The world around them was a dizzying mix of swirling colors, giving them vertigo as they tumbled through it. The sensation continued for a split second, until the demigods were roughly thrust from it and onto a hard wooden floor.
Annabeth groaned, her body aching. She seemed to have landed on Percy, and the son of Poseidon was holding her against him tightly.
"I-is e-everyone o-k-kay?" Hazel stuttered as she staggered to her feet. Frank quickly stood and helped her.
"Yeah, we're good." Percy grunted. Annabeth quickly got off him and let him sit up. "Good job Wise Girl. We might just make it out of here alive."
Annabeth blushed and pecked him on the cheek. "Thanks."
"Where are we?" Leo asked.
They looked around. They appeared to be in a barren room, with boarded up windows and empty gray walls with wallpaper peeling off.
"I don't know." Jason broke the silence. He and Piper stood up. "Do you think we should go outside and look around?"
"NO!" Nico suddenly yelled. Everyone turned to look at him, to see him trembling on the floor, his eyes wide in fear. "There's so much death, everyone out there has a high probability of death, and thousands, no, millions of people have died around here! It has to be dangerous!"
"We can't just camp here the whole time." Annabeth pointed out. "We need to solve the problem here if we're ever to return home."
Nico fell silent, but he still looked absolutely mortified.
"I'll look through the window and see what's out there." Jason said. He easily pulled a board off the window and peered out.
A quaint village was laid out in front of him. People in old fashioned clothing wandered the streets peacefully.
"Doesn't look bad. How about we step outside and look around?" He turned to face the group.
"If you say so." Nico said shakily.
"You can stay in here if you wan-"
"No, I'm fine." Nico snapped. "I can handle myself, Jason. I just wanted to make sure you knew what might happen out there, that's all." He got to his feet, glaring sourly.
Jason gave the boy one last worried look, before he twisted the doorknob and flung it open.
No one saw them creep out of the house, thankfully, but as they began walking down the street they got nothing but weird stares. People whispered and pointed.
"We stick out too much." Hazel muttered. "We need different clothing."
"Where are we going to get those?" Percy asked.
"Do you think you could manipulate the Mist to make us fit in Hazel?" Annabeth said.
Hazel's brow furrowed, then her eyes widened in shock. "T-t-t-there's no m-m-mist for me to manipulate."
"What? How is that possible?" Piper exclaimed. People's heads started to turn in their direction.
"The gods...they're gone." Percy realized. "How far in the future did Kronos send us?"
"Oh no no no no no. This can't be happening." Leo breathed, backing away from the group. "It just can't."
"Focus!" Annabeth barked. "Let's take this one problem at a time. Let's try to figure out what currency is used here, because it's highly unlikely they still use dollars."
"Should we ask someone? Maybe just say we came from out of town?" Frank asked.
"Yeah. Piper should do it though, she's got the best voice." Annabeth nodded to her friend, who nodded right back and looked around.
"I'm gonna ask her." Piper pointed to an older lady who was walking away from a merchant stand. She hurried over and stepped in front of the woman as she moved to leave.
"Can I help you?" The lady asked.
"Yes, hi. I'm sorry, I'm from out of town, what currency do you use here?" Piper smiled sweetly.
"Out of town? You must mean the interior." The woman looked down, puzzled. "I didn't know we used different currencies. Oh well. We use these coins of either gold, silver, or bronze." She pulled a round disk of gold from her pocket and held it up for Piper to see. "What do you use in the interior?"
"Er- uh- paper! Paper, money." Piper grinned nervously. "Okay, where could I get these coins?"
"Selling things, or some richer people offer money for anyone who does their dirty work." The woman replied.
"Do I have anything on me that would be considered valuable? I just moved here from- the- uh- interior, and I'd like to fit in here a bit more by getting new clothing."
"I'd think if you came from the interior you'd have the money to get new clothing, but you're clothing at the moment is very colorful, so I'd say you could buy at least two outfits if you sold your current clothing. There's a seamstress that way if you need one that would happily give you some new garments in exchange for your current clothes." The lady pointed down the road.
"Thank you so much, you have no clue how helpful you've been, bye!" Piper waved, then came trotting back to the group. "Did you guys catch all that?"
Everyone nodded.
"I wonder what the interior is." Annabeth said thoughtfully.
"It probably has something to do with this huge wall." Nico said bluntly.
"Huh?" Annabeth looked up, and she saw it. At least fifty meters high, made of solid concrete, stretching across all her vision. "What on earth could that be for?"
"Kronos said this was the fall of humanity. Maybe something is terrorizing the human race, so they set up walls to keep them out." Leo said. "But why so tall?"
"They must be facing some big time monsters." Frank said sadly. "So the interior is probably the middle of the walled in area. I'm starting to get this. Richer people get to leave in the center, farther away from the danger, and those that can't afford it leave near the border."
"Let's just go get new clothes." Jason said grimly.
"Wait." Annabeth said. "We'll probably need money for food. Let's only buy one outfit, save the rest for food. We don't know the economical state of humans right now."
"Agreed." Percy nodded, then he started walking in the direction the woman had pointed out. People stared and pointed and whispered all over again, though Annabeth noticed Hazel, Leo, and Piper seemed to be a bigger subject of it. Now that she thought about it, everyone seemed to be of one race. Granted, some were paler and/or tanner than others, but no one was black or white. It was like every race had been mushed together to form these people. Would the noticeably darker skin of her friends cause any trouble?
"Do you think this is it?" Jason pointed to a small shop with a needle and thread sign in the window.
"That's my guess." Piper shrugged. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Oh, hello!" A young girl said. Her face grew red as she stared at the demigods. "Mommy! There's people here!"
A woman poked her head into the room from another room off to the left. She had messy red hair in a pixie cut and bright blue eyes. "Hi! I'll be right with you! Macy, go play in your room, kay?"
The little girl nodded, then looked the demigods up and down. "You're wearing such pretty colors." She breathed, then she ran into another room off to the left.
Piper smiled awkwardly in response.
The woman came out of the other room. "How may I help you?"
"We have no money, so we were wondering if we could trade these clothes for a new set that would fit in around here a bit more?" Piper asked.
The woman frowned. "No money huh. Yeah, I can definitely get you some new garments for your current ones, but would you like some actual money instead of a second set? Food's been tricky to come by since Wall Maria's residents took refuge here."
"That would be great, thanks." Piper replied.
"So, who's first?" The woman regained her cheery look.
Jason nudged Piper forward.
"Alright! Follow me hon!" She tugged Piper into the other room. A variety of clothing was hung everywhere, and a small nook hidden by a curtain was in the corner.
"See anything you like?" She gestured to the rack of women's clothing.
"I move around a lot. Do you have anything that's easy to be athletic in that wouldn't stand out?" Piper looked down at her own clothes. "Something like this I guess."
"Well, your pretty skin is what's doing most of the standing out." The woman chuckled. "But I believe I have some things that would work."
She pulled out a simple white shirt, a pair of black tights and shorter olive skirt. "How's this?"
"That's perfect, thanks." Piper smiled. The woman handed her the clothes and Piper entered the changing room and quickly slipped off her tank top and jeans. She folded them neatly and pulled on the other clothes, though she had to button up the shirt. They fit well, and Piper realized she barely even noticed she was wearing a skirt. She stretched, and picked up her old clothes and pushed the curtain aside.
"Oh, you look stunning." The woman gushed. She took the clothing from Piper's arms and set it aside, then she dropped five gold coins into her hand. "Alright, send the next one in."
"Yes mam. Oh, I didn't catch your name." Piper turned as she was about to walk out the door.
"Hm? My name? Well, how did I forget. I'm Chloe Dare." She extended a hand.
At first, Piper was a bit too shocked to react, then she remembered her manners and shook Chloe's hand. "Piper McLean."
"Nice to meet you, Miss McLean."
"Alright, Annabeth, you go ahead." Piper pushed her friend into Chloe's room, then turned to the rest of the group. "Guys, I think she's a descendant of Rachel."
"Really?" Percy said.
"Yeah!" Piper squealed.
"What are you basing that off? Their hair?" Hazel tilted her head.
"That, and her last name's Dare! Isn't that cool?" Piper exclaimed.
"That means Rachel eventually stops being the Oracle." Nico said.
"Hm. I wonder who she ends up with." Leo grinned.
"This isn't at all what I expected when Kronos said we would be sent into eternal torture. This place isn't home, don't get me wrong, but it's not bad." Frank said. "Maybe he made a mistake?"
"I doubt it," Percy said drily. "There's still that wall…"
"Trump became president, didn't he?" Leo smirked. "Maybe that's why it's there."
Jason had bite his fist to stop himself from laughing, though his shoulders still shook with silent giggles.
Annabeth came out, wearing a tight brown vest with a white short sleeved undershirt and a long brown skirt that nearly reached her ankles. Chloe called Hazel in next.
"Isn't that skirt hard to move around in?" Piper asked.
"Kind of, but I'll manage. Besides, it lets me hide my knife." She pulled the skirt far to the right, and the tightness on her left leg showed the shape of her dagger strapped to her thigh.
"Fair enough." Piper shrugged.
"Excuse me!" The little girl from earlier had apparently come back from her room, and was now tugging on Piper's skirt.
"Yes?" Piper squated down to look the girl in the eyes, smiling softly.
"Why is your skin so dark?" She asked, lightly touching Piper's exposed forearm. Piper blushed.
"My father was a man with dark skin, and my mom had light skin, so I'm kind of a mix." She answered.
"Well, you're really pretty." The girl said.
"Oh, well thank you!" Piper grinned. "You're pretty too."
"Thanks." The girl looked at the ground shyly.
"Macy! Could you get me a glass of water?" Chloe's voice called.
"Yes ma!" The girl, Macy said, and she ran into the room she had come from.
"She's cute." Frank remarked.
"Yeah." Percy agreed. "I'm seriously starting to doubt Kronos on this one."
"Don't drop your guard." Nico hissed. "That girl has a high chance of death, just like everyone else here. Things may be peaceful now, but it won't stay like this forever."
Piper frowned.
Macy came running from the other room, a cup filled with water sloshing over the edges in her hand. She stepped on the hem of her dress.
Piper rushed forward and caught her before she hit the ground. "Percy."
Percy nodded and made the water stop in midair. The cup hit the ground.
"Are you okay?" Piper asked.
"Yes mam. Thank you. Did I spill?" Macy got to her feet.
"Nope." Percy grinned. Piper shifted to the side, and revealed the cup shaped water, floating in the middle of the air.
"Woahhh…" Macy touched the water cautiously. "Are you magic?"
"Yes, but you have to keep it a secret, okay?" Piper grinned.
Macy nodded dutifully and picked the cup up. She held it under the water and watched with wonder as it fell into the cup without a single drop sloshing over.
"So cool…" She breathed. She slowly walked into the other room, staring at the cup in fascination.
"Should we even be showing her our powers? It could be dangerous." Nico growled.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Percy said lightly.
"We get caught and sent to labs to be experimented on."
"We don't even know if there's still labs." Frank said. "I think we're good, but if we're being tested in about an hour, Nico can say 'I told you so.'"
"Darn right I can, and I will." Nico smirked.
Hazel came back wearing a burgundy dress that ended at her knees with gray tights. Jason went in next, just as Macy came running out.
"Can you do more magic?" She asked excitedly.
Piper glanced at Leo and Frank. They nodded.
"I can do magic too." Leo knelt down next to Macy. "Wanna see?"
"Yes! Yes yes!" Macy grinned.
"Touch my nose." Leo whispered.
Macy did so, and once she removed her finger, his nose was on fire. She squeaked excitedly.
"What? What is it? I was going to your finger into a cat when you touched my nose, but it didn't look like it worked." Leo rubbed his chin. "Then what did I do?"
"Your nose is on fire!" She giggled.
"It is?" Leo tapped his nose, then made a shocked face. "It is!" He quickly put it out, then turned to his friends. "Do you guys think I"ll have a problem with setting my clothes on fire?"
"Maybe you should avoid using your fire powers if you can help it." Annabeth said.
Leo nodded.
"Macy, what's your favorite small animal?" Frank asked.
"Uhhh...I read about puppies in a book once! They looked so cute!" She exclaimed.
"You've never seen a puppy?" Frank said, surprised.
"No. In school we learned that people used to keep them as pets, but now any dogs inside the walls are hunted down." She looked down, clearly saddened by this fact.
"...Do you want to see a puppy?" Frank said gently, smiling.
Macy's face lit up again. "Yes!"
Frank closed his eyes and morphed into a small white lab pup with floppy black ears. He yipped happily, and Macy looked like she was fighting a scream of delight. She scooped Frank up and snuggled him against her chest, and he licked her face kindly. She pet him and scratched behind his ears, before she set him down and let him grow back into a human.
"So cool…" Macy breathed.
Jason returned in a simple white button up shirt and brown pants. Percy went in next. Then Leo, then Frank, and finally Nico. Macy took great amusement in interacting with all of their powers, excluding Nico and Piper.
"Thank you so much." Piper said, shaking Chloe's hand.
"No problem Piper. Come back whenever you want." She smiled.
"Bye magic people!" Macy waved as they exited.
"Bye!" Frank waved back. They closed the door.
"Now what?" Nico asked.
"We find out what's gone wrong in this place and fix it." Percy grinned.