Page 165 of The Sun and the Star

He could no longer hear the lamentations of the dead. The punished weren’t crying out to him.

‘Will,’ he said. ‘Will, can youhearthe river?’

His boyfriend grimaced. ‘No, not over Nyx.’

Nyx swallowed up a chunk of landscape and reached for them.

Nico shook his head. ‘No, remember before? Even when we were in the boat, we could still hear the voices in the Acheron.’

Will’s face perked up. ‘Oh, you’re right,’ he said. ‘Is it … empty? Like, empty of souls?’

‘No,’ said Bob. ‘You misunderstand the nature of it. It only calls out to you if you let it.’

Nico’s eyes widened. ‘What? That doesn’t make sense.’

Bob looked at him impassively. ‘It does. You are not worthy of punishment, and you do not despair. At least not any more.’

As the epiphany crept through Nico’s mind, he twisted his head around to watch Nyx claw at the riverbank. One of her hands briefly submerged in the gently flowing waters and …

A new scream erupted from her, and she jerked back.

Her hand was blistered and smoking.

‘NO!’ she cried. But she didn’t stop coming. She leaped into the river, trying to grasp the stern of the boat. A terrible hiss echoed off the cliff face, and Nyx thrashed wildly. Ultimately, she had to turn around and paddle furiously back towards the shore. She rolled onto the bank, blisters rising on her body, her dress dissipating into wisps of smoke. The stars on her skin flared and then winked out.

‘No,’ she groaned. ‘Impossible!’

The boat continued to float away from her, but Nico moved to the stern. ‘You can’t enter the River of Pain,’ he called out to her, ‘because that is allyouknow.’

‘I will get you, Nico di Angelo!’ she screamed. ‘I’ll capture you and seal you up, and I’ll force you to … to …’

She went quiet as her body, now just a wizened husk, started sinking into the ground. They watched as her still figure became darkness, evaporating into the shadows.

Meanwhile, Gorgyra’s boat bobbed peacefully along the surface of the water.

Nyx would not be coming after them again anytime soon.

We’re free! Nico thought.

He sat down across from Will, who asked, ‘Is shedead?’

Nico shook his head. ‘No. She’s a goddess, remember? But Bob was right. I didn’t get what he meant at first, but … she can’t enter the Acheron. Gorgyra said that pain is the river we must navigate to get where we want to be. Well, Nyx refuses to accept that, so the river … it rejectedher.’

Just then a loud screech echoed over Tartarus. Nico peered at the cliff on their left and …

‘Oh, Hades,’ he said, pointing. ‘Look!’

Up on the ledge above them, multiple Cocoa Puffs were crying and calling out as they ran along it to keep up with the moving boat.

‘What do they want?’ asked Will. ‘Did Nyx send them?’

‘I don’t know!’ said Nico.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Bob, and he stood slowly, his hands extended to the sides to keep the boat from tipping over. ‘But I’m ready to expel them if they try to attack.’

The Cocoa Puffs scrambled over one another as the boat continued down the river. They kept pace with the rushing water, chirping and growling as they did so. Nico glanced at the shore on their right to make sure it was empty, and he saw only dead tree trunks and wilted grasses.

But when he looked back at the cliff …

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