Page 95 of Crown of Olympus
My heart raced, and my lungs dragged in short, half-filled breaths until pink and green blurred together in a dizzying whirl.
A panic attack loomed — I needed to arrest it now before I lost hours to it.
I rushed to turn the bath faucets on and climbed in fully dressed, still in my ridiculous ball gown, but I did not currently have the mental capacity to reign my shadows back in. Instead,they pulsed along with my pounding heartbeat as the water rose above my legs.
It was freezing.
Maybe cold was good. Maybe it would shock my brain into focusing on something other than pure panic. The water rose higher, and I slid lower, submerging my whole head. All I could hear was the white noise of water filling the tub.
Ckshhhhhhhhhhhh.
My mind emptied, save for that sound.
I had no need for air, just a desperation to numb my mind.
The icy chill numbed my mind as well as my body, and slowly, I calmed. My heartbeat decelerated, and I could finally unclench my fists.
A flicker of purple flashed above the surface just as a presence broke through the barrier I’d unwittingly created around my mind.
Mine.
A gentle, feminine voice. It sounded like the water itself had spoken.
But that couldn’t be right… unless the sprites were back.
Mine,it said again.
The voice definitely wasn’t coming from the water. It echoed quietly from some place inside my head.
Mine!
I broke the surface with a cough, spluttering droplets into the face of my slightly-less-tiny dragon.
“Vel?” I asked softly, unsure if I’d lost my mind completely in the panic.
Mine,she purred, nuzzling my cheek.
“Vel!” I sobbed. “You can speak?!”
She hummed happily in answer.
The bathroom door crashed open again, and I experienced a weird sort of déjà vu. It was Charon, striding purposefullytowards me. His eyebrows were drawn together, his pink lips pursed as he crashed to the floor beside the tub.
He reached forward, placing his palm against my cheek, brushing the sodden hair from my face in the process. Then, his forehead met mine.
“What happened?” he whispered.
“Nothing. Everything,” I sighed. “I don’t know. One moment I was fine — sure of my decision about my fate?—”
“Fate?”
I nodded, weary. Haltingly, I explained the night’s series of events to my best friend. From the ball, to the dancing, to the sisters and their trial.
“So you chose to accept it? This burden thrust upon you?” He huffed an exasperated breath as I nodded, then sighed again.
“You don’t deserve this, Nyss. You don’t deserve to have the fate of three entire realms resting on your shoulders. Six, if you include the afterlives!” He threw his hands in the air, echoing the agitation and helplessness I’d initially felt when Zeus hurled the prophecy my way.
I hadn’t wanted to believe it. But the words clawed into me, buried themselves deep within my skin, and Iknewthey would come to pass. I would either be the saviour of the realms, or the destruction of them.
