I'm sorry this took so long! I had a really busy week and just didn't get around to updating.
Thanks for all the reviews last chapter! I seriously appreciate each and every one!
Percy and Frank were not in good moods come morning. Jason had thankfully slept through the night, meaning he hadn't been in pain for hours on end, but neither of them could really sleep and their eyes constantly drifted to their injured friend. And it pissed them off that he was injured.
Their door opened and trays of food were slid into the room. A spear point poked through while someone came in to grab their chamber pot. Percy and Frank glared at them from their beds, not having the energy to try and escape right now anyway. The door closed with a slam, waking Jason.
He jumped, unfortunately, and hissed in pain as it jostled his back. Percy and Frank both jumped up to hover over his bedside, both wanting to do something for him but unable to. "Easy," Percy said.
Jason eventually relaxed again, turning his head on the mattress to look up at them. "What happened exactly?" he asked. His voice was hoarse and raspy, likely sore from all the screaming he had done the previous day. Frank went to get one of the small water cups for him.
"We don't know how you got hurt, but their solution to patching you up was to burn the wounds closed," Percy said, getting angry all over again.
"Oh, right," Jason said, wincing. He saw the cup of water in Frank's hand and knew he'd have to try and sit up to drink it. Forcing an arm under his chest, he carefully eased himself up without arching his back too much. Frank wordlessly handed him the water and Jason tilted his head back to drink it, downing the whole cup quickly. Frank took it back.
"So what monster were you fighting?" Frank asked. Jason eased himself back down, breathing heavily from the twinges of pain.
"Not sure…it was like a lion, but its skin was like a rock," he said. "My sword couldn't get through it."
Percy recognized the monster immediately. "That's the Nemean Lion!" he exclaimed. Jason and Frank looked at him. "I fought that thing a couple years back."
"Shame it didn't stay dead," Jason muttered.
"Shame we're stuck here in the first place," Percy muttered, throwing a glare at the door.
"So much for the girls finding us within a few days," Frank added, returning to his bed to sit back against the wall.
"I'm sure they're tearing the country apart looking for us," Jason said.
"I just wish I could get a clear connection with Grover…I don't understand why our link is so weak anymore," Percy said. He paced their small cell in frustration.
"Even if you could, you don't have much to tell them. We don't even know what state we're in," Frank said.
"Yeah, well…it'd be better than nothing."
The two couldn't argue with him. Percy finally got their trays of food and passed them out. Jason pushed himself onto one arm again and ate as quickly as he could. The food was cold and bland, but it was all they had. When they were finished, they put them by the door again. In the past, they had tried to keep them far back in the cell, but the guards didn't fall for it. They told them to either slide the trays across the floor to them or they wouldn't get dinner, and when the boys refused they just left, and true to their word the boys weren't given dinner that night.
The situation was frustrating, overall. The fact that they couldn't actually figure out a way to escape was driving them all mad, and now that Jason was injured so badly it made things a lot more difficult. They couldn't trust that Jason would be able to run or defend himself without crumpling in pain, and considering the state of his back Percy and Frank wouldn't blame him for crumpling in pain. He was going to have the mother of all scars when this was over.
The guards came back an hour later, collecting the trays and putting the chamber pot back in its corner. Percy waved at them as they watched him on his bed carefully. The door clicked close, the lock turning and sealing them in again.
Thankfully, it didn't open again until dinner that night. Jason slept most of the day while Percy and Frank made up stories to entertain each other. The lights went off without warning, signaling lights out for everyone.
The next day, they dragged Frank up to the coliseum. He asked for a bow and arrows, which they willingly gave him. It was a change of pace for their viewers, and that they had no complaints about.
Frank shouldered the quiver and brought the strap over his head so it lay diagonally across his chest. The portcullis opened, and he stepped out into the coliseum. The fact that there were so many people there, paying to see kidnapped kids fight horrible monsters, bothered Frank to no end. He wished he could shoot his arrows at them, but he had a feeling that wouldn't end well for him. Besides, they were still mortals. Even the man in charge of all this was still mortal, and Frank wasn't a killer.
Well, he didn't kill mortals. Hellhounds, those were another story. He felt no remorse as he drew his first arrow and took aim at the first hellhound. There were about seven total, and he was starting to regret his weapon of choice. The hellhounds were fast, and just because he shot one didn't mean it stayed down. He was forced to dance around them while shooting, and he had too many close calls.
He was able to take down four of them before he ran out of arrows. The crowd hushed as his hand reached back and didn't find any more arrows. His eyes widened and he dived to the ground to avoid a pouncing hellhound. Another one jumped on top of him, and Frank dropped the bow so he could use his hands to fend off the snapping jaws. The edges of his hands tore from the sharp teeth.
With no other options, he turned himself into a weasel, a creature small enough to slide out from under the hell hound. He turned back into a human quickly, hopefully quickly enough to keep people from thinking that had actually happened. He then ran around the arena, picking up used arrows and firing them while dodging the hell hounds.
It took him half an hour, and his arm was scratched up pretty badly, but he'd won. He panted as he surveyed the empty arena. The crowd cheered. He was brought downstairs, and they tied him down and burned his arm shut, just like they did to Jason two days previous.
He glared the whole way back to his room, cradling his injured arm. They'd said he'd be off the roster for the next few days so his arm could heal, and then they locked him in the cell again.
Percy was off the bed in an instant. "What happened?" he demanded, gingerly looking at Frank's arm.
"Hell hounds," Frank spat. "And these bastards are convinced that burning wounds is the only way to deal with them."
Percy snarled. "I swear I'll kill all of them myself for this," he said.
Frank just walked past Percy and went to sit on his bed. Jason was passed out again, still lying on his stomach. His back still looked absolutely terrible, the burn shiny and pulling against his skin.
"If we don't find a way out of here soon," Frank started, looking up at Percy, "we're going to be killed."
Xx
Each of them armed with telescopes, Leo, Calypso, and the girls had taken the Argo II to Kansas. Leo had created a grid-like flight pattern of the state and programmed it into the ship. Hopefully with this they would be able to cover all of Kansas and find their friends. Grover was already canvasing the state from the ground, hoping to get close to Percy to try and pinpoint their location better.
It had been a few days, and they still weren't any closer. They were all sleep-deprived and had dark bags under their eyes. Coffee was only keeping them awake for so long. Piper had almost literally resorted to sticking toothpicks under her eyelids before Calypso dragged her to her room to sleep.
There had been no report from the FBI or the NYPD either. Annabeth had been calling twice a day asking for updates, only to be told that they were still looking into it and couldn't disclose any information to civilians.
Leo was glad she was stuck on the Argo II and couldn't go strangle the detective for information. With the murderous look in her eyes most of the time, she very well might. Leo was honestly concerned for the people who had kidnapped the guys…these girls were not people to mess with. If any of them had a single scratch, the kidnappers were probably going to die. Very slowly. And painfully. Definitely painfully.
Until they were found though, all they could do was pray to the gods to keep Percy, Frank, and Jason safe.
Xx
The day after Frank had been injured, Percy was called to the arena. Percy looked downright murderous when he left, and Frank and Jason were slightly worried at what he might do.
They glanced at each other, concerned expressions mirrored on their faces. All they could do though was wait and hope for the best.
About a half hour after he was taken, they could hear yelling from their cell. Not the painful yelling Jason had made, more like alarmed shouts, like guards yelling to each other. There were metal clangs, the familiar clamor of sword on sword.
Frank and Jason glanced at each other again. It was much too close to be coming from the coliseum, meaning someone was fighting underneath.
Frank jumped off his bed and Jason pushed himself up to a mostly upright position.
"Would Percy really try and take on all these guards by himself?" Frank asked.
Jason didn't answer for a moment. "Honestly…probably."
Frank shook his head and rubbed his good hand over his face. "He better not get himself killed."
Jason didn't reply. They waited, listening to the sounds of the fight. Eventually the noise faded away, but nothing else happened. The door didn't open to reveal either a triumphant Percy or a pummeled Percy. It didn't open at all.
Frank sat back on the edge of his bed, and they watched the door intently for the next twenty minutes, not saying a word.
"What happened?" Jason finally asked.
Frank shook his head. "I don't know."
"He's coming back…right?"
"Maybe he got lost?" Frank tried.
"Do you think he…you know," Jason started, but he couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.
"He couldn't have," Frank responded. "He can't be…that."
They continued to wait, but the door only opened later that night to deliver their dinner and clean the chamber pot. The guards didn't answer any of their questions, only glared at them with more malice than usual.
By the time their lights were shut off on them, Percy still hadn't returned.