"What's wrong with him?" Katie asked the son of Apollo.

Austin was no godly medic, but at least knew what he was doing. The only one in the entire cavern it seemed. A large group of demigods was sent into a large cave found below Camp Half-Blood to retrieve old weapons. Not an important quest, but it required a lot of people. Though she suspected it was part of the Labyrinth even if it was destroyed, Katie never voiced her concerns. Unfortunately, she was right. The second the thirty demigods descended into the cave, they were shut in.

Leo Valdez, a son of Hephaestus, suggested they go deeper and find the weapons before panicking about getting out. Easy for him to say, Katie thought angrily. He's already died before. Still, him being a part of the dream team 7 demigods quest carried weight. He was the most qualified to make decisions, which made no sense to Katie. He voluntarily killed himself fully knowing the risk of using the Physician's Cure.

They ended up finding the weapons, but they were facing another problem. Of all things, a virus. And still, they were trapped below the camp with no contact with anyone above ground. Only fourteen of the thirty demigods hadn't contracted the disease. Even the somehow-unkillable Travis Stoll was failing to stay alive.

"The virus was somehow transmitted to him. All the infected were quarantined so I don't understand!" he looked at Will Solace, who was awake but non-responsive in the corner.

Will Solace. The first to be infected by the disease.

It spread quicker than fire in a forest of dry wood. Any contact led to transmission. But Leo, the second to get the disease, hadn't been near anyone with the disease.

"Why is acting like this, though?"

Travis's reaction was different. He couldn't move, couldn't talk, he could do anything. His eyes weren't moving and ambrosia did little to keep his lungs from quitting every few hours. They were underground, had no medical equipment, and their friends were all sick. Except for Travis; he was dying.

Katie glanced worriedly at Connor, who was pacing the length of the cavern, careful to keep space between himself and the victims. His eyes were constantly filling up with tears, which he didn' even bother to wipe away. Chris Rodriguez, his half brother, repeatedly tried to comfort him and engage him in conversation, but Connor wouldn't answer.

Katie couldn't imagine losing one of her siblings, but with Travis and Connor, it was different. They were each other's best friend, never leaving the other's side. Travis dying would kill Connor, too. Katie held a cloth up to her mouth and moved toward Travis. He lay on the floor, eyes closed. Without a smile on his face, he looked like a different person. The expression he had wasn't at peace like he was sleeping. He looked like he was in pain, features tight and scrunched. Fortunately, he was breathing. Someone needed to be by him at all times in case his lungs began to fail again.

"Do you think he will be ok?"

She turned to Connor who was physically shaking. He was trying to hold it together. Katie never had the best relationship with the Stoll brothers. They regularly made her life hell with stupid pranks on her and her cabin. But gods, a life at Camp Half-Blood without them would be even worse. She put up with them seven years and, though she would never admit it, they were the best years of her life. Katie liked having someone to yell at and she got two someones.

"C'mere, Stoll."

She pulled him into a hug, which was the last straw for him. He broke down in her arms, letting out heartbroken sobs. Everyone turned to them, giving the son of Hermes pitiful looks.

"He can't die! I can't…"

"Shh, I know," she said soothingly.

In reality, she was completely freaking out on the inside. Katie had no idea what to do other than mutter encouraging things like he'll be fine and everything will be ok. Unfortunately, she didn't really know and Connor picked up on that. Realizing that in their position Connor was staring straight at Travis, she turned him around.

"I know, gods I fucking know, Connor. But we have to get out of here so he can get the right treatment, okay?" she said looking him straight in the eyes. "And for that to happen, we need everyone to help try and find some kind of exit, alright? Travis… Travis will be okay."

He took in a shaky breath, nodding. Taking one last look at his brother, the younger Stoll joined his cabinmates Cecil and Chris along with Clarisse and Jake Mason to discuss escape ideas.

"You did good, Kate," her sister Billie said softly, patting her on the shoulder.

"You calmed him down with just a few words," Valentina Diaz added. "Not even Drew's charmspeak can do that."

It was true. Connor was the more moody and angry one of the two brothers. He wasn't easy to relax, especially when it came to his brother being in some kind of danger. He would either punch everything in sight or have a complete emotional breakdown. At that moment where she was left to console him, Katie would've preferred the punching any day. The cavern groaned abruptly, sprinkling pebbles and grit onto their heads.

"It isn't stable," Jake warned, patting Harley's back soothingly.

The young demigod insisted on coming on the quest with the reasoning that "you could never have too many 'Festus kids!" Unfortunately, seeing that they were hopelessly trapped and his idol, Leo, was dying for the second time, the poor kid was left distraught.

"We have to get out of here," Clarisse muttered. "Before not just the sick ones but all of us die."

"Well, you guys are the ones in charge of getting us out. Have you done anything productive?" someone asked angrily.

Everything was suspicious to Katie. Why would thirty demigods be needed on one quest, and why had Chiron been so sure about the exact number. In all the years she knew him, the old centaur was never so absolutely set on one idea. He always told them "Nothing is for certain, you should never go through life thinking so. There is always something that can go wrong." It was as if he was listening to conscience not his own…

Her immediate thought was Gaea. They lulled her back to sleep but what if that wasn't enough? But Chiron had resisted her mind charms in the past, it wasn't easy to control him or his thoughts. No, there was something else at play, Katie just hoped it didn't end in their demise.

"Piss off, Sherman," Clarisse growled. "You've done nothing but mope this entire time. Talk about productivity, you haven't done anything remotely helpful the entire time we've been down here!"

"Well, at least I'm not pretending to know what I'm doing!"

"Guys!" Chris shouted, slightly irritated. "Fighting won't get us anywhere and Sherman I know you're about to say something so shut it! We have the weapons but if we waste time arguing we'll all end up dead! Every second wasted is more of the virus entering the air, it'll become poison!"

At that statement, Harley's big eyes widened and began to well up with tears. Jake shot a look at Chris, who's expression softened.

"What I mean is: we have to use our time wisely. Hopefully, if everyone follows Austin's procedures, no one else should get infected. Let's go."

So again, the demigods went back to their assigned jobs. While some cared for the sick and discussed ideas of escape, others bundled and sorted through the weapons, preferring only those which were celestial bronze. Of course, they didn't know what time it was but Katie's eyelids began to droop. She was physically and emotionally exhausted. Still, she was in charge of making sure Travis didn't die for the next few hours. From across the cavern, Connor regarded her with a scowl on his face. He marched over to her and sighed,

"Get some sleep, Veggie Tales. I- I'll keep watch of him."

She frowned at the nickname but nodded. She passed Connor her cloth, reminded him about thirty times to keep it on his mouth and nose, then got as far from the sick as she could before curling up on the hard floor. Katie fell asleep almost immediately but unfortunately, that meant dreams.

In her dream, she was underground again. But it wasn't like their cavern, it was more narrow, like a tunnel. The first thing that hit her was the stench. It was revolting, causing Katie to gag. Beside her was Percy Jackson. He was panting, trying to breathe from his mouth.

"Jason!" he called out, breaking into a run

"Percy, wait!" she shouted, trying to keep up.

He made about a million turns before bumping back into his friends from the Seven, all except Jason. She was surprised to see Leo, so maybe it was a scene from when the demigods were in the Ancient Lands. They were all still underground but in a bigger space. Katie would've thought he'd be excited to see them but he let out a frustrating groan, punching the dirt wall.

"No matter how many turns I make I always end up back here!" he yelled wildly. "Where is he?"

The Roman, Hazel, sighed heavily, "I can't sense his presence anywhere. It's like the tunnels are fighting against me. They don't want me to see where he is."

Katie was confused. Usually, her dreams had hints or clues to help a current situation. Since she wasn't typically sent on quests, her dreams were like that one. Just clips from old quests her friends had gone on. All she wanted was help but of course, she was screwed over. The important, informing dreams were only sent to powerful demigods.

Piper shook her head miserably, "He can't be gone. We'll keep looking, Annabeth can you do the weird thing with the dreams again."

What weird thing?

Annabeth nodded, patting Percy and Piper on the back gently. Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream exploded from somewhere in the cavern. It sounded vaguely masculine and familiar…

"Jason!" all six of them yelled, sprinting toward the source of his yell.

Katie woke abruptly to someone shaking her awake. It was Cecil. He had tears in his eyes,

"You gotta see this, Kate."

She got up quickly, preparing for the worst. Had Travis died on Connor's watch? Did someone else die? Different scenarios played in her mind, each one more horrible than the one before. What she saw, no preparing would've helped.

It was Connor, on the floor beside his brother. Infected. Eyes closed. Unmoving. Face tight. He'd caught it from Travis, and it looked like he was having the same reaction.