𝑳𝑶𝑵𝑮 𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑬 || 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒚 𝒋𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒙 𝒐𝒄

the start of the end of the world

Maisie inhaled.

Darkness.

Come to me.

Shadows.

I command you...ugh.

"Nico, this isn't working," Maisie said, having opened her eyes with a slouch.

"Yeah, I noticed," commented Nico, leaned up against a rock, looking bored. "You're still just standing there, looking stupid."

Maisie threw her arms up in the air. "Nico, you might just be the shittiest teacher I've ever had. And I've had really shitty teachers."

"Maybe you're just a shitty student," Nico clapped back.

"Or maybe, I can't fucking shadow travel."

"Not with that attitude you can't."

Maisie rolled her eyes. Her and Nico had been spending a lot of time in the Underworld the last few months, training for the upcoming war. It had been going...fine? Maisie felt stronger, faster, more agile. She could finally do 20 consecutive pushups! Annabeth would be so proud.

Her Pyrokinesis was a little less successful. She'd given up on actually trying to produce fire from her fingertips. That just didn't seem to be in her skill chart. She was better at control though. With only a few almost lethal burns, she'd been able to redirect any fire Hypnos had thrown at her.

She was feeling pretty good. Until Nico suggested she try to shadow travel, another skill she was fairly certain she did not possess, despite the fact that her godly parent could. "Hypnos!" she called to the god who was perched in the rocking chair of his cabin's porch. "Any input here?"

Hypnos blinked his eyes open and gazed at the two demigods training on his front 'lawn.' "Use your breathing," he said, though Maisie was certain he had just been sleeping and wasn't actually watching at all. "Control your body temperature. Cool yourself."

"Cool myself?" Maisie muttered, quite offended.

"Yeah," Nico said, leaning against his Stygian sword in the dirt, "You're too hot-headed."

"Not everyone is a cold-blooded reptile like you," Maisie shot, though Nico seemed to take this as a compliment. It was also hard to 'cool her body temperature' when she'd just had fireballs shot at her for an hour straight.

After Nico told her to stop whining, Maisie blew out a breath and closed her eyes again. She brought her fingers to her temples and muttered, "emo thoughts, emo thoughts, emo–"

Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm taking a break," he said, snapping his sword up out of the dirt as he headed towards the cabin.

"You're not even doing anything," Maisie rebutted.

"Neither are you."

Maisie couldn't really argue that point. She followed Nico up the steps and inside. The interior of Hypnos's cabin was just as cozy, yet haunting, as the exterior. Chipped wooden walls and uneven hardwood floors, with black and ketioke greenery growing between the panels. There was no kitchen, as the god had no use for one. Only an open room with a multitude of ottomans and chairs, and windows that showcased starry night skies, despite the fact that they were hundreds of miles under the surface of the earth.