Trials of Tartarus

Chapter Twelve 

Caltaya’s POV

“Crickets, I know that look,” Mutt says. “Is it really that bad of a plan?”

I bite my bottom lip, “It’s not as bad as your first one.”

“But bad?” he asks.

I shrug helplessly.

“Cal! Come on! I know that you’re powerful enough to defeat the Trial Master! You just have to believe it!” Mutt exclaims. “You can do it! I know you can!”

“It’s not that simple!” I retort. “I don’t have that power anymore.”

“Just because you can’t feel it doesn’t mean it’s not there! I promise! You’ll do great,” Mutt replies.

“Well that’s nice and all, but we can’t just rely on a maybe,” I say. “Otherwise we’ll be dead before we hit the exit.”

Mutt groans, hanging his head. “I really thought that this would work.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“It’s not your fault,” Mutt says. “I’m just really starting to hate whoever made your powers go zippity zappity bye bye.”

Oh if you only knew who your words would make you hate.

“Don’t do that,” I say, shaking my head. “You’re better than that.”

“It’s just,” Mutt says, throwing his hands up. “What kind of person would kill someone else’s loved one? I mean, that’s just absolutely rude and wrong and impractical. And you just can’t do that! You don’t resort to killing! The only person you destroy by doing that is yourself!”

His words cut through my heart.

“I uh,” I start, blinking so that I wouldn’t cry. “I gotta go.”

“Cal?” Mutt says, concerned.

He reaches out to grab my arm, I shake my head at him and hurry away from him. Tears running down my face.

I watched from the one-sided glass as Mutt competes in the next trial. The trial of hatred. He stood in the center of the room, looking confused. I use my powers to spell out the message: How well do you know your friends?

He frowns at that message and looks around. Out of nowhere Quinn appears, laughing lightly and leaning against the wall.

“Quinn!” Mutt exclaims, leaping forward. “Hey! You’re here!”

He sounded so hopeful, it was almost too painful to watch. Almost. Quinn glares at him.

“Oh great,” she says. “Who invited you?”

“What?” Mutt asks. “No, Quinn what are you doing here?”

“Um, excuse you? The better question is what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay the hell away from me!” Quinn snaps.

“What?” Mutt whispers.

“Oh jeez, sorry, was I using my inside voice when I said it?” Quinn demands. “Lemme clear that right up then. I HATE YOU! I WISH THAT YOU HAD NEVER BEEN BORN! YOU RUIN EVERYTHING NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!”

And with that I make her disappear. Mutt stumbles backwards, like he’d been shot. His eyes were wide and he looked like he was about to be sick.

“I’m sorry Mutt,” I whisper.

The next person appears, it was Lenzie.

“Lenz?” Mutt whispers. “Thank god! Quinn. Something’s wrong with her. She’s… she’s acting weird.”

Lenzie scoffs, “Well can you blame her? After what you did?!”

“What did I do?” Mutt cries out.

“Oh right, play dumb now. I can’t believe Poseidon didn’t kill you at birth. The gods know that everyone would’ve been better off because of it. Everything that’s happened has been your fault,” Lenzie snaps.

“Hey lay off him!” James says, appearing across the room. “It’s not his fault that he was born. And besides, it’s more of our fault for not killing him when we had the chance.”

“What are you guys talking about?!” Mutt shouts.

“I can’t believe you would murder Moon!” Alex snaps, showing up outta nowhere, standing next to Mutt.

“What?” Mutt whispers, eyes going wider, if that was even possible.

“Did you ever care that she was pregnant?” Alex demands. “Did you even care that you guys were about to have a child? Be a family!”

“All she ever did wrong was love you,” Lenzie adds.

“A mistake we all made,” James snaps.

“Never again,” Alex says.

Mutt falls to his knees, tears streaming down his face.

“No!” He cries. “It’s not real.”

He presses his hands against his head.

“It’s not real. No. It’s not real. NO!”

I wave my hand, letting the three holograms disappear. A darkness was setting inside my stomach.

“It’ll be over soon,” I whisper, even though he couldn’t hear me.

He was sitting down, repeating, It’s not real. It can’t be real. Over and over again. Rocking back and forth on the spot, hands still pressed against each side of his head.

“You’ll be broken soon enough. And then the pain will end, and the hate will set in. Just hold on. Wait for the hate,” I whisper.

Then I send him back to his room.

𝌀

When I walked into Mutt’s room about an hour later he was passed out on the bed. I walk over to his desk, another letter to Moon was sitting on it.