Chapter 8- Relationships
Joselyn's POV
I seriously love my brother! First he made me breakfast in bed- my favorite, pancakes with a wack load of fruit- then he surprised me by asking if I wanted to try to find new powers-I said yes- and then he arranged a private lunch for Cole and I and my friend group. Nico even bought me a fancy shirt (he knows how much I don't like dresses). Nico served us a bunch of spicy food.
But we weren't the only ones getting catered by the older sibling; Percy served Eva (although the Stoll twins weren't helping out Percy very well) and Will served Sandra.
"Who put a whoopee cushion under my butt?!" Ammon asks, clearly enraged. Eva tries not to laugh but everyone else does.
I've seen a change in Ammon and Evaline since the battle at the fortress; they both are more talkative, and not as serious, I think while watching them. They have also opened up to us; I had no clue about what Chris did until the whole Hecate cabin thing, and Eva stayed up last night telling us stories about her past. Sandra and I shared some too, I even told them how my mom almost died and went insane. It is still a touchy subject to me but now I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my chest.
Right now, we talk about different things that are on our mind, Ammon saying how he is worried for Aelix, Cole says that he and Ammon had to put Aelix under anesthetics today because he was so insanely mad. They said that he will be getting some serious help and that currently the only thing keeping him going is the hope that Diana is still alive. Even though the dinner is supposed to distract us from our current problem, we eventually end up on the topic of Dae.
"So, you have no clue where this girl is?" Cole's brother, Leo, asks.
"We have a school name. That's it," I reply coolly before going back for another bite of jambalaya.
"Pearson High School," Ajax says, joining in on the conversation.
"Why don't we go there then?!" Nico exclaims, dropping his plate of food. He looks down at the broken bowl and pasta without any emotion.
"Why do you care so much?" The Stolls ask in such perfect unison, it's scary. Nico and Percy exchange glances.
"Let's just say that I have had plenty of loses in my life, I don't want to pass it along to Joselyn," he mutters loud enough for almost everyone to hear. Knowing that Nico could literally release hell when upset, they leave the matter at that. Although I hug him, seeing as I am his sister.
"There are multiple schools called Pearson High School. We need to narrow down which one," Ajax says, breaking the silence.
"How long is the tracking spell going to take?" Percy asks with a general curiosity.
"It's not a tracking spell. It will send a GPS to Diana and she will have to turn it on. The thing is, she might not know how to do so," Ammon chirps up.
Suddenly a bright light comes from somewhere behind Sandra. She spins around, gasping at what she sees.
"Dae!" she exclaims. Eva and I are instantly by her side.
The first thing I see in the light is her black hair. But the girl owning the raven girls sort of resembles Diana. The girl on the other side of the Iris message is skinnier and more fit. She doesn't have that sparkle in her emerald eyes, there is a lot of tension in her shoulders, and she has a few fresh bruises. Her clothes are totally not what she would usually wear; a red tank top with high cut short-shorts. She has bracelet cuffs to hide the scar on her arm. I am taken aback by how skinny and unhealthy she looks. I can SEE her ribs.
Her eyes widen when she focuses on us.
"It worked?!" she exclaims rather doubtingly. I don't know what it was but something about the way she said it makes me chuckle.
"Diana! How have you been?" Eva exclaims from beside me. Diana's eyes start tearing up- as do ours - and she sit down on the floor of what looks like a small bathroom. I notice the scars from the attack at the cliff are totally gone: something even I know is nearly impossible.
"Diana, where are your scars?" Ajax asks in amazement. Sandra smacks him lightly.
Diana puts a hand to her shoulders.
"They're gone?!" she says in amazement. A laugh erupts from her, sounding as if she is savoring the laughter.
"How are you?!" Eva repeats. Dae looks at Eva as if she just randomly appeared. She calms down after realizing its Evaline.
"I'm good," she lies. I look at her like 'are you kidding me?'.
Suddenly, the sound of a door opening and closing is heard. Dae yelps, jumps up in surprise, then goes into the fetal position.
"Diana?" I hear an unfamiliar male voice call. Diana slowly gets up as the voice gets louder, walks unsteadily to the door, and opens it before sticking her head out.
"I'm going for a shower Tyler!" she yells.
"You're not the one who drove all the way to a football game to find out they got the date wrong for nationals!" Ugene's annoying voice yells.
"Well, use a different bathroom, I'm using this one!" she yells back. I hear Ugene answer back something that sounds like 'duck poo'.
She returns to view.
"THAT'S your definition of 'good'?" I say.
Diana's mouth quavers.
"No..." her voice squeaks and I soon find myself watching her weep her eyes out.
"I hate it here, I hate my school, I hate my life here! My only friend turned out to be one of the demigod soldiers against us, I barely get fed, I am paranoid that Ugene is going to pop out somewhere with a needle full of medicine to help with the ADHD and Dyslexia that burns each time, and I am always on guard. I have been having the same nightmare for weeks now..." she sobs. "I want to come back to Camp Half Blood. I will even sleep in the Aphrodite cabin!"
"We WILL come and get you!" Eva tells her with determination in her voice.
Dae looks at each of us, and suddenly her face looks horrified.
"Where is Aelix?!" She asks desperately. We all look at her in confusion.
"He is in the infirmary, asleep," Ammon replies. Diana's body twitches.
"Asleep, as in dead?!" She asks, as if she is afraid of the answer.
"NO, asleep as in he is tired! What gave you the impression that he is dead?" Ajax, surprisingly, exclaims.
"Ugene told me-" She starts, but Ajax cuts her off.
"Don't trust what Ugene tells you! He is just trying to make you lose hope in yourself and us! Don't give up on us or yourself!" Ajax looks like he wants to slit someone's throat, and it is scaring Dae. She curls up in a tighter ball, puts her head in her knees.
"Sorry, I won't say anything like that again. Just, don't tell Ugene!" Her voice sounds as if she is begging for mercy, which is odd because we can't touch her right now. Sandra smacks Ajax.
"Ajax, you made her upset!"
"I'm OKAY!" She screeches, startling all of us. Sandra takes a deep breath.
"Dae! Where are you?" Sandra asks desperately.
"In the bathroom, why?" Diana looks at Sandra with confusion written all over her face.
"No, what state, city, country are you in?"
Suddenly the door explodes open. Diana covers her face to protect from the flying wood. When the dust clears, a man is standing near the edge of the Iris message.
"Taking a shower my ass!" Ugene yells. He then notices us.
"Made a call have we?" he asks, enraged. Diana, who is in a cloud of dust, can't run away. We watch in complete horror as Ugene picks Diana up by only her wrist. He throws her against the wall, a crack resounding, and Dae crumples to the ground. He exits quickly and enters at the same pace.
"Little sister must be punished..." Ugene drawls out. He looks at us.
"Oh!" he exclaims excitedly "Your little friends can sit and watch!"
Ugene cuffs Dae to the plumbing tubes, saunters over to his cart of torturing devices, and crosses his arms.
"Joselyn Hunt... What weapon do you usually use?" Ugene asks in his evilly playful voice.
"I don't know what you are talking about," I tightly answer, knowing what he is doing. Unfortunately, Ajax doesn't.
"Seriously? Joselyn you use a whip!" he says.
Sandra smacks him harder than before. Ugene pulls out a whip.
"That's right!" he fakes the pep in his voice.
"Sister whipped me once before..." Ugene mutters. He cuts off Diana's shirt to show off her almost completely bare back.
Diana screams every single time the whip opens a wound on her porcelain skin. We scream at Ugene, yelling threats, profanity and a bit of encouragement to Diana. Her screams soon die down and I realize it is because her screams are so high, her voice can't physically handle it.
I don't know how long we sit there watching our friend getting whipped and knowing we can't do anything about it. Once Ugene is satisfied with his work, he goes over to his torture cart to set his whip down. He takes out some wires from a weird looking box, attaches one to Diana's head, the other to Diana's chest. He then uncuffs Diana and hog ties her with rope. Ugene places a sock in her mouth. Nico and Percy seem to know what Ugene is going to do, because Nico whispers in my ear not to attack the Iris message. Ugene flicks a switch and Diana starts writhing in pain. I try to run to her, in fact Sandra and Eva does too, but we get held down by our brothers. Diana tenses up, arches her back, kicks, and cries out. Ugene flicks the switch down and she stops. He does this multiple times.
"LET HER GO UGENE!" I yell. Ugene stops the machine, looks at me deviously over his shoulder, and chuckles.
"And if I don't? What are you going to do? You are currently some thousands miles away, possibly over water! You have no advantage point right now, you cannot reach me, and I am torturing your little bitch! The only thing you can do is watch and yell profanities at me!"
He walks over to Diana, picks her up, and chucks her body at the wall. The wall, a stone wall, cracks. Ugene looks at his sister, puzzled for a moment.
"No..." Nico whispers from behind me.
"It can't be!" Will exclaims from behind Sandra.
"What?! What is it guys?" Eva asks.
"We have to tell Kacey, alert Chiron immediately!" Percy instructs. They leave, well, all accept Nico. Ugene shrugs it off and goes to his cart.
He sighs in frustration.
"My knife is gone... Mom must have used it for cooking last night," Ugene says to himself.
"I will be right back!" Ugene sings happily.
"Diana?!" We all whimper in unison. She shifts uncomfortably before struggling to a sitting position. She takes her hair elastic out of her braid.
"Denver Colorado," she is able to say. We scream her name but we know that we can't help her now. The last thing we see is the flying hair elastic, a look of defeat on Diana's face, and her body collapse again.
When I look back I see that Nico has his phone out.
"What are you doing?" I question whilst wiping away tears.
"I videotaped the whole Iris message." Nico replies, tapping his phone.
"Gotta love technology," he says but no joyfulness is in his tone.
I look at our group. Ammon is right now comforting a depressed looking Evaline, offering examples of Diana's perseverance (i.e. at the fortress). Ajax and Sandra have gone off for a little talk. I feel strong arms wrap around my waist and the smell of shaving cream and jalapeƱo hitting my nostrils.
"Josie, we will get her back!"
I look him straight in the eyes.
"After all she is going through, are you sure we will get the old her back?"
Dae's POV
I wish my friends didn't have to see that. I tried to stay strong but I couldn't. It killed me to hear them scream, and they knew they couldn't do anything about what was happening. I hope that they heard me when I told them where I was because I truly believe that they will come get me. After I disconnect the call, Ugene re-enters the bathroom with his knife. I don't dare meet his eyes; if I do I know I won't be able to stay strong (or what I am calling strong right now). Ugene strides over, grabs my right arm, takes off my protective bracelet, and makes four lines across the scar there.
"Aelix," first scratch.
"Evaline," second one.
"Joselyn," third one.
"Sandra," last mark. I stifle a scream each time for the knife burns my skin and cuts my flesh. Suddenly, just before Ugene is able to use these weird pins, a black mist engulfs the torturing devices making them disappear. When the mist clears I see Patrick at the door way.
"Ugene..." He sighs disapprovingly.
"What?! She isn't cooperating!" Ugene exclaims. "Plus she made a call home!"
Shit.
Patrick looks at me and I don't meet his eyes either.
"Okay but she has had her punishment so go back upstairs and explain to Tyler, Paige, Quincy, Martin, Neil, Rylen and your mother why Diana was screaming," Patrick orders. I hear Ugene's footsteps recede; Patrick unlocks the handcuffs. He doesn't say anything to me, but I know by his facial expression that he wants to examine the whip marks. I painfully roll onto my stomach, and I yelp at each touch.
"Diana, I can't heal you if I hear you screaming," Patrick tells me. My eyes want to cry but there is no water left. Patrick rolls me onto my back but lifts me up into a sitting position. He kneels down in his fancy khaki pants to look into my eyes. Under his football jersey is one of his famous button up blouses. He takes both of his shirts off and puts the blouse on me to help stop the blood flow.
"Thank you," I croak.
"You remind me of your mother you know," he states.
"She was also whipped by her brother in front of her friends?" I manage to get out. I wrap my arms protectively across my torso- now covered by Patrick's blouse- and curl into a ball. Patrick chuckles but stops when he notices my facial expression.
"No, just your looks and sometimes the way you act," he says. I look at him weirdly.
"Tell me more; I haven't really had a conversation with her, a heart-to-heart," I ask of him.
"She is smart, as most surgeons are, she is kind, funny, independent yet can admit it when she needs someone," Patrick says in a daze.
THUD THUD THUD.
"Diana?!" I hear my mother yell.
"BATHROOM," Patrick yells. He turns back to me. "You're going to get help," Patrick whispers. I nod my head.
"Oh my goodness!" my mom exclaims. "Ugene is in so much trouble!"
My mom secures my shirt before helping me up.
"Patrick, take her to my office," Mom orders.
Patrick lifts me up from the ground, my mom helping. I vaguely remember entering through a secret door, being placed on my stomach on a table, and my mom's soothing tone speaking to me. I soon hear Quincy, Paige, and Marie's voice. Marie holds my hand as I writhe in pain. Her job is to make sure I don't swing my arms back. Quincy and Tyler are helping my mom, and Paige is making sure I don't kick my legs.
"Diana, it's going to be okay," Marie calmly tells me. She sees a tear running down my face.
I feel something cold and wet being placed against my back. It stings so much and I try to contain my scream but I can't hold it in.
"Tyler, go grab the vial of green medicine!" my mom commands.
I struggle against Paige and Marie.
"Dae, they are going to put you to sleep, okay?" Marie calmly says. I start screaming and crying but it's no use.
"It's the one that can make demigods go to sleep," She whispers. I look at her with wide eyes.
"Does she know?" I croak. Marie nods.
"Patrick told her."
I feel a hand on my shoulder, and feel something enter my skin. Like a forest fire it burns my blood and spreads just as fast. I feel my eyes flutter, Marie starts getting blurry, and I feel my body starting to slowly relax.
"Diana?" I hear Ugene's voice. Why am I hearing his voice?
"Sister, I'm sorry. I'm really, truly Sorry!"
I see his blurry form in front of me. I want to punch him.
"YOU ARE NOT SORRY YOU DID THIS!" I yell at the top of my lungs. I hear Marie ask who I yelled at, then something else get injected into my bloodstream.
Everything goes black.
