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/ᵗʰᵉ ᵘⁿᵈᵉʳʷᵒʳˡᵈ ᶜᵃˡˡˢ/
𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯
"Welcome back, miss and mister"
Melanie didn't know why, but a strange feeling in her stomach made her shy away from the underworld. Even more than she already did. It was as if the shadows were calling her, luring her into their cold embrace.
The girl had the feeling that an important part of her soul was being cut out like a piece of cake, wrapped up and sent straight to the underworld. Preferably to the field of punishment. It was this tickling and scratching in her throat, as if she hadn't drunk any water for days and her throat was now dry and scratchy, that they tried to suppress, which made her feel like she was halfway to death. However, the daughter of Dionysus knew that there was no turning back now. Nervously, she opened a new can of Coke and took huge gulps from the purple can, hoping to drown her worries and problems, and while she was at it, herself too. She played with the branclet, she got from her brothers, as a reminder, that she had something to return to.
They stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at gold letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.Underneath, stenciled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NOLIVING.
It was almost midnight. The moon goddess Selene gave her radiant, silver light to the night and the stars shone like silver in a sea of black and blue. Shadows curled around every corner, waiting for one of their victims, and street lamps chased away the bad thoughts of the few passers-by, whose sorrows and nightmares fed on the shadows and tried to suffocate them. The gold of the letters above them was like a firefly in the deepest forest. Pointing the way and bringing hope, without knowing that this golden light led you to your death, in the truest sense of the word.
This was the entrance to the underworld and if everything went wrong, the four of them would not come out alive, but could show up as spitting ghosts in Camp Half Blood. But to a certain extent, these colors reminded Percy of Melanie's eyes. Those lost eyes, whose only light of hope were the radiant golden points of light that shimmered like gold wrapped in a cloth woven from night. This thought made Percy relax, it was like something that reminded him of home and loosened his tense shoulders a little.
The lobby was brightly lit and full of people, another reason why Melanie was less keen to go in. She hated large crowds, especially when they were loud. She was an introvert at her finest and couldn't be socially active to save her life. She preferred to lock herself in her cabin with a good book and a few snacks. Sun wasn't her thing, so she preferred the night, despite her nyctophobia. It was as if the world was silent at that time and as long as she was under the protection of the stars, not everything was dark.