Gone Girl.¹

𝟬𝟭𝟵. a mother's blessing

gone girl.
━━━ chapter nineteen

❀

The first step of Operation "Betray Your Friends And Save The World" was to retrace Luke Castellan's steps and visit his mother.

Luke never really talked about his mother, except from that one time she saw in her dream. She knew something was seriously wrong with May Castellan, but she didn't exactly know the extent of her madness. A part of her was curious to meet her, subconsciously wanting to see if it was as bad as Luke described, if it was bad enough to push him to the edge.

Amaryllis and Percy shadow-travelled with the help of Mrs. O'Leary, as the daughter of Hades couldn't do it herself and reveal her abilities. Shadow-travelling was a really weird experience, one that she had gotten used to after some time, but it was clear that Percy didn't have the best time. Once they slipped off the hellhound's back, he looked like he was fighting the urge to throw up.

"Have some rest, girl," Amaryllis said, petting Mrs. O'Leary's head. She let out a huge toothy yawn, turned in a circle and then flopped down so hard the ground shook.

Then Nico appeared out of the shadows, right next to Amaryllis. He stumbled and she caught him immediately.

"I'm okay," he managed, rubbing his eyes. The process of shadow-travelling was very demanding and draining for anyone, especially a human.

"How did you do that?" Percy asked.

"Practise. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China."

Amaryllis frowned as Mrs. O'Leary started snoring. If it hadn't been for the roar of traffic behind them, she would have surely woken up the whole neighbourhood. "Are you going to take a nap too?" Percy asked Nico.

He shook his head. "The first time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week. Now it just makes me a little drowsy, but I can't do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O'Leary won't be going anywhere in a while."

Amaryllis remembered the first time her brother taught her how to shadow travel. She had panicked and accidentally ended up in Ireland, but she was too tired to travel back so instead, she just took a nap in a field. Surprisingly, it was the least weird experience she had ever since she found out she was a daughter of Hades.

"So we've got some quality time in Connecticut. What now?"

"We ring the doorbell," Amaryllis said, trying to sound more confident than she actually was.

The house and the energy around it gave off an eerie feeling that she wasn't fond of. It looked like something out of a disturbing horror film, with a light glowing through the kitchen window and the sidewalk having been lined with those little stuffed beanbag animals you see in gift shops. The front porch was infested with wind chimes and shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breeze. The two-story white house looked almost abandoned.

As they got closer, Amaryllis noticed the name Castellan written in English on the turquoise door, and below in Greek: Διοικητής φρουρίου, which roughly translated to Guards' Commander. She wasn't really sure about what that meant.

Nico looked at them. "Ready?"

Percy and Amaryllis nodded and he knocked lightly on the door, which immediately swung open.