The Spirits of the Universe (PJO)

Chapter 75--Deep Talks

A/N--Sorry about the biweekly updates for the past few chapters, life has just been a bit busy for me and I didn't want the quality of the chapter to decrease. With that being said, I hope you enjoy this one!

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At my words, Aridne sighed. "I didn't mean to deceive you."

"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "you just somehow accidentally forgot to tell me any part of your real identity."

"You . . ." she closed her eyes, as if she was trying to find the best way to word this. "I was going to tell you at the bar."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Er . . . before I could, Liam barged in."

She does have a good excuse, End admitted. Nothing much you can do about that.

But a few words like those could never make up for what I went through. "You should've told me the day we met. We should've met during the day—or, at least, the lights should've been on. No hiding in the darkness—but that's not possible when you're married to Erebus, huh?"

"Percy . . . I divorced Erebus. It's been three years since I've broken contact with that toxic scumbag. But you're the opposite—you're a breath of fresh air."

"Something temporary, huh?" I said bitterly. "A fling."

"No . . . I . . . Percy—I didn't mean it that way. I did all of this for you. I never wanted you to think of our relationship like this."

To be honest, I'd let her start talking because there was a tiny part of me that hoped she would have a valid excuse. 

But as more words came out of her mouth, I only got angrier. "What did you think would happen? That being mysterious would make me feel important? Not knowing your face and name would let me care for you? Tell me, Aridne—no, Nyx. If you weren't trying to hide our relationship, then what were you doing?"

I spat the last sentence out with so much malice that Aridne stepped back as if I'd slapped her. "Percy . . ."

But I was done. Ignoring her, I looked up towards the windowed platform. "Liam, do you see Niyomina yet?"

He was crouched, looking towards the bridge with a slight grimace. His neck snapped towards me in surprise. "Huh? Oh—yeah, there's nothing."

Annoyance trickled into my brain. You're telling me that grimace wasn't because of Niyomina, but because he was eavesdropping?

Kind of hard not to when y'all are in the same enclosed room, End remarked. I can feel the romantic tension, and I don't even have a physical body.

Before I could protest that there wasn't anything even remotely romantic happening between Aridne and I, Liam's eyes widened in excitement. "I see a caravan!"

My muscles tensed. Before Aridne could even move, I was up that ladder and crouched beside Liam. "Thank the gods," I muttered.

"It was getting a bit dicey down there," Liam agreed.

Now that my anger was beginning to fade, I began to realize just how much I'd embarrassed myself with my words. "How much did you hear?"

Liam froze. "Only . . . a couple pieces here and there."

Meaning the beginning, end, and middle, End snickered. 

Don't you have a caravan to see?  Order pointed out, trying to distract me.

It worked. The best thing right now for me to let go of my annoyance at my quest mates would be to get that damn book back. I walked towards the windows, looking for any trace of Niyomina . . .

"It's not Niyomina's caravan," Liam sighed. "Sorry for getting your hopes up."

But I didn't sit back down. Something was off.

Not that Liam was wrong. The caravan was obvious not the one we were looking for. This one, just like the first one I'd seen, had only a few carriages. The black paint looked flakey and ugly. The guards wore long, hooded cloaks as they marched steadily over the bridge. They didn't look suspicious in the slightest sense.

Then why was my gut telling me otherwise?

This is the same gut that prefers to taint any kind of food with blue dye, End scoffed. I wouldn't be trusting it this much.

There's something wrong, I insisted. Just give me a second—

Four floors below us, I heard the creak of a door.

In a flash, Aridne was beside me. "There's someone here," she whispered.

"We'll be fine," I said. "It's probably just a priestess checking out the first floor."

"Uh . . . guys? Can you look out of the window real quick?" Liam's voice was high pitched and panicked, though I had no idea why. 

He was now on the other side of the platform, from where he had a clear view of the side of the temple—where we had entered from.

We walked towards him—and then Aridne gasped. My eyes widened in shock.

Because, outside of the temple, there were twenty people. Ten monks and ten priestesses, all decked out in Chaos' signature black.

One of them held the lock that Aridne had jimmied.