𝙄𝙉𝙁𝙇𝘼𝙈𝙀𝘿; heroes of olympus

wonder bread

ERITH JAY
WARMTH flowed through her body. She felt a burning sensation in her side, in her chest, where she had been stabbed.

She lifted up the bloody fabric of her shirt that clung to her side.

"Oh," she hissed.

The area where she had been injured was literally glowing. It burned with a light so bright it was hard to look at.

"Erith?" Jason asked.

He was staring at her side, blue eyes wide.

The disc hummed in her hands.

Percy took one looked at her and dismissed the scene. His face was tight with anger. He stared up at Bacchus and the cheering crowds like he wanted to kill them all.

Erith slid the disc onto her wrist. She tore off a piece of her shirt and tied to disc to her arm, then grabbed her sword from the ground.

She looked up at the crowds, at the giants, at Bacchus. The burning in her side seemed to work its way to her heart.

"Why do you fight for the gods?" Luke's ghost had asked her many nights. 

She'd never been sure if he was real. How could he be on the ship? The first vision of him had been at Camp Half-Blood, but now he kept coming.

That's why she hated sleeping alone. Because if she wasn't with someone, the ghosts always found her.

"I killed myself and no one did anything." Luke's words echoed in her head. "The gods don't care about us. You know who grieved? Annabeth Chase. Percy fucking Jackson, the boy who hated my guts."

Erith supposed the answer was right there, why she fought for the gods: because her friends fought for the gods.

She caught Piper's eye, then Nico's.

She would fight this battle. For them.

"I can't fucking believe this," Percy swore, kicking at dirt. "Making us fight for amusement. Fuck the―"

His voice faltered. He glanced up, but Bacchus was chatting with a ghost. He seemed not to have heard him.

Fuck the gods. Luke's words, Percy's voice.

"This isn't for them," Jason said. "It's for our friends. For Annabeth, and Piper and Nico."

Percy took a deep breath. Squared his shoulders. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

As Erith watched, the two giants picked up a fake mountain.

"Don't like it," Erith told him. "But if they want a show, let's give them a damn show."

She held out her hand, and a swirl of golden light appeared. Her whole body burned. 

Careful, a voice said. Don't push yourself.

You're not a god.

She hadn't touched the disc since she had helped free Hera. She had nearly burned up.