Child of Hades {Interactive Story} (PJO/HOO/TOA)

TEN: It Happened Quiet

The sword was all I could focus on. It was a gladius hispaniensis, as Matt had muttered under his breath. Four feet long and deadly.

"Y/N, right?" He asked. I swallowed. "Don't be alarmed, I know all about the children of Hades from camp. I have people within who... Keep me informed. In fact, you should be quite grateful I know who you are, otherwise I wouldn't waste time with talking."

Matt looked at me, then turned back to the boy. "You have spies in camp? Who are you working with? We've had uprises before - the gods always win."

"The gods haven't met Tyler yet." The archer said.

Tyler just waved his hand like he was pushing the topic aside, the archer bowed her head like she knew she'd said something wrong. "This is not about the future war, Matteo." Matt recoiled. Tyler looked at me, cowering behind Fabia. "This is about our Father."

"What's the cure for the Lethe?" I tried, voice shaky.

"This is about our Father." Tyler replied quickly, glance steely like he could cut me with a gaze. Fabia made no move to fight, but I was sure if they did she'd protect us. "This is about my sister. This is about your mother."

I was wrong. It wasn't his gaze that had cut me. It was his words. He smiled at me, he knew he had my attention.

"You'd think she'd be down here, eh? You've probably been looking for her since you got here. It's been a year, and my sister is still waiting for Charon to ferry her across - or she was until a 'hero' tried making a voyage to the Underworld and slashed her soul away with a cursed blade to make a point." He said hero like the word was venomous, his expression sour. "Your mother is still waiting, too. Hades doesn't care about my sister because she wasn't born to him, and he doesn't care about your mom because she isn't his kid. The gods don't love the mortals they seduce. Even still, they love themselves more than they love us. I begged our Father for weeks to let her into the Underworld, to put her straight into the Fields of Elysium, to bring her back to life. All my pleads went unheard. He doesn't care. Hades doesn't care."

He tracked his way towards the bank of the Lethe, the archer, two swordsmen, and a girl holding a dagger following a ways behind him.

"Stay back, or I will engage," Fabia said, voice dangerously low.

"Relax, Roman." Tyler pursed his lips. "Y/N, you're his pawn. The gods send their kids to do their dirty work. Quests, they call them. Like they're some form of glory." Angry, his voice raised, veins popped in his neck. "Do you know how many demigods die on quests? The gods send their children to the slaughter! Any hint of a relationship Hades might have given you is a facade."

"Shut up." Matt said to him.

Tyler only smiled at him. "Oh, Matteo. Delusional. You think Hypnos is a good dad because he stuck around for a while? A good dad would have stuck your mom in the looney bin way before she could hurt you. A good dad would have healed your face, raised you right, would have helped you."

Matt grabbed my hand like he was about to pass out. It was a mix of exhaustion and Tyler's words, heavy with hatred. Heavy with truth.

"Further proof," Tyler stretched his arms out, sword swinging haphazardly around. "Did Hades tell you you aren't schizophrenic? That all those hallucinations you see are really the derivative of a power you got from him - to see the souls about to cross to the Underworld, and those who had since escaped?"

I took a breath. "He didn't know."

"He knew." Tyler assured me. "He knew, and he didn't say a single thing to you. Not when it first started happening, not when you finally met him in person."