Still don't own.
"How could you?" he yelled at the cabin, and they cringed in fear. "Do you realize who is missing? The only resident son of Hades in the camp is missing and has been missing for three days! And none of you has the slightest idea or care as to where he is? What in the names of the gods has gotten into you all?"
"Nothing," they said, and his rage grew. He turned red in the face quickly, and stormed off to find their resident centaur.
"Chiron," he called out, and he turned from where he was organizing the search party. "The Ares and Hephaestus cabins won't help us!"
"I know, Mr. DiAngelo," he said calmly, "But we can't give up yet. We'll have Percy check the water alongside the water nymphs, the Apollo cabin will be split up since he is the god of medicine, and the others will be split up in accordance to their abilities. Those who are good with Pegasi, take to the skies."
"And leave no stone unturned if he can hide under or behind it," Nico commanded, and the other demigods nodded before scattering out. "I'll take one Apollo newbie with me and I'll go search the woods."
"I haven't been all the way honest," the small Apollo girl said scared. "Clarisse was real mean to one of my older brothers."
"You know where he is," Nico's eyes narrowed. "Where is he?"
"I only know where he was two days ago," she said quickly, "she said that if we ever told anyone, she'd send us on a one way ticket to Hades."
"No surprise there," Nico growled. "Which way was he in before?"
"This way," she said as she led him down a particularly dark and dangerous path.
Percy, meanwhile, was gathering all the water nymphs. One in particular was grouchy, and had yelled out how her river was filled with blood. Percy immediately charged to that river and dove in, searching frantically for Daemon. He found the blood, and the source was indeed the tiny Demigod.
"Daemon!" he yelled out, and the Hades demigod's head rolled to the side like a wayward beach ball. "I don't believe it. No, no, no! This can't be happening! Daemon!"
He ran forwards, healing Daemon's wounds as he propelled his younger cousin upwards, only to stop as a chain and ball held him down. Percy's rage grew and he channeled the water at it and willed it to be so sharp and powerful that it broke the chain. He again propelled them upwards, and began healing Daemon as he administered First Aid as best he could. He was beside the water, and so he was quickly making work of the younger male's injuries. He brought his whistle to his lips and quickly blew out the SOS signal – the one that would alert the others that Daemon had been found.
Nico stared at the cave in horror. Blood was everywhere, and pieces of bones were also lying scattered on the floor. To his horror, pieces of flesh and even a few teeth were on the ground scattered. The duo stared in horror as vomit and stool was also found, followed by a small patch of damp earth that reeked of urine. He wheeled around and raced out of the cave to vomit. As he caught his breath, he heard the SOS signal, one that meant a Demigod had been rescued. He whistled for Mrs. O'Leary, who bounded towards him with a bark, and he immediately got on her back and brought the Apollo demigod with him.
She bounded forward, and he found himself next to Percy, who was trying to heal an extremely badly injured Daemon, who looked like he was barely alive.
"What happened?" Nico asked, "Did you find the culprit?"
"No," he scowled, "Did you find where he was hidden?"
"Yes," Nico scowled, "I'll have to show Chiron, though I hate to. Those conditions… it was torture just looking at them…"
Percy shuddered before continuing to try to heal Daemon.
"Pieces of his bones are missing," Percy realized, and Nico closed his eyes.
"Oh Gods," he breathed, "I saw bone fragments on the ground in the cave… but I hoped they weren't…"
"We have to tell Chiron," Percy said darkly as the Centaur bounded up worriedly. "Chiron, Nico found where they were hiding him. He-he's got bones missing! What do we do? I can't heal him like this the whole way!"
"We need to get him to the infirmary," Nico panicked, and Chiron shook his head.
"The witch and wizard that aren't demigods are brewing a potion in the Hades cabin," he said calmly, "I was told it was to help people re-grow their bones. Apparently a person by the title of 'Half-Blood Prince' has been sending instruction books to Daemon to help him learn how to better his wizard career, even if only in Potions for now."
"How long until it's ready? How long until it works?" Nico asked fearfully, and Percy went back to trying to reset the bones and to heal the tissue surrounding them.
"It will be ready by the time we get him to the Hades cabin," Chiron said as Percy lifted Daemon's unconscious body up. "It will work overnight. They've set up a portkey to allow a medical witch to come and keep an eye on him for the night."
"Good idea," Percy nodded before carefully lifting Daemon a smidge higher so Chiron could carry him back to the camp. "We'll find the culprits. From what Nico says, the Apollo cabin should have a shrewd idea of who did it and why."
"Good work, boys," Chiron said as he galloped off with Daemon in his arms.
Nico and Percy looked at each other before hopping on Mrs. O'Leary's back and having her shadow-travel back to the cabin ring, where all the other campers were now gathering and trying to figure out who was guilty of the kidnapping.
"I've got an idea," Percy whispered, eyeing the guilty cabin in question, who was glancing around fearfully. "I'm sure the head of the cabin wouldn't mind a little two-on-one talk as heads of cabins."
"Okay, so, Skele-Grow should have his bones mended by the end of the night," the medical witch said carefully eyeing the centaur. "I'd like to keep an eye on him, just in case. I've never seen a case so bad as his."
"Of course," Chiron said, "However, his brother will be remaining in the cabin with him. Camp rules, I can't bend them."
"I understand," the elderly woman said as Neville and Ginny looked at her fearfully. "You two need to be going back to school. Now. Portkis! Take the paper, now."
The two grabbed the paper and with a flash of light they were gone. The Medical Witch sighed before conjuring a chair – startled by its skeletal appearance – to sit in. She gave Chiron a look that said I-don't-even-want-to-know-how-this-cabin-works and sat down to find that it was very, very hard, as cold and hard as a gravestone.
"I'm afraid that even though I'm a descendant of Apollo," she said at length, "I don't understand how there were so many cabins added to the camp."
"A deal was made with a hero of Olympus," Chiron smiled, "he wanted all the Greek Gods represented, even the minor ones, and also that each child was to be claimed by their parent."
"How noble," she smiled, "where is the hero now?"
"Somewhere in the camp," Chiron shrugged. "Poseidon knows what Percy does when he's angry, because I, alongside the whole camp, most certainly don't."
"Surely his girlfriend would know," she reasoned, and he nodded.
"Possible," he conceded. "I need to go outside and make sure all Hades doesn't break loose in the camp. Zeus only knows what on earth would happen if Mr. D. and I weren't here to keep them all from killing each other…"
So, yeah, Daemon's hurt and now Madame Pomfrey has to go help him. Good reading?
Review please! Reviewers get a free virtual Golden Drachma!
