Six Feet Under.

chapter eight

CHAPTER EIGHT: SECTION SEVEN

     Layla found that sleep came easier that night, but the dreams that plagued her mind made her wish she would wake up. Despite her best efforts, she remained asleep, with no choice but to listen to the voices in her head.

She stood in a void—complete nothingness surrounded her. The voices, however, filled the silence. She recognized the first one, but the second one was new—a voice that she was sure she hadn't heard before.

"Percy said that he heard her." Nico, her brother, mumbled, his voice echoing in the void. "Then... he said he saw her."

"Saw her?" The new voice questioned. "How could he have seen her?"

A sigh was heard, "I don't know." Nico responded, "he said she was sort of... flickering, and he could see through her, like she wasn't really there. But he told me he was sure that he wasn't making it up."

There was a beat of silence. "Did he say anything else?"

More silence. Then, Nico spoke in a soft voice, like he was trying to hide the fact that he felt like he was going to cry. Layla felt horrible, yearning to remember him. "He said she was asking who she was, Hazel. If Layla didn't remember Percy, what if she doesn't remember me?"

Layla barely noticed the tear that fell down her face. For a while, it was silent. Neither Nico nor Hazel spoke—even as she thought of the girl's name, she was sure it wasn't ringing any bells. Hazel. Did I know a Hazel? Her mind came up blank.

"We'll find her, Nico." Hazel comforted. She didn't sound as sad as Nico, so that led Layla to believe that the two had never known each other before. But she sounded so sure of herself, like Hazel knew that they would find Layla.

Layla could only pray that they would find her quickly—and subconsciously, she found herself praying to a god.

A god named Hades, the god of the dead, king of the underworld.

     When morning came around, Layla was up and ready to go, her dreams giving her a new sense of hope. She had people to get back to, Nico, Percy, Hazel.

     Minho seemed to notice her upbeat attitude, but didn't comment on it. So, as the two made their way to the slammers, Minho and Layla crouched down by the door that was between the two experienced Runners, and Thomas, the newest Runner.

     "Big day, Greenie." Minho greeted upon seeing Thomas wide awake. "You sure you don't wanna sit this one out?" He raised a brow in a joking manner.

     Thomas scoffed, a small smile appearing on his face. "Come on, man, get me outta here." Layla smiled at him, as Minho shook his head in amusement.

     "All right." The Keeper of the Runners muttered, leaning forwards to untie the rope that was wrapped around the slammer door as a makeshift lock.

     Layla and Minho helped Thomas gear up, giving him weapons and proper running shoes and a Runners pack with water and some food for the run. Layla couldn't help but notice how Thomas looked overwhelmed, but she could see the excitement in his eyes.

     As Layla, Thomas and Minho walked up to the Maze doors, waiting for them to open, the girl looked over to Thomas to make sure he had everything he needed. She nodded in approval before Thomas turned to look at her, "what?" He asked, his lips pulling into a frown.

     Layla shrugged, "nothing. Just making sure we didn't forget anything." The boy raised a brow, "we didn't." She assured.

     The doors slowly begin to open—a loud scraping sound as the rock dragged against rock. The sounds of gears beneath the walls caught Layla's attention, like it always did, and she took a moment to focus on it before looking straight ahead.