When You're Gone

Chapter 25

Walking to the house of Night wasn't as dark as Hazel expected. She had expected Celeste to be already engaged with a battle with Perce, but she was nowhere to be seen.

As for why she would even do that, it's her Mother's territory. She would probably fight for her family.

If Hazel didn't have to deal with family, she would be away from her Mother, living a happy life with Sammy years ago. She only helped Gaia unintentionally for her Mother.

"It's a little shady." Leo frowned. Festus's Celestial Bronze body hissed in the darkness. "Should have brought night lights."

"You brought everything from Fonzies to cheese crackers," Reyna snapped. "That would suffice."

"I can't light them on fire! They're my happy place!"

"Your happy what?"

"Forget it."

Hazel had a natural sense of directing tunnels and caves. Being underground, she felt it strange to hear nothing at all. Compared to the upper world where she could sense the occasional pang of a sewer, Tartarus was completely empty.

The feeling was like sitting through an orchestra all your life and suddenly all you got was an empty theatre. There was only silence.

"We're supposed to be near," Hazel said. "I can feel the castle's walls. They're crafted from... some metals I don't recognize."

She thought back to what Celeste said earlier. Void silver. Monsters run away from it.

There were no monsters around. None dared to cross into the Night goddess's realm. Not even the most vicious, bloodthirsty ones.

At this point, she could only assume. There were too many variables.

For the first time in their Tartarus excursion trip, fear melted into her systems and doom dawned into her mind. Dying by your best friend seemed a little too painful for a way to die.

"How did Percy enter Tartarus? He's supposed to be in the Isles." Piper's voice shook lightly, like she was also fearing the same thing that Hazel did.

No one had the answer. Not even Octavion. (Hazel made sure that Octavion tells the 100% truth.)

"Perhaps it's Gaia at work," Calypso suggested. "On why would he storm the House of Night, that remains to be seen. Who's to say he wouldn't attack us too?"

Hazel recalled the fear in the poison goddess's face. An ancient goddess who lives her immortal life in fear of a demigod, a son of Poseidon.

Something horrible must have happened. Something even Annabeth must have looked over.

"We're here!" Leo stopped Festus from spewing flames.

Hazel waited for screams of pure sorrow and torture boom from the palace.

More silence.

"It drives mortals insane..." Reyna remembered. "We shouldn't enter."

Hazel pursed her lip. "Then how are we supposed to-"

"YO! PERCE!" Leo bellowed with a megaphone he'd loaned from Coach Hedge. "PERSEUS JACKSON! THE COW GOES MOO! SAVIOR OF OLYMPUS! GOD OF BLUE COOKIES!"

Piper winced.

Hazel still didn't get any explanation on why Coach Hedge's megaphone would quote Darth Vader or cow speeches. Still, it had gotten someone's attention at the very least.

Shadows seeped from every corner, materializing into a massive humanoid like a vortex.

LOWLY DEMIGODS, it bellowed, the voice booming from every endless walls in Tartarus. YOU HAVE DISGRACED MY HOME. YOU WILL PAY.

Leo yelped. "We just got here!"

The humanoid resembled a woman, her face ageless, her skin pale like snow. Her skin reminded Hazel of her father, Pluto of his paper white skin, but the similarities ended here.

"IT DOES NOT MATTER," Nyx roared. "YOUR KIND WILL SUFFER!"

Where was Celeste when they needed her. Her Mother was literally yelling in their faces and she chose this moment to disappear again.

"Um," Calypso stammered. "Your... residence is over there, is it not? Why don't you just enter?"

"I CANNOT!" Nyx wailed. "THAT PUNY DEMIGOD'S SORCERY FORBIDDEN ME TO!"

She proved her point by blasting shadows at her own home - not a smart move - but it bounced harmlessly off of a barrier.

Percy can do magic? Since when?

"Where's your daughter?" Reyna demanded.

Nyx shrunk to human size, but the murderous glare in her void eyes didn't waver. "I do not know! She wanders to contiments I did not know exist!"

"Hm?" Celeste appeared next to Octavian on her vampire horse. "You called?"

Octavian attempted to sing soprano but it came out as chicken squawk. "Holy Jupiter!"

Hazel couldn't see the Mother-Daughter resemblance. The only thing that they had in common was the pale skin. In contrast, they both looked like opposites.

Celeste fixed her dark galaxy eyes on the mansion, gaze emotionless and sharp. "Perseus is rewriting history."

Her steed, Nightstrider snorted in disgust.

"If he succeeds, no one knows what will happen. History will rewrite itself, and it will repeat like any other story." Celeste glared at her Mother. "How did this happen?"

Nyx was so humiliated she was trembling in anger. Being kicked out of her own house was embarrassing enough, but now she was being looked down by her only daughter. Hazel somewhat sympathized.

"Do not talk to me that way, girl! I can grant you a painful death!"

"You all need to enter, attempt to stop him." Celeste completely ignored her Mom. Harsh. "This form of magic denies anyone with ancient blood to cross."

In other words, she meant that she couldn't stop it herself. It was either she didn't want the world to end or she just wants to over with and she no longer has to deal with her maniacal Mother.

Piper pursed her lip. "I thought the Fates wove the future."

"And the House of Night stores all its pain," Octavian said. "It's a possibility."

Everyone stared at him.

"Looks like he has a brain after all," Leo grumbled.

The descendant of Apollo made a rude gesture and went back to recounting his days of massacring stuffed toys.

"The Mansion reflects its owner's soul," Celeste supplied. "With Jackson influencing it, it should no longer drive mortals insane. It's perfectly safe, but if you - somehow, by any miracle - stop him, Nyx will reclaim it. Then it will force you to live with your nightmares for eternity."

Reyna's eye twitched. "Should?"

She said nothing more. That was the longest time they had ever heard the silverette speak, but she obviously didn't require any encores.

Hazel wanted to stand up alone. She didn't want to risk her friends, especially with the timeline on the line. (That sounded weird, but hey...) But one steely look from her friends confirmed that they will remain as a team.

"I REFUSE," Nyx yelled, but she sounded tired. "I DO NOT REQUIRE YOUR ASSISTANCE IN RECLAIMING MY TERRITORY!"

"Time's ticking," Celeste urged. "Immortals cannot live long after their place of power is destroyed or manipulated."