TARTARUS

Charlie was very excited. He was skipping as if he were a child and didn't even complain when we stopped for a lava break.

"You can sing! Not just sing, but you can like, super-sing! This is so cool!"

I groaned. "If you don't shut up about it then I'll sing you to sleep and carry you," I threatened.

"That doesn't sound bad," Charlie admitted. I scoffed but felt myself smiling. We'd been walking for a few weeks maybe, it was hard to tell for sure. We'd fought some monsters, earned ourselves a few new scars, and completely run out of supplies.

For seemingly no reason, the smile left Charlie's face. He stopped skipping and took my hand, slowing his pace. It was like the flick of a switch, his attitude changed completely. Before I could ask him what was wrong, the same thing happened to me. Truth be told, I'd been anticipating something like this happening. It had been way too long since we'd fought a major monster. The voices in my head didn't even feel the need to narrate a painful death for us yet, that's how depressing the mood turned.

Then it appeared. There was a small nook in the cliff wall next to us, and inside was a hideous looking being that slightly resembled a very old lady (like the mean ones that slams her doors on kids on Halloween) that had obviously done some strange mixtures of drugs in her youth. I knew who it was before she even spoke. The cloud of emotions in the small save read only as grief. The shield in her hands displaying Medusa also gave it away.

"Achlys?" I greeted softly. I hadn't heard any stories of her, so I decided to approach the situation positively. She had no reason to kill us, so maybe she wouldn't actually attack. Mom and Dad taught us a lot about the mythological world, but they always seemed to skim over Achlys.

"Does it matter?" she said glumly, confirming her identity. "Nothing matters, we're stuck here either way."

Charlie looked and me and shrugged. He smiled in a confusing way, but it made me feel a bit better. "Well we've got plans that don't involve being stuck here forever, so if you could get out of our way that'd be great," Charlie cheerfully took a step forward.

The goddess grunted and turned around, mixing things around in a broken bowl. Kind of a useless activity if you ask me, but I guess things do get pretty boring down here. I figured that maybe being honest could earn us some brownie points with the goddess.

"I'm Jase, Jase Jackson. This is Charlie Valdez. We've been here for months. We're trying to get out. Have you heard anything about the crack that monsters are escaping from?"

"Jackson!?" She screamed in outrage.

Ok, maybe I was wrong.

Her face contorted in anger and she squinted at me. "You're going to stay here for the rest of time, just as I will. I will show you how miserable your life will be! You should never have fought me as you did!" Achlys groaned, reaching her hand forward.

She never mentioned Charlie, so I guessed her problem was with me. Thanks, Dad. "Stay positive, Charlie. Seriously, that's the only way we're getting out of this," I warned. I took his hand in mine and pulled him behind me.

"Oh, you're not getting out of this," Achlys cackled. "Your father may have been able to subdue me but I have the power this time, I know what makes you miserable."

Dad never told me he'd fought Achlys. He'd fought a lot of monsters over time, so you might think that he just forgot. But Dad never forgot. Why wouldn't he tell me? My parents always said it was important for us to learn as much as we could because we never knew what would happen. So what reason could they have to keep this from us?

"How did you dad defeat her?" Charlie whispered.

I was tempted to shrug. But something told me that I already knew. I felt an ancient rage boiling within me, urging to be released and insisting to kill. I felt every drop of the goddess's blood swirling through her veins. I felt the beating of her heart in my hands. All I needed to do was clench my fist to stop the flow. I knew why my parents never told us about Achlys. There are times when power is too great to be shared, when the threat is too great. Just like when we'd fought Medusa. Dad didn't tell us, because he didn't want us to grow with the possibility of this power.

"Something dangerous," I answered. I made a mental note to never bring this up with my parents if we ever got out.

"You're not going to do that though, right?"

I could tell he knew what I was talking about, but I couldn't tell if Charlie was asking or warning me.

"No, I'm not," I promised. But because that wasn't an option, there weren't really many when it came to fighting this ancient goddess. I wasn't going to stoop low enough as to murder somebody like that.

Achlys took loud, almost clumsy, steps towards us with her arms limp and her head unnaturally tilted. I lifted my dagger and swung when she got close, but my blade went right through her.

Embrace the power within you

I was distracted. The Arai were urging me to lose the dagger and use my powers. But I couldn't let them win. If they had control of me, my powers, they wouldn't stop with Achlys. They'd kill Charlie next, then everything else in their path. They wanted to survive. Unfortunately for them, so did I. But I wanted Charlie to survive more. So I didn't use my powers. I didn't care what they said. I was not going to use those powers unless I knew that Charlie wouldn't be in danger.

The dagger was useless, but I continued anyway. I swung wildly, providing Achlys an opportunity to strike. Her hand sprung forward surprisingly fast, considering how slow she'd been before.

"You are miserable," she said as she wrapped her sharp fingers around my throat and pulled me closer to her. She pressed her nose to my cheek and took a deep, uncomfortable breath. "I love it."

It was the only positive thing I'd heard her say, but it did nothing to reassure me. I gagged and swiped desperately but nothing seemed to touch her.

Use your powers

It's bursting within you, don't try to hide it

We know how tempted you are

I wanted to. I wanted so badly to wipe that smug look of the goddess's face. I felt my fingers stiffening into a tight ball in my hand. The power surged through me, screaming to be released. And I was just about to let it.

You'll die if you don't

"Haven't you ever taken home-ec? That's not how you prepare a proper meal!" Charlie yelled. His voice subdued my desire kill the goddess. I felt gross, disgusting. The almost longing feeling to snuff out somebody's life like that terrified me. I was a teenager, a big brother, a son. I wasn't a monster. But the urge still remained, hidden deep in the back of my mind. Part of me stil wanted to squeeze the life out of her. The thought faded as I realised how quickly I was running out of air. I had forgotten that she was choking. Kind of a strange thing to forget, but my mind was a busy place.

"He's still raw! Are you trying to get a disease?!" Charlie shouted to get her attention. She turned to him, tossing me to the side like a discarded piece of fruit at the supermarket.

I began to cough violently once she let me go. I clutched my throat as if it would help resupply my oxygen supply. My throat felt like somebody had taken a pair of shears down the center. An explosion of pressure and pain sent my head spiraling. I'd never had a headache this bad.

Charlie backed up warily, not noticing the approaching cliff. I tried to yell out but found myself unable to speak.

That would be your larynx damage

"To cook your food, you need fire. But don't worry, I'll provide that! Just for you!" Charlie yelped before thrusting his hands forward. Two columns of angry fire spit towards the goddess.

"Also, just don't eat people! That's so morally wrong!" he added.

Achlys moaned in pain and lifted her hands in front of her. "I'm the goddess of misery, I don't have morals!" she protested.

Charlie took a short moment to shrug, admitting that she had a good point. "Ok, that's fair. But next time, take a moment to think about the consequences before you try kill Jason Jackson," he said instead.

I tried to crawl forward but gave up and rolled onto my back. My vision was clouded with white. I couldn't tell if what I was hearing was real or just a figment of my imagination.

"There are no consequences. He's weak. His parents won't save him now," Achlys gaggled.

Charlie's expression darkened. He growled. "But I will."

The fire became so hot that I could feel it from ten feet away. Just before I passed out, I saw the fire turn bright blue, almost white.

Then, an explosion.

I died. I was dead. That much was obvious. I knew a lot of dead people. Most of them were Norse, but none of them explained death as I was experiencing it. But I didn't leave Tartarus. My soul never went to the Underworld to be judged. I'd been in water, but not the kind of water I was used to. It was cold, so cold. I wondered if that was what Charlie felt like when Khione cursed him. There had been other souls swirling around.

"Murderer," they hissed. "You abandon them all,"

I noted their word choice. Abandon, not abandoned. As if I was still leaving people behind to suffer. I felt myself drifting forward, and I joined the souls of the river. I didn't know what river it was, but I was a part of it.

Time was no longer in existence. Years seemingly went by in an instant. I felt myself aging, but I also felt myself growing younger at the same time. There are no words to properly explain what was happening to me. But nothing ever happened to the river. Just eternity, feeling more and more guilt every second I was there. I was guilty. I screamed my pain, admitting to everything I had done wrong. I apologized, but there was nobody there to listen.

Then I felt myself being suddenly yanked from the river. The same hand that pulled me out of the River of Lamentation all those months souls screamed at me, yelling to remind me of my sins, of all I had failed.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the sound of Charlie's labored breathing. The second thing I noticed was a sharp pain in my chest. I felt the blood pump faster through my veins, my heart began to beat on its own. Which meant that it hadn't been beating before.

Charlie was doing CPR, which explained the pain in my ribcage. Before I could assess the situation any further, I lurched forward and vomited. I couldn't stop the empty gagging that followed. There was nothing in my body to puke up. Charlie grabbed me by the arms-not very gently- and pulled me into an upright sitting position. He had been crying. My brain was still fuzzy. I couldn't comprehend what was going on. I was confused, disoriented.

"I thought you were gone! You were dead! You were dead!" Charlie cried. He hugged me so desperately that I couldn't help but feel guilty. More guilt. Charlie was sobbing. Heavy, unfiltered, sobbing.

I gently cupped the back of his head in my hand and held him close. I felt lightheaded, part of me felt like I was dreaming. I had been in that river for so long, but such a short amount of time had passed.

"How long was I out?" I croaked. My throat burned.

Charlie sniffed and wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "Twenty seven minutes. I counted. I did chest compressions thirty times, then two rescue breaths, then thirty chest compressions and two rescue breaths, then thirty chest compressions and two rescue breaths-" he cut himself off with a short cry. I rose to my knees and hugged him again, ignoring the flaring pain in my wounded ribcage. Charlie wrapped his arms under my armpits and kind of fell forward onto my chest. I ignored the flaring pain of my broken ribs.

"Don't you ever do that again. I don't care if you use your powers to choke her to death with her own saliva or whatever, just as long as you never ever do that again," he muttered.

"Do what, die?" I lightheartedly joked.

Charlie didn't playfully punch me like he usually did. He hugged me tighter. "I'm serious. Kill the bitch before you let her kill you. Don't leave me alone, Jase. Especially not here. I can't do it without you," he said seriously.

I stopped the joking attitude immediately. I separated from him just enough to look him in the eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Charlie. I promise, I will do whatever it takes to not ever leave you alone here. I won't let you stay here alone, and I will do whatever the fuck it takes to get you out of here. I swear it on the river Styx," I promised. The long sentence hurt to say. I felt like somebody had just torn out my vocal cords and a drunk monkey had attempted to stuff them back in.

Charlie smiled, then tilted his head. "What does it mean to promise on the river Styx?"

I smiled and pressed my lips to his forehead. "An oath to keep till the final breath."