It took half an hour to cut Charlie loose. Afterwards, he had a sticky residue on him where the web had been.
"I need a shower," he complained.
I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "No kidding. How long has it been?"
"I dunno, like eight or nine months?"
"That's disgusting."
But that didn't stop me from holding his hand, or pulling him close to kiss his head as he laughed.
Daedalus huffed in annoyance. I tried my best to ignore him. Luke punched him in the arm, hard. I was really starting to appreciate having Luke around. He reminded me a lot of my dad. He didn't joke as much, but he looked after me in the same way and had a similar fighting style too. He had this guarded look in his eye like my dad did, and always had his hand on the hilt of his sword. I'd never had an older brother but Luke was as close as I'd come. It was nice.
Charlie had his sword out and was practicing some of the moves I had taught him. He'd finally grown out of Bob's "swing and smack" way of fighting. Thank the gods.
"You know, you're actually doing really well. You've improved a lot," I congratulated.
Charlie scoffed. "Well, there isn't much time to practice when you're stuck in Tartarus. It's more like learn or die."
"That's true."
After he got bored of practicing, he put his sword away and took hold of my hand. I felt wary not being able to hold my weapon but I'd rather be holding Charlie's hand anyway.
"How come we always run into the big scary monsters instead of the little guys?" he asked, sounding exasperated. He was right. Don't get me wrong, we'd fought plenty of "little guys," but most of our time was spent fighting the more high profile monsters.
"Because we have a stronger scent."
"Scent? I don't usually stick this bad," Charlie protested, scrunching up his nose.
"You're adorable," I cooed.
"Friends have scent," Bob butted in. "Smell very strong." He licked his lips and grinned at us.
I tried not to laugh as Charlie gave him a horrified look.
"It's not like a normal scent. Monsters can sense demigods, and the more powerful demigods have a stronger 'scent.' I'm the grandson of Poseidon and Athena, so I have a strong scent. And you're also the son of Calypso and the only fire-user in centuries. Plus, our parents are members of the great prophecy. My dad's been in two; every monster wants him dead. In turn, they want to kill us too," I explained.
Charlie looked like he wished I hadn't told him. "Great."
The hallway grew dark, a pitch black. Charlie lit up his hand and we took the lead, but something seemed off.
"Does this seem familiar to you?" Charlie asked.
A feeling of dread passed over me. "Nyx," I whispered.
I couldn't see Charlie's face, but I didn't need to see him to know he was terrified.
"Shit," he cursed, his voice trembling. Luke appeared beside us, pushing us behind him. He had Charlie extinguish his flame. Ahead, the only light was a familiar blue tinge. When we got closer, we could see the outline of a clawed hand beside the triangle. Nyx began to open the entrance, being as quiet and as stealthy as she could.
"We can't fight her," Charlie whispered. I nodded in agreement, knowing he couldn't see me.
The Seven and their children and Nico had all tried to fight her, what could we do? Apparently, Nyx wanted to find out. The blue tinge disappeared as her head whipped around. We could hear her rushing towards us.
"Fire!" Luke shouted. Charlie lit both his hands, and his hair, on fire. The now lit cabin showed Nyx rushing towards us, and Luke standing in front of us to fight her.
"Run!" he yelled.
Nyx collided with his sword. The contact sent him to the ground.
"Luke!" I screamed. He turned to face me for a quick moment and I could see the panic in his eyes.
"Just run! Get everybody to safety!" he ordered. "Keep running and don't stop until you're out!"
Daedalus didn't hesitate. He placed his hand on the wall and created a doorway, which he quickly jumped through. I cringed at the sight of the doorway, feeling a throbbing sensation in my arm at the memory of what happened last time. I grabbed Charlie's hand as Bob and Damasen hurried through.
"Luke, come on!" I pleaded.
He shook his head as he jumped into a fighting stance. Nyx wasn't facing us. She was facing Luke, who was trapped between her and the wall.
"Go! You have to go!" Luke didn't look at me as he spoke, which is when I realized that Luke didn't plan on following us. He was going to stay behind as a distraction.
Charlie tugged at my hand but something was keeping me from following him. A fatal flaw.
"Charlie, keep going! We'll meet back with you!" I promised, pushing him through the doorway. He turned around as soon as he'd gone through.
"Wait what? Jason!" He was cut off by the rock molding quickly back together, closing the door.