DIVINE » l. valdez

xxxi

❝so this could be the end, but I ain't sad ❞

Hina wanted to say she was heroic and calm, but she cried until she was on the verge of hyperventilating. 

She could feel blood running down her neck. When she ran her hand along her throat, Hina could feel the talon marks engraved in her skin. She pulled her hand back, sticky red blood coating her fingers.

From the fact that she was still alive, Hina assumed Atropos has miraculously missed her vital arteries, but she was still losing too much blood.

She crawled towards the fraying string left behind. Hina wrapped the blue yarn around her fingers praying it would mend itself magically.

With the Fates gone, Hina could hear the fighting through the stone walls. She ran at the stone, her fists pounding against the rock until they bled. Hina screamed as loudly as she could, begging to save her friends. 

"If I'm already dying, then this won't hurt," Hina tried to reassure herself, raising her hands. With a broken scream, Hina used all her strength to will any light in the room to bend to her command. 

The stone wall popped and cracked, exploding into a pile of rubble. Hina covered her face, blocking the shrapnel of rock that flew at her. 

Her arms were stinging like someone had dumped a vat of lemon juice into her cuts but she stumbled forward. 

On the other side of the walls, stood half of her friends. 

Hazel was enveloped in white mist, Leo sat on the floor coughing. Behind them, laid Annabeth and Percy. Hina's lip trembled. They looked- no, Hina told herself. She couldn't go there. 

Across the room, Clytius, the giant was shrouded in darkness like Leo had seen in his dream. The Doors of Death behind him. 

Hecate was there too and Hina wondered if her brain was hallucinating to make her last minutes alive less painful.

Then, Hazel threw her sword, snapping the second chain holding the Doors of Death and they vanished in a cloud of purple.

Clytius roared so loudly, a statue hanging from the ceiling crashed to the floor.

"That was for my brother, Nico," Hazel gasped. "And for destroying my father's altar."

"You have forfeited your right to a quick death," the giant snarled. "I will suffocate you in darkness, slowly, painfully. Hecate cannot help you. No one can help you!"

The goddess raised her torches. "I would not be so certain, Clytius. Hazel's friends simply needed a little time to reach her—time you have given them with your boasting and bragging."

Clytius snorted. "What friends? These weaklings? They are no challenge."

The air in front of Hazel rippled. Around Hina, a cold breezed washed over her and when she opened her eyes she stood in front of Hazel. Jason, Piper, Frank, and Nico appeared beside her, all with their swords drawn.

"Sorry we're late," Jason said. "Is this the guy who needs killing?"

Jason placed a hand on Hina's shoulder and she almost burst into tears. Being alone in the darkness of Hades for so long, Hina missed her friends. She quickly tucked the blue string into the safety of her pocket.

They attacked from every direction. For the first time in weeks, they were all together again. 

Leo was shooting fire at Clytius's legs, Frank and Piper jabbing at his chest, Jason flying into the air and kicking him in the face. Hina fired her bow with a new ferocity, the burning in her chest fading to the back of her mind.