gone girl.
━━━ chapter five

❀

Their first stop was Percy's mom's apartment. As Sally Jackson was hugging her son, Amaryllis felt her heart clench in her chest as she couldn't help but compare the situation to her own mother. Percy had been missing for two weeks, but she had been missing for four whole years. She needed a hug from her mother as well. Annabeth must have sensed how hard it was for Amaryllis to watch, because she squeezed her shoulder before they entered the apartment.

"Mom, this is... Mar," Percy introduced the girl to his mother. If she wasn't so nervous and upset at the same time, she would probably tease him for still not being able to say her full name.

Sally Jackson was a very beautiful woman. Her dark complexion was the same as her son's and her thick hair were pulled into a curly bun on top of her head. She gave off the same feeling as drinking warm chocolate in front of a fireplace during the winter. Even though it was the first time she met her, Mrs Jackson hugged her as a welcome.

"It's very nice to meet you, Mar," she said, before she sat them down at the kitchen table and insisted on feeding them homemade blue chocolate chip cookies. Amaryllis ate more than she'd like to admit, although she had no idea why they were blue.

Percy explained everything to his mother. It was sweet to see how good of a relationship the two had. He could speak freely in front of her and she didn't have much of a reaction, even after she heard everything he did. Her calmness was very admiring and also contagious. Despite Amaryllis' anxiety, she felt herself relax after a while, to the point of barely paying attention until Annabeth spoke.

"Percy has this plan," she said bitterly.

He glared at her and although he seemed reluctant at first, he eventually explained it to his mother.

The woman nodded slowly. "It sounds very dangerous. But it might work."

"You have the same abilities, don't you?" Percy asked her. "You can see through the Mist."

His mother sighed. "Not so much now. When I was younger it was easier. But yes, I've always been able to see more than was good for me. It's one of the things that caught your father's attention, when we first met. Just be careful. Promise me you'll be safe."

Amaryllis felt a little bad hearing the worry in her voice. "We will," she reassured her.

"We'll try, Ms. Jackson," Annabeth added as well. "Keeping your son safe is a big job, though." She folded her arms and glared out the kitchen window.

Amaryllis nudged her with her elbow and looked at Ms Jackson apologetically. "What's going on with those two?" she asked her first, before turning to them. "Have you been fighting?"

Neither of them said anything, causing Amaryllis to sigh.

Ms Jackson frowned. "Both of you better behave yourselves. Grover and Tyson are counting on you three. Plus it's Mar's first quest, isn't it?" Amaryllis nodded. "Well, I think it's unfair to her if you two aren't talking to each other and making it harder than it needs to be."

She smiled at Percy's mom, grateful that someone seemed to understand how she felt. Amaryllis was getting pretty annoyed at the other two for acting so childish. During the car ride, they barely spoke to each other and only talked to her, like she was their messenger.

"Percy, you'd better use the phone in the hall to call your friend. Good luck."

While he was off calling Rachel, Amaryllis and Annabeth insisted on helping Ms Jackson with the table. Amaryllis found herself in the kitchen, putting the plates on the counter and pulled her sleeves up to wash them, but Ms Jackson's voice stopped her.

"Oh, love, it's okay. I can do that!" When the girl made space for the older woman, she seemed interested in getting to know more about Amaryllis.

She asked her who her godly parent was and Amaryllis somehow ended up explaining her whole story. She was never the type of person that over-shared things about her life, but Percy's mom's presence was so comforting that she couldn't help it. Perhaps she was subconsciously pretending that was her own mother.

By the time she was done, Ms Jackson was also finished with the plates. She took off her wet rubber gloves before putting her hand on Amaryllis' shoulder. "Thank you for taking care of my son," she said with genuine gratitude. "I appreciate you sticking with him, even though you barely know him. It makes me glad to see that he's surrounded by good people."

When the trio returned to the car, no one questioned why Amaryllis seemed to be so happy.

❀

They found the Rachel girl in front of the Marriott Marquis and she was completely painted gold.

"I think I've seen it before," Amaryllis commented, as an older couple threw some money at the tarp on the sidewalk. "She's probably helping raise money for something." The sign at the gold girl's feet said "Urban Art For Kids, Donations Appreciated." She thought it was pretty cool, but both Percy and Annabeth looked at her like she was an alien.

When Rachel finally unfroze and someone else took her place, she approached them with a grin plastered on her face.

"Hey, Percy. Good timing!" Only then did she seem to finally notice the two blonde girls next to him. Annabeth rolled her eyes and looked somewhere else, but Amaryllis waved at her with a smile.

"Hi. You look very pretty." Her eyes slightly widened at the realisation that she had just voiced her inner thoughts. She thought her cheeks had turned as red as the girl's hair. "Gold suits you," she added, hoping that made it sound less weird.

She could sense Annabeth mentally stabbing her, but Rachel looked quite amused. "Thank you! I haven't met you, have I?" She extended her hand. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

"Amaryllis Kalomiri."

"Wow, cool name."

"We have something to talk about," Percy reminded them, arms crossed in front of his chest. He didn't look very pleased with that whole interaction for some reason.

"Right," Rachel said. "Let's get some coffee!"

The place they chose was very weird, but somehow fit the redhead's vibe. Bright coloured walls that didn't seem to match well together, music from another decade and booths that were so far away from each other that it barely looked like one shop. Percy and Annabeth both ordered fruit smoothies but Amaryllis felt adventurous enough to try coffee for the first time. She ended up ordering the same as Rachel, which smiled at the waitress and paid for all of their drinks.

"So," she said, "it's Annabell, right?"

"Annabeth," Annabeth corrected through gritted teeth. "Do you always dress in gold?"

"Not usually," Rachel said. "We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this once a month, take in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend." She sighed when she saw their expressions. "But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. You're half-bloods too?"

"Yes but could you be more quiet-" Amaryllis started saying, but was interrupted by the daughter of Athena.

"Just announce it to the world, won't you?" she said while looking around.

"Okay." Rachel stood up and said really loud, "Hey, everybody! These three aren't human! They're half Greek god!" When there was absolutely no reaction whatsoever, she sat down again. "They don't seem to care," she smiled at Annabeth's furious look while taking a sip of her Espresso Extreme.

"That was stupid. If there were any monsters around, someone could die," Amaryllis said seriously and for a second, the redhead seemed to actually regret what she did.

"Everytime I'm around you," she said, looking at Percy, "some monster attacks us anyway."

"Look," Percy said. "I'm really sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."

"Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb."

"Was it hard?" Annabeth asked and despite the fact that Amaryllis actually didn't have anything against the girl, she still stifled a laugh.

Percy seemed exasperated with all of them. "Okay, stop! Rachel, we've got a problem. And we need your help."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Annabeth. "You need my help?"

The blonde seemed to suddenly be way too interested in her fruit smoothie. Amaryllis rolled her eyes and pushed her with her elbow. "Perhaps," she muttered, but it seemed good enough for the mortal.

After Percy explained to her the whole situation but also the risks of following them into the Labyrinth, Rachel surprisingly ended up agreeing. Amaryllis thought that girl must have been completely mad, because if she were in her place, she'd take restraining orders against all three of them and move to another city. At least now they stood a chance though.

Making their way towards the hotel in which the entrance to the Labyrinth was located, Percy and Rachel seemed to lead the way, while Amaryllis and Annabeth followed some steps behind them.

"You need to stop being so mean to Rachel," Amaryllis scolded her. "She is literally risking her life to help us even though she has nothing to gain from all that."

"I beg to differ," Annabeth said and rolled her eyes at her friend's confused look. "Don't tell me you didn't notice her heart eyes for Percy."

"What? You think she likes Percy?"

"You don't need to be a child of Aphrodite to see it." Amaryllis pressed her lips into a thin line, causing Annabeth to sigh. "Please don't tell me you're jealous. Last thing this quest needs is a love triangle."

"W-What? No, of course I am not jealous! Why would I be?" Annabeth shrugged but didn't say anything else, which frustrated the girl even more. "Gods, Annie, you're so annoying sometimes!"

That made Annabeth smirk for some reason, like she knew something Amaryllis didn't know in a classic child - of - Athena arrogant way, but before Amaryllis could properly start a fight, she was interrupted by Rachel's voice.

"We're here!"

❀

First thing they saw once the metal door was opened and they walked down the dark staircase was the skeleton of a Cyclops. Amaryllis let out some Greek curses that everyone but Rachel seemed to understand, but they eventually moved deeper into the maze.

Amaryllis moved closer to Percy, who seemed to be pretty shaken after the sight of the skeleton. She knew that he was thinking about Tyson and Grover, who were lost somewhere in the labyrinth. She had never met his half brother, Tyson, but she knew Grover pretty well. He was one of the satyrs that had brought her at the Camp and they grew to be friends. She hoped that he was okay, because she'd really like to see him again.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, are you? I know that children of Apollo don't really like the dark," he said. It was true that she felt a bit weird inside the maze, but she assumed everyone would.

Amaryllis shrugged. "I just wish I had photokinesis," she admitted. It was an extremely rare power to have, even for a child of Apollo, but she remembered that some of her siblings had some limited control over manipulating the light. Of course Amaryllis had no powers in general, but she didn't like talking about it.

"We should go forward," they heard Rachel argue with Annabeth.

"That's the least likely choice!"

"You don't see it?" Rachel asked them all. "Look at the floor."

"I think you forget that we can't see through the Mist," Amaryllis reminded her. "All we see are mud and bricks."

"There's a brightness there," Rachel insisted. "Very faint. But forward is the correct way. To the left, farther down the tunnel, those tree roots are  moving like feelers. I don't like that. To the right, there's a trap about twenty feet down. Holes in the walls, maybe for spikes. I don't think we should risk it."

"Alright," Percy said. "Forward is the way."

"You believe her?" Annabeth asked.

"I do. That's why we brought her here, right?" Amaryllis shrugged as she followed Rachel. "She sees things we can't."

They walked down a brick corridor and even though it twisted a lot, there didn't seem to be any side tunnels. Amaryllis noticed they only seemed to go deeper. She hoped Rachel hadn't messed it up, because then she'd end up looking pretty stupid in front of Annabeth.

"No traps?"

"Nothing." Rachel knit her eyebrows. "Should it be this easy?"

"Wait." Everyone stopped when Amaryllis spoke. She felt vibrations from her legs, like footsteps, even though it seemed like the rest didn't hear anything. For seconds, there was silence, until she spoke again, in a panicked whisper. "Someone is coming."

"I don't hear-"

"Shhh!" Amaryllis closed her eyes, trying to focus on the sound.

Suddenly the sound of huge doors opening reached all of them. "What's that?" Annabeth asked.

Amaryllis opened her eyes. "Run," she whispered. When she realised her friends were just looking at each other terrified, she repeated, louder this time, "Run! Run, run, run you idiots!"

They followed her voice and fled the way they had come, but they didn't make it twenty feet before they ran straight into two dracaenae – snake women in Greek armor – and an empousa in cheerleading uniform. Their javelins were leveled at everyone's chest, except Amaryllis'. She froze, looking at her friends that weren't looking back at her. Something was off.

Annabeth immediately pulled her knife and Amaryllis touched her ring that turned into her sword, but before anyone could do anything else, the empousa spun Rachel around, holding her tight with her talons at Rachel's neck.

No one dared to make a move.

"Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?" the empousa asked Percy. He seemed to recognize her, weirdly enough. "They're such fragile things. So easy to break!"

All the monsters seemed to have their eyes on someone, checking their every move, but somehow no one was looking at Amaryllis. She looked down at herself, but everything seemed normal. It was like she had suddenly turned invisible.

Well, it's worth a try, she thought as she raised her sword. Holding her breath, she went behind the first dracaenae and stabbed it in the neck with no hesitation. The moment it turned into dust, she heard Percy's voice.

"Mar, watch out!"

She managed to deflect the other dracaenae's spear at the last moment, but then she saw the empousa pushing her talon a bit deeper in Rachel's neck until they saw blood. "I don't know where you came from, blondie," she told Amaryllis with an annoyed expression. "But if you don't want your friend to get murdered in front of you, I'd suggest you behave."

Amaryllis grunted as the dracaenae pushed her down. The sword returned to a ring. "Fine. Just dont hurt her," she said through gritted teeth.

Behind them, the footsteps came closer until an eight-foot-tall Laistrygonian giant appeared out of the darkness. He licked his lips when he saw them. "Can I eat them?"

"No," the empousa said with a wicked smile. "Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment." She looked at them, but her eyes focused on Percy. "Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl."

The giant confiscated their weapons and they were marched down the tunnel, surrounded by the monsters that attacked them. The dracaenae seemed to be very mad that Amaryllis had killed its buddy, because it kept the spear's tip touching her back as she walked. One wrong move and it'd go through her. Percy and Annabeth were looking at Amaryllis like they wanted to tell her something, but they couldn't talk. It was a risk, considering the empousa hadn't let go of Rachel. They had to do whatever they told them, since her life was on the line.

They reached some huge doors that only the giant seemed to be able to open. They could hear a crowd yelling from inside what seemed to be an arena but before they could get any closer, the giant picked up both Amaryllis and Annabeth up by their shirts and said, "You stay here." The empousa laughed, her claws still at Rachel's neck, who seemed terrified.

Percy said something to her before he was prodded towards the doorway at javelin-point, walking into the arena.

"Run!"

❀

It would be an understatement to say that a lot had happened in the past hour.

It turned out that Luke was behind their capture. He looked the same as she remembered him, just more tired, Amaryllis noticed. He didn't seem to recognize her, but he did still show a weakness towards Annabeth, who he wanted to spare. It was soon revealed that Luke provided Antaeus, son of Poseidon and Gaia, entertainment in the form of gladiatorial fights because they had a deal to let him pass through the arena and deeper into the maze.

Percy was ordered to fight another demigod, Ethan Nakamura, to the death, but in the end he refused to kill him. He managed to trick Antaeus into fighting him and in the end, he killed him. It was the first time Amaryllis saw Percy fight and she could honestly say that, despite her first impression on him being that he was unimpressive, he was indeed very powerful. She felt stupid for underestimating him – he was a son of Poseidon after all, she should have known he would be a skilled fighter. 

Now Amaryllis didn't understand some things – for example, she had no idea how Percy ended up using a whistle to summon a huge fluffy hellhound, but he did. And the dog made for a great distraction, because they were able to escape and due to Rachel, lose Luke's forces in the labyrinth.

Ethan Nakamura, the demigod that Percy had spared, ended up leaving them and returning to the maze all alone. He said he wanted to join Luke and his forces and nothing that they said could persuade him to stay with them, to the "right side". He had made some pretty good points when he said that the gods didn't care about their children, because in her experience, that was very true. If they cared, they wouldn't let literal children fight their battles. Still, as much as Amaryllis despised the gods, she would never fight in Kronos' side of the war. Especially not after she saw how Luke ended up becoming like.

They were all so exhausted that they collapsed on the floor of a huge empty room. Percy found some scrap wood, enough to start a small fire that they circled around of, desperate for some warmth in the middle of an underground hellhole. Until that point, no one had talked. Amaryllis understood why – she felt like no matter how many breaths she took, she'd still be out of breath.

She was half sleeping when Annabeth's voice woke her up. "Do you realise what you did?" she asked Amaryllis, breaking the silence. "Back there, before we got to the arena. When you attacked that dracaenae."

She nodded. "It was like I became invisible for a moment. I don't know how."

"You didn't do that on purpose?" Percy raised his eyebrows with a shocked expression.

"No. I... can't normally do that. I couldn't control it either," she said, remembering that after she stabbed the monster she was visible once again.

Annabeth hesitated before saying, "Perhaps it was some sort of photokinesis? Like you manipulated the light so no one could see you." She didn't seem to actually believe that, but it was the only plausible explanation.

"I told you, I have no powers. I can't manipulate light or do anything like that," Amaryllis insisted. She was fourteen years old, for crying out loud! She would have known if she had any powers and she was getting pretty frustrated talking about it. She never liked conversations about powers, it was a constant reminder that she had gotten the short end of the stick when it came to her and her siblings.

"Maybe you can and you haven't figured it out yet," Percy offered.

"The four years you spent on Ogygia, your powers could have been dormant. And now you did that instinctively because you were in danger," Annabeth continued. "It makes sense, sort of."

"Sort of," Amaryllis repeated robotically before she stifled a yawn. "Look, I'm really tired so I think I'll just sleep. You should too." 

Annabeth gave her her backpack to use as a pillow and offered to take first watch, probably because she didn't want to be around Percy. She knew he would say something about Luke and she didn't seem to be able to handle a conversation like that. 

Amaryllis curled up besides the fire, looking at Rachel who was using a stick to make figures in the floor. She had barely spoken since they escaped the arena, not even bothering to reply on Annabeth's snarky comments. She felt very bad for the mortal girl – she had experienced something very traumatic, just to help a bunch of strangers. Her neck still had a mark from where the empousa's claws where.

In a way, Amaryllis believed that Rachel Elizabeth Dare was the bravest one of them.

"Don't you want to sleep?" she asked gently the redhead.

Rachel didn't even take her eyes off the floor. "Yeah. Later."

Amaryllis looked at Percy and made a gesture that was clearly saying 'talk to her' but she wasn't entirely sure if he understood that. She rolled her eyes at how oblivious he was, but didn't bother to tell him, her eyelids getting heavier by the second.

"Okay then, goodnight."

She was too exhausted to even think about anything that happened and she drifted to sleep almost immediately.

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.

▊will edit it later! also i know i skipped the whole arena scene, but since amaryllis was only watching, there was no point in writing that from her perspective. and also, consider this... im too bored to rewrite the whole book.

▊ the way amaryllis becomes a mess the moment she meets sally because she immediately sees her like a mother figure is something that can be so personal to me.

▊also i love that she has a bi attack the moment she met rachel. percy, you better watch your back, because amaryllis will steal your girl. but also amaryllis & rachel's friendship >> mar is so soft for her i stg

▊meanwhile annabeth, being the fourth wheel: 🧍‍♀️

❛ gone girl. ❜
( part 𝒐𝒏𝒆 of gone girl series )
2022 ╱ © persephonetears, all rights reserved