Hiya papaya!
So, this is chapter seven, and just for the record, this is the longest I've ever continued a story! And thanks to all my viewers and supporters who keep me going because you're the real power behind this story. You guys keep me going! So don't be afraid to review because I do look forward to your messages.
Anyway, I'm going to dedicate this chapter to lostgamer64 for being a frequent reviewer and for just being awesome.
Also, another thanks goes to owlcity2013, my BFF, for also begging me to update.
So enough of this author note nonsense. Enjoy chapter 7.
Excuse any mistakes.
FRANK
I was still in shock as I ran the cold water in the sink of the bathroom. The water scattered, making light rainbows in the whitewashed sink. I fished out a single drachma, flipping it in my hand, memorizing every blemish, as I practiced what I was going to say.
It was hard to get Max and the flock to calm down after Lynn announced that my friends were getting wings- actual, for real wings. Just like the flock.
So, what the heck was I going to say to Chiron?
"Oh Iris, accept thy offering," The drachma vanished in the rainbows, and then glowed slightly, waiting for a command, "Chiron, Half-Blood Hill."
The image blurred and twisted, until it began to take a new form, with all new colors. They then transformed into a picture. When it finally cleared out, I was looking at a middle-aged man in a tweed jacket and a scruffy beard. He was positioned in his wheel chair, although everyone knew that he was a centaur- a creature with the torso of a man and the bottom of a horse. Sound weird? Welcome to our world.
But Chiron wasn't the only one in the room. As I looked past him, the whole camp was behind him, eating dinner. The campers, assigned to each of their tables that resembled each of their godly Greek parents, were al chatting casually. The Aphrodite cabin gossiped as the Ares cabin arm wrestled and fought. The Hypnos cabin was half asleep in their pizza, as usual, and Bacchus, I mean, Dionysus, was grumbling as he flipped through a wine magazine, a can of diet Coca-Cola handy.
Oh great. How was I supposed to tell the whole camp that Nico and the rest of the Seven had been kidnapped?
Chiron turned, finally taking notice of me, "Ah, Frank. The Argo II was supposed to be here hours ago. I take it were having technically difficulties?"
The campers went silent and turned their eyes on me. Thousands of eyes, expecting news I couldn't afford to give.
"Ah, Chiron… Could I call you back? This doesn't look like a good time."
Chiron seemed to understand immediately, and he seemed on the verge of releasing me when Dionysus, not even bothering to look up from the pages of his wine magazine, interjected, "Well, you just spent a perfectly good drachma on this apparently so-important-message, so you might as well just spill it Felix Zing."
"Um, its Frank Zhang."
"Whatever," Dionysus dismissed, "please continue. You wouldn't want to be wasting my time would you?"
"Well…" I began.
Suddenly the bathroom door erupted, as Nudge ran through. She looked slightly miffed, her dark hair frizzy, as she drew next to me.
"Frank," she gasped, "Gazzy and Iggy are experimenting with the ballistae and Max told me to get you."
"I'm a little busy right now." I said through clenched teeth.
She then looked at the screen of the Iris message, and her eyes open in amazement, "Oh my GOD! This is so amazing! What kind of technology is this? And who are the people in there? Oh my GOD, can you see that girl! Do you see what's she's wearing? A celebrity wore that once. Who was it again? I can't remember. But, did you see that Frank? Anyway, who are these people? Oh, wait, this is Camp! The one you told us about! Hi demigods! This is so amazing I-"
"Nudge!" I warned.
"Oh, fine. But," her wings unfold slightly, the dark brown, chocolate feathers flirting out a bit, and I heard a collective gasp from the other side of the Iris message.
"She has wings!" An Aphrodite girl shrieked.
The whole camp was in pandemonium, erupting in chaos. Even the Hypnos cabin was awake, gaping at the other campers and asking for clarification. Nudge backed up behind me, tucking in her wings as her cheeks burned a light rose.
"Frank," Chiron demanded, his ancient eyes boring into me, "what is going on?"
I opened my mouth to reply, when Rachel Dare, the oracle, stepped into the room. A green smoke slithered around her feet, her eyes glowing that same eerie hue. The room was sent into silence. Even Nudge, the motor mouth, was stunned.
Two Apollo children, having accustomed to this sort of occurrence happening, grabbed the three-legged stool that had been sitting unnoticed in the corner, and situated Rachel carefully on the stool, where Rachel began to chant, in an abnormal voice.
"Frank," Nudge stuttered, "what's happening?"
"Shh," I said, "she's giving a prophecy."
Rachel began,
"You shall find your friends, taken and lost
You'll discover what you seek at a deadly cost
And only the heroes, the flock, and the traitor's combined
Can only defeat the new threat already arrived
And a villain long lost will soon revive
You have to fly to survive."
Rachel then collapsed, leaving me paralyzed.
LEO
I ran. I was weaving through the mazes, trying to find my way out. I had been running all morning, without stopping. My lungs were burning, everything ached, and I was so dehydrated my mouth felt like sandpaper. But, I couldn't stop. Or else…
ZAP!
I cringed at the jolt that fired up my ankle, losing my stamina and tripping over air, falling flat on my face. Stupid white coats. Whenever it seemed like we were going too slow, or not completing the maze fast enough, the gods-forsaken ankle bracelet that was firmly clamped on my leg would go off, and give me the loveliest shock. I had been jolted so many times that I was pretty sure that I would drop dead of heart failure any second.
"Alpha Four," the speakers blared, "run faster!"
"It's Leo!" I shouted, which was in vain because it only resulted in yet another shock.
I glared at the security cameras that were aimed towards me, watching my every move, probably timing me as well. Great.
I was in room 004, which was the observation/let's watch Leo run through the maze room. It was basically a bright white room with a gigantic maze in it. Security cameras were situated in every corner, which swiveled and twitched as it followed me. The moment you finished the maze, a trap door swallowed you and set you back to the beginning again, and you watched, exhausted, as the maze shifted on its own again, which probably only required a flick of the button in some unknown location where the scientist watched us, then shocked us when we went too slow. The shifting maze technology would have probably interested me on a regular basis, but all it meant to me at the moment was that I was going to have to run through it, again. And that I would probably get zapped until my brain scrambled, again.
What a life!
I got back up, trying to run faster, but having little success. I dashed through the mazes, turning this way and that way, when, at long last, I burst free, staring at the door that brought me into room 004. I collapsed, trying to catch my breath and expecting the trap door below me to fall, but nothing happened. The floor beneath me stayed stable for once, and I must have looked pathetic with relief.
"Testing is over." A voice said, and I watched as the security cameras went limp, and the lights dimmed out. Then, I heard a faint hissing, like a stalking snake, and I felt myself fall into darkness. I tried to stay awake, but it was futile. I was already exhausted, and the poisonous gas that they were pumping in was too strong to bear. My eyes began to close, and the last thing I remember seeing was the twisting of the doorknob as I fell into unconsciousness.
AMELIA
I twisted my way through the endless chrome hallways, anxiety crawling through my stomach. I hadn't seen the demigods all day, and although I was aware that they were just doing tests, I couldn't shake that haunting cold feeling that chilled my blood as if it had been infused by ice. But what frightened me more then the sick feeling was the sensation itself. Why? Because that feeling was horrifically accurate.
The night before Zephyr and Case escaped and failed I had that sensation, and the hours leading to Ethan's death I had the identical sickness. When Lynn left to retrieve Leo I couldn't even find the relief of sleep because that stupid feeling haunted my existence and my dreams.
And this time, it was no exception.
I logged into my databases, checking the time. 5:05, which meant that the demigods should be done with their endurance/agility/conflict-solving test, which must have been grueling. Hour's worth of running and electrical shocks, and I could do nothing about it. I especially felt bad for Jason, whose ankle bracelet had to be wired with extra electrical shock for him to actually feel it. I cringed at the thought of it.
So, that began my mission for water. I didn't have to be on guard until midnight, because they had had me working that night shift yet again, so I had plenty of time to sneak around. I was supposed to be in the Omega hanger, in my cubby, but I couldn't care less.
I ventured down the hall, careful to not show emotion or make eye contact with the other dead-eyed Omega's that marched very formally past me. I was about to make my turn towards the cafeteria, to steal something of more nutritional value then the mush they were feeding the demigods, when I heard a catcall from behind that made my blood run cold.
"HEY!"
I was instantly immobilized. So this was the end. Getting caught for being careless. Dying in a gas chamber as the demigods slowly die because no one was there to help them. I pictured Lynn, who upon learning that I was dead, would kill me.
Yep, that made sense.
I did what instincts told me to do, dive into the corner as silently as possible, curl into fetal position and pray to the gods that the scientist would be too stupid to realize that an Omega had just abnormally dove in terror, which I seriously doubted. The scientist could be described as many things like arrogant, self-centered, evil, and slightly oblivious, but stupid wasn't one of them.
"Hey Doctor Hoarfrost. Please Doctor! I have great news!" The same high-pitched voice squealed, and I found that I had to I yet again had the ability to breathe. But now, I was curious. Usually, when scientist told each other that they had good news, it was most likely something that would be horrific to regular people.
The voice that must have belong to Doctor Hoarfrost sighed, clearly annoyed, "What is it now? You do realize that I have important objectives to complete, right?"
But that didn't damper Miss. High-Pitched, "No Doctor! This is serious? You know the cell regrowth machine that we've been working on?"
Sarcasm crept into the Doctors voice, "You mean you actually got it to multiply cells to immense amounts in less the twelve hour? Really Doctor Ethu, you should give up those fantasies."
"But Doctor H, the machine has worked!"
The machine has worked!? This was huge. With it, they can regenerate blood and even recreate organs in less then half a day! All they needed was a pinch of DNA.
Oh no. This could go from bad to worse fast.
"It works!" Doctor Hoarfrost said speechless.
"Yes! And you know the project we've been waiting to get started on? We can preform the first surgery tonight! We have enough blood with the special ingredient added in. Although we've only have blood prepared for one person, we can still get a head start on it!"
"Well, what are we waiting for," said Doctor Hoarfrost, "prepare the operating room for the blood replacement and enhancement surgery. I want the subject in my room immediately. And only have the most prestigious doctors involved in this experiment. Last time we tried this, the demigod's heart gave out."
Doctor Ethu giggled in such a frosty way that it disturbed me, "Already prepared! The test subject is already being transported. All we need is you Doctor."
Then, they both went rushing down the hall, probably eager.
It took a moment for me to digest the horror.
One of the demigods were going to go through a dangerous experiment, and they could possibly die.
After figuring out how to use my feet for the second time today, I never ran faster in my entire life.
I found the room that held the demigods captive, killed the security cameras, and fumbled with the millions of locks that were on the door. I pushed the door ajar with immense force, and it bounced off the concrete wall.
"Amelia!" Jason called from cell 5, "What's going on?"
I ignored him, "Which one of you is missing?"
My eyes trailed over the cages. Locked. Locked. Locked…
"Oh, no."
Cell number 4 was unlocked and empty.
"No, no, no…" I mumbled as I tried to consume my panic.
"Where's Leo?" Annabeth demanded, taking in my demeanor.
I didn't even respond. Instead, I sprinted out of the room, closing the door behind me with such force, hoping that I might return, but having doubts.
I bulleted to Leo's operation room, twisting at the door handle, hoping that there was still time left, but it was no use.
But, they had already begun the surgery.
So, I hoped you like this chapter. It seems that I'm in the habit of updating my stories of Wednesdays, so you can, for the most part, expect the next chapter around the same time.
R&R!
-medusa's pen
