Sea Green Eyes

Chapter 85

Cressida was on the verge of a panic attack as her worst memories came crashing down on her.

Being tied up on a bed. Watching Castor die. Thinking Percy was dead, worrying about him being gone for months. Almost drowning in the nymphaeum. Tartarus. Bob. Damasen. Castor, again. Nyx. Akhlys. Her father looking so much like her father but wanting her to compete in a spectacle battle in the Colosseum. Tartarus. Her hands being covered in Jason's blood.

She was completely paralysed when Piper and Annabeth tackled her and the giant's hammer cracked the floor, stone shrapnel hitting Piper's back.

The giant chuckled. "Oh, that wasn't fair!" He hefted his sledgehammer again.

"Cress, you gotta get up!" Annabeth urged as they pulled her to her feet, glad to have Piper with them because Cressida was nearly comatose.

The temple was amplifying their personal fears. Piper had seen some horrible things, Annabeth had seen worse, but it was nothing compared to what Cressida had experienced. If she was having flashbacks of Tartarus, enhanced and compounded with all her other bad memories all at once, her mind wouldn't be able to cope. The daughter of madness might literally go mad.

"We're here for you" Piper promised as she saw Cressida's pale face and wide, unfocused eyes. "We will get out of this."

The giant laughed. "A child of Aphrodite leading the child of Athena and the legendary daughter of Dionysus?! Now I've seen everything. How would you defeat me, girl? With makeup and fashion tips?"

"Cressida, you have to trust us," Annabeth urged.

"A-a plan. We need a plan. W-we need-"

"No plans!" Piper said, snapping Cressida out of whatever memory she was in.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"No plans. Just follow me!"

The giant swung his hammer, but they dodged it easily. Piper leapt forward and slashed her sword across the back of the giant's knee. Annabeth deepened the cut as the giant bellowed in outrage before they yanked Cressida into the nearest tunnel and they were engulfed in total darkness as Cressida let out a sob.

"NO. No. Not again. I can't see."

"No, Cress, you're ok. You're not blind, it's just dark," Annabeth assured her.

"It's fine," Piper said, keeping a tight hold on Cressida's hand. "Keep moving. Come on!" she said as she led them in the direction that made her fear sharpest.

"Then it's like the House of Night," Cressida said. "We should close our eyes."

"No!" Piper said. "Keep them open. We can't try to hide."

The giant's voice came from somewhere in front of them. "Lost forever. Swallowed by the darkness."

Cressida froze, halting the other girls to a stop.

"Why did we just plunge in? why did we jump?" she panicked. "We're lost. We did what he wanted us to do! I- I could've acted. Annabeth could've figured out a plan. I-I lied to Percy. I lied. I'm not going to see him again."

"Cressida, listen to me!" Piper ordered, her charmspeak washing over the girl. She'd never tried using charm speak on Cressida because she didn't think it would work, but in this brief window of panic, she was more susceptible to suggestion. "I know you hate being scared but you can't act your way out of this problem. You can't defeat it with reason. You can't keep ignoring your emotions and pretending they don't exist."

"But I-"

"Cress, listen to her," Annabeth encouraged, also terrified but more so for her friend who seemed to be falling apart. "I know you always bottle your emotions, but you have to feel them. You can't keep ignoring them."