Darkness & Sea Go Hand-in-Hand [Hiatus]

11

"Get up!"

...

"Percy Jackson, wake UP!"

Percy opened his eyes, the first thing in his view being a frantic looking Annabeth, shaking his shoulder.
"Percy!" she exclaimed. "Get up! The trees, they're-"

Nico came into view then, dodging a fallen tree and grabbing them both by the forearm.
"Get up! Move, move, move!" he barked, pulling the two before they could even process what he shouted.

Pery, his heart racing from suddenly waking up to chaos, and his lungs filling with ghastly smoke; making him cough and huff.
"What the heck is going on!?" he said between coughs, his waking up brain vaguely processing what was currently happening.

No one explained.

In panic, unsure of what the heck kind of danger they were in, Nico only ordered them to hold on, and a shadow enveloped them almost instantly.

The whispers were filling their ears already. But before the doubts and pain could make home and root in, the three burst out of the darkness and into cooler air.

They fell and stayed on the ground, coughing and heaving.

Percy pulled some grass out of the ground accidentally as he coughed, asking "What the skatá happened!? Why was...then the...I-"

Holding her hand to her aching chest, trying to gain back air, Annabeth said "I don't...just...a wave...a-a wave of flames just...just started burning through...the trees. I don't know if-if it was because of the summer h-heat. Or if..."

"If Minthe did...something..." Nico finished, slowly standing up on shaking legs. "This...it's the final day. Things are gonna be-" he broke into a coughing fit, falling to the ground and slamming a fist againt the dirt and grass.

Stumbling over to the pale boy, Percy reached out a shaky hand and rubbed Nico's back.
"Nico, deep b-breaths. C-Catch your breath."

After a moment, finally able to catch their breaths, Nico ran a hand through his messy hair.
"Why...Why does she keep showing me these dreams, telling me to come? And then send something to attack us? How can she do that!? Why!?"

Checking his ankle for burns, Percy said "Are we sure it's her? We're demigods. To monsters and danger, we're deer during open season. Most of them might be a coincidence."

Nico rested his head in his hands, letting out a shaky sigh.
"I just want to get to Bianca. I..."

As the tears began to fall, Annabeth scooted closer and rubbed a hand on his back.
"We'll get to her, Nico. We will make it on time."

As the sound of sirens closed in, Percy said "Perhaps we should get going? Three kids alone near where a forest just caught on fire? People might think we started it. And...the moon..."

The three of them looked up at the moon; the rocky orb moving so slow across the sky, one could barely tell it was moving at all.
But slowly and surely, it was. Ever so closer to the sun.

Getting up quickly, shaking a numbed leg, he said "Ya, we should start going. Now."

The urgency in his voice made Percy want to wrap his arms around him, but he didn't. He didn't know how much longer until the view of the sun would be covered by the moon, and he wasn't going to let Bianca die again. Not after he broke his promise to keep her safe. He had a chance to help Nico get her back, and he wasn't going to risk it.
He wasn't going to risk Nico's trust again.

Annabeth looked around and asked, mostly to herself, "What's the fastest way to San Francisco from here?"

Nico looked west, where the small acre of trees burned.
"I can...maybe I can try to shadow travel one more ti-"