The Afterlife (HoO Fanfiction)

The Unexpected

~Delilah~

Hugo's dramatic departure had frozen me on the spot. I could not move, my arms and legs were feeling heavy. My ears were still ringing from the explosion, everything seemed to be working in slow motion. I could see Killian, James and Hazel, huddled over Lewis. The boy was lying on the ground, sprawled as would be a puppet without strings. I could see James shouting and crying, tears rushing down his face, but I could not hear him. In the darkness, Lewis' blood had the colour of tar. My senses were overwhelmed to a point where I couldn't feel anything anymore. All I felt was a great void inside me.

Hugo had betrayed me. He had abandoned the ship, leaving behind him Lewis' broken body. Trusting him had been completely stupid. I should have trusted my instincts.

I saw Leo rushing towards the ship in a whirlwind of flames and rage. Then, Hazel shook me with force.

"Delilah, wake up! You have to go get Will, quickly!" Her voice was panicked.

It's at this moment that the cold air of the night found its way into my lugs. I was once again master of my senses. I could see Leo at a distance - he was terrifying. We could not distinguish his body from the flames anymore. I felt the breeze on my face and I smelled blood. My brain processed at last what Hazel had told me. I had to find Will. Now. I rushed to the docks.

My legs, so numb a few seconds before, seemed now ready to bring me to the other side of the world. It had to be the adrenaline. In an instant, I found Nico, Will, and Frank, who were already fighting off guards outnumbering them. I didn't try to understand why they were attacking us.

"Will!" I shouted. "We need you on the boat! It's Lewis, there was an explosion... Quick!"

My words weren't making any sense for someone who had no idea of what had just happened on the Penelope. I didn't understand what was going on, nor what I was feeling. However, Will seemed to have understood what I was trying to tell him. He ran towards the ship, a panicked expression on his face.

Soon enough, the blond hair of the son of Apollo disappeared in the smoke rising from our embarkation. I realized at that moment that I was standing in the middle of a battlefield. I was not armed. Frank and Nico seemed to be on top of the situation. Hordes of skeletons were marching towards the soldiers. Frank was notching arrow after arrow. Now a bear, then a man, he outpowered every soldier on his path. The spectres invoked by Nico kept the soldiers from moving forward and Frank's arrows only left superficial injuries. If nothing changed, we would soon be overwhelmed.

"Delilah, get out of the way, you could get hurt! Go back to the ship!" Frank begged. But I didn't listen to him.

Anger started to boil in me. I was feeling helpless and I had no idea as to how to help Lewis. I had to know that Hugo was going to betray us. I took a deep breath. This situation was insanely unfair. Why did Lewis, a mortal who couldn't see through the Mist, had to suffer the gods' negligence?

Suddenly, the ground shook. Frank lost his balance and almost fell over.

"Nico, be careful!"

Nico turned around in disbelief.

"It's not me, this time."

The ground vas breaking apart in several places and huge roots shot to the sky. Slowly, they headed towards the soldiers, who had all stopped trying to break through Nico's defence. The roots caught around the soldiers' feet, ankles, clothes, all that they could hang on to. In a second, all the soldiers were floating several meters above the ground.

Nico and Frank were looking at me in disbelief. The roots continued to wrap themselves around the soldiers, squeezing stronger and stronger, closing themselves on their victims. The soldiers were starting to suffocate, some cried out in pain and in horror. Nico understood quickly that I was not planning on stopping now. He could probably see the anger in my eyes. At this moment, in my head, there was not a lot making sense. I could only see Lewis's body falling over and over again. Like a horror movie stuck on repeat, I could not stop seeing the same scene in my mind and I squeezed. Harder and harder. Frank and Nico shouted to stop, starting to get as horrified as the soldiers. I could not hear anything anymore. Then, Nico disappeared in the shadows and my head exploded with pain as I fell to the ground.