Sorry ahead of time about this chapter as it goes into how Nico got his scars.
Jason's Point
As the Phantom went down the trap door Percy and I followed and ended up in a room of mirrors.
"We lost him" Percy said
"There" I said when I saw the Phantom in front of us but when we started to walk that way he vanished, then he appeared on our left and again vanished when we walked his way. It was almost impossible to keep track of him with all the mirrors and I couldn't tell if it was actually him we were seeing or just his reflection. After a moment Reyna showed up and led us out of the mirrored room then started to walk away.
"Wait!" Percy said
"Please, don't question me" Reyna said
"We just want to know more about him" I said
"I know no more then you" Reyna said.
"We both know that's not true" Percy said grabbing her forearm to stop her from walking away anymore.
"I don't want to see him get hurt" Reyna said.
"We won't hurt him" I said.
"This way" Reyna said after a long pause. She led us into a room and closed the door.
"I met him years ago at a fair that had come to the city" Reyna said
Rayna's Point (flashback)
I walked to the fair with a group from the opera house. We saw all kinds of things from lion tamers to tight rope walkers. At the end of the day we walked into a tent called The Devil's Child.
Inside in the middle was a larger iron cage that had a man that was standing with a wooden rod and a boy sitting on the ground who had a shack with eye cut outs over his head. Besides a pair of old ragged pants the boy wore nothing else, in the boy's hands was a stuffed monkey that had cymbals on each hand. At the back of the tent was a another man tending to a fire.
"Welcome!" The man in the cage said proudly as everyone gathered inside.
"Allow me to show you the devil's child" the man said gesturing to the boy on the ground.
Everyone waited as the man who was at the walked into the cage with a metal rod, the end of it bright red. He walked around the cage to show everyone the end of the rod which had the letters GAF on it then I watch in horror as the man with the wooden rod walked over to the boy and grabbed the shack. When the boy held it so he couldn't take it off and begged him to stop the man hit him with the wooden rod until he let go. I wasn't sure what sickened me more the fact that a grown man was beating a child, or the fact that everyone around me was laughing. The man dropped the wooden rod and grabbed the boy by his hair to force his head up then the man with the iron rod when over and pressed the lettering onto the boy's face making him scream in pain.
"The Devil's child" both men said as they forced the boy to stand and showed everyone his face. The letters were now flipped and I could tell by all the scars he had on the right side of his face that this had been going on for awhile.
Everyone laughed and threw money at the ground and food at the boy's face.
After a moment everyone slowly walked out and I stood there not wanting to leave the boy but not sure how I could get him away from the two men.
"I'm starving go get something for the two of us to eat" one of the man said as he picked up some money and handed it to his partner.
"Disgusting isn't it" the man who took them money said to me as he walked out.
"Horrifying" I said but I wasn't talking about the boy. The man in the cage continued to pick up money from the ground not paying attention to anything else. so I took out a dagger I kept in my boot and quietly made my way to the lock. If there was only one of them maybe I could knock him out with the butt of my dagger. I got to the lock with the intent to pick it but luckily the man who went to get food forgot to lock it. I carefully removed the lock and set it on the ground.
"Look at this! You made us less money then last time!" The man yelled at the boy he did reached down to grab him and the boy grabbed the wooden rod from the ground with a panicked look and swung it at the man and then the man fell unmoving to the ground. The boy then dropped the rod and began to sob. I slowly walked over to him and placed my hand on his shoulder making him flinch and look up at my with fear.
"I'm not here to hurt you" I said softly. Now that I saw the boy up close I could see just how bad his condition was, All over his thin body wore cuts and bruises and around one foot was a chain. I slowly reached for the chain and picked the lock on it with my dagger. As the lock fell to the ground I heard footsteps coming closer. I grabbed the boy's hand a s made a run for it hearing a man yell for police a moment later.
I ran towards the opera house and opened a grate on a back wall.
"Quick" I said letting go of the boy's hand and gently pushing him toward the hole. He climbed in and I put the grate back.
"Just keep moving, I'll meet you on the other side" I said when the boy looked back at me.
"Your back earlier then everyone else, is something wrong?" One of the opera workers asked as I walked into the building.
"I got sick" I said not entirely lying.
"Well then, make sure you rest so you can get better soon" the worker said before walking away.
I ran to my room and grabbed my pillow and my blanket then I quickly went to the kitchen and grabbed some water and some sandwiches that were sitting out. Lastly I grabbed one of the med kits we had then I made my way to a hidden door I had found a few weeks ago. It was a little difficult opening the door while holding everything but I managed. I made sure the door was closed then made my way down the long hall. eventually the hall opened up and I stopped in front of lake. I looked for the boy and found him sitting in a corner. I walked over and sat down next to him then held out a sandwich for him and he stared at my in disbelief and I could only guess why, the boy was so thin I doubted they had feed him anything more then the food people threw at him.
When he saw that I wasn't moving the sandwich away he slowly took it while his hands shook.
When he took his first bit he started to cry then he basically shoved the whole sandwich in his mouth.
I sat with him for awhile, giving him food and water. When he seemed to be done I tended to his injuries then I wrapped the blanket I had brought around him.
