AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Yeah, no excuse. Blah, blah, all that lecture stuff. On with the story! And a special thanks to my new beta (who's currently looking for requests. She's really THOROUGH. Look through this chapter and look for an error . . . Yeah, I thought so), PriceX3Jayme! (a.k.a. my sister!) Look her up!
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Percy's POV
"Nico, Grover! Distract it!" Annabeth yelled, having a plan already in mind. "Percy, attack it from the front! Thalia, get on top!" She breathed deeply. "I'm going behind!"
I uncapped my sword and the glow of the celestial bronze almost immediately made the hellhound go berserk. Swinging its head in all directions, I barely dodged it. I groaned and charged it from the front, just like Annabeth said.
Beside me, Thalia was shooting arrows, multiple at a time. Invisible, Annabeth yelled from the other side of the cave. "Thalia! I said get on top!"
I quickly looked at Thalia and she was analyzing the scene as if she was looking for a way to get on the hellhound's shoulders.
"Thalia!" I placed one of my hand on the other and stuck both of them in front of me, making a step for Thalia to jump on. She looked between the monster and me, like she needed to decide whether or not to listen. "Come on! Now!" I yelled.
She backed up for a running start and once I felt her black boot on my hand, I threw her up. With a thud! she landed perfectly on its shoulder. The hellhound feebly attempted to shake her off, making it much harder for us to attack.
"Hey!"I yelled. The hellhound jerked its black head toward me. I swung Riptide and just barely scratched some skin off of its face. It roared, leaving Thalia hanging on for dear life.
Looking to my left, I saw Grover playing on his reed pipes, probably playing a distraction spell. Nico was out of breath from making darkness to cloud the hellhound's vision.
The world around me seemed to slow as Thalia screamed Nico's name. Nico gasped and fell to the cold, dusty cave floor. Leaving the hellhound, I ran over to my cousin's side.
I knelt down and tried to shake him awake. "Nico!" I called. I opened his eyelids and saw his dark brown eyes rolling around. I quickly closed them and started to shake him awake again. He can't be the one we'd be leaving behind.
"Grover!" I yelled. I knew he could play a healing spell with his reed pipes. I stood up. "Grov-,"
I was cut off when I felt a sharp pain in my side and my arm. Suddenly my vision went black as I was slammed into the wall and fell to the ground. Following me, a few loose rocks from the cave wall fell from the impact.
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" . . .swear, Percy, if you don't wake up in the next five seconds, I will-,"
"Thalia," I said, my voice sounding like Scrooge and my throat feeling like sandpaper. "Shut up."
I looked to my left and saw Annabeth pacing and mumbling to herself. She caught my eye and gasped. She surprised me when she skidded on her knees, kneeling by my side and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing the life out.
She pulled back, holding me at arm's length and she punched me on my right shoulder.
"Do you know how much you scared us?" I could see worry in her steely gray eyes.
My eyes widened as I remembered what happened. "Wait, where's Nico?" I asked, sitting up. I suddenly felt the pain in my left side. I yelped, cringing at the pain.
"Dude, lie down." I looked up and saw Nico, gently pushing me down on the blanket.
"What-,"
"I was just tired. I used too much of my power," he explained. "That's what happens to us-children of the Big Three."
Thalia came over, speaking up. "I thought you knew that, considering you have to use yours more than the rest of us."
I let their words sink in. "Well, I guess I did. I just never knew it happened to you guys, too."
"Hey," Annabeth started, "Are you okay? That hit looked pretty hard."
"Yeah," Grover agreed. "You broke your left arm and two ribs. I tried playing a healing spell, but it's not fully mended."
I pressed a hand against my side and everything the waist down surged in pain. I sucked in a breath. "Uh, give me a few minutes."
They both nodded. Grover walked away to play his reed pipes again. Annabeth stayed by my side, gripping my hand so hard I could see my fingers turn purple. I was going to tell her it kinda hurt but decided against it. Now I know that's probably not a good idea, seeing as I need blood supply. But at least I knew my body was still working properly. Most of all, I knew she needed reassurance that I wasn't going to disappear in the next ten seconds.
"Grover," I called. He stopped playing, ending the song with a pfft! like when the last of the helium escapes a balloon.
"Yeah?"
"Iris-message Chiron. It's been a week." He nodded and pulled out a dirty gold Drachma out of his jacket pocket.
He threw it into the air. "Chir- Wait, there's no mist." Grover caught the Drachma.
"I'm going to regret this," I muttered. I remembered the words of the river naiad I met months ago at the Triple G Ranch. "You're not so different from me, demigod. Even when I'm out of the water, the water is within me."
The familiar tug in my stomach was ten times worse because of my broken ribs, but I kept my concentration. We had to contact camp.
"Um, Percy?" Annabeth asked tentatively, squeezing my hand as if her life depended on it. "Are you- " she started, but Thalia cut her off.
"Shh. He needs to focus or it won't work." The pain grew until it was searing. Excruciating. Unbearable.
"I can see your life aura fading," Nico whispered from the corner. Then a burst of water sprayed up from a fissure in the cave floor. The pain lessened until it was only a numbing feeling.
"Thalia, light," I said, my voice weak. She nodded and cracks of blue electricity ran up and down her arm. It wasn't much, but it was the best we could do. It was enough for just a few flickers of a rainbow at a time.
Grover took that as his cue and he threw the Drachma up. "Iris, O Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," he said. "Show me Chiron, Camp Half-Blood."
Signal not strong enough. Please insert another Drachma. Grover grumbled to himself, taking another Drachma from his pocket. "Now show me Chiron, Camp Half-Blood."
Thalia's light wavered, but she quickly recovered and an image of Chiron showed up in the mini fountain I made.
"-atie will be found. Do not fret. And Travis, Connor told me you have not been pranking lately. Not that I'm complaining, but-,"
"Chiron!" Grover said. Chiron jumped, his hooves clacking on the tile floor of the Big House.
"Grover, my boy!" he said happily. I could've sworn he was going to hug Grover, but then he figured out it was just an Iris-message. "We've been trying to contact you five for ages! However, we couldn't quite find out where you were."
"Yeah," Clarisse muttered in the background. "He owes me twenty seven Drachmas." Chiron laughed at her nervously. I could hear someone hyperventilating in the background.
Travis hurried in front of Chiron, almost frantic. "Did you find her? Katie? Is she all right? What happened? Where is she? Is-"
"Travis!" That was definitely Connor. "Grover can't answer if you don't shut up!" Silena pulled Travis to a chair where she gave him a brown paper bag to breathe in.
"Breathe, Travis. Breathe." She patted him on the shoulder.
Connor came into view. "He's been like that all week. It's kinda scary if you think about it. But yeah. He's crazy worried about Katie. Poor guy's got a huge crush on her."
"Do not!" Travis yelled.
Connor turned around to face his twin. "Dude. Have you seen yourself?" He turned back around. "So I'd hurry if I were you. Before he spontaneously combusts."
Chiron gently pulled Connor to the side to help his younger brother.
"Are you five okay?" Chiron asked. "There is still five of you, right?"
Grover nodded. "Yeah, we're all still alive. Though we're not that sure about Percy." He moved aside so they could see me. I saw many of the head counselors shoving each other to get a look. "Hellhound," he said, as though it was self-explanatory. "Broke his left arm and two ribs."
Apparently, Annabeth chose that time to go off on a tangent. She punched my good shoulder again and said, "You idiot! Do you know how much you scared us? You get slammed into the wall! You didn't move for half an hour!" To put extra emphasis on her words, she made huge movements with her hands.
"Annabeth," I said calmly.
"I waited for you to wake up! I've got red spots on my arms because I kept pinching myself, hoping it would be a dream!"
"Annabeth." She was speaking so fast that I could barely keep up. I wondered how she can say all this without taking a breath.
"Then you finally wake up. And say, 'Oh don't worry. Give me a few minutes.' Then I feel better again. But you say to contact camp."
"Annabeth."
"Then you start making fountains all over the place! And- "
"Annabeth!" I said, laughing. "It was only one fountain. And I'm fine. My arm is just a little numb."
"A little numb?" Nico asked in disbelief. "It's broken!" He prodded at my left arm. I swatted his hand away.
"Yeah, well, it hurts if you poke it! Jeez." I heard Clarisse snicker in the IM.
Chiron observed me like he was going to dissect me. "Don't forget to wrap your arm and chest." He paused. "And please hurry. I'm beginning to think we might have to start force-feeding Travis."
"I'm telling you, I don't have a crush on Katie!" Travis said. Silena raised one perfectly-shaped eyebrow at Travis. "And I don't need to be force-fed!"
Chiron laughed and waved a hand through the message. Suddenly the usual silence took over and the five of us looked back and forth between each other.
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I am particularly proud of this chapter. I've been wanting to do some family love stuff between Percy and Nico. And I thought I'd add in some Tratie, because I LOVE TRATIE! Though I hate couple names. Also, I have a new poll up on my profile for a new story I've had in my mind for a long time. If you would vote, then great! Anyway, review! :D
