Nightmares and Blood (Hanora pov)
Being laid up in the infirmary was not fun, not even a little bit. Most demigods have ADHD, it makes us battle ready, but it also makes us incapable of sitting still for more than a couple minutes at a time. So, this was torture.
Nico had stayed for a while but eventually I had to wake him up so he would not waste away in here like I was. He wasn’t too happy, but I told him that he needed to eat and get ready to show those hunters who’s boss to capture the flag. He swore that he would try to win for me before skipping out of the infirmary. I had the sudden urge to wrap him up in a blanket and shield him from the world of a half-blood, but I had to shake it off before it made me do something even stupider than normal.
Since he left Char had come in to check on me and laugh that I was the only demigod he knew who could wake up with new injuries. Which was extremely disrespectful but correcting him would have just made him more concerned, so I let him believe whatever he thought had happened. Aside from him the only people I saw were the rotating group of Apollo kids usually accompanied by their current youngest at camp. I think his name was Will, but I couldn’t be sure.
Despite what I told Percy my focus was all over the place. The pain was the only thing keeping me in bed, but at least I wasn’t bleeding anymore. Most of the day I spent in and out of consciousness trying to build some strength back so I could send more to Annabeth. She needed it way more than I did.
My dreams were not helpful either, they had become more disjointed since last summer. Sporadic images of past present and future events, or at least what I thought could be the future if the images of the di Angelos I saw last summer had any merit. My healing induced dreams usually were no better. But Hypnos had plans for me this time.
I was back on the mountain; Annabeth being crushed by the ceiling. Or rather the sky, since Percy had explained what he saw it made a lot more sense. Luke must have freed Atlas since he had been holding the sky before tricking Annabeth into taking it from him. I wasn’t sure why he needed Atlas free, but all of the ideas I had come up with so far were not great for us.
I rushed to Annabeth, the green threads around her arms were thinning, and her own strength was not doing much better. I kneeled in front of her and placed my hands on her arms as well as the threads. I tried putting as much power into them as I could manage. The threads glowed and thickened, taking some pressure off of Annabeth herself. A streak of gray hair fell in front of her face, a stark contrast to the rest of her blonde hair. It hurt to watch her and to only be able to lessen her pain but unable to just take it. But I was only there in a dream, I could not lift the sky from her shoulders. Not from so far away.
I heard stumbling from deeper in the cave. I looked up to see Luke, a little worse for wear since I had seen him last summer on the Princess Andromeda. As he walked closer, I could see his white thread hovering around his shoulders. It had thinned considerably, and the edges were a bit frayed, but it still gave off a faint glow that was distinctly Luke.
He strode in front of her pacing, if he was saying anything I couldn’t hear it. For a second I was reminded of a time where Annabeth and I would have sat against a tree at camp bent over a new architecture book she had found. She would be explaining all the pros and cons to certain materials for a project idea and Luke would pace in front of us swinging his sword adding a joke in to rile her up. Those were better times, but they were gone now.
“That time has long passed for you, hasn’t it?”
I whipped around toward the melodic voice but there was no one there. Turning back to Annabeth only proved that my dream had moved elsewhere. She was gone along with the rest of the cavern leaving me alone in a dark room made of marble.
“Your power is something else, little half-blood. To be able to go against immortals the way you do is extraordinary.”
I turned around in a circle but nothing in the room changed.
“Who-who are you?” I called into the dark.
It was eerily quiet, only my own heartbeat rushed in my ears.
I sighed and moved to a marble column at the end of the room. The sound of my feet padding against the marble echoed with each step. As I got closer a large deep purple fabric flitted between the seven columns before circling the one, I was heading to.
“What do you want?!” I asked with more confidence behind my voice.
I felt weak, but I kept moving until I was a few feet away from the column.
“Fate may be a strange concept for you little nestling, but the oracle has spoken to me a prophecy that even the fates are blind to.”
I took a shaky breath, “a prophecy? I am not usually the center of prophecies, I am more of a support character, you know? The healer, voice of reason, comedy relief, take your pick.”
A deep laugh echoed through the room.
“Oh? Why dear child there is much more at play than you know.”
“Will- will you tell me?” I immediately regretted asking as a pair of glowing purple eyes with bright white pupils peeked out from the shadows in the fabric.
They began chanting in several different languages, so fast that I could barely understand a word.
“ BROKEN VOW…..THREADS….ASH….CHOOSE….LOYALTY….FALL! FALL! FALL!”
None of it made any sense but as the voice shouted Fall again and again, the ground opened up beneath me and I fell into the darkness.
My eyes flew open to find that I was still in the infirmary, my breathing was heavy and uneven, and sweat beaded on my forehead. I sat straight up and threw my head over the side of the bed to the waiting bucket and unloaded a new round of bile and blood. Which in case you were wondering, tastes like metal and something far too acidic for my taste buds, gross.
I laid back onto the bed like a starfish and stared at the ceiling.
“Why must my life be so difficult?”
***
Percy came storming into my room ranting not long after I had woken up. He plopped himself at the end of the bed loudly explaining the ‘bullshit’ I had missed. His hands were flying in a way that I wanted to make fun of since he always made it a point to make fun of my inability to talk without moving my hands. Which was very anti-Italian of him, but he was so upset I decided to just let it go.
He told me about the prophecy and the way that the oracle had walked her own crinkly sell out into the woods to deliver it. Which was super creepy, and I was glad I missed. Dionysus had then called a meeting of Cabin leaders, which was held over the big house ping pong table, to discuss who would go on the quest. And now comes the worst part, Percy had been passed up for the opportunity. Zoë had been chosen to lead the quest, and she would be bringing Bianca, Grover, Thalia, and another hunter named Phoebe. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t pinpoint why.
Percy was livid, and I couldn’t blame him. Whatever was happening with Artemis had something to do with Annabeth, so one if not both of us needed to be there. I told him about my dream, leaving out the creepy marble room and disembodied voice, they were not important yet. His eyes hardened at my description of Annabeth’s state.
“We can’t be side lined; they aren’t looking for her. Not like we are.”
I nodded,” I know. You need to be on that quest.”
“Me? What about you?”
I sighed and gestured vaguely at myself, “I am not exactly in traveling condition, but as long as you are out there, I can track you.”
His eyes widened, “the threads can work from that far away?”
“I don’t see why not, I’d try it with Annabeth’s, but something is blocking her from all magic.”
He nodded in thought again, “Okay but Chiron was convinced that Thalia and I would not work well together. So how could I convince them to let me tag along?”
“Oh, come on Sea, we’ve gone on unsanctioned quests before.”
“One, one quest.” He sighed slouching into himself,” I did IM my mom, who had a guy over I think-”
“Good for her, she deserves good things.”
“Well- yeah, umm anyway, she said I should decide for myself. She believes that I’ll do what's best, but I’m not sure I just-”
“Percy,” I reached across to grab both of his hands.” When you went on your first quest the three of you had me so worried and frazzled, but I knew that when it came down to it you’d have each other’s backs. I hadn’t known you long and back then I really didn’t know Grover all that well either, but I trusted in Annabeth’s brain and your,” I poked him in the chest,” protective instincts. Not to mention your stubbornness but that was just a little extra spice.”
His head was bent down a bit when he peaked up at me shyly with slightly rosy cheeks.
“Thanks Specs.”
The sound of squeaky sneakers disturbed the peace as Nico came bounding into the room.
“Hanora! Hanora! You’ll never guess what happened at capture the flag!”
He flew on to the bed almost knocking Percy clean off before settling in between the two of us. I chuckled looking between his excited face to Percy who looked a bit ruffled about his sudden appearance.
“Oh? Well Percy told me about some of it, but I’m sure he left some things out.”
Percy started making a motion behind Nico’s head telling me to cut it out, but it was too late. Nico was already bouncing as he explained in great deal the epic fail that camp had against the hunters, and the even wilder fight between Thalia and Percy. Much to Percy’s dismay who had resorted to hiding his red face in his hands, it was adorable. No, What not adorable, cute? No that’s worse, ummmmm…. uh nope not cute definitely not. It was…. funny, yes hilariously embarrassing for him. (Could we just pretend that first part didn’t happen? Cool yeah, what’s a little secret between friends?)
I turned to Percy when Nico had finished his epic tale, “Wow and I wonder why Chiron could ever think you and Pikachu would not work well together?”
Percy shook his head and Nico giggled, “Pikachu? You know Pokémon?”
I shrugged, “I know a little. The Hermes kids always come back with new things to trade or games to play.” I thought for a second before a beautifully devious idea sprang to mind, one worthy of Hermes himself. “Hey Nico, could you do me a favor and gather the Stoll brothers here for me?”
“Sure, what should I say?”
I hummed and caught Percy’s eye,” Tell them that their favorite sister from another mister wants to cash in a favor.”
He popped up like there was a fire before whooping and running off down the hall, promising that the Stolls will be brought in immediately.
“What are you planning?” Percy asked once Nico’s steps faded.
“Oh me?” I smirked,” Nothing that you need to know about Pesciolino. All you need to know is that mama has got this handled.”
He ended up heading to bed before Nico came back, which was probably for the best. The fewer witnesses the better. I had Nico stand guard outside the door While Connor and Travis stood on either side of my bed. Phoebe, the hunter going on the quest had already caused some trouble for the boys so convincing them had been way easier than I expected. Just a little bit of Centaur blood on the inside of that T-shirt she had been eyeing up, that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, and she would be out of the picture. And what does that mean for us? Percy will be in. Devious? Yes, of course. Unethical? Probably. A little mean? Eh she was kind of asking for it when she messed with the Hermes cabin.
With the plan set and a sleepy Nico cuddled back into my side I fell back into a semi-peaceful sleep. Not that my dreams could allow me such a moment of down time.
I was back in that barren cave, the ceiling heavy and low above me. Annabeth was kneeling under the weight of a dark mass that looked like a pile of boulders. She was too tired even to cry out. Her legs trembled. Any second, I knew she would run out of strength and the cavern ceiling would collapse on top of her. I tried to send out my power behind the green threads on her arms, but I was only keeping them from thinning further, not getting any stronger.
"How is our mortal guest?" a male voice boomed.
It wasn't Kronos. Kronos's voice was raspy and metallic, like a knife scraped across stone. I'd heard it taunting me many times before in my dreams. But this voice was deeper and lower, like a bass guitar. Its force made the ground vibrate.
Luke emerged from the shadows. He ran to Annabeth, knelt beside her, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry."
It made my arms itch watching this, but it also made my eyes a little watery.
The deep voice chuckled. It belonged to someone in the shadows, at the edge of my dream. Then a meaty hand thrust someone forward into the light—Artemis—her hands and feet bound in celestial bronze chains.
I barely contained my gasp. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods.
"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"
Artemis's eyes flashed with anger. I didn't know why she just didn't will the chains to burst, or make herself disappear, but she didn't seem able to. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place.
The goddess looked at Annabeth and her expression changed to concern and outrage. "How dare you torture a maiden like this! "
"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her."
Annabeth made a weak sound of protest. I crouched next to her keeping my focus on the threads, but they were still thinning. I didn’t have enough in the tank to be able to help anymore.
"Free my hands," Artemis said.
Luke brought out his sword, Backbiter. With one expert strike, he broke the goddess's handcuffs. Artemis ran to Annabeth and took the burden from her shoulders. Annabeth collapsed on the ground and lay there shivering. Artemis staggered, trying to support the weight of the black rocks. The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis."
"You surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."
"Indeed, it will not," the man said. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."
Artemis groaned "You know nothing of mercy, you swine."
"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girl now."
"No!'" Artemis shouted.
Luke hesitated. "She—she may yet be useful, sir .. Further bait."
"Bah! You truly believe that?"
"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure."
“Well, I am sure SHE will come for her. Won’t she, dearest boy?” A female’s voice added from the darkness. This one I knew, I could still hear it echoing in my nightmares, Mnemosyne the titainess I had umm well spit on last summer. Not my smartest move, but hey she was annoying, and I was already mad.
Luke nodded,” She will, she won’t ever leave Annabeth alone for long.”
I could almost see a glimmer of the old Luke, his thread a little stronger as he bargained for Annabeth’s life. But I couldn’t hold out hope, if I did, I might do something foolish chasing the possibility of a reality where he comes back home. But I knew he never would.
The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her here. Assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. The lives of all mortals will be meaningless."
I kept sending her some more of my strength, but she looked unchanged regardless of what I did. Luke gathered up Annabeth's listless body and carried her away from the goddess.
"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."
"How little you know, my young goddess," the man in the shadows said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is… challenging."
“Oh, this will be great fun.” Mnemosyne added
Her and the man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole cavern ceiling would collapse.
I woke up with a start to throw up again. My quick movement woke Nico next to me, and even in his half-awake state he moved to hold my hair back for me.
“This whole vomiting of my own blood supply really sucks.” I moaned sitting back from the bucket.
Nico let out a weak laugh, “yeah that doesn’t look like any fun, what was it this time?”
Part of me wanted to get it off my chest, the things I saw, my desperate need to leave and go after Annabeth, but another part of me wanted to keep the awful truth from him. I settled for something in the middle.
“Artemis took the sky off Annabeth’s shoulders, but something worse is coming. I need to go see Percy, now.”
“Whoa, Hanora you can’t just go out like this. You just got sick again. What if you need help or ambrosia or nectar or….or..?”
I placed my hand on the side of his face, pushing some of his dark hair out of his face. “I’ll be alright little angel, I promise. I think I’ll stop by our cabin, grab some things and then go see Percy. I get the feeling I should be more prepared.”
“But…”
“Hey, Ko,” I met his concerned dark brown eyes. “The life of a half-blood is hard. There is danger around every corner, and most things kind of want to kill us. But the one thing we can count on is each other, or at least the family you have chosen. And mine is either itching to run out of camp or currently kidnapped, Annabeth was my first friend that I ever made of my own volition, and I won’t lose her. I can’t promise anything else other than she will make it back to camp in one piece.”
“What about you?”
I sighed, “I will try but I can’t promise that. Just like everyone going on the quest cannot promise that they will be back either. I Just need you to understand that I will do my best to do it all, I wish I could promise you more than that, but I am only human.”
He nodded sadly as I moved to stand.” Okay,” He sat up straight like he had been shot full of electricity, “I know what I’ll do! I’ll run reconnaissance! You can count on me, Hanora!” He saluted me and then ran out of the room. I chuckled to myself as I slowly regained my land legs heading out of the infirmary.
I didn’t realize until much later that the whole conversation I had with Nico, had been in Italian.