Page 39 of The Sun and the Star

Yes, he decided as he bobbed to the surface, gasping for air, down here, thefireis on fire.

His skin felt like it was melting off, and he wished he hadn’t filled his knapsack with so much stuff. It was hard enough to swim without that extra weight.

His head went under, and a mouthful of the River Styx actuallywent down his throat.

If that water felt awful all over theoutsideof his body, it was evenworseon the inside. He kicked as ferociously as he could, his muscles aching from the overexertion, and his head broke the surface again. His throat burned so badly even breathing hurt. He twisted around, looking for Nico. Where had he gone?

‘Hurry up, slowpoke.’ Nico’s voice wafted past Will’s left ear.

Will turned. His vision was hazy, but he saw a purple glow moving across the shoreline. How had Nico got out of the water so fast?

Will flung his arms towards the bank, then paddled frantically until the water was shallow enough for him to stand in. By the time he flopped onto his back on the rocky riverbank, tremblingand wheezing, he felt like he’d just taken a long bath in his mom’s favourite ghost-pepper salsa. Will imagined he could bottle Styx water and sell it as the hottest hot sauce in the world. Mr D would probably be his celebrity sponsor for a hefty percentage.

He laughed. He laughed because everything hurt, because he shouldn’t be alive, because he was delirious from the pain and total absurdity of plunging into the River Styx.

Wait. Was he … invulnerable now? Wasn’t that what happened if you survived a dip in the Styx? That couldn’t be right. It couldn’t be that easy.

He rolled over and pushed himself up to his hands and knees. He coughed out more acidic black water, which burned on its way out, too. Well, at least it was consistent.

‘Nico,’ he croaked, swaying as he stood up. ‘Nico, where are you?’

No one was there.

Then Will turned and glimpsed the familiar purple glow disappearing behind an outcrop of stalagmites.

He tried to yell ‘Nico, stop!’ but his lungs were on fire. His skin felt … Oh, gods, was this what a sunburn was like? Being a child of Apollo meant he had never got one, and if it was anything similar to this sensation, he had immense sympathy for all the lobster-red campers he’d seen and healed over the years.

The purple glow was getting dimmer in the distance.

‘You’re just slowing me down,’ his boyfriend’s voice whispered in his ear.

How was this possible? Was Will’s mind dissolving?

‘I won’t, Nico,’ he said, sobbing. ‘I promise.’

‘You already are.’

Will watched in despair as the faint purple glow slipped into the shadows and disappeared.

He crumpled to his knees, tears prickling his eyes. This wasn’t happening. Thiscouldn’thappen. Nico would never do something like this to him!

‘Nico!’ he cried out. ‘Come back!’

But this time Nico didn’t answer. Behind Will, the Styx rushed past. Will’s skin and clothes steamed. Will kept staring into the darkness, hoping to see that purple glow reappear.

Then a heavy shadow fell over him. Will didn’t have the strength to fight as it enveloped him like a burial cloth.

When he came to, Nico wondered if he’d passed out from exhaustion.

He was back at the bottom of the stone stairwell, his cheek pressed against the rough, rocky floor of the cavern. His body was sore all over, so he stayed still for a moment, trying to get his bearings. He’d fallen asleep, hadn’t he? The endless repetition of walking down the steps behind the Door of Orpheus must have drained him of his energy.

This was unlike him, though. Nico generally hadtroublefalling asleep, unless he had shadow-travelled a long distance. The memory of the gigantic Athena Parthenos statue flashed in his mind, and he shuddered. That summer had involved a lot of sudden, long-lasting naps in order to manage transporting the Parthenos via shadow-travel halfway around the world.

But this was different. His mind was even more tired than his body, which didn’t make any sense. He couldn’t seem to string his thoughts together. He had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t identify what or why. He blinked a coupleof times, his eyes adjusting to the dim light of the Underworld, and that’s when he saw the shadow.

A dark mass flickered in the near distance, swaying back and forth. Nico’s heart began to thump so loudly he worried that thisthingwould hear it.

Appendages of some sort swirled and twisted about its body. It moved unnaturally, quavering and jerky, and Nico remained as still as he could. Maybe it thought he was dead; he certainly wasn’t going to give it another idea. But where was …?

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