"GAH!" Leo groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth. He was clearly in pain, and clearly trying to hide that fact. He didn't want to give Nyx that satisfaction. His hands were tied above his head to the whipping post, his bare back facing out and making it incredibly easy for Armani to whip him.

Armani gave one last whip against his back, drawing even more blood, then walked back over to a table where a wide variety of whips were held. He set the one he was using, a simple leather one, down, and picked up a similar one. Only difference was this one had spikes. He smirked, walking back over to Leo.

"Hopefully this'll teach you a lesson," Armani said. He adjusted his stance, then whipped Leo hard against the back, the spikes digging into his skin. Armani roughly jerking the spikes out and tearing at his skin, letting out a scream of pain from Leo.

"Stop!" Leo cried. "Stop, stop!"

-

"Stop!" I cried, tugging at my hair, "Please, stop!"

"Shh," The nice girl, Nevaeh said soothingly, "It's okay, I'm healing you. I know it stings, but it'll feel all better when I'm done, okay?"

"O-okay," I stuttered. Nevaeh finished rubbing the aloe like stuff on my wound, and sure enough, it immediately began to feel better and mend itself.

"All better?" Nevaeh smiled. I nodded shakily. She helped my stand up and brushed some of the dirt off my shirt. "Do you have a home?"

Home? The word sounded foreign to me. I didn't have a home. I never did. I looked down, not feeling the strength to give her an answer. "I'm guessing that's a no. That's okay! I'll take you to mine!"

"Your... home?" I said, looking up into her warm, gray eyes.

"Yeah!" She said happily. "Come on, I'll show you! It's not that far!" She grabbed my hand and began to pull me deeper and deeper into the trees, them thickening and the forest getting darker the deeper we went.

Suddenly, we burst into an open grove of trees. The air felt so thick, it felt like I could cut it with a pair of scissors. She led me over to a large tree. It somehow seemed different then the others, but I didn't know how.

She pulled down a branch like a lever, it seemed very cartoony, and the tree began to glow with some sort of black light. A moment later, the glowing faded, but there was a hole in the tree. A door. I realized my mouth was wide open and quickly snapped it shut.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Nevaeh grinned. She jumped into the tree and I gasped. Where did she go? I ran over to it and looked down to see the entrance dropped down into a deep hole. Not good. Not good at all.

But Nevaeh seemed to trust it, and she seemed very nice and confident. I guess if she thought it was safe, then I should too. I took a deep breath, counted down from three, and leaped down.

-

"Hmm," Armani said boredly. He turned to me and I tensed. "Want to go, Babe?"

I turned to look at Nyx who was staring at me. What would she do if I refused? "Uh, sure," I said. I straightened the skirt of my dress, before walking over to Armani and nervously taking the spiked whip from him. He grinned at me, walking back over to Nyx who both watched me intently.

Leo looked back at me, his face was covered with bruises and scratches, covered in dirt. The scariest thing of all was how broken his eyes looked. He had been through a shit ton, and was about to go through ten times more. Before he ran away and was just an average prisoner, his eyes used to be the only thing about him that held life. Now, all of that was gone. This wasn't Leo Valdez, just a shell of him.

"Go on with it," Leo said quietly, his voice quiet and hoarse, "Get it over with."

He shut his eyes, turning back around to face the pole. I raised the whip, and as if he sensed it, Leo's back tensed, preparing himself. I didn't know why I was hesitating. I've whipped him along with other prisoners and the demigods dozens of times without a problem. What was stopping me now?

I inhaled sharply, closing my eyes and gritting my teeth as I let the whip fall to the ground, a tear trickling down my cheek.