My Life (Sequel to My Shadow)

Chapter 5

  With a thud, I landed on the floor.

.... Wait... A floor?

I carefully got up and dusted myself off, and immediately yelped. My tailbone took a pretty bad hit. I winced, but then tried to ignore it, seeing as thought we are technically trained to ignore this type of stuff. I looked around and saw some cobwebs and some dark sludge-like material. I made a face, the stench making me want to gag. After I got used to the smell, which was relatively quick, I realized how bad my tailbone hurt. "... H-Hello?" Shadow traveling brought me here because Nico is here.

"Nico!" I called. I heard some shuffling, but I wasn't sure if it was him. "... Vanessa?" a voice called out. I let out a relieved breath as I saw him come into view. But my breath was taken away again when I saw him. 

The side of his head seemed to be matted down with blood and it was cut, blood dripping down. His left cheek was bruised and a disgusting shade of blue and green. His already pale face was even more pale. He seemed to be limping as he approached him, but I couldn't bring myself to walk to him. He gave me a weak smile. "So... did you get anything out of Calypso?" he asked quietly.

I nodded slowly, but my attention was directed at his bleeding abdomen. "N-Nico..." I whispered, now finally walking up to him. He looked at me, but it seemed like his gaze wasn't directed to me. He kept staring for a bit until he finally looked away. "... Yeah?" I let out a relieved breath. 'He at least answered... not warmly though...' I sighed and looked at him directly.

"I did get something. The Grove of Dodona and Tartarus is open. The trees, I believe, are spreading from the grove to the rest of the island. No mortal or immortal can stay sane for long... I can see that she is resisting, but she's not going to last long. Apollo is somehow related to it isn't it?" I asked, rubbing my arm in the cold.

Somehow, Nico had wordlessly sneaked up behind me and set his aviators jacket on my shoulders. I blushed and looked away, embarrassed. 'No! Bad girl! You cannot be reopening those feelings now! We're on a mission!' I scolded myself mentally. He looked at me with an odd look and I sighed. 'He's such a nice- No!' I groaned and turned away.

After a couple of awkward silent moments, he looked at me. "Um, I guess so. The myth of Dodona isn't as popular... I think it was the place where one of his lesser known oracles were..." he said quietly, staying unnaturally close to me. I bit my lip. "Oh... We have to talk to-" "If you want to talk to the gods, we can't. There doesn't seem to be any IM's possible." he said exasperatedly. I looked at him with disbelief. "Wait, we can't IM anyone?" I said, slightly panicking. "... Okay. Okay... Think. Well... Nico was the ways to open Tartarus?" I asked, turning to him.

He stood tall but I could see the pain of doing so. "You'd have to find a ground of death... Mass death." I looked horrified. "Does that mean... That she killed..." I think I'm going to be sick. Calypso... That small little framed girl... Is potentially capable of that?" He looked at me and nodded. "... Oh my gods, we have to get out of here. Ken is still out there!" Suddenly it dawned to me that I never asked him what happened.

At the mention of Ken's name, his expression soured. Under a different circumstance, maybe he would have argued, maybe I would have laughed. For now, though, I decided to grab his hand and try to lead him to the nearest shadow. "Come on, we have to work quick."

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Do you guys like the plot so far??