𝙩𝙪 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 - p. jackson [₂]

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒊𝒊𝒊.

―✧―

𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐋 𝐌𝐘 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐇.

we marched along, following bob, listening to the monotonous slosh of liquid in his cleaning bottle.

stay alert, i told myself, but it was hard. my thoughts were as numb as my legs. from time to time, percy, annabeth and i made encouraging comments, but we were all slowing down. percy took my hand but i could tell the dark landscape was getting to him as well. his eyes had a dull sheen — like his spirit was being slowly extinguished.

"stop it," annabeth said aloud.

i frowned. "what?"

"no, not you." annabeth gave a grimace-like smile. "talking to myself. this place... it's messing with my mind. giving me dark thoughts."

i didn't like it, but i understood what she was going through.

"hey, bob, where exactly are we heading?" i asked.

"the lady," bob said. "death mist."

annabeth made an impatient noise. "but what does that mean? who is this lady?"

"naming her?" bob glanced back. "not a good idea."

i sighed. the titan was right. names had power, and speaking them here in tartarus was probably very dangerous.

"can you at least tell us how far?" i tried.

"i do not know," bob admitted. "i can only feel it. we wait for the darkness to get darker. then we go sideways."

"sideways," annabeth muttered. "naturally."

i was tempted to ask for a rest, but i didn't want to stop. not here in this cold, dark place. the black fog seeped into my body, turning my bones into moist styrofoam.

i thought of the message annabeth had sent to rachel. i wondered if it got delivered to reyna without getting them killed. i began thinking of clint, and the defeated eyes of agent-demigods who were protecting the camp. they knew the might of the legion, and they thought it was hopeless. i began to wonder if it really was.

i thought of bucky and what he was doing right now. ever since i found out i was rebecca 2.0., i felt a personal connection to help him. in a sense, he was my brother. he knew me enough to stop attacking me. i was so close to finding a cure for the ecvs used on him, but now i was here, in tartarus.

i desperately needed something to lift my spirits. a drink of actual water. a moment of sunlight. a warm bed. a goofy joke from my dad.

suddenly bob stopped. he raised his hand: wait.

"what?" percy whispered.

"shh," bob warned. "ahead. something moves."

i strained my ears. from somewhere in the fog came a deep thrumming noise, like the idling engine of a large construction vehicle. i could feel the vibrations through my shoes.