Chapter Sixteen

It was around seven at night. It has been bothering me for a really long time. Where could they have gone? Right now, I have free time for an hour. I am worrying sick right now. I haven't seen Jason and Nico. And Althea. Who was she anyway? Why did she lie? I really need to clear my head of these questions so I walked down to the lake. I took in a deep breath. I really miss the breeze. It's been so long since I've been here. It felt like I was at home.

I sat down on the sand and just...stared. I really wish that I knew all the answers to my problems now. I layed down on the ground, not caring about anything. Then, I fell asleep.

I suddenly appeared in a cave. A rocky cave. It seemed like it was just an ordinary cave, but then, I heard voices. I looked deeper into the cave. And a small flash of light appeared. I squinted, trying to look closer into the dark cave. I walked. Then ran. At last, at least a fourth of a mile later, I find a dead end. But not just a dead end. What I saw scared the Hades out of me. I saw a bunch of different kinds of monsters. There was Echidna, the mother of all monsters, empousaes, hippalektryons, which are creatures with the front of a horse and the back of a rooster, The had wings and sharp claws. Not only those, but I saw hellhounds, laistrygonian giants, and pit scorpions. They were all laughing, an evil laugh. But one laugh stood out the most to me. It was Luke's. As in Luke Castellan, my old swords trainer. How can he be with these...monsters? Is he one? I thought that I can trust him!

"Use them to lure Percy and Annabeth here. It will be an advantage to win. We'll send them a nasty surprise. They won't know what hit them!" Luke and the others laughed. He had an ugly smile on his face. And the scar didn't help it. Luke pointed to the corner and started to laugh. There, in the corner, was Nico, Jason, and Althea, all tied up with gags in their mouths. They were struggling to break free, but I knew that they weren't able to. They had murderous looks in their eyes. I wanted to help them get out of there, but it was just a dream.

"Hold on. I sense someone in this room." My eyes widened and my hands were clenched into fists. I stood up straight. An empousa advanced towards me and her eyes were looking all over my body. I suddenly felt stiff. I couldn't move. Everyone in the room, including Nico, Althea, Jason, and Luke, were all looking at them empousa in confusion. She smiled.

"You," her smile turned into a murderous glare. "What are you doing here. You killed JENNA!"

"Who are you talking to?" Luke asked.

"Luke, darling." Luke seemed surprised. "It's him." His face turned from evil, to annoyed.

"Where is he?" She pointed straight at me. Luke walked in front of me.

"Hey, Percy, old pal. I know that you're here. If you heard about this plan, don't tell anyone. I want to kill you myself." He started to laugh. "Katie, will you please do the honors?" The empousa smiled, but it was a chilling one.

"Gladly." Katie walked over to me, stood a foot away from me. "We will get you, Percy Jackson." she whispered in my ear. Then she slashed at me with her hands.

I woke up, sitting up, and hitting someone on the forehead with my own.

"Ouch!" someone and I both said in unison. I lye back down and rubbed my head. I opened my eyes and found a pair of hair, skinny, and crooked legs next to my face.

"AAHHH!" I yelled. I sat up again. There was a person laying down next to me, with curly brown hair with a raspa cap on it, a goatee, ans a cowbell around his neck. I noticed that this person had a pair of goat legs.

"Grover?" Oh my gods!

"Yeah, Percy. It's me. Next time, warn me when you are going to wake up suddenly and bump me on the head."

"Yeah, like I'll be awake to tell you that." Grover has been a friend of mine since the sixth grade and protected me from monsters and that includes Nancy Bobofit, a redheaded kleptomaniac. He dressed up as a crippled boy so that he has an excuse to not wear shorts or run. He was the satyr that brought me to Camp Half-Blood. He has been one of my best friends since then.

"Hey Grover. It's really nice to see you again. I haven't seen you in such a long time. We shook hands and pat each other on the back.

"Man, looking for new demigods is so hard, but it feels like the weight has been lifted off your shoulders. You are going to feel so proud!" Grover remarked.

"Yeah. Oh, have you met Annabeth yet?"I asked.

"Wait, do you mean Annabeth Chase?"

"Y-yeah. Do you know her?"

"I was the satyr that found her!" Grover started to chuckle. I couldn't help but feel jealous. "And, I found Thalia and Luke." The thought of Luke sickened my mind. I forgot all about it. I have to tell Annabeth! I started to run to the cabins. I checked my watch that Tyson made me. It was around seven-thirty.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Grover yelled a few feet back.

"I have to tell someone something very important! I'll see you around camp!" I waved my hand at him and he waved back.

When I reached the cabins, it was empty. They must be at dinner. I ran to the mess hall and looked around for the Athena table. Nymphs were serving food and kids were laughing, having a great time. I finally spotted Annabeth with her siblings. They were all laughing and Annabeth had on an orange camp shirt. She looked so much like the girl I befriended years ago.

I ran over to her and ignored all the angry stares from the other campers and especially her siblings. I didn't care so I ran over to the left side of Annabeth. I started to poke her shoulder.

"Annabeth. Hey, Annabeth." I whispered. She turned her head and it was right in front of mine. Literally. I could feel her breath on my lips, and our nose were barely touching. We both blushed tomato red and I backed away a little.

"Um, sorry. It's just I know where Nico, Jason, and Althea are. They were kidnapped." I said really quickly.

"What? Where are they?" She got up from her seat and we just stood by the Athena table. "I was worried sick about them, but I didn't think that they were kidnapped. Well. Where are they?"

"I don't know exactly, but I know that they are in a cave and monsters are surrounding them. And they are going to try to lure us into a trap with them. So run if anything funny happens."

"Okay. Thanks, Percy." She began to walk back to her table when I grabbed her hand. There was an instant connection, but I can't think about that right now.

"But that's not all." She turned back.

"What?" Annabeth looked up into my eyes.

"Luke, Annabeth. Luke is the one leading all those monsters."

Ooh. Cliffy!