Chapter 9

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     SORRY I HAVE NOT UPDATED IN FOREVER


             Piper's pov

          When they reached the ledge I was sure I'd signed their death warrants.

        The cliff dropped more than eighty feet. At the bottom stretched a nightmare version of the Grand Canyon: a river of fire cutting a path through jagged obsidian crevasse, the glowing red currant casting  horrible shadows across the cliff faces.

        Even from the top of the canyon, the heat was intense. the chill of the river Cocytus hadn't left my bones, but now my face felt raw and sunburned. Every breath took more effort, as if my chest was filled with styrofoam peanuts. The cuts on my hands bled more rather than less. 

         Assuming they could make it down to the fiery river, which I doubted, my  plan seemed certifiably insane.   

         "Uh. . ." Jason examined the cliff. He pointed to a tiny fissure running diagonally from the edge to the bottom. "We  can try that ledge there. Might be able to climb down."

       He didn't say they'd be crazy to try. He managed to sound hopeful. I was grateful for that, but I was worried that I was leading him to his doom.

        Of course if they stayed here, we would die anyway. Blisters had started to form on their arms from exposure to the Tartarus air. The whole environment was about as healthy as a nuclear blast zone

        Jason went first. The ledge was barely wide enough to allow a toehold. Our hands clawed for any crack in the glassy rock. I ripped off the sleeves of my  shirt and use the cloth to wrap my bloody palms, but my fingers were still slippery and weak.

    A few steps below me, Jason grunted as he reached for another handhold, "So . . . what is this river of fire called?"

    "The Phlegethon," I  said. "You should concentrate on going down."

     "The  Phlegethon?"  He shinnied along the ledge.They'd made it roughly a third of the way down the cliff--still high enough to die if they fell. "Sounds like a marathon for hawking spitballs"

            "Please don't make me laugh,"  I said

             "Just trying to keep things light."

         "Thanks" I grunted nearly missing the ledge with her foot. "I'll have a smile on my face as I plummet to my death."




Does this make up for the month long wait tell me in the comments this is two PAGES of HOH.....MY NECK HURTS I AM GOING TO SLEEP goodnight.......






         


       

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