WORLDS BEYOND ( pjo )

𝐯𝐢: just beyond the horizon

"Psst, Kia."

Kia hummed questioningly, leaning her head closer toward Percy. He whispered like a criminal undercover, "Wanna break some rules?"

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Are you going to take no for an answer."

"No... but you weren't going to say no anyway, were you?"

Kia paused. "Fine."

Percy gave her a cheesy grin and Kia scrunched her nose up and pushed his face away with her hand.

Discreetly, when no one was looking, they slipped away from everyone and headed towards the Big House. Kia could put two and two together, figuring out pretty quickly what Percy wanted to do. He had seemed pretty antsy the entire time they were in the sword arena, pacing so much it gave Kia anxiety.

Kia noticed Percy's lips instinctively curling at the sight of the Big House, seemingly expecting Mr. D to be sitting in the parlour, growling at poor saytrs nearby. He seemed to have realised a split second later that he was still away. Kia could understand. It was sort of quiet without Mr. D around, no matter how unpleasant he usually was.

The old floorboards groaned and creaked as they made their way across the hallway, dimly lit. Kia and Percy stopped by the base of the stairs, briefly sharing a moment of hesitation. Just three floors above Kia's room was a trapdoor that led to Annabeth—and the Oracle. Kia has never met the Oracle herself, but she had heard several chilling stories from other campers, of musky green mist and seraphic green eyes with rolls of papyrus wrapping up what was once a youthful young woman, probably around Kia's age.

Then she heard sobbing. Familiar sobs she had tried to cure once. Percy noticed Kia's face turn grim and somber, lips pursing into a thin line and eyes staring off into space.

"What? You know who's crying?"

Kia nodded, looking uncomfortable with the topic. Percy didn't ask anymore, walking past her and down the stairs to the basement. Kia wanted to tell him not to, feeling guilt from allowing him to see someone in a deeply personal and vulnerable state, almost like intruding on something no one else was meant to see, but she couldn't. The words got lodged in her throat, she told herself. Maybe there was a part that wanted to check up on him too.

Percy saw what Kia had seen before: Clarisse and Chris, a demigod who had joined what people in Camp Half-Blood dubbed 'the Other Side,' in the midst of a moment outsider's eyes weren't meant to see. Chris was the one sobbing, his face grimy and dirty, hair matted and greasy. He was hugging his knees, repeatedly hitting his head on his kneecaps. He looked so fractured, like a thread in his mind had snapped. It was both terrifying and sad to see.

Clarisse looked like she was about to cry, her voice cracking when she said, "It's okay. Try a little more nectar."

She looked so tired, so unusually small, so sad and upset. It made Kia's heart hurt. "You're an illusion, Mary!" Chris backed farther into the corner, his dirt-ridden fingernails scraping painfully against the wood. It left a trail of blood, where his fingertips were. "G–get away."

"My name's not Mary," Clarisse said gently, voice hoarse with pain. "My name is Clarisse. Remember. Please."

"It's dark!" Chris yelled, eyes alight with panic and fear. He was screaming it into the air, the poor boy was shaking. "So dark!"

"Come outside," Clarisse coaxed. "The sunlight will help you."

"A... a thousand skulls. The earth keeps healing him." Kia ha heard him say this a thousand times, but she just couldn't figure out what it meant. She had a small suspicion that, even if Chris had gone... you know, a sliver of truth remained in his words.