authors note: this is F speaking. I don't own any characters or places that you may recognize from PJO and HoO. Sorry I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger last time. but i like writing cliffies. Please review!
Casper's POV
I pulled on the parachute, fumbling with the straps. "Go!" Someone said. Then I was tumbling through the air, clutching desperately for the cord to extend the parachute. I grabbed it, and was jerked upwards, landing with a stumble on a rocky incline, Percy landing on his back next to me, but he seemed fine.
We had landed on a rocky slope. Mountains at our backs, at the bottom of the slope was a scraggly evergreen forest, leading into farms in the distance. The air was cool but not cold, and the sky was sunny but windy at the same time. I pulled my red hat down over my curly hair. Something about this place seemed ominous, like something was going to happen here that was bad. I brushed that thought away. I was just being silly.
I could see the others at the bottom of the hill and to the right, untangling themselves from their parachutes and trying to get their bearings.
"There!" Percy gasped, managing to untangle himself from his white parachute. I pulled off my own.
Just then, Annabeth and Ella landed, and they weren't quite as lucky as we had been. They landed on the steepest part. Annabeth stumbled and slid down a feet, grabbing a rock with one hand to stop her fall. She tried to grab the back of Ella's shirt, but Ella tumbled all the way down the hill. She didn't get up.
"Ella!" I yelled, starting forward, but Percy caught my arm.
"The others have spotted her, we have to help Annabeth." Percy said urgently, and the two of us moved as fast as we could towards Annabeth. "Annabeth!" Percy exclaimed, helping me pull her parachute off her.
"Hey." Annabeth said weakly. "I'm okay, just got the wind knocked out of me."
We helped Annabeth up. She was fine except for a few bruises. Percy and Annabeth started down the hill, but I slung off my backpack (yes I was wearing it this whole time) and stuffed in Annabeth's parachute. It was a large amount of cloth, and that could come in handy for dozens of reasons.
"Might come in handy." I mumbled.
"Come on Casper!" Percy called. I put my backpack back on and followed them down. Behind me, the plane landed on the rocks and exploded. The heat scorched the hairs on the back of my neck.
I turned around. Fires spread across the rocks, and the smell of melting plastic and metal reached my nose. Suddenly my stomach lurched. We had left the pilot in there. I felt sick, like I was going to throw up.
It took all of my willpower to turn around and keep walking, but my eyes stung. This was our fault. For all I knew, she had sent those venti. She had monsters in her army. I forced myself down the hill.
But I promised myself that, if she had done this, I would get her back.
I would make her pay.
I was so mad I saw spots. She couldn't hurt my friends. That was taking it too far. She couldn't drag them into this, and I certainly wasn't going to.
I continued down the hill.
Ella's POV
When I opened my eyes, I had no idea where I was. Fortunately, I didn't care because Casper was leaning over me, smiling, so I knew I was safe.
I was laying on my back, staring up at a clear night sky. Millions of stars twinkled down at me. I was surprised because I had never seen them before; I had lived my whole life in NYC, where you couldn't see the stars.
"Cas?" I asked. "Where are we?"
"Relax." She said, giving me a warm smile. "You hit a tree when you landed."
"Fell? Oh. Plane. Boom. Ow." She laughed, but she didn't sound particularly happy. Something was bothering her, I could tell. Her eyes were sad and angry. But I knew that my best friend was far too proud and stubborn to ask for help, even when she needed it. She always tried to do things herself and on her own. She was the strong one, and she always had been. Probably always would be.
"We're in Sugarville." She said. "And yeah, its called Sugarville. And no, they don't grow sugar here. Just corn. But its just a couple of farms, so nobody saw us coming in."
I sat up. We were all sitting around a small campfire, in a cornfield. They had cleared away a patch of corn and built a fire with it. I was wrapped in Cas's warm leather jacket. Her bare arms looked cold, but Cas didn't seem to mind. Hazel was awake with her head against Frank's shoulder. She didn't seem hurt. Annabeth and Percy were whispering to each other on the other side of the fire, Jason was asleep, and Leo and Piper was on their backs, looking up at the stars. She was telling him something about…. glowing hedgehogs?
"Gods, I have a headache." I moaned. "I feel like someone ran over me with a train."
"How'd you learn to fly like that Ellie?" Leo asked. He had sat up with Piper. "It was awesome." I blushed. My heart skipped a beat, but I didn't know why. I pushed that to the back of my mind.
"My mom was a pilot. She took me up with her a couple of times." I shrugged.
"Besides, if I can hotwire and drive a car, then a plane is nothing. And don't call me Ellie." Cas stifled a yawn.
"You're not fooling anybody." Annabeth called to Cas. "Get some sleep. You guys should too." She said to the others. "Ella and Percy and I will take first watch." Percy nodded, but I had a bad feeling. I wasn't sure why, though.
They all curled up and went to sleep until it was just Percy and Annabeth awake with me. The bad feeling in my stomach increased, like something bad was about to happen. But I didn't know why I thought that; it was just Percy and Annabeth, and they were my friends. But why did Annabeth want me to stay up with them?
"I have a question for you, Ella." Annabeth sat in criss-cross-applesauce position. She propped up her head with one hand. In the firelight, her gray eyes seemed to stare right into me, pulling out my secrets. She stared at me like I was a complicated problem that she wasn't sure was worth solving. I squirmed uncomfortably. "What were you saying about a nefarious demigod crimelord whos going to try to kill Casper?"
Sorry, another cliffie! It's a bad habit. PLEASE REVIEW, I LUV GETTING REVIEWS!