CWH 2

Do not annoy the lady with kitchen access

Magnus

Magnus tried his best to block out his hearing, knowing it wouldn't work. The head cafeteria lady was shrill and rude, correcting the way he was holding the bowl, the spatula, and his feet (why did that even matter?) before recorrecting them all again (to EXACTLY how they were before!).

It was their daily chore to help prepare dinner that night, and the work would have been a great distraction if not for Shriekzilla, who was harping on Carter for 'not adding the breadcrumbs correctly'. 

Magnus felt his blood boil when he realized that she was probably picking on the kids who looked least likely to fight back, but one look from Keefe reminded him not to annoy the person with easy, 24-7 access to kitchen implements.

Magnus usually liked baking, but he was definitely in agreement with the mutual sigh of relief that was loud enough to echo around the world when it escaped. Nobody wanted to hang around much, so they headed over to the front quad, where there was still a bit of glitter from whatever obnoxious party they had skipped on Sunday. 

He was glad they had, because if they had spent time in glitter and sugar land while Sophie was... being FORCED to fight against who knows what mythical creature, he would feel even more sick to his stomach than he did now.

Why anyone would create something like that, much less use creatures with lives, emotions, and dreams for it was anyone's guess. Magnus knew, in the deepest part of him that knew things well before you did, that Sophie was deep in this conspiracy.

Alex

To Alex, it was pretty much a parallel world here. They were supposed to be joking about the cranky cook, laughing about charred marshmallows, and doing weird, fun games. The relaxing, fun parts of camp were now mist on the breeze, and Alex found herself wondering if she would still have come to this camp if she knew what would happen. 

Yes, she decided, glancing towards Magnus, who looked as worried as she felt, I would. This camp is just as much my home as Valhalla, and Sophie's a friend. If only she had known ahead of time, she could have changed so many things. No, don't let the what ifs pull you down.

Swinging around in a circle, Alex spotted a shadow flitting behind a tree. Pulling out her garrote, she signaled to Magnus that he should be ready for a fight.

"Come out with your hands up," she instructed, hoping that the spark of fear she felt wouldn't affect her voice.

The familiar, slightly gruff voice said calmly, "It's just me." Ro stepped forward, letting them catch sight of her face so they believed her.

Deflating slightly, Alex said, "Sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"Nope," the ogre said, studying her nails so suddenly that Alex wondered if she was hiding tears. "I'm out here doing the same thing you are. I can't believe I fell for the 'pack of manticores attacking Grove 3' trick."

"Were there actually manticores?" Magnus asked, sounding confused as always.

"Yup. But Sophie's friends had it handled, which meant that I was wasting time while she got snatched. I'm going to redeem myself by helping to find her again and making life miserable for the people who tricked me."

After delivering that (slightly concerning) speech, the ogre again melted into the background, leaving them to continue what felt like a neverending search.

Percy

"How about some truth or dare for old times sake?"

Percy didn't actually care much for the game, but almost anything was worth it to get rid of the suffocating awful.

"Sure," Keefe replied, sounding about as eager as Percy assumed he did.

Leo, probably the only person actually excited about the game right now, exclaimed, "Percy, truth or dare?" Reading the room, Percy realized that adding more hard truths to the room wouldn't exactly be an improvement.

"Dare."

Leo's face shifted into downright demonic as he said, his tone indicating that he was enjoying every second of the excruciating pain he would cause Percy, "I dare you to put your socks over your nose and ears, then keep them there for the next three rounds. They can be clean."

That was a small reassurance, but Percy followed the dare, wincing as he tried to balance them carefully, having to hold back a huge sneeze. Clearly he had underestimated the evilness of Leo's dares.

"So," he said, trying to ignore the sock-nose voice (and failing SPECTACULARLY). "Walt, truth or dare?"

The other boy was silent for a while, until he called back, "Dare?"

Feeling like he had to go easy on him, yet not willing to give a lame dare, Percy tried to scan the room (con #2 of elephant socks; decreased visibility), smiling broadly when he saw something absolutely perfect. 

"Walt, I dare you to use that tape on your face to make it look as SILLY as possible." Grimacing, Walt grabbed the innocent looking roll of tape, no longer forgotten in the tree hollow they had stored it in. 

The next few minutes were definitely worth the socky torture, especially since Keefe was beginning to smile broadly.

Keefe

Waiting was awful, Keefe decided. He felt so useless, watching the night stars and wondering if they knew where Sophie was. If they could talk to him, and he could understand, what would the twinkling, merry stars do? 

Did anyone else outside of the small sphere they were in (and the friends of his friends) know about this? He knew the questions weren't helpful, but they were almost pressing to spill out.

He decided to go for a walk, waiting until he was far enough away from any sleeping campers to be heard before beginning to scream, yelling his questions louder and louder until his voice was hoarse. Walking back, he was quiet. 

Despite having used his loudest voice, nobody at all seemed to have heard him back there. It was both relieving and extremely maddening. Sometimes it seemed like nobody heard him except Sophie. She couldn't have now, but he wished she did. Maybe, miraculously, wherever she was she heard an echo, barely a whisper, possibly, but still there. Still him.

Wondering what she was thinking, how she was feeling, Keefe grabbed a blanket from inside, then stayed there in the tree hollow looking up at the skies until he fell into a dreamless, empty sleep. 

The next chapter is a very long Sophie POV and I know this might be moving a teensy bit fast but I have difficulty writing this 'people are missing' stuff so :D