Page 109 of The Sun and the Star

But he existed with Nico. His sole comfort was that he wasn’t alone.

He had Nico.

And together they fell.

Nico fought against the darkness, against the fear and the cold that wanted to paralyse him. Turning his head took every bit of his energy, but he put his mouth next to Will’s ear, took a measured breath and then said the words he hoped Will would hear.

Three words.

A promise ofhope.

The words tingled in Will’s ear.

They ignited his heart.

‘I love you.’

And they fell.

Nico noticed a tint to the darkness below – something between red and black. It grew and, as it did, so did the heat.

At first, he found it welcome – like the warmth of a spring day.

Then it felt like the dead of summer.

Then like a furnace, a pit of lava, the middle of the sun.

He had a silly fleeting thought: Maybe this will recharge Will!

But the only thing the heat seemed to recharge was Will’s need to scream.

Will began to float off their bench … upward? Sideways? Nico wasn’t quite sure because the boat was twisting and spinning through the void, and his sense of orientation had gone haywire.

The oars forgotten, Nico grabbed Will and held him tight, his legs straining to stay anchored under the thwart beam.

‘I’m here!’ Nico told him. ‘I’ve got you!’

‘Butthat!’ Will yelled, his eyes fixed on something below them. ‘What aboutthat?’

Nico followed his gaze, and he absolutely hated what he saw.

The red-tinted darkness had now resolved into deep ruby sky, punctuated with menacing darker clouds of … Oh. As their boat punched through one, Nico realized the vapour droplets were blood. Great. On top of all its other selling points, Tartarus had blood clouds. Nico didn’t recall those from his last trip.

And below the clouds was the rapidly approaching terrain – which they were moments away from smashing into.

‘I don’t know what to do.’ Nico said it softly at first, to himself; then he looked at Will. ‘I don’t know how we survive this.’

The wind blew through Will’s bushy hair. In the fiery light of Tartarus, his bronze skin seemed to glow again, each whisker on his cheeks a filament of gold. Nico found it completely unfair that, even as they dropped to their deaths, Will still looked stunning.

‘Nico,’ Will said, his tone suddenly confident, infused with sincerity, ‘if anyone can save us from this, it’syou.’

And in that moment Nico pushed aside his panic and his fear, because …

Well, Will Solace believed in him.

The voices of the Acheron had dispersed as the waterfall broke into a loose funnel cloud of rain, but their words still rang in Nico’s head:So cavalier with life. You distribute death like a badge of pride.

A solution sprouted in his mind.

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