chapter 5: some shitty therapy

She whirled around, drawing her dagger and plopping Nico onto a sofa as she stood in front of him.

"Somebody's protective, huh?"

She looked around, trying to discern the voice, but she couldn't see anything. "Where are you? Show yourself!"

She could hear the smirk in the person's voice. "If you insist..."

Suddenly, a figure appeared to her left. She looked at the man, and did a quick analysis. He wore a black T-shirt covered with a leather jacket with some ratty jeans. His belt contained a knife, and his hair was covered with a bandana. And his red eyes...

Suddenly, her vision changed. She felt herself collapsing, and she blinked.

She was in the middle of a jungle, a battlefield. She was running, blood flying everywhere and gunshots making her ears ring.

Soldiers were littered throughout the place, but she could care less about who they were. They tried shooting at her, but she was moving too quickly. She ducked and weaved, bullets hitting the tree she was right next to, the log that she crawled under, the dirt where she just stood.

Her heart pounded in her chest. Tears came to her eyes she fingers shook. She knew this wasn't real, but she was still terrified.

At least she knew who the person was. Phobos, God of Panic. If you look into his eyes, he shows you your worst fear.

That made the situation even more wonderful.

She just had to get out of here to confront him.

Now how do I conquer this fear...

She screamed as the ground in front of her exploded, a bullet hitting the dirt. They were closer and closer to hitting her.

She was the daughter of Deimos. I can do this.

And the ground in front of her exploded again, causing her to shriek and sprint faster.

She stopped to catch her breath. Standing with her back to a tree, she tried to willed her fear away with Deimos's abilities. Suddenly the vision flickered like she was doing the right thing.

Then she heard a creaking sound. One of the trees started falling towards her. She panicked, closing her eyes and reaching a hand out in front of her.

Then she felt something in her hand. Feels like bark...

She cracked an eye open. She was holding the fallen tree with one of her hands.

What the hell... How did I just do that?

Just then, three gunshots sounded, hitting the tree she was holding. Her eyes widened, letting the tree drop as she looked where to go next.

She saw a small cozy space between trees. Hurriedly, she dashed towards the area and kept running. About a minute later, she was hiding behind another tree, catching her breath.

I should be trying to get out.

Closing her eyes, she put her concentration into removing her fear again. Her eyes squeezed shut as the sounds of gunshots faded around her, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

The vision flickered once, twice, and a whole lot more after that. She thought she could see Phobos putting her onto the sofa, getting her into a comfortable position with Nico's head in her lap.

I've got this...

Just then, three bullets hit above her head, and her eyes snapped open. She quickly inhaled a breath, trying not to cry as she ducked.

She kept running, feeling slightly more confident. She knew how to get out, now all she had to do was put it into action. The shots were missing her by a lot, hitting a tree that she was at least 10 feet away from.

She still felt like shit, though.

She went back-to-back with a tree one last time, putting all her concentration into it. In the back of her mind, she was getting frustrated, and she let that overpower her as she willed her mind to do what it was told.

Get. Out. Of. My. HEAD!

Her vision cleared up, finding her positioned on the couch with Nico.

"Well, I truly apologize for that inconvenience." The man said.

"Phobos," Hoa muttered. "What the hell do you want from me?"

The god of Panic gave her a smirk. "Well, the maze has a mysterious way of working." he said. "I didn't bring you here, to begin with."

"Then why am I here?" she growled.

He winked at her. "I imagine that someone... close to you may want to pay you a visit."

She crossed her arms. "Who the hell even has enough of a connection with me to even care about me?"

Phobos gestured at a door that she hadn't noticed before. "You will have to go and find out."

She narrowed her eyes. "Can't I at least have some ambrosia, or some water bottles?"

He furrowed his eyebrows at her, then sighed. "Demigods... so demanding."

Frustration boiled inside of her. "What? Us 'demanding demigods' die all the time for whatever you gods force us do!"

He rolled his eyes. "Details, details." He snapped his fingers. A backpack full of who knows what appeared in his hands appeared in his hands.

He tossed it towards her. "It should have everything you need; ambrosia, nectar, water. Now get going."

She stared at him, careful to avoid looking at his eyes. Did a god just show pity towards her?

She shrugged it off, unzipping it and pouring a bit of nectar into Nico's mouth. His eyes snapped open, but he relaxed. He began to look at Phobos, but she gave him a little warning. "No eye contact."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"He's Phobos. He shows you your worst fear if you do."

"Oh."

"Feeling better?" she asked. "Need me to carry you?"

"No." He moved his leg forwards, with little indication of pain on his face. Slowly, he took step after step.

She was a bit disappointed, but she didn't say anything. Wait, why was she disappointed?

She trailed after him, glancing at Phobos occasionally carefully avoiding his eyes. When she walked closer to him, she poked his arm and whispered to him. "Thank you," she said, then walked faster to catch up with Nico.

Nico stopped at the door Phobos gestured to earlier. He glanced at her, and said, "Ready?"

Hoa nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."

She drew her bow and gave her dagger to Nico. "Just until we find you a weapon," she said.

He took it with a grateful look. "Thank you," he whispered.

She glanced back at Phobos once more and opened the door.

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hi im madi, your loyal author ♥️

you saw hoa's worst fear today 0-0. i hope i wrote that well, it was a bit unclear. any advice people can give would be greatly appreciated and used in the later chapters. also, did i put too much of hoa's thought in here? i feel like i did...

phobos is kinda... odd. i read the demigod files once and dont remember, so i had to refer to the wiki. i didnt know how he spoke, so welp. thats great.

also, school's starting soon! i might upload less then i am right now. just wanna let yall know 👍

what are your opinions on these--

how was the chapter?

what do you think of hoa's worst fear?

what do you think it is?

who do you think is behind the door?

why do you think phobos helped her/felt guilty for her?

what do you think is gonna happen next?

also, what are some questions of your own?

anyways, tysm for reading this crappy book! 😃