¹On This Spring Day, percy jackson & the olympians

001.

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter one

━━━━━ "NICO, YOU SAID—"

               "I know what I said," he cut her off, scowling down the dark corridors.

               "Well, then, what's wrong now?" Violet demanded crossing her arms.

               "The paths changed!" He stomped his foot, glaring down the forked path. "It wasn't like this before! I told you, that's how it works; it's constantly changing."

               The daughter of Eros sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "This is useless—We just need to head back."

               "I thought you wanted to find the—"

               "I did," Violet insisted, nodding her head. "But I need to get back to Camp."

               Nico gave her a nasty look. "What for? You told me you had time to go looking with me!"

               "I thought I did!" she replied. Violet waved her hand around the dingy corridor, hearing the slow drip-drop of a leak from the rusted pipes above their heads. "But you know how time works down here."

               "It moves faster." Nico nodded. "Yeah, still—We need to be looking, not for you to be skipping around New York with Jackson—"

               Her face burned. "I don't skip around!" she insisted, flustered by the accusation. Then, she gasped. "I was supposed to meet up with him!"

               The son of Hades gave her a look. "You're only proving my point, Vi."

               "Shit, Nico!" she said, grabbing his arm. "I need to get back to New York before Percy's orientation ends!"

               The black-haired boy sighed and looked down the pathway they had come from. "Fine, that way."

               Violet frowned as he turned around. "How are you so sure now?"

               He stiffened. "It's the way we came, isn't it?"

               "Yeah, but—"

               Nico grabbed her arm to pull her along. "So it makes sense to go this way. Obviously."

               Obviously, Violet thought to herself with an eye roll. But you told me yourself—pathways constantly change, right under our noses, in the Labyrinth.

🌷

Violet and Nico split up under the heavy sun. The son of Hades stayed behind in the dingy alleyway, promising her that he would keep looking into leads. She bid him goodbye, ducking inside a coffee shop next to the alleyway.

               The black-haired girl scowled heavily as she looked at the clock hung on the wall. It was past time for her to meet up with Percy after his freshman orientation at Goode. She winced internally, hurrying out of the shop and catching a taxi to take her to her apartment with her mom, Dahlia. She really hated the time jumps from the Labyrinth. It all made her head hurt and her heart heavy from all the lying.

               But it's necessary, Violet insisted to herself as she made her way inside the apartment to grab her bag for Camp. I need answers and need to keep Nico safe—as safe as I can keep him.