Percy POV

I tried not to look at Drew's pale body. She was dead, and it was my fault. There was no way to change that. The blue room was waiting for its next victim.

"One subject has to go inside," a guard barked.

Since they were all masked, I couldn't tell which guard had spoken. The guards stood in an ordered fashion, but they seemed ready to force any one of us to enter phase 5. However, I knew that it had to be me.

I started walking towards the blue room's doorway. The fluorescent light flashed onto my skin, beckoning to consume me.

"Percy, wait, this isn't a good idea," Annabeth reasoned. She caught my wrist to stop me from entering the room. I was halfway in the room already. Tears gleamed in my eyes as I watched Wise Girl.

"I have to go in eventually," I said firmly.

"Why do you want to go in so bad?" Thalia asked. "We're all emotional, and it would be best to calm ourselves before entering the room."

"Thalia's right, Percy. They are measuring our cortisol levels. All of our levels had probably risen sharply after seeing Drew," Will faltered off.

"Percy... please just wait a few minutes," Annabeth whispered. Her grip tightened on my wrist.

"No, I'm not waiting," I said firmly.

I shook my arm out of Annabeth's hand. Drew died because I wasn't quick enough. I didn't care that I was setting myself up. I was going into the blue room now.

I looked at my friends again before closing the door behind me.

Blue light surrounded me from all sides. The only other color that was present was the red light flashing from two points in the room: the metal band on my wrist and the end of a hefty chain that was on the floor.

The five-foot chain was connected to the wall.

"Connect your wrist band to the chain," a robotic voice announced.

I walked forward and picked up the end of the chain. My right hand was still in a fist, holding the key. I used my left hand to attach the chain to my wristband. The chain's outer link simply fused against my metal band, and the two red lights turned into a single green one.

However, I still couldn't find any use for Reyna's key.

At first, the room didn't do anything. I simply stood in the blue room waiting for something to happen. Then, all of a sudden, my surroundings changed.

The blue light faded away into a simulation.

I was in a meadow. Yellow daffodils were planted on the ground, and light seeds were flying in the sky around me. I looked around on all sides, and the meadow stretched towards the horizon. It was so beautiful and serene.

Stay calm, I thought. Don't stress and don't get emotional.

Meh, I was already feeling fairly emotional. A zap entered my wrist, and I winced from the shock. The electricity flowed from the chain and into my wrist.

Now, I understood where the pain came from.

If I became too unstable, the electricity would increase to the point where I'd have a heart attack and die. That's what must've happened to Drew.

I looked around the meadow. I watched the blue sky and white clouds. It was such a beautiful scene that didn't belong in an Elysium facility.

Suddenly, thunder rumbled. My gaze shifted to the right.

Storms clouds brewed and lightning flashed in the sky. A flock of birds flew straight at me in an attempt to escape the storm. I waved my arms frantically to get them away. Of course, they were a simulated illusion. Nothing actually hit me, but electricity pulsed into my wrist. A stronger pulse than before.

"It's not real. It's not real," I repeated aloud.

Suddenly, the meadow and the storm vanished. Everything fell silent as darkness took over. I couldn't see anything.

I was in a dark room. Completely black.

I could hear my heart rate increasing. I wasn't a fan of the dark. It reminded me of the first room that Elysium trapped me and Annabeth in. However, this was darker and more alarming.

A stronger voltage shocked my wrist.

"Gahh," I yelped as I held my arm. It felt numb and functionless, but I refused to drop the key in my hand.

The darkness dissipated to reveal a room.

It wasn't just any ordinary room. It was my bedroom in New York City. It was a small room since my family wasn't wealthy. It was a typical bedroom. Blue walls, a bed, a dresser, and a desk were in the room. Some clothes were thrown on the floor and my bed wasn't made.

To be honest, It was exactly how I left it.

A picture of me and my mom was on the desk. I stared at it sadly as the electricity continued to flow into my arm. I couldn't control it though. Elysium had a simulation of my bedroom. Of my life. Of my mom.

My hand finally gave up. I dropped the key on the floor. The key clanged on the metallic floor even though the simulation showed carpet. After all, my bedroom had carpeted flooring. Not metal.

I painfully walked towards the desk. The electricity was too much. It was seizing my muscles to the point where any movement was painful.

Suddenly, my hand banged against an invisible wall. For a second, the simulation wavered before it fixed itself.

Right, it wasn't real. This was all a fake simulation.

But, Elysium had full control. They knew exactly how my bedroom looked. It made me wonder what else they about my life. Or, everyone else's life for that matter. Did they know all of our secrets?

Another strong pulse of electricity flowed into me. This time I screamed in pain as I fell to my carpeted floor (which was actually metal). My cortisol levels were probably skyrocketing just like my stress and emotions were.

I crawled on the floor as electric shocks flowed into my body.

My hands felt for the key that I dropped. The skin on my palm burned as my hand closed around the key again. Electricity was conducting out of the key as well. After all, this whole room was filled with electric fields.

In the instant it touched the floor, the metal key became electrified.

"AHH," I shouted. I continued to scream in pain.

All of this pain was becoming a downward spiral. That's what stress and emotions did to you. A single trigger was all it took to destabilize a person.

The electricity was constant and powerful. The voltage flowed through my wrist and into my blood. It was seizing my muscles and my heart.

What do I do? I was going to die.

The room shifted again. My bedroom dissipated into darkness.

The electricity stopped for a few seconds. I breathed deeply and managed to stand up. I staggered on the floor. The chain was clinking as I moved towards the wall that the chain was connected to. I used it for support.

Then, white light flashed out of the wall. I still held the wall as a new simulation spread around me. I recognized this room as well.

I spent so many hours in this hospital room.

Electricity flowed into my arm again, leading me to fall to the floor. My body limply leaned against the wall. The chain connection to the wall was right in front of me.

I stared at the simulation.

The doctors and nurses were flying around the hospital bed. Sally Jackson, my beautiful mother, was lying in the bed. She looked horrible. Her skin was pale, and her eyes lost all color.

"Charge and clear," the female doctor ordered. I wasn't that familiar with this doctor, but I had seen her on the hematology-oncology (cancer) floor before.

Everyone stepped away from my mother, and the defibrillator sparked current into my mother's chest. A high current was flowing into me as well.

Tears sparked as I watched my mother die. I couldn't stop crying, and I couldn't stop the electricity either. We were both dying actually.

"Dr. Solace, it's been thirty minutes. We lost her," nurse Sarah said sadly.

All activity paused. Dr. Solace and the nurses stopped their work and surrounded my mother's bedside.

"Does she have any family that we need to inform?" Dr. Solace asked quietly.

"Yes, doctor, she had a very nice son named Percy Jackson. However, we haven't been able to reach him for the past two weeks," nurse Emily announced.

"Keep trying. Percy deserves to know that his mother has passed on. The cancer was too much for her body to handle," Dr. Solace expressed.

Everyone's faces were sad.

My muscles strained against the constant flow of electricity. I was barely able to lift my head, but I managed to see my mom's face. She looked so peaceful as she entered into a permanent sleep.

She was dead.

And, I was very close to death too.

The electricity seized my body, and I fell limp against the floor. My head slowly slid down, and my face fidgeted.

I couldn't even feel the electricity anymore, but I knew that it was slowly killing me. It was flowing into my body and killing my muscles. Killing my brain.

The hospital room vanished from my vision, which was becoming blurry. Blue light illuminated the room, but the electricity didn't stop. The phase wasn't over.

Then, I saw it.

There was a small indentation in the knob that was connected the chain to the wall. The electricity was flowing out of the wall, to the knob, through the chain, to my wrist band, and into my blood. I had to sever the connection.

I used whatever bit of control left to jam the key into the knob's indentation.

The knob sparked and let out a bright flash. I scampered away from that wall. However, there was no need. The sparks died down.

The electricity didn't stop, but it greatly subsided. It didn't feel like I was dying, but it wasn't pleasant either. I could still feel the electricity flowing into my body and tweaking it. However, my muscles weren't stuck.

It was like a great weight lifted off of my body.

I hadn't destroyed the electric connection, but I had limited the flow of electricity. That's what Reyna's key was for. It wasn't a key; it was a jammer tool.

A few minutes passed. Electricity continued to flow into my body, but it wasn't as painful as before. I went to the brink of death and came out of it.

However, I watched the person that I love most die. I sobbed as I waited for this wretched phase to end.

It was a simulation. It was fake.

I wanted to tell myself that. However, I had a gut feeling that it was real. It was only a matter of time till my mom's death. The doctors told me this weeks ago.

Suddenly, a buzz interrupted my thoughts and tears.

"Elysium cannot manufacture experiences using the blue room. A simulation doesn't work that way. We simply replicate what had been recorded," Hera's voice answered.

"I told you that you'd suffer during this phase."

Hera laughed menacingly. I absolutely despised her. I wanted to freaking punch the speaker system and imagine that it was her face.

My mother was dead. Lung Cancer.

The metal band clicked and the chain fell away from my wrist. The chain and the cuff disconnected, which meant that I was free.

I stared at the now jammed knob. This would protect the others from excruciating electricity when their cortisol levels rise above the threshold. Furthermore, I was confident that Elysium wasn't paying attention to my actions. They would've responded by now if they saw the key or if they saw me jamming the connection. Their ignorance was my advantage.

Then, the blue room's door opened behind me.

"Percy," Jason shouted.

He rushed into the room and hugged me. Several pairs of hands helped me out of the room. I was too paralyzed (physically, mentally, and emotionally) to move.

I was leaning against the wall, and everyone was crowding around. They all looked concerned about my well-being (besides Luke, obviously).

"Percy, hey, are you okay?" Thalia asked as she cupped my face. She was right in front of me, and her eyes were filled with worry.

I leaned my forehead into her shoulder. I wasn't ashamed to admit that I cried into her. I sobbed actually. I wasn't ashamed to admit that I was crying over my dead mother. She was an amazing person, and I loved her so much.

Thalia's arms wrapped around my head as she supported me.

My body shook violently with emotion and stress. This was all too much. I felt broken. I felt ashamed.

I couldn't save Drew.

I couldn't hold my mother's hand at the end of her life.

Sally Jackson held my hand since the day that I was born. It was her and me against the whole world. But, I couldn't even hold her hand when it was time for her to leave this world. Now, she was gone forever. My mother was gone forever.

I sobbed into Thalia's embrace. I couldn't control myself.

"Percy, what happened in there?" Jason asked softly.

"They know everything," I expressed. "They will show you things that are true and painful. It was horrible. I didn't die, but I wish I had."

Annabeth looked at me with sorrowful eyes. Tears were bristling in her guilty eyes. I could tell that she wanted to help, but she walked into the blue room instead.

I shook my head as I wiped my face. Rachel held my hand softly, and I happily accepted her hold. She lost her close friend today, and I lost my mom.

I watched everyone in the group. They all looked fearful as they should be. However, I knew that none of them would die. They'd be traumatized and pained, but they'd be alive.

My head leaned against Thalia's shoulder as we sat quietly.

This was hell. Elysium was darkness.

Even if I escaped, my life was permanently changed. I just hoped and prayed that the hospital was giving my mother a respectful funeral and a proper goodbye.

...