In the Beginning

Chapter Twelve

     Shivers ran down my spine seeing Percy standing in the red light. Wasn't he supposed to be the hero? Annabeth had a look of shock on her face. Lucy stood next to me, dumbfounded. I couldn't help but notice how handsome Percy looked even with the brooding look on his face.

     "Percy?" Annabeth seemed to have trouble finding her words.

     "What?" He didn't sound upset, or at all like someone who would do something like this.

     "What are you doing here?" Annabeth's voice shook.

     "Same as you...why did I do something wrong....?" Percy made it sound like he did things wrong pretty often. Percy looked behind him, finally realizing how bad this looked. "Oh...you think I-" Annabeth looked relieved. I ran to Mavis's side, remembering she was injured.

     "Mavis!" Lucy now kneeled next to me. We hesitantly rolled Mavis onto her back so we could examine the wound. Lucy gasped. "Oh gods...." Mavis's wound was more serious than it had looked from far away. "Annabeth! We've got to get her to the infirmary!" Annabeth was apparently just now realizing her sister was wounded. She rushed towards us, a worried look on her face. In no time flat Annabeth and Lucy were debating who needed to get Mavis to the infirmary and who needed to stay behind to deal with whatever had caused all this. A dark figure dropped from one of the nearby trees.

     "Guys." I pointed to the figure and motioned for silence. I drew my knife. The figure approached us.

     "I've got it, you guys stay here." It was a girl about our age, shrouded in darkness so I couldn't see her face. Lucy seemed to recognize her voice.

     "Thanks, Tara." The figure nodded, picking Mavis up. The girl made it look like Mavis were a rag doll, weighing as much as a feather. Annabeth still looked worried.

     "She'll be fine, Annabeth." Annabeth nodded and the figure disappeared from the clearing. Lucy successfully lit her hand on fire, providing a source of light for us now that the clearing had gone dark. The screaming had returned. It felt like the source of the scream was directly next to me but there was nothing but darkness.  

     "Lucy? Annabeth?" I hated feeling blind.

     "Right here." Annabeth said from somewhere near me. I tried desperately to make my hands stop shaking but the darkness overcame any courage I had and replaced it with fear. I heard a small voice in the back of my mind but what startled me was it wasn't my own. The voice encouraged me to kill everyone in the clearing. It promised me sight. The voice was compelling but pretty bothersome. I was done with all these idiotic unseen forces trying to make my life even more miserable.

     "Leave me alone." I must've been convincing because the voice was silenced. I heard footsteps. It sounded like someone was backing away from me but still being blind, I couldn't quite tell. Someone's voice whispered a small apology. Who would be apologizing to me? That's...strange. I shook it off and stuck my arms out in front of me so I wouldn't run into anything. I then proceeded to walk into the thickening darkness. I called names but received no reply. Being the klutz I was, I tripped over something. I searched the grassy floor to find it was a body I'd tripped over. I stifled a scream and scrambled away as quickly as possible. My breaths were shaky, they were the only sound I could hear besides the pounding of my heart. It was cold. It was a sudden cold though, like the chill you get when you see something so disturbing you can't do anything but shiver as if to expel it from your mind. The cold settled over me, showing me images I didn't ever want to see. They weren't just any images, they were memories. My memories. Only bits and pieces, the most terrifying memories, laid out in front of me like it was a movie. A man being being slaughtered in front of two small girls, a girl in the forest, lost, falling over tree roots as skeletons pulled at her legs trying to pull her into the ground with them. The images just got more horrific and I couldn't watch anymore. I shut my eyes, but it didn't do any good. The memories just appeared in my head. "Stop!" I shrieked although I didn't mean to. The images stopped for a moment but picked up again. I screamed for them to stop as they got progressively worse. This time the memories faded and didn't come back. The darkness faded and the moonlight returned to the clearing. I saw Annabeth at the edge of the clearing. She was sitting, an exasperated look on her face. Lucy was leaning against a tree, her eyes shut tightly. Percy was already at Annabeth's side, helping her to her feet. He was telling her it was okay, that it would be okay. I had no one to tell me it would be okay. Even I did, I would've known they were lying.