𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘'𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐊.
apparently, being in tartarus was horrible, especially for the goddess of love.
who would've thought, right?
cherry's hand didn't leave percy's as they fell. her other hand was in annabeths.
how long has they been falling?
years?
minutes?
cherry wanted to fly-out. she could make it, right?
with 2 people on her back? as her spirit faded away and sunk down into the pit below her?
definitely not.
she didn't know why she was so useless.
every thought, every moment, made her feel worse.
percy tried to speak to her, but the girl didn't even hear him. she was just looking ahead.
"guys!" annabeth yelled. "water!"
the girl gestured frantically.
percy's face was hard to read in the dim red light. he looked terrified, but he nodded as if he understood.
percy could control water, assuming that was water below them.
he could probably cushion their fall, or something. it was their only chance.
the river was getting closer and closer.
suddenly, the water erupted in a massive geyser and swallowed them whole.
cherry blinked. the cold water seemed to sting every piece of her warm skin.
annabeth began to lose her grip, but cherry only held her tighter.
millions of heartbroken voices rang in cherry's ear, and the girl frowned. percy knew that she upset. naturally, she was emotionally vulnerable. there was nothing he could do.
cherry's eyes were glazed over.
there was no hope for her. what was there left to do? nothing.
the water wasn't that even that cold. it was sort of inviting. she could find peace in everything. that was the only way she could lead a simple life; death.
percy used his free hand to grab her face.
his eyes searched hers, but she didn't look back at him. percy created a whirlpool to buoy them up.
annabeth pointed at land, and tried to get him to swim that way.
percy stared at his girlfriend, not hearing a word annabeth was saying. the mere idea that she was upset made him miserable.
"pointless," percy murmured, as he began to sink.
"your immortal girlfriend is gonna fade away and die because you, the son of poseidon, can't get yourself to swim." annabeth argued, trying to get him to snap out of it.
"i'll die with her." percy spoke, his hand still gripping hers.
"you know her. she doesn't want to die."
"she doesn't. she likes painting her nails and tyson. she said she wouldn't miss his birthday."
"so don't let her."
together, percy and annabeth used their collective strength to reach the riverbank. they hauled themselves a shore.
cherry seemed to curl into herself, collapsing onto the dark sand.
her skin began to bleed.
the air was acid, the water was misery, the ground was broken glass.
percy lifted his girlfriend off of the floor.
he stared at her skin.
she would've rather died than wear pants instead of a skirt, but percy really started wishing she'd invest in some sweatpants.
maybe some armor.
percy held his girlfriend in his arms, his eyes searching her whole face.
she looked so.. blue.
he wondered if it was really his favorite color after all. not like this. it made him sickly.
"cherry. cher, get up. please." percy pleaded. "the ten thousand dollar purse that you spent years trying to buy is gone."
cherry's eyes remained still.
"please, cherry, i need you." percy begged.
the fog began to lift from her eyes, slowly.
she studied him. the dripping wet blonde hair that stuck to his forehead. he looked blue. he was shivering.
"percy." cherry managed.
he was careful to hug her. when he pulled away, his arms were covered in her blood.
"you need a bandaid." he advised.
"probably the entire package." cherry winced.
"we should keep moving or we'll get hypothermia," annabeth said. "can you stand?"
all three of them struggled to their feet.
blood-colored clouds floated in the gray. the black beach dropped off the edge of a cliff in the distance.
"look." percy pointed down streamsteam.
a baby-blue italian car was crashed headfirst into the sand.
together, they stumbled toward the wreckage of the car. the windows were shattered, and all that remained was a cocoon. the trap was empty.
"she's alive." annabeth was so horrified, so outraged by the unfairness of it all, she had to suppress the urge to throw up.
"it's tartarus," percy said. "monster home court. down here, maybe they can't be killed. or maybe she's badly wounded, and she crawled away to die."
"hopefully." cherry spoke, gently pressing her skin, and watching carefully as they disappeared.
"this place is killing us," annabeth stared at her own cuts.ºi mean, it's literally going to kill us, unless.."
cherry took annabeths hand in her own, tracing over the cuts until they faded into nothing.
"unless what?" percy prompted. "you've got a brilliant plan, don't you?"
"it's a plan," annabeth murmured. "i don't know about brilliant. we need to find the river of fire."
when the trio reached the ledge, cherry felt nothing but hopeless.
the cliff dropped more than eighty feet. at the bottom stretched a nightmarish version of the grand canyon: a river of fire cutting a path through a jagged obsidian crevasse, the glowing red current casting horrible shadows across the cliff faces.
even from the top of the canyon, the heat was intense.
every breath took more effort, as if her chest was filled with styrofoam peanuts. annabeth's foot, which had been almost healed, seemed to be reinjuring itself.
she'd taken off her makeshift cast, but now she regretted it.
each step made her wince.
assuming they could make it down to the fiery river, which she doubted, her plan seemed certifiably insane.
"uh.." percy 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."
cherry was grateful for the tone he used.
he seemed genuinely hopeful that they could make it.
blisters had started to form on their arms from exposure to the tartarus air. cherry wanted to gag at the sight. not because it hurt; because they were hideous.
having a goddess as miserable as she was, didn't really do them many favors.
percy went first over the ledge, which was barely wide enough.
cherry peered over the edge, raising a foot over it.
she flew down, taking percy off the ledge and leaving him at the banks of the phlegethon.
"your turn." cherry turned.
she was careful with annabeth as she floated down to the ground. the sleeves of her shirt had been ripped off to wrap her bloody palms.
cherry couldn't imagine what it must've been like for her to try snd climb down,
"so..what is this fire river called?" percy asked
"the phlegethon," annabeth answered, and stumbled as she got onto the floor.
"just to the river," annabeth led them, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. "we can do this."
the trio staggered over slick glass ledges, 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 edge.
a light red mist of breeze followed them. it was the only comforting part of the underworld.
how long until cherry drained all of her energy?
if she'd done more during quests, she'd have more experience. if only she hadn't been so scared. or weak. or stupid.
her mind was swimming with thoughts that would never be helpful.
she stared forward whenever a challenge approached.
"we have to drink," annabeth said.
percy swayed, his eyes half-closed.
"we're gonna drink fire." cherry nodded.
"the phlegethon flows from hades's realm down into tartarus," annabeth spoke smoothly. "the river is used to punish the wicked. but also, some legends call it the river of healing."
"some legends?" percy questioned.
annabeth swallowed. "the phlegethon keeps the wicked in one piece so that they can endure the torments of the fields of punishment. i think.. it might be the underworld equivalent of ambrosia and nectar."
it didn't sound like too good of an idea, but the more him and annabeth healed, the sicker his girlfriend looked.
"but it's fire. how can we-" percy began.
cherry took a cautious seat by the end of the river.
she cupped the liquid in her palms. it froze against her skin, but didn't hurt.
cherry dipped a finger into the liquid, and drew a symbol she didn't recognize on percy's arm.
slowly, he started to look less miserable. every second that passed made him look like his normal self.
annabeth was next.
she seemed to relax at the touch. annabeth returned to normal shortly after, too. as normal as she could get, at least, in tartarus.
"i didn't know you could do that." annabeth spoke, after collecting herself.
"i can do everything. i just don't think too." cherry seemed to frown.
"thank you." annabeth would've smiled if they weren't in such a horrible place.
"all we babe to do now is get out of tartarus." percy blinked. "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."
"a walmart would look good here." cherry took in her surroundings.
"maybe a giant parking lot." percy agreed.
"this could be just the first tiny part of the abyss, like the front steps." annabeth huffed.
"the welcome mat," percy muttered.
the trio gazed up at the blood-colored clouds swirling in the gray haze.
"we'll find a way out," percy reassured.
"the doors of death." annabeth shuddered.
"nobody else will do it if we don't." cherry frowned.
she instinctively reached for her bag, only to remember it was gone.
the trio had no other choice; they had to close the doors.
it'd just be horribly difficult. they had no way of finding the doors, or even figuring out how long it'd take. what if their friends left them?
nico had mentioned a legion of gaea's strongest monsters guarding the doors on the tartarus side.
"well," annabeth took a deep breath, grateful at least that her lungs didn't hurt. "if we stay close to the river, we-"
cherry's eyes widened.
a massive dark shape hurtled down at annabeth, a snarling, monstrous blob with spindly barbed legs and glinting eyes.
before percy had enough time to even reach into his pocket, a red glow surrounded the monster. it squeezed and squeezed until arachne popped into yellow dust.
a shrill cry echoed.
"making up for lost time." percy guessed, as he scanned the cliffs and boulders for any more monsters.
the golden dust of the spider settled on the obsidian rocks.
"you good?" cherry ignored her boyfriends comment.
"she.. she would've killed me," annabeth stammered.
"percy would've killed her if i hadn't." cherry reassured her, shaking her head.
"you just have all the power in the world.. and choose not to use it?"
"..i guess, yeah."
the yellow dust dissipated on the rocky shore, turning to steam.
thankfully, monsters could be killed in tartarus. how long they remained dead was a completely different question.
percy glanced at his girlfriend.
she was staring at her hands, as if horrified at things she hadn't even done yet.
maybe there was a reason all that power wasn't in use.
"downstream," annabeth changed the subject when she noticed the energy get tense. "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. "which is probably where the doors are. lucky us."
"this is great, really. i'm having a lot of fun." cherry pumped her hands up, her expression remaining blank.
they'd only traveled a few hundred yards when annabeth heard voices.
"down!" annabeth alerted.
the trio ducked behind the nearest boulder. on the other side, in the narrow path between the river and the cliffs, voices snarled, getting louder as they approached from upstream.
annabeth tried to steady her breathing.
the voices sounded vaguely human, but that meant nothing.
cherry cycled through different ways she could protect her friends. everything she did mattered now. she couldn't waste anymore time doing nothing.
"soon?" one of the monsters asked in a raspy voice.
"oh my gods!" said another voice, which seemed much more human. "you guys are totally annoying! i told you, it's like three days from here."
percy and annabeth shared a look.
the girls voice was familiar to them.
there was a chorus of growling and grumbling. the creatures had paused just on the other side of the boulder.
"i wonder," said a third voice, gravelly and ancient like the first, "if perhaps you do not know the way, young one."
"oh, shut your fang hole, serephone," said the human-sounding girl. "when's the last time you escaped to the mortal world? i was there a couple of years ago. i know the way! besides, i understand what we're facing up there. you don't have a clue!"
"the earth mother did not make you boss!" shrieked a fourth voice.
"enough!" serephone yelled. "we will follow for now, but if you do not lead us well, if we find you have lied about the summons of gaea-"
"i don't lie!" snapped the girl. "believe me, i've got good reason to get into this battle. i have some enemies to devour, and you'll feast on the blood of heroes. just leave one special morsel for me, the one named percy jackson."
cherry made a face.
nobody, not even this stupid monster with a fake valley girl accent, was gonna take her boyfriend away from her.
"believe me," said the girl. "gaea has called us, and we're going to have so much fun. before this war is over, mortals and demigods will tremble at the sound of my name.. kelli!"
annabeth almost yelped aloud.
in the red light of the phlegethon, percy's face seemed to drop. both of them remembered kelli. cherry had no idea who she was, so obviously not anyone very important.
the creatures shuffled off, their voices getting fainter.
annabeth crept to the edge of the boulder and risked a glimpse. sure enough, five women staggered along on mismatched legs.
mechanical bronze on the left, shaggy and cloven-hooved on the right. their hair was made of fire, their skin as white as bone. most of them wore tattered ancient greek dresses, except for the one in the lead, kelli, who wore a burned and torn blouse with a short pleated skirt...
kelli wore a cheerleader's outfit.
cherry made a comment of how terrible the outfit looked.
"they're heading for the doors of death," percy murmured. "you know what that means?"
"underworld tour guides." cherry nodded, with a frown.
"yeah," annabeth said. "we need to follow them."
the trio hung out a million times before, but this was definitely not one of the times.
they followed the river phlegethon, stumbling over the glassy black terrain, jumping crevices, and hiding behind rocks whenever the vampire girls slowed in front of them. it was tricky to stay far enough back to avoid getting spotted but close enough to keep kelli and her comrades in view through the dark hazy air.
the heat from the river baked percy's skin. every breath was like inhaling sulfur-scented fiberglass.
cherry simply being next to percy was keeping him alive. literally. both his and annabeths energy fed off hers. her heart echoed theirs.
time was impossible to judge.
they trudged along, following the river as it cut through the harsh landscape. fortunately, the empousai weren't exactly speed walkers. they shuffled on their mismatched bronze and donkey legs, hissing and fighting with each other, apparently in no hurry to reach the doors of death.
once, the demons sped up in excitement and swarmed something that looked like a beached carcass on the riverbank. the empousai attacked it with relish.
everything got worse with each passing second.
they weren't even in the mortal world anymore. every single day that passed made things worse snd worse for them. being a demigod was horrible, but percy could've never imagined it'd be that bad.
as cherry's eyes connected wirh percy's for just a moment, she realized completely that she didn't want to do this.
she didn't want to risk her life. she didn't want her boyfriend to risk his life. she didn't want her friends to risk their lives.
cherry wanted to sit in her room for eternity. she wanted to be at peace forever. she didn't want have to worry about being hurt, or having percy taken from her.
she didn't want to be a hero.
maybe it was selfish.
maybe that went against everything she'd been taught. she only existed to help others. but she had never chosen that life. it was greedy, and it was selfish, and she knew it, but she hated being kind.
this was the last thing.
she'd open the doors. she'd get out of tartarus. then, she'd be done with it all.
the river phlegethon spilled over the side in jagged tiers of fiery waterfalls. the demon ladies were picking their way down the cliff, jumping from ledge to ledge like mountain goats.
percy's heart crept into his throat.
the landscape below them was a bleak, ash-gray plain bristling with black trees, like insect hair. the ground was pocked with blisters. every once in a while, a bubble would swell and burst, disgorging a monster like a larva from an egg.
all the newly formed monsters were crawling and hobbling in the same direction, toward a bank of black fog that swallowed the horizon like a storm front. the phlegethon flowed in the same direction until about halfway across the plain, where it met another river of black water.
the two floods combined in a steaming, boiling cataract and flowed on as one toward the black fog.
cherry wanted to gag.
what was in there?
if the doors of death were in that direction, it was their only chance to get home. mo matter how horrible it smelled.
percy peered over the edge of the cliff.
"think you can fly us down there again?" percy questioned.
"obviously." cherry nodded.
"remember luke's winged shoes? i wonder if they're still down here somewhere." annabeth thought, as cherry took her arm.
"i'd settle for a hang glider." percy shrugged.
"unfortunately, i can't transform into one." cherry took her boyfriends arm.
dark winged shapes spiraled in and out of the blood-red clouds.
cherry was about to take off before she noticed them.
"what is that?" cherry asked, squinting.
"furies?" percy wondered.
"or some other kind of demon," annabeth said. "tartarus has thousands."
"including the kind that eats hang gliders," percy guessed.
cherry hadn't flown down fast enough. the empousai disappeared behind one of the ridges, but that didn't matter. they needed to head toward the dark horizon.
percy was just brimming with enthusiasm for that.
"things could be worse," annabeth ventured.
"yeah. we could have lost our limbs, or sight, or hearing, or taste." cherry rambled on.
"we could've fallen into the river lethe," annabeth said. "lost all our memories."
percy's skin crawled just thinking about it.
he'd had enough trouble with amnesia for one lifetime.
hera had erased his memories to put him among the roman demigods. a few years before that, he'd fought a titan on the banks of the lethe, and completely wiped his memory clean.
"yeah, the lethe," percy muttered. "not my favorite."
"what was the titan's name?" annabeth asked.
"uh.. iapetus. he said it meant the impaler or something."
"no, the name you gave him after he lost his memory. steve?"
"bob. bob the titan."
cherry laughed at the idea.
a monster named bob.