Chapter 3
Splotches of red cover the ceiling of this room. I didn't notice them until almost ten days after Snow's visit. Blood, they must be, what other red substances woutld stain the ceiling in an evil place like this, jell-o, I don't think so. I was so affected by his words, that nothing gave me hope. Well not until the mouse. I was lying, immobile as usual on the hospital bed to which I was bound; my muscles sore from straining against the unseen restraints. I had lost everything, my family, camp half-blood, my father; not that he was ever much of a father in the first place. Well anyway, I was lying on the bed, thinking about the past when a mouse scurried across the floor. At first it seemed unimportant, but as I thought about it, I realized that I couldn't have seen it, or heard it. I had felt its life-force.
To you this may seem insignificant, but to me, it was everything. If I could still feel the force of life and death, I may still have powers. Just because my father is no longer the ruler of the Underworld, doesn't mean that there is no underworld. My life force is still tied to whatever remains of the home of the dead. When people die, they have to go somewhere, right? It was this realization that jerked me back to life. I may be trapped here, but Snow was wrong, they can't keep me here forever, because for as long as they try, they will never be able to live.
For the first time in weeks, I used my heart and soul to feel below my feet for the bones of dead animals, or if I was lucky, humans.