Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Lost Heroes.

AN: Thanks so much to everyone who's taken the time to read the story! I'm really enjoying myself dabbling around. I've attempted another POV this chapter so hopefully you all like it. And thanks as well for your thoughts. Please keep them coming. It's really motivational and honestly makes me want to update all the faster. I'm really going to try and keep with the five chapters a week thing. And while it's a long way off, I've been sucker punched by the 'what will happen end scene trying to leave Tartarus' muse and have already started that chapter. It's a long ways off yet but I want to hurry up just to get to that point I am so excited for it. anyway, thanks for reading!

Tempting the Fates

Chapter Six

AwfulTerribleWorstDayEver

Percy

Now he wasn't saying that he had been having the best day ever— he certainly hadn't.

In fact, he'd be a little hesitant to say what the best day ever thus far in his life had been but the 3rd of June hadn't exactly been the worst day of his life.

Monsters? Check.

Friends? Check.

Quest? That, too.

Rescuing Annabeth from some vindictive spider woman with a grudge against her mother? Check and check.

Saving a however thousand year old relic that could reconcile two long-feuding camps and aid in saving the world? Checkity check check check.

In his opinion, that was a lot of points that put it in the 'definitely not the worst day category' and maybe even started to qualify it for consideration for 'good'— not best, but good.

At least, until things all blew up in their faces. This was a serious setback for himself, just as it was for any demigod Greek or Roman by birth. Too many ticks in the 'moderate to okay'— or, gods' forgive, 'good'— column usually resulted in some severe karmic reversal. Not that he had been super hopeful, but there had been some element of optimism that maybe, just maybe, the eight demigods and their satyr would skate by unnoticed.

Fat chance.

Falling into Tartarus?

Major, serious, definitively conclusive check in the AwfulTerribleWorstDayEver column.

If there could be any possible redeeming thing to the whole situation— after they had fallen into the worst place above or below earth, plunged into a river of liquid fire and gasoline, nearly been eaten by the same spider lady who he was happily taking all his frustrations out on, retrieved the son of Hades from the most dispiriting body of water he'd ever manipulated (he was still unfurling the tendrils), choked down more of the gasoline water, and now was heading down into Tartarus— it was that Annabeth was safe.

Thank the gods for that. It was only something small but it was also everything. She's safe, he reminded himself. As thankful as he was, it didn't enliven the bleak landscape or lift his spirits like he'd hoped. Still, he kept repeating it to himself.

All things considered? Percy was having a pretty bad day. Honestly, few things could make it worse.

And then his stomach rumbled.

Cheeseburger. It cried.

Shut up. He answered.

With fries. Cheese fries. Large cheese fries, definitely. Ooh, or chill cheese fries.

Another impossibly loud protest from his stomach. It felt like it was trying to consume itself and he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten but it was probably a few days.

The shadow of a companion beside him was silent.

Can he hear my stomach?

It made for little distraction from the never ending gloom surrounding them. Only minutes before they had happened upon a cliff face. The Phlegethon, to their right, cascaded down below. Both had scouted around looking for the easiest way down but it appeared that in this particular section of Tartarus they would have to cling on like a couple of mountain goats and hope they didn't painfully fall to jagged rocks before or, their other option, painfully fall to jagged rocks surrounded by fire water.

And he was starving.

Strike that. Percy Jackson was having the worst day ever.

Once both boys conceded that there wasn't going to be an easier way down, Nico took the lead as he carefully picked his way slinking down, finding barely visible paths and foot or hand holds. The movements were incredibly feline or maybe that's just how he manipulated the shadows so well, moving like liquid steal, stealthy and soundless. Percy followed after none so graceful on the landscape, frequently disturbing little bits of the ground as he went. They in turn fell down and dusted Nico on the head. More than once those dark eyes glared upwards at Percy and he gave a wave and a sheepish grin.

Jeez.

"I'd kill for a stuffed crust pizza." Percy grumbled, fingers finding a holding only half their own size. Even as his stomach was complaining, his muscles might have protested if not for the strange water they kept drinking. It tasted like charred flesh but it left him feeling better than he thought possible in such a pit. "A giant stuffed crust pizza with extra pepperoni and blue m&ms. I know it's weird… but honestly, it's so good. You'd like it."

"Stuffed what crust pizza?"

Ascending.

"Oh yeah. Italian. Real pizza. Well, you might still like it," Percy mumbled talking more to the cliff face as his words dropped off. Now if he could just say the right thing rather than continuously stepping in it with Nico then maybe the younger demigod would say more than five words to him and hold his gaze for more than ten seconds before looking away.

Bianca was a long time ago. Surely, he can't still be upset about that. And it's not like I don't have plenty to be upset with him over and I'm trying to do my best and let it go.

"I'm not really hungry," Nico offered up from below.

Blinking in surprise, Percy cast his gaze downward at the other, daring to look. Honestly, he didn't really like heights so he'd been keeping to a steady gaze just where he was going (now depths, that was another story. Loved him some depths. Get him far below sea level and that was all peachy), but green orbs chanced a look down and caught Nico looking up at him.

Gods, he doesn't even look like he's trying. His muscles don't even look a little tired.

"Really?" Percy's stomach took that very moment to let out another wail of disapproval. "My stomach is about ready— no strike that— i'm pretty sure it's in the process of eating my spleen or something. You can live without a spleen, right?"

"Uhm… not too sure, actually. Probably?" After a few seconds curses in Greek floated up to his ears.

"You okay, Nic?"

"Yeah, no big deal. Just scuffed myself up a little. Not too much further."

Thank the gods for that, he exhaled. While the molten liquid they were sipping as infrequently as possible was doing its part towards keeping them from burning to dust in the corrosive atmosphere, it didn't take any steps towards sating his hunger. And the effects weren't really long lasting.

"How'd you know? About the river, I mean. The phlegm-a-ton?"

"Phlegethon?" The other corrected.

If it weren't for the already boiling air and the strain of climbing down in gravity amplified, Percy's cheeks might have flushed. It was only thing for Annabeth to correct him, he expected that, but he forgot that the other demigod, though younger, might have been more clever than he gave him credit. Coughing, he sputtered out a, "yeah."

"It was really just a guess. Glad that I was right. I mean, it's Tartarus. They don't have anything here like ambrosia or nectar but they do have this. The river of fire, boiling blood. You hear rumours in the Underworld about the different sections. These rivers flow for countless miles but there are stories about boiling blood the punishment for people who murdered their fellow men." There was a pause and Percy realised that Nico had finally found his footing on the ground. Just a few feet above meant that he was nearly to the floor— no more cliff climbing! "Those men… they'd want to punish them forever. So they have to keep them going somehow. What else would they use if not the river itself?"

Biting back the taste of bile in his mouth his stomach rolled.

Was he just implying that we were drinking…

Before he could finish the vampiric thought, dust filled his eyes and debris conked him onto the head. Completely unprepared for the shock, Percy went to rub his eyes only to let go of the ledge he was holding onto and all too late scrambled to balance himself. The son of Poseidon none too gracefully fell and even less nimbly dropped onto the only soft thing below him— Nico.

And even he wasn't all that soft.

Choking on the dust, Percy rubbed his heels into his eyes trying to get the taint of Tartarus grime out of his eyes so he could see. A grumble came from below him as the younger demigod attempted to scramble out from under him but the son of Poseidon was arguably larger and the best Nico succeeded in was wounded Nico with his jutting hipbones and sharp elbows.

"Ow!" Was Percy's indignant cry.

"Ow!? Ow, yourself! I think you just bruised my butt! And the rest of me!"

Finally escaping, Nico was ruffled like a feral cat, hairs standing on end and back almost arched a little. Eyes darted everywhere, especially upwards at the disturbance that had caused the comical fall in the first place.

"Empousai…" he hissed.

Pulling himself together, green eyes threw themselves upward and saw exactly what the Ghost King was talking about. Empousai on their ungainly disproportionate legs (a donkey's leg and a prosthetic made of brass— who in their right mind had thought that was a good idea?) were scattering down the cliff face. Their pace was too languid to suggest that they had caught the scent of demigods but they weren't all the high up and who knew if their vision was any better in Tartarus than it was up on land. Their fiery hair lit up the black soil.

Gods, I haven't thought about empousai since…

As if finishing his thought, he heard the cackle screech of an all too familiar foe. "Hurry up!" Kelli shrilled to her minions above. "If you're going to keep like bothering me about how far the mortal realm is, the least you could do is put some back into it!" The exasperated sigh was felt rather than heard.

Red spots swam in his vision. Kelli… she'd tried to kill him at his old school and then appeared again. His fingers clutched his pen to hand, thumb steady over the end ready to transfigure the pen into his trusty sword when Nico latched onto his arm and gave it a tug.

"Percy," he muttered close enough to feel breath against his ear. Green eyes locked with chocolate ones and he felt compelled to look past Nico. "The ground— it's not ground. It's alive." and then he saw it. The landscape littered with what he had taken for uneven terrain or boulders was actually… pocks. Abscesses blemishing an already unappealing landscape. But they were… were they pulsing?

Just then one before them popped, excreting a lot of goo he didn't want to even think about let alone come near and… a telekhine crawled forth covered in the primordial grossness.

"And that means…"

"That we have monsters behinds us and monster before us."

"Comforting thought," mused Percy with a roll of his eyes.

Glancing at his companion, he took in the dark bags under the boy's eyes and his even thinner than normal frame. Hell, just landing on him, Percy had felt the depth of Nico's malnutrition if being stabbed by his bones was any indication. He was practically a skeleton. Immediately, he felt guilty for the thought as he knew that on some level, Nico would take offence to something so mean spirited. Shaking his head, he sighed. It still didn't install in him much faith in exactly how useful the son of Hades would be in a fight.

So which was the lesser of two evils? The wicked ahead they would have to face no matter what to continue on, or the malevolent behind they might be able to avoid?

Kelli's there… his gut seethed. The name filled him with hateful thoughts. They could sneak up from behind if we don't take care of them now. And as much as his brain was hardwired to think of every possible solution, some of the agitation was more self serving that self preserving.

"They haven't seen us yet," the son of Hadoes advised. "We could disappear into the uneven landscape. They can't have caught our scent yet— maybe we don't smell the same down here? I mean, it's pretty gross already."

The impassioned portion of his gut, though, wanted wrath not willing to pardon his enemy.

A shriek echoed before them. The telekhine in question was scooped up by a slimy, scaled super muscle arm that shot out from a nearby cave to their left. The cries of the telkhine multiplied as it disappeared into the cave and then fell eerily silent.

Apparently the demigods weren't the only ones who noticed and the commotion had the empousai in a frenzy.

"Is there any left?"

"I want his flesh!"

"Blood!" Another wailed.

In their frenzy to move faster, further debris fell down the side of the cliff face. And Kelli, her fiery hair framing her face let out a gleeful laugh. "Why Perseus Jackson! Fancy finding you down here. And who's this sweet thing? I don't think we've been introduced. He looks absolutely delectable. A little on the scrawny side but I bet his blood boils hot. What do you say, tall dark and delicious?"

Percy brandished riptide in front of him. From the corner of his green eyes he could see that Nico was sporting his Stygian blade, feet in a stance ready to defend.

"You wish," the child of the underworld scoffed.

A handful of the vampiric women soon stood before them forgetting momentarily the telekhine.

"Come on ladies! Does Kelli fulfil promises or what? Five star eating in the whole of Tartarus. But leave that one for me." A wicked finger jutted out and, much to his astonishment, her dirty fingernail didn't point at the son of Poseidon but at his companion.

And then all hell broke loose.

Who knew how long it had been since the she-monsters had eaten but Percy and Nico must have looked like a five course meal because they were scrambling over one another to get at them. In fact, a few were too busy fighting one another amongst shrieks of "He's mine!" and "No, mine! You fat sow, you always eat first!"

Nails extended, they bare their sharp teeth and moved like the shadows. Riptide at the ready, Percy found himself slashing and cutting but always just a few seconds too late. A lucky blow caught one in the stomach but that was after her sister in arms had pushed her. Just before she disappeared into dust she cried in anguish cursing the other. "She'll be back!" The victorious sister cowed.

She, too, soon disappeared into a puff of golden dust.

Percy chanced a look over to Nico, seeing Kelli descending on the other. He wielded is sword well but the older boy still didn't put much faith into how much power he could pack behind it. After his first stint in Tartarus and the waste it had laid on his body, Percy wasn't so confident his companion was up to a hundred percent. Not that the journey so far had exactly been helpful.

ADHD kicking in, he snapped attention back to the here and now, still alert of a million things happening around him. The pustules burping and new monsters being born, thankfully far off in the distance. The empousai no longer in fighting had decided that half of one demigod was better than none and were stalking forth towards him.

Ducking and rolling, he just missed a rather creative attack that involved an empousa whipping her blazing hair towards his face. If the scent was anything to go by it was very possible that Percy Jackson had just lost his eyebrows. Typical. Coming out of his duck and roll, his side collided with a hoof. It was the full of his body weight carried in that roll and he hadn't noticed the vampire lady sneaking up to his side. The kick stole the breath from him and spots swam across his vision.

Even without his wits about him, he went into autopilot. The blade he carried swung mercilessly upwards. It cut and slashed and jabbed. He managed to get back to his feet but had a hand thrown across his side protecting the tender spot. Everything was a whirlwind and Percy Jackson became a hurricane. His temper piqued and he was a hurricane destroying empousai until his winds blew themselves out and he was little more than hot air.

Then he felt fire in his injured side as its as pierced by talons and flames consuming his neck as teeth ripped into flesh.

"Salty," Kelli lorded over him before taking another bite.

Nico shouted something, still holding his Stygian sword high, but unable to get a shot in that wouldn't wound or decapitate Percy.

Then a titan dropped from the sky.

There's too much fire in Tartarus.

And everything went black.

So what do you think of Percy's POV? Should I do it again? And thanks again for everyone taking the time to favourite and review. I'll try and respond to you all shortly. I love the time you take. :)