Book 2: Oaths and Victories.

Chapter 1: Week 1.

The way everyone talks about it, it feels like most add/adhd/autistic folks hyper fixate on like specific subjects, learning everything there is to know about a single thing, but I tend to latch onto various random facts that I find particularly interesting like a magpie that's seen something shiny.

Ανναβεθ

It takes seven days to reach Tartarus proper, she counts them out loud when Percy asks, both so desperate for something to do that she doesn't even become annoyed by it like she would otherwise.

And then the gap they fall towards opens up to barren ground full of sharp rocks and steep mountains, monstrous figures walking underneath, and deep lines cutting the terrain in pieces. It takes her a moment to realize what they are, but one of them glows bright red and she remembers Nico's words.

By then, though, they're rapidly falling towards a particularly dark one, and she has to shout at Percy to use the water to save them. She half expects it to be in vain, even as she asks, but he reaches out, and the water responds.

The moment the water touches her skin, though, she curses her luck and decision, recognizing the underworld river easily. But she can't linger in it for long, not if she wants to leave.

Though only the Styx was popularly talked about, she was well aware that there existed five rivers in the Underworld, each deadly in its own right. But as she struggled with her own will and Percy's, as he dragged her from tugging water and into glass shard shores, she decided the Cocytus was the deadliest of them all.

The air smells like rotten eggs.

The moment the thought crosses her mind everything goes into motion, the very air is toxic, their lungs are already beaten up from the river water, and there's no telling what it'll do to their cuts. Her eyes scan around in a panic, until she sees red glow. She urges Percy on his feet and they both run towards the fire.

Λεο

The way forward is harder than any of them thought, ourae, or numina montanum as Hazel insists, have been attacking them left and right. And while he's doing his best to dodge, the giant rocks still manage to damage the ship considerably, and he's getting fed up.

Part of his frustration, though, is fiercer over the fact that these monsters have some sort of vendetta against Underworld kids, and would've attacked the ship regardless of dirt face simply because he's harboring two of them in his ship. He holds no resentment towards Hazel and Nico, obviously, but there's no way they're clearing this stretch just with the three of them.

He understands that the others won't be that much help either, exhausted as they are from their trip so far, but they're running out of options. Which is why, when Hazel asks him to get as close to land as he can, her voice eager with hope, he doesn't think twice.

Out of everything he expects, a horse is the most far-fetched thing to appear, even if it is a massive horse that eats gold. Arion, as Hazel calls the horse, has an entire conversation with her, because of course he can talk, that seems to sew determination into her expression.

She turns back to them, fierce and decided.

"Arion's going to take me to meet someone who can help, but only me"

It sounds dangerous, but he turns to Nico first. Regardless of everything else, Hazel is his friend at most, but she's Nico's sister, and he's already lost one too many of those.

Nico meets his eyes full on, worry shining clearly, but also trust. A trust he would never dare question.

He turns back to Hazel.

"We'll wait"

Hazel smiles before mounting the horse and ridding into the distance. He waits until she's not even a dot in the horizon, before he moves himself closer to Nico.

Someone else might have tried to pry at his silence, asked him what was on his mind. Instead, he makes a different offer.

"Cold?"

Nico turns to him, face unreadable, looking for a long moment before he nods and crosses what little distance is left. They stay there, sitting down at some point, side to side, and wait.

Πάιπερ

By the time she wakes up, the Argo II is slowly making its way through a narrow river, surrounded by thick fog. On the shores, massive rock creatures watch silently, as though mesmerized, not moving at all.

She makes her way through the deck with trepidation, seeing Leo standing at the controls, Nico at his side with his gaze set on the radar display. And standing at the bow, right behind Festus protruding figure, is Hazel.

It takes a beat, and a few more steps, before she realizes why that is. Her hands are outstretched, and from them come wisps of white smoke.

Hazel's controlling the mist.

The world seems to shift under her soles, leaving her dizzy and disoriented, breath coming short and heart pounding.

And oh.

She's beautiful.

She shakes the thought away, embarrassed and guilty. Because it's one thing to know, to understand, but it's another much different to feel.

Hazel's far too young anyway, the youngest in the group.

They're all young in retrospect, far too young to have the very fate of their world in their hands. But fate is just as cruel as it is kind.

The ship's quiet, in a way she's loathe to break, but then Coach Hedge and Jason come from below with a hurried bang, Frank a few paces after, looking more asleep than awake.

"We have some bad news" the satyr says shattering the moment.