Chapter 4

Clarisse woke up with a headache. She had no idea where she was at first but as her eyes accustomed to the light shining through the roof, she remembered. She sat up biting her lips in pain. The man really had hurt her. But she'd had worse in her life. She wouldn't let a skinny person stop her from fulfilling this quest. She stood up from the couch, packed her things and walked through the door. The attacker was still unconscious and tied, but she had no intention to free him. She spat as she closed the door behind her and continued with her journey.

She walked passed a stream and Clarisse took the chance to wash her face and fill her water bottle. The man who attacked her woke up. Clarisse knew this because she could hear him screaming and cursing her again. She stood up and continued to walk. She did not look back once.

- Percy and Nico -

Percy didn't come back for hours. During these hours Nico had made himself useful and had gone hunting. He was starving and in a bad mood and wanted nothing but to lie down onto his mattress and sleep, sleep, sleep.

The gods were merciful today and Nico hunted a hare. Nico couldn't wait for dinner. As he skinned the poor dead animal he couldn't think about anything else. It made him feel a little selfish as Percy had just aged a few years just for using his powers. But he didn't dwell on that long, but made a campfire and started to separate the edible parts of the hare from the non-edible parts. He hoped Percy was in the mood for the kidneys; Nico always preferred the heart over anything else.

He had just begun with the cooking when Percy walked up to him. The demigod was a little pale, but stayed strong and smiled weakly at his friend. Nico simply nodded and focused on cutting herbs to give the meat more taste. Meanwhile Percy set up the tent and rolled the thin mattresses under it. He then threw the backpacks into the tent and sat in front of Nico.

Nico didn't know if it was because it was full moon or because Percy had aged a few years in matter of seconds, but he didn't sleep. He moved, turned onto his side, then the other, but nothing helped. He counted sheep a million times, but it only made him more frustrated than he already was. And by the way Percy sighed and didn't stop moving, Nico guessed that he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep.

Nico was awake when the moon went down and when the sun rose waking up the birds, who started to chirp, and he knew that there was no way that he'd be able to sleep now. Then Percy sat up and crawled out of the tent forcing Nico to stand up too.

Neither of them was in a good mood and it didn't help that there was no food left. They had eaten everything the night before. Biting his tongue so that he wouldn't let out his anger on Percy, Nico packed his things and helped his friend to clean the camp. They resumed their walk – Nico had no idea what to call it – in silence and stepped into the cool forest in the same state. Nico hadn't had a shitty day for over three months. He realized it when he started to think if he'd ever had a shitty day like this. But yes, he had and Nico realized in that moment that he'd gotten too comfortable. This had been his life before and during the Giant war and now he almost couldn't handle it! Bianca would be ashamed of him.

Nico shook his head. He couldn't think about his lost sister or he would get angrier than he already was.

Percy gripped his shoulder and stopped him. Nico frowned, asking him with his eyes why he'd stopped him. Percy jerked his head to the right, motioning at an old, abandoned house. There was no way this old house wasn't abandoned. The paint was peeling off, part of the roof had broken into the house, the glass of many windows were crashed or covered in dust and the door was making weird noises.

"Let's go in there", Percy said, his eyes fixed onto the house. Nico frowned. Exploring a house that looked haunted by monsters of ghosts wasn't the wisest thing two children of two powerful gods could do. But Percy and Nico had always been more impulsive than wise and they were both in a bad mood and hungry. Letting out the anger and frustration on a few monsters sounded good.

The two demigods stormed into the house, not bothering on being silent and unsheathed their swords.

Nothing was waiting for them in the house.

"Shit". Percy said. Nico nodded in agreement. The plan had backfired.

The house was dark and full of dust. The furniture was covered by blankets that used to be white and spider webs hung from everywhere. This was not a place for a child of Athena. Nico glanced carefully at Percy, trying to see if he was thinking the same thing. It was so because Percy had the same sadness in his eyes when he looked at the ocean or lake. It was time to distract him. Nico clapped his hands, walking deeper into the house. The wooden floor creaked under his feet.

"What do we do next?"
Percy shrugged. "Maybe…look around and… see if there's something useful?"
Nico grunted. "Sure… because the owners surely didn't take everything precious with them when they moved out"
Percy didn't bother to answer.

They began the exploration separately. Nico walked to something that must've been the kitchen and Percy entered a room.

Nico noticed something that alarmed him. The kitchen table was the only furniture that had no dust covering it. The remaining of the other furniture was unrecognizable. The son of Hades looked down, frowning and pursing his lips as he noticed footprints. Two different types of shoes. And they led into another room. Nico followed the prints, opening carefully the door and looking in cautiously. The room was empty. He was about to keep following the tracks, but a loud sound distracted him and he stormed after it. It came from the room Percy had walked into. Nico coughed. There was a dust cloud in the room and under it was a large hole. The floor must have broken down.

"Nico?", Percy coughed. "I'm down here!"
Nico laughed and walked closer to the abyss. Percy was lying there, covered in dust and spider webs. The cellar was black and weird things (Nico guessed they were bricks or pieces of the floor) were lying around Percy.
"Comfy?", Nico asked with a smug grin.
Percy coughed again and laughed skeptically. "Totally. Get a rope and get me out of here!"
Nico looked around and shrugged. "There's nothing here.", he said. "I'll look around. You should try to find a way out."
Percy grunted and crawled to his feet, trying to wipe off the dust and dirt from his hands. "This was a bad idea", Nico heard him mutter.

Nico walked to the next room, but there was nothing he could've used to get Percy out. The son of Hades had forgotten by now the footprints, but there was still a bad feeling left in him. Something was telling him to run, get out of the house and never go back but he ignored it. And when he entered the bathroom he understood why he should have run.

The bathroom wasn't dusty. The shower and the bathtub were full of blood. The walls, once white, had red splashes covering them. The blood was everywhere; on the floor, on the walls, the roof and on the floor. Nico kneeled and touched the red color. He paled and his fingers began to shake. The blood was still warm.

This was a slaughter house. Nico could hear screams and the sound of something sharp slashing against flesh in this room. He remembered the footprints and he knew immediately that they had to belong to the person, who had done this.

He had to warn Percy. He had to warn him. Nico turned around, walking right into a tall, bulky man, whose glare could have scared the god of war.

I hope you liked it. The next chapter will be a little brutal and bloody. Please REVIEW