𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

12 - how much shameless flirting is too much?

˖*࿐ •*⁀➷

MABEL COULDN'T SHAKE THE TIGHTNESS IN HER CHEST, even after their boat pulled away from the shore, speeding down the Columbia River.

Hazel, with a touch of coaxing from Frank, told them about her past, where she'd come from, Gaea slowly taking control of her mother. It gave Mabel a horrible feeling, like something was scraping sharp claws across the edges of her mind, like the shears of Atropos were fraying at her thread. Bad things were at play here, but when were they not?

When the young girl finished talking, Frank reached over to gently take her hand, his touch innocently reverent in a way that had never seen the truths of life. "You sacrificed yourself to stop the giant from waking. I could never be that brave."

Mabel could practically see Hazel's distress, a faint flicker of a silhouette materializing in the air behind her; a gaunt woman with dark skin and eyes that saw too much. Her mother. "It wasn't bravery," the daughter of Pluto disagreed. "I let my mother die. I cooperated with Gaea too long. I almost let her win." Her mouth twisted into something so pained that Mabel wanted to pull the younger girl into a tight hug and never let go. "I'm a monster."

Mabel wanted to laugh at that; Hazel, sweet, kind Hazel, a monster? "If you're a monster, then I don't want to know what I am."

The younger girl's lips pulled down and she blew out a breath. "Don't say that, Mabel."

"Why not?" the daughter of Trivia's voice was flat, her gaze fixed on the water. "You know what I did."

Finally, Mabel could feel her mask hardening, reinforcing the cracks that had started to appear the past few days; cracks that only seemed to show when he was around. She had been unbreakable for the past eight months, not exhibiting a single emotion other than anger or indifference, and then suddenly, he had her telling her life story and whispering secrets beneath the light of the stars. She almost wanted to resent him for that, but she found herself unable to. There was a stability to him, a secure warmth that eroded her façade, scrubbing away all the indifference and blank apathy. He was good, too good for her. Warmth like that didn't need to be stifled by madness like hers.

Hazel frowned. "It wasn't—"

"If anyone deserves the Fields of Punishment, it's me."

Percy looked slightly taken aback at her blunt statement, his brows pulling down. "Hey, I'm sure it's not—"

"Not what?" Pausing, Mabel took a slow breath, biting back the lava that was clawing its way up her throat. He didn't deserve her anger. Never. "There wasn't a justification for it. There never will be." There was something hard in the shattered glass of her eyes. Her fingers drifted up, brushing over the raised scar across her face, running over the bridge of her nose.

The memories came like punches to the throat; angry words and confrontations, a brandished blade, pleads for another way. Then a mad slash, a flash of pain whiting-out her sight, and a panicked movement that never should have been made. Blood, everywhere, coating her fingers and her clothes. What the fuck did you do, you insane bitch? A gurgle from a mangled throat, crimson bubbling up in a final muttered curse, and then something dulling in the atmosphere, a star going out.

Hazel pursed her lips, her amber eyes sad in an understanding sort of way. "She would've killed you. She almost did."

"Maybe," Mabel agreed quietly, fingers brushing across that ugly, raised scar in the middle of her face again. "Maybe I should've let her."

Frank's face went pale with panic. "Mabel, no—"

Percy just studied her, something calm and intrigued in the green of his eyes. He wanted to know more, but not so he could judge. So he could understand. That was infuriating about him. He just couldn't see how much of a fucking jinx she was.