Crimson Red. (a Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Nine

Life at camp went on normally.

People did what people had always been doing. Camp activities still happened. Nothing changed. But Bianca, she wasn't looking good lately. She looked paler and sicker over the days. When we asked, she just said she was fine. What was her definition of being fine?

Then there came another campfire night. After dinner, we all headed to the Amphitheater. We were all there, all of us. Except for one person.

Having had no time to think twice, I ran back to the cabins and find Cabin 13, where Bianca was. I came knocking on the door.

"Bianca?" I asked worriedly. "I know you're in there, and you can hear me. What's wrong? There's campfire tonight. Aren't you coming?"

No answer. For a while. Then I finally heard a weak voice coming from the inside.

"No. Please go away." Bianca said.

"What's wrong Bianca? You have been looking so sick for days!"

"Go away, Ken"

"But-"

"Just GO AWAY!" she screamed.

I didn't know what to do. I'd never seen her like this before. She sounded.. frustrated and angry.

Then I heard a low voice.

"Just do it, please, for me..." Bianca said.

I didn't argue anymore and went back to the Amphitheater.

I met Leo and Luke there, sitting together, as usual. Bianca wasn't there, so I came sit next to them.

"What's with the face, Heathrow?" Luke asked.

"Bianca." I answered tiredly.

"Don't worry, she's fine. Even Will said so!" Leo said with a cheerful voice.

"No, she's not. I just went to her cabin. Not fine at all."

No one replied to that. We sat through the campfire night. The Cabin 7 's kids still sang what they sang, but I didn't find them funny anymore. My head was spinning around with thoughts about Bianca. And about the mysterious gift of hers.

"Don't be like that, Heathrow. She'll be fine." Luke said, trying to make me feel better.

"She's been like that for more than a week! She looked really bad last time I saw her! And where is her dad? Not Solace, the other one, who's supposed to be at Cab 13 with her?" I was annoyed, pretty much.

"Nico disappeared... He'd-" Luke didn't get to finish his sentence. There was a scream that cut him off. The enchanted fire changed its color. Everybody went to the frightened mode.

>>> <<<

I turned to where the scream came from.

It was from an Aphrodite's child. Every camper stopped and stared, and everyone of them looked terrified. And then I saw what they saw. A monster. I didn't have enough knowledge and information about monsters to know what kind it was, but this one looked really really gross. If I wasn't wrong, it came from that glowing hole, which appeared out of the blue on the ground. And I was right, because a second later, there was another monster coming out of that hole.

Everyone started panicking. They grabbed every weapon nearby, ready to fight. Percy was there, too. He was panicking himself. He had no idea how monsters could enter the Camp. I turned to Luke and Leo. They were standing still, expressionless. I knew they freaked out too. Then suddenly Leo pointed at the hole.