Another Evil Grandfather (Percy Goes To Hogwarts)

Chapter 33: Yep, It All Makes Sense

"Percy, come on, we have to go get help. I literally just found you lying unconscious on the floor next to a horribly mutilated corpse, and now you're just leaning there on the wall oh so calmly. We need to go."

Just then, there was an audible thump outside of the door.

What the heck is going on with these wizards? Why do they like fainting so much?

"Okay Hermione, lets go. I'll carry Ron to wherever it is that you take people to when they get hurt. You can explain. Then we'll take some time and figure out what exactly happened."

Percy POV

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You went to meet with Snape for some reason, instead found a mulilated corpse, examined it, rather than getting help, went to close the body's eyes, had a hallucination and thought it was Hermione, but really it wasn't her, which you realized when you woke up with Hermione standing over you looking like she was going to be sick. Then I stumbled upon the room wondering where the garbage smell was coming from, which turned out to be a  bit stronger than than the smell of garbage, found body of a girl in pieces, passed out, you found me, carried me here, Hermione got Dumbledore who got the rest of the professors, you all talked a bit while I was out, and concluded that the body was Celeste, or at least what is left of her."

"Yep, basically," I informed Ron. "Although..."

"Although what ?"

"We didn't really have to find  you when you passed out. Trust me, it would've been pretty hard not to notice the huge thump  you made when you fell."

"Oh, well in that case, it all makes sense," Ron grumbled.

Thankfully Hermione chose that moment to enter with Harry. Saluting the two of them mockingly I mouthed 'good luck' before leaving the room.

I'm pretty sure Hermione called out to me, likely unwilling to deal with Ron right now. 

Your friend, your problem.

The thought brought on a flash of homesickness though. I missed camp, and Annabeth, and even Clarisse. Chiron would have definitely been able to shed some sort of light on this all. And Annabeth – Annabeth would know what to do in minutes.

But I also knew it couldn't happen. These two worlds weren't meant to meet.

My Iris messages had been getting weaker and weaker until they'd stopped working a couple days ago. I don't know why or how, but there was some sort of barrier.

It wasn't the same thing as what separated the Romans though – this was different – stronger – and deliberately put in place for a reason.

Caught up in my thoughts, I hadn't really paid any attention to where I'd been going, letting my subconsciousness take over as I walked aimlessly. But now, surveying the seemingly still water beneath me, I let the tightness that had been building in my chest release. And then I dove.

Annabeth POV:

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

She had seen the mortals' headlines. At first she had thought nothing of it – they had probably just been coincidences – sad stories or horrible things coincidentally happening to similar people.

But then then they had become more frequent.

There had been twelve murders in all so far – all children, no older than thirteen, and all with a single parent.

Demigods, without a doubt.

Or at least they had been.

It hadn't been long before the rest of camp had figured this out as well. Most of Annabeth's cabin had put it together – and then told anyone and everyone they could find.

Nobody knew how to respond. Should they send people out to try to find possible demigods and bring them here, but risk themselves in the process? Or should they send people to hunt whatever was hunting the demigods? If so, send big groups or small? Would they even be able to find any demigods? Should they do nothing? Can anyone do anything?

Annabeth's head hurt from all the questions. It was like putting together a puzzle without all the pieces. She didn't have enough information and there were just too many options, none of them good. She wished Percy was here. Even if he likely wouldn't have been able to find a solution, he would've calmed her enough so that she could.

"Annabeth?" a quiet voice whispered hesitantly behind her. 

She nearly jumped. 

She must have really been out of it to have so easily let her guard down. She made a mental note to pay more attention to her surroundings next time. 

"What is it Kion?" she asked the brown-haired seven-year-old as she squatted down to face him.

"Chyon needs ya talk – I mean, he needs tuh talk to ya," he told her, his tongue stumbling over the words. 

"Okay, thanks Kion, I'll be at the Big House in a minute," Annabeth told him, smiling, as she stood up again. 

"You're welcome," he chimed as he skipped away happily. 

She watched him leave for a minute, before beginning to jog towards the Big House to meet Chiron. I wonder if this is about the demigod murders.

She began to slow as she got closer, eventually switching to a walk and then stopping when she reached the entrance of the cabin. 

Annabeth sighed, before opening the door. There was no way this was going to be good.

********

"What does it mean?" Annabeth asked, as she glanced at the bodies laid before her. She repressed a shudder, imagining what kind of sadistic creature could have done this.

All three bodies were torn apart, limbs separated from where they should have been, with large, rugged gashes slashed across what had been children's – no older then nine or ten – faces and chests. In the middle of all three of their bodies there were gaping holes, where there should have been a hearts. But probably, most troubling of all, were the eyes carved on the children's foreheads, the subject of Annabeth whispered question.

As hard as she racked her brain, she couldn't quite place them, the image only ringing warning bells in her head and twisting knots inside her stomach. She knew they meant something powerful, but she couldn't, for the life of her, remember.

"I had hoped you'd have some sort of idea," Chiron sighed. 

Suddenly noticing that one of the children's eyes were still open, I reached forward to close them. 

"Wait!" I heard Chiron bark right before I made contact. "We don't know..."

I never got to hear what he had to say because right then, I touched the girl's eyelids, meaning to pull them down to cover the child's eyes. 

And in that last breath of coherent thought, as a heavy, overwhelming darkness flooded into me, I knew:

I was gone. 

And this thing, this thing  that had killed those girls, had control of my body.