RIPTIDE - Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, Pirate AU fanfic

45 - The Glow

Hazel tried to stifle her scream but the sudden snake-like tree root that wrapped around her leg trying to drag he to hell was too much.

They had followed Di'Angelo too close and had suffered the same fate.

Her eyes stung and her lungs started to ache. She had grabbed onto Octavian before the sudden envelopment but had lost him in the crashing of the earth.

She prayed. Prayed to a being higher then herself, prayed that she might not die. Someway, somehow, he feet became free, then her torso, and finally her head broke through the earth.

She was falling.

The claustrophobic feeling inside her chest suddenly vanished when she started to fall through the cavern. It was as big as a city, and just as crowded with trees and thick brush.

The wind rushed in her ears, it almost silenced Octavian's scream beside her. He was falling at faster speed than Hazel, his body quickly descending towards the cavern floor.

Hazel cursed. The ground was closing in. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.

The branches tore at her skin as she fell through a thick sea of trees. Her body bent and cracked as she slammed into each branch that grabbed at her.

She finally came to a stop when her body slammed into the ground. She squirmed, arching her back and letting out a shrill cry of agony.

Something was broken. She couldn't breath. She lifted her hand to reveal it was covered in blood, her blood.

Her eyes drifted downward. Panic rose in her throat, her eyes shifted from one thing to another.

Blood. Her bones. Her ribs. Half of her rib cage stuck out of her chest. The bones that had broken off had pierced through her skin.

It burned.

"Hazel!!" Octavian came rushing from the trees. "Are you al- oh sh-" Octavian muttered his words.

He bent down with a unsettling fear in his eyes. "It'll be ok." He looked as if in a daze. Everyone's nightmare had just came true.

"I'm gonna die." Hazel forced the words out between tears. "I'm gonna die here."

Octavian snapped back to reality. "What is that??"

Hazel turned her head.

A bright light, golden in color, emanating from the center of this giant cavern. Nestled in trees and running water, it gave off this mesmerizing warm glow.

"There," Octavian said, "We're taking you to that thing."

"We don't even know what that thing is." Hazel clenched her teeth in pain as Octavian slipped his hands under her torso.

Octavian grunted. "It's treasure. The treasure everyone wants."

Soft tears flowed down Hazel's face. "How do we know it'll help."

Octavian paused. "We don't know, but it's our best chance."

☠️

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