₊ ⊹ book four ˎˊ˗
chap two!
٠ ࣪⭑
❝ are you off your meds? ❞
٠ ࣪⭑ SAM'S GRIP on the girl's arm was unwavering, the son of Hermes holding onto her bicep like it was the last meal he would ever feast his eyes on.
Her surroundings felt familiar; like she had just been here. Perhaps in a dream? A prophecy? Or maybe...
Atlas appeared before her.
"Well," he grunted, a fire in his eyes that no one could extinguish. "If it isn't our own little teleporter."
Aria frowned. "What? Are you off your meds?"
The god smirked.
"I'm assuming Sam hasn't given you...the talk?"
The boy beside her made an annoyed noise in his throat.
"What talk?" Aria asked, her gaze flickering between demigod and god, each face holding a hint of uncertainty, each clenched fist holding a story of resentment. "My mom already gave me the stork sto-"
"No!" Atlas exclaimed. "A different talk! Oh my gods."
Sam snarled. "We were just about to get to it."
Atlas nodded, his eyes tracing every corner of the girl as if surveying her like his own personal experiment.
He raised his eyebrow in question. "Do you think this will work?"
Aria felt as lost as she did in maths.
Sam grinned, somehow tightening his grip on her already aching arm. "It's going to work. I know it will. She will do as I ask."
Aria furrowed her brows and placed a free hand on her hip. "She? She as in me? Cause it better not be me, you conniving little snake of a demigod, because I will never do-"
Atlas rolled his eyes. "Take her away."
"Come, Aria," Sam cooed sadistically. "Many things to discuss."
The next room that she was forcefully shoved into was like a doctors office. Not that Aria had ever gone to the doctors. But she had seen Greys Anatomy enough to know that this, was not a regular office space.
Sam shoved her down roughly on the seat, Aria half stumbling in the process.
"Bitch," she muttered under her breath, fixing her position on the grey chair beneath her.
Sam sat across from her, the boy leaning forward in his own chair. "Do you know why you're here?"
Aria shook her head. "Clearly not, you piece of shit, otherwise I wouldn't be asking every two seconds why I'm being held hostage."
The boy was not fazed. "You are here for a very special reason, Aria."
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Enlighten me."
He took a deep breath. "You can...how do I put this? You can time travel."
"I'm sorry. What now?"
"Your dad," Sam began, intertwining his hands together in his lap, "had a prophecy, a very long time ago, that one of his daughters would be able to time travel, their power able to shape or destroy a civilisation."
The girl raised a suspicious eyebrow. "So...how do we know its me? I mean, not to rain on your parade or anything, but how do we know it isn't just Ray? Or Sai?" Aria was truly confused on the matter. "Oo, actually, I feel like Keke might be a good time traveler, she watches a lot of documen-"
"We know it's you," Sam said, cutting her little tangent off, "because the prophecy said; she will be like a brunette in a sea of blondes."
Aria scoffed. "That's a fucking lame prophecy."
"Well, I didn't write it."
"Sure sounds like you did. Probably your reading level, right? They don't have english classes here at Kronos's school for professional dickheads?"
"That's enough!" Sam exclaimed, clearly getting frustrated now, his face turning an unusual red, his typically calm demeanour twisting into something more furious.
"Someone's mad..."
"I'm not mad! But I need you to understand why you're here." His voice was desperate, and he leaned even closer to her face.
She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I know why you want me now."
Sam nodded his head encouragingly, urging her to go on.
She continued. "Because you want me to time travel my way back to Kronos's time and stop all the bad shit from happening to him so you guys can have your little cult where he's alive. Right?"
The Hermes boy nodded again, looking relieved that he didn't have to spell it out for her.
"All we need you to do is-"
"I'm not doing jackshit for you."
Sam had a look of incredulousness on his face, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Like Aria would just as easily succumb to his forcefulness as she had succumbed to his lying locks of golden hair that she had once faithfully run her hands through.
"Then we have no other choice."
Percy was stressed. The last time he had been worried about a girl was when Aria had been in such close proximity to him that he could barely think straight, but now he was stressed that Aria was not even directly close to him.
The thought made him weak.
Why had she trusted him? How could she so blindly fall into Sam's curated trap, pretty words falling from his ugly mouth that somehow managed to sway her tampered heart?
"Where could she even be!" Annabeth cried out from the far side of Percy's cabin, the Athena girl pacing up and down so aggressively that Percy was surprised the floor boards weren't caving beneath them.
"I like how you think that I know the answer to this," he grumbled, fiddling with the pink bow in his lap.
"Okay, well, let's think."
"Oh, sorry, was I not doing that before?"
Annabeth tapped her forehead like whacking it would give her brain power. "If I was Sam, what would I do?"
"Kill myself."
"Not the answer I wanted."
Percy pondered for a moment. "Well, if we can somehow get a hold of Apollo..."
Annabeth stopped her rapid pacing. "He can try and show us a prophecy! Oh my gods, Percy, you finally had a good thought!"
"Gee, thanks."
The two demigods raced to Chiron's office like it was the last mission of their lives, and for Percy, that was somewhat true.
His veins were pumping with the blood of hatred, and his head pounded with images of what he would do to Sam once he finally saw him.
He would make it as painful as he could.
For once, Mr. D looked utterly and painfully serious, his bushy brows drawn in genuine concern. To say that Percy was scared was an understatement. He knew it was bad if even Mr. D was worried.
"Is Chiron here?" Percy gushed out, Annabeth drawing in close behind him.
"He's inside," Mr. D said, although his usual snappiness was gone.
Percy couldn't tell if he liked it or not.
The duo wandered inside, breaths bated, hearts beating to the irregular rhythm that seemed to be a relentless force in their ears.
Chiron sat before them, playing with the features on his vintage record player.
"How can I help you?" the centaur said. He didn't even need to turn around to know it was them.
"We need to send a message to Apollo."
Chiron, Percy and Annabeth were now standing in the Apollo cabin, the room feeling a little more empty without a certain ray of sunshine. Her bed sat unoccupied in the far corner, and an unfinished artwork of a boy with blonde...
Percy walked closer to the painting, his breath catching in his throat.
It was a painting of him.
He swallowed down the oncoming lump that was now forming, and turned his back to the artwork. Aria could finish it when he got her home.
The girl's siblings sat scattered on the floor, legs crossed, arms connected with one another, like some sort of ritual. If Percy didn't think that the Apollo cabin was culty before, he certainly did now.
They hummed an incandescent tune, their half-godly voiceboxes creating one of the most beautiful songs that Percy had ever heard. They kept this up for about a minute before eventually, they all opened their eyes simultaneously.
"What did you see?" Annabeth whispered, as if afraid to break them out of their trance.
"We saw...she was with Atlas," Will murmured, his eyes flickering between each Apollo child.
Percy felt scared to ask another question. "What else? Was there another vision, or was that it?"
There was silence for a moment, before Will spoke again, somehow sounding even more feeble than before. "There was another. She...she was getting operated on...by Sam."
Percy couldn't hear what happened after that. His mind went blank, his vision went blurry, and his only thought was how good it would feel to kill the Hermes boy.
gracie's nation! ──★ ˙🍓 ̟ !!
just when you thought the angst was over...gracie comes and strikes again
HELP DARK SASSY PERCY IS SO FUNNY. "kill myself" - perce 2024
gimme ur thoughts on this lil extra storyline
i wanna make it interesting for you all to read and not just yk like a repeat of the books
hopefully you all like it!! i really like being able to write my own thing and have my own sorta plotline
have a wonderful day my angels, i love u all infinitely
- gracie out !