𝐏𝐘𝐑𝐑𝐇𝐈𝐂 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

03 - fate and other stupid-ass things

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

THE AIR WAS EERIE, quiet until pierced by calls of names. As Elia's head peeked from the rocks she noticed the absence of the three scorpions, which had been there not even five minutes earlier. 

The blonde gripped the edge of the hole, hauling herself up and out of the deadly maze beneath her. She could hear the yells getting louder— closer. Elia turned, holding a hand out to the boy behind her to help him up. His warm palm pressed against hers as he heaved himself up, grunting as he stood. 

"Percy! Elia!" Clarisse's voice was heard, along with a group of footsteps coming toward the clearing. Maybe twelve, Elia guessed. 

Elia glanced at Percy, an eyebrow quirked in confusion. "The hell..."

"Don't look at me..." the boy shrugged, his fingers moving from her hand to her wrist as he lightly tugged her toward the voices. 

As the two rounded a corner of rocks, they ran straight into Clarisse and a group of campers carrying torches. "Where have you two been?" Clarisse demanded. "We've been looking forever." 

"But we were gone only a few minutes?" Percy frowned. Elia nodded along, though something in the back of her mind was itching, like the truth was contrary to her belief. 

Chiron trotted up, followed by Tyson, Grover, and Annabeth. Lucia stood behind the daughter of Athena, looking relieved to see her sister. 

"Percy! Ellie!" Tyson said. "You are okay?" 

"We're fine," Percy reassured his brother. Elia smiled softly at the young Cyclops as Percy continued, "We fell in a hole, I think? It was weird. And Elia started doing this weird glowy thing and—" 

The campers looked at the pair skeptically, a knowing glance coming from Annabeth. 

"Honest!" Percy exclaimed. Elia had yet to speak up, her hands still shaking and clammy from fear. "There were three damn scorpions after us, so we ran and hid in the rocks. But we were only gone a minute." 

"You've been missing for almost an hour," Chiron frowned, his hooves clopping nervously. "The game is over."

"Yeah," Grover muttered. "We would've won, but a Cyclops sat on me." 

"Was an accident!" Tyson protested, and then he sneezed. 

Lucia was wearing the gold laurels, a signal that she and Annabeth had won the game. "We did win," she shrugged, nudging her taller partner with her shoulder. The daughter of Athena smiled softly at her, but her tense gaze fell back on Percy and Elia.

"A hole?" Annabeth asked, a brow quirked in suspicion. 

Elia took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. Percy's hand slipped down from her wrist to grasp her hand once more, giving her warm fingers a comforting squeeze. She looked around at the other campers. "Chiron... maybe we should talk about this at the Big House— I don't think— we just..." 

Clarisse sucked in a harsh breath. "You found it, didn't you?" 

Elia shuddered as her breath hitched in her throat. The real panic of the situation was setting in, the fact that the maze was there, and that she'd been in it. She nodded numbly. "I— yeah. We did." 

A bunch of campers started asking questions, but Elia's gaze stayed on the floor, blank and scared. A squeeze of her hand brought her eyes to meet Percy's, who sent her a concerned scrunch of his brows and a question with his eyes. She breathed shakily and clenched her jaw, trying to force back the tears welling in her eyes.