No one could find Ares or Hera after that and frankly, there wasn't any time to. Not too long after their disappearance Hypnos was affected. Without Ares there to help, the demigods had to help take the god of sleep back into the Underworld. As soon as they locked him up he began to slam himself against the bars. They stepped away from him, avoiding getting caught by his gaze because if it's one thing they knew it was that the gods still knew how to use their powers.
They didn't want to know how the god of sleep could affect them while mad. They all went back to Olympus to investigate a bit more.
"Where was it that you guys found her again?"Nico asked after 30 minutes of wondering where on Olympus to look next.
Apollo led the half-bloods to the alleyway.
Annabeth looked back to the opening of the alleyway,"It's pretty dark here but there is a bit of light. Was she freaking out about the lightbulb when you found her?"
Apollo shook his head,"Not really. She kind of just cornered herself into the, well, the corner. She managed to stay out of the bulb's rays somehow."
"But what was she doing here in the first place?" asked Percy. His hand grazed over the scratch marks left on the board, the marks Hera made when she tried to escape...something.
The half bloods were given the privilege to grow to the size of the gods or shrink to the size of humans so they'd be able to solve the mystery.
Apollo continued his account,"When I found her she kept mumbling something about the dark. Dionysus came along a little after but he couldn't do anything to heal her."
"But what made her like this?"
"All we know is, whatever it was had scared her. Enough to turn her the way she is."
Leo looked back at Apollo,"Alright then. What is she afraid of?"
They stayed quiet. What was the queen of the gods afraid of?
Hazel looked back at the scratch marks,"Have Deimos and Phobos turned yet?"
Apollo scratched his head,"Phobos is trying to figure out what's wrong with them, so he's in the Underworld. Deimos is on Olympus though. I'll call him."
After a minute of staring awkwardly at him because he just stood there staring back at them, the light flickered.
A feeling of dread overcame the demigods and by the look of it, Apollo too. He became paler and he trembled under the sudden pressure he realized he had on the situation.
Deimos finally appeared. He was a tall man with burly arms and legs. His hair was cut military style and he contained many scars on his face. He had beady little eyes that seemed to bring up the worst fears of the half-bloods.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at the god. She was pretty sure they found their primary suspect.
Apollo spoke for the demigods, "Deimos, duuude. Long time no see, buddy!"
Deimos scowled at Apollo as he gave him a shoulder hug. He shoved Apollo off stating,"I'm not your buddy. Now what the hell do you want?"
Apollo explained the situation and Deimos scratched his shaved chin,"Well without Hera here I'm afraid I can't help. But I cou-"
"HELP ME!" cried a man.
Apollo paled recognizing the cry and was the first to be gone. Deimos teleported himself and the half-bloods to the location of the scream.
They were a second too late. Hermes lay on the ground writhing in pain. Apollo tried to help him but Hermes hissed at him and tried to scramble away but Apollo held onto him tightly.
"Hermes! Please! It's me! Apollo!" it broke the demigods' hearts to see Hermes like this. Even more with the way Apollo was trying to cradle him.
Anyone that knew their history knew that the two gods were best friends but only the closest friends and family knew that recently they had become much more than friends.
It took thirty minutes just to get Hermes out of the room. And it wasn't because the god was fighting back.
No, it was Apollo who refused to let go of the screaming god.
When they locked Hermes in the cell Apollo begged Hades to be let in with him. He made just as much a fuss as Athena in the cell next to him.
In the end, Artemis had to usher him away back onto Olympus. By then they knew that they couldn't ask the god for help for awhile.
Frank turned to the twin brothers, Phobos and Deimos,"We need a favor. We have to know what the affected gods are afraid of. That way we can help them."
He turned back to Hermes,"We should start with the most recent one."
It was unanimously agreed to help this god in particular. He helped a lot on many different quests of theirs. It was only right to help him.
Deimos and Phobos' eyes glowed a bright white and suddenly the eight half bloods were in a different place.
It was a green pasture and the sky above them was blue with a few passing clouds. A light and fresh breeze that smelled of flowers passed through. It was so serene. It was hard to believe that this was the mind of a mental god.
Thalia heard the hiss of a snake nearby and jumped. She turned in time to see a few blades of grass move toward a large Strawberry tree.
Lounging underneath the tree was a young man around 25 years old. He had pointed ears and curly blond hair. He wore a white, greek robe and sandals. His face was covered by a helmet he wore on his head. And the wings on both his sandals and helmet would flap every now and then.
Resting on the tree was a herald's staff.
As the half bloods came closer they came to realize the man was asleep.
Hazel kneeled and gently shook him awake. The man, startled, reaches for the staff and swung at the demigods. They let out a cry and stepped back. The staff glowed with a neon blue and the man's eyes were an icy kind of blue. The scowl on his face told them that the first one to move would be whacked.
But then his face flashed with recognition and he lowered the staff. His eyes warmed to a nice ocean blue and he gave them an impish smile.
"Hey, guys." the man's voice was high pitched.
He leaned back onto the tree. they stared at the man in confusement. Percy stepped forward,"Excuse me, sir. Have you seen Hermes?"
The man laughed at him but then he stopped,"Oh, you're serious."
Percy rose an eyebrow. The man sighed,"I understand. You don't recognize me."
They seemed taken aback,"Wait, Hermes?"
The man's hair changed to a salt and pepper color and his ears rounded out. His eyes turned a soft brown and he looked up at them with the same impish smile.
"Little bit insulted you didn't recognize me, but hey...what can I do?" he shrugged his voice turned recognizable again. The demigods exchanged looks. He looked way too healthy to be stuck in Hades' asylum.
Percy knelt before the god,"Hermes, we're here to help you."
"Mhm? Why is that?" he ate an apple like nothing was wrong.
"You're sick. You've gone insane. Mentally insane...I think. We need to know what it is you're afraid of."
"Uh huh. Want one?" he held out the bitten apple.
"What? No. Hermes, you need help. Tell us what your greatest fear is." Percy insisted.
Hermes examined his robe not paying attention to Percy's plea,"I should probably go dry clean this. What do you think? Too bloody?"
"What?" Percy looked down at his robe and he backed away in horror as the stain of red spread from Hermes' chest to the rest of his robe.
"Her-Hermes?"
He looked at his face. It seemed completely calm and he stared at Percy like he had just told him he was going to Disneyland.
Percy stepped back into the group behind him. If they had any doubts at all that Hermes was sick before. Now they didn't need to wonder.
It scared them. No ichor poured out. No golden liquid dripped from his robe. Blood. Dark, iron liquid seeped from his chest.
"Whatever this is. It doesn't just take their sanity. It's turning them mortal,"Annabeth said.
Suddenly Hermes stopped smiling and he stared at them with a face that spelled out danger. He paled visibly and tried to make himself smaller against the tree.
Again Percy tried to talk to him,"Hermes?"
"S-s-"
"W-what?"
"SNAKE!" he cried out in terror.
He pointed behind them his eyes icy blue from fright. A shadow suddenly loomed over the tree. It blocked out the sun.
The group turned to find a large python hissing at them. Its tongue was double-forked and it's eyes a bloody red. When it hissed it sounded like twenty snakes hissing at once. It held more than two fangs in its mouth and spikes reared up on its back like a cat when threatened. It snapped at the group and they jumped in different directions, out of the way.
It loomed over Hermes, it gave him a strange stare and Jason swore he saw it smile.
It bared its terrible fangs at Hermes and gave a deafening roar. Hermes screamed, tears ran down his face.
Percy stood unsheathing Riptide and ran straight at the python,"Get away from him!"
It turned to face Percy and he slashed open one sinus. It hissed in pain and finally directed its attention toward him. Percy ran down the hill and the python chased after it.
"Percy!" cried Annabeth. She looked back at Hermes and took her dagger out. She chased after the snake.
Frank turned into an eagle and flew after them. Hazel looked back and ran toward Hermes. He lay on his side his back to her. He rocked back and forth muttering to himself.
"Mer-Mercury?" Hazel got closer. She put a hand on his shoulder.
He trembled and he muttered,"Snakes...no...no...snakes...glitter...eh...mirrors...please...no...save...broken ones..."
"What?" the python hissed in indignantly.
Hazel looked back at the others. They had cut off the python's head using Frank's sharp claws. It began to smoke and shrink. It shimmered weirdly.
But then she realized it wasn't glimmering. It was writhing. Different scales in different directions. And suddenly one scale slithered away from the rest. They were snakes. They slithered away in different directions. Hermes screamed.
Hazel stood horrified. They all looked like the same replica of the original python except smaller. They bared their fangs and darted at their attackers.
They ambushed Percy and wrapped themselves around him. They squeezed around his limbs and Percy let off a strangled gasp. Annabeth tried to slice them off but one jumped onto her arm and strangled the dagger out of her arm. And then more snakes ambushed her.
Hazel looked in terror seeing her friends being cocooned by the snakes. She began to hyperventilate and her vision blurred.
She backed away from the scene and she stumbled on Hermes' body. As she fell into the grass she heard the hiss of snakes. She immediately stood and took her spatha out.
She trembled with fear her spatha shaking violently. Something slithered by her feet. She cried and swung at the grass.
Nothing.
The grass behind her moved. She slashed behind her.
Nothing.
She turned in a circle slowly making her way back to Hermes. At the foot of the hill she heard a hiss but she turned to late and it wrapped itself around her neck. She cried out in horror.
Frank had been picking snakes off of Piper when she'd heard Hazel scream. Piper gasped and pushed him off,"Go!"
Frank flew to her direction and found her behind the tree at the foot of the hill. Her lips were turning blue. He flew down at her and with a swish cut the snake in half. She wheezed for air and ran uphill to Hermes who was trying to scramble away from some snakes that had wandered uphill.
Hazel slashed though the snakes and they turned to dust. And then, Hermes let out an ear piercing scream.
It snapped the demigods out of the scene and back into Hades dungeon.
They were all sweating. They felt like they had woken up from a nightmare. They looked back at Hermes' cell. He cried in terror. The same ear piercing cry they heard in his mind and he slammed himself against the wall.
"APOLLO! APOLLO! PLEASE, MY LOVE! SAVE ME!" he cried.
The lights flickered and a cold breeze filled the room. Like a pack of wolves all the affected gods gave a howl of terror.
At this even Deimos and Phobos seemed taken aback by.
At the peak of the howls the lights went out.