Chapter 9:

Mya's POV:

I stood right before the edge of Nyx's domain. Staring out into the stillness of Tartarus.

"So you're really leaving," I jumped when I heard his voice.

"Yes," I told him while trying to slow my heart rate.

"Maybe when this is all sorted out we can figure out something," Cronus told me. I turned back to him and studied his face. His eyes no longer held the pain that they had before.

"Yeah," I said. "Maybe."

"Good luck, Icarus," he whispered. "I will watch you."

I drew in a breath. Then I turned away from him. I almost stepped over the line before a thought came to my head.

"Could you do something for me?" I asked quickly.

"Anything," he promised.

I stared out into Tartarus and listened to his deep breaths.

"Good. I need some help before I leave," I told him calmly.

Dylan's POV:

"Wait!" I screamed as our swords crashed into each other. Liam pulled back and stared at me. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Liam snarled.

"She's outsmarted us," I whispered.

"What are you even talking about Dylan?" Liam sighed.

"Tartarus!" I shouted.

"Dylan!" Liam warned. "Don't do this! It's not worth his time!"

I ignored him. "Come forth Tartarus!"

There was a low rumble. The ground beneath us shook with rage.

"He knows," I whispered.

"Dylan, what is going on?" Liam asked quickly.

"That is a great question," I spun around and saw Tartarus standing behind us. "What is going on, Dylan? What has she learned? What has she done?"

"I don't-," his eyes pierced through me. "I don't know but I know she has outplayed us somehow." I stood tall while talking to him.

"I can tell you exactly what she did," Tartarus said coldly. "She had a friend of hers stop time completely."

"But how?" I asked raising my voice. Tartarus began to shake with rage. "Kronos put forth his domain and power into my hands."

"Yes," Tartarus snapped. "But Cronus didn't."

"They are the same person," Liam stepped in. Tartarus took a few steps towards him and then suddenly smacked him across the face. Liam fell to the ground and sputtered a few drops of blood onto the ground.

"Do not be a fool!" Tartarus hissed. "Kronos and Cronus are not the same Titan. Cronus is hundreds or thousands of times stronger than Kronos will ever be. And the girl has found a way to get him to help her."

"Maybe if you had paid her a visit when you told me you were going to," I spat. Tartarus turned towards me. Rage bellowed in his eyes. "Am I wrong? Did you go and see her? Because I know if you would've she wouldn't be alive right now!"

"Enough!" Tartarus's voice was like a thousand nails on a chalkboard. "I did not think she would do something like this." he paused for a moment. "Liam, you have seen some of Dylan's powers in action, correct?"

"Yes, father," Liam sputtered. "Only the power of Kronos."

"Of course, I have not granted him a piece of my domain yet," Tartarus said with a laugh.

"What are you inferring," I asked quickly.

"This might hurt," Before I could protest Tartarus forced his hand to my forehead. Instantly pain shot through my body. Red lights flashed in my eyes blinding me constantly. I screamed in pain but I couldn't even hear myself do so. I knew I fell to the ground when I felt my knees hit the floor below me. For minutes maybe even hours, this went on, and every part of my body continued to scream in pain. But then as soon as Tartarus pulled his hand away from my forehead most of the pain subsided.

I looked down at my arms and saw they were tomato red.

"What did you do?" my breath was gone but I managed to push out the words.

"I granted you the power of a quarter of my domain," Tartarus stated while he crossed his arms. "You're lucky I didn't grant you more. Your soul was already almost halfway to the Underworld when I stopped."

"What?" Tartarus paid me no attention.

"Liam," my friend snapped his head up. "Take him back to his hotel room."

"Of course, father," Liam walked towards me and that's when I passed out.

…

A terrine dream came to me while I was passed out.

Mya appeared in front of me covered in grime and monster dust from head to toe. I couldn't tell if she could sense me or not, but she turned around and for a second I thought she smiled at me. I couldn't tell though because she turned back around just as quickly. Then, she began to limp away from me.

I forced myself to appear in front of her, and when I did I almost fell off the edge of a tall cliff. I quickly backed away while Mya got closer to the edge. I stood on the tips of my toes and craned my neck to get a good look at what was below. Hundreds of feet below our feet a river of pure fire ran deeper into Tartarus. I turned and looked at her again. She had changed so much since I had last seen her. She almost looked… older. Her body was fitter than what I remember. She had broader shoulders and her muscles popped out of her skin every time she moved. Her eyes looked like they held a lot of knowledge that I wouldn't know or understand. Her face was scratched and bruised, and some of the deep gashes looked green in the red light. Dried blood coated her face and her tattered clothes. I was confused about why she wasn't wearing her armor and why she didn't have one of her weapons out. Despite how miserable she looked her eyes sparkled along with her necklace and bracelet.

'The last amount of hope she has,' I thought to myself.

Finally, she reached the edge of the cliff and stood next to me. Her eyes were fixed on the river below.

"Phlegethon," she whispered.

For a few minutes, we stood there just staring at the river below our feet. That's when I heard the noises behind us. Mya didn't even bother to turn around. After a few moments of the noises getting closer, I couldn't stop myself from turning around. I wish I hadn't. I wish I had just kept my eyes locked on the river of fire that ran below me, but I didn't. I turned and saw creatures of darkness. Their bodies swirled and I couldn't really focus on them. They started to create a semicircle around us. That's when their faces began to shift. The first face I saw was Hermes. Next, was my mother's face. Followed by Liam and Tartarus's faces. The last face that the creatures would shift to was Mya's face. They didn't speak but they gurgled and made scratching sounds.

I tried to scream Mya's name to warn her but my voice didn't work. She just stood there staring at the river. I heard her clear her throat but that's the only sound that she made until she began to speak.

"His solution is a lie, no one here deserves to die except for me and the monster I created," Mya's voice was hoarse, weak, but also powerful. "Heads up, Dylan, I'm a dead girl walking! Can't hide from me I'm a dead girl walking! And here's my final stand!" She turned to face the monsters that began to inch closer to her. "It's one more fight and then farewell! Cheek to cheek in hell with a dead girl walking!"

I was so confused. I knew she was talking to me but I couldn't focus on what her words meant. The monsters came so close that I could smell their sickly scent. That's when Mya decided it was a good idea to arm herself. She allowed her sword to appear. She turned towards me.

"Icarus is flying towards an early grave," she whispered.

I wanted to arm myself and help her but when I reached for my sword it wasn't there. I wasn't really there. I had to stand and watch the scene play out, and it didn't last long.

Mya threw her sword at the monster that was closest to her. It disappeared but reappeared at the back of the group. She turned back towards the river and jumped over the edge of the cliff. I watched as she fell hundreds of feet into the River Phlegethon. She dove below the surface and didn't reappear.

Annabeth's POV:

Percy and I bolted up in our bed. Turned towards him with tears in my eyes. He looked at me and pulled me into a hug.

"You-you saw it too?" I stuttered. He didn't speak just nodded. I pulled away from him and walked over to our dressed. I picked up my cell phone and dialed in a few numbers.

"Hi," I said covering up the fact that I was crying. "I know it's late, but do you think you could watch the kids? Percy and I have some things… to take care of."

"Of course!" I heard Sally say on the other side of the line.

"Thank you so much!" I hung up and grabbed some clothes. I glanced over at the bed and saw Percy sitting there with his head in his hands.

"She's really gone," he whispered.

"Come on, Percy," I tried to say with some strength but it failed. "We have to get to camp."

"Why?" he looked up at me with red puffy eyes.

"Because we have to prepare for the war," I whispered. "We have to fight in Mya's honor. It's what she would've wanted."

He sighed and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. It hurt to see him like this. He had lost so much because he was a demigod of the Big Three and now he lost his sister. The only other known demigod child of Poseidon after the pact was made. Even though the pact didn't stop Zeus or Poseidon and was mostly forgotten after the second Titan War it didn't mean that the Big Three didn't try to stick to it.

As he got off the bed he walked over to me and pulled me into a big hug.

"We'll do it for her," he whispered. I felt his tears drip onto the top of my head and I myself coated his shirt with tears of my own.

Luke's POV:

I woke with a start and rushed out of the small bedroom that I had been sleeping in. I ran through the deserted streets of Olympus. By the time I got to where Reyna was staying, I was drenched in sweat and out of breath. As I raised my hand to knock on the door it flew open. Inside Reyna stood in an oversized t-shirt and baggy shorts. Her hair was a mess but that didn't matter right now.

"You had the dream too didn't you?" I nodded vigorously. "Come inside," she said while motioning for me to come with her.

"I can't," I huffed. "We need to tell the council, immediately!"

"Why? So we can send everyone into a panic?" she snapped. Her eyes began to brim with tears. "Sorry, it was just so sudden."

"No. No, you're right," I whispered while pulling her inte\o a hug. She tensed up but didn't pull away from me. "We don't know who we can trust."

"We should go to camp," she finally said. "We need to prepare them. Just because she's gone doesn't mean that there won't be a war. If Dylan saw what we saw then he'll know that we're in a time of weakness. We can't let him use that to his advantage."

When she spoke his name my throat went dry. I pulled away from her and looked down at my feet. She turned around and headed back inside probably to get changed.

"Her death was my fault," I heard her footsteps stop. I could feel her eyes on me but I didn't care. "I wanted a chance at the Isles of the Blest and that's why Dylan is here. If I hadn't been so selfish Mya wouldn't have been thrown into Tartarus-"

"Like you can't blame yourself," she said interrupting me.

"I can though!" I shouted. Tears ran down my face. "Mya Gethern would still be alive if I hadn't been so self-centered!"

"Keep your voice down," Reyna hissed. "Come inside, please. We can talk about this there."

I looked up and looked at her.

"You saw what that place did to her," I whispered. "Did you see how much older she looked?"

Reyna nodded softly and looked down at her feet.

"We cannot blame ourselves for the actions of our enemies," she whispered. "We can only fight against them and hope things like what happened to Mya don't happen again."

"She died alone and in pain," I whined. "It is my fault she died alone."

"I already told you-"

"I know what you think happened," I hissed. Tears began to fall from her eyes even faster than they had been before. I realized my mistake and walked towards her. She pushed me away.

"Go to camp," she told me. "I will be there soon." She shut the door on me.

I sighed and looked up at the stars.

"For once, I want to talk to you again, just like before," I whispered to the stars. I hoped that just maybe those words would float to wherever she was.

I used lyrics from Dead Girl Walking (Reprise) and Icarus by Bastille. I will say that this hurt me so much to write. I swear I may have broken my heart so many times writing this. Please review, follow, or favorite it would really show me that you're enjoying what I'm writing.

~Emily