(S1, EP:9) Wizards and Demigods

Day Five

Jason stole some resources from Snape's camp while he was away.

Chiron spent his day creating makeshift arrows out of sticks and sharpened stones.

Hermione, Fred, and Dobby reluctantly let Peter join them in hunting for other tributes. The only real reason that they even considered doing such a thing was because it was becoming too dangerous to go out alone, and they needed all the help they could get.

Octavian and Luna discovered a cave hidden behind a few bushes. They chose that place to be their base of operations. Luna absentmindedly grabbed hold of Octavian's hand. His body tensed up a little, but he didn't make any attempt to move away.

Dumbledore found Rachel and Tyson tending to Nico's wounds. He stepped forward and looked at them with an expression of mixed concern and curiosity.

"What happened?"

Nico barked out a small laugh. He winced in pain as the small movement caused his chest to burn.

"Don't worry about it. That monster won't be much of a problem anymore."

Percy, Thalia, and Ginny casually strolled through the woods. There was a tension brewing between them. Though Ginny had never personally met her, Annabeth appeared to have been an important person to the two of them. They were taking the news pretty hard, barely speaking to each other at all.

Then, the three of them suddenly stopped. There was smoke rising in the distance. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

Flames crackled to life as wildfire spread throughout the trees. Leo Valdez looked around frantically, his eyes wild.

"GET BACK HERE! SHOW YOURSELF, COWARD!"

The only reply he got was the sound of a tree falling followed by a loud scream. Wait... he recognized that voice.

Filled with adrenaline, he ran over to find Piper crushed beneath a flaming tree. Fear rocketed up his body.

"Hang on, Pipes! I'll get you out of-"

Just as he was about to bend down to grab the tree, he saw it. A man with eyes the color of blood was standing there, watching him silently. Akuma turned around and began to walk away from the blazing fire.

"Oh no. Not this time!"

Completely forgetting about his friend, Leo ran off after the demon, leaving her to die.

Fortunately, the heroic trio got there just in time. Percy summoned water from a nearby river to put out the flames. He, Thalia, and Ginny then used their combined strength to push the tree off of Piper.

They brought her back to Dumbledore's campsite and began feeding her some of their backup ambrosia.

"Piper, what happened? Who did this?"

She took a shaky breath. The edges of her vision were getting fuzzy. It wouldn't be long before she blacked out.

"It was... the demon."