A daughter of Death

Chapter 24

"You could have gotten yourself killed," I scolded the titan.

"You could have as well! I forgot about how much control you have over the shadow realm."

"It's not a good trait to forget," I laughed. Suddenly I stopped short. Percy stood in front of me in a black cloak. "You're kidding me, right? When will you just leave me alone!?!" I yelled.

"Lexi-"

"It's quite alright, Iapetus. I understand why she's so distraught. Miss Winchester, I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting," He stuck his hand out to me. "I'm Thanos, God of death. The reason you see Percy Jackson is that I often take the form of mortals true loves when they've found them."

I sighed. "Honestly at this point you could look like my father and I wouldn't give a damn. Can we pass through the doors of death?"

"I'm afraid," Bob cut in, "that this is when I take my leave."

"You're not coming up with me?"

"No, little hero. There's far too much to do down here."

"But... I have to do a lot up there. I have to go back to camp, and find Percy, and deal with Nico and my father and-"

"And you'll do fine. You've always done fine, this time won't be any different," He gently nudged me into the doors. "Tell the stars hello, young half-blood."

As the doors closed I dropped to the ground. I began to ball as I went up. The weight of everything dropped on me. Everything I pushed out of my head, everything I forced away, crashed back. I'd been in Tarturas for a while. When the doors opened, I stumbled out. A shadow swallowed me and I landed on a bed in some cabin at camp. My eyes closed and I slept.

I was falling, back into Tarturas. I was reliving everything, the curses that had nearly killed me, the monster's the sadistic pleasure of nearly killing the titan. My head spun with everything forcing is way through, things I tried to forget, pushing their way to the front.

"Lexi!" Someone yelled. I snapped, grabbing their wrist and sending them onto the ground. "Lexi, it's okay! It's Ethan," the figure on the ground spoke. I let go and backed away, terrified of what I did.

"Ethan..." He got up and looked at me.

"It's alright, Lexi. I'm fine, so are you."

I stared at my hands, "I can't...what did I do?...I can't stay here..." I whispered.

"You didn't do anything Lexi. Everybodies fine. Let's get you some food," He said in an even tone. He walked towards me slowly, carefully moving to lead me to the pavilion. I followed him willingly to get food.

When I stepped in, the pavilion went silent. I was terrified, I'd been through Tarturas but I couldn't move. I heard a chair crash to the ground before Nico engulfed me. I collapsed into him and he took my weight, my everything. He slowly moved down so we were both on the floor while I sobbed into him.

"It's alright Lex. I'm here," He muttered into my hair. After 5 minutes or so, I stopped. He gently stood both of us up and walked me over to the Hades table. "I'm gonna grab you some food."

When he left, my hands shook violently. I watched them in horror. I had been able to control my outbursts before, I couldn't stay here now that I couldn't. Ethan and Travis approached slowly, not caring about the whispers. Ethan grabbed my hands gently, trying to stop the shaking.

"You were there for over a month, Lexi. It'll be difficult to get used to camp again."

"I'm not staying," I whispered.

"Lexi, that's crazy. You just came back from Tarturas, which was after you got back from three months of torture. You don't need to leave again."

"Had you been anybody else, you would have been dead this morning," I snapped. "I'm not in control, and I won't put someone at risk."

"That's ridiculous! You're not leaving," He said angrily.

"Watch me," I growled. I stood and walked away. When I was out of sight, I ran. I slammed the Hades cabin door. I grabbed my duffel and began to stuff it full of clothes and ambrosia.

"Lexi," Nico said quietly. I had to push down my instincts to keep from attacking him. "You don't have to leave."

"I do Nico. I can't stay here," I didn't turn to face him but my put my hand beside me so he could see it tremoring and darkness curling around my shaking fingers. "No one's safe if I can't control it. It doesn't matter who."

He grabbed my hand and made me face him. "I'm safe."

"And Ethan? Conner, Piper, Hazel, Will? Percy?" I pulled away. "When I can control it, I'll come back. Until then I'll stick to the shadows, find demigods and send protectors to help them to their camps. I won't risk hurting people."

Brown met blue. He broke and pulled me into a hug. "Okay. But you come first. Don't get yourself killed. And stay in touch."

"Of course,"I released myself and grabbed the duffel. With a step, I sank into the shadows.