II
PERCY

I could feel her shaking in my arms, clutching to my shirt like her life depended on it. I couldn't imagine what the last few weeks for her had been like. I held her in my arms, knowing there wasn't much I could say to make things better. I looked down and I studied her; my eyes wandering over all her cuts and bruises she'd accumulated over the past few weeks. She didn't look well at all. Her jeans and shirt were ripped and dirty; her hair was a tangled mess and just the mere sound of her voice was filled with agony, like it pained her to speak.

She had disappeared on us only days after we had narrowly escaped Olympus, gods trailing after us with a blind fury. We had tried finding her; Annabeth helping us with her shield, but we always got there too late and she was already gone. So, we decided to call for a little extra help. Spyridon had still been perched next to the Washington Monument, his head hung low like he knew what had happened, but he was surprised when we told him otherwise. That instead of Panda losing her life, it had been Ryder and Zeus. And he blamed himself. I didn't understand why, but I didn't ask.

There is no word to explain how hard and crazy things have gotten after that one day; that day that changed everything. If it weren't for Nico, we would've been dead a long time ago. I held Panda closer to me, feeling her rapid and jerky breaths. She had fallen asleep and I couldn't blame her. I heard leaves crunching and Nico stood next to me. His face was grim and I was afraid to ask why. He sat down, crossing his legs Indian style and started picking at the weeds and pulling at their roots. He stared across the clearing as his hands mindlessly tugged at the grass.

"They aren't letting up," he said, still looking across the clearing. He sighed and looked down. "They'll never give up."

"Did something else happen?" I asked. Nico pursed his lips.

"Athena has officially taken Zeus's place. She's been talking with Annabeth. She knows she's close to you and well, Athena wants her to go through you to get to Panda," he said, softly chucking his chin towards the sleeping Panda in my arms. Out of every god and goddess on Olympus, the one I was scared of the most was Athena. She could devise a plan out of nowhere just for the hell of it and the plans would always work, but now she has incentive and I didn't even want to think about what she would come up with. I heard heavy footsteps as Spyridon made his way to the cover of the trees and lay down, nuzzling his dragon face into his giant claws.

"Nico, is there any way to fix this?" I asked, temporarily letting go of Panda as she stirred and mumbled in her sleep. Nico bit his lip; his brown eyes looking everywhere but me.

"Nico."

"I'm 99.9% sure there isn't," he said sadly.

"So there's still a .1% there is," I stated hopefully. I glanced down at Panda. I didn't want to live without her and I was determined to fix the world, just for her. My little sister by only twenty minutes.

"Yeah," Nico breathed. "I'm going to go set up camp. I have a feeling we won't be leaving any time soon," he said, taking another glance at Panda. He stood up and shook off the grass from his jeans. He walked towards the trees lining the clearing. He dragged out a gray bag and unzipped it, pulling out a bunch of fabric and metal poles. I watched him for the next half an hour as he struggled to build the tent, cursing every time the pole jumped out of the little hoops at the bottom, causing it to collapse again. I wondered if he would ever finish. When he was finally finished, he came back, leaving the green tent at the edge of the forest.

My hands were numb, but I helped get Panda into his arms, which wasn't hard because she was so light. Instinctively, Panda nuzzled into Nico. He nodded and took her to the tent, while I pulled out my cell phone and called Annabeth. I know demigods aren't supposed to use technology, but you really think I'd use Iris-message? It was like sending up a flare to all the gods and telling them: We're Here!

I paced back and forth as the phone rang.

"Percy," Annabeth answered relieved. "Did you find her?"

"Yeah, we have her," I said, glancing over to the tent. Nico was now sitting outside, eating a snicker. "She's sleeping right now."

"Thank God she's safe," Annabeth said.

"Any news?" I asked, wondering if something else had happened in the short time since Nico had spoken with her.

"Just what I told Nico. Mom's been talking to me, trying to bribe me. I don't want to say yes, but I can't say no because then she'll know I'm helping you. This is so frustrating," she said.

"Just give us as much time as possible, until we can get Panda somewhere safer," I said, taking another glance towards the tent, like she would disappear again if I didn't keep an eye out for her.

"I'll try my best," she said. Suddenly I heard a yell in the background. "Percy, I have to go," Annabeth said quickly. "Love you, bye," she whispered and hung up before I could say anything else. I snapped the phone shut and shoved it back into my pocket. Before I walked towards the tent, I stopped by Spyridon.

"Hey," I said, coming up to him and sitting down, laying my back against a tree. He softly blew smoke out of his nose in reply.

"You never told me why you were so eager to help us," I said, pulling up my arms and placing them behind my head. Spyridon stayed silent, staring towards the tent.

"I made a mistake once and I don't want Pandora to suffer."

"Mistake?" I echoed. I didn't want to pry, but if it had anything to do with my sister, I didn't care.

"I believe your sister needs you," Spyridon said, ignoring my question. I wasn't sure what he meant, until I looked over and Nico was frantically gesturing for me to get over there. So I ran towards them.

"I think she's having a nightmare," Nico said, pointing into the tent. Panda was writhing and moaning, as if her skin was on fire. She started screaming and gripping the sleeping bag so hard her knuckles were turning white and her jaw was clenched. I grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her.

"Wake up, Panda!" I yelled. She kept screaming. I didn't know what I could do. I tapped her cheeks and pleaded for her to wake up.

"Panda, come on! Wake up!" I yelled into her ear, but she wasn't responding. Suddenly, I felt something warm on my hand. I looked at my fingers and they were covered in something scarlet red. She was bleeding. This was no nightmare.

"PANDA!" I screamed at her, ignoring the blood and shaking her shoulders more furiously. I turned towards Nico, who was looking horrified at the entrance of the tent.

"Give me a water bottle," I said to Nico. He nodded and ran for our supplies. He stumbled back, throwing me the bottle. I caught it and twisted it open. I poured the water onto Panda, who was still shaking and bleeding. Her eyes snapped opened as the water hit her face and she jumped up, gasping. She was panting, and she clutched her shoulder. I pulled out the little bag of ambrosia I kept in my back pocket and stuck a piece between her chapped lips. She didn't even chew, she just swallowed it whole. The wound on her shoulder was slowly closing up. She sat there shivering and sweating. I touched her cheek and brought her eyes to meet mine.

"What happened?" She looked away.

"It was nothing," she whispered.

"Panda, you were bleeding. What. Happened?" She sighed and moved her sticky hair from her face.

"Hera," she breathed, using the back of her hand to wipe the sweat off her forehead. "She-she came into my dream and…" she took a shaky breath. "I guess you can fill in the rest," she said, pulling her fingers away from the white scar that was now across her shoulder. I pulled her into my chest.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered into my t-shirt, but I didn't answer, because there were no answers.

Thanks Percy Waterblue for the review :) It really means a lot and yes, your reviews always make my day! And thanks to MysteryPerson for the review! I hope you guys liked this chapter and if not, then tell me why ;) And before I forget, I am planning on writing a story just about Panda & Ryder. If you guys would like that, tell me! :)