[Third Person Pov]
Nox started walking with his hands buried deep in his pockets after everything had finally settled down and they were no longer being hunted through the ruins by the undead. His shadows stretched across the ground behind him like a living stain, painting the stone floor pitch black. Thin tendrils peeled away from the darkness and slithered across the room, wrapping around the countless corpses littering the area. One by one, the bodies were dragged into his shadow and swallowed whole without leaving behind even a trace.
The Djinn floated ahead of them with an irritated scowl on his face, clearly bothered by what he had just witnessed. "Do you have any idea how many years I've spent gathering those bodies?" he complained bitterly. "All of that effort wasted for absolutely nothing."
"Sounds more like a you problem than anybody else's," Nox replied with a scoff, not sounding remotely sympathetic.
The Djinn's eye twitched slightly at the response but he kept moving forward through the ancient halls without another word.
Annabeth tilted her head back for a moment, staring up at the cracked ceiling overhead. After a few seconds she lowered her gaze back toward the Djinn and asked, "Can you at least tell us anything about this tome?"
"The contract only stated that I would lead you to the Lesser Key," the Djinn answered with open disdain. "It said nothing about answering your questions."
Annabeth stared at him in annoyance before rolling her eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Just do your job."
Behind them, Nico was glaring daggers into the back of the Djinn's head hard enough that it looked like he was trying to burn a hole through him with sheer hatred alone.
Bianca noticed immediately and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Drop it," she told him calmly.
"You weren't the one that had his claws shoved through your chest," Nico muttered darkly, never taking his eyes off the Djinn.
"Blame your own carelessness," Bianca replied while adjusting the bow resting over her shoulder. "We already warned you not to trust everything you see in this place."
Nico clicked his tongue in irritation but didn't argue back.
"Besides," Bianca continued, "now that Annabeth made a contract with it, we can't act against it anyway."
"She still should've let me hit him at least once before making that stupid contract," Nico grumbled while keeping his saber close at his side and his gun within easy reach.
The Djinn ignored the conversation entirely as he guided them deeper into the ruins. Eventually they arrived at what looked like nothing more than a dead end made of old limestone bricks.
Without saying a word, the Djinn floated closer and began pressing several of the bricks in a very specific order.
A low rumble suddenly echoed throughout the entire structure. The ground beneath their feet trembled violently as the space around them shook hard enough to nearly throw them off balance. Dust poured down from above while tiny chunks of rubble bounced across the floor.
"Wah?! What's happening?!" Nico shouted while steadying himself.
"The space around us is being twisted!" Nebula warned them immediately.
The dead end in front of them suddenly began to crumble apart. Instead of collapsing normally, the wall broke down into streams of sand that scattered apart and dissolved into the air.
Beyond it was a massive open chamber barely illuminated by old torches mounted along the walls. Most of the room was barren, empty aside from the ancient pillars supporting the ceiling high above them. The pillars themselves were carved with faded images and symbols worn down by age.
Once the shaking finally stopped, the group cautiously stepped through the opening and entered the chamber properly.
But none of them paid much attention to the carvings for long.
Their focus was immediately drawn toward the enormous gate standing at the far end of the room. Towering over everything else in the chamber, it looked ancient enough to predate the ruins themselves. On both sides of the gate stood two gigantic statues gripping long spears, silently watching over the entrance like eternal guards.
"Well, I showed you the way," the Djinn scoffed arrogantly while crossing his arms. "Now all that's left is for you to head towards that gate and meet whatever miserable funeral awaits you. With this, my part of the deal is over."
Annabeth and the others walked right past him without stopping. Annabeth herself had a smile stretched across her face as she casually said, "Thank you for your service. With this, you are dismissed."
"What?" the Djinn responded immediately, clearly not liking the way she phrased that.
Then suddenly, he felt it.
Something was watching him.
The Djinn's expression shifted as he slowly looked down toward the shadows beneath Annabeth, Bianca, and Nico. A pair of crimson eyes stared back at him from each of their shadows, glowing brightly in the darkness. All of them were fixed directly on him with unmistakable hunger.
The shadows beneath the trio stretched unnaturally across the floor, growing larger and darker before massive hellhounds burst out from within them with savage growls. Their bodies were far bigger than normal hellhounds, their claws scraping across the stone as they lunged straight at the Djinn.
"Ahhhh!!" the Djinn screamed as the beasts slammed into him. "We had a deal! A contract! Aren't you afraid of dying a violent death?!"
The Djinn desperately tried to fight them off, conjuring flames and striking at them with his claws, but the hellhounds were absurdly strong. They pinned him to the ground almost instantly, tearing into him with claws and fangs while he thrashed beneath them.
"What do you mean?" Annabeth said with a scoff as she glanced back over her shoulder. "None of us here are attacking you."
Then she simply turned away again and continued walking forward.
"Dumbass," she muttered under her breath while rolling her eyes.
Nico and Bianca both looked at her in confusion, clearly trying to understand why the contract wasn't affecting her.
Nico, meanwhile, quickly got over the confusion and burst into laughter while watching the hellhounds maul the screaming Djinn behind them.
"Hahaha! Bitch!" Nico shouted loudly while throwing his middle finger back at the Djinn.
Bianca blinked before motioning behind them. "How did you—?" she started to ask.
Annabeth adjusted her hood and pulled it over her head while casually brushing her hair over her shoulders. "He tried acting like he was clever," she explained calmly, "but honestly he's one of the dumbest Djinns I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with. He made several mistakes while forming that contract."
She reached into her pouch while speaking and pulled out a lollipop.
"The biggest mistake was letting me have the final word during the agreement," she continued. "That let me subtly alter the nature of the contract while making it sound like I was simply repeating his terms back to him."
Bianca and Nico listened closely while Annabeth unwrapped the candy and placed it in her mouth.
"He originally said, 'Should you or anyone associated with you act against me,'" Annabeth explained. "But I changed it into, 'Should I or anyone that came with me act against you.'"
"But the hellhounds came with us," Bianca pointed out with a confused frown. "So why didn't the contract trigger?"
Annabeth smiled slightly as she held the lollipop by the stick. "That's where it gets a little tricky," she replied. "Technically the hellhounds did come with us, but they aren't truly independent entities. Not entirely. They're connected to somebody else. Somebody that never came with us in the first place."
Bianca slowly breathed out a single name. "Lucian."
"Bingo," Annabeth said with a grin before pulling the lollipop into her mouth with a quiet pop.
She tilted her head back slightly, staring up toward the ceiling with a pleased smile on her face. "So while none of us here could directly act against him," she said casually, "the same restriction didn't apply to our guardian angel."
Annabeth winked upward before kissing the lollipop dramatically and flicking it in a cheering gesture.
…
Far away from the ruins, Lucian sat cross-legged on the floor of the training hall. A floating crystal hovered in front of him, displaying the image of Annabeth winking directly toward him.
"Hahaha…" Lucian covered his mouth as he laughed softly to himself, an undeniable smile spreading across his face. "What a cheeky girl, using me like that."
…
"What? Bro is watching?" Nico asked in surprise.
He immediately started looking around randomly before tilting his head up toward the ceiling and waving both of his arms enthusiastically. "Hey Lucian! Can you see me?!"
Annabeth stared at him with a completely deadpan expression before casually grabbing the side of his head and physically turning it toward the actual direction Lucian was watching from.
"Wha—? He's over here?" Nico blinked before immediately waving again with an even bigger grin. "Heyyy!! Lucian!!"
Bianca facepalmed and let out a long exasperated sigh while Annabeth started laughing at Nico's behavior.
********************************************
+10 advance Chapters and my other patron exclusive content on: patreon.com/Shadow_D_Monarch3