Chapter : Broken Promises, Glowing Eyes and Bleeding Scars.

"What do you mean, you can't tell me?" I was practically yelling but I didn't really care. I was in front of a simmering image of my father conjured in a rainbow that had somehow appeared between two cabins. The air was heavy with the scent of summer – fresh grass and lemonade- and the sky was so blue it hurt to look at it. But here in this small, cramped space it was as dark and cold as the Underworld. Except for the rainbow.

It had been a few hours since I got back to camp. Vanessa, the girl I went through a whole load of crap to find, was in the infirmary with her friend who got herself scarred by the Nemean lion. The least Vanessa could do was show some gratitude. But oh no, Ms. Freaky Eyes got all the attention. I thought back to the moment when I found Vanessa.

Vanessa had told me that she couldn't remember anything before her life on the beach. She couldn't even tell me how long had she been there. I had watched her as she talked, mindful of Ms. Freaky Eyes glares behind us. The way she moved her hands when she talked was cute in a way. Her eyes sparkled as she talked about how Ms. Freaky Eyes – Vanessa called her Alva – had saved her and all. Jealousy had flooded me but I ignored the feeling.

She was enchanted by the fact that her godly parent actually bothered to find her. I wanted to tell her that they might bother to find you but that doesn't really mean they actually care about you. They just like to twist you to fulfill their own purposes.

That thought brought me back to the present with a bump.

I glared at my father who was stroking his beard thoughtfully. With his mad eyes, corpse-like skin and shoulder-length black hair , he looked like a crazy Gothic scientist . "You mean I travelled all across America and faced a whole army of monsters to find this girl but you couldn't even fulfill your end of the bargain?" I threw the words at my father, filling them with as much venom as I could.

My words seemed to have no effect. He was still ridiculously calm and cool. It was probably a bad idea to get my dad angry, in fact, it may involve me getting shut up in the Underworld for good, but I couldn't help it. I was pissed.

"Nico, the girl was in danger. She might have died you didn't get there when you did." This shut me up all right. I was torn between calling my dad a liar and be grateful that Vanessa was alive. I settle for glaring at him again. Apparently, this only amused my father. I resisted the urge to throw something.

"Join the quest, Nico. You'll find out all that you need. I can't say more." Hades got a furtive look in his eye and he glanced upwards. I did too but there was no flash of lightning or rumble of thunder.

"What quest?" I twisted the golden ring on my finger , taking in every curve and every inch in the glinting gold. I had developed quite an attachment to it. It did save me from another seventy years the Lotus Hotel. I remembered the girl I saw. Bianca. I was so sure it was Bianca. But that was ridiculous. Souls from the Elysium don't come back. They have what they want. They have all they want. They're satisfied. They don't care about the living.

"You'll find out, Nico." He sounded miles away. By the time, I looked up, he was gone. I sighed, all my anger escaping in a rush. Now, I was just exhausted. I didn't do so well in the broad daylight. I could hear the other campers whooping and screaming as they went through their daily activities. Annabeth told me about the wave of rumors that had swept through Camp and obliterated every trace of Percy's disappearance. Nobody seemed sure what do believe. I felt doubt lurking at the edge of my mind for a moment.

What if Percy really was on some quest? Or maybe he just disappeared for a while? Just a break or something. Maybe that's why my dad wouldn't tell me anything. Maybe it wasn't important. I leaned against the wall on my right. I was standing in the shadow thrown by the cabin which was far to the west of Camp. The cabin of Nike judging by the amount of branded sportswear strewn out front.

I remembered Annabeth's face and cursed myself for even thinking things like that. Percy was too good to leave her alone. His fatal flaw was loyalty for gods' sake. I sighed and ran a hand threw my mussed up hair. Stepping out of the shadows, I made my way to the Camp infirmary. I had better check on Vanessa, My dad wouldn't be so happy if she got hurt or something. Just doing my duty.

Right.

A movement from behind me caught my attention. In one fluid motion, I pulled my ring of my finger. The ring into a sword in an instant and I pointed it at whoever or whatever was behind me. A girl stood there stood there. She had long blonde hair and was dressed like your typical Aphrodite girl. Her eyes were glowing green and her face was blank. I waited. When, she remained silent, just staring at me with those eyes, I turned away in disgust. Aphrodite girls. What do they know?

Then when she spoke, her voice was a deep , gravelly and totally unlike your normally Aphrodite girl. It was sleepy, tired somehow and sounded very far away. It made the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. I lifted up my sword again.

"I see your Camp in ruins. I see love torn apart. I see mountains pulled up at their roots. I see the gods hurt and bleeding. I see traitors and lies. And I see seven hopeless warriors, fighting against it all. I see you, son of Hades in the midst. You are not one of them, one of the seven, but yet you are there. Now why is that?" The girl tilted her head to the side and grinned ghoulishly. It was horrible somehow. The girl's movements were jerky like she didn't really have control of her body or as though she wasn't used to it.

I stepped back, my sword still raised. The girl made as though to follow, her ghoulish smile still in place. Something happened then. Terror griped me and I reacted purely on reflex. I drove my sword forward into the ground. Immediately, the ground cracked. Strength leaked out of me and swayed on my feet but I kept all my attention focused on stopping that girl. Stop her talking. Stop her glowing green-eyed stare. Anything. Don't get me wrong. I'm no coward. I'm the son of the god of the dead after all. But there was some primitive instinct urging me to run. This girl – or whatever it was - is more than she seemed.

The crack in the ground widened and the girl fell into it. Her eyes widened and the green glow left it. They turned a normal blue. She screamed as she fell. I jerked back and the ground stopped rumbling. The girl stared at me with her utterly normal eyes. Then, so fast that I almost missed it, she jerked her leg out of the crack, turned tail and ran.

I stared after her dumbfounded. I didn't know which was more scary: what just happened or the fact that an Aphrodite girl can run that fast. When I looked down again,. The crack had disappeared. I felt my jaw drop. I checked the area twice but there was nothing, no evidence that anything had happened at all.

Finally, I left the place and went to the infirmary, the girl's green eyes still a haunting my mind. But when I got there, that hardly seemed to matter anymore.

The infirmary was a mess. Apollo campers ran to and fro, shouting meaningless words. Blood dripped from their hands. I felt a little nauseous. Just because I was the son of the god of the dead doesn't mean I like blood. Skeletons, sure but blood? I'll pass.

I reached the far end of the infirmary. A delicious smell wafted up to my nose. The smell of hot chocolate, the same kind they served in the Hunters camp wafted up to my nostrils. I closed my eyes and breathed it in deeply. I loved that hot chocolate although it reminded me of everything I had lost. Even the food of the gods' was intent on hurting me.

"Nico." My eyes snapped open. Vanessa looked at me through big blue-gray eyes filled with tears. She wasn't crying but she was about too. Her voice shook and it woke something in me. I wanted to protect her. I needed to protect her. Instinctively, I opened my arms and swept her up in them. Her head just cleared my shoulder so it was quite comfortable holding her in my arms. I was surprised. I had never been the touchy-feely kind of person. Once Vanessa stopped crying, she stepped back awkwardly, wiping her tears away.

"I'm sorry." She smiled, looking sheepish. "It's just that she isn't taking in the ambrosia. The scar isn't closing up. She's losing too much blood." Her voice shook again.

Who? I wanted to say. Then I remembered. Ms. Freaky Eyes, the one who held me at sword point and interrogated me. She was crying over her? I opened my mouth to say something then something else caught my eye. Ms. Freaky Eyes was on her stomach on a bed. Her clothes were torn and blood poured freely from her scar. I watched as an Apollo camper poured ambrosia over the cut. The girl screamed, the sound sent shivers down my spine. The ambrosia had no effect. It just poured over the skin. The Apollo kids groaned. I met Vanessa's eyes. She looked sick. I felt sick.

The doors behind us burst open. Chiron galloped in with Annabeth and Rachel at his heels.

"Chiron, you got to do something!" A small blonde Apollo girl called up to him. I remembered her. She was the best medic the Apollo cabin had. Casey? Claire? No, Clara. Yeah, that was it. Clara. Connor stood behind her, looking shaken. What was a Hermes kid doing here? More importantly, where was his brother? But Travis was nowhere to be found.

Chiron assessed the situation like he always did. "What's wrong?" His deep voice travelled across the room and all the other campers fell silent.

"The scar is resisting everything we try on it." Clara sounded as exhausted as her siblings looked. Chiron clopped over to the girl. I averted my eyes from the scar and focused on her hair. I remembered that her hair changed colors too. Now, it was static. No color broke the river of platinum blonde that was the girl's hair. Judging from the look on Vanessa's face, this was not good.

Vanessa took one look at Chiron's somber face and a look of such hopelessness that it turned my heart cold. I grabbed her hand and dragged her outside, ignoring her protests. Outside of the infirmary, she snatched her hand back and glared me. It was funny really, like a kitten pretending to be a tiger. I grinned.

"What's wrong with you?" She hissed at me, her eyes flashing. "That's my friend in there dying. She's dying!" Her voice didn't shake now. I took a step closer to her and looked right in her eyes.

"And they are doing all they can for her." My voice was calm. As calm, I realized, as my father's had been. I ignored the thought and plunged on. "You're only getting in their way. She'll be fine, Vanessa." I felt heartless saying the words but she couldn't deny them. I was right and she needed a break. I watched as she stared at the chaos in the infirmary and bit down on her lip.

"Okay." She whispered the words softly. I grinned, triumphant. Suddenly, broad daylight didn't feel so bad.

This might turn out to be quite an interesting day.

AN: Okay, I deserve to be shot. I'm deeply sorry. Exams are bad for writing, that's all I can say. But they are over now and you guys can expect regular updates again! Review!