9 - Help! I'm Trapped in a Rock and I Can't Get Up!

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Perched atop Zeus's Fist, a warm breeze ruffled my hair and my fingers trailed over the dips and edges of the cool rock.

"When are you going on your quest?" I heard Aaron's voice ask me. I turned towards him, not meeting his eyes.

"I don't know," I answered, continuing to observe the boulder. It was a dark color, darker than granite, but not quite as dark nor as smooth as obsidian. Not that I'm a rock expert, or anything.

"You don't know?"

I shook my head, still not looking up at him.

"Adira," Aaron sighed, "look at me."

I tilted my head up, still not meeting his eyes. Instead, I focused on the bridge of his nose. He had a light smattering of freckles there, dark and visible from hours in the sun. When you're the son of the sun god, I suppose you get out a lot. Do Apollo children need sunscreen?

"It's okay if you don't know yet," he said, his voice soft. "Just... take your time, and be careful who you trust. It's dangerous." As he talked, the breeze ruffled his hair in a very distracting way.

My brain hitches on the last part of his sentence. Dangerous?

"Even in here? At camp?" 

He nods, solemn.

I looked away from him, out at all the rustling branches of the trees surrounding us. 

Dangerous? The word echoes in my mind.

"How..." I began, not sure how to phrase my question. "How do I know that I can trust you?"

Dangerous.

Before he could answer, the rock beneath me began to tremble. I tried to stand, but the shaking of the earth knocked me off my feet.

A huge crack split the rock in two, and I backed up, scooting on my butt to escape the growing chasm. Despite my effort, the crack grew, spreading towards me. It was all I could do to keep shimmying away from the hole, desperately trying to get as far away from it as I could.

But the hard stone split below me, and I slipped in, clawing at the loose gravel, trying to find a hold somewhere, somehow.

I toppled to the ground at the bottom of the chasm, dirt no doubt covering my face, my hair, my arms. I stood, brushing off some of the loose soil.

"Aaron?" I called, peering around for some sign of him either on the ground near me or in the space above me.

"Adira?" I heard from above, and there he was, sunlight framing his features and streaming through his hair as he looked down at me from the lip of the chasm.

"I'm here!" I shout to him. "I'm okay, I just need help! Can you find something—like a rope, or—"

"I'm sorry, Adira," he said to me, shaking his head. "I can't help you."

"But—please! How can you not help? You could go find someone, Chiron or Percy or—"

"No," Aaron tells me. His eyes flash a shade of yellow, unlike his usual deep brown eyes. "I told you to beware who you trust."

"But I can trust you!" I shake my head, frustrated. Was Aaron planning to betray me this whole time? Was he ever really my friend?

He said some people were... dangerous.

Had he meant himself?

"No, you can't," Aaron called to me. His eyes flashed that alarming shade of yellow again, and then he disappears, seemingly walking away from the chasm that I'm now stuck in.

He told me that trusting some people could be dangerous.

Did he put me down here? Wait, that didn't make sense. He's a child of Apollo. He can't manipulate the earth.

Then who did?

I shake my head, trying to focus on what's in front of me. First things first.

How the fuck am I supposed to get out of here?

I peer around the dark hole that I'm trapped in, looking for any clue as to how to escape. Using the limited light from the crack high above, I scan the walls.

Not seeing anything, I give up, sitting down and resting my back against the wall. I could just wait here for someone to come, wait for someone to realize that I'm missing. Someone would likely see my absence at lunch, but what about Aaron? Is he just going to go back to camp? What if he assures everyone that I'm okay, that I'm just skipping lunch? Who will come for me then?

I sigh and rest my head against the damp wall. But when my head hits the surface behind me, I hear a sharp click, and then the wall falls out from behind me. I fall backwards, then turn my body around, facing the now empty area. A tunnel has opened, and though it's dark, it's got to be better than staying in this room. Going somewhere is better than just waiting.

This way, I can actually do something. I can rescue myself.

I brush the dirt off my pants, and walk into the tunnel.





—raven speaks!

(810 words)

my hand slipped.

also, time for Adira's girlbossing moments.




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⏰ Last updated: Jul 26, 2022 ⏰

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