To Find What is Lost

Chapter 44: Unbound

It took an eternity to reach the clearing where Nico was bound, but finally the two teens were there. Panting and ragged, Will tore through the last pile of books and toppled into the open space.

"Athena!" he yelled, "Let him go!"

Ginny's eyes were round with shock, this woman was an utterly incredible witch if she was able to conjure visions and metal contraptions like that, not to mention she was floating an inch off the ground! The golden hair and icy eyes looked unreal, not... human.

Draco always kept secrets but this was something else, this was superhuman.

Nico's eyes darted up to his boyfriend in devastated relief, "Will!"

Athena stood for a moment, just taking in the scene around her: three demigods and a mortal, one tied on the floor, one her own son, the other horrified and ready to fight for his boyfriend. The mortal looked shocked and overwhelmed, but the goddess could see she was strong. If it came down to it the girl would fight.

"Well, well, Will solace." she mused, "how nice to see you again."

"Let Nico go or Hades will never forgive you!"

She snorted, "Hades will never forgive me whatever I do at this point, and as if I really care what he thinks anyway; what can he possibly do to me?"

At these words Will reached for his bow, only to realise he was unarmed.

"Shit." he mumbled.

Nico could draw his sword from the shadows if he needed it, but Will couldn't exactly grab a weapon out of the sunlight. As he thought this his eyes flickered first to Ginny, then to Draco. Suddenly two things became very clear in his mind.

One: Ginny should not be here. She was a mortal, and weak. She may be an excellent witch but in a room full of semi-imortals there was no place for a human. It was foolish and selfish to bring her here, where she could easily get injured.

Two: Draco had betrayed Nico. That was becoming more and more obvious with each second. As the son of Apollo looked between the two figures standing over his boyfriend he noticed for the first time similarities which had at first eluded him; the hair, eyes, the definite set of the jaw and even that uncanny smirk, they were all Athena's traits.

Will was the second person in the room to realise that Draco was Athena's son.

"Draco what are you doing!" a female voice rang out, and a red-head ran forward to where her date for a ball which seemed in a different world stood.

The boy still hadn't spoken. He looked awful, like he was about to be sick.

"Draco?"

Still no sound.

"She's going to die!" Everyone's attention returned to the son of Hades who writhed furiously against his bonds, "For the god's sake, Will, Weasley, someone! Granger's going to die if you don't stop this!"

Athena had to dodge fast to avoid the bat-bogey hex thrown at her at lightning speed, "What are you doing to Hermione!"

"Run away girl, this isn't the place for you."

"WHERE IS HERMIONE!"

Never before had Nico seen a mortal fight and hold their own against a god, but Ginny seemed to be managing. It only took a split second for him to realise that now was his chance; summoning the shadows into a condensed glove of darkness around his hand, the ghost king tore through the metal snakes with one vicious slice. Shoving the shadows deep into their mechanical structure, the things let out one last furious hiss of steam from in between their joints, and fell to the floor. Useless wires now.

One good thing about Athena, she was logical, and she thought things through. On top of this she wasn't unnecessarily cruel or vicious, and the demigods could see she didn't want to hurt her fiery haired attacker unless necessary. It was the only reason Ginny was still alive.

As Nico leapt to his feet, Athena snarled in fury. A spell had finally hit her, right on the forehead. It didn't look bad, only a slight welt that disappeared almost immediately on her perfect skin, but the goddess was patronised now.

"Fooling mortal!" she bellowed, "You should have stayed away!" Her hands shot out and Ginny flew back, her head slamming onto the corner of a table behind her with a sickening crunch.

"No!" Apparently watching his girlfriend crumple and bleed from the head was finally enough to stimulate Draco's voice. His eyes were wide and shocked; why was Ginny here? She was supposed to be safe far away in the great hall, arguing with her brother or dancing to the Weird-Witches.

"Don't hurt her!" he gasped, running over to the red head and falling to his knees next to her. Pathetic.

"Are you okay? Ginny?"

The girl moaned slightly in pain, wincing as Draco touched the cut in her head. It was bleeding a lot, and Malfoy's wand whipped out in a second and started performing healing spells. Pathetic.

As the immortal goddess of wisdom and war turned disparagingly from her son's desperate attempt to heal his girlfriend, her eyes dropped to where the son of Hades should have been lying, still bound in metal snakes. Except, of course, he was gone. And so was Will.