The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We haven't eaten since early that morning 'cause Luke said we have to save money for our next train heading to San Francisco (That I was still trying to talk them out of!). Luke and Annabeth hadn't had a shower since we left Camp and since I had bathed in a polluted river, we didn't really think that counted.
"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."
"But we can't use phones?" I questioned.
"I'm not talking about phones," she responded, and that was that.
Why does nobody ever actually answer my questions properly? I mean, I knew the answer to this one, but what if I didn't have my past-life cheat? What then?
We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city.
Finally, we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. Three teenagers hanging out a car-wash? One of them a Latina? Ten bucks on a cop trying to arrest me for drug dealing or some other bullshit.
"What exactly are we doing?" I asked as she took out the spray gun.
"It's seventy-five cents," Luke dug into his pockets for spare change. "Got it!"
"We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping," he said in a very by-the-way tone to me.
"What do you mean? What are you doing?"
He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."
"I have no idea what that means," I point out, "I found out I'm a demigod two weeks ago, remember?"
"Iris-messaging," Annabeth corrected. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."
"And you do this how?"
Luke pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "All you gotta do is make a rainbow and pay her."
Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapour and broke into colours.
Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."
I dug a Drachma out of my bag and passed it to her.
She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."
She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer.
"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields with the Long Island Sound in the distance. We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Surprisingly, there were other people on the other side. A tall brunette wearing a black cat patterned button-up was sitting on the Big House railing, while a shorter black-haired Hispanic boy wearing a dark green jacket chatted with him.
"Alabaster! Chris!" Luke called happily.
Both boys turned, grinning when they caught sight of who called them. Alabaster and Luke were great friends, as they were the two eldest in the Hermes Cabin. Chris, while not claimed, was Luke's little brother and they had a good relationship.
"Luke!" Alabaster crowed back, "Look at you! How's the quest, man?"
"Hi, Luke!" Chris piped up. "Hola, prima! Como estas?" (Hey cousin! How are you?)
As Luke answered Alabaster, I greeted Chris. "Buenas tardes, primo. Estoy bien pero todos estos monstruos…" I rolled my eyes for effect. "Nunca saben cuando dejar." (Good afternoon, cousin. I'm good, but all these monsters… They never know when to stop."
I smile as he laughs. There are only three Latino kids at Camp right now; Chris, Maybel (a daughter of Demeter), and me. All three of us had formed a small kinship from our shared heritage and we talked in Spanish with each other. True, I'm Brazilian while they're Cuban and Argentine, but that's neither here nor there.
Annabeth spoke up, "We were calling to talk to Chiron."
"He's down at the cabins." Alabaster's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is everyone alright?"
This felt strangely familiar, but not in a good way. Didn't this happen? With Luke on the other end? Something's wrong.
I gave Alabaster a tense smile. "Everyone's alive. The quest is on track. What's happening with the campers?"
Just then, a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo ramping whatever hip-hop it was playing up past eleven. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement.
"Chiron had to- what's that noise?" Alabaster yelled.
"I'll take care of it,'" Annabeth yelled back. "You coming, Percy?"
I shook my head and waved her on- I needed to get some answers. Luke looked like he wanted to push me to join Annabeth but didn't say anything.
"Chiron had to break up a fight," Alabaster shouted to me over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out about the Zeus-Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how- probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound. Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again. Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."
Luke tensed behind me. The 'scumbag' comment seemed almost pointed. I suddenly realised that I was talking to the three demigods that had led a part of Kronos' army. Would have, if I have anything to say about it.
"Alabaster," I began. "Don't think I'm not aware."
All three boys froze. Chris' eyes kept darting between Luke and Alabaster, waiting for his cue. All three are probably members or sympathisers of the 'I Hate The Olympians' club, but from the way Alabaster was glaring at Luke about the hellhound not a minute ago, I'd bet good money that only Luke had actually joined the Kronos Krew yet.
Y'know what? I'm calling it the KK, if only so I don't accidentally blurt out what it stands for when I'm not paying attention.
"Aware of what?" he tried to say smoothly.
I raised an eyebrow. "Aware of what's happening at camp; someone's trying to divide it." I gave an innocent smile. "Good thing that while a divided camp is very vulnerable, Camp Half-Blood is anything but badly protected. After all, unless someone decides to purposely let in invaders, the barrier will hold, yes?"
I pointedly ignore Luke's almost flinch.
Chris nodded nervously. "Right."
"And despite the protections, if someone on the inside- say, the person who summoned the hellhound- saw the divide and took advantage… Well, it's a good thing that my quest is going so well and that we'll be back at Camp soon enough, isn't it?"
Alabaster gave me a calculating look. "Yes."
I widened my smile, titled my head, and leaned forwards juuust so. "Until then, I know I can count on the two of you to help stop the divide in Camp from getting too bad, can't I?"
All three of them stared at me. The meter beeped, telling us that there was only a minute left.
Alabaster cleared his throat. "I suppose; can't have all of Camp vulnerable to… outsiders…" he enunciated slowly.
In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, I think a cat let out a rather impressive yowl, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash.
"Good," I said. "Good."
Chris spoke up. "Percy… What-?"
The water cut off and the rainbow began to fade.
"Well, I'll see you back at camp." I waved goodbye, my face set in a rictus grin.
The last thing we saw was Alabaster looking at me up and down, his face a perfect picture of contemplation and pure thought as Chris anxiously hovered behind him. The I-M cut off.
Luke's voice was a quiet rasp. "Ophelia. What was that?"
I turned to him. He was pale and tense, looking at me with paranoia I knew was justified. "Solidifying allies." I blinked, my eyes bright and innocent. "Why? What's wrong? We'll need help in the coming days, yeah?" Out of sight, my nails painfully dig into the skin of my hip.
Somehow, he pales even more. "No… You- You know."
I pull back, my body language confused. "Luke…" I break off. I can't tell him yet. Let him draw his own-
His eyes are wild as he grabs me by my shoulders. "You know what's going to happen. Somehow, you do. I- " His grip felt like he was scalding me. "You know what I- "
"Don't!" I cut him off, yanking his hand from me so I could hold them. "Don't. You don't want to know."
He's shaking, subtly shivering as if he was in subzero temperatures. "Is it bad? Can you tell me?"
I shook my head frantically, hot tears slipping from the corners of my eyes. "Not yet. Please, just trust me. Not yet."
He scans me up and down before slowly, slowly shrinking back. "I trust you," he whispered. "I'm just… I fear for you."
I pull back. "I can handle myself. Don't fear for me, watch your own back." I warn him.
His nod is shaky. And his face…
Bile rises in my throat.
I remember a half-baked theory I formed on that day with the hellhound; a soulmate cannot harm their other half without repercussions.
This lie? His worry? Harm. This is harmful, plain and simple.
I bend over and throw up into a bush. Fuck.
"Ophelia!" he calls out, reaching a hand to steady me.
I brush him off. "I can take care of myself, but every action has its consequences." My smile is weak.
There's fear in his eyes. He relents.
Annabeth comes around the corner and freezes when she spots the two of us. "Luke, Percy? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah." I lied. "Come on, let's go get some food."
oOo
We're sitting in a diner, waiting to be served.
All around us, families were eating burgers while drinking malts and sodas. My stomach was growling, Annabeth rested her forehead against the cool table, and Luke kept sending me worried and suspicious glances. All in all, we're not in the fucking mood for any bullshit. Case in point- I kept fiddling with my sword-ring.
Finally, the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow sceptically. "Well?"
"Three bacon cheeseburgers with fries. Three large vanilla milkshakes," I told her grumpily.
Was I being rude to the waitress? Yes. Did I suddenly get hit with regret for acting like a Karen? Also yes.
"You kids have money to pay for it?"
Nevermind. I'm pissed and tired and hungry.
"Yes," I snapped. "Can we order or not?"
Luke sent me a warning look. He opened his mouth to say something but he got cut off.
A rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb. All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather- but leather that looked like... well, Caucasian human skin.
Fuuuuuuuck. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Deal. With. Ares. Today.
I turned to Luke and Annabeth. "Do try to stop me from punching him. If you fail; fuck it. I've lived long enough."
Their confused response was cut off by Ares walking into the diner.
Actually, no. He didn't walk- he sauntered, like he's Micael Jackson and this was his stage. As he moved, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose in eerie synchronicity as if they were hypnotized, but the leather-clad god waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations.
The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"
The asshole said, "It's on me." He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window.
"No, it's fucking not," I told him, point-blank. "And get away from my friend."
Ares looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in my stomach. I squashed it down. Bitch, I've been pushing down breakdowns for years- I know how to control bad feelings. All it did was make me want to just say 'fuck it' and leave.
He gave a wicked grin. The waitress shrank back. After some of Luke's not-so-subtle nudging, she fled the table.
"So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"
I gave him an unimpressed look. "I'm fucking done; that's what I am. I'm not in the mood for your bullshit."
"Percy!" a wide-eyed Annabeth hissed at me.
"S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"
"I'm fully aware who's boss, and it's not you, Ares. Not here, not right now." I glared at him.
That gave him a pause. He lifted his shades so I could see his burning, literally flaming eyes. "You're playing with fire right now, punk."
"Then I get burnt and I move on. Look, just give us your stupid sidequest and go."
"How do you know I'm going to give you a quest?"
I sighed. "Why the fuck else would a god decide to talk to us? I'm not fucking dumb."
The waitress came back with heaping trays of food-cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and vanilla shakes.
Ares handed her a few gold drachmas. She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."
Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"
The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold.
Luke was now physically restraining me from attacking a god. His arm was around my middle as he fearfully glanced between Ares and me.
"My little quest; it's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little... date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."
I raised an eyebrow. "So we can trip the little trap your girlfriend's husband set up? Yeah, right. What would we be getting out of this?"
"Hey, I'm a generous guy. I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends. And..." He leant in. "To sweeten the deal, I'll throw in something you should know about your mom."
"I already know about my mom and we can get a ride west ourselves." I watched as he froze. "Got a better deal?"
He frowned. "How do you know about your mom?"
"Why do you want to prevent a war?" I shot back. "Helping us get the bolt isn't helping you, is it?"
We were in a standoff. Luke was nervously sweating, fully aware that if either of us caves it'll be his head on the spike.
And Annabeth? That girl already had her knife drawn. Her other hand was hovering over her invisi-cap.
Ares glanced at Luke for a second and I smirked. "That's what I thought. Get us Greyhound tickets to Las Vegas and we'll do it."
Ares leaned back, looking at me appraisingly. "You're an interesting one. Fine, not like I was doing much else anyway."
"Interesting keeps me from getting killed for being boring." I gave a shit-eating grin. Why wouldn't I? I'm negotiating with a god, getting what I want and not getting screwed over too badly!
He grinned right back, matching me teeth for teeth. "The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."
In a blink, he was gone. If it wasn't for Luke and Annabeth's frightened faces, I could've thought this was just a dream.
"Not good," Annabeth whispered, voice small. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."
I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared.
Welp. There goes my chance at riding that thing.
"No." I turn back to her. "This is good."
"How?" she said in confusion, her brow furrowing.
Luke looked cautious. "Ophelia… maybe you shouldn't- "
"Shouldn't what?" I growled. "Save the world? Save you? Stop World War 3? Shouldn't do what, Luke?"
He falls silent, staring at his burger. His pale hands are clenching and unclenching on the table.
"Do you know what you're doing?" he finally asks.
"Yes," I lied confidently. "I do."
Annabeth looked between us, confused. "What's going on?"
"Ares just threw us a lifeline." I motioned towards her food, "Eat your burger, we gotta go."
oOo
The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D.
If I snickered at it, no one commented.
The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry water slides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy.
"Well, fuck!" I muttered. "If this isn't someplace to get murdered in, I'll eat my sword!"
Annabeth and Luke side-eyed me.
"What? Please, as if you haven't fantasised about being murdered with no one ever finding the body?" I tried to defend myself.
"... No." They deadpanned.
"Oh."
"You are so weird, seaweed brain."
"You'd be too if you had timey-wimey bullshit rocking around in your brain and solid proof that it's mostly true," I mused under my breath.
"What?"
"Nothing," I called back from clambering over the iron fence. "Just a lot of swear words."
I can't see their faces since we're all climbing, but I'm pretty sure Annabeth just rolled her eyes at me.
Luke held down the barbed wire so we could climb over it, and I smiled when Annabeth cursed loudly when she got scratched. Ah, my young padawan is learning the vocabulary quickly!
The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?
No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise.
We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of-
"Clothes," Annabeth breathed. "Fresh clothes."
"Yeah," I said. "But you can't just- "
"Watch me." She snatched an entire row of stuff off the racks and disappeared into the changing room.
A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies.
"You look like a walking fashion disaster," I droned. "Even the eighties wouldn't take you."
She glared. "At least I have fresh clothes!"
I raised an eyebrow and walked into the changing room with my backpack.
When I left it, I was wearing the spare change of clothes from camp; leggings, a camp t-shirt, Drew's gifted jacket on my back, and the scarf wrapped around my hair as a proto-veil that hid my curls.
"Well, I remembered to grab spare clothes when I left camp." Was I gloating? Yes. Was I getting her back for all those times she played 'frigid-bitch'? Also yes.
Luke exited his own changing room wearing as many Waterland clothes as he could. "It's not like we were actually expecting to still have all our supplies by the time we got even half-way across the country," he reasoned.
"Yeah, fair enough." I shrugged. "Now, where's that Tunnel of Love?"
oOo
In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.
Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!
Luke crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."
Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.
"Gross," I wrinkled my nose, before turning to my companions. "So, we can do this three ways. One, the Mary Sue way where I stay all the way over here and use my powers to grab it; Two, we let Luke steal it himself without tripping any traps because he's the best at this; Or three, we fuck it up, buttercups! We all climb in at the same time and give the gods a show!"
"We're not going to let Luke do everything by himself!" Annabeth protested.
Unfortunately, Luke asked at the same time, "Who's Mary Sue?"
"Right!" I called, putting my hands on my hips. "I guess we go for option number three then! Remember, you chose this."
I started striding forward and those two quickly followed, protests on their lips.
We reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf. I tried to imagine Ares and Aphrodite here, a couple of gods meeting in a junked-out amusement-park ride. Why? Then I noticed something I hadn't seen from up top: mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot. We could see ourselves no matter which direction we looked. That must be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were smooching with each other they could look at their favourite people: themselves.
"How narcissistic are they?" I muttered as I reached for the scarf.
Luke elbowed me. "Don't insult the gods!"
I elbowed him right back but kept quiet.
The scarf was in my hands and I wrapped it around my neck. Mmmm, it smells so nice; like home-baked bread and burning candles…
I froze. "Wow, this is some pretty strong love magic."
Annabeth whipped around. "What?" she hissed in concern.
I waved her off. "Smells like my one true love… and the house we'll have…" I start to drift off to the thought of a vague man and small children running around a cottage.
I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out from around my neck and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."
"What?"
"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."
The moment I touched the shield, I knew we were in trouble. My hand broke through something that had been connecting it to the dashboard. A cobweb, I thought, but then I looked at a strand of it on my palm and saw it was some kind of metal filament, so fine it was almost invisible. A tripwire.
"Found the trap guys!"
"What?" Luke called.
"Percy!" Annabeth shrieked. "Don't!"
Noise erupted all around us. It sounded like the grinding of a million gears- as if the whole pool was turning into one giant machine.
"Too late!" I smiled. "This is where the fun begins!"
Upon the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before I could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at us. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net
Luke was screaming, "Out! Get out, go!"
I grabbed the shield and we ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down.
"Come on!" Luke shouted.
He was trying to hold open a section of the net for us, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands. He had to quickly yank his hands back unless he wanted to lose his fingers
The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute ... Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight ..."
We'd almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic ... things poured out.
Annabeth and I screamed.
No-no-no-no! I forgot about these motherfuckers!
It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal.
"Spiders!" Annabeth wailed. "Sp-sp-aaaah!"
I wasn't much better than her, screaming my head off. "No! No! Spiders! LUKE HELP! AAAAAH! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
She fell backwards in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before Luke pulled her up and grabbed my hand, dragging us back towards the boat.
The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of them, flooding toward the centre of the pool, completely surrounding us. I tried to tell myself they probably weren't programmed to kill, just corral us and bite us and make us look stupid. Then again, this was a trap meant for gods, and we weren't gods!
Sometimes, going off-tangent and having a vivid imagination is great. This is not one of those times!
Annabeth and I climbed into the boat. Luke started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. He was yelling at me to help him, as I was at least not frozen in terror like Annabeth, but my frantic sword waving wasn't really much help.
"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker.
The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie us down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. I kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of my shoe.
"Motherfucker! Tu mierda! Su madre es una vaca!" I swore at them, hacking and lashing with what meagre sword-skill I had. (You're shit! Your mom is a cow!)
"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called.
Water, I thought. I need more water. Where the fuck does the ride's water come from?
"Five, four-"
I closed my eyes and thought about waves, rushing water, the Mississippi River. I felt a familiar tug in my gut. I tried to imagine that I was dragging the ocean all the way to Denver.
I closed my eyes and focused on pulling the water, fast rushing water, out of the pipes. The tug in my gut, familiar as always, let me know I succeeded.
"Two, one, zero!"
Water exploded out of the pipes. It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. Luke snatched us both down onto the boat's seats just as the tidal wave slammed into our boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing us completely, but not capsizing us. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool.
Annabeth was screaming, Luke had an arm around us both to keep us from flying out, and I had my eyes squeezed shut, trying desperately to control this stupid ride.
The water was full of short-circuiting spiders. Some of them smashed against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst.
Spotlights glared down at us. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus.
I focused on controlling the boat; it was slowing down. We were no longer spinning like crazy, but the water level was high enough to shred us against the golden net. With a mental tug, I managed to get us to start drifting down the ride. It was too quick to my liking, but at least we were getting somewhere.
The persistent tug in my gut was turning almost painful from trying to control the boat. That couldn't be- I wasn't even doing anything hard! I shouldn't be so weak that I can't control one measly little boat. I was stronger, that was the point of my training, that was-
My eyes froze on Luke's hands, the same ones that held me tight.
Oh, his hands were bloody from the net. I was wondering why my arms felt warm. Did I hurt him again? Huh… Seems like I did.
I turned and threw up over the side of the boat.
There was a hint of red in my vomit.
I could vaguely hear Luke and Annabeth shouting my name in worry. I couldn't focus on it. I couldn't focus on anything, really, because-
Blood.Blood. I think my 'soulmates can't harm each other' theory is coming true, and I also think that now would be a bad time to wonder if that divine 'rule of three' thing applied here.
Then we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit.
My head snapped up and away from my internal dilemma. My control of the boat had slipped for a second and we'd picked up speed. Fuck.
The large Gates of Love were closed and chained up. We were heading straight towards them. Oh shit!
In a large wave that drained me of all my power, I stopped the boat with a jerk. We all flew forwards, towards the Gates of Love that had been half torn down from my wave.
Luckily, Luke still had a good grip on us and had his flying shoes working with one shout of, "Maia!"
We all stumbled towards the ground, tripping over each other with a groan.
"Ouch," Annabeth said, pushing me off her. "Get off me."
By the time we'd stumbled to our feet and Luke began fussing over our injuries again, my horrible nausea and dizziness were back.
A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swivelled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights in our faces.
I saw red. How dare they find entertainment from our plight? I know I was joking about it earlier, but I could've died! Luke and Annabeth could've died!
"We could've DIED you- "
I broke off, shoving Luke away from me as I stumbled towards the cameras. "How dare you?!" I shouted at them. "Como ousa fazer um espetáculo de nossa dor! Seus tolos, seus monstros! Stop it! STOP IT!" (How dare you make a spectacle out of our pain! You fools, you monsters!)
Thunder rumbled overhead, and that was it.
I couldn't hear my friends screaming at me, I couldn't even be bothered by the sudden rainy weather that roared to life out of nowhere. No, I was busy revelling in rage as I snapped.
A scream ripped its way out of me and the earth shook in response. I stomped once then fell to my knees, hands scraping the concrete the the exact same way I was going to do to their FUCKING THROATS.
"PARA DE OLHAR!" The world bathed in blue light, and I think the rain tasted a bit salty for some reason but that didn't matter because- "I HATE YOU! STOP IT!" (Stop looking at us!)
The sky jolted with hints of lightning. In response I smashed the ground with my fists, sending out another tremor.
I was so past beyond angry- I was enraged. Around me, the earth raged in answer.
Warm hands- too warm, bloody- fell on my shoulders. A voice was yelling at me, but it sounded like it was travelling through a storm.
Wait, it is storming, isn't it?
"Let go, Ophelia! Stop doing this!"
Luke?
"Ophelia, please! You're going to bring the entire park down on our heads!"
Luke. He's getting hurt- he'll get hurt if I don't- I have to, I have to…
Annabeth was shrieking in fear.
Let. Go.
It was like the world stopped. Raindrops hovered in midair, frozen in time through sheer force of will. No more tremors, no more lightning, no more screaming.
It was unnatural.
The last thing I saw was Luke's horrified face above me as I passed out.
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Hey. Guys?
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
I'm sorry…
…
…
I never-
…
…
…
…
…
…
I never wanted to hurt anyone…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
… Guys?
A/N
Raven: … Yeah. So that happened. Poor Ophelia, the whole side-quest had been nothing but trauma after trauma after suckass for her. I did say that we needed to get her to stop going off on tangents, didn't I? Well, here's one such example where thinking about relatively useless things and panicking over them when you can't do jack is a Bad Idea.
Also, let's all admit it; it's high time Ophelia well and truly snapped. Therapy can only do so much when you can't trust the therapist, no matter how well-intentioned they are. She's had the pressure of the world on her shoulders ever since rebirth, and she never had the luxury of letting loose either. Letting loose would mean attracting monsters, at least one smiting, screwing up canon to undesirable levels, worst-case scenario her Mãe winds up dead… Pick a number, roll a dice.
And finally, we have one rather nice aspect of platonic soulmates! If one goes apeshit, the other's got a pretty good chance of getting them to stop!
Izzy: First of all, I want to apologise for this horrible angsty torture called a chapter that we just published. I was listening to the angst playlist while writing the first draft.
Second of all, I will actually say that Raven (holy fucking shit) rewrote essentially the entire last part, the mental breakdown, to be this beautiful, even angstier piece that legit made me cry. I honestly can't believe she did that.
Third and last, I'm sorry (again) but you won't have another main story update until Friday; this Wednesday you get two different Interludes tho (two different chapters uploaded at the same time) - so I suppose that's a plus for y'all!
Raven: Awwwww, thank you! Also, holy hell this author's note is long.