Daughter of Nyx

Abandoned Asylum

"Miss... Miss Stefani?" Travis said, furrowing his brows and frowning up at the gray, dull building. The building was built of stones, like those medieval castles. Except this one was only 5 floors high. We all stood several meters from the entrance, a full view of the entire thing. 

"Call me Stef, what is it?" she grinned as if she was the artist, showing off her work. We had just entered the black iron gates that lied meters from the front doors of one of the ugliest building ever. It looked like the work of the most uncreative 1800 villain's headquarters that was mid construction before they fired all the construction workers and used a broom to tidy everything up.

"Thats- that's where you live?" Travis said, doubt across his face.

"Of course!" she exclaimed and then rolled her eyes, remembering a detail, "Well, except for the asylum located on the first floor."

"This pile of stones?" Clarisse blurted and Stefani responded with a glare and:

"This is my home, you brainless chunk of meat." 

The rest of us did our best to resist laughing as Clarisse stomped off towards the building. 

"Ah snicker bars! I completely forgot!" Stefani cried, smacking her own forehead before outrunning Clarisse into the building.

Travis swung his hand up in front us and showed us a piece of folded paper.

"What's that?" I asked. Since when he gain access to a piece of lined paper?

He unfolded it as me and Nico leaned closer to peer at what he wanted to show us.

There were some words written in red ink on it. It looked as though a child had sloppily written with their finger.

Coney Island East Beach

8 pm

This is your only chance.

"Only chance?" Travis furrowed his eyebrows. "The heck, I was expecting a love letter to the cute guy with curly chestnut hair and a build like Brad Pitt." Nico and I rolled our eyes, it was obvious he was describing himself in the most exaggerated fashion.

"Where did you get this?" Nico asked.

"I took it from that Frankenstein girl's jean pockets," Travis said in an oblivious tone. He noticed me giving him the you-did-what? look and shrugged, "What? This is what I do."

"Really?" I said, astonished that I was surprised he could do this, even though the campers back at Camp have talked about the Stoll brothers before.

"Well duh, I'm a son of Hermes, this is what I'm good at," he flashed me a cheeky smile, "Although nobody messes with the offspring of Night herself." Travis patted my shoulder as though he was disappointed at the idea.

"You two, let's go," Nico said and he headed towards the building. We followed right behind him.

The black metallic door with a ghastly door knocker, was already open for us by Stef and we walked up old, creaking stairs that looked like it went on forever. There was one hanging light bulb that illuminated the entrance. How homey, I thought.

At the top of the stairs, Stef was waiting for us, an open metallic door behind her.

"Y'all are the slowest creatures I've ever seen!" she remarked. She then turned, walked in, hollering, "Nana, we've got guests!" 

A feeble voice echoed in the cold, hollow space we entered, "Stefani? Where are you?" Stef disappeared after she turned at the corner, into the left hallway.

There was one small window, where our face could barely fit through and no furniture around. There were several bulbs that lighted the entire floor. The walls looked to be made of brick and the floor of concrete. It was almost like a small parking lot, with no cars. There were only two hallways and neither looked nor smelled super inviting.

"How is this place any way to live?" Travis said in disgust.

"Oh please, don't be dramatic, this is just the first floor," Stefani said, wheeling out an elderly woman in a wheelchair. The woman looked as though she had just escaped death, an aura of millennia dust follows her presence. She had shrunken into her wheelchair, her eyes and cheeks shrunk into her skull. 

"The asylum?" I asked, remembering what she had mentioned when we were outside. 

"Why in Tartarus would you have an asylum in your home?!" Clarisse exclaimed, giving the elderly woman a googly-eyes look. 

"Well isn't that obvious, because of me," the woman, whom I presumed was Stefani's grandma, spoke. Her voice was raspy and shaky, as expected. But there was also a hint of weariness. Perhaps she had been waiting for death but could not go for reasons unknown. 

"This place used to be an asylum when Nana was admitted but even after everyone died of a strange illness, she still wouldn't leave. Even to this day, she chose to guard this place, especially this floor," Stef recalled as though she could recite all the details from heart. She pointed up at the ceiling, "My parents and my uncle constructed more floors onto this building so we could all move in and help out Nana. Besides this place is mostly secluded so my parents thought it was also safer that way."

"Stef, dear," her Nana interrupted. 

"Right, sorry Nana!" although she was a rude kid back out, she became such an obedient kid next to her grandma. I wish I knew my grandmother. Maybe that way I'd also have an interesting backstory to tell. 

"She wants y'all to meet someone." Stef wheeled her Nana around 180 degrees, to the hallway she had gone into before, beckoning us to follow, before once again disappearing into it. 

We were just about to follow behind, when Nico held me and Clarisse back, one hand on each of our shoulders. Travis noticed we lagged behind and stopped as well.

"Nessa, don't you feel it?" Nico said quietly, eyes wandering around the two hallways before us. 

"Feel what?" I asked. We all looked at him in confusion.

He sighed, "It's - I don't know, a feeling that - sigh - hundreds of spirits are trapped in this place - hundreds of spirits long gone mad."

"Dude, she's the daughter of Night, not your sister," Travis remarked.

"And duh this is an asylum, not some kindergarten," Clarisse snorted and rolled her eyes. 

"You know what- forget it," Nico sighed a third time. We walked into the left hallway.

"Hey if you sigh a few more times, you might be able to blow the spirits away," Travis joked and we laughed, followed by Nico jokingly slapping Travis. On the behind.