Demigods at Hogwarts | the rescue mission ✔

33| United

Percy's POV

   "Is he awake yet?"

    "No, Nico,  and asking that question hundreds of times won't wake him up."

   I frowned. Those voices sounded familiar, but I didn't know who they belonged to. In fact, I couldn't remember anything. Blinking, I opened my eyes groggily, just to be greeted by seven anxious faces staring down at me.

   And then everything came flooding back into my mind.

    "Thank gods, Percy," Thalia exclaimed, a mask of worry on her face. "You scared us back there. Do you feel okay? Does anything hurt?" She looked at me in concern, an expression that I had never seen her wear before.

     "Yeah, I'm fine," I responded shakily, rubbing my eyes. "What about Piper? Is she okay?"

    "Piper's fine," Hazel said soothingly as I exhaled in relief. "It was just part of the Tournament—Dumbledore and McGonagall met her before the task, told her that they needed her help. Then they gave her a potion so that she could breathe underwater, then gave her to the merpeople. She was going to be perfectly safe, whether you rescued her at all."

     "What we should be worried about is why the merpeople attacked you when you got hold of Piper," Leo explained. "Apparently, they weren't supposed to attack and give you that." He gestured to my right arm, which had been bandaged up. "You were scratched and bleeding pretty badly. The only reason that you weren't seriously injured was because of your water healing powers. If it was anyone else who had been attacked, they would have bled to death before they even reached the surface."

   I gulped. I had been lucky—and to imagine that I could have died down there...It was horrifying. No, I couldn't die before I had the chance to see Annabeth again.

    "How long was I out?" I mumbled. "And where exactly am I?" All I could see was unoccupied beds lined up against each other. Best guess was that I was in a hospital, but I didn't recall hospital's being this nice or having this much sunlight. Besides, any Muggle hospital would be suspicious of a gang of teenagers arriving carrying a drenched kid with scratch marks all over him.

    "You're still at Hogwarts," said Frank. "This is their infirmary, but they call it the Hospital Wing. It's actually pretty nice up here. And you've been out for half a day, but the good news is that you placed first in the task. You were the first to make it out, and the judges were impressed—you survived the merpeople's vicious attack."

    "Yeah, and why did they attack me?" I asked curiously. "I mean, not to brag, but I'm the son of the sea god. Shouldn't they respect me or something?"

    Hazel shook her head sadly. "No one knows why. Dumbledore's trying to find out, but the merpeople have gone completely hostile. They're attacking anyone who dares to set food in the lake, and they're not cooperating with anyone. But we think it has something to do with the kidnapping."

    Oh gods. Annabeth.

   I sighed inwardly and sat up. My head was aching pretty bad, and a million thoughts were in my head. I missed Annabeth so much that it actually hurt physically. I closed my eyes in exasperation. "We have to find her. And Jason."

   Piper reached out to hold my hand. For a moment, our eyes met each other's, and we were united. United in grief, united in pain, united in suffering. She was the only person out of all my friends who would be able to understand what I was feeling right now. She leaned in close, so close that her lips brushed the tip of my ear. And her face was streaked with tears for the boyfriend she loved so much.

    "It's gonna be okay," she whispered so that no one would hear. "I promise."