We split up to find out what the fuck we should do.
The first and most important task in any of our minds was getting warm. Bianca, Thalia, Zoe, and Grover all went to get some coffee/hot chocolate/anything warm to consume while Percy and I tried to find a way out of here.
When we walked into the store, we found out a few things about this place. One is that everyone here hates it. The store clerk? He looks like the most miserable man out there and trust me when I tell you I have seen some shit. The second thing we found out is this store is really old. I found this old stuffed animal that was discontinued when I was still a kid. My mother bought me one before some rich prick stole it while I was at the park. The third thing I figured out was that we were stranded here. The store clerk did tell us that we could get a cab down the mountain, but it would cost us hundreds of dollars that we don't have.
In hopes of making at least 2/3 of those things better, Percy grabbed a rubber rat and bought it, tipping the store clerk more than it cost.
We walked out of the shop and back into the harsh cold outside, sitting down at a little table while we waited for the rest of them to come back with the drinks.
"I don't know what we are going to do," Percy admitted. "We have no way out, and time is running out. With Annabeth in the generals hands, who knows what is going to happen."
"We'll be . . . alright," I tried to reassure. "We'll find a way. People like us always do."
"People like us?"
"Resourceful. Determined. Scared."
He smiled at me. "You're scared?" In any other situation I would have thought someone was making fun of me, but his tone was soft like his smile.
"Of course I am." I am going to fucking die, I wanted to add. "You would be out of your mind to not be scared."
He stayed silent for a second. "I'm terrified."
"Good. It's good to be scared, it helps you survive."
He laughed lightly, turning his body to face mine more. "I don't know about that one. I'm not terrified about me dying, I'm terrified about everyone else. Lost in the land without rain, die at a parents hand . . . "
"Well, maybe you should be more worried about you dying. If you have a one in three chance of dying in the next week, maybe you should be scared for yourself." Maybe you should take your own advice.
"What are you scared for then? Because I know it isn't yourself. You wanting to sacrifice yourself to the general for Annabeth, taking this hit for Thalia? That isn't being scared for yourself."
I smiled to myself. "Guess you aren't the only one with a savior complex. But it's also just different for me. I'm not supposed to be here in the first place, I should be like 96 and on the verge of death."
"But instead your are 16 and on there verge of death," he finished and I nod. "So it's not that much different? I mean, you are still 16. Just because you are supposed to be 96 doesn't mean you have to act like it, treating your life likes it's already over."
"But it probably is," I said, not even thinking.
"What do you mean?" I shook my head. "Is this about what Apollo said?" My heart stopped. That bitch told my secret, didn't he?
"What did Apollo say?" I asked, trying to act nonchalant.
"He told me to tell you to watch out for those prophecies, then told me 'JK I'll go let her know myself!' when he saw you leave Thalia's car." He sighs. "I thought it was just about this quest prophecy, but is there something else?"
Yes! Yes there is and I would LOVE to share it with you because it is kinda eating me alive that I am gonna die! Yay!
"No, it probably isn't anything more than this prophecy." I am very good at internalizing my feelings in a very unhealthy way.
"Then you think that you are gonna be one of the people in the prophecy?"
"You never know. I am quite unlucky when it comes to life." I laugh but am not joined. He just stared at me. "But again, you never know. I made it out of the sea of monsters, didn't I?"
"Yeah, yeah you did."
"Hey guys," Bianca said, sitting down next to us. "Find anything out?"
"No," Percy replied. "Just what we assumed, nothing is around here for miles."
Bianca sighed, closing her eyes. "I don't know why, but I thought that it would be different. The quest I mean. I thought it would be . . . I don't know."
"Easier?" Percy asked.
"More entertaining and fulfilling to your hunter wants and desires?" I added.
"Ha, yeah, I guess."
"Speaking of, what are your hunter wants and desires?" I asked.
Bianca frowns at my question. "I guess I just wanted to get away. I had been taking care of Nico for so long on my own, I just wanted to be . . ."
"Free?"
"Yeah."
"Are you happy?" Percy asked.
"I'm not sure happy is the right word. I mean, Artemis is missing and everything else is going to Hades, but I think that being a hunter is cool?" Bianca has a smile on her face. "Emelia, you really should think about joining. Zoe told me they had offered."
I feel Percy's stare on the side of my head. "I don't know. I do have to think about it still."
It wasn't my top priority in the last few days since I'll probably be dead in a the next week.
"Camp is still an option," Percy suggested.
"So is dying. There are a ton of options that I can focus on once we save Annabeth." I sighed and no one pushed it any further. "Bianca, how did Nico take to the news?"
"He, he didn't understand my decision, but I think he knows deep down that is was one I had to make. When I apologized to him for like the thousandth time he just gave up trying to fight it. I mean, he is 12 now, he understands what I have gone through for the both of us, or I at least he is trying to. I don't know."
Her brow is furrowed and here eyes are trained on the floor. She looks guilty for leaving.
"You don't have to be sorry," I stated and she looked towards me. I reached out my hand and grabbed her's reassuringly. "For leaving, I mean. Nico will still love you, he will have plenty of support and siblings to lean on once we figure out your lineage. Sometimes you gotta do the hard thing and be happy, something we don't do too often."
Percy nodded his head.
"Thank you," Bianca muttered. "I know he is in good hands if either of you are at camp. He really admires you, Percy. He thinks you are the coolest person he has ever met. He has about a thousand questions written down to ask you when we get back. You guys seem;ike genuinely good people."
I look towards Percy who is smiling softly, his face a little extra red. "Even though I knocked you down during capture the flag?"
Bianca laughed. "Besides that, of course. You actually remind me of this one kid from Westover. His name was Jake. He was always super nice to Nico, kind of a girl crazy lunatic, but nice enough."
That makes me laugh. "Does Jake happen to have dark hair and an obsession with himself and his daddy's money?" Bianca nods. "Ah, I've met your friend. Can confirm he is girl crazy!" I laugh at the memory of kneeing him in the balls.
"At the dance?" I nod. "Yeah, we had to blend in and so I danced with him for a sec and he wouldn't shut up-"
"So, Bianca, where did you go to school before Westover?" Percy interrupted.
I shoot him a quick glare and kick to the shin, but he just rolls his eyes. I think back to the dance when he was glaring at Jake. Huh, I wonder if they knew each other before and that's why Percy doesn't like him.
Bianca frowned, telling us, "I don't know, I think some boarding school in DC? It seems so long ago."
"You never lived with your parents?" Percy asked and she shook her head.
"We were told our parents died when we were young. Some lawyer has been taking care of all of our shit. He told us we needed to leave the school in DC, then we stayed in this little hotel for a few weeks. The rest is pretty fuzzy until we arrived to Westover."
Her story is weird. The holes, the lawyer, everything. But then again, she is a half blood so nothing is really that weird. Hell, I was stranded at sea for 80 years.
We don't get to continue the conversation though because the rest of the group joins us with the hot beverages.
I sip my "chai latte," something Annabeth told me about back on our first quest and I never got around to trying before. The hot liquid burns my tongue in the best way. The drink is also rather tasty. I wouldn't be mad if this is the last thing I taste before I die- actually maybe I shouldn't be thinking like that.
Percy broke off a piece of his blueberry muffin and offered it to me which I gratefully took. I felt bad though and offered him a sip of my drink. When he took a sip he smiled sadly. "Annabeth?" I nodded.
"We should do a tracking spell," Zoe said. "Grover, do you have any more acorns?"
"Uhhh, I think so. Let me-" Grover froze. We all sat there for a second expectantly. Before any of us could ask what was wrong, the birds on Grover's cup sprung to life as a gust of warm, spring air blew through us. The rubber rat that Percy was holding started thrashing around in his hand before he dropped it and it ran away.
"Alright, what the fuck," I said. Grover was about to answer but instead, as the French say, tomber dans les pommes. He fell in the apples and fainted.
Everyone dropped down next to him, but a hand grabbed my shoulders and wouldn't let me. I turn to see none other than the tall business man of death himself.
"Hello, Emelia," he said. I try to take a step back but my feet won't move. "I have been meaning to stop by for some time."
"Ah, and I assume you know I have been trying to avoid you for some time as well." He nods.
Wait. Die because of a parent vibes? Is this pat of the prophecy about to come true? I look towards the rest of the group for some help, but they all aren't paying me any attention. Not even Thalia who ran right by me.
"You are under my veil," he told me. "They can't see you or hear you. They won't even be able to touch you. But you are not in need of that. I am here to help you." I breathe out a sigh of relief.
"Oh yeah? Help with what exactly? Getting Artemis and Annabeth back?"
Hades sighed. "Some what. I happen to take some fondness towards my children and would like to give you something." A ring with a skull on it. Of course. What else would it have on in? A sun? It should because I'm always such a fucking ray of sunshine.
"What's this for?" I ask, not putting it on until I know its use.
"It's a VIP pass of course." I give him a confused look. "I happen to be very aware of your little prophecy. This ring will allow you speedy and quick access through the underworld."
My heart stops. There is no way. This has to be a dream.
"You're shitting me right?" I asked, angrily. "You are just like, yeah go fucking die! Yes, my dear child, you are gonna die, but here is a pass to the front of the line!"
"That is no way to speak to a god." He said, staying calm. "I will excuse it because you are dying anyway." My eyes widen.
I laugh, a hard, genuine laugh full of disbelief and anger.
"Alright then, it was great to meet you dad, but I gotta go." Hades was gone before I could even finish my sentence.
I was so intrigued with my father popping in, I didn't even notice the fight going on around me until I was in the middle of gunfire. WHY? WHY ME?
"Emelia! Duck!" Bianca's voice yelled and I ducked just as a silver arrow flew over my head. Alright. I think I am done with being a half blood. Anyone want to take my place? No? Fine, I only have like a week left anyway.
The people we were fighting happened to not be alive, just like I will be in a few days! But them being not alive makes them significantly harder to kill. I watched as the group was fighting them and how they reformed time and time again.
I unclipped my bracelet and decided 'YOLO' and ran right towards the respawning, practically impossible to kill dead people with guns. Before I could get down and dirty with the dead (hahahaha I laughed writing this sentence), Percy yelled, "Emelia!" before jumping in front of me.
Two deafening sounds ring through my ears. Gunshots. Gunshots that just shot bullets at Percy. Gunshots that just hit Percy in the back. Gunshots that were supposed to hit me.
"PERCY!" I cry out. Panic runs through me as I drop to the ground next to him. He lifts up his not-dead head and smiles at me.
"I'm good," he grunted.
I shook my head at him. "You're just in shock, er, stay still, HOLY SHIT, you were shot, what do I do? Oh my gods, someone help, oh my gods."
"Hey, hey, hey," he said, sitting up. I try to tell him to stop, that he shouldn't be moving around because he was JUST FUCKING SHOT, but he doesn't listen. "I'm okay. The lion's fur protected me."
The biggest breath of relief leaves my mouth as I pull myself up from the ground. "You're the worst," I told him before getting back to the fight.
One skeleton that was fighting Thalia was getting a bit too close to her so I ran over to help. I try to stab the skeleton with my sword, but my shaking hands give the skeleton a lot of time to react and counter it by blocking with his gun. It did however give Thalia enough time to chop his head off.
"You good?" she asked.
"Peachy."
"Can you use your powers on these guys?"
"I can try." I focused on the pile of bones before me and watch as the sunk down into the ground. Thalia nods at me and I take it as my queue to try it on the rest of the skeletons.
When I turned towards the rest however, they were all looking at me with their guns pointed. This is fabulous, I just made myself enemy #1.
Thalia shields us with her shield as I work on pulling them into the ground one at a time. The rest try to stop them, but they were reforming quicker than ever. I am pretty sure I saw one of the skeletons sock Zoe in the nose.
While I was working on the third skeleton, a pain shot through my leg. I drop to the ground with a scream. I look at my thigh to see a nice little hole in it.
Thalia had bent down to shield me completely, muttering a string of curse words.
"Help me up," I tell her. "I gotta get the rest."
I didn't need to get the rest though because I watched as Bianca stabbed the last one with her dagger, setting it ablaze until it was nothing but ashes. Hades. Shit. This isn't good. That's my sister. I have a sister?!
This can't be true. The oath that Hades swore to . . .
"Looks like Bianca's got it," Thalia says. Thalia folds up her shield and sits down next to me. "Do we have like a rag or something?" I take off my backpack and grab out my bloody shirt from earlier still staring at Bianca who has no idea.
I need to keep it that way. No one can know. Shit, Nico.
I don't have time to worry about it though because the queen of worrying shows up. "Shit," Percy says, jogging over. "You got shot?"
"I did? Huh, I didn't know!" I reply wincing in pain as Thalia pours some nectar over it. Percy grabs my hand but I quickly pull it away and punch him in the arm. "You dick!"
"Woah, what did I do! I didn't shoot you!"
"No, but I thought you fucking died over there! You don't jump in front of bullets for people!" I go to punch him again but he catches my fist and holds it.
"But I had the lion's fur! I was fine!" he defended.
"But did you know that?" He hesitated. "See! You can't do that!"
"Not even for pretty girls?" he smirks. My heart skips a beat as I am caught off guard, but I quickly catch myself.
"No, not even for- OH FUCKINNNNNNNNN!" Thalia wrapped my thigh with my old t-shirt and the pressure made me feel like I got shot again. "Why doesn't it look like it hurts that bad on TV?" I asked, squeezing Percy's hand.
"Because this is real life, dipshit," Thalia said, knotting the t-shirt. "Alright, eat some ambrosia and-"
"REEEEEEEEEEEET!" A pig screamed. Yes. A pig. A big pig.
Thalia raised her spear and Percy stood in front of me with his sword raised, but Grover yelled, "DON'T KILL IT!"
"That's the Erymanthian Boar," Zoe said, trying to stay calm. "I don't think we can kill it."
"It's a gift," Grover said. "A blessing from the Wild!"
I get up on my good leg and pull out my own sword. "Then what are we supposed to do?"
"REEEEEEEEEET!!" The pig charged straight at us.
"Scatter!" Someone yelled and we all dove out of the way of the monster. I yelped in pain as the impact hit me and my nice little bullet hole. Blood had soaked through the t-shirt already and is dripping down my leg. Not a comfortable feeling. You know what else isn't a comfortable feeling? The side effects of blood loss.
Don't faint. No falling to the apples. Ne tomber pas dans les pommes!
I force myself up, ignoring every part of my body that is screaming and cursing at me to just sit the fuck down.
"Come on!" Percy yelled. Him and Thalia came to either side of me ran with me. I try putting weight on my bad leg but the pain was unimaginable.
"No, I can't keep up. I'll just go off to the side and hope it doesn't come at me."
"And what if it does?" Thalia asked.
"I said hope."
"Yeah, no. Not gonna happen. That's too risky."
"REEEEEEEEEEEET!"
The pig turned its attention away from where Zoe and Bianca were totally killing it, well not literally, and towards us.
This pig is FAST.
"Wer're not going fast enough!" I told them as we reached the bottom of a steep hill. "I'll just hide behind a tree! I'm slowing you guys down too much!"
"Shut up," Percy says, letting go of my arm and picking my up in his arms bridal style. My outside leg and the bad leg screamed in pain at the sudden movement and blackness overtook my vision for a second. "Shit, stay awake."
Percy was going too slow. She knew it. Carrying her is slowing him way down. The only reason we aren't pig food right now is the trees slowing the pig down because it had to barrel through them instead of weaving like they were doing.
"Percy, I am serious, you need to put me down, you aren't going fast enough," I mumble, my head nodding down a bit. The edges of my vision are beginning to turn black again.
My luck. Is shit.
"Yeah, you are about to pass out and be defenseless, I'm not putting you down."
The blackness is slowly covering the rest of the snowy scene before me.
"Follow me!" Percy said.
"No!" Thalia screamed.
"Come on!" He said. "It'll hold our weight, probably."
"I can't!" Thalia yelled.
"Now!" Percy yelled at Thalia.
I felt us flying through the air and then hitting the ground. The pain that came through my leg at the impact was enough to make my eyes shoot open and see the terrifying scene before us.
We were flying down the mountain, trying to dodge trees at 10000 miles an hour, while sledding off Thalia's shield. Percy's hand pulled my head into his chest while Thalia screamed bloody murder.
We finally came to a stop and everything was silent.
My head was hurting and my leg was screaming in pain like no amount of ambrosia would fix this.
Percy's arm loosened around my head and I pulled it out of his chest. I looked at his face and he was saying something. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked worried, but I didn't care.
The only thing my brain seemed to care about was thinking, 'huh, Percy has freckles.'
Then I died.
(A/N hahahaha this is unedited bc it is long and I will deal with it later like I do with all my problems)