Chapter 11

263 14 0
                                    

                  Piper's pov

           They kept going one step at a time. My eyes stung with sweat. My arms trembled. But to my amazement, they finally made it to the bottom of the cliff. 

            When I reached the ground, I stumbled Jason caught me. I was alarmed by how feverish my  skin felt. Red boils had erupted on Jason's face, so he looked like a smallpox victim.

             My vision was blurry. My throat  felt blistered, and my stomach was clenched tighter than a fist.

           We had to hurry I thought 

        "Just  to the river," I told Jason, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. "We can do this." 

            We staggered over slick glass ledges, around massive boulders, avoiding stalagmites they 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 crumbled to their knees at the banks of the Phlegethon.

              "We have to drink," I said.

                Jason swayed, his eyes half-closed.   It took him a three- count to respond. "Uh . . . drink fire?"

                "The Phlegethon flows from Hades's realm down into Tartarus." I could barely  talk. My throat was closing up from the heat and acidic air. "The river is used to punish the wicked. But also. . . some legends. call it the river of healing." 

      "Some legends." 

           I swallowed, trying to stay conscious. "The Phlegethon keeps the wicked in one piece so that they can endure the torments of the Fields of Punishment. I think . . . it might be the Underworld's equivalent of  ambrosia and nectar."

Fall Through Tartarus (Jiper) (Complete)✔️Where stories live. Discover now