PERCY
The first thing I remember after passing out is someone touching my hand. I can't see anything. So obviously I uncap Riptide, push the person to the ground, and shove my sword at their neck. The effects of Tartarus and all of your friends dying. You get much better reflexes.
Immediately, there is an uproar. I can feel arms around my waist. I blindly slash with my sword, someone yelps and I'm dropped to the ground. I yell, "WHERE AM I?"
Everyone stops talking. "You don't know where you are?" a high, squeaky voice asks.
I shake my head. "I can't see anything. Actually, wait. I'm starting to see some things. Is that… a purple castle on a hill?" Someone snorts.
My vision clears completely. I see eleven people in front of me. "Names?" I ask. They are all standing in the shadows, so I can't see much.
They all step forward, but not into the light.
"Sophie."
"Fitz."
"Tam."
"Linh."
"Dex."
"Biana."
"Marella."
"Maruca."
"Stina."
"Sandor."
"Wylie."
I nod. "My name is Percy."
I sheathe Riptide. My eyes flick over each of them, assessing their visible strengths, their weaknesses. When my gaze lands on the last girl, the one called Sophie, I gasp. This girl. All of her visible features. I've seen them before. Her slightly curly blonde hair. Her athletic stature. Even the hidden knife at her waist. All of the clues point towards this being…
"Wise Girl?"
FITZ
I was shocked. Percy had managed to perfectly line up his sword, which had appeared out of nowhere, with Sophie's neck, then slice my arm when I tried to drag him off her, all while he couldn't see. This boy is unnerving. His aura of power is so pervasive that I can feel it from where I am right now, at least fifteen feet away.
So when I heard him talk like a little boy, especially when I heard him talk like a war commander before, I was confused. "Wise Girl?" he whispered, his face turning pale as he stumbled back. And for the first time since I've seen him, his eyes seem to have some spark of life in them.
Percy looks at Sophie in shock. "Let me see your eyes."
She looks at him. "What?"
"I said, let me see your eyes!" he shouts. "Please." And it was that that made her listen. The please that sounded so broken. She walks forwards, and his sea green eyes hungrily scan her face. Then all the hope drains from his eyes, leaving them deader than before. A mask slams down on his face, showing absolutely no emotion. He turns around and walks away. That's when I realize. I can't hear his thoughts. That means he's not human.
Sophie seems to realize the same thing. 'Fitz, I'm going to push into his mind. I need to know who he is.'
I nod. 'Go ahead, Sophie.'
She closes her eyes. She transmits, 'Got in through his barriers. They're surprisingly strong.'
Immediately, Percy whirls around, a hurricane in his eyes. "Who. Is. In. My. Head?" he hisses. His eyes flick down our line of people, crossing them off of a list he has in his mind. When his eyes reach Sophie, they narrow. "You." His voice is venomous, he is poised to kill. "Get out, or I'll kill you."
Sandor growls. "You will do no such thing."
Percy glares at him. "Watch me." He runs so fast that I can't see him. He is just a blur of orange, black, and blue. Faster than I can blink, Sophie is on the ground, a sword pressed against her neck. Sandor trapped against a tree, at least thirteen daggers keeping his black pants stuck to the tree.
Percy pushes the sword further into Sophie's throat. "If anyone moves, she dies. If you don't explain what the Hades is going on, she dies. If she doesn't stop violating my privacy, she dies."
He relaxes as Sophie transmits to me. "I'm out. His mind… Fitz, his mind is so depressing. It's filled with sadness and anger and guilt.'
SOPHIE
His mind. I've never felt anything like it before. It was like a whirlpool, sucking me down. How does he live like this? How does he live with so much pain?
I touch my throat. It's bleeding a little bit. That sword is sharp. Percy glares at me. "Don't invade my head again." I nod blankly. Percy yanks his hand towards himself. The daggers holding Sandor in place zoom towards him, and he catches them one by one. "So, what is going on? Where am I? And who are you?"
"My name is Sophie Foster." I take a deep breath. "And I'm an elf."
Percy blinks. Then he laughs sharply. "An elf? You expect me to believe that? Ooh, fun. Let's all lie to the new guy. You know what? It's not funny. So whatever monster or god is going to suddenly show up in your place, can we get to that and skip the talking?"
What is he talking about? Monsters, gods? He sees my confusion and narrows his eyes. "Hmm. So you might not be a monster or a god. A human, then? Or an elf, as you say?"
He jerks up, eyes wide, then looks at the sky. He looks like my friends do when I transmit to them. He starts to speak in a mixture of Ancient Greek and Latin, my Polyglot ability automatically translating. "Are you serious? You can't just go around making pet worlds whenever you want!" He pauses. "All of you! What the Hades? Why would you go around doing schist like that? The entire council voted yes! Yes, I got that Aphrodite, you are the only one who would make an entire species beautiful." He rolls his eyes. "Great. Now get out of my head."
He turns back towards us, before seeing the shocked look on my face. He rolls his eyes. "Great. You can understand Greek and Latin?"
My friends look confused, but I nod. "Who was that? In your head?"
"How did you know something was in my head?" Percy growls.
"I-I could tell. That's how my friends look whenever I transmit something into their heads."
He looks thoughtful. "You can transmit things into people's heads? How does that even work?"
I laugh nervously. "Um… actually back to the topic of elves. Pretty much all elves have a special ability, something that they can do that seems magical to humans. You're taking this quite well after you talked to the sky."
Percy smiles bitterly. "I'm used to weird stuff by now. My life is by no means normal." Thunder rumbles. He rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue out at the sky.
I look at him strangely. This boy, with his looks that can make Marella gasp, who can slice people with his sword blind, who can incapacitate Sandor in a matter of seconds, also sticks his tongue out at the sky like a child. He's a mystery.
Then he turns back to me. "So, let me guess. You can read minds." I nod.
He points at Fitz. "You can read minds, too. I saw you communicate with Sophie."
He turns towards my other friends and frowns. He looks at Tam. "You… you feel like my cousin. Shadows or death?"
Tam looks shocked. "Um, shadows."
He faces Linh. "You feel like… never mind. Water. You have water." She nods.
His sea green eyes flick over Dex and Marella, and there's a flash of pain. "You. Machines. And you. Fire." I hear him whisper, "Leo."
To Wylie he says, "You are a bit more difficult. Maybe… healing? Or light?"
Wylie nods. "Light."
Percy looks at Maruca, Stina, and Biana. "I have no idea what you three are. And Sandor, unless you are some really weird mutant type, you're not an elf, so I'm gonna say no abilities. Except, you are a good fighter. I can tell by the way you hold that dagger." Sandor looks impressed by the boy's fighting knowledge.
"Sooooo. You three. Um. Maruca, Stina, and Biana, right? What do you do?"
Maruca goes first. "Well, I'm a Psionipath."
Percy sniggers. "Fancy words. Reminds me of someone." And suddenly his eyes are filled with an unimaginable amount of pain. He looks away, collects himself, and when he turns back, his face is devoid of emotion. Even his eyes are just a blank slate of blue-green. "So, what's a Psionipath?"
Maruca snaps. A glowing force field appears around Percy, who looks confused. He pokes at it, understanding dawning on his face as he realizes it is impenetrable. A look of concentration comes over his face, but his eyes snap open when he remembers we're here. I wonder what he was going to do.
"You do force fields. That's useful. So, could you let me out?"
Maruca blushes. "Sorry, Percy." She snaps, and the force field breaks down and Percy is free.
Biana is next. "I turn invisible," she states simply. To exemplify her point, she flickers in and out of view a few times.
Percy whistles, eyes wide. "Your name reminds me of someone I used to know. Your ability reminds me of another person." He closes his eyes. "You will be difficult to be around, Bianca. I mean, Biana," he whispers.
Stina goes last. "I'm an Empath. I can feel people's emotions when I touch them."
Percy's eyes go cold. "Yeah, not feeling a demonstration. Don't need people knowing what I'm feeling, thanks."
Dex smirks. "Lady Foss-Boss-that's Sophie, by the way- forgot to tell you about her extra abilities."
Percy raises an eyebrow. "Extra abilities? I'm guessing that's pretty rare."
Dex nods. "She's also a Polyglot;she can understand any language. She's an enhancer, so she can make anyone else's abilities stronger. She's a teleporter, pretty self explanatory. And she's an Inflictor. She can make people feel pain, or good emotions."
Percy looks impressed. "So that's how you understood my ranting in Greek and Latin. Interesting."
I take a deep breath. "So, Percy. I kind of need to read your mind so I can know if I can trust you."
Percy growls. "I will not let you read my mind! You have no right to go poking around in my head, finding whatever information you look for. No. I refuse. Try, and I kill you."
Sandor glares at Percy. "I will not let you harm my charge."
"We saw how well that went last time she tried to read my thoughts. You ended up pinned to a tree and she had my sword at her neck." Percy retorts.
Sandor looks like he's about to murder Percy, so I step in. "Okay, Percy. You're so sure that you can beat Sandor? Spar with him. Whoever draws blood three times first wins. If he wins, I read your mind. If you win, you go free, and you can go home. I have a feeling you're powerful, even if you have no abilities, so we could use your help. So, if Sandor wins, you help us fight."
Percy closes his eyes. "Fine. But if I lose, I want details about whatever the Hades you guys are fighting."
I nod. "Deal."
Sandor draws his sword. Percy just stands there. I raise my eyebrow. He cooly nods back at me. I shrug. If he wants to fight without a sword, that's up to him. Not sure how he'll draw blood, but whatever. "Begin."
Sandor slashes his sword towards Percy. Suddenly, there's a glowing bronze sword stopping Sandor's huge one from touching Percy. Percy looks bored, like he's not even trying. Then, he ducks under the sword and slashes at Sandors legs, only twice, even though he could have easily ended the fight there. Then he backs up again.
He smiles mockingly at Sandor. "Is that all you got, Mutant Elf Man?"
I shake my head. What does he think he's doing? Is he going to make this as humiliating as possible?
Sandor snarls. He slices right at Percy's head. It looks like it's about to hit when Percy steps back an inch. The blade slams into the ground right in front of him. Percy struts up the blade and onto Sandor's shoulder.
"So Sandman! How's life for you?"
Sandor wrenches the sword out of the ground. Percy slices his sword across the tip of his nose. Then he jumps off Sandor's shoulder and plummets towards the ground. Midair, he twists so that…
Wait. WAIT. WHAT DOES HE THINK HE'S DOING?
He's jumping straight at Sandor's blade. As the jagged edge slices through Percy's stomach, he cries out. But in his eyes, I see a flash of relief before they go blank.
