The Demigod Games (PJO/THG)

31 - Lost: Wise Girl

- Frank

"What do you mean, you just lost Annabeth?" Hazel almost yelled, hands on hips by my side.

Her anger and confusion was evident - not only because of the edge in her voice, but also because, well, small sections of the stone wall had detached themselves and exploded on the ground, and small cracks littered the bathroom floor, small diamonds and gems rising from beneath the surface.

Long story short, it's pretty easy to tell when a daughter of Hades is pissed off.

"I told you, it's... she just..." Percy looked on the brink of tears, a mix of confusion and despair that made me want to hug and slap him at the same time. He'd forgotten Annie, after all. "She must've been wiped from our minds or something... we just rounded a corner, and then she was gone, and none of us noticed her absence till... till now."

For the past fifteen minutes, Hazel and I had been reminding the three of who Annabeth was, recalling details about her, her appearance and personality, important moments we'd shared together... after some time, they started slowly remembering her, piece by piece. It turned out those memories weren't taken away... just placed under a curtain of sorts, accessible only if you knew what you were looking for.

Jason nodded quietly, hardly calmer than Percy. "Some kind of enchantment... I'm lost. Really lost." Beside him, Piper was standing with her eyes closed, massaging her temples, looking like she wanted to vomit. Knowing her, she probably blamed herself right now.

"Look, I..." I gulped, glancing sideways at Hazel, who imperceptibly nodded. Unsure of where to start, I decided to simply blurt out the info- after all, they couldn't frankly be in a much worse mental state right now anyways. "When you guys were about to talk about Annabeth, we saw this... this almost invisible purple powder in the air, which all three of you inhaled. We saw the same thing a few days ago, with two guards back in the Districts. When they smelled the powder, they immediately changed their mind and decided to send us to the Hunger Games, instead of death row." I gulped, trying to remain headstrong as to what I was about to say. "This purple mist, the one that took your memories of Annabeth away, the one that convinced the guards to send Hazel and I here... it's gotta be controlled by someone. Someone is pulling the strings behind our backs, and controlling this entire shitshow."

The words dropped like a gavel on a judge's table, after death sentence had been pronounced at court. The silence that hung after that was terrifying.

Finally, Hazel spoke slowly, hesitantly. From the familiar glint in her eyes, I could tell she was at war within. "There's something else I haven't told you."

I immediately understood what she was referring to, and glanced worriedly at her. "Haze, you don't have to-"

"It's fine," she shook her head, stepping away slightly and looking firmly into my eyes in a way I knew meant, Don't worry about me. I sighed and let her carry on. After all, when you're deeply buried, you can always dig deeper, I guess.

"For a few months now, ever since I came back from Camp Jupiter with Frank... I've had this - this -" Her voice was visibly quivering, but she bit her lower lip and continued nonetheless. "This... voice... in the back of my mind."

"A voice?" Piper repeated, frowning slightly.

"Yeah... it spoke to me at random moments, usually during sleep or when I was alone. A sort of... poisoned honey type of sound. It would remind me of my imminent death, of the... the pain I caused to my friends, I-" She cut herself off, shaking her head ever so slightly. I could only imagine the immense effort this took to utter, and took her hand, giving her some of my strength. "How much of a burden I was."

"Aw, Hazel, I..." Piper sighed deeply. "You're everything but a burden, trust me - whatever this bitch tells you, she's trying to get under your skin. You're one of the most badass girls I've ever met, and I know Hazel frickin' Levesque would never let herself be taken down by some old hag's voice, am I right?"

Hazel drew in a shaky breath, the hint of a smile on her lips. She nodded quietly at Piper, slowly regaining her composure.

"Uh, so..." Jason coughed, breaking the silence. "Anyone know who this lady might be?" The guy sure knew how to bust a moment.

"I'm not sure," I replied, mentally going over the list of telepathic, evil, purple-powder-wielding women I knew. The list was, in fact, rather short. "Possibly Hecate?"

"Nah," Hazel shook her head. "I've met Hecate; her voice is nothing like this, and last time I checked, she wasn't evil."

"To be fair, greek gods don't really see the good/bad line very clearly anyways," Jason pointed out.

I noticed Percy had been eerily silent for the last few minutes - don't get me wrong, I loved not hearing his voice for a few peaceful moments, but it seemed weird he still hadn't expressed his opinion on this. "Percy? Anything?"

Something dropped in my stomach when I saw his face - a sort of fear that I hadn't seen on him before, his eyes lost in the distance, their trademark seaweed color fading slightly.
The kind of look someone would have when having a flashback to a moment they would've liked to keep locked away.

"I may... have a very slight idea," he finally said very slowly. "But if it's really... her..." He trailed off, letting the sentence hang in the air, tension rising at a peak point as we waited for him to continue. He gulped, holding onto a sink for balance. "When Annabeth and I were in Tartarus together, we encountered her, I..."

I knew that period was still deeply scarred in both of them, and tried to refrain from talking about it - it was a sort of unspoken agreement between the Seven, as none of us really knew what exactly they'd seen... down there.

"She almost killed us, and it was only thanks to Annabeth that we made it out alive. No monsters in the Underworld dared to even speak her name... they only referred to her as Night."

At that last phrase, realization struck all of us at once, dawning on us with a bitter aftertaste.

When Percy finally spoke what no-one dared to, his voice was tainted with a peculiar edge, like he was pronouncing a death sentence - and in a way, he was, because if this particular goddess was the one behind all this, we didn't stand many chances against her.

"I think the voice might be Nyx, goddess of the night."

And maybe it was just an impression, but suddenly I sensed the room grow ever so slightly... darker.

Outside, the sun had just set over the horizon, tainting the sky in dark orange and red reflections, its colors slowly fading, the world gradually receding to the shadows, inclining itself to the mistress arriving soon.

Night was on it's way.

Author's Note (July 11th, 2020)

10k reads? Whaaaaat??? Thank y'all so, so much for hanging with me and making it through my story - a feat that never ceases to amaze me. You are my motivation, and God knows how many times I would've dropped this if I hadn't received your support.

You guys all deserve the biggest, most chocolaty-est cookies ever ❤🍪