all our broken skies, a kotlc + pjo/hoo fanfic

chapter two

A man with blond hair and piercing blue eyes looked up from the book he was reading—Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Sophie gaped, not just at him, but at what was inside the storage unit, if it could even be called that anymore.

It was a room, and a comfortable one at that, albeit a little cramped. There was a bed pushed to one corner, a nightstand stacked with the classics—Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women. A desk with a stool tucked underneath it had papers blanketing it, several pencils thrown into the mix and an unlit candle that was definitely a fire hazard. A bookshelf was wedged across the back, overflowing with both fiction and nonfiction. Papers were pinned to the walls, some of them newspaper articles, others book pages, some just scribbles on ruled notebook paper.

"What the frick," Sophie whispered.

The man frowned. "Sophie? What are you doing here?"

She paused. Sophie? How could he know that? Did they know each other?

"I—" the blonde started.

"Actually, I don't even want to know," the man muttered. "I'll assume—" He tilted his head, his gaze flicking over Sophie's clothes. "You know, I would like to know what you're doing here."

"Wrong unit," Sophie managed to squeak, backing up quickly. "I'll be leaving now."

The man strode across the room, grabbing her chin. She tried to jerk away, but his grip was firm. They locked eyes, his blue ones boring holes into her soul. Something like worry flickered through them as he released her, horror taking over his features. "What did they do to you?"

Sophie froze. What? "Who?" She'd been about to run for her life—there is some psycho locked in a storage unit that I have the key to—but he seemed to recognize her, seemed to know something. About her, about her past.

"Th—" He shook his head. "If you don't remember, you're better off not knowing."

"No!" Panic ripped through her voice. "I need to know," she whispered, trembling.

They stared at each other for a moment before the man sighed, running a hand through his blond hair. "What's the last thing you remember, Sophie? No— The first. What's the first thing you remember?"

Okay, that's strange, but I guess I should listen to him. "Waking up."

"Waking up where?" he pressed.

Sophie shrugged. "I'm not sure. Some park a couple of blocks from here."

"Okay," the man said slowly. "Do you remember anything from before that?"

"I have amnesia," she answered, crossing her arms. "That's the first thing I remember."

He exhaled, closing his eyes. "Well, I guess that's something. How did you find this place?"

Sophie hesitated, biting her lip. Should I tell him? After all, I own this place. There's probably a reason he's trapped here.

The other side of her rebelled. He's the only person you've met who actually seems to know what's going on. He knows you, and he's sticking around long enough to answer your questions. You can trust him.

"I keep getting hints," she explained. "Pieces of paper from people who bumped into me. An ID dropped nearby with my face on it. I didn't know what to do, so I followed the trail, and it led me here." Sophie paused. "I think you're meant to help me."

The man smiled a little. "Well, I'd hope so. Did the papers say who it was from?"

"Not really. They were signed L, T, and D." Sophie glanced at his face, hoping for some sign of recognition, but he was good at hiding his thoughts. "Does that mean anything to you?"