Walk With the Shadows [ Percy Jackson OC ]

FORTY-SEVEN | Kitty

KITTY WATCHED IN HORROR as Alex dueled Eris by the River Lethe. Her head ached, blood dripped in her eyes and bits of gravel still sticking to her skin as she wobbled on her feet. Alex had yelled something at her. She'd heard him make sounds, seen his lips move. But she hadn't been able to comprehend his words.

She felt like she moved half a second behind her own brain. It could have been the frigid air or the shadows that blurred the air, but everything clouded her mind. Kitty wiped blood from her eyes.

She still held the Lyre of Orpheus. As Alex dodged Eris's half-hearted swings, she froze in place. Alex had said to run. That's what he'd said. He'd ordered her to run.

But if she ran, he would die. If she ran, Ophelia would die.

Kitty had run so many times already. She had run outside Baltimore as hellhounds bared down on top of them, leaving Alex to raise a sword in their defense. She had run outside of Washington, DC when the Colchis Bull had left them all bleeding, relying on Alex to fend it off while they escaped. In Florida she had run from all manner of monsters while Alex and Ophelia held them off.

She saved herself. That's what she did. She didn't gamble with her own life, only the lives of others.

Shadow and light flashed with every strike of Vindication against Eris's blades. The clanging filled her brain. She couldn't think straight. She had the lyre. Without the lyre their quest would end and a hundred children would die.

Kitty turned away, looking for a bridge. She didn't see a bridge.

But she did come face to face with a black shadowy ghost, armored in ancient ebony and wielding a dark, rusted sword. Her mouth ran dry. Her decision was made for her.

Kitty drew her celestial bronze blade. She hated having her back to Alex and Eris. It didn't take long to dispatch the ghost. With a short laugh, she sheathed her blade. Stupid ghost.

She turned around in time to see Alex scream in pain as one of Eris's swords caught his side. The world went colorless. A lump formed in her throat as Kitty saw their luck. Ophelia's, black as night. Alex's, black as night. Eri's, gold as her haunting eyes. Thrusting her hand forward, she tried to leech away Eris's luck.

It worked. Slightly.

Eris backed away from Alex, shaking her head and smile widening. She locked eyes with Kitty. "Now, now, daughter of Tyche. Mind your own business."

At Eris's words, more ghosts materilalized from the growing cracks in the ground. They spidered out from where Ophelia knelt, incapacitated. Deja vu. This was the Magic Kingdom all over again. But Kitty had even less desire to see what was beneath this layer of the Underworld than when she'd been in the overworld.

Many large boulders lay in the ground beside the River Lethe. As the ghosts closed in and more joined their ranks, Kitty shook her head. This was useless. They were in the Underworld, for gods's sakes. The ghosts would keep coming. And she couldn't fight them all. She could barely fight a few. Her arms already ached.