Hellfire

13: To Grandmother's House...

THIRTEEN

Jason was wondering if someone was keeping a tally of how many times he was hit on the head during this dumb quest. The Voice had disappeared and there was no trace of who or what had tied Jason and his friends up this way. The ship was eerily silent.

"What's your name?" Annabeth was saying to the blonde girl that was tied up with them. She had not said a word yet. Jason wondered if she even could speak. She was tiny. Her arms were half the size of his already lean ones. Her hair was stringy and he could see bits of dirt and leaves caked into it. Her eyes darted around furtively, as though she was expected someone or something to attack her at any moment. Her eyes were blacker than night.

"I don't think she understands you," Jason whispered to Annabeth. He glanced behind them at Leo, Hazel, and Frank. Frank and Leo were out cold, but Hazel's eyes were open. She looked groggy. Her lips were swollen and bleeding. Leo and Frank weren't much better off, either. Jason looked away, unable to stand the sight of his bleeding and beaten friends much longer.

Annabeth squirmed against the ropes that held them against the mast. Her wrists were already bleeding. "If we break our thumbs, we can slip out."

Jason stared at her.

She glanced at his expression and rolled her eyes. "They do it all the time in movies and stuff, Jason. It loosens our hands. We can get our hands free, then the rest of us."

He shook his head. "First of all, neither of us is strong enough for that," he hissed. "Second, we can't ask her to just break her thumb because two strangers asked her to."

Annabeth glanced at the girl, who was still silent. "We can free her," she ventured after a moment. "After we free ourselves."

"Third," Jason pressed on. "You're insane."

"What else are we supposed to do?" Annabeth snapped in a vicious whisper. "Wait until Percy, Piper, and Nico get here? We don't even know where they are. Or if they're alive."

"What, you think they made that stupid choice?" Jason stared at her. "I know Piper would never do that."

"Neither would Percy," Annabeth shot back.

They looked at the girl. The unspoken question hung in the air between them.

Would Nico?

"Hey," Annabeth said gently, nudging the girl. "Listen, we need to know who you are. You might be able to help us. Are you a demigod?"

The girl stayed silent.

"How do you know Nico?" Annabeth pressed on. "Is he your... boyfriend? Your brother?"

"We would know if Pluto had another kid," Jason whispered to her. "The gods would have told us. Nico would've told us. Right?"

Annabeth didn't say anything. Jason's heart sank. He looked at the girl, who didn't seem like she would be telling them their life story any time soon.

Jason shook his head and looked away. He felt irrationally bitter. He swallowed back his newfound negativity and remembered something the angels had said to him and Percy at the North Pole. "Annabeth," Jason said softly. She glanced at him. "The angels, they told us you guys were being attacked while we were gone. What was it?"

She frowned. "Nothing attacked us. We cleaned up the hellhounds, and then we realized you guys hadn't come up. Frank flew halfway to Europe looking for you in the water."