“I’ll catch you, I promise,” Mhari called up, as if reading my thoughts. “Hurry!” she yelled again, looking around her worriedly.
There was no more time to hesitate. I could hear them now—the Academy guard shouting to each other, affirmations that they could hear me, and questions of who I was with.
I had no choice. I took hold of the hose and climbed over the rooftop's edge.
I wrapped my ankles around the hose and lowered myself as fast as I could without losing my grip. The hose wobbled from side to side, unnervingly, but I continued to make quick progress—at least I hoped it was good progress. My eyes were shut tight from fear.
“Okay, stop!” Mhari shouted, and I looked down for the first time, seeing that I was near the end of the hose. I looked back at my hands, away from the ground that was still too far away.
“Just let go. I’ve got you,” Mhari called confidently.
“Here!” a guard shouted, and I saw a man and President Minerva leaning over the rooftop's edge.
“Who is that with her?” I heard President Minerva ask.
“House Maria,” the guard answered.
“Should we cut the hose?” I heard another guard ask.
My decision was made. But still, I hesitated. I didn’t know Mhari, and here I was, hanging onto a hose, midair, about to let go and trust that some girl I didn’t really know would catch me. What was she doing helping me in the first place?
“Cut the hose,” I heard the command given.
I let go.
My stomach felt weightless during the brief fall. Mhari caught me as she had promised. The impact was not easy—it was hard. Mhari wavered and fell to her knees.
“Could have given a warning,” she said as she let me fall more gently from her arms to the ground. I got up, feeling off balance and wobbled on my feet. Mhari stood as well and shook her arms, rotating one arm out and massaging her shoulder.
“What now?” I asked.
Mhari straightened her back and looked up, then around us. “It’s a lot faster getting down all those stairs than it is going up. We run,” she said and wasted no time, immediately taking off, her long legs carrying her fast.
I did my best to keep up with her as I followed Mhari to the grove towards the main school building.
I hadn’t entered the grove since the Summer Ball. It wasn’t that I had been avoiding it—not purposefully—but Selene had. Or at least, that was the result of her orders. Either way, I was not allowed to enter the grove again.
But I had no choice. The Grove was the quickest way to the school. Selene was in classes in the main building, and there was a chance I could make it to her—if she was okay herself.
I sent a silent prayer to Poseidon that she was safe and that the Royal Guard were with her. Still, I hesitated before entering the grove. My heart beat fast—faster than it really should have. Iwas exerting myself, but not to the extent that my heart should have been hammering painfully and my chest felt tight.
It was just a grove. It was the way to safety. But my feet refused to move.
“C’mon, hurry,” Mhairi called, looking over her shoulder. I tried to move at her words, but my chest constricted tighter. The darkness of the grove seemed to grow out towards me, almost as dark as the night of the Summer Ball. Mhari came to a stop herself. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I, I, I can’t,” I confessed.
Mhari ran back to me and took hold of my shoulders, looking my body up and down. “You aren’t hurt,” she said.
“No, I—” I stuttered. Mhari growled, and a look of realisation crossed her face.
“I know it’s scary. Something bad happened here, right?” she asked. All I could do was nod. “Right, right.” She took a deep breath as if to calm herself.
“I need you to take a deep breath in through your nose for me, Percy. Can you do that? With me?” she said and began to inhale through her nose. Confused, I copied her.
“Great, hold it,” I did, “Now out, through your mouth,” I copied her again.
We repeated the same action twice, ignoring the sound of the guard shouting and approaching from behind me. “Okay, feel better?” Mhari asked, her eyes focused over my shoulder.
