Shadows Of Gotham

They slithered into her dreams like ink spilling into water—slow at first, curling at the edges of her mind—then all at once, rushing in.

Amora was back in the forest near Camp Half-Blood. But it wasn't the forest she remembered. The trees were twisted, blackened, their branches clawing at the sky like the hands of the dead.

She was running. Her dagger was already drawn, the familiar weight of celestial bronze comforting in her grip. Something snarled behind her—guttural, low—and whatever comfort she'd felt vanished instantly.

A monster.

She didn't know which kind—didn't care. Her lungs burned. Her feet pounded the ground.

She couldn't stop.

Then suddenly—she wasn't running anymore.

She stood in a clearing, suffocated by fog. The sky above her was endless and empty—no stars, no moon, just a vast pressing void.

And in front of her: him.

A boy. No older than 10. A camper—his orange T-shirt torn, his face pale and wide-eyed. He stared at her like she was the monster.

Maybe she was.

Her heart dropped into her stomach.

"No," she whispered. "No, not this, Gods please, not this—"

But her body moved without her.

Her dagger raised. Shadows uncoiled around her, slithering up her arm like serpents—feeding her strength, feeding her fear.

The young boy backed away, trembling. "Amora, please stop! I'm sorry!"

"I didn't mean to!" she screamed, but her voice was swallowed by the darkness.

The shadows struck.

He crumpled before he even hit the ground. His eyes were still open.

Blood seeped into the earth.

"No, no, no—please—"

She dropped to her knees beside him, shaking, trying to pull him up, shake him awake, anything.

She tried to scream for help.

But no sound came out.

Her hands cradled his lifeless face, slick with thick, dark blood. Around her, the shadows pulsed with energy.

They were satisfied.

She looked up—and the forest was gone.

Now, she stood in the Underworld.

Obsidian pillars loomed around her. A black throne rose in the distance. Firelight from the River Phlegethon flickered across the space in eerie shades of red and gold. And there, at the base of the throne.