CHAPTER TWO

O U R D R I E D V O I C E S W H E N W E W H I S P E R T O G E T H E R

The girl stirred slowly, her bones aching as sleep slowly leached from her body. In her dreams, there was only darkness. When she opened her eyes, only darkness was there to greet her. Her life had long ago grown devoid of any light or hope, but sometimes, when there was only the dark to comfort her, the girl prayed for a release of any kind.

But prayers went forgotten and unanswered in the darkness. So, the girl woke up, slowly, to not wake up Esperanza, slowly, to not reopen any wounds that had closed during the night. The girl bit back a hiss of pain as her arm scraped against the ground, the uncomfortable feeling of dirt seeping into the cuts littered across her arms. There was too high a chance that her wounds would become infected, and the thought made the girl's stomach clench. Infections meant pain and sickness and death, in that order; very few had become infected and survived. The girl had, once, but even that was too close a call.

There was something about sleep that the girl hated, despite it providing her with the only reprieve available to her. It always felt like there was something that she was supposed to remember, something that she was only reminded of in her dreams.

But none of that mattered now; the girl was awake, and being awake came along with being vigilante. Especially with Esperanza nestled up against her.

The cellar was cast in darkness, as always, and there was a noticeable lack of noise surrounding the girl. She frowned softly, ears straining to pick up the sound of anyone stirring or breathing, but she was greeted with nothing but silence. Not even the stray snore was audible. Something was wrong.

Careful not to disturb Esperanza, the girl untangled herself and quietly stood up. No one acknowledged her movement, which was strange; no one moved down here unless absolutely necessary. She took a step away from her corner, and still no one moved. The shadows felt heavy suddenly, pressing against her skin like a blanket drenched in thick liquid. The girl took another step, and nudged the sleeping person laying at her feet. The person did not move. Frowning, the girl repeated the motion, and still no movement. A wave of horror fell over the girl; they were dead.

"I think they're dead," her voice whispered, sounding dry in the crowded yet silent room. No one responded to her. She coughed once, and repeated her statement. Yet, nothing.

Apathy was not a new concept in the cellar, but it was startling to see. The girl shifted back into her corner, gently shaking Esperanza. "Wake up," she whispered.

There was no response.

A repeat of her earlier action, the girl shook Esperanza again, but the younger girl didn't wake. And finally, the girl looked down and through the thin film of light that existed in the cellar, she could see the whites of Esperanza's eyes. A pang of panic sent itself through the girl's veins as she placed two fingers beneath Esperanza's soft jawline. There was nothing there, no heartbeat.

"Esperanza," the girl hissed urgently. But there was nothing to wake up; Esperanza was dead.

The girl heard someone crying, and it didn't take long for her to realize that it was her. Her sobs echoed in the cellar.

There was another body laying beside her, and that one was dead, too. The girl stood up quickly, anxiously checking body after body, desperate to find even one person alive. One had cold green eyes that stared deep into the girl's soul as she flipped over the too-still body. A hand crafted from warm brown skin was extended out towards the girl, as if the corpse were drowning and the girl was the only floating thing in the ocean that was the cellar. After several minutes of fruitless searching in the dim light, she came across a body that existed only in her nightmares and on the worst days.

Dolos' dead gaze stared back at her, eyes open and unseeing. The girl stumbled back from him in horror, now all too aware of the dozens of corpses surrounding her. The scent of death became heavy all of a sudden, and the girl choked as she struggled to breathe. If Dolos was in here, then no one would be outside the cellar, there was no one else out there at all.

The girl pushed against the body closest to her, using it find balance as she stood, and stumbled towards the door, chest heaving as her breaths exited in a panicked rush. She pushed against the door, but it remained unmoving, solid as the steel that it was crafted from. There was no one on the other side, no one to let her out ever again. The girl rammed her shoulder into it, but it didn't move. Panic overtook her body as she clawed to find a door knob, but her hands found nothing. She shoved against the door again, and again, and again, sobs racking her body in desperation as she attempted to get free. But it didn't move, and she was trapped in the cellar, forever now. She was trapped, trapped, trapped trapped trappedtrappedtrapped—

After minutes or hours or days of trying, she collapsed to the ground, fingernails undoubtedly torn off from scratching against the metal and her bones ached. The eyes of the dead stared at her, and the girl fell into a fit of sobs, curling into herself.

"You can leave."

The girl's head whipped up and found a tall boy staring down at her. He was handsome, with the exception of a scar marring his eye, but more importantly, he didn't belong in the cellar. There was a lack of hopelessness in his blue gaze. His eyes were cold, but familiar.

"Tell them where you hid it," the boy said, uncaring about the tears on the girl's face. "All this will be over when you do. You'll be safe. You can go home."

But there was something hollow in his eyes, something the didn't seem real. The panic had subsided in the girl's brain, but the need to revolt against reality remained. The girl buried her head in her hands, attempting to block out the boy's existence.

"Listen to me," he said angrily, "this is important! Where did you hide my lost blade?"

"Go away," the girl said, voice hoarse and broken. "I...I don't understand what you want."

"This isn't working," came a groan, but it didn't belong to the boy. The girl raised her head from its place in her arms, and found that she was no longer in the cellar, but rather on the floor of the room Dolos used to torture.

She sat up too quickly, ignoring her protesting muscles and mutilated skin. Her mind was screaming at her that this was all a trap, that something here was wrong wrong wrong.

Dolos was there, grinning down at her as if she hadn't just seen his corpse. Two unfamiliar persons stood by the door, one stoically keeping watch and the female watching the girl on the ground. The boy that had been staring at the girl slowly shifted, skin rippling as it darkened and hair elongating out of his skull. Soon, the girl that she had seen the day before stood where the boy had been only seconds before, staring sadly down at the girl.

"Pity," drawled a voice from the door; it was the girl, and she slowly stalked towards the center of the room. "I was just beginning to have fun."

The girl glared, but said nothing, feeling the salt on her face from where the tears had left streaks. Nothing could be trusted anymore, not even reality itself.

"She doesn't remember anything, that's the problem," Dolos said to both the young women in the room, content to ignore the girl heaped on the floor. "There's no way to extract information from her; it's been fruitless from the start."

"Not true," the blonde-haired woman tutted. "She seemed to recognize her old friend for a second there. She remembered at first, yes? She found a way to conceal her memories from everyone, even herself. But everything has a breaking point; we just have to find hers."

"If you have any suggestions, Willow, then I advise you say them now," Dolos growled. "Otherwise, your talent of creating shadows and nightmares is useless to us."

The girl watched as the shadows in the room seemed to collect towards the woman, Willow. She didn't seem concerned; rather, she looked pleased as she tilted her head sweetly towards the evil god.

"I prefer the hands-on approach to resolving any conflicts. I'm sure you've heard that much about me."

Drew scowled, but the expression was soon replaced with one of cool composure. "Dolos is right; she just doesn't remember anything."

Willow glared at the other girl, and Drew returned the sentiment. "Give me ten minutes alone with her," she declared, turning back to face Dolos, who looked at her skeptically. "I have certain measures ensured to open up her mind."

"By driving her insane?" drawled Drew, one eyebrow raised apprehensively. "That would erase any progress that we've made."

"That would be a miracle, considering you have nothing to show for your alleged progress," retorted Willow, the room dropping several degrees as she spoke.

The girl curled up into a tighter ball, wanting nothing more than to return to the cellar and sleep and make sure that Esperanza was safe and alive. The arguing tormentors did not take notice of the girl.

"Let me speak to her alone," said Drew, smiling at Dolos. Her eyes seemed to sparkle in the subtle lighting, and her hair was glossy and fine. Her beauty shone like a beacon in the dark room that reeked of blood. "She has no reason to fear me."

"Don't be ridiculous!" scoffed Willow, narrowing her eyes at the other girl. "Your trick is smoke and mirrors."

"Shut up, Willow," commanded Dolos, giving the girl a dirty look (but there was something there that was more than hatred; it was fear). "Drew has been nothing but helpful, and all you've done make nightmares."

Maybe Dolos didn't notice the way that Willow glared at him, and how her eyes turned completely black, but both Drew and the girl did.

"Drew, you have ten minutes to talk to her. If you get nothing, we'll have to progress to the next phase."

With that, Dolos turned to leave, gesturing for Willow to do the same. With a sneer, she did, and exited in a swirl of shadows. The girl sat there, ignoring Drew's presence, and for a handful of heartbeats, they stayed that way. Then, Drew shifted and released a breath.

"Hi, again," she said softly. The girl said nothing in return. "I know you must be confused and scared right now, and I'm sorry about that. Do you want to sit up?"

The girl said nothing, her face pressed against the cold cement of the ground.

"That's fine, too. My name is Drew Tanaka." A beat passed, as if Drew expected the girl to say something to that. "I'm here to help you."

A puff of air escaped from the girl's iron-clad composure. It would have been a laugh if the girl remembered how to.

"You probably don't trust me, and I don't blame you. But you know me. At least, you used to. And I need you to trust that I'm going to get you out of this hellhole, okay? A lot of people have been searching for you for a very long time, but the world is fucked out there, otherwise we would have saved you years ago."

The words fell over the girl, and she allowed them to. Nothing Drew was saying contained any significance and was most likely a trap concocted by Dolos. She couldn't trust anything; not anyone, not anything, not even her own mind or eyes. Everything was a trap.

"Please, you gotta give me something to go off of, Annabeth," Drew pleaded, sounding as desperate as the girl used to when she still asked for mercy.

"That's not my name," the girl said before realizing that she had spoken. She clamped her mouth shut.

"What? Yes it is. Your name is Annabeth Chase. Do you really not even remember that? Di immortales, they really did a number on you, didn't they? Look, we don't have much time left, can you at least look at me?"

The girl didn't want to. She wanted to stay, curled up in a ball, until Dolos returned to either hurt her more or return her to the cellar. But there was something in Drew's voice that was foreign, something that sounded like hope.

She raised her head slowly, blinking the dried tears from her eyes. Drew was smiling softly, but her eyes were full of sorrow. "Annabeth. I'm going to save you, okay? I'm going to break you out in a few days. I just need you to hang on for that long. Can you do that?"

This wasn't real. She had to remember that. This was all a trick, and if she said anything, then Dolos would use that against her and hurt her for it. This was a trap.

"Do you need me to convince you? Shit, fine. Piper, she's like the new leader of Olympus, and she's going to be so happy to see you again. Do you remember Piper?" The girl didn't respond. "Okay, um, what about Thalia? You two came to camp together years ago. Thalia Grace, does that ring a bell?" Still silence. Drew ran a hand through her hair, tugging at it. "I didn't want to bring you any false hope, but here's my last card: Percy Jackson. Do you remember him?"

She didn't. But something in her heart stirred at the name, as if she recognized it intimately. Annabeth Chase meant nothing to her, but this name, Percy Jackson, did.

Something on her face must have reflected this sentiment because now, Drew was grinning. "There! Percy Jackson is out there, and we're going to give you two the reunion of the century, okay? I just need you to trust me so that I can get you out of here. Can you do that?"

The girl was quiet for a minute. Drew hadn't done anything harmful to her thus far, and she seemed more real than anything else that the girl had faced in the past few hours. It could all be a trick you can't trust anything lest of all yourself. But she recognized a name, and that was more progress than she had ever made on her own. Was hope worth it, to sacrifice normalcy so completely?

"Esperanza," the girl said finally. "You have to take Esperanza, too."

Confusion flickered over Drew's face. "Who is Esperanza?"

"A child. She's in the cellar with me, she's only six. You have to take her with us."

Drew nodded. "I can do that. Will you trust me."

It was dangerous, and it might not be real. But it was the only chance that she had at saving Esperanza from the life that had already doomed the girl.

"I will."

• • •

author's note:
the whole nightmare/hallucination scene wasn't going to happen, but when i sat down to write this chapter, the song "exit film (for a film)" by radiohead came onto my playlist and that just happened. i hope you enjoyed this chapter! there's another one on the way; and should be posted within the week. let me know how you think this version of the book compares to the original!