Chapter Twenty-Nine

Mutt

It was dark, the room was dark. It felt like all the hope had been sucked out of the room. I close my eyes.

You can do this Mutt. Remain strong, I think.

It finally made sense to me now, this is why, in my dream, Moon’s eyes had lost their hope. That’s what’s going to happen to me.

“But at least you’ll have saved Moon, right?”

I look up, Quinn was standing there, she was casually leaning against something hidden in the darkness.

“Quinn?” I ask. “Are you… really here?”

Quinn smiles sadly, “Of course I’m not really here. I’m literally a figment of your imagination.”

“Well then go away,” I grumble.

“You really can’t feel the water that is all around us?” Quinn asks. “You can save yourself Mutt. This chamber is literally surrounded by water.”

“Moon couldn’t escape,” I whisper.

“She’s the daughter of Zeus. She can’t control water. YOU CAN,” Quinn says. “So grasp your inner Poseidon and break outta here!”

“I can’t,” I answer.

“Sure you can,” Quinn says. “Water is kind of our thing remember?”

“No, I can’t,” I repeat.

“C’mon, of course you can!” Quinn encourages.

“I DON’T WANT TO!” I shout. “I’m ready to die. I’m okay with dying. It’s not going to bother anyone and no one will care.”

“Are you serious?” Quinn demands.

Out of nowhere she was in front of me, grabbing me by the collar of my jacket and shoving me into a wall.

“Do you seriously have that low of an opinion of yourself? Do you really think that no one cares? How messed up are you?!” She growls.

I open my mouth to say something, but never get the chance.

“Get your crap together, Mutt! Because you are important. And you do matter. A lot. You matter to a lot of people. Your friends. Your family. Get that through your head. Godville disowned the gods for you. We’re going to war for you!” Quinn snaps. “Half of town is searching for a way to get you outta here. So do your part. Live.”

“How?” I whisper. “How do you expect me to survive a place that’s goal is to break me? To take away my hope?”

Quinn doesn’t answer, instead she glances down. Her blue eyes flickering from side to side. Finally she looks up.

“You remember that time? What was it… four months ago?” She asks. “We were in the middle of a meeting, and all of a sudden James walks in, completely late. Covered from head to toe in honey and feathers.”

I frown, because I didn’t remember, not at first. The memory was there, but it was faint. Like someone was taking it away. Quinn keeps talking.

“He strolls in with his head high, and sits down in his chair. Then out of nowhere Jadaenlee walks in after him. She had this huge smirk on her face, and it was evident that she was the reason he looked like that. It was a huge surprise to all of us though, because she hadn’t said or done anything since she first came to camp,” Quinn continues. “And then James starts to try and talk.”

“And all he could do was quack,” I whisper.

“Yes!” Quinn says. “Exactly.”

The memory was suddenly there, burning bright. Then Lenzie stood beside Quinn, she was dressed in a simple black tee and ripped jeans. Her blonde hair in a ponytail.

“How about that time when we pulled off that donut raid?” Lenzie asks. “We had skipped lunch and dinner, and we hadn’t had breakfast. We just came back from a mission. And all we did was collapse and fall asleep.”

“How did you get here?” I ask.

Lenzie rolls her eyes. That’s when I realized she too, was a figment of my imagination.

“We woke up around midnight. All of town was completely silent. And we were starving. But we knew that no one was allowed in the Dining Hall after ten,” Lenzie continues. “And then your stomach growled and I thought that we were under attack. So we made this grand plan to go and steal some donuts.”

“So we went out and it was the first time I vapor traveled,” I whisper. Slowly remembering.

“We landing right in the middle of the Hall,” Lenzie grins. “But when your stomach growled turns out you woke up half of town. There was literally a small army standing there protecting the donuts.”

“You fought like a demon,” I add. “Like a crazed, insane, starving demon.”

“And we finally got the donuts, and you vapor traveled us back to the Hospital House,” Lenzie says.

“And we found a huge banquet of food waiting for us,” I finish.

Lenzie laughs, “Oh, the look on your face when you realized we did all that for nothing. Priceless.”

“I don’t get it, why are you reminding me of this?” I ask.

“Tartarus kills you by destroying the good memories,” Quinn answers. “And you need to remember.”

“Oh,” Lenzie says suddenly. “What about the time when we ran through the forest, just because we wanted to piss of a bunch of nymphs?”

“I don’t-” I start.

Lenzie talk over me, “That wasn’t our intention first. You showed up at my door and said that you found the best food ever. That it was literally heaven, but you needed my help. What you never told me was that the food you were talking about was in the middle of the forest.”

I close my eyes, letting the memory wash over me. It was like it was playing in slow motion.

“And next thing I know, we had a hoard of angry tree nymphs after us. And you still made sure that you were carrying a bucket full of that stupid fruit!” Lenzie exclaims.

“Hey!” I protest. “You didn’t call it stupid when you were pigging out with me after we escaped into the ocean.”

“Which was the stupidest thing that you could’ve came up with considering the next thing we knew we had a bunch of naiads that were friends with the nymphs!” Lenzie argues.

“They didn’t seem so scary after you made a deal with them,” I shrug.

“Well they liked that fruit just about as much as you did!” Lenzie says with a laugh.

“Gave away half my goods too,” I pout.

“Kept you from being stabbed a few gazillion times,” Lenzie says.

“Is it working?” Quinn whispers to Lenzie.

I don’t think that I was meant to hear it though.

“I think so,” Lenzie replies. “We just need maybe one more memory and the rest will be locked in.”

Quinn nods. And Lenzie sighs, staring at me sadly. Already this whole conversation was fading. Then suddenly James appeared out of the darkness.

“Heya everyone!” He says with a grin. “Anyone have cookies?”

“That is creepy realistic for my imagination,” I comment.

Lenzie rolls her eyes and Quinn face palms.

“No cookies,” James says with a pout. “Speaking of, Mutt, you remember last year on your birthday?”

“Really?” Quinn asks. “Out of all the memories?”

“Shh,” Lenzie hisses.

“See, not really sure what happened the night before, all I know is that we woke up in your room. Laying in the same bed, and we were completely covered in blue frosting.”

Lenzie chuckles, “That was the best prank ever.”

“We had no recollection of what had happened the night before,” I whisper.

“And not to mention the fact that you were shirtless,” James says.

“I don’t remember you complaining at the time,” I retort.

“I was covered in blue frosting, laying in the bed with a partially naked guy,” James says. “Complaining wasn’t the first thing I thought of.”

Lenzie snorts a laugh, and covers her mouth with her hand. I stared at James wide eyed. Then he burst out laughing.

“Oh man, you should’ve seen your face,” he says. “Man, Imma cry, that was so great. C’mon man, you know who I like.”

“Wait, hold up,” Lenzie says suddenly. “You have a crush?!”

“Who?” Quinn asks.

“Uhhh,” James replies. “Telling the two of you would be suicide.”

I smile as they continue to argue. Lenzie had been right, all of a sudden all of my memories were solidified. Suddenly Lenzie throws her head back and laughs. The sound so full of joy that I couldn’t help but smile wider. Quinn rolls her eyes, but it was clear she was holding back a laugh. James bends over and holds his stomach, laughing like there was no tomorrow.

Lenzie falls to the floor, laughter rippling through her body. She starts breathing repeatedly, calming down. James does the same. Finally they stop laughing.

“You two done?” Quinn asks.

“Yeah,” Lenzie says.

“We’re done,” James finishes.

They look up at the same time, and then burst into another round of laughter. This time Quinn join them, and together they slowly start to fade. Their laughter echoing off of the walls.

۝

I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, waiting for something to happen. Maybe I felt as though I didn’t want to be responsible for saving myself, or anyone. Or maybe I just really wanted to die. I couldn’t exactly tell which one it was. Finally I stand up with a sigh.

Maybe I had changed fate, maybe this way Moon won’t die, considering this is where she was mentally murdered. Or maybe I had just switched us places. I hoped that wasn’t the case. But if it saved Moon then I really didn’t mind.

I sigh, wondering what Quinn meant when she said that I was surrounded with water. Being the son of Poseidon I was usually able to sense any water that surrounded me. But there was absolutely nothing.

Then again, a figment of my imagination probably wasn’t the most reliable source.

“Great,” I mumble. “Stuck in Tartarus, Moon’s gods know where. And now I’m talking to myself. This just can’t get worse.”

“Hi, Mutt,” a voice I knew all too well says.

I groan and dramatically fall to my knees.

“Noooo!” I shout, looking up at the sky and raising my arms, clasping my hands together. “Please! PLEASE! Do not do this to me! I’ll do anything! Pleaaaaseeee! I’ll be a good boy! A very good boy!”

Clato sighs and shakes her head, “No one’s going to answer you know.”

“Well, it was worth a shot,” I grumble.