If Only (Nico di Angelo) {Complete} {#Wattys2015 #Feels}

Chapter 19

Percy and I gasped. "The arrow!" "What?" Piper snapped. "Guys the Amazons are coming!" I explained. Everyone sucked in a breath. "You don't think they would shoot us, do you?" Annabeth asked nervously. "I mean...they helped us!"

"Who knows what the Amazons will do? Maybe if we explain that we know Reyna they'll be a little nicer...?" Hazel suggested, stroking Arion's neck and feeding him a piece of gold.

Jason laughed bitterly. "Hylla Twice-Kill, giving us mercy because we know her sister. They're hunting us for a reason, aren't they?" Frank sighed and scratched the back of his neck. "I can't imagine that they'd want to kill us or anything." He said. Percy shrugged. "You may be right, but you never know."

Arion snorted impatiently. So are you guys just going to sit here and talk about it or are you going to...oh...I don't know...try to figure out a way to solve this problem?

Blackjack whinnied. Yeah, guys. Not that I want to agree with lightning-feet over there, but I would appreciate if the eight of you, particularly my Bosses, didn't get chopped to horse meat.

Arion tossed his head. Who are you calling lightning-feet, chickenwings? Blackjack stomped his foot angrily. Chickenwings? What's that supposed to mean?

"Guys, shut the heck up." Percy said. Blackjack snorted and tossed his head proudly. Arion let out another string of cuss words.

The rest of the crew stared at the horses with varying degrees of confusion on their faces. I grinned. One of the perks of being a child of Poseidon, you got to confuse everyone in the stables. Or just around horses in general.

Leo shook his head. "Aaaaaanyway..." He said awkwardly. "What's the plan?" Everyone glanced at Annabeth. Her eyes were hard and stormy. They looked like that whenever she was planning something. "I think we should greet them." She said after a minute.

"Uh...do you want me to become a Leo-kabob?" Leo asked. Annabeth snorted. "You? Maybe."
"Hurtful!"
"Honest!"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, but seriously guys lets try focusing." "Did Erica just suggest focusing?" Hazel asked. I looked at her. "Yeah. Why?" "Erm...no reason."

"Guys Erica's right. We should-" Percy stopped talking and widened his eyes. He pushed me and I fell on the deck and watched an arrow pierce his stomach.
And I screamed.

Arrows rained down on us from all sides. I crawled toward Percy as the rest of the crew panicked. I didn't pay attention to who got shot and who got away.

Pain in my shoulder made me collapse. I stretched out my arm, and had just enough time to grab Percy's hand before the world went dark around me.

~*~

I woke up in a white room with no windows. Even though the room was so bright there could have been windows. When I say white, I mean bleached white. I mean oh-my-gods-it-hurts-so-bad-somebody-please-poke-my-eyes-out white.

I realized that I was tied back to back with Percy. I was still gripping his hand. Sighing, I looked around at the rest of my friends. There were six people in the room besides me. Who was missing?

I didn't care. My brain felt like it was made of sludge. I couldn't concentrate on anything for more than five seconds. Just as I was considering closing my eyes and taking a nap, I felt Percy shift.

"Percy?" I whispered. Percy tightened his grip on my hand. "Yeah. I'm here. Are you okay?" "Me!? You're the one who got shot in the stomach!"

I felt Percy's head move as he looked down at his gut. "Yeah. Right. But seriously."

"Percy!" I yelled a little louder than I had meant to. Percy shushed me. "Okay, I'm fine. Really. Now tell me how you are."

I glanced at my shoulder. My shirt was stained red and blood dripped from the open wound into a puddle on the floor. "Still bleeding, but I'll live. Trust me."

I felt Percy shrug. "Okay then. So...wow gods its bright in here." I laughed.

Annabeth, who was tied next to me, started to stir. She opened her eyes. "Where in Hades are we?" She asked. Percy chuckled. "Don't know, Wise Girl."

Annabeth looked around, narrowing her eyes. "Where's Leo?" She asked. I noticed then, as I looked around a second time, that Leo was missing. "I don't know. You don't think he's hurt, do you?" I questioned.

Annabeth laughed. "I'm sure the kid that can shoot fire and pull electric screw drivers out of his belt is in trouble." She said sarcastically. "Hey, Leo's like a little elf. He could get hurt."

"Did you just call me an elf?" A voice snapped somewhere above my head. I looked up and caught Leo peering at us through a trapdoor, his eyes narrowed angrily.

"Leo!" We all shouted. "Shut up!" Leo yelled, shaking his hands. "Do you want me to get caught!?"

"Leo how the heck did you not get caught!?" Annabeth yell-whispered. Leo grinned evilly. "I'm Leo fricking Valdez, honey. Arrows ain't gonna take me down."

"Did you just call my girlfriend 'honey'?" Percy asked protectively. Annabeth jerked back and whacked Percy's shoulder.

Leo smirked. "So what, Seaweed Brain? I'm here to save your butts. Now, let me explain how I'm going to do that. I'll set off two smoke bombs as a diversion, cut you all free, and then we can slice and burn our way out of this place. You like?"

I smiled. "Oh I like. Wait, what about our weapons? I'm sure they confiscated them."

"Never underestimate the power of the Super-sized McShizzel, Princess. I've got them right here. Just got to-"

Suddenly a door that I hadn't noticed before opened. Leo pulled himself back up and shut the trapdoor just in time.

A girl with curly brown hair walked into our room. "Is Erica Chase here?" She asked. I cleared my throat. "That's me. And you are?"

The girl looked at me, blue eyes shining. "Reagan Mae. Amazon. Here to take you to see Hylla. We have some important business to discuss."

~*~

A/N: Okay so two things:
Reagan Mae is my original character.
And Reagan Mae is also dedicated to my old first grade teacher, who just had a baby. (Named Reagan Mae of course.) I miss you so much, and I wish you the best of luck!