A/N: I can't believe myself, leaving this story hanging for months, and I'm terribly sorry. But I'll get back to it now, and this chapter is much longer, and I will try my best to update once a month from now on…

Also, thanks again to all my wonderful reviewers!

POVs: Percy, Renesmee

Disclaimer: akjkfskadhf Rick Riordan akjdfasdhfoa Stephenie Meyer adfjnq0icnoeisdf

Chapter 21: Captured

I heard a high-pitched scream of terror, not far off in the shadowy forest. It could have only been a couple of minutes since Renesmee had run off — how did she get herself into trouble so quickly?

The scream lasted barely half a second before it was cut off instantly, but I was already running, drawing Riptide from my pocket. Jason was half a step behind me. The forest was shrouded in fog so thick I could barely see what was in front of me. Nevertheless, I followed the direction I'd heard the scream coming from, tearing through the underbrush like a madman, until I reached a river.

It was clean and fresh, the water running quickly down a small slope and out of sight in the trees. What I saw next to it stunned me, and I immediately wished I had no eyes. There was a dead stag, completely clean save the two puncture marks on its neck, right next to its jugular. The eyes were almost completely rolled up inside the poor creature's head, and the absence of movement in its torso clarified my previous suspicion.

This stag had either just been killed by Renesmee, or there was an unfriendly vampire out there hunting who had captured her. "Do you think Renesmee did it or a Volturi?" I asked Jason, who stood behind me in shock, his Imperial gold sword out.

Jason looked at me with a bewildered look, like I was an idiot, and I felt my ears involuntarily start to redden. "What?" I asked him.

"Well, of course it was Nessie. What kind of a Volturi drinks animal blood?" he answered, taking his eyes off of mine and looking again at the dead animal.

I mentally slapped myself for my stupidity. "Well, come on," I muttered, "we should go find Nessie and the person who captured her."

We ran for only another couple of minutes before we found her. She was bound, her arms behind a tree, her mouth gagged, and unconscious. But the person who had put her there was nowhere in sight.

I instinctively put my back against Jason's, trying to see through the mist that fogged the early-morning forest while holding my sword out. I knew that if it was a vampire out there, and it most probably was, Jason and I were as good as dead even with our usually-fatal swords.

There was a chuckle heard not far off to my left. My head swiveled, eyes searching for the source of the sound, but I could see nothing. A voice then spoke from my right. "Little boys. I thought you were smarter than this; smarter than to come looking for the Volturi." I whipped my head around so fast my neck popped painfully, trying to see the vampire who'd spoken from my right. Were there two of them? And if there weren't, how could they be in two places at the same time?

"And especially when you smell so… delicious. The best smell I've ever caught wind of from a human."

Another voice spoke from the left. "But you're not exactly human, are you?"

Jason suddenly whispered from behind me. "Percy, there's a person in front of me. I can't tell who it is, but I don't think it's one of them."

But I paid him no attention whatsoever, because a sudden wind had just blown from behind, whisking the fog and mist away and revealing a shadow. A person. He was hooded, cloaked in black and red, but his crimson eyes shone out from under the hood anyway. The man was a pearly white, an unnatural shade, with neat stubble lining his chin and neck. As he took off, I sucked in a breath.

I should have been used to it, having seen the male Cullens. But this man was not just handsome — he was the essence of beauty, something I would have never thought possible for a man. His entire face was utter perfection, even with the red eyes.

Jason spoke to me again, his side to my back, this time anxiously. "Percy. Renesmee's gone."

I spun around at his words, confused, but it was true. Jason and I had been standing next to the large tree where Renesmee had been bound and gagged. But somehow, she'd been taken from right underneath our noses. How?

"Where is she?" Jason asked, and we both looked at the vampire in front of us. But instead of looking gleeful, as he should have if he had Nessie, his face was a mask of rage, his hands were fists, and he was crouching low in a very predatory position.

"How did you steal her? She was right there a moment ago! The vampire-human girl!" the man yelled, his voice screechy and three times higher than it should be. His eyes were actually full of fear — I was so surprised I stumbled over my own still feet. "WHERE IS SHE?!" the Volturi guard bellowed, his nostrils flaring.

Suddenly there was a flash of darkness, even though the sun was shining brightly through the trees, and a shadow filled the space in front of Jason and me, preventing us from seeing the vampire.

Wait… a shadow was not solid. But this one was. It was the most solid thing I'd ever seen in my entire life, but it was also a shadow, I was certain of that.

I'd only ever seen one person who could create such a thing. And the event that followed proved that exact theory.

Three skeleton-things with what looked like dragon claws, fangs, and glowing black eyes (I know, right? How does something black glow?) popped out of the shadow, which promptly disappeared, and started fighting the cloaked vampire.

It should have been an easy fight, with the vampire being what he was, but these things were bones. They were already dead. They had fangs and claws. And what was worse, they resurrected themselves every time the Volturi dismembered — disboned? — them.

Somewhere in the fight, Renesmee magically reappeared, unbound and ungagged but still unconscious, in front of us.

Soon enough, the vampire realized there was no reason to keep fighting. He rushed forward at the speed of light and grabbed the unconscious Nessie by the hair and snarled at the three skeletons before running off into the forest at a speed that they could not keep up with.

Three seconds later, the skeletons fell into a heap of bones and disintegrated. But I felt like it had been all for nothing. Renesmee was still with that evil monster. I ran after his wind, trying to get Renesmee back, for only ten seconds before realizing it was futile to try and catch a vampire.

But it was useless. And I wouldn't blame the Cullens for wanting me to die if I came back without their daughter.

That hardened my resolve. We were going to get Renesmee back, no matter what the cost. (Unless that cost included either me or Jason dying. That wasn't going to happen on my watch.)

Jason, who had followed me, panted from the run. "We have to get to her. There's no way I'm waiting long enough to find out what kinds of horrible things they could do to her in their clutches."

He sat down on a log, thinking hard. There was a sudden, loud crash from behind him and he jumped, only to find a familiar metal dragon looking back down at him.

"Oh. Hey, Festus," Jason said, completely resigned and out of it as he scratched the dragon's metal plates. "Also, what the Hades was that?" He gave me a pointed look.

"What was what?" I asked, confused again.

"The skeletons and the shadow and stuff."

"Oh. That." I looked at him and sighed before saying into the shadows of the forest, "You can come out now, Nico."

I woke up in a dingy cell, my head aching like it had never before. Where was I? Where were Percy and Jason?

And then the memories flooded back to me all at once. The stag at the river, the shadow moving lightning-quick, the smell of the Volturi guard in the forest before something really hard hit me in the back of the head.

There was another memory, but this one was only a flash: a gaunt face, dark black bags lining his eyes, long, shaggy black hair, looking at my face one time before he dropped me on the ground and everything went dark again…

Finding it hard to think through the pounding pain in my head, I stood up and walked around the room where I was. It was high-ceilinged, with only a dim lantern hanging from above, circular, and was yet very small. There was a door — also made of bricks and stone — with a ridiculously small, metal frame window in it.

I sniffed around and instantly recognized the smell of the Volturi, as well as a tang of recent blood that had most likely been scrubbed away from the floor. I had to get out of here; I had to find Percy and Jason, assuming they hadn't been drained of blood already, and get back to my family.

I ran full force at the wall, expecting it to bend to my will, but I only caused a dent and more pain in my hips. This was one of the moments where I really hated being half-human. I wasn't as strong as a vampire.

I ran into the wall, holding my fists out, punched at it, kicked at it, and screamed until my lungs hurt. A Volturi guard walked past the door, hearing my screams but ignoring them completely. His black cloak swept past on an ancient cobblestone floor.

Okay. No one was letting me out, especially not that brick wall.

But I'd find a way out eventually.

I had to.

A/N: And there you have it! Please leave me a review, even just one word will make my day!