Young Writers Society

Hades smiled when Annabeth took charge of the situation. His smile didn't falter when Frank kept shouting at him, even though he knew a smiling opponent was far from what Frank needed to calm down.

He turned back to Frank.

"I'll give you your gun back when Annabeth's done with the monster," he said, the smile finally disappearing a little. He had to play mediator, and he couldn't let his relief endanger Annabeth's plan. "You were the one who wanted her to take care of this situation. Please let her handle it the way that she thinks is best. If you shoot at the monster, you'll only be putting her in danger by angering it."

Kazimir figured now that Annabeth seemed confident, he'd follow her lead.

"Okay, but we're right here if you need us," he said in a hushed voice before he quietly and slowly backed away towards Frank.

If Frank did something stupid, Kazimir could just tackle him or something.

Elias looked down at the bloody hand print Annabeth left on his shoulder, but then brushed it off as he gazed at her bravely walking up to the monster by himself.

She was brave. Much braver than he could ever be.

"...Okay," he whispered to her, even though he didn't say it loud enough for her to hear. "You can do it, Annabeth."

Elias followed her instructions, wordlessly backing away with small steps towards Frank and the others, and looking up at her with hope and empathy in his eyes.

Because that was all he could do. Hope she would be okay. That everything would be okay.

Surrounded by a man who had magic dancing on his fingertips, another man who looked ready to snap his neck, and a boy who would defend his friends no matter what, Frank swallowed the vile words he was about to say and backed down. But it didn't stop him from glaring at them.

"If it's all the same to you, I would like my gun back now, please," he muttered as nicely as he could. "I will not jeopardize her mission, but I will not be made to look like a child." He wanted some of his dignity back.

Meanwhile, Annabeth -heart pounding- was edging closer and closer to the Fouke Monster. The creature had noticed her now, and it started to growl in a low, deep voice. Annabeth froze, trembling, but she was resolved not to run, and steadied her nerve. She crouched so she was smaller than it and held up her hands to show no harm.

"H-Hi," she said in a small voice, then she cleared her throat. "Well, this is quite the predicament we both got ourselves in, huh?" She attempted a laugh, but it came out as a whimper. Annabeth cleared her throat again and inched a step forward, but the Fouke Monster growled again, and its eyes were looking up and down Annabeth's form.

Confused, she glanced down and saw the unused weapons on her belt. Realization dawned on her, and Annabeth slowly unbuckled the belt and threw it aside. Now, she truly was defenseless.

At Frank's request, Hades glanced over at Annabeth.

It looked like she was talking to the Fouke Monster in a gentle tone. He almost started to lower the weapon to hand it back to Frank, but then he saw her unbuckling her belt and throwing her weapons to the side.

Hades glanced down at his own belt.

"I'm going to put your gun down on the ground," he softly said, not wanting to disturb Annabeth or the monster. "I think Annabeth is trying to show that we don't mean any harm. I'll put my gun down, too."

He slowly and carefully lowered the gun down with his darkness, resting it at Frank's feet. Then he just as slowly removed his belt, placing it down with care and purpose.

If the situation were not so tense after everything they had gone though, Elias would have cheered for Annabeth -- but he knew that she needed peace and quiet as she comforted the monster.

C'mon, Annabeth, you can do it, he thought to himself, then noted how she and Hades had taken off their belts. Wordlessly, he took off his belt and set it on the ground too, although it wasn't like he knew how to use any of the weapons on it, anyways.

Kazimir realized that everyone was letting down their weapons, following Annabeth's cue to do so.

While he was reluctant to let down his guard, it angered him more that Frank was resistant to follow Annabeth's lead, so he slowly disarmed himself out of pure spite. He took off his belt, let down his guns, and set it all on the side furthest from Frank.

He shot Frank a warning look that read: "I will strangle you, just in case you think of touching any of the weapons on the ground."

The tense atmosphere slowly lessened as the Fouke Monster glanced back and forth between Annabeth and her discarded belt. Then, it let out what seemed to be a contented grumble and sat on its haunches.

Annabeth took this as a good sign, so she continued moving forward. It wasn't until she felt its hot breath on her hair that she realized how close she was.

Its red eyes were inches from her face. Annabeth let out a small shriek and jumped away, but she immediately regretted it, for her wound hurt worse than before.

"Okay, okay, sorry," she said, between painful breaths. "Still trying to work this out." The Fouke Monster also grumbled in pain, and Annabeth's eyes flickered across its own wounds.

"Hades..." she croaked, "Hades, stop its bleeding too... please," she added.

Annabeth bowed her head. "I'm sorry this happened to you," she said quietly.

The Fouke Monster bowed its head too, and concern filled its eyes.

"You're not evil," she said. "You're just trying to survive."

In the distance, the mist surrounded the farm, but Annabeth only had eyes for the Fouke Monster. It slowly came toward them, getting faster by the minute.

Frank raised his hands and backed away. "Not gonna touch it," he said.

Annabeth took a deep breath and raised her hand slowly, palm facing toward the beast.

"This won't ever happen again," she said. "I will never try to hurt any monster."

But you might have to, whispered a voice in her head. Annabeth pushed it to the back of her mind.

The Fouke Monster hesitated, then it raised its own hand and pressed it against hers.

When Annabeth smiled, the mist swallowed them all.

Maggie had nearly forgotten this was an illusion.

Careful hands wielding familiar tools like extensions of themselves widdled stone into shapes anew. Maggie was against power tools. Or, they were against them, so Maggie used the old methods for which they had become infamous in this sprawling city.

The loft was open, with wide windows spanning every wall, and only curtains to separate the rooms. Maggie worked in the primary space, the door to their back and an expansive view of the bustling city before them behind their current project.

The original shape of the stone had been hewn away, but the shape of the very skyline they observed before them was starting to take shape.

A curtain to the left of the room hid their unused stone. So much work to do, and an eternity to do it.

Kazimir was back in his normal clothes. He was confused for a moment if that meant he was back home or not, or if he was in another bad dream of his again. But then he saw Maggie was back, and it started to make sense.

They'd been going through everybody's nightmares as a group. It only made sense that they got to Maggie eventually.

It looked like they were in a workshop of sorts, and Maggie was carving out pieces of rock.

He wondered how this would go wrong.

"Maggie," he said, cutting through the silence. "You missed it. Annabeth made a new monster friend."

Maggie jumped and whirled around, one of their tools clattering to the ground. Once they saw who it was, they scowled. "I'm busy."

They stooped to pick up their dropped tool and turned back to their project.

The world suddenly shifted again.

For a moment, Hades was convinced that he had ended up in another part of Annabeth's trial. His clothes were nearly identical to the ones he had been wearing while fighting the Fouke Monster. But this room was different than the ones at the farm, and he was noticeably missing the weapons he had on earlier.

Maggie was some kind of artist. Though he couldn't have known that Kaz had just wondered the same thing, he couldn't help but be confused by how such a seemingly peaceful scene could go wrong. The only thing that came to mind was how quickly Maggie dismissed Kaz and his comment.

Hades had felt off in every place other than the Underworld, but he felt especially off in Maggie's work area.

"What are you working on?" he asked. He didn't move towards Maggie; he already felt like he was being too invasive by asking that question. If this wasn't some sort of trial that Maggie had to overcome, Hades would have been happy to leave them to their art.

Maggie sighed. They'd been half-hoping the others would just go away. Go hang out in that cave they started in or something. But it looked like they were sticking around.

They stepped back from their project and turned to face them. From the state of them, Annabeth in particular, Maggie had to assume that encounter of theirs didn't go so swimmingly.

"What does it look like," they sighed in answer to Hades' question, gesturing to the half finished work. "Would you people get out of my loft?"

It looked like a chipped rock. Or maybe the fine details had hidden themselves from her glassy eyes.

As soon as the mist had dropped them off, black spots erupted in Annabeth's vision and her legs trembled. Afraid that Hades's spell had broken, she placed a hand over her wounds. The blood was still warm, but it wasn't spilling over her hand. Her shoulders sagged in exhaustive relief.

She had faced her fear, so Annabeth was ready to just keel over and sleep for a week. She felt like keeling over. There was no doubt her face looked like a ghost.

"Frank got a little too trigger-happy," she said, "but the Fouke Monster will be okay. Sorry, is there a chair or something around? I feel faint."

She looked around and spotted a chair and sat down, easing back.

Maggie grimaced. It would be impossible to get bloodstains out of that sofa after this.

"At least take the throw pillows off," they said and returned their attention to the piece. They were lucky enough for the timing, they supposed, being this far into the piece by the time the others arrived. Annabeth in particular. Maggie wasn't afraid of her, especially not while she was in this state, but having a monster hunter in their loft wasn't something Maggie was too happy about.