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"i'm no ordinary girl"
NINE DAYS.
For whatever reason, Hesiod, the old Greek poet, had speculated that it would take nine days to fall from earth to Tartarus.
Wind whistled in Ariadne's ears. The air grew hotter and damper, as if they were plummeting into the throat of a massive dragon. She couldn't tell what was happening, or if Annabeth was still holding her arm.
Annabeth eventually wrapped her arms around Ariadne and tried not to sob. She's never expected their lives to be easy. Most demigods died young at the hands of terrible monsters. That was the way it had been since ancient times. The Greeks invented tragedy. They knew the greatest heroes didn't get happy endings.
Gaia was like other gods. The Earth Mother was older, more vicious, more bloodthirsty. Ariadne could imagine her laughing as they fell into the depths.
Ariadne presser her lips to Annabeth's ear. "I've got you."
She wasn't sure she could hear her—but if they were going to die she wanted those to ensure comfort in her sister companion.
Neither of them had the power to fly—not like Jason, who could control the wind, or Frank, who could turn into a winged animal. Ariadne wasn't sure where they would land, and no amount of concentration could will a vine. If they reached the bottom at terminal velocity...we'll, she knew enough science to know it would be terminal.
Something about their surroundings changed. The darkness took on a grey-red tinge. She realized she could see Annabeth's hair as she hugged her. The whistling in her ears turned into more of a roar. The air became intolerable hot, permeated with a smell like rotten eggs.
Suddenly, the chute they'd been falling through opened into a vast cavern. Maybe half a mile below them, Ariadne could see the bottom. The entire island of Manhattan could have fitted inside this cavern—and she couldn't even see its full extent.
Red clouds hung in the air like vaporized blood. The landscape—at least what she could see of it—was rocky black plains, punctuated by jagged mountains and fiery chasms. To Annabeth's left, the ground dropped away in a series of cliffs, like colossal steps leading deeper into the abyss.
The stench of sulphur made it hard to concentrate, but she focused on the ground directly below them and saw a ribbon of glittering black liquid—a river.
"Ari!" Annabeth yelled in her ear. "Water!"
Ariadne gulped down the nerves climbing her throat. She nodded in understanding.
The river hurtled towards them. At the last second, Ariadne snarled defiantly. Long, dark limbs surrounded them and the river swallowed them whole.
