~ * Prunella * ~

Gildable

While Percy would've liked to have said his sleep was peaceful, that would be a lie. He managed to fall into a restless sleep, half of his mind still on red alert for strange sounds and unwanted visitors here in Melinoë's decaying castle. None came to call but that did little to soothe Percy's nerves. What would his second task be? There really was no telling. Percy's mother passed away when he was just a boy and the remanence of the old tales she used to tell him were fuzzy and fragmented in his memory. He couldn't remember a Melinoë.

He dozed sporadically and dreamed in gray; a woman held her hand out to him, her face haggard and worn and he wanted to help her, he did, he held his hand out only she disappeared in a puff of smoke; the forgettable river was running, faster and faster, its waves lapping high and higher against the shore and that was dangerous, he couldn't let it touch him, he didn't want to forget—don't touch the water—the waves burst from the shore to crash over him, icy fingers clawing at his face, his throat, his lungs but he couldn't forget; Nico, standing alone in the empty field, a sword drawn; Percy reached out towards him but Nico couldn't see him; the hand with the skull ring held the sword and in the lightless gloom the sullen trinket formed a blinding glow; you can't keep me here; you can't keep me here—

Percy woke with a gasp, suddenly aware of a second presence. He was upright in a moment, hand clutching for a weapon, for anything, only to grab . . . a flower?

"What the—?" Percy gasped, twisting around.

He wasn't in the moth-eaten bed. In fact, he wasn't even in Melinoë's desolate castle anymore. He was . . . on a hill? Full of . . . Percy blinked at the golden little plant in his hand. Full of dandelions.

"Greetings, child of the light, I am confident you slept restlessly?"

Percy craned his head up and managed not to flinch as he stared into the gaping holes were Melinoë's eyes should be.

"I did, thank you for that," he snapped, fairly certain that sarcasm was a bad choice but too irritable to really care.

He scrambled to his feet, the stupid dandelion still clutched in one fist as he pushed himself upright.

"Where am I?" He demanded, squinting as he surveyed his new surroundings.

He was on a hill full of dandelions—like seriously full. Every inch of ground was covered in little yellow buds. It was . . . oddly cheerful actually, the wide expanse of bright yellow little flowers spread out across the visible land—oh okay he lied, there was that desolate field of overgrown grass to the left, like, five miles out. So it was a tiny area that was utterly covered in dandelions. Hm. Still oddly cheerful.

"What's up with all the dandelions?" Percy asked, forking his thumb at the overgrowth of oddly cheerful flowers.

Melinoë ignored this question as she did his first one. "Dandelions are weeds. They grow in voracious numbers, easily overtaking fields and pastures with their insatiable greed, strangling crops to their doom and overtaking farms."

"O-kay," Percy said, "but they're still pretty."

Melinoë scowled and the very air around them grew colder. "Not if they ruin your livelihood and dreams they aren't."

Percy didn't know what to say to that so he decided to keep his mouth shut this time. It was probably the wisest option anyway.

"So what's my second task?" he asked.

Melinoë dramatically swept her arm to the side, motioning towards the overgrowth of dandelions.

"Make wine out of the weeds by tonight and you will complete the second task."

"Wait—what?" Percy blinked at her and a terrible two-sided grin edged up her face like a knife. "These are—that's not—wine?"

"Wine, by tonight. Tick, tock, tick, tock, child of the light," Melinoë hissed, her grin terrible and boastful as she disappeared via her usual fashion, in a swirl of darkness.

Percy stayed where he was, staring out at the dandelions with a kind of horror. In a state of disbelieve, he brought the dandelion in his hand up to his nose. His hand was stained yellow from the powered of the flower, the petals lying in torn pieces from his tight grip. It smelled like any other dandelion, earthy but otherwise unremarkable.

Wine?!

Grapes made wine, or strawberries if you were that strange strawberry farmer to the east—but dandelions? Percy had never heard of dandelion wine. And regular wine took ages to make anyway! Months, years as the guy at the strawberry farm claimed! How was Percy supposed to do that in one day, much less with a field full of dandelions?

Percy dropped his crushed dandelion, watching it fall to the yellow coated ground. He walked forward, crushing dandelions underfoot as he wandered, staring at all the stupid, still oddly pretty flowers—weeds—whatevers.

Percy bent over, picking a few as he went. He brought them up to his face like the first one, crushing them, rolling their petals in his hand, grinding them into little pieces with rocks—anything to see if a liquid could be made. No such luck. A gross, sticky yellow powder stuck to his fingers, but the flowers refused to yield anything remotely close to a wine.

Percy sat atop the hill and put his head between his knees. Think, think, think, he urged himself but it was useless. He wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. Turned dandelions into wine, he thought scornfully. What a terrible task. What did it prove? What did it accomplish? That wasn't a test at all, it was a failure all wrapped up and ready for him.

Percy's head snapped up. His eyes, carefully and slowly, surveyed the world around him, suddenly aware that someone was watching him.

"Hello?" He called, narrowing his eyes. He was frustrated enough to take on anything, let some ghost or ghoul or whatever try him. He was so not in the mood. "Come out so I can—!"

Whatever threat he may have delivered cut off as Nico suddenly sat before him.

"Nico?" Percy pulled back in confusion. Then he grinned, leaning forward to slap the guy on the knee. "Nico! Man am I glad to see you."

Nico's brow furrowed. "Um . . . sure, okay."

"Thanks for taking me to the room, I didn't sleep terribly."

"Yes you did," Nico snorted.

"I mean, yes, but not as terribly as I would have sleeping on the cold floor like I was going to, which would have been not at all so."

Nico's lips twitched. "So you slept terribly."

"I slept terribly but I slept," Percy agreed with a crooked grin and Nico's lips twitched all the way up to a smile.

"Sorry if a pea kept you awake all night," Nico said dryly.

"Why would a pea keep me awake?" Percy asked, confused. "It'd be so small I wouldn't feel it? Besides, it was the creaks in the night and the creepy, decaying castle."

"It's a—nevermind," Nico sighed.

"No, wait what am I missing?"

"It's a fairytale," Nico muttered under his breath, not looking Percy in the eye. "About a princess who couldn't sleep because of a . . . pea in her bed, never mind it's stupid."

"If my life were a fairytale, I'd hope to be something cooler than some princess that couldn't sleep because of a pea in her mattress," Percy complained, uprooting another dandelion and toyed with it between his already yellow stained hands.

"If this were a fairytale, you'd still be the princess in the scenario," Nico snickered, sitting down across from Percy. "Stolen away from the earth by an evil demon to her dark castle."

"Yeah I guess that true," Percy grumbled, frowning. He toyed with the dandelion in his hand, tearing petals off at random and tossing them into Nico's hair. They stuck, bright blips of yellow against Nico's dark hair. It was kind of hysterical. Percy brightened, "But princesses are always beautiful and generally wonderful people, so that's like a compliment right?"

Nico snorted, causing dandelion petals to fall out of hair and careen down his face.

"Don't laugh buddy," Percy warned, pointing what was left of the mutilated flower at the guy. "If I'm the princess, then you're my knight in shining armor. Always rushing in at the last second to save me. My hero."

He batted his eyelashes at Nico, who flushed all the way up to his ears.

"Whatever," Nico grumbled, shaking the rest of the dandelion bits from his hair. "Stop throwing flowers at me."

"I wasn't throwing flowers at you, just petals. This is throwing flowers." Percy threw the mutilated flower, stem and all, at Nico.

"You're not funny," Nico said, which was utterly undermined by the half smile quirked on his face.

"You know I'm hysterical," Percy dismissed, reaching for another dandelion.

"Throw another flower, or any part of a flower, at me again and I will throw you down this hill," Nico warned, glaring at the flower in Percy's hand like it personally offended him.

"What's up, you don't like the flowers? I mean, they're kind of small but their bright yellow and oddly cheerful," Percy said as he picked several more, piling them all on his lap.

They weren't turning into wine, just staring up at him with their oddly cheerful coloring, which was kind of depressing. He needed something to distract him or he was going to spiral. He looked up expectantly at Nico.

"It's a long story," Nico muttered.

"I've got a time," Percy said with a sigh, staring at the flowers on his lap. "So, have at it."

"My stepmother turned me into a dandelion."

Percy's first thought was that wasn't long at all, followed by she turned him into a what?

"She turned you into a what?" Percy voiced because it seemed the more important of the two thoughts. Then, "Wait, she turned you into something? Like she's a—"

"Not a witch," Nico grumbled. "Just a . . . nymph of sorts. And a dandelion." Nico glared at the offensive flowers on Percy's lap.

"Dude," Percy said sympathetically. "Why?"

"Because I exist." Nico didn't look at Percy as he said it, turning his attention to the flowers around him. He reached out and crushed one of the dandelions before him, its bright yellow suddenly extinguishing as Nico's dark hand crushed it.

Evil stepmom, Percy's mind translated. He'd heard stories about them.

"That sucks," he said, clicking his tongue.

He fought the urge to throw more dandelion petals at the guy—giving his oddly specific traumatic past it seemed insensitive—instead, he put his hands to work. He always had trouble staying still, especially when he was anxious. Like now, facing an eternity stuck down here in what might very well be Hades. He started tying the dandelion stems together.

"But didn't your dad object?"

"Yeah, she eventually turned me back," Nico sighed.

Percy stared at the forlorn guy. He was staring at the dandelion he crushed, wiping his now yellow palm against his black pants. He didn't look sad so much as resigned and it tugged at something in Percy's chest.

"Why are you here, Nico?" Percy asked softly.

"I told you."

"What did your dad do?"

"Broke a promise."

"That's it?" Percy demanded, his temper flaring. "Your dad breaks a promise and you land here—?"

"A vow on the river Styx."

Percy sucked in a sharp breath. Damn, okay, that was a bit more than a promise.

"But how did that come down to affect you and not him?" Percy asked softly.

"It's—" Nico shook his head. "He swore not to have any more kids by a woman other than his wife, my stepmom. But he broke that when he sired me."

"Oh." Percy didn't know what else to say. A but that's still not fair to punish you for it was on the tip of his tongue but Nico starting talking before he could voice his outrage.

"What are you doing sitting here anyway, Perseus," Nico demanded. "Don't you have another task to accomplish today?"

"Yeah." Percy looked down at the dandelions on his lap. He had twisted a long string of the yellow menaces into a lopsided flower crown that hung just a little limp in his hands.

He sighed, closing his eyes. "I don't know, Nico, Melinoë's an evil witch. She gave me an impossible task. You might be stuck with me for a while."

He tried for a grin but failed miserably. His face didn't move the way he wanted it too, kind of stiff and twitchy. He kept his gaze on the stupid flower crown.

"What is she having you do?" Nico asked each word spoken slowly.

Percy gestured towards all the dandelions. "Turn dandelions into wine." He gave a bitter laugh, which was dangerously close to a sob. He cleared his throat, still not looking at Nico.

Nico was silent.

"Do people really even drink flowers?" Percy exclaimed, throwing the stupid crown on the ground. "I don't even think they do." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "What's she going to do when I can't?"

Nico was silent.

"I could do it."

Percy's head snapped up. Nico stared at his yellow stained hands, not watching him. "What, seriously? How can you—"

"But you'd have to close your eyes."

Percy didn't hesitate, squeezing his eyes shut. He heard Nico inhale sharply, a kind of shaky sound and he almost opened them again to make sure the guy was alright. He resisted the temptation, settling for a:

"Alright there buddy?"

"Fine. Keep them closed."

Percy kept his eyes closed. He could feel a change in the air. The hairs on his arm raised, his skin tingled but he kept his eyes closed for what felt like an eternity. He could hear the rustle of a wind, a low moan carried from somewhere far away, but he ignored it in favor of the steady sound of Nico breathing.

He could feel Nico sit back down, the heat of a second body tingling along his outstretched legs.

"Okay."

"I can open them now?"

"Yes, you idiot."

"Hey, there's no need for the name calling—"

Percy cut off sharply as he opened his eyes. The dandelions were gone. Nico did indeed sit across from Percy and in his hands was a bottle of golden liquid.

"Dude," Percy gasped in disbelief. He reached forward and Nico let him take the bottle. It was cold to the touch and when he brought it up to his nose, he could smell the alcohol inside.

"Dude," Percy repeated in awe, staring at Nico. "That's—how'd you do that?"

Nico's ears were red again. "It's nothing," he tried to mutter.

"Dude, no. You literally just saved my life. You really are my knight in shining armor!"

Nico fidgeted with the ring on his finger, muttered something unintelligible under his breath. The world around him grew dark and then suddenly he was gone, leaving Percy alone on the barren hill with his bottle of wine.

"Nico?" Percy blinked in shock at the place his new friend once sat. "Dude, you really gotta stop doing that!"

Percy waited but Nico didn't magically reappear. The wind vanished with his strange new friend and the hill felt cold and desolate without the dandelions. Clutching the wine, Percy came to his feet.

"I don't know where you ran off to but thanks, Nico," Percy told the silent hill.

Silence answered him, not that he expected anything more. With that silent farewell, he set off down the hill towards the overgrown field of grass to his left. The walk back took forever. Not that Percy had any way to judge time down here in Melinoë's desolate land but it felt like an eternity. Percy dragged his feet through the dry, overgrown grass, wondering idly in what direction the river was. He could kind of see the dark silhouette of Melinoë's castle in the distance so he trudged towards that, grateful for some kind of familiarity in the gloom. The creepy maybe-ghosts were out again, milling aimlessly across the field.

Percy clutched the wine closer and avoided them.

His feet ached by the time he finally darkened Melinoë's, well, dark door. Percy was no stranger to long walks—the walk from the palace up above and the rundown shack that served as his home was no short distance—but gods. He collapsed on the steps of Melinoë's crumbling palace, careful not to jostle the wine.

"Ow," he whined to himself, rubbing his aching calves. Honestly, could she have put him any farther away from the palace?

"Back so soon?"

Percy jumped at the hiss, forgetting himself for a moment and almost knocking the wine bottle over. He steadied it in time, heart thumping painfully in his chest. Whoa, that was close! Nico would probably kill him if he broke the stupid bottle!

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you?" Melinoë cackled, coming around to stand before Percy.

Percy didn't like how she looked down at him, like he was some insect she couldn't wait to squash. He also didn't like being literally beneath her, him sitting on the floor and all, so he scrambled to his feet.

"I did not think you would concede defeat so easily," Melinoë hissed, her two-toned lips twisted into a terrible smirk.

"Ah, no?" Percy scoffed, holding the bottle of golden wine out. "Voilà."

The smirk twisted on Melinoë's face, morphing into a snarl as she tore the bottle from Percy's grasp.

"Impossible!" She cried, holding the liquid up to her, well, not-eyes. "You cannot deceive me, child of the light, you cannot. What trickery is this? Powder mixed with water?"

She tipped the bottle, holding it up to her mouth . . . only to freeze. Percy recalled how he could smell the alcohol when he held the bottle up to his nose earlier and knew she could smell the truth. He tried to squash his smug grin. She lowered the bottle, face expressionless.

"So, do I pass?" Percy asked, biting the inside of his mouth to keep his cheeky grin at bay.

It was the wrong thing to say. Melinoë reached forward, fisting her hand in his tattered shirt. There was an uncomfortable tugging sensation around his mid-drift and they were in a different place. Percy collapsed to the floor when Melinoë's clawlike grip released him, gasping. He ran a hand over himself, checking everything. Legs still there, arms, check, fingers, neck, check, check. What the hell then? Percy gasped again, looking up. He was in the moth-eaten bedroom from the night before.

"You will not escape from me so easily," Melinoë hissed and she sounded like darkness itself. "Revel in your arrogance, child of the light, for it shall be short lived. Tomorrow you meet your doom. You will not leave this room until I fetch you."

Wine clutched in one hand, Melinoë vanished into a chaotic swirl of darkness, taking every last ounce of warmth from the room with her. Percy shivered, his breath coming out in puffy white blooms as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Someb-body's a s-sore loser," he gasped out, his teeth chattering so violently they threatened to chop off his tongue.

He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to rub warmth back into his body. He didn't bother trying the door—trying Melinoë's temper didn't sound like a wise idea right now—but dragged himself over to the bed. The blanket there was threadbare and hole ridden but Percy wrapped it tightly around himself, ignore the particles that shook from its colorless fabric to hang eerily in the air. He made himself as small as possible, probably inhaling like a year's worth of dust and insect eggs as he burrowed into the bed.

But gah, it was so cold!

I could really use that wine about now, Percy thought and maybe the darkness was all going to his head because a couple deranged giggles escaped his lips.

But he did it, he finished the second task! Well . . . actually, Nico finished the second task but again, Melinoë never specified. He only had one more task and he could go back to the world of light. He longed to feel the sun on his skin, missed the warmth of the living. Percy's eyes drifted shut. He would miss Nico though, even if the guy had the bad habit of disappearing into thin air. It was impossible to know for sure, but Percy felt like time had passed when he cracked an eye open again. The dust in the air had settled at least. Creaks echoed in the night (or day, maybe, who knew).

"Who's there?" Percy called, not moving from his place bundled up in the corner.

Someone was watching him, he could feel it in every fiber of his being. He was also, like, mostly sure he knew who it was too.

"Nico?"

The darkness didn't answer him.

"She didn't like the wine but I passed the second test."

The bed beneath him groaned as Percy squirmed on the bed. He couldn't quite get all his body under the blanket. He tucked his chin into his knees, staring unblinkingly into the mass of darkness.

"Thanks for helping me."

Percy's eyes were threatening to close again. He let them. Safe was a word he would never use to describe how he felt in Melinoë's castle but he felt secure enough in that moment to drift in and out of consciousness.

"You don' have t'hide in the shadows," Percy half slurred into his knees. Something stirred had stirred the dust up again. It drifted hazily in the air, white glimmers that floated like snowflakes in the night. In another world, they may have been called beautiful.

Percy closed his eyes and slept.

Percy awoke in the moth-eaten room. He figured the sight of the half decayed, dust filled room shouldn't fill him with as much relief as it did. His back ached from the balled up positon he held all night. At least he managed to get some sleep, Percy reasoned as he tried to realign his spine. It gave a sickening crack that he might've worried about if it weren't for the immense relief it afforded him. He threw the sad excuse for a blanket off him, heaving himself up and onto his feet.

Percy crept to the door. His hand closed around the doorknob as Melinoë's words came back to him: You will not leave this room until I fetch you.

Hm.

He probably shouldn't piss her off. But Percy hated waiting. He stood there debating with himself—go, stay, go, stay—when the door swung open beneath his fingertips.

"I didn't open it!" Percy immediately defended himself as Melinoë's terrible figure filled the doorway.

"Perhaps I should have tarried a bit longer," the demon hissed, her charred hand curling around the rotten door frame. "And I wouldn't have to deal with you any longer."

"But you didn't," Percy quickly reminded her as relief flooded his body. Thank the gods she burst in when she had. His impatience and short attention span would have opened that door before long.

"I have decided on your third task." Melinoë grinned, horrifying as always, and the smugness that lingered in the corners of her mouth did not bode well for him.

"Alright," Percy warily said. "What is it?"

"You will retrieve something for me."

Percy waited. Melinoë grinned at him, the darkness swirling around her ankles like strange, horrifying gaseous puppies curling close to mama. That was a disturbing thought so Percy forcefully blinked it away, focusing on the demon's face.

"What will I retrieve?" Gods, it was like pulling teeth, why didn't she just spit it all out?

"An urn."

Morbid. Percy couldn't say he was particularly surprised. "A specific urn or—?"

"From Eurynomos."

"Who's Euryno—Euro—E—that, who is that?"

"Eurynomos."

"Whatever, who are they?"

Melinoë's grin widened increment by increment as Percy watched uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot. Well, this really didn't bode well for him. Was Eurynomos even a who and not a what? She didn't really specify. Would it be like her, torn between two unlike halves?

"A friend. You have until tonight."

"That's a terrible time frame I don't even know what time it is now. That could be in like five minutes or ten hours, I wouldn't know."

"Twelve hours."

"Oh, that's . . . more generous than I'd thought you'd be," Percy said, blinking up at the demon. He squinted. "Twelve hours?"

"Yes, child of the light, twelve hours."

"And how am I supposed to know when that time's up? There's not exactly a sun I can tell by."

Melinoë held out her hand and the darkness, like an excited sentient being, leapt from among her ankles to swirl around the offered arm. It caressed her like water, swirling up and around before settling back at her feet. As her hand became visible once more, he spied a strange brand now laying in her charred palm. She held it out to him. Percy reluctantly took it, almost dropping it in surprise when it fell into his outstretched palm—it was hot!

"Your time wanes as the band grows cold," Melinoë declared. "When it is finally cold, your time is up."

"Oh . . . okay." Percy held the band pinched between two fingers. Melinoë stared at him. "I guess I'll just . . . put it on then?"

He swore the demon rolled her eyes as he turned from her, fiddling with the still hot to the touch piece of jewelry as he fashioned it to his wrist. The heat was uncomfortable, his skin turned clammy almost instantly and he really, really wanted to itch under the stupid thing. He curled his hands into fists, resisting the urge. At least in front of the demon-lady.

"Head east, towards the forest," Melinoë instructed and suddenly they were outside the crumbling palace.

As Percy recoiled in shock, the vaguely ill sensation settling over him like the night before, Melinoë raised her waxy hand towards the blackened trees Percy avidly avoided during the first task.

"Eurynomos lies beyond these trees. It shall be the only house you encounter. Bring me the urn and you shall walk the warmth of the earth once more."

"The urn or just an urn because I don't—?"

"You'll know," Melinoë promised and her grin was the stuff of nightmares.

That's not vague or unhelpful, Percy despaired with an internal roll of his eyes. "Alright," he said out loud. "So I'll just—"

He made a gesture towards the dark, imposing trees in the distance. Melinoë made neither sound nor movement which Percy interpreted as his dismissal. He took a step forward. The she-demon stayed where she was. Percy didn't really want to turn his back on her so he shuffled awkwardly away, eyeing her distrustfully. Only when the dry overgrowth of the grass field began brushing against his shins did he dare turn around.

"Oh, and child of the light?"

Percy whirled around, muscles tensing.

"Be careful to whom you grant your trust in my realm." The darkness had begun enveloping Melinoë, her body part of the gloom itself. The burnt, shriveled half of her body disappeared, blending into the darkness, while the other remained starkly prominent.

"There are few that wander my paths that are among the living and none without their darkness. The one they call Ghost King lives here and many have fallen victim to his wiles. Be wary and wise. It would be a shame if you were to be . . . tricked or misguided by the portends of companionship."

Percy's brow furrowed but before he could form any response, the demon was gone, leaving him alone in the whispering field while Eurynomos' forest looming ahead.

A/n Yes dandelion wine is a real thing. I know someone who makes it but don't ask me how that works because I have no clue. This feels like a good time to break it to you that Prunella will only have 3 chapters. Sorry, but to stretch it would be to ruin it and I don't want to ruin it. To the kind anonymous reviewer: yes that is my account! Thank you so much for alerting me though I really appreciate that! If you find my stories any place else I'd really like to know but inkncoffee is my account :)

Thanks to everyone who supported part one! I hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought ~ *