𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 - jason grace

02. STEP ON A CRACK...

MAIA WAS NOT ready to die. One look down, and the daughter of Fortuna was sure she'd just signed their death warrants.

The cliff dropped more than eighty feet. At the bottom stretched a nightmarish version of the Grand Canyon: a river of fire cutting a path through a jagged obsidian crevasse, the glowing red current casting horrible shadows across the cliff faces.

Even from the top of the canyon, the heat was intense. Every breath took more effort than the one before, and Maia was on the verge of a panic attack, so that wasn't good.

Assuming they could make it down to the fiery river, which she doubted, her plan seemed certifiably insane.

"Uh..." She spoke, pointing to a tiny fissure running diagonally from the edge to the bottom. "You think you could get us down there?"

"I can definitely try."

After making sure she was holding on tight, Jason slowly managed to use the air to support their trek. It wasn't easy, but they'd made it halfway down.

"I can't believe we're going through all this effort to drink fucking fire." She rolled her eyes. "I'm not fire resistant like Leo."

Jason laughed, "Neither am I, but, hey, look at the bright side. At least you can answer back when he says something in Spanish. The amount of times he's probably insulted me and I didn't know..."

"Figured you'd have learned a thing or two by now." Maia grinned at him, "You should just call him a pendejo and move on with your day. Always works."

"Wait, I know that one!"

"Yeah, Jay, you've heard it enough times to be familiar with it." Maia rolled her eyes. "We should probably keep going."

"It'll be a little while down till we reach the Phlegethon," Jason said.

"The Phle... Pledge?" Maia made a face. "Phlege... whatever. That's a stupid name."

"Is it stupid or are you mad you can't pronounce it." Jason teased. "Repeat after me, Phlegethon."

"It's stupid." Maia glared. "Leave me alone."

"Please don't make me laugh," Jason said, grinning.

"This is bullying."

"Just trying to keep things light."

"Thanks," she grunted, nearly missing the ledge. "I'll have a smile on my face as I plummet to my death."

"I'll catch you."

"You sure you won't be too busy laughing at me?"

"Shut up, Maia."

"Now you know how it feels." She teased.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

They kept going, one step at a time, Jason using the air to support them as much as possible.

When she reached the ground, she stumbled. Jason, true to his word, caught her. She was alarmed by how feverish his skin felt— it hadn't been that bad a minute ago.

Her own vision was blurry. Her throat felt blistered, and her stomach was clenched tighter than a fist.

We have to hurry, she thought.

"Just to the river,"Jason said, gripping Maia tightly.

"We can do this." Maia said, trying to sound reassuring. She didn't know who she was trying to convince more, herself or Jason.

They staggered over slick glass ledges, around massive boulders, avoiding stalagmites that would've impaled them with any slip of the foot. Their tattered clothes steamed from the heat of the river, but they kept going until they crumpled to their knees at the banks of the Phlegethon.