Sliver Of Shadow

Peace (Or Something Close To It)

Sirius slashed his hands through the mist, beginning to hyperventilate. Of all things to come back and haunt him… He tried to calm down; tried to forget. But the memory still came crashing back:

He sat on the edge of a catwalk in an abandoned warehouse. Andrew and Cendor sat on either side, all three pairs of legs dangling into the darkness.

It was Sirius's first time on a quest. And at the moment, he was lucky to be alive.

He had foolishly believed, along with the other two demigods, that the rogue venti they had found truly had turned "good", and wanted to help them; stupidly buying into the monsters' lies. The vaporous horses had carried them for a while, promising to drop them at their destination, when… boom. They'd fallen asleep and were dropped from the sky like stones during a Roman execution.

Luckily, Sirius and Andrew were able work the Mist into letting them float down softly, or they would have been half-blood pancake. (Also, Sirius was a part time secret wizard, so…)

"Can't believe those stupid things tricked us - good thing you two are children of Trivia, with your wacko magic. Otherwise we'd be goners." Cendor looked over at his companions. "So, what are we going to do? We're stranded in the middle of… I think it's Detroit. We've got no food, no money, no transportation… "

Andrew snorted. "I'm sure you'll be able to steal all three, son of Mercury."

Cendor rolled his eyes. "Maybe, but first we have to get out of here. This place… it gives me the creeps."

Sirius knew how he felt. Something about this warehouse just seemed… off. Wrong.

He looked at the logo in front of him.

"Monocle Motors." Sirius muttered in his British accent, "Have either of you ever heard of it?"

Andrew shook his head. "Nope. Weird name, though."

Cendor looked thoughtful. "Actually, I have heard of it - it has something to do with war machines, I think. Other than that… dunno."

They sat in silence for a minute, contemplating this interesting mystery.

One that would kill two of them.

Sirius shook himself out of his stupor as the next few hours of that dreadful day tried to resurface.

No. He was not going to think about what happened afterwards. He was not going to think about how the cyclopes had captured Cendor after they had split up to gather supplies, how he and Andrew had stumbled upon them, watching as they slowly roasted Cendor alive as he screamed in agony, the Cyclopes then leisurely killing and eating him…

How Andrew, a demigod who was more of a brother to him than Regulus had ever been, sacrificed himself; shielding Sirius as he used his magic to end the absolute horror taking place.

The memory of the explosion rang in his ears.

But Sirius could not, would not think about it.

A tear slipped down his cheek anyway.

~

Nico left the Herbology greenhouse, absolutely despairing over his situation with Persephone.

Apparently, the curse she had set on him was real.

His fellow Slytherins had loved it, of course; they'd doubtlessly enjoyed watching all of greenhouse three shrivel away into dust. But Nico now had a month's detention with Professor Sprout.