Souls, Spells, and Shadows

Do You Like Dying? I Think You Like Dying.

Hey sweetheart! Yeah, you, I'm talking to the one reading this right now. I made a playlist for Alys! Here's the link.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/61pSuOf0Y7431J3h5ti3b3?si=9456875fa6ec4dad

Okie, that's it. On with your regularly scheduled programming!

They stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave.

"I can't go any farther," Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

Annabeth had been crying the entire time they'd been running.

Now she collapsed and put her head between her knees. Her sobs echoed in the tunnel.

Nico dropped his sword next to Percy's, sat down, and took a long breath.

"That sucked," Nico said, low voice strangely jarring. They'd been running in relative silence.

Percy cleared his throat, turning to Nico. "You saved our lives."

Nico wiped the dust and sweat off his face very dramatically. "Yeah, well, you were gonna die. You're welcome, though."

"Yeah, about that... Nico...you, uh, kind of gave yourself away."

"What do you mean?"

"That wall of black stone? That was pretty impressive. If Kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now—a child of the Underworld."

Nico grunted. "Big deal."

'Okay, something's going on here.' Alys thought. Nico seemed different when he was with Percy. Like he was trying to puff himself up like a cat and make himself bigger and scarier.

Percy said nothing.

Annabeth lifted her head. Her eyes were red from crying. "Why'd Luke do that? That couldn't have been him.. It- it couldn't-"

"He gave himself over to Kronos," Percy said, staring at his feet. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. But Luke is gone."

Well. Someone's jealous.

"No!" Annabeth insisted. "You saw when Rachel hit him."

Percy nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

Rachel looked embarrassed. "It was the only thing I had."

"But you saw," Annabeth insisted. "When it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses."

Alys zoned out. Annabeth was yelling, voice broken with sobs. Percy was slightly jealous, incredibly oblivious, and a little bit confused. Rachel had no idea what was going on. Meh, she'd seen it all before.

She turned to Nico.

"So."

He blinked owlishly at her. "Hm?"

"What's going on between you, Percy, and Annabeth? Did Percy do something? You're looking at him like you either want to kill him or-or-"

Nico winced, hiding behind his bangs.

"Oh. Okay, so you do want to kiss him. But so does Annabeth. And so does Rachel. Wow."

"You're taking this very well," Nico mumbled, hiding his face with his arms.

"Oh. Well, um, homophobia is outdated. Besides, I'd kinda be a hypocrite." She awkwardly patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, um, you're cool. The gays are cool."