A One Way Trip (Dancing With Death part 2)

On the Other Side of Night

Familiar laughter echoed through the dark.

She glared at the shadows. "What do you want Gaea?"

The pale sleeping face appeared in the darkness. "You know who you are now. I have a job for you."

She clenched her fists and felt her chest tighten. It had been months since she'd heard from the earth mother. She'd almost forgotten about it. "And what makes you think I'll help you?"

Gaea chuckled. "Because, you're in my kingdom, surrounded by my children and my followers." Her voice echoed around her. "I know exactly where you are and I can kill you and everyone you travel with."

She glared into the blackness. "Tartarus has already tried... and failed."

Gaea laughed, the sound resounding through the dark. "I'm not Tartarus."

Eliza jolted awake, her heart pounding. Gaea's words echoed in her mind, replaying the dream.

Bob sat next to her, cross legged, petting Little Bob. He looked up as she startled awake. "Are you okay?"

Eliza took a deep breath and met his gaze. "Yeah, I think so."

"Bad dream?" Bob released the skeletal cat and Little Bob scurried over to Eliza's lap.

She nodded, stroking the bony kitten.

Bob stared at her, a little concerned. "What about?"

She locked eyes with the titan and suddenly realized, Gaea had said 'you're surrounded by my children', but she was more worried about Bob getting hurt because of her than him attacking her. She trusted him, not as much as she trusted Jason, but he was getting there.

She cleared her throat. "Nothing you need to worry about."

Bob cocked his head. "It's not bad to ask for help."

Eliza smiled. "I know. This is just something I've gotta handle on my own."

Bob nodded. "I'm here. If you need it."

Eliza felt tears spring to here eyes. It had been a while since she'd had someone other than Jason care about her so much. "We better get a move on. At this rate, they'll beat us to the other side."

Bob stood and offered her a hand up. The two of them continued into the shadows.
                                    *   *   *
Eliza took a deep breath as they broke through the shadows into the reddish light of Tartarus' heart. "I never thought I'd be glad to see this landscape again."

Bob grinned. "It'll be better to see up top again."

She chuckled. "You said it." Her mind flashed back to her dream. "I have a job for you." Gaea still wanted her. She had a use for her. She couldn't give the earth goddess what she wanted.

Two figures burst out of the shadows several yards to their left, interrupting Eliza's thoughts.

Her heart leapt in her chest when she recognized them. "Percy! Annabeth!" They looked like corpses, but it was them.

Percy was the first to spot her. "Eliza!"

The two pairs rushed to meet each other. There was a lot of hugging.

"How did you make it around?" Annabeth asked.

Bob pointed at the shadows. "A road not fit for mortals."

Percy followed Bob's fingers to the wall of darkness. "Sounds fun."

"Yeah." Eliza agreed sarcastically. "You two really missed out."

"Hey." Percy defended. "Ours wasn't a walk in the park either. Would you rather go up against Night."

Eliza crossed her arms. "Yeah. I'd choose a raging goddess over a horde of creatures that can kill immortals any day."

"I'm sorry. What?" Annabeth looked from Eliza to Bob for answers.

Eliza showed off her bandaged arm. "And before you ask what they were, we don't know. They stayed in the shadows, quite literally."

"The girl who's studied every mythical creature doesn't know what they were." Annabeth observed. "That's a little scary."

Eliza chuckled. "Says the Daughter of Athena."

"Touché."

Something roared over the next rise.

Percy reached for the pen in his back pocket. "I think that means we're close."

Bob gazed in the general direction of the roar. "Very."

Eliza took a deep breath. "Let's finish this."

A/N
Sorry, it's shorter today, but this felt like a good place to stop. Hope you enjoyed.
Also, I'm going camping this week so I probably won't post that much, if at all.
Anyway, thank you all. 🥰 I'll see you in a week or so.
-Cheshire