Unstable (For Always_Love_Books_)

The cold had nothing to do with how she felt. The temperature was so low it was like being in the arctic. He sat next to her, his shoulder bumping hers. And they stared down into the chasm.

"Thalia!" Nico yelled, appearing out of the shadows. In the distance some blond Apollo guy was screaming at him. Thalia waved it away. As soon as he appeared a dozen of the hunters had arrows in his face.

Thalia waved them back. "Yes, Di Angelo?" She knew he had a rocky relationship with the hunters, ever since...Bianca. She knew he wouldn't be here unless it was a dire emergency.

Her silver parka didn't block out the cold feeling. It just made it worse. The cold seeped through the stones she sat on, through the layers of fabric, twisting around her arms like tendrils of darkness.

"It's Luke, Thalia." Nico gasped, "He's trying to jump into the river Lethe."

Thalia remained stock still. Her heart fluttered. A lonely pitiful sound escaped her mouth.

"Thalia," Nico said, "he's going to forget everything."

Her legs felt like Jell-o. Her hunters eyed the exchange with curiosity, alienating the atmosphere.

"You have to do something." Thalia whispered, "Stop him."

"I can't. He won't listen to me. He's not even trying for rebirth. He's just jumping into the Lethe to forget everything. Souls that do that...they get swept away by the current."

She felt empty, broken, lost. The rocky cliff thundered next to them. The roar of the water seemed to faint, not dangerous, not the river calling out like the thieves that steal the souls of the people we love most.

Her breath came out short, her feet hit the uneven rock ground in strides that were almost unearthly. She didn't know where she was going. Just running. The darkness was brooding, echoing with wails, misguided intentions. She kept going. She had to find him. Stop him.

She scrambled on the rocks. She'd lost Nico somewhere far behind her. A lifetime of running from everything— her mom, the gods, her own heartbreak— she ran like she never had before. It wasn't for her anymore. It was for him.

"Please.... Please...."

"Please...Please..." She begged the twisted Fates. The horrible old ladies that totally needed to be replaced (*Cough* *Cough*) that had already tore apart most of her life, that had caused her so much pain... Please don't do this to her now.

She could no longer think. Her mind buzzed. The cold bore into her soul, sucking away the happiness. Had there been any Happiness?

"LUKE!" She voice sliced the underworld with a sharp command. She saw him. His ghost paleness, his wispy form that shifted constantly. The boy who found her, Grew up with her, Was her. Even after his death, even after her oath to Artemis, he still held her heart.

His eyes widen when he saw her, and he backed more towards the cliff edge. A cornered animal look, shame, disappointment.

His voice cut her more than any blade could. "You shouldn't have come."

No she didn't think there had been any happiness.

"What Hades are you doing?!"

Luke winced like he'd been smacked. "I can't do this, Thals."

"You're right you can't!" She yelled, "Don't jump! Don't do it!" She was still to far away to stop him if he did. Still to even