Equilibrium

Chapter 47: Jackie's POV

I open my eyes- well, at least I think my eyes are open? It's pitch black. I can't see shit. As I lie in the darkness, I wrack my brain, trying to remember what happened. My head is throbbing painfully, and every breath I take sends a shock of pain through my chest. I try to shift into a sitting position but searing pain shoots through my ankle and I gasp, holding back tears. I collapse back onto the ground, a jolt of pain causing me to curl in on myself when my side hits the floor.
Oh, right.
Clara fucking broke my ribs.
That bitch is gonna pay.
After giving myself a minute to breathe, I manage to pull myself into a crawling position.
I fumble around in the darkness, trying to get my bearings. It appears that the rope binding my wrists is gone, and so is the pole that I was bound to. From what I can tell, it appears as if I'm in a different room altogether. What happened to Clara? Where am I? And why am I not restrained?
"Jaquelin Elway," An unfamiliar woman's voice hisses throughout the room, sending a chill down my spine, "It's so kind of you to join me at last. I was afraid the mormo had killed you. That honor should belong to me, and me alone."
"Who are you?!" I shout, squinting my eyes in the darkness. It's no use. I can't see anything. The woman's laughter echoes around me, taunting me.
"Silly girl. I am Adrestia, goddess of Equilibrium and the balance between good and evil."
"Ohhh, right. The psycho immortal who's been fucking with us this entire quest. Gotcha," I growl, finally able to unleash my anger towards this goddess personally, "What do you want from me?"
"Oh, sweetheart, nothing you can really give me. I just need your assistance." I can hear the smirk on Adrestia's face, even if I can't even see her.
"Assistance for what? Don't tell me you're trying to get to Luka too," I groan, burying my head in my hands, "I told Clara the same thing. He doesn't like me. We hate each other. And he's not going to come after me."
Adrestia giggles, "No, I don't need the boy. But I don't believe you speak the truth about him. I thought you had feelings for him?"
"No. I hate him," I snap, "Maybe I thought I liked him but not anymore. He hurt me."
"I see..." Adrestia drawled, "So, you wouldn't mind if I killed him then, right?"
"WHAT?! You said you didn't- You can't- You won't-"
"I most certainly will. Just like I'm going to allow my army to kill the rest of the demigods at Camp Halfblood unless you agree to the deal I am going to offer you."
A spike of fear flashes through my body. What kind of offer is she going to make? I narrow my eyes, squinting around in the darkness.
"What kind of deal?"
"Glad you asked!"
I already regret asking.
"You will act as my spokesperson. You will convince your fellow demigods to lay down their weapons, hand over the relics, and submit to me. If you fail to do as I say, you will watch all of your friends die at the hands of my army before I kill you myself."
"Why are you doing this?" I ask, my head spinning as I try to think of what I should do.
"It's simple, really. Equilibrium was disturbed. Good outweighed Evil after the war with Gaea. It is my responsibility to keep these two forces in balance, using any means that I deem necessary."
Wait.
What?
If she needs to keep balance, how would obtaining the relics and threatening our camps help restore Equilibrium? None of it makes any sense.
"I don't understand."
"Darling, you don't need to. With the relics, I'll be able to harness their power to restore Equilibrium, settling the universal unbalance. If you do not follow through with my plan, my army will wage war on your beloved camp and destroy it, killing all the demigods who oppose them." I sigh, confused, hurt, angry, fearful, but most of all, desperate. I have to save them. I have to. There's no other choice.
"Fine. I agree to your offer. You've got a deal."
"Wonderful!" Adrestia claps, "You've chosen wisely, Jaquelin. Now, for the conditions."
"Con- what?! You never mentioned any conditions!"
"Hmm, I must have forgotten! My bad!" Adrestia cackles, "You will make an oath on the River Styx to follow my plan precisely. If you betray me in any way, shape, or form, there will be consequences."
I just let out a huff of air, already having agreed to this deal and not really being able to back out now anyways.
"Whatever," I grumble, "I swear it on the River Styx."
"Ah, perfect!" Adrestia sounds like she's grinning her ugly ass face off. I hope she's ugly, anyways. It would be unfair if she was beautiful and evil. Speaking of, why am I still surrounded in darkness? Where even am I?
"Uh, great, now that that's all taken care of... Why am I in the darkness, exactly?"
"Oh! I almost forgot! Before I can bring you into the light, you need to put this on." Something clatters against the cold floor and I fumble around for it in the darkness, my hands closing around a smooth, circular piece of metal. It feels sort of like...
"A bracelet?" I ask, running my fingers along the object in my hands, "What's this for?"
"Correct, it is a bracelet. It allows me to keep track of your location. Just in case something were to happen. You are to wear the bracelet. If you remove it, you will be violating my plan, and breaking your oath on the Styx."
I'm already regretting making that oath.
"Fine." I slip the band over my wrist and it tightens, probably with magic or something. Great. Just great. Now I have a magical, probably evil bracelet around my wrist and I can't take it off and I don't even know if Adrestia is telling the truth about what it does! Fan-fucking-tastic.
To be fair, I actually don't know if she's telling the truth about anything, which is kind of terrifying, but there's not much else that I can do in this situation but agree with her. Maybe if I go along with her stupid plan, she'll keep her promise and the demigods back at camp will live. That's all that matters right now. I've got to do everything in my power to save them. I've got to get the relics to Adrestia.
It's simple, really.
"The bracelet is on?" Adrestia asks, and I nod my head before realizing that she can't see me in the darkness.
"Uh- yeah. Yup."
Then the world is thrown into blinding color and light, black dots swimming before my eyes. I shut them tight, then open them, squinting around as I adjust to the drastic change.
I'm lying in a room with a concrete floor and green walls surrounding me on all sides, a wooden door on the wall to my left, and fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling.
In the doorway stands a woman who I can only imagine would be Adrestia. She wears a long, flowing white gown with sleeves that flare out at the ends. The fabric is thin and delicate, seeming to almost float around her figure as if touched by a soft, invisible breeze. Her shoulder length black hair rests near her collarbones, adorned by a glowing silver tiara. Her face is pale but her features are pointed and dark. Dark eyebrows contrast shockingly with her complexion, and her eyes, which are cold and calculating, are such a deep shade of brown that they could easily be mistaken to be black. Her mouth is pulled into a tight, hard line, and her stare is so cold that it gives me the faint impression that this goddess rarely smiles.
"Are you Adrestia?" I ask bluntly, already knowing the answer.
"Correct again, Jaquelin. Now follow me. We have much more to discuss."
She beckons me towards her and I try to rise to my feet, only to end up collapsing on the ground again as white hot pain courses throughout my body, particularly my ribs and my ankle. I gasp and then growl at the ground, attempting to stand again as Adrestia smirks, watching. This time, I don't even manage to get up much further than my knees. Adrestia sniffs indignantly, "Well are you coming, or not?"
"I'm TRYING!" I shout in frustration, gritting my teeth as pain once again shoots up my ankle. "Not all of us are immortal beings who don't get hurt!"
"Hmmm I supposed you're right." Adrestia steps into the room, and I shrink backwards as she approaches me. I don't trust her, especially this close, and especially because I'm injured and would have a hell of a time trying to defend myself. "I'm not going to kill you, Jaquelin. We just need to get you out of this room. Come." She grabs my arm and hoists me up with goddess-ly strength on her part and a lot of groans on mine as I try to ignore the pain, biting my lip so hard that my mouth tastes like metal.
With Adrestia's help, I manage to stumble through the doorway into the next room.
It appears to be some sort of beach cottage. A large bay window sits in the wall on my right, and a glance through the glass shows me a large body of water. A lake? A breath of salty air tells me otherwise. This must be an ocean.
"Where are we?" I ask as Adrestia guides me to a wicker chair, sitting across from me on a small brown sofa as I collapse into the seat.
"Long Island Sound. Just a few miles from Camp Halfblood."
Oh. Oh great. Wonderful. Lovely.
Nervousness flutters through my stomach at the thought of facing the other campers. What will they think when they see me standing with Adrestia? With her army? Telling them to lay down their weapons? Will they even listen to me? Let me save them?! Panic starts racing through my body and I dig my fingernails into my palms to keep myself grounded. I can do this. I can fix this.
"So... What's the plan?"