Louisa had been given a new cell.
It was white.
That was it.
White.
White walls. White floor. White ceiling. White lights.
It was so white, it burned her eyes.
There was no furniture, no windows, no door, no nothing.
All she could do was sit on the floor and stare at the wall, too exhausted to even pace. Her ADHD mind was screaming at her to move, but she hadn't the energy or the heart to do anything.
Images flickered across her vision.
A silhouette strung from a tree, swaying in the slight breeze.
A father and a son lying on the ground in a pool of their blood.
A destroyed camp.
Terrified campers.
Blood.
Guts.
Gore.
Gone.
Just a vast emptiness. There was nothing of Camp Half-Blood. The skeletal fingers of long dead trees, dried mud vacant of all grass. Structural ruins of cabins and other camp buildings.
And a mountain of rotting corpses left out in the summer heat.
Louisa cried out, shaking her head and screwing her eyes shut. Go away!
"Having fun?" Her eyes snapped open, but she didn't even turn around, his voice sending icy rivulets down her spine. Another image flashed across her eyes, but this one lingered. Underwater. The water nymphs were clustering around a figure, blood rising and swirling from a wound in its chest.
Louisa closed her eyes again. The image of Annabeth, drowned and stabbed in the heart burnt into her mind.
Luke rested his hands on her shoulders. "Am I getting the silent treatment now?" His fingers dug into her shoulders. "I had fun last night. I thought you would have as well." Louisa still didn't answer. "Well, I guess I'll leave you to your thoughts then, huh?" And just like that he was gone.
Leave you to your thoughts…
That was worse than the name calls and taunts combined. Her thoughts were a further extent of Luke's torture.
Lightning lit up the stormy sky, illuminating the blue face of a hanging Leo Valdez, highlighting the tears still moist on his cheeks.
"Lou, I'm sorry."