the winemaker's daughter [ percy jackson & the olympians ]

chapter thirty

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙴𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚁'𝚂 𝙳𝙰𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝙴𝚁༉‧₊˚.[𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙲𝚈 𝙹𝙰𝙲𝙺𝚂𝙾𝙽 & 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝙻𝚈𝙼𝙿𝙸𝙰𝙽𝚂]

chapter thirty: annabeth chase refuses to answer simple questions & activates her fatal flaw, nearly killing all of us. also, bianca di angelo pops in from the underworld to say what's up
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THEY DID their summons dark, at a twenty-foot-long pit in front of the septic tank.

now, you may be asking, shanti, what's a septic tank? the truth is, as she had to be truthful here as these were quite literally her thoughts put to paper, she didn't have the slightest clue.

now, there was absolutely no way she'd go to annabeth and ask her since the daughter of athena had been quite off to her lately. it seemed from the moment they stepped back into camp territory, their months of close friendship went down the drain, and they'd been resentenced back to acquaintances. color ashanti stoked because apparently she was late to the revelation.

anyway, since the dionysus girl hadn't wanted to force anyone else of going through the trouble, she took the liberty of simply thumbing through some random dictionary that was in the deceased monster's parlor ( fancy way of say sitting, or living room ).

the term was defined as, and she was paraphrasing a bit, that it was an underground kind of thing for household waste water. it was often made of concrete, plastic or fiberglass. well, the more you know!

back to the story. the septic tank was bright yellow, with a smiley face and red words painted on the side: happy flush disposal co. it didn't quite go with the mood of summoning the dead, but the dionysus girl welcomed any, and all positivity after what they were about to do.

the moon was full. silver clouds drifted across the sky. "minos should be here by now," nico said, his dark eyes scanning around them for the spirit. the youngest half-blood frowned in confusion. "it's full dark."

"maybe," percy prompted in a hopeful tone. ashanti was sure whatever he was saying wasn't going to be very friendly i'm favor of the spirit that'd taken interest in the hades boy. "he got lost." maybe it was the pure hope in his tone, but it caused a small laugh to erupt from the dionysus girl's throat despite the dark mood that hung around them as the son of hades prepares to summon the dead yet again.

nico poured root beer and tossed barbecue into the pit, then began chanting in ancient greek. immediately the bugs in the woods stopped chirping. strapped to ashanti's legs in the invisible thigh holsters, the stygian iron of the throwing knives started to grow colder, freezing against the side of her leg.

"make him stop," tyson whispered to percy, though ashanti heard it in the utter silence. there wasn't even the sound of rustling grass, only the chanting of ancient greek from nico. part of her agreed. it was unnatural. the night air felt cold and menacing. but before either demigod could open their mouths to say anything, the first spirits appeared.

sulfurous mist seeped out of the ground. shadows thickened into human forms. one blue shade drifted to the edge of the pit and knelt to drink.

"stop him!" nico commanded them sharply, momentarily breaking his chant of their ancient language. "only bianca may drink!" percy drew riptide, and ashanti pulled out one of her sharp, stygian iron blades. the ghosts retreated with a collective hiss at the sight of the black knives.