Isabella, Tartarus survivor

A flying ship? The world sure has advanced since I was here.

Chapter 20

I blinked a couple of times as my eyes opened. I was surrounded by wooden walls. Someone was holding my hand. Someone was holding my hand! I bolted up, twisted the arm of the hand holder, and had them on the floor before they could blink. I went to draw my dagger, but it was gone. I put one foot on their chest, and held my hands out threateningly. "Where is it?" I growled.

"Issy... Issy it's me." The boy I had my foot on choked out. "It's Nico!" I narrowed my eyes.

"Don't. Lie. To me." I said, through gritted teeth.

"I'm not!" The boy managed to get out. I noticed that he wasn't trying to fight back. He was just letting me keep him on the floor. I took my foot off his chest, and stepped back.

"Who are you?" The boy went to reply, but I cut him off. "Who are you, really?" I asked.

"Nico!" He said again. "Issy, I promise you, it's really me!"

"Nico's dead." I said. My voice cracked on the last word, and I silently cursed myself. I couldn't be weak in front of this person. They would use my weaknesses against me. "And if he isn't then he's old. Old enough to be your grandfather. He certainly isn't some teenage boy."

"He is." The boy, claiming to be Nico replied.

"Forget it. Let's get two things straight. Who told you my name? And where's my dagger?"

"I know your name because I'm your brother." The boy said. I went to snap at him again, but he cut me off this time. "And Jason took your dagger. Percy and Annabeth, they..." The boy choked, and looked on the verge of tears. "They told us how long you were in Tartarus. Jason said that your weapons should be taken off you, in case you tried to hurt someone. Issy, I'm so sorry, I... I didn't know. I swear. I would have tried to get you, I would have-" I kicked him in the chest and he fell to the floor, winded. I ran to the door, pulled it open, stepped outside and shut the door behind me.

A blonde haired boy, looking tired and wearing glasses that had obviously been thrown on, as they were hanging precariously off his nose. "Wha- what's going on?" he asked in a sleepy tone, then his eyes fell on me. "What are you doing?" His voice sounded more awake now. I looked at him, then towards the empty corridor. I saw stairs going up. I took off running, away from him. "Hey, wait!" I heard his voice coming from behind me. A female voice joined his.

"Jace, what's going on?" It said.

"That girl, Isabella, she's just taken off running!"

"Why didn't Nico stop her?" Then came the boy called Nico's voice.

"She kicked me, sorry."

"Damn."

I was on the next floor by this point, and could hear the others at the foot of the stairs.

"Issy, stop!" Said the lying boy's voice. I turned and ran up the next flight of stairs. I could see sky. It was night. The stars looked so... beautiful. And familiar. It felt like the sky hadn't changed in 71 years. It was comforting. I used to stargaze with Bianca and Nico. The actual Nico. I made it onto the deck. This was a ship. I got as far as the railings on the... what was it called.... Starboard side?, when the others made it upstairs. Three more people had joined them, two I recognized, Percy and Annabeth, and two I didn't. She was small, and had long, frizzy black hair, and he was also small, but he looked Latino and had impish features.

"Isabella, what's wrong?" Percy asked, taking a step forward. I took a step back.

"Please," I said, "Please don't come any closer." Percy stayed where he was.

"What's oing on?" He asked.

"What's going on," I began, in an angry tone, "Is that I have no idea where I am, I'm thankful for you getting me out, but I have no idea why I trusted you two, it's been 71 years since I last saw the earth, so I have no idea what to expect, and to top it all off, some random teenage boy is claiming to be my twin brother. But he can't be, because Nico has to be dead." There was a sharp intake of breath at that from the small crowd in front of me. The boy who was calling himself Nico scratched the back of his head and grinned awkwardly, a gesture that made my heart pang. He used to do that, when we got caught doing something bad.

"Surprise?" He said, in an awkward voice. The small girl with the frizzy black hair looked at him.

"Nico, you have a-"

"I'll explain later." The boy interrupted. Why was everyone calling him Nico? It couldn't actually be him, could it? Maybe he was Nico's grandson or something. The thought made me shudder. I was a great-aunt at the age of fourteen. I gripped onto the bannisters, looking over the edge. I wanted to see the see again, but the sea wasn't there. We were... flying! I yelped in shock.

"How on earth is your ship flying?" I asked. The Latino looking boy stepped forward.

"Complex engineering." He smiled proudly. As he stepped forward, I stepped back again, holding my hands out in a threatening gesture. Shadows were beginning to form at my fingertips, under the light of three lamps that were providing light.

"Stay. Back." I said again. A look of guilt crossed the boy's face. A girl stepped forward now. The shadows began crawling along the floor, making their way to the feet of my audience.

"Calm down." Her voice sounded strangely soothing, and I wanted to do as she said. "And step away from the edge." It clicked then. I knew what she was doing. I'd seen it in Tartarus.

"STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!" I screamed, and this time, I jumped on top of the railing, arms out wide. "I'll jump." I said. "If you try that again, I'll jump." Her voice came again, more forcefully this time.

"Get down from the edge. Talk to us."

"Ok. Here's something we can talk about. Goodbye." I said, and I jumped off of the edge.

I was in freefall. It was quite invigorating. I had a plan though. I was going to use the shadows. I'd done it once before, thought about being somewhere else and somehow arrived there. I closed my eyes and began to think of a place I'd want to fall. Travelling wouldn't slow the descent, so I'd want to choose somewhere soft to land. Bed. I thought. Suddenly, I felt a pair of strong arms wrapping around my waist. My eyes flew open, and turned to look. It was the blonde haired boy, Jace, I think the girl had called him. My fall began to slow.

"Calm down!" He yelled, the wind whipping his voice away as we fell. I was thrashing about in his grip.

"Let go!" I yelled. I managed to elbow him in the nose, and his arms slipped from my waist.  Just long enough for me to get away. The girl who'd been messing with my head yelled something. The only words I could make out were Sally Jackson. I wondered who that was, but I didn't have much time to think about it. I slipped into the shadows, and was gone.

A/N~ It's done! Nico and Isabella have been reunited, although only for a short amount of time. I hope you guys enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please, please review, it's always so nice to see other people's reactions to my work. See you next time! Alaya out.