Bane Academy: To Run From Fear

Chapter 17

Becca

Nat and Kyle must be living it up right now, having the whole cabin to themselves. Gods, how I wished I was back at the cabin. With the cozy wooden walls, always sparkling with hidden traces of celestial bronze. The splash of blue in that crouch, so old yet so comfortable. The warm glow of the fire, turning different colours as we throw fairy dust at it. So much laughter. Well, there used to be, anyway. No, I don't want to go back to the cabin, I want to go back to before all this started. Before...Liam.

The clouds had temporarily parted, exposing a thin strip of sparkling sky above the maze. We had decided to stop for a rest, maybe even wait out the night. Tensions were high though with the cries of the Grievers tempting the night.
So we scaled a low wall and camped amongst a thicket of vines between the ledge and further up another wall.
Currently, I'm sitting with my back against the wall, knees bent over a thick vine, gazing up at that narrowing strip of sky. The other three are spread about, supposedly sleeping, but I doubt they are. Expect Dale. His snores weave through the vines with no trouble.
So many thoughts are eating away at my mind. Hundreds. Thousands. So many that it's impossible to isolate just one. It's been like this for months. Too many things to think about.
Stop. Stop stop stopstopSTOP!
I ball my fists in my jean pockets in anger. I feel something cold and hard. Curiosity douses the anger ever so slightly. I clasp my hand around the pen sized strip and pull it out of my right pocket. My stele. Starlight slips and slides over the silvery metal's delicate grooves and curves. The design is graceful yet forceful. Beautiful. Hand crafted and handed down to me by Jace himself. Shae has a similar one, but with a more wavey, watery design. The stele burns in my fingers as an idea creeps into my mind. Something so unheard of that it sets off a few warning bells. But really, what's the problem? Not like it's a particularly bad thing.
With shaking fingers, I lift the stele to my temple, using my left hand to pull away my hair. I start to draw. I picture the drowsy swirls of the numbing rune and let my fingers work on their own. The stele burns my skin, but is soon replaced by an overwhelming numbness. All thoughts drain from my mind. Peace prevails. The dark world becomes hazy and droopy.

Fade

I was thinking about Hades when we got attacked. Wondering about the stories where Nico Di Angelo could walk in and out of the underworld as he pleased. For a while he was the only demigod born to Hades. No longer. But he's still regarded as the most powerful. If it's possible for me to enter the underworld, I could find my father. I could talk to him.
There must have been half a dozen of them. Giant beats of metal. Spidery legs using the walls like they would the floor. They resemble Hephaestus' clockwork creatures. Except a lot more dangerous looking.
Thankfully, the thicket of vines provides a bit of time.
  "GET OUT! NOW!" Shae screams, jumping straight from the platform to the ground, rolling when she lands. That fall would have killed any normal person.
  "What's going on??" Dale is yelling. A spidery leg swipes him aside and he lands on his stomach, groaning. I force him to his feet and literally throw him into the vines on the side of the platform.
  "Climb!" I yell, and he does, clumsily making his way down. The Griever's animalistic screaming is so loud.
Someone's missing.
  "Becca!?" I scramble around in the ripping thicket until I find her, slumped against the other wall. "Get up! We have to go!"
Her head lolls as she looks up at me, giggles spilling from her lips. Holy shit. Something's wrong.
On the verge of panic, the vines quickly being cut away, I scoop up Becca, one arm behind her head and the other under her knees.
  "Shae!!" I yell, straining my lungs.
She appears below, Dale by her side.
  "What's wrong?" She yells up.
  "It's Becca, you have to catch her!"
  "WhAT?" The surprise in her voice is laced with fear.
A ripping sound booms through the night, and cold air rushes over me.
  "No time!" I yell, beginning to lower Becca over the edge. Shae and Dale rush to the edge of the wall and spread their arms.
This is so dangerous, my mind tells me. You're going to kill her.
The Grievers screech in triumph as the last of the vines are ripped away. I let go of Becca's body. I don't even look, I just jump after her, making sure to angle myself a different way so I don't crash into the others.