Blade's Edge || Deception Book II ||

Chapter 41: Eternal Starlight

A/N: The following sentences in italic are directly copied from The Titan's Curse. 

And just saying . . .  this part of the book (the actual book) always makes me cry. :(((((

***

"As far as I know, Rianna is sleeping in her cabin with the explicit order to not let anyone disturb her sleep, even you, Mr. Boyfriend," Nicole said in a sing-song voice.

I shook my head, smiling. "Fine, that works."

"Fantastic. I'll get going then . . ." Nicole trailed off, her dark eyes flicking to something out of the Iris message and I grinned knowingly.

"See you later. Don't scare my brother too much, alright?"

"Who said anything about Alabaster?" she scowled at me.

"Hey, I never said his name," I pointed out, smirking, and before she could reply, I waved through the image and cut the connection.

Now that's settled, let's get going, I thought, and whistled for my wolf who bounded out of the shadow of a tree.

"Um, do you know where Annabeth's house is by any chance?"

"Ri, they're not going to be able to land a biplane in a neighbourhood," Avalanche snorted. "And no."

Oh wow, my brain was really fried. I sighed and climbed on my wolf. "Where should we go then?" I murmured, my voice muffled by her fur as I lay down. "Did Artemis send any-Oh," I said as a falcon swept down from the sky and clicked its beak a couple of times before flying away.

"Crissy Field," Avalanche rumbled, and immediately took off, bounding into the shadows that were stretching longer.

You know that feeling when it's thirty-five degrees outside in the summer and the sun's burning down on your back, but then you step into the mall or a store and you get hit with that lovely blast of AC? The pure bliss that follows?

Yeah, that's how I felt when we entered the shadow world. The strain in my magic calmed, my exhaustion vanished, and the cool familiarity of comforting darkness surrounded me. It lasted only a moment, but when we emerged onto the dark field, I felt energized again, although there was still a gaping hole where my magic had been.

"We're early," I muttered, scanning the field for any sign of a yellow plane and silver chariot. "They're not here yet."

"Are you just planning to walk up to them and say hi?" Avalanche barked as she stretched her front legs. "Thalia's straight up going to kill you."

"She can try," I muttered. "But yeah, what else is there to do? Oh, look, they're here. Maybe you should disappear," I suggested to Avalanche, turning to eye her giant silhouette. "A huge wolf will likely be attacked first."

Avalanche growled softly in disagreement and I sighed. Oh well. Having a giant wolf would likely deter anyone from attacking anyways.

The buzzing of the biplane filled the field as Annabeth's father landed, followed by Artemis' chariot and her deer. I started silently towards them, Avalanche at my heels, and prayed that Thalia was too exhausted to call lightning on me because I had no strength left to form a shield.

100 metres, 80, 50 . . . As I drew closer, the figures of Thalia, Percy, Annabeth, Artemis, and Mr. Chase became clearer and my eyes locked on Zoe, who lay on the grass, Thalia crouched by her side. She was saying something, but I was too far away to hear.

Twenty metres away, Annabeth noticed me.

"Rianna?"

As soon as my name left her lips, everyone spun around to face me. Thalia launched to her feet, hastily wiping at her eyes, her spear and shield appearing in hand.