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Will scooted close and wrapped Nico in his arms. Finally, Nico let go of the tension he’d been holding and he cried into Will. Cried with relief, cried from fatigue, cried because his life had been so very, very hard.

It was still hard.

But maybe this part … Maybe this part could be easier.

Nico curled up in his boyfriend’s arms, and Small Bob purred athis feet. Tartarus was quiet around them. Nico wondered if maybe the old god had drifted off to sleep … And then exhaustion began to pull at Nico’s own consciousness.

As his eyelids grew heavy, he took one last look around them. A seemingly endless expanse of barren, arid land stretched out in either direction, like they were travelling through a sunless desert split by the river. This time he saw no monsters or creatures, no gods or protogenoi, nothing lurking in the shadows.

Even so, Nico still worried. What if something else awaited them? Could this terrible journey truly be nearing its end? It had been so torturous just toenterTartarus. Surely it wouldn’t be easy to leave it.

But they had come so far – too far to fail. Nico clung to that thought – alongside the reformed Titan, his ghost cat, a band of newly born cacodemons and Will – as the canoe passed silently into darkness.

Will wasn’t surprised when Nico fell asleep in his arms.

The Acheron – or Cocytus, Will supposed, as he wasn’t quite sure which river this was any more – carried them along smoothly, and the gentle current was lulling. But sleep was proving to be a little more elusive for Will.

It didn’t help that there were, like, fifteen blobs of darkness staring at him with glowing eyes.

Nico’s Cocoa Puffs (Wow, another great band name, he thought) examined Will. Were they trying to determine if he was safe to be around? It sure felt like that. As the boat travelled through the empty expanse of Tartarus, they watched him vigilantly while occasionally cooing or purring.

This was going to be quite an adjustment.

But so was being around aTitan. Will had never met Bob before, and now he was sharing a boat with him.

Oh, and Bob was weeping.

Like, full-on weeping. Tears poured down his face.

‘Bob, are you okay?’ Will asked.

‘I am more than okay,’ the Titan choked out. ‘I am free. I’malso thinking of something I once said to some other demigods.’

‘What was that?’

‘I told Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase that Titans are not meant to change, that we are the same forever. But this … this is not true. I am evidence of that. All things can change, if given the opportunity.’ He smiled. ‘It is a lot to consider, Will Solace.’

Will smiled back. ‘Do you need anything?’

‘No, my demigod friend. You just rest.’

Will glanced ahead, and the river continued into the darkness. ‘Do you think we’re actually going to make it to the top of the Underworld?’

‘I’ll get you back home, Will Solace,’ Bob said. ‘You saved me. Now it is time for me to save you.’

Nico stirred against his chest. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Let others do the saving, Will.’

Will hugged Nico tight. ‘Shhh, my little ball of darkness,’ he said. ‘We don’t need your sarcasm right now.’

Nico grunted a laugh. ‘You live for my sarcasm.’

‘So … is this it? Do we just wait until this river leads us back to the entrance?’

‘Will, it reallyisokay if you just rest,’ Nico said. ‘You don’t always have to be saving the world.’

‘I know, I know. It’s just that it seems like after everything we’ve been through on this quest … this part is too easy.’

‘Well, now you’re starting to sound like me.’ Nico sat up and turned to face Will. ‘And I get it. I really do. I’m always expecting the worst because … well, the worstalwaysseems to come for me. I even assumed that for this quest. I was so worried evenbeforewe entered the Door of Orpheus.’