Heart of Lava
I own nothing… (Except for the OC's and the plot). Rick Riordan does...
Chapter 1 – Breaking from a mental hospital
"I think I found him Mr. Chiron" Hopper told nervously to the centaur in the IM. He didn't really like this place, even if he was there during the daylight. And who could judge him? They were outside the building where said satyr had smelled a demigod. It took him a lot of time to find him or her because his scent, in his words, was human-like. He had to spend days around the place to detect other things such as clay, earth and berries. Needless to say, Hopper was hungry and nervous; never a good combination. The centaur on the rainbow-like proyection was looking slightly nervous too. This was one of the farthest extractions a group of demigods had made. And he was sending two teenagers that had never leave the camp.
Hopper was a blond satyr with wavy hair which was perfect to hide his horns. He was dressed with black sweatpants, a long sleeved gray shirt and a pair of crutches
"Thanks the gods, I can't imagine how much that poor kid must have suffered inside that place" Chiron said looking worried to the team he had sended to aid in the rescue. It was composed of Cecil, and Lou Ellen. Both of them dressed casual and looking slightly insecure at the building in front of them. Of all the places where a demigod could be, he or she had to in a mental hospital. Just perfect. The funniest thing, they had to travel in Pegasus from camp to Baltimore. Sweet
"Uhm… Sir, couldn't you send, I don't know, more experienced campers to this mission?" Cecil asked after sending a few glances to the place where the demigod was supposed to be. "Yes Mr. Chiron, I'm pretty sure Piper could have completed this mission in a blink of an eye" Lou supported Cecil.
"Look, you two along Hopper are more than enough to complete this mission, that and that Piper was busy trying to fix the mess Drew did" Chiron responded from the Iris Mesagge, while rubbing his temples. Whatever Drew did must have been horrible if it was stressing the centaur like that.
"All you only have to do is go inside that damn place, break out the demigod and escape from the authorities. Simple as wine" Said Mr. D who had appeared next to Chiron on the proyection
"It WOULD be simple if it wasn't a freaking MENTAL HOSPITAL. Mr. Chiron a little help over here" said Cecil trying to get Chiron's attention
"Demigods, always complaining about everything. Mr. D. don't turn me into a crazy dolphin, Mr. D. the Ares cabin crash their chariot into the Apollo Cabin, again. I´m a god, not a babysitter," And with that, he disappeared in a *POOF*, leaving a purplish smoke behind
Chiron gave an exasperated sigh and brought his last trick from his deck "Just help the demigod and come back here. If you do well in the mission I might give the Hermes and Hecate's cabin permission to participate in the April's Fool of this year, is that okay for you?" Was he being serious? Lou eyes widened and an evil smirk took over her face. The same happened to Cecil. Meanwhile Hopper was trying to not be scared by their faces. A prankster daughter of Hecate and a Son of Hermes were a deadly combination.
"DEAL" Both of them yelled as hard as they could while they made the message disappear so Chiron couldn't take back what he said. They looked back at the satyr who was just chilling there with a blank face like saying 'Did he just doomed us all?'
"What are you doing standing there? We got a demigod to save from an asylum" Cecil told the satyr in a cheerful way. It almost made him forget that they were about to enter to a home for crazy people to break out a demigod who probably was as crazy as these two. Yei!
They went inside the asylum without hesitation. It's white walls and floors blinding them for a moment until they were able to see their surroundings. A few couches were spread all over the lobby but many of them were covered in dust. A few posters of people smiling and kittens hanging on a tree were hanging on the walls. At the other side of the room was a desk with a nurse reading a magazine.
"Do you know who is the person we are looking for?" Lou asked to Hopper who was staring at the woman's magazine as if it was a taco.
Cecil snapped his finger at him, trying to catch his attention "Wha- What? Ahh true *He cleared his throat* I believe that we're looking for Harper Jones, since I been here he is the only one who smells like a demigod, but, as I said, the scent is difficult to recognize" muttered Hopper
"Well then, tell the lady that we're here for Harper Jones" muttered Lou to the satyr.
"May I help you with something kids?" said the nurse, who had finished reading from her magazine and was staring at us with a bright smile.
"Yes you can ma'am" Hopper said nervously "We are here looking for Jasper Ho- I mean Harper Jones" He was starting to sweat
"That's weird... Nobody has visited him except for- "Her eyes widened when she saw Hopper next to both demigods "Oh, Hopper, darling it's you. Are you here to visit him again? How sweet from you" she exclaimed while clapping her hands "And you brought friends! I'm pretty sure he will love to meet you. Such a lonely boy the poor lad…" She stopped herself to talk in the phone "Yes… Sheila?... Harper has visitors…Wow. That's just mean… He did what?! Wait a moment..." She looked at us "You can pass now. 2nd floor, room #38. It's the one with a lot of drawings and books, you won't miss it…"
'Well that was easy' Cecil thought "How many times have you been here, even the nurse knows you"
"Many times… Harper is a nice kid and I liked to keep him company while I searched for the demigod, only to realize that the demigod was probably him" Hopper responded while we were taking the elevator. Horrible music started to play from the speakers
"Any idea who his godly parent could be?" Lou told him
"Not really, but it has to be someone related to the earth or plants, I can be sure of that" And with that being said the elevator opened up showing them the rooms and a corridor "This floor is really sad, there's only one more people here apart from Harper and it doesn't even speak" They were walking to one of the two rooms that were lighten up.
Once the room came into view, both demigods were astonished. The once white room was now full of drawings and paintings of different colors. Each one better than the other. 'Rachel would get along with this guy, that was for sure' thought Lou. In a corner of the room was a pile of books, some of them threatening to fall down. And there, in the middle of the room was a boy, probably of fifteen years old, drawing on the floor with a box of color markers. He had reddish hair and almost tan skin (It would be tanner could be on the sun at least once) with a white shirt and pants, however, he wasn't using shoes. Wrapped around his shoulders was a red scarf that looked a little bit old
"They don't let us into the rooms for safety reasons, but… we can still talk and see each other thanks to the window" Hopper informed them and without a warning he knocked in the window a few times, trying to get his attention. He quickly glanced at his company and flashed a grin and then glanced back at Harper, who had quickly see him and made his way to the window without stepping in any of the drawings
"Hopper, this is the third time in the week you had visited me" He spoke with a tone that expressed happiness and incredulity "Did something happened? Who are those two?"
"No, no, don't worry, nothing has happened. It's just that I need to show you something" He said. This was the final test. If he could see Hopper as a satyr, then he was the person they were looking for. Otherwise all this quest would have been in vain and there wouldn't be no April's Fools day for their cabins.
"It isn't you trying to eat a tin can again, isn't? Because the last time you did it I nearly fainted. No human being could be able to that. Let alone digest it" Harper said with a laugh. Now that Cecil was closer to him he could see most of his face. Brown eyes and a little scar in the cheek, almost unnoticeable.
"Yeah, well… You´re right, no human being…" Hopper lost the trail of the conversation as he lifted his hair enough, so he could see his horns. Harper eyes widened at the sight, just to be shut out almost immediately. His body trembled and his hands turned into fists. It wasn't the reaction he was expecting.
"I knew it; it was too good to be true" His eyes opened again, only that this time they were welling with tears. "You're just another hallucination, isn't? So do they? Just when… I was thinking that … that somebody did care for me, and it ends up as another imaginary monster" Now his voice was filled with hurt and sadness
"Just go away before the nurses make me take more of those stupid pills… please…" He turned his back to us and seated in the floor, with his head in his hands, cleaning the tears.
"No, no, no. He's real. Like, really real. You have to believe him, believe us" Cecil pledge him. He was the demigod, but he had been in this place for so long that he didn't know what was true or fake. "Hopper, break the glass" Said Lou in a worried tone
"What? So he has a reason to hate me more?" Hopper asked increduly, while looking worried at his friend
"Just do it so I can throw a spell at him" Lou said, her patience getting thinner
"What's going on there? It's the patient okay?" The nurse was coming to see the patients. Gods…
"GO AWAY!" Harper shouted. For a moment it looked as if the ground was shaking. That must surely got the nurse attention, because she was running to our position. In that moment, Hopper was taking off his pants, revealing the goat-like legs that all the satyrs have.
"Lou, do something, the nurse is coming" Cecil yelled at her
"What should I do?" Lou responded, searching furiously on her pockets
"I don't know, do your magic thingy" Cecil responded
"It's not a magic thingy!" She spat, taking something that looked like a blue stone from her right pocket
"JUST DO IT" Cecil shouted at her while Hopper kicked the window with all his might, effectively breaking it down
"Alright" And without another thought, Lou throwed the object at the nurse who instinctively catch it. Only for it to explode into dust and spread all over her. Next thing they knew; she was sprawled all over the white floor of the hospital. Snoring like there was no tomorrow. In the meantime, Hopper was doing his best to calm Harper, but it was pretty difficult seen it as he was taking every chance he had to hit the poor satyr in the face. Of course he didn't blame him at all, but still… it hurts.
"Hey, Lou *OUCH* Care to help me here? *OUCH* Hey, hey, stop. I'm trying *OUCH* To help you here"
"HELP! HELP! The monsters are back, and they are trying to eat me! Get out, get out! Leave, me, ALONE" The ground shaked again, this time a little bit longer. Lou took another stone from her pocket and throwed it at the demigod. He became unconscious as fast as the nurse did.
"Well… that could have gone a lot better" Cecil thought out loud "But we have the demigod, and that's all that matters, right?
"Let's just… Get out of this place… And get to the pegasi" The satyr looked at Lou who was trying to drag the demigod the safest way possible from the window. "And Cecil, help Lou by opening the door for her, please? Just pick the lock so we can't hurt Harper with the window"
With the demigod safe and sound, the group went to the elevator, (half-carrying, half-dragging the boy in the state he was) and took the elevator to the 1st floor. The only thing that left was taking care of the nurse in the lobby.
"Lou, do you have more of those stones from the Hypnos's Cabin?" Asked Cecil, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the nurse, just to look back at the unconscious body that he, along with the satyr was carrying
"No, I only had those two, but I can turn her into a guinea pig if that's okay" answered Lou, a grin forming in her face at the mention of her favorite spell
"Why don't I use my pipe instead? Contrary to popular belief, some satyrs are good with it. Just don't tell Grover that I said that" And without waiting for an answer, he started playing the pipe flute. A sweet melody came out of it, the magic in it making everybody near its radius feel sleepy, except from the demigods. With a loud *SMACK* the nurse hit her forehead with the desk, her hand standing in the air holding a cup of coffee and the magazine next to her.
As quickly as they could, they crossed the lobby and past the doors, which was pretty difficult with an unconscious body. They went to the closest alley in the street, where two pegasi where waiting for them. They strapped Harper to the back of Cecil´s one, while Lou mounted on her own.
"Are you coming with us? Or are you staying in this place Hopper?" Asked Cecil to the satyr, who was waiting for them to leave
"No, I have to stay here to protect the last places that respect the nature. But don't worry I'll go to the camp as soon as possible. After all, I still need to make things right with Harper." Said the satyr, looking at the sleeping demigod with a little bit of guilt in his eyes. Both demigods started to take off on their mounts, glancing at the satyr for a last time.
"Oh, and remember: Do not tell cousin Grover that I said that he didn't play well the flute. I don't want a mad Lord of the Wild all over me when I arrive to camp, okay?" He paused to see Harper, slumped in the back of Cecil. "And take care of him, he has gone through a lot"
That's the last thing they heard him said before the buildings blocked him from their view. With nothing else to do, both campers flew away. Unaware of the dark silhouette watching them, from the roof of one of the buildings.