"Aria being banished."
I can't believe it. My ex-best friend just said she wants me banished. Well, fine. If she wants me banished, I don't care. But she will regret it.
But... she was my best friend. I told her practically everything. But she wants me banished. So fine. I'll be banished. I don't care anymore.
One day, she will regret her decision. I will make sure of it. She doesn't deserve a wish. She doesn't deserve anything. Well, fine, she deserves one thing. She deserves a punch in the face.
Living here, with the gods giving the credit to people who did nothing, is absolute hell. There, I said it. At least when I'm banished, they can't do anything to me.
"Fine. Good riddance, Aria Shaw, daughter of Helios and Hades." One of them snapped their fingers. I didn't know which god spoke or who snapped, because all I know is I disappeared.
The thing about Tartarus is I wasn't surprised. Annabeth described it to me. She told me about everything she experienced.
As far as I know, I didn't fall, but I landed on the cold, hard ground. My ankle felt like it was on fire and I could hardly move my left arm. My wrist was throbbing but I stood up and brushed myself off.
Even here, in the worst part of everything that exists, this place was like home. Even with poisonous air and no food or water, you can't die here unless you were like Percy and Annabeth. But for me? I'll be perfectly fine. If my uncles can survive here, so can I. If three demigods that are the children of some of the most powerful gods can survive, I definitely can.
I have two godly parents. I'm immortal unless Zeus stole it from me when I was banished. My father Helios has been here for ages. My father Hades controls the place. I will survive. I will survive no matter what.
I will punish them. I will hurt them. I will tear down Olympus. I will start a rebellion against them. I will punish them.
Tartarus never scared me. Demigods fear the god and place. The Olympians refuse to say anything about it. I will find the god. I will help him punish the gods.
And I won't be sad when the gods are dead, the camps are torn down and we rule the world.
We did nothing. They hurt us. We didn't. We were just the pawns in their games.
But, now, they can't use me. They can't hurt me.
I won't let them.
They can't touch me.
They don't control me anymore.
I am my own person.
I am not one of their demigods who will do what the gods want them to do.
I am not a demigod.
I am an immortal.
I can't die, right?
My parents are Helios and Hades and I will punish the gods.
One of them is here. One is with my half-siblings.
I have a dead half-sister and two alive half-siblings.
All of them are technically dead.
Maybe I will find Bianca.
She hates the gods.
She wants them gone.
She's told me that.
She doesn't blame Percy. She blames the gods.
She blames our father.
She wants him gone.
We all do. And soon enough, they will be.
The gods hate us. They hate me. They punish the ones who speak up. They praise those who do nothing. And then they banish us before hearing our side of the story.
I slowly walked around, keeping my head up and staring forward. I pulled my hair behind my ears and smiled. At some point, this place will be my home. Literally.
I saw no monsters. I saw the banished. I saw my father. I saw my aunts and uncles and grandparents. They smiled at me, almost like they knew I'd end up here.
I guess they did.
Maybe they had been waiting, waiting for me to come and free them from the murky depths of the pit, where no one above dare goes.
And I would free them.
I would crawl out of Tartarus and storm Olympus; destroying every single one of their petty little camps and demigods.
The thought seemed very, very appealing.
I would -
