Dancing with Death

A Matter of Communication

Eliza stood at the prow of the ship, standing on the railing and gripping the bronze scales of Festus' neck to hold herself steady as the world raced by below.

They were about a half-hour out from Topeka, Kansas - where Piper's knife had told her to go.

She took a deep breath, eyes squeezed shut as she basked in the early morning air. She hadn't slept exceptionally well last night, plagued by nightmares and bad memories - everything she'd done to earn her nickname.

"Are you alright?" Jason's voice called her out of her thoughts. "Percy said, you ran away from him last night. Locked yourself in your room."

She sighed. "I guess the fish really does have a big mouth." She muttered to herself as she turned and dropped onto the deck. "In my defense, he was asking very personal questions, and we both know how I respond to that."

Jason took a deep breath. "I've seen you shut down, tune people out, even... lash out," He met her gaze. "but I've never seen you run away from anything."

Eliza stared at the bronze deck beneath her feet. A sharp pain pounded in her temple and she flinched, pressing a hand to her throbbing head.

Jason caught her by the arms. "Eliza, what's wrong?" 

She shook her head and blinked back the tears that had sprung to her eyes. "It's fine. I just... hit my head the crash. Nothing serious."

Jason scoffed. "'Nothing Serious'? You almost keeled over." He steadied her and made her look at him. "Go see Coach Hedge. Have him take a look at it."

Eliza released a long breath and gave a quick nod.

Jason returned the gesture and released his grip on her arms.

She flashed a weak smile and turned, walking towards the stairs to the lower deck. At the bottom, she glanced down the hallway towards Hedge's room. She could hear him yelling as the TV crowd cheered. Without hesitation, she turned and walked the opposite direction down the hall.
                                    *   *   *
Leo pressed the button again and furrowed his brow. "That's weird."

Annabeth was standing with Percy by the port side of the ship. She turned. "What's weird?" She walked over with Percy behind her.

Leo stared at the non-responsive button. "The communications system isn't responding." He pressed the button again, to no avail. "I tried paging Coach Hedge, but all I get is white noise, if anything at all."

Annabeth's forehead scrunched, forming a deep crease between her eyebrows. "They were working fine yesterday. What could've happened in less than twenty-four hours?"

"I don't know," Leo admitted. "but could you watch the helm, I've got to check this out."

Annabeth gave a curt nod and took her place at the helm as Leo raced down to the lower decks.

When he reached the engine room, he ducked through the dangling tubes and wires, navigating to the wall that housed the cons system. He gasped when he saw it. Many of the wires had been torn out of place, violently disconnected from the system.

He fingered one of the mangled wires. "What in Hades."

Something jostled the wires behind him and he froze. Whatever or whoever had done this was still there.

He reached into his tool belt, pulling out a large stalky wrench. "Who's there?" His hands felt hot.

"Careful." A voice echoed through the mechanism. It sounded familiar, but... off. He couldn't place it. "We wouldn't want to start a fire now would we."

Leo tried to follow the echoey voice, but it seemed to come from all sides. "Show yourself, coward." He fought to keep the edge of fear from his voice.

"Coward." The voice chuckled. "I'm not the one shaking."

Leo glanced down and noticed his hands were trembling ever so slightly. He swallowed down his fear, forcing his arms to still. "At least I'm not hiding my face."

"And why would I be hiding my face?" A figure emerged from the tangle of the engine. The lithe petite form stopped just shy of Leo and his heart skipped a beat as he recognized the girl.

Eliza met his gaze, her golden eyes shimmering with an unnatural glow. "You've already seen it."

A/N
Yaaaayyyyy!!!!!!
I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I went on a ten day trip and forgot my phone. 😅
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though it was a bit shorter.
Feel free to post your predictions in the comments.
Until next time.
-Cheshire