A/N: Hey guys! October 1st was the Mid-Autumn Festival (also known as the mooncake festival). I just wanted to say happy mid-autumn festival for anyone who celebrates it. I didn't get to eat any mooncake or celebrate on the first because I had badminton class :( so I want to know: Did you guys eat any mooncake? And, what's your favourite filling?
Again, happy mooncake festival and thank you all for reading!
- Aeryndyl
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I saw Grover sliding towards the edge going a mile an hour, Percy and Annabeth seemingly frozen in time as they ran for Grover, and a dark, vengeful force rising from the depths of Tartarus, an evil being that was slowly ripping through my spell.
The first lie, I thought, and I ripped through the veil. Magic flared from me, shattering through the evil in the cavern. Tendrils of darkness wrapped around Grover's feet and pulled the shoes off, which flew into the cavern seconds before my magic sealed the entrance to Tartarus. Mist poured off me in undulating black waves, bending and spinning reality until the truth was erased from all eyes.
Time sped up again. Percy and Annabeth caught Grover not ten feet from the edge of the cavern, who was holding on to a rock, as one shoe flew into the pit and the other one tugged itself off and hit him on the head before flying down to join its twin.
I watched from the shadows as they collapsed, exhausted, on the gravel. Grover's eyes had changed into slit-pupils, goat style, and his hands were bleeding.
"I don't know how . . . I didn't . . ." Grover panted.
Just then, the invisible barrier I held over the entrance to Tartarus fractured. I gasped silently as I doubled over, my power and aura fluctuating dangerously. Hurry, hurry, I silently willed.
"Wait," Percy said, holding up a hand. "Listen."
"Percy, this place," Annabeth started.
"Shh," Percy said as he stood up.
"Wh-what's that?" Grover stammered, sitting up.
Fear sparked in Annabeth's eyes, the deadly truth she'd been trying so hard to deny becoming visible right in front of her eyes. "Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus."
Hurry up, I silently begged as more fractures cracked the seal. The whispers were getting louder, Kronos working against my spell. Soon, the entire seal would shatter like glass, all the magic cleansing this place would disappear, and all of us would be sucked into Tartarus.
Percy uncapped his pen, Anaklusmos the candle in the encroaching darkness.
The whispers paused, faltering, before starting up again.
I collapsed to my knees, the strain of holding the rapidly fracturing shield too much to bear. I heard the words, understood the chanting, and something in my core shivered and died at the pure evil and malice behind it.
"Magic," Percy murmured.
"We have to leave, now," Annabeth said as she grabbed Grover and dragged him up, Percy helping.
Together, the three of them started back up to the tunnel. I sent a shield of magic, ghosting the air behind them, and they broke into a run as the whispers became louder and angrier.
A blast of wind erupted from the fissures in the seal, shattering my barrier like glass, and I collapsed on the ground, holding back my cough. Thankfully, the barrier I had behind Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, held.
I opened the door to the shadow-world and travelled out, dimly registering that I'd shadow-walked to Hades' throne room instead of to Avalanche, where I collapsed to the ground like a puppet doll whose strings had been cut, blood spurting onto the pristine floors.
YOU ARE READING
First Lie || Deception Book I ||
FanfictionA child of Hecate who dances with the shadows and has powers over the mist that has never been heard of. Should her powers grow out of control, the entire world could be doomed. So, she was taken to Olympus and raised under the watchful eyes of her...
