madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-river of angst-

The impact of the fall didn't kill her, but the cold nearly did.

Freezing water shocked the air right out of Annabeth's lungs. Her limbs turned rigid, and she lost her grip on Percy. She began to sink down slowly, the floating strands of her blond hair becoming harder and harder to see in front of her.                                                                                              Strange wailing sounds filled her ears—millions of heartbroken voices, as if the river were made of distilled sadness. The voices were worse than the cold that crept into her bones with sharp claws and pointed teeth. They weighed her down and made her numb to her surroundings in seconds that dragged out too long.

What's the point of struggling? They told her, voices like crocodile tears. You're dead anyway. You'll never leave this place.

She could sink to the bottom and drown, let the river carry her body away downstream. That would be easier. She could just close her eyes....

Close her eyes

ClOs se. h

He r

Er eyy

yE

s

Something touched her hand, strong fingers curling into her own and then she gasped, watching a bubble rise in the murky water that stung her eyes. Percy gripped her hand and jolted her back to reality.

She couldn't see him in the dark, but suddenly she didn't want to die. Not yet. Together they kicked upward and broke the surface. Annabeth gasped, grateful for the air, no matter how sulphurous. The water swirled around them, and she realized Percy was creating a whirlpool to buoy them up.

Though she couldn't make out their surroundings, she figured this was a river. Rivers had shores; she knew that much.

"Land," she croaked, surprised at how weak her voice sounded. "Go sideways."

Percy looked near dead with exhaustion. Usually water reinvigorated him, made him stronger, but not this water. Controlling it must have taken every bit of his strength. The whirlpool began to dissipate. Annabeth hooked one arm around his waist and struggled across the current that gurgled and reached out to drag them down with whispers. The river worked against her: thousands of weeping voices whispering in her ears, getting inside her brain.

Life is despair, they said. Everything is pointless, and then you die.

"Pointless," Percy murmured. His teeth chattered from the cold. He stopped swimming and began to sink, a choked sound escaping his lips as the water trickled in, his head raised.

"Percy!" She shrieked. "The river is messing with your mind. It's the Cocytus—the River of Lamentation. It's made of pure misery!"

"Misery," he agreed, the dark water dribbling from his mouth as he spoke, looking chillingly like blood.

"Fight it!"

She kicked and struggled, trying to keep both of them afloat. Another cosmic joke for Gaea to laugh at: Annabeth dies trying to keep her boyfriend, the son of Poseidon, from drowning. Not going to happen, you hag, Annabeth thought bitterly.

She hugged Percy tighter and kissed him. "Tell me about New Rome," she demanded, holding his face tightly. "What were your plans for us?"

"New Rome...For us..."