HII! Yeah... I'm back... I actually have mutiple stories going on at once, and so I don't update every story all the time... Sorry- I kinda forgot what was happening in the story...
I don't own PJO, blah, blah, blah.
That last chapter was also written during one of my ... darker days... I mean, everyone has them. So the following chapters might have a different feel to them.
Anna passed out by the time she reached her final destination, and back at Camp Jupiter, everyone had noticed that Anna and Nico were gone.
Krysta wasn't sure how they hadn't realized that Anna was gone sooner. In the hallways at school, when they walked in groups, Anna always just seemed to disappear and they didn't notice until they were in the lunch room, and there she would be, already starting to eat. Anna always said she was anti-social, and Krysta had never believed it -until now. Anna had serious social issues.
Nico arrived at a small, normal looking house, set a little apart from the surrounding neighbourhood of small houses. He stepped up to the door, glancing doubtfully at it before going in.
Anna was definitely here- there were his- no, her two swords resting against the door frame, and a pair of headphones he'd seen her wearing, resting on the dining table. The whole house had a strange stillness to it, a kind of creepy quality that made even the son of Hades uneasy. All he wanted to do was find Anna and get out, as soon as possible.
The woman that emerged to meet him was thin, and pale, with nearly white blonde hair, and washed out blue eyes. She had a slightly desperate look to her face, and when she spoke, her voice was frantic.
"Are you one of Luke's friends?"
"What?" Nico slowly reached towards his Stygian Iron sword. "Who are you?"
"I'm Luke's mom," she said. "You can call me Mrs. Castellan."
Luke Castellan's mom. Nico stared at her, not sure what to do. She looked slightly crazed. Losing your son probably did that to you.
"Look, Mrs. Castellan, have you seen a girl lately?" he said hesitantly. "Black hair, looks a little like me?"
The woman's face crumpled. "In the bedroom. I-I think I did something..."
"What?" Nico nearly shouted. "What did you do?"
"I don't know!" The woman wailed. "I just want Luke back!"
Nico's blood ran cold. If this woman had been dealing with Tartarus or some other demented Titan or god, he was going to seriously consider running away from everything. Maybe go and live in Asia, or Europe. He followed her to the bedroom, and saw Anna lying there, eyes shut, still- and barely breathing.
He crossed over to her, and shook her. "Anna?"
"Mmmm... what, Carter?" she mumbled.
"I'm Nico. Wake up!"
"Go away." Her voice was suddenly sharp. Her eyes flew open.
"What?" He backed away, startled as she stood quickly. "Come on- I don't know what crazy things this woman has done but it's not good, and we need to get out!"
"People like you always interrupt the best dreams," she complained, pushing past him. He followed.
"Are you alright?"
"Of course I'm alright!" she snapped. "I've just been dragged across and entire goddy city, and who knows what the woman did-" She grabbed her things off the table and glanced up at the second floor, where Mrs. Castellan had vanished.
"Mrs. Castellan! I'm going out!" Her voice was falsely sweet, and the woman's voice floated down the staris. Anna listened hard, the frowned.
"Run!" She yelled something else, but he couldn't hear it, over the screeching from the floor above, and a loud explosion nearly brought the house down.
Reviews are definitely welcome, 'specially since I haven't written in a while...
