𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐈𝐀, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

twenty one

YOU/EMBER ✦

we strolled down the river on a boat— it was dark besides from a chain of dimly lit light bulbs showing our way. percy and i both sit close to one another in comfortable silence exchanging glances when all of the sudden a song starts to play,

'what is love?'
      'baby dont hurt me, dont hurt me,'

"what is happening right now..." i say confused out of my mind as the song continues to play. "i feel like i've heard this before... i think, in my orthodontist office maybe?" i laugh at his words, finding what he had said so random but at the same time i wasn't mad about it. it was kinda cute— like in a puppy dog way....

light started to run through the ceiling and walls interrupting my thoughts. i watched in awe as it swooshed passed us emitting a pink light. percy turned to look at me in awe but when he looked away i looked back at him.

"im confused..." i tell him observing what was going on around me. figures were dancing and moving on the walls displaying some sort of story. "wait— i know this." percy shifts in his seat. 

"its hephestauses story." we both continue to watch the projection for a moment until i focus my attention on percy, the light emitting from the projection perfectly highlighting his features. i've never really noticed how pretty his features were. 

"rejected by hera, rejected by aphrodite. my mom told me these stories all the time, i remember this— she said," percy stops speaking and i look at him again, "what?" i say softly.

"she said this is what the gods are like to each other, this is the kind of family they are." he turned to look at me, his eyes glistening from the light. i quickly look down for a moment feeling like i can't look at him any longer.

"wait, why didn't you wanna say that just now?" i ask him, he looks away and licks his lips, "she was trying to keep me away from you guys," my eyes widen, "maybe you're right, maybe she should have been preparing me better."

"maybe she was preparing you, so that when you got to us you'd be different than this." i told him. he looked over at me again, with that look. that look that i cant seem to escape. suddenly the projection vanishes and the song ends abruptly. the lights turned off leaving us in complete darkness. 

i looked at him with fear in my eyes as we came to a steep drop. the boat slid us down and we both screamed in fear. i felt percy hold onto me as we fell quickly speeding through the rest of the tunnel. 

we reached the bottom of the fall, now moving a tiny bit slower as we both looked at each other in fear. 

"there it is, ares shield." he points out. when we looked ahead we saw another steep drop and we both exchanged glances of horror. "we need to jump." he says quickly standing up, 

"jump?! what do you mean 'jump'?!" he looks at me, 

"trust me, ember." he looks deep in my eyes holding out his hand and i take it having no time to think as we reach the second drop. he gives me a quick nod of reassurance and we both jump. as soon as we hit the water i lose percy's hand. 

the water flowing too harshly i could barely get up to the surface to breathe. i spot him underwater and yell his name extending my arm out as he does the same. the water was too strong and i couldn't get to him. 

the next thing i see are bubbles surround me and i shut my eyes waiting for the end. next thing i know im laying on a surface coughing up water as percy lays close next to me, "em, are you okay?!" 

i continue to cough, struggling to breathe, "did you just—" i cough, "did you just pull me out of there with that water power stuff?"

"no."