They send me away to find them a fortune
I was sent on a quest. I didn't even know why – the gods were doing fine before, why do they need this magic pearl or whatever? Apparently, it had the Midas touch or something similar. Basically, it could make the gods rich. But why, after six years, would they send me on a quest. Why not back when I was sixteen, and still good at this?
A chest filled with diamonds and gold
I found the pearl – on an island made of treasures. The trees were silver, and the leaves, gold. The earth was bronze and the grass was emerald. Flowers of rubies and diamonds littered the grounds. A drop of rose gold amber dripped from a thousand year old tree. In the very center of the island, on a mountain, sat the pearl, on a lake of sapphire. It was the color of Amethyst, about the size of my fist.
The house was awake
I picked it up. My hand tingled, and a blue sheen traveled up my arm and covered my body – then it disappeared. On the way back, I heard things. On the boat. It was like ghosts or monster under your bed. Or in your head.
With shadows and monsters
I was just imagining the shapes that flitted at the edge of my vision. Right? Right. I mean, seeing is believing... except not, because I'm me. I began to grow paranoid.
The hallways, they echoed and groaned
The sound of wood groaning on the ceiling kept me up at night. Footsteps disappeared every time I rounded a corner. Whispers echoes in my head, little wisps that I caught from the figures' muttering.
I sat alone in bed till the morning
Morning broke and I never had any rest. Perhaps a night in my cabin back at camp would help. But the figures and shapes still lurked, just out of sight.
I'm crying "they're coming for me"
Why were the shadows there? What was it? More enemies? I couldn't figure it out, and it bothered me. I couldn't keep going on like that.
And I tried to hold these secrets inside me
I kept it in for as long as I could, but Annabeth had always been perceptive. I told her about the shapes, the whispers. My paranoia. She determined that the time alone made me prone to the PTSD from Tartarus to get to me. I just needed time.
My mind's like a deadly disease
I began having flashbacks. But the nightmares, they were never memories. Always some horrific thing made up in my head. The power I wielded down there... why? And why was I only now remembering it?
I'm bigger than my body
The power... in the dreams, I was so much. The bad guy and the good guy. The most powerful being, and yet, the weakest. I did horrible things, and I did good things.
I don't think it was the PTSD causing the problem.
I'm colder than this home
I hid my emotions, trying to keep the others from worrying. I'd seen many things, and I couldn't let them continue to bother me.
I'm meaner than my demons
Is that what they were? The shadows? Were they my demons, the ones I was running from? No more running, I decided.
I'm bigger than my bones
