percy's neck. Then we landed on solid ground.
"You can open your eyes." Percy said, breathing hard. "But you won't like what you see."
I blinked my eyes open. My eyes adjusted to the dim red glow that. I winced as it was a lot bright compared to the pitch blackness we had escaped from. Before us stretched a big valley. The booming noise came from the entire landscape, as if thunder were echoing from beneath the ground. Under poisonous clouds, the rolling terrain glistened purple with dark red and blue scar lines.
"That looks...it looks like.." I swallowed back the revulsion that grew in me. "Like a giant heart."
"The heart of Tartarus." Percy murmured.
The center of the valley was covered with a fine black fuzz of peppery dots. It took me a while to realize it was an army that were far away from where we stood. They were gathered around a central pinpoint of darkness. Even from the edge of the valley, I could feel the pinpoint's power tugging at my soul.
"The Doors of Death." I breathed out.
"Yeah." Percy's voice was hoarse.
He still had the pale, wasted complexion of a corpse. I wasn't feeling much better than he did.
"What happened to Nyx...?" I glanced over my shoulder.
Somehow we'd landed several hundred yards from the banks of Acheron, which flowed through a channel cut into black volcanic hills. Beyond that was darkness. Not a sign of Nyx or her children. Then a patch of glowing white hair appeared over the ridge with a grinning face and pure silver eyes.
"Bob?" A smile grew on my lips as I grasped Percy's arm in excitement. "Oh my gods, Bob!"
"Friends!" The Titan lumbered toward us.
The bristles of his broom had been burned off. His uniform was slashed with new claw marks, but he looked delighted. On his shoulder, Small Bob purred almost as loudly as the pulsing heart of Tartarus.
"I found you!" Bob gathered Percy and I into a rib-crushing hug. "You look like smoking dead people. That is good!"
"Urf." Percy said. "How did you get here? Through the Mansion of Night?"
"No, no." Bob shook his head adamantly. "That place is too scary. Another way-only good for Titans and such."
"Let me guess." My grin grew. "You went sideways."
"Hmm." Bob scratched his chin, evidently at a loss for words. "No. More...diagonal."
I laughed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and then pecked his cheek. Bob blinked.
"We stay together now?" Bob asked.
"Yes." I nodded. "Time to see if this Death Mist works."
"And if it doesn't..." Percy stopped himself.
There was no point in wondering about that. We were about to march into the middle of an enemy army. If we were spotted, we were dead.
"Let's go close those Doors." I told them.