Demigods at Hogwarts | the rescue mission ✔

13| Bird Set Free

Leo's POV

"Honestly, Pipes, I don't mean to be mean, but I'm pretty sure Jason wasn't kidnapped," Nico pointed out sourly. "I mean, what are the odds? They already have Annabeth. Jason's probably somewhere in Hogwarts." He sighed, exasperated. "I swear, he gets lost all the time. If he doesn't show up by tonight, then we can worry."

Having decided to skip our classes for the rest of the day, we were back in our common room. Nobody seemed to notice when we ditched class, much less care--maybe the teachers knew we were on a mission. Or maybe the Mist was covering up for us. Either way, we could stay in our common room all day without anyone batting an eyelash.

Percy put down his mug of hot chocolate, looking worried. "The Triwizard Tournament's coming up. We've got more important things to worry about." he pointed out. That guy seemed totally convinced that winning the Tournament was the only way to find Annabeth, and I knew better than to argue. I had seen him beat up monsters so badly that they ran screaming for their mommies. I hated to imagine what it would be like if one of us got on his nerves. And I didn't like to admit it, but I was slightly intimidated by the son of Poseidon.

Thalia glared at Percy. "We wouldn't have to worry about the Triwizard Tournament if it wasn't for you stupidly signing up to die, Seaweed Brain." she snapped sharply. The mention of Annabeth instantly made Percy sombre up--even Thalia looked slightly ashamed of herself. Only Piper seemed to be still thinking about Jason.

"Guys," Piper said sweetly. I could sense the strong charmspeak in her voice. "Jason could be hurt right now. How about we search the school, just to be safe?"

Her words carried so much force and power that I had to resist the urge to run outside and scream Jason's name repeatedly. I could see from everyone's expression that they too were tempted. But Nico shook his head. "There's no point. We'll wait 'till sunset."

By sunset, Jason was still missing.

"We should go and--" Percy began, but his words were cut off by a gasp coming from Thalia, who was staring out of the window.

"What?" asked Piper anxiously, her eyes wide open. "Did you spot Jason?"

  Thalia shook her head as we all turned to see what she was staring at. Just outside our window was a gigantic eagle with pointy claws and beady eyes. And when I say gigantic, I mean gigantic. It was hovering in mid-air, as if it was trying to get our attention. And on the eagle's back was Hazel Levesque. Her curly gold-brown hair was now waist-length, and she was wearing a purple Camp Jupiter T-shirt. She grinned at us, then pointed down to the courtyard.

"I think she wants us to meet her in the courtyard," I said helpfully. We quickly rushed down the stairs, running out into the sunlight. The eagle, which was resting on the grass, morphed back into the praetor of Camp Jupiter as soon as it saw us. Frank Zhang, looking slightly dishevelled, smiled broadly at us.

"Well, that was full marks for a dramatic entrance!" I joked as my friends started at the two of them, dumbfounded. "What made you drop by here in Britain, I wonder."

"We heard about your quest," Frank explained. "It's not exactly fair that the Greeks get to have all the fun. So we contacted Chiron and flew here to find you." He sounded exhausted. "So, fill us in. What did we miss?"

One by one we filled him in, up to Jason's disappearance earlier today.

Hazel rubbed her forehead. "Oh, man. Jason's missing too?"

"It's worse than we thought." Nico sighed. "Whoever's out there wants all of us, apparently."

Piper sat down on the grass, looking utterly dejected. "Jason's been kidnapped," she said hoarsely. "because we were stupid enough to leave him by himself for a minute. He's a son of Jupiter, a former praetor. If this enemy could take him down easily..." she shuddered and took a deep breath. "We don't stand a chance." She looked so sad that part of me wanted to sit down and cuddle her, but I knew Jason wouldn't exactly appreciate it.

Percy cleared his throat. "Okay, we need to stick together from now on. No wandering off to abandoned corridors. Always stay in a big group. We can't afford to have something like this happen again." For the first time, I agreed with him. I wasn't really in the mood to get abducted.

"What about now?" Piper asked, her voice trembling. "We can't just ignore his disappearance!"

"Now," Percy said in a gravelly voice. "We go find Dumbledore."