--Chapter Five: Oods--
Nico Pov
My arms feel so soft, like there are pillows between them and my body. I still can't quite reach consciousness but I'm aware of myself. I try to force my eyes open but they are glued shut. Or maybe I'm just weak. Yeah, probably that. I try to reach out with my powers for any life forms near me, I find 3, though I can't figure out who they are. That scares me a bit because i used to do that with ease.
I'm starting to give up when I hear a voice in my head. Well not a voice fore like a feeling in my head like someone is talking through touch. Suddenly my mind flew back to Westover hall, with….Bianca. I remember how she would always touch me when she was talking. How much she liked to communicate with her hands more than her voice. Oh. Bianca. How does she remember? Then suddenly the feeling shifted, and took a darker turn.
It started giving me an uncomfortable feeling, like there was a pressure tightening around my head. Inside my head. I tried to get rid of it but it stayed. I could feel it taking hold of my brain. I tried to fight but I was lost on how I was supposed to get rid of it. I was stuck. And I couldn't get out. Not until I felt him. I felt Will.
Will pov
My body felt like a dead weight. Definitely not just because Kayla had said so, but because I actually can't feel my body all that much. I asked Kayla to give me an update on the other campers. But naturally she refused saying that I should rest up. Like actually go to sleep. I had stared at her. Did she really think i was going to sleep knowing that there could be even worse casualties than what had happened to Nico and the others.
But I realized she's right. I couldn't do anything so long as I was stuck in this bed. And I hadn't forgotten the way I had felt Nico earlier. I had felt him. I could feel his mental state, his physical state, and his spiritual state. All at once. But as soon as I fell asleep I stopped feeling him. But now that I know I'm gonna try to reach out for him.
I closed my eyes and did…..whatever people do when they're trying to do…….whatever im doing. I focus my mind on Nico. I focus on trying to find him. I fall asleep without knowing, as I'm still of my mind. I have no idea how I'm supposed to do this so I just let my instinct take over. I'm
floating around in my own mind, seemingly in a physical realm, opening and closing doors but i can't find the one that leads to Nico. But then my mind is flown back to a different realm where I can't really feel anything. I'm more like sensing things around me. Suddenly I'm reminded of Clovis, and how he brings campers out of nightmares and commas here at the infirmary. This is probably how he does it, but I'm so unfamiliar with the dream-scape that I have no idea how- ohmygosh I found him…..but not really him more like a part of him. A front of him.
I could feel a rip somewhere in him. Like he was fighting something. But what could he possibly be fighti- OH MY GOSH I need to wake up right now. I just realized something. I fight to wake myself up but I'm stuck. I'm too panicked to wake up. So I concentrate on Nico. The only way for him to get out of this is to keep a strong mind. But I can't tell him that, I'm too far away from him. There's a divider between him and me, so I just wait. I wait for anything to move, for anything to change.
But it stays the same. The same pulse. The same heartbeat. The same- wait. There was a change in his presence of mind. Like there was a fire somewhere and he was trying to get away. That would be the demon. It's a form of an Eidolon but worse. Once it gains a human host it never leaves, and takes complete control of the body and mind.
I couldn't let this happen. Nico was struggling and he needed me. So I pushed as hard as I could towards him towards my love. I needed him to be ok. I needed him to live. I needed to help him. I completely focused all my energy on helping him break free. This process is strictly of the mind for Nico because he is unconscious, so it will be harder because the demon is fully focusing on taking his mind. But the problem is that it doesn't appear invasive at first. To wiggle itself more deeply into the host it takes a happy memory and feeds off that first. Now I have to be there to help him.
Annabeth Pov
I can't find Piper anywhere. Kayla said her charmspeak would be great for calming people down but I coulndt find her in the Aphrodite cabin, she wasn't at lunch, she wasn't at the Zeus cabin. I looked at every common place at camp but I coulndt find her. I started to get worried when I saw her walking towards the Hypnos cabin.
"Piper!" She looks around at her name, meets my eye, and keeps walking.
"What the…" I ran towards her wondering what her deal was when I saw her hands. She was swiping her knuckles vertically up and down just as she walked from the cabin, Clovis following her.
She was probably just fiddling with her hands but I can't be sure being fully aware that she was making the ASL sign for danger. So I did the stupidest thing I could do, and followed her when she came out, pulling my cap from my pocket and followed her into the woods. Without telling anyone. Because I'm an absolute idiot.
Nico pov
The pressure wrapped around my head was still present, if not stronger. The only thing keeping me from giving up was Will. I could feel him. Just outside of the Dreamscape. On one hand, I wanted to tell him to leave. If he didn't know his way around the Dreamscape he could be lost forever. It's a constant struggle to not get pulled into the River of dreams. Believe me when I say that the Dreamscape and the River of dreams are two completely different things.
The River of dreams is more dangerous than you could possibly imagine holding secrets that were never meant to be discovered about people and things that could break a person. Whereas the Dreamscape is a place of wonder and healing. I often go there when I'm feeling lost or like- like cutting again. I normally am able to control the dreamscape with ease, but now I feel helpless as I can fight the force on my mind trying to take control of me. But I don't want him to leave me. I need him. I don't think I would be able to fight this monster without him.
With dread at all the possibilities, I concentrated on Will's presence, and started stretching my mind for him. Though my ood's of doing so are quite slim to say the least.
Will Pov
Not long after being in this realm, I started feeling a pull somewhere inside this place. Like a whisper of some sort. But darker. I wanted to go just to see what it was. Just to- Will! I jerked in surprise. If that's even possible in this sort of place. Will!! Oh my gods. It's Nico I can feel it. But he feels different. More muted.
We've done this sort of thing before but we were always physically in our bodys, and he was always leading me. Right now I can't really 'see' so much as 'feel' him. So when I feel him now he feels softer and less him. I can feel something else. Something more dominant. With his sudden presence my concentration faltered and I had to gather myself in order to try and speak? Vibe? Telekinect? back to him.
Not to long passed before I was able to say: Nico? Will!! I could feel his very mixed emotions swirling in a pool of disorientation in him. I longed to hold him in my arms and comfort him. Carding my fingers softly, lovingly through his dark beautiful locks. Will you need to help me! I know love i'm trying. Panic started blooming in his chest like a wildfire. But the first thing that came to mind for me to do was to start singing softly:
All I am, is a man
I want the world in my hands
I hate the beach But i stand in california with my toes in the sand
Use the sleeve of my sweater
Lets have an adventure
The barrier is still there, and I'm pretty sure I know why. But I can still sing like I always do. I can still calm him like I always do. I can still love him like I always do. Slowly his panic turns more to fear than to the calm I was going for. Nico listen to me. I waited for his full attention. Don't give up. I'm right here with you. We will break this barrier and get rid of the Eidolon. I promise. He calmed down somewhat, too riled up to say anything back. I promise.
Nico pov
I don't know how long we were in there for. I couldn't say anything further as my concentration was too tempered with to make space for anything else. But I know he could feel me. I know. Slowly but surely I could feel the Eidolon shrinking, the band around my mind weakening. I know I woulndt have been able to do it without Will. I know my ood's are not in my favor, but I know.
Piper pov
The Eidolon brought us to a place so deep in the woods I couldn't recognise anything around me. I wasn't being held by the neck anymore but I was still in front of the Eidolon, and any time I tried to turn my head, he would wrench my head forward again. We were walking for a good 30 minutes before we stopped in front of a giant rock wall.
The Eidolon hissed something that didn't sound greek latin, french, or english, and the wall turned into a stairway leading down. Because of course their hideout just absolutely has to be in a dark creepy seler that no one would be able to find because it's just my luck. (What are we talkin about here? When have I ever had any sort of luck)
The stairs are kind of slimy and I almost slip and kill myself when he pushes me foreward into the darknes. Not one step into the cave when a torch flares on my right. I jump, almost tripping again but I straighten up walking down the steps warily, as I couldn't see an end. But once we do, it's not as creepy as I thought it was going to be. the place lit up all at once when I stepped off the bottom stair.
There was a big pool of water in one corner, but aside from that the place was actually kind of tidy. I look around surprised.
"Dont looks so surprised, were not total slobs" he says contemp heavy in his voice
"Eric! We've been waiting for hours. Did you bring back anything that we could host?" The voice sounds kind of burbelly and is coming from the pool of water though I couldn't see anything over there.
"Calm down Urses, I brought back two more hosts but before we can wear them we need to get a kid from the Hypnos cabin"
"But were tired of being fish." Oh. Well that explains the voice. It was coming from a fish. A friggin fish. Why am I not surprised it's some weird ass thing like this.
"Calm ur ass down. There's a whole camp for us to pick from once we get in." The Eidolon in Jason's body, Eric, pushes me in a corner and tells me to sit. Putting percy somewhere else who has been uncaristeristially quiet.
"But why do we have to stay as fish"
"Urses shut up Eric knows what he's doing" "Thank you Kerken." Urses? Keeken? what is this? "So all we need is to send this girl in to get one and we will be all set for the transformation connection."
If I understood a word This Eric was saying I might be more worried then I was. But the only thing I took out of this was that they were gonna send me back to camp.
Perfect.
"But-"
"For the love of Elicia, Urses shut up" There was a little bit more of Urses complaining when Eric came to his senses and gave me instructions to get the strongest Hypnos kid and bring him back under false pretences. And to come back with him (or her. Don't need to be so sexest Eric) or Percy would be exterminated. Yes we all know what that means.
I finally made my way over to the camp(no I definitely didn't get lost on the way back) and i just got clovis outa the cabin(which took quite a while not gonna lie) when I hear my name being called. I look around to see Annabeth calling for me. But I don't acknowledge her, worried about percy. I try to think of a way to tell her about my predicament without giving it away. Or "exterminating" Percy.
My mind jumps to ASL. Perfect. I quickly brush my knuckles together up and down multiple times, not looking back over to her even once, hoping she gets the gist. If not then I guess I'll take my oods. Though just as I'm walking into the forest with Clovis I realize that they aren't really that good.
-- Aaaaaand there. One of the longest Chapters I've written in legit 2 hours. Please excuse the choppy durminur but I really wanted to write this so I ended up rushing just a little. Plz dont hate me
-Oxsha And once again Disclaimer: anything you recognize from PJO…. clearly not mine(my fingers are spasming as I'm writing down these words) but alas! Tis true. Ok all stop now. engoyyyyyyyyyy