𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 [Jason Grace]

68

𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 when he first came to Camp Jupiter. He acted tough in front of Lupa and managed to live through her training. But as soon as he was safe at Camp, the nightmares had started again and he imagined monsters in every dark corner, all of them out to get him.

Jason would sneak out of his bunk with him then. They never get caught, though Dante doubted Jason would ever get reprimanded, being the golden boy of Rome and what not.

With Jason, the darkness always seemed more bearable.

But normally the dark wasn't forty feet tall. It didn't have black wings, a whip made out of stars, and a shadowy chariot pulled by vampire horses.

Nyx was almost too much to take in. Looming over the chasm, she was a churning figure of ash and smoke, as big as the Athena Parthenos statue, but very much alive. Her dress was void black, mixed with the colors of a space nebula, as if galaxies were being born in her bodice. Her face was hard to see except for the pinpoints of her eyes, which shone like quasars. When her wings beat, waves of darkness rolled over the cliffs, making Dante feel heavy and sleepy, his eyesight dim.

The goddess's chariot was made of the same material as Nico di Angelo's sword—Stygian iron—and pulled by two massive horses, all black except for their pointed silver fangs. The beasts' legs floated in the abyss, turning from solid to smoke as they moved.

The horses snarled and bared their fangs at Dante. The goddess lashed her whip—a thin streak of stars like diamond barbs—and the horses reared back.

"No, Shade," the goddess said. "Down, Shadow. These little prizes are not for you."

Jason eyed the horses as they nickered. He was still shrouded in Death Mist, so he looked like an out-of-focus corpse. It must not have been very good camouflage, since Nyx could obviously see them.

Jason's grip on Dante tightened.

"My horses really want to eat you," The goddess said in a very matter-of-fact tone. "But I won't let them. Don't worry."

"Why not?" Jason asked, "You're clearly not a friend."

"Of course not, don't be silly," Nyx's quasar eyes burned. "Of course not. I would not let my horses eat you, any more than I would let Akhlys kill you. Such fine prizes, I will kill myself!"

Dante didn't feel particularly witty or courageous, he barely had the energy to stand. But he took the lead.

"Oh, don't kill yourself!" he said. "We're not that scary."

The goddess lowered her whip. "What? No, I didn't mean—"

"Well, I'd hope not!" Dante looked at Jason and forced a laugh. "We wouldn't want to scare her, would we?"

"Ha, ha," Jason said weakly. "No, we wouldn't."

The vampire horses looked confused. They reared and snorted and knocked their dark heads together. Nyx pulled back on the reins.

"Do you know who I am?" she demanded.

"Well, you're Night, I suppose," said Dante. "I mean, I can tell because you're dark and everything, though the brochure didn't say much about you."

Nyx's eyes winked out for a moment. "What brochure?"

Dante patted his pockets. "We had one, didn't we?"

Jason licked his lips. "Uh-huh." He was still watching the goddess, his hand tight on his sword hilt, but he was smart enough to follow Dante's lead. Now they just had to hope they weren't making things worse... though honestly, he didn't see how things could be worse.