Page 101

Will gave Nico a look that clearly meantExplain.

‘Sometimes … Sometimes when souls arrive in the Underworld, they have done such horrible things that they’re not even fit for the Fields of Punishment. They have to be cleansed … in the Acheron.’

Will cupped his sun globe a little tighter. ‘And I guess this cleansing is … painful.’

‘The pain is not just physical,’ said Screech-Bling. ‘It will rip your soul to pieces. It will find every bad thing you have done, every bad thought, and make you feel agony and guilt until you have been purified.’

Will gulped. ‘And then … you can get out?’

‘Oh, no,’ Screech-Bling said. ‘By then you will have dissolved into a fine sediment of eternal misery, still conscious, but probably not sane.’

‘Even standing on the banks of the Acheron will affect you,’ Hiss-Majesty warned.

‘And you two will not be standing on the banks. You must go in.’

Will took a step back. He started shaking his head. ‘Okay, Nico, I – I can’t go in that water. Maybe you’re right. There’s got to be another way.’

‘Well,’ said Screech-Bling, ‘you won’t actually –’

‘Hold on.’ Nico felt an unexpected surge of irritation. ‘Will,you’reworried about going in the Acheron? If anyone could come through that river unscathed, it’s you. You’ve never done a single terrible thing in your life! You help people!’

Will took another step back. His eyes looked haunted in a way Nico had never seen. ‘I’m worried aboutbothof us, Nico. And you’re just as good a person as I am. I know you’ve had a tough life, but –’

‘A “tough life”? It’s been more than just tough, Will.’

‘Son of Hades –’ Hiss-Majesty tried to interrupt.

‘That’s not what I meant!’ Will continued. ‘But you haven’t done anything you deserve to bepunishedfor.’

‘How do you know?’ shouted Nico. ‘Do you know everything I’ve been through? What I’ve had to do just to survive?’

‘No! Becauseyou won’t tell me!’

Silence fell between them. Nico was reminded of the time Will chastised him for not helping in the camp infirmary last year. This wasn’t just the weight of the Underworld pressing down on Will, making him say things he didn’t mean.

Will’s bitterness and frustration were real.

Before Nico could find a response, Hiss-Majesty tugged at the sleeve of his bomber jacket. ‘Um, Son of Hades, we were not done explaining the shortcut.’

‘What do you mean?’

Hiss-Majesty pointed upriver. ‘You will not have to swim. She can help you.’

A few hundred yards from the precipice, a small thatched hut squatted near the riverbank. A well-worn path led to a rickety pier, where a white boat like a large canoe was moored. On the ground outside the hut sat a woman with pale blue skin, the muted colours of her gown rippling in the light of a cooking fire. She was too far away for Nico to see her face, but she had clearly noticed them. She raised a hand and waved to her onlookers.

Great, Nico thought. Will and I just had an argument in front of Ms Shortcut.

‘We cannot accompany you any further, demigods,’ said Screech-Bling. ‘This is where we must part.’

Hiss-Majesty nodded sadly. ‘She cannot helpus.’

Nico wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but he felt ashamed that his last moments with the troglodytes had been spent arguing with Will. His face burned.

‘Thank you both,’ he told them. ‘For all you’ve done for us.’

Screech-Bling doffed his tricorn. ‘You will always be a friend ofthe troglodytes. When you return, we will welcome you with open arms!’

Then Hiss-Majesty stepped forward, bashfully holding their cheese-wedge hat.