¹On This Spring Day, percy jackson & the olympians

008.

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter eight

━━━━━ THE CLIMB BACK from the Land of the Dead was somehow worse than the climb to the Underworld. Not because it was strenuous. Violet had been at Camp since she was twelve, she had climbed the lava wall countless times by now. She had pretty good arm strength—drawing back bows, swinging across monkey bars in the labyrinth, scaling the lava wall, and holding up the sky ( that was the main one ). But right now, she needed stamina. She and Percy were climbing the steps all the way back to the land of the living.

               It didn't help the fact that Violet knew what was coming once she and Percy made it out of the Underworld—battles upon battles. The culmination of war.  And sooner than later, the final battle that would determine the fate of the world. So what if Violet doesn't want to face that? It's a very reasonable feeling all things considered!

               The further she and Percy ascended, the more they started to trip. They were climbing back up the stairs, but they felt much more steeper and more rocky than hours before. And Violet also hasn't slept since ... She didn't know, actually. Her best guess was that it was noon, now; so she's been awake for over a day. So it was mainly Violet who was tripping, embarrassingly enough. To make it worse, it felt like the stairs still went on forever even after crossing them hours before.

               "This feels endless ..." the daughter of Eros grumbled, her foot getting caught on the edge of a step. She hissed as she scraped her knees against the rocks.

               Percy looked back. "You okay?"

               "Does it look like I'm okay?"

               "Well ... no." He stopped and retraced a couple of steps. He grabbed Violet by the arms and helped her stand up. "You seem ... grouchier, Vi."

               She frowned at him. "You know how to make a girl feel great about herself."

               "I didn't say anything about how you ..." he stuttered for a moment, waving a hand at her, "look. I think you look ... that you look—Forget it! I was trying to ask what happened while I was in that cell."

               "Persephone," she answered easily, climbing the steps after the son of Poseidon. Mrs. O'Leary bounded ahead of them again, and her barks were the only indicators as to where she was ( but that didn't help considering every sound echoed in the dingy stairwell ). "And Demeter. Mainly Persephone, though."

               "What'd you talk about?"

               Violet didn't answer for a bit, noticing a bit of sunlight streaming through the rocks. Her eyes widened, and she gasped. "Percy, we're back! Thank the gods. Didn't think I could ever hate some stairs some more."

               She hurried him up, the booming barks of Mrs. O'Leary becoming louder and louder as they climbed the rocky stairs. Once they were maybe five steps away, the rocks started trembling, and they soon split open to reveal the green Central Park.

               Mrs. O'Leary ducked outside, running around the now-populated park. Percy and Violet quickly escaped, and Violet grabbed the hellhound by the collar before she could go and sniff some mortal children.

               The rocks rumbled closed behind them, and Violet wiped her hands of any dirt from the passage. "Thank the gods were out of that," she murmured.