The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 49--We Talk at Night

Turns out, I couldn't sleep soundly.

And it had nothing to do with Aridne and Liam's fight (turns out, their animosity had been only in terms of words; they were tired to do anything more than to go to sleep a few minutes later). Even though my bed molded around my body like a comfy blanket, I found myself staring up at the ceiling most of the night, stubbornly awake.

Eventually, I got so frustrated with my inability to sleep that I just gave up. I rolled onto my feet and exited out the room into the hallway. 

Shadows criss-crossed the corners of the walls like cobwebs. Every twenty feet or so stood a suit of metal armor. In the daylight, they looked pretty cool. Now, though, with only dim torchlight illuminating the halls, they looked like monsters just waiting for their chance to jump me. But, in the end, I was the only one that dared to move. 

Eventually, I found myself pushing through a pair of doors onto a lone balcony. I was facing the back surroundings of the mayor's estate. It was mainly forest (not the Great Forest, thankfully. Nothing could make me return back to that nightmare). I saw the dots of orange light emanating from the guards' torches as they patrolled the perimeter. I'd seen all of this on Earth before—in fact, I'd think I was back on my home planet if three moons weren't staring at me from the sky. Three Artemises . . . just imagining it makes me shudder. I wonder if N would think the same thing.

That wasn't supposed to come out—a product of leaving myself alone with my thoughts. 

It had been plaguing me for a while now—the reason why I couldn't get any quality sleep. It wasn't my exhaustion, nor my anxiousness at the impossibility of our mission. 

It was all because I missed N. The starless night reminded me of how my heart yearned for her with every beat. Every step away from where I'd seen her last pained me to the extreme. I'd give anything to have her back. At least let me apologize.

You got your chance, then, End said.

Her words startled me out of my thoughts, but I only grew confused. What in the name of Zeus' underpants could she be talking about? I didn't know what N looked like, or where I could find her. Hell, I wasn't even sure that her voice she'd used with me was her real one. 

"There you are." This voice was softer, yet firmer than End's—a cool, unflappable sense of calmness that could easily make its owner the most confident one in the room.

Aridne leaned on the railing beside me. The wind blew the smell of her perfume toward me—sweet and intoxicating, just like a field of flowers. In the dim light, she looked alluring. I swallowed hard and averted my face, my heart pounding heavily. I shouldn't be thinking about all of this. 

Fortunately, the beautiful girl beside me didn't seem to notice my inner struggle. "When I saw that you weren't in the room, I was worried that the mayor had mistaken you for Liam and had you killed and buried while we slept. Fortunately, I found you before I could locate the man's bedroom and interrogate him."

Despite the cruelty of her words, I couldn't help but feel warm inside—not a lot of people would go that far to save their quest mates. "Thanks."

"I didn't wake up in the middle of the night only for your gratitude, though this night is beautiful. You don't often get this much time to yourself in the capital. C'mon, you can tell me—what's on your mind?"

Don't be too truthful, End teased, making my cheeks burn in embarrassment. Thankfully, Aridne was busy looking our surroundings to notice. "There's . . . a lot happening right now."

"Is this about that little girl? Percy, you know better than to let one experience drag you down . . ."

"It's not that," I quickly said. "Well . . . kind of. It's just . . . I came to Planet Chaos to heal—not to break others. And everything on this damn quest has been going wrong. I've been unearthing memories that I've been trying to keep buried, I'm learning new things about my best friend—groundbreaking things that he would've told me beforehand if he truly  trusted me, and now you've been acting cold towards me . . ." 

Uh, Percy, End said, a second away from bursting into laughter again. I was just joking when I told you to be honest. Some things are meant to never be said out loud.

Of course, I knew that already. Unfortunately, I'd been running on fumes for several hours now—the boundary between thoughts and spoken words had slowly turned hazier and hazier until it culminated into the worst possible scenario. 

Before I could stutter out an apology—or maybe even somehow make it worse, Aridne's long sigh broke the silence. "Maybe . . . I've been a bit unfair."

Unfair? I looked at her in relief and confusion. Relief because I was glad that she didn't think I was weird. Confusion because . . . what had I actually done for Aridne to be mad at?

I can't believe that actually worked, End muttered.

Womans' minds are extremely complicated, Order supported. 

I'm also a woman, damn it! I'm not part of the audience that should be confused!

"I just need a break," I quickly said before Aridne could maybe change her mind. "Some time to think. I'll be back to normal by the morning."

"Unfortunately, I don't think we have that." 

A pang of pain struck my heart as she pulled out Ananke's necklace from her pocket. For a second there, I'd thought she'd come to check on me because she actually cared about my health. However, with her personality, I should've known that everything was for the mission.

Not that my reasoning made her words hurt less.

"If you need it, I can give you a few minutes," she offered.

"I'll be ready by the time you get that thing to work." Truth be told, I was very doubtful that the necklace actually had magical powers—again, why would a random Titan have something so powerful? It was most likely a fake. However, on the off chance that the necklace was actually real and we somehow could locate where Chaos' book was, Ananke's personality made me think that it'd be quite a while before Aridne would be able to operate it . . .

. . . was what I was thinking. But I was watching with bewildered eyes, she simply tapped on the necklace, and we were suddenly surrounded by bright white—sort of like what the inside of my consciousness looked like when End or Order took over.

Which was why I had a feeling that this trip would result into something unpredictable.

Little did I know, the consequences would be worse—much worse.