━━ chapter three
river of fire

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    THE last thing Fiona wanted to do was get them killed, but when she reached the ledge, she felt as though she may as well have signed their death warrants. The cliff dropped down more than eighty feet where at the bottom, stretched a nightmarish canyon far bigger than Fiona has seen. At the very bottom, a river of fire cut a path through jagged obsidian crevasses, glowing red with a current of horrible, flaming blood-red shadows.

    Even from the top of the canyon, the heat was intense. The chill of the River Cocytus still hadn't left Fiona's bones, but now her skin was raw. Every breath she took, it was like she was breathing in through a tube of sand. Her hands were bleeding, and she had to rip off more of her shirt to wrap around them. Despite putting her knee back into place, it pained as if she had dislocated it again. But she knew that wasn't the case. This place was killing them, little by little in the most horrible, painful ways. 

    Assuming they could make it down in the first place, however, Fiona's crazy plan seemed more than crazy; it was insane. 

    Percy scanned the cliff. "Uh..." his voice was hoarse and dry. 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."

    He didn't say they'd be crazy to try, which Fiona was grateful for because she knew how insane her plan was. But she also felt guilt; Percy had fallen down with her, and now she might be leading him to his death, and he was trying to stay hopeful when she knew he was miserable. 

     But they had no choice. They were going to die up here. Blisters already formed on their skin from the air, and Fiona could feel Percy's lifeforce get fainter and fainter.

     He went first. The ledge was barely wide enough to allow a toehold. Their hands clawed for any crack in the glassy rock. Fiona tried to remember her Roman training, climbing up and down war towers built specifically for events to reach the top first. At least, this time, there weren't eagles swooping down to try and take them down.

     But she also hadn't had a terrible, swollen, screaming-with-pain leg that she had to put most of her energy in trying not to buckle each time she put weight on it. 

     A few steps below her, Percy grunted as he reached for another handhold. "So ... what is this fire river called?"

     "Don't distract yourself," Fiona told him, but it was weak. Her arms were shaking from the effort, and she took a deep breath. We can do this. We're going to win. "It's called the Phlegethon, but you need to focus on going down, Percy."

     "The Phlegethon?" he shinned along the ledge. They had made it roughly a third of the way down the cliff━still high enough that they would be killed if they fell. "Sounds like a marathon for hawking spitballs."

    "Percy," Fiona whimpered, "please, don't make me laugh right now."

    "Just trying to keep things light."

    And I love you for that. "I don't want to fall," she said. "And I don't want you to fall, either, okay?"

    She almost slipped, her bad leg missing a foothold. Fiona gasped and clutched the nooks she found with her fingers tighter. There was a breathless moment as she steadied herself. Once she was sure she was okay, they kept going, one step at a time. Fiona's eyes stung, her arms and legs trembled. But━to her amazement━they finally made it to the bottom of the cliff.

    When she reached the ground, she stumbled. Percy caught her, holding her tight with feverish skin. She glanced up, alarmed to see boils on his face, like he was a smallpox victim. Her own vision was blurry, and she felt like her insides were tightening in on themselves.

    "The river," she rasped. "We have to get there."

    Percy helped her as they staggered over slick glass ledges and around massive boulders. Their tattered clothes steamed from the heat of the fire, and Fiona started to slump. But they kept going━they had to keep going until they crumpled to their knees at the bank of the Phlegethon.

    "We have to drink," managed Fiona, pulling herself to the shore. 

    Percy swayed, his eyes half-closed. It took him three counts to respond. "Uh ... drink fire?"

    "It'll be fine," reassured Fiona, though she wasn't so sure. "The Phlegethon frowns from Pluto's realm down into Tartarus," she could barely speak, however. Her throat was closing up. "The river is used to punish the wicked, but it's also used to keep them alive to continue their punishment. It has healing properties."

    Percy winced as cinders sprayed from the river, curling around his face. "But it's fire. How can we━?"

    "Like this━" Fiona thrust her hands into the river, having nothing left to lose at this point. 

    At first, it wasn't painful. Instead, it was searing cold, but that most likely meant it was so hot it had fired her nerves. But, before she could changer her mind, she cupped the firey liquid in her palms and brougth it to her lips.

    Almost immediately, she retched. It was like she had drank a whole smoothie of the hottest chillies in the world; no, in the universe. It made her cough and splutter. She fell forward, and would have been enveloped in the fire if Percy hadn't grabed her arms with a cry of, "Fiona!" and pulled her towards him. 

    But then ... it stopped. She took a ragged breath and sat up. She felt weak, and nauseous, but her next breath was easier. The blisters on her arms started to fade. 

    "It worked," she croaked, unable to beliee it. "Gods━Percy, you've got to drink!"

    "I..." his eyes rolled back up in his head, and he slumped against her.

    "No━Percy━!" Fiona clung onto him, heart starting to race. She had little time. With a grit of her teeth, she plunged her hands back into the river. The pain that followed after the first shock didn't matter with Percy unconscious against her. She dripped the flames into his mouth. He didn't respond. 

     She shook him, starting to panic. "No, no, no, Percy━please!" she tried again, pouring a whole handful down his throat. She cupped his cheeks, brushing his hair out of his face and listening for the hum in her ears. He was still alive, he just had to stay alive. "Come on, come on, Percy please, wake up!"

     Then he spluttered and coughed. Fiona gasped and held him while he convulsed, crying in her relief. His fever disappeared. His boils faded. He managed to sit up and smack his lips. 

     "Ugh," he coughed again. "Spicy, yet disgusting."

     Fiona breathed a quiet laugh, light-headed with her relief. "You idiot," she kissed him on his temple, holding him close. 

     "You saved us."

    "For now," she set her forehead against his, trying to keep herself calm in feeling his hands on her arms. "But we're still in Tartarus."

     Percy blinked. He looked around as if just coming to terms with where they were. He clung onto her tighter. "Holy Hera. I never thought ... well, I'm not sure what I thought. Maybe that Tartarus was an empty space, a pit with no bottom. But this is a real place."

     "We haven't seen all of it," murmured Fiona. "This could be just the beginning━like the front steps."

    "The welcome mat," Percy muttered bitterly. 

    Together, they glanced up at the blood-coloured clouds swirling in the grey haze. No way would they have the strength to go up the way they came, even if they wanted to. Now they had just two choices: upstream or downstream.

    "We'll find a way out, Fiona," Percy told her, squeezing her arm. "The Doors of Death."

    Fiona pursed her lips. She remembered what Percy had said just before they fell. He had made her brother, Nico di Angelo promise to lead the Argo II to Epirus, to the mortal side of the Doors of Death. We'll see you there, he had said.

    It seemed impossible, but they had to do it. "We have to," then said Percy. "Not just for us, but for everyone else. The Doors have to be closed on both sides, or the monsters will just keep on coming through. Gaea's forces will overrun the world."

    Fiona knew he was right, but the probability that they would find the Doors and survive were very low. And then survive the fight that would follow ... However ... Fiona always liked a challenge. 

    "My grandmother will never call me a coward after this," she managed a weak grin. So, she managed to pull herself up, standing by the banks of the River of Fire. "We'll have to stay close to the shore," she told Percy as he followed. "That way, we can keep healing ourselves. If we go downstream━"

    Fiona froze. She heard something behind her.

    It happened so fast she had no time to react. 

    Percy's eyes locked on something behind her and Fiona spun around. She gasped to see a massive dark shape burtle down at her━a snarling, monstrous blob with spindly barbed legs and glinting eyes.

     Arachne, she only had time to think. 

    A blade arched over her head. She thought it was Arachne's pincers, but then the enormous black spider burst into dust with a horrible wail echoing through the canyon. Fiona stared in shock. She would have died if it weren't for Percy.

    "You okay?" he appeared at her sides, scanning the cliffs and boulders, alert for more monsters, but nothing else happened. 

     Fiona stared at him in amazement. Riptide's bade glowed even brighter bronze in the dark of Tartarus. As it passed throug the thick hot air, it made a defiant hiss like a riled snake. "T━Thanks," she let out, still stunned. 

    Percy glared at the dust. He gave it a nasty kick. "She died too easily," he sneered, "considering how much torture she put Annabeth through. She deserved worse."

    Fiona agreed. She scowled down at the dust settling on the obsidian rocks, but couldn't help but feel startled at the harde edge to Percy's voice. It made her feel a little unsettled ... it sort of made her glad Arachne had died so quickly. 

    But, she pushed past it and said, "How did you move so fast?"

   Percy shrugged. "Gotta watch each other's backs, right? Now, you were saying ... downstream?"

    Fiona nodded. She watched the yellow dust dissipate on the rocky shore. There was little relief in the fact that she now knew monsters could be killed down here, because she had no idea how long they'd stay dead. But she didn't plan on staying here long enough to find out.

    "Yeah, downstream," she said. "If I'm right, the river comes from the upper levels of the Underworld, which means it should flow deeper into Tartarus━"

    "So it leads into more dangerous territory," Percy finished, understanding. "Which is probably where the Doors are. Lucky us." 

     Fiona took as deep of a breath as she dared and with Percy's help, they started downstream. As they walked, her knee started to hurt less. The River of Fire must've helped it, for now, and so, soon, she could walk without his help. But she still stayed close to him, searching for comfort in this dark, blood-red Hell. 

     But despite the River of Fire healing her, it did nothing for her hunger, or her thirst. The Phelegthon wasn't about making someone feel better; it was about keeping them alive long enough to just keep on experiencing worse pain. Her head was starting to droop with exhaustion when she heard them━feemale voices having some sort of argument, and she was alert.

     "Percy," she whispered, tugging his arm, "down!"

    She pulled him behind the nearest boulder, wedging herself so close against the riverbank that her shoes almost touched the fire. On the other side, on the narrow path between the river and the cliffs, voices snarled, getting louder as they approached upstream.

    They sounded vaguley human, but that didn't mean anything━everything here was their enemy, meant to kill them. She didn't know how the monsters didn't see them already. They could smell demigods━especially ones like Fiona and Percy, who were both children of the Big Three. The most powerful, stinkiest gods that made them an absolute beacon for any close wondering monster. She doubted hiding behind a boulder would do anything. 

    But, still, as they grew nearer, their voices didn't change in tone. Their foosteps━scrap, clump, scrap, clump━didn't get any faster. 

    "Soon?" one of them asked in a raspy voice.

    "Oh, my gods!" said another. This one sounded much younger and much more human, like a teenage girl exasperated at her friends. "You guys are totally annoying! I told you, it's like three days from here!"

     Percy gripped Fiona's wrist. He looked at her with alarm and she frowned. He seemed as though he recognised this girl's voice. She slipped her fingers down to take his hand and squeeze it, but his shoulders were very tense. Whoever this creature was, Fiona knew there was a history.

    She's heard stories whenever Percy wanted to tell her. Sometimes it was hard for him to express his times fighting Titans, holding the weight of the sky, the Battle of Manhattan━but she knew that he had plenty of monstrous enemies. Her blood chilled; how many of them were in here? What would they do if they caught a whiff of his scent? A monster wanting revenge was even worse than a monster looking for casual demigod blood. 

    There was a chorus of growling and grumbling. The creatures━maybe a dozen━had paused just on the other side of the boulder, but they still gave no indication that they caught their scent. Fiona began to wonder whether the suffocating air of Tartarus covered them; perhaps they smelled different?

    "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 mall 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.

    More hissing, more scuffling━like giant alley cats fighting. At last the one called Serepone yelled, "Enough!"

     Silence. Dreaded silence.

    "We will follow for now," she said after a moment. "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 on special morsel for me━the one named Percy Jackson."

     Fiona glowered. She wondered what she could do down here with her powers. She knew she controlled souls not meant to be in the mortal world, but she was now in the Underworld. This was part of her father's domain. Who knows what she could do here? Fiona felt a sudden urge to step out and try it on these monsters━especially this mall girl who threatened her boyfriend. 

     She went to step out, anger coursing through her, but Percy tugged her back. 

     "Believe me," continued the girl. "Gaea has called us, and we're going to have so much fun. Before this war is over, mortals and demigods will remble at the sound of my name━Kelli!"

    She thought that was a stupid name for a monster, but at the way Percy tightened his grip on her wrist made her look over. Even in the red light of the river, his face seemed waxy. He met her gaze and mouthed, Empousai. 

    Fiona's eyes widened. The Empousai were so ancient in Greek Mythology, they didn't exist much in Roman━they called them the Strix; nocturnal birds who fed on the blood and flesh of humans and demigods. And one of them wanted Percy's pound of flesh with no mercy.

    The creatures shuffled off, their voices getting fainter. Fiona krept 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 riht. 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 front━Kelli, who wore a burnt and torn blouse with a short pleated skirt. A cheerleader's outfit?

    Fiona turned back to Percy, frowning. "What did you do to her?"

    He stared where they left, still very pale. "It's a long story. Kelli interrupted my freshmen orientation. Then, later, Annabeth killed her in the Labyrinth; in Daedalus's workshop."

     There was a lot to comprehend there, but Fiona will focus on that later. But there was one thing she really wished she had, to run her fingers along the engravings: her pugio. 

    Percy rose. Fiona followed him. "They're heading for the Doors of Death," he murmured. "You know what that means?"

     Yes, she thought bitterly, I do.

     "We need to follow them," answered Fiona. 

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     a/n: fiona's gonna spend half of tartarus wondering who the fuk half of these monsters are and why they hate her boyfriend with a real big passion.