PERCY
Percy welcomed sleep gladly. His nightmares no longer scared him, for his life was already a giant nightmare. He dreamed about the good old days when he battled the titan Kronos. Everything was so much simpler. All he had to do was kill whoever wanted him dead. But now he had nothing to do, no one to hack at with Riptide. Demigoditus was going to kill he whole demigod nation. He might lose Annabeth again. And his time he will not get her back.
"There is another way." A voice whispered to him in his unconsciousness.
"No there isn't." Percy said to his unconsciousness. "Apollo kids know nothing. The gods aren't helping. Clarisse is dead. What else is there?"
"There is a cure." The voice said. "But will you do anything to keep Annabeth alive?"
"Anything."
A woman appeared in his dreams. Her face looked like it had seen better days and battered wings dragged behind her when she moved. "Perseus Jackson." The woman said. "I have the cure for your... Demigoditus. But I need you to perform a task for me."
Percy's heart sank. Here's some random goddess, appearing in his dreams, turning Percy into another pawn. But Annabeth...
"What do you want me to do?" He asked.
"Pull the camps apart." She sneered, making her face contort so it looked like she was in pain. "Create devastation and chaos. Once I'm satisfied, you will have your cure."
"How do I know that you'll ever be satisfied?"
"I swear in the river Styx that once you've done your part, I will give you your cure. But you only have a week."
Thunder boomed, as always after someone swears on the Styx. Percy was satisfied. It didn't matter the the demigod nation will die. He needed to keep Annabeth safe, at any cost.
"Who exactly are you?" Percy asked.
"You have to figure that out on your own." She exploded in a mushroom cloud and Percy woke up with a golden apple on his lap.
If he was to cause as much destruction as possible, then he should get to it right away. Percy couldn't find paper so he broke out Riptide and wrote a note on the apple and left it on his pillow. Hopefully Annabeth would find it.
NICO
Nico ran around the camp, looking for Will Solace. The Demeter kids helping in the infirmary were asking for him, but Nico couldn't find him anywhere. He checked the Apollo cabin twice, searched bit by bit in the forest with Mrs. O'Leary, and plowed through the camp a few more times. Will had been missing for two days now, and Nico was really worried. Finally he resorted to using his Hades powers. He stepped into the woods and closed his eyes. The ground cracked and skeleton warriors climbed out. Then he pulled at the shadows around him and felt his body dissolving, until someone grabbed his arm and pulled Nico out of his trance.
"What in Apollo's sun chariot are you doing? I said you can shadow travel, that doesn't mean you need to summon the whole undead army! Gods of Olympus, Di Angelo, are you really that thick?"
"Shut up, Captain Sunshine." Nico growled. He was a bit giddy inside, for he knew that using his powers would make Will angry. "Where in the world have you been? The whole camp is looking for you! They need you to help them to..."
"I'm not going to be of much help for long." Will pulled his shirt collar down a bit to reveal a rash on his chest. "Soon I'll be coughing up my guts."
"No." Nico said. "You can't give up!"
"It's inevitable." Will said. "Sooner or later I'll be..." He coughed, stopping himself mid-sentence.
"No." Nico repeated. The skeletons around Nico stared at Nico in shock, then dissipated into a whirlwind of dust, leaving Nico alone with Will. "You're such an idiot! All this time, you've been bugging me, not giving up on my problems. Well, II'm not going to give up on your problems either. If you want to die, die heroically! Don't cower in the woods fearing Death! Help find the cure and try to get to Elysium." Nico felt like he needed to do something. Walk, punch a tree, kill some monster. Anything to keep him from thinking about the inevitable. If Will has Demigoditus, he'll only have a few weeks. If he doesn't spend those weeks well, he's going to end up as a wandering soul, floating around Asphodel without purpose. And Nico didn't want that to happen. He needed to do something to keep his mind off those thoughts, but Will's hand was still on his arm.
Without thinking, he grabbed Will's shirt collar and kissed him. "So get back to the infirmary." Nico whispered. "And do something worthwhile." He pushed Will in the direction of the camp and walked away into the other direction, wiping his eyes furiously as he melt into the darkness.
PIPER
Piper was mixing up some of the newly delivered unicorn powder when Annabeth came to her, freaking out about a golden apple and Percy.
"Calm down." Piper patted Annabeth's arm, but even her charmspeak couldn't get to Annabeth.
"He didn't even say where he was going!" Annabeth exclaimed. "How can I be calm?"
"If you're not calm, you won't be able to think logically." Piper reasoned. Soon she was going to freak out herself.
"Logic." Annabeth laughed. "The gods left logic a long time ago."
"Anabeth..." Piper looked at her worriedly. Annabeth's hair was down most days now, tangled and sticking up in places. If Piper didn't know what Annabeth was going through, she would think that Annabeth was crazy.
"We're all dying anyways." Annabeth continued. "It doesn't matter if the gods don't approve of what I say."
"That's what I'm worried of." Piper muttered. She washed her hands and turned to face Annabeth. "Annabeth, you're just depressed. Percy will come back to you. I know he won't leave you all alone." Then Piper looked closer at Annabeth's chin. The slight red of what she thought was acne was actually the beginning of a rash.
"Of course he won't leave me here. I'm just worried that he might do something stupid... Piper, why are you poking my chin?"
"It's a rash." Piper said. "I think you're sick."
HAZEL
After a few weeks of "Demigoditus", the fifth cohort-or anywhere in the legion to be honest-didn't look very good. Reyna and Frank seemed to kept their health, despite being in contact with the sick for so long. Hazel was felling okay. She hadn't had any signs of Demigoditus: rashes on the chest and face, coughing, vomit, unconsciousness, and ultimately, death. Hazel heard that Clarisse, the daughter of Mars... Ares... (Who cares anymore?) had died. A day after, Dakota stopped breathing. Hazel sat on her bunk and stared at the red cool-aid stains on Dakota's bunk. The more she stared, the more it looked like blood stains, even though Dakota had been moved to the hospital long before he started coughing up blood.
It was even worse for the second cohort. Only half of the original cohort remained. Monsters barely attacked now, and everyone was too down to really try at the war games. Terminus's statues had stopped talking. The hot chocolate that Frank had bought to cheer her up was cold in her hands. Everything was too gloomy. After a few more minutes of halfhearted staring, Hazel got up and walked outside. She needed some time away from the camp.
Arion arrived at the speed of sound. Some campers stared, then turned their heads and went back to what they were doing before.
"Hey, buddy. How's it going?" She summoned a block of gold and Arion ate it happily. At least someone was happy. "I need a few moments away from here. Can you take me to some kind of quiet place?" The horse whinnied. Hazel took that as a yes and hopped on.
Arion took her out of New Rome and to a remote public beach near the ocean. The sea was gray and angry, and Hazel stayed away from the surf. She kicked at the sand and sat down. Arion neighed loudly and ran around, kicking up mud and sea water.
"Pluto, Hades... Or any god for all I care, do something. Stop this mess." Hazel stared out at the ocean and noticed the ocean backing up, further than it would usually go. Then in a roar the ocean exploded, towering over the beach. Arion raced over and took Hazel away from the beach. Hazel looked back and saw the dark murky water racing towards New Rome. She swear the she could see the figure of a boy in a orange T-shirt before Arion put on speed and the ocean was out of view.
