Fear of Erebus

Cryptic Messages

"Home!" The Augur let out a staggered breath of relief and fell to his knees, quite literally kissing the dirt. I looked to Rachel when he started rattling on about praises to Jupiter, knowing that I didn't have much time to deal with his male inferiority.

"Can you deal with him? I got to go to-" A solid lump got caught in my throat, and I could only begin to imagine what I will have to face up there. Rachel seemed to sense my discomfort and I appreciated that fact that she didn't make a big deal of it.

"You go. Do what you have to do." She gave me a genuine squeeze of the hand and I knew that in that moment, this wasn't a mortal girl before me, but rather the lasting remains of a being who had seen thousands upon thousands of years of hardships, and it only made me realise that Erebus wouldn't just destroy the Gods, and the demigods and mortals. He would destroy everything and everyone. He would consume and consume, until there was nothing left but solitude and darkness. That thought alone made me mouth twitch in a grimace.

I watched Rachel pull Octavian from the ground in great effort and drag him down the hill before he had the opportunity to hyperventilate. I closed my eyes and concentrated, I could feel the world around me melt away, and subconsciously the bright lights flooded against the back of my eyes.

And when I opened them... I was back in front of the seldom door that lead to me brother's chambers. Honestly, I really did dread what was behind the door, there was no doubt in my mind that my brother had gotten worse- it was clear in the fact that the sky now lay heavy and thick with an endless ash cloud- not a ray of sunlight to be seen.

I lifted my hand to knock, my knuckles only millimetres from the intricate gold panels. And I sighed. I was tired. Exhausted, really, more so then I have been in quite a while. Which is saying something, considering Gods don't usually get tired...?

My hand fell back to my side. Gods, what am I even doing anymore? Is it so hard to ask for peace? Just one perfectly- endless- simple break?

No, of course not. The world keeps spinning, and it won't change just because I ask it- trust me, I tried plenty of times when I was younger.

I looked down at myself. By the Fates, I really need some Nectar. My shoes and half my leg were still wet from the snow. My jacket was covered in soot and dust from the caves, and my hands were slightly bruised and blooded from my fight with Jackson. I narrowed my eyes slightly in disgust; that traitor.

I brushed the dirt from my shoulders, pushed back the loose strands of hair and patted down my jacket...

Hang on.

What's this?

I could feel something odd in my pocket, and when I pulled it out I was slightly surprised by its cool metal and sharp point. A hairpin? It looked vaguely familiar... Didn't Zoë once have a hairpin like this? I could faintly remember it having a similar design, but I had thought she had given it to Herakles, and then wasn't it passed onto the sea spawn? Wasn't it meant to return to its owner...

Does this mean... I killed Percy Jackson?

Holy. Fucking. Styx! I hadn't thought the knock to his head would have killed him.

I looked back down at the hairpin and ran my finger carefully over the fine silvery details, reminiscent of moonlit trees, and at the end there was a small glittery gem, it shimmered like a pulse in a beautifully hypnotic way. I touched it.