The first thing Reyna noticed when she woke up was a person snoring. At first she thought she was at the quest with the Athena Pantheons, but then she noticed the cement grey ceiling, and got to her senses.
No matter what, she knew that snoring. It was Nico's, without doubt. Reyna tried to remember something from yesterday, maybe her and Nico had fallen asleep playing a videogame or something, and after all it wouldn't be the first time. But nothing came. No memories, not even one single idea about what had happened the last twenty-four hours.
It hardly made any sense, unless she had been captured and her memories had been wiped. She went limp, and started to listen after other people's breathing. She heard three others deep breathes, as if they were sleeping, but no sign at an awake capture. The path was clear.
She opened her eyes, and sat up, quickly scanning her prison. The room was made out of cold grey cement walls, with no furniture, doors or windows. Neither was there any security cameras, but even though the capture could possible still be watching them through magical ways.
On the floor was laying four people, which Reyna quickly recognized as Percy, Nico, Hazel and to her big surprise, Thalia Grace, Jason's sister.
What were they doing here? And why?
Reyna couldn't see one single thing that connected them somehow, unless something important had happened the last twenty-four hours.
She shook Nico's shoulder. "Nico! Wake up!" she ordered.
Nico kept snoring.
Reyna sighed, and tried again, even though she knew it was hopeless. When Nico fell asleep, not even an earthquake could wake him up.
As he kept snoring, she decided to move on to Hazel. She shook the younger girl's shoulders, and Hazel slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What's happening?" she mumbled, clearly not really awake yet. Then she seemed to notice Reyna and she knitted her brows. "Reyna?" she asked, yawning. "What are you—"she looked shocked around, first now noticing where they were. "Where are we?" she asked, seeming a bit more awake.
"I don't know," Reyna admitted. "Try to see if you can wake some of the others up."
Hazel nodded, and moved on to Thalia, and Reyna moved on to Percy.
She had kinda expected Percy to be one of those guys who was impossible to wake from sleep, but as soon as she touched his shoulders, he sprang to life, looking around, his sea green eyes swirling, as he was expecting a monster to kill him any second.
Then she mentally chided herself for thinking so, this boy had been a demigod for many years, and probably been on countless quests, one of them being through Tartarus. Percy was probably used to be woken up with a monster on his way to kill him. No matter how easy going this guy looked, it was no reason to underestimate him.
"What's happening?" Percy asked, his voice tense. "Where are we?"
"In a kind of prison." She answered, even though that part was kinda obvious.
Suddenly Percy let out an annoyed sigh. "You gotta be kidding," he muttered, "I got amnesia again."
"Oh, my dear cousin! Always looking at the bright side of things!" Thalia said, slowly standing up. "So anyone care telling me what I am doing here?"
Hazel shrugged. "I don't know. When Reyna woke me up, I was just here."
"And to the more important question." Percy interrupted. "Why can Sleeping Beauty over there—" he pointed at Nico—"be the only one who doesn't have to wake up?"
Reyna and Hazel shared a look, both of knowing that waking up Nico wasn't as easy as it sounded. "You're welcome to try to wake him up," she told Percy.
Percy shrugged, "How hard can it be?"
Ten minutes later, a grumpy Nico was standing up, complaining about that kicking people in the stomach wasn't the way you woke up them up. But at last he turned serious. "Where are we? And why?"
"I don't know," Reyna said for the millionth time that day, "I guess it's a kind of prison. There is no possible escape route. No cameras watching us. Nothing."
"Of course," Thalia added. "The kidnappers could be watching us with the help of magic."
"But why?" Percy asked, "Why exactly us? Why now? Why here?"
She twisted her silver ring nervously. Percy was asking the right questions, but currently there seemed to be now answer to them. There was no connection between them, something must had happened the last twenty-four hours, something so important that the person who had imprisoned them, didn't want them to know.
"What about we first try to escape, and then figure out the answers later?" Hazel suggested.
"Sounds like an good idea." Reyna agreed. "Hazel, Nico, could you try to control the earth, make a tunnel appear or something? Percy, could you try to find any water sources? If we are going to stay here for a long time, it's nice to know if we got any water." she looked over at Thalia and hesitated. She wasn't exactly sure what she could do.
"I could check where the air is coming from. If there is air, there is an escape." Thalia offered.
Reyna nodded. "Good idea."
Soon the demigods scattered to work. Reyna felt a bit helpless, not being able to do anything. She walked a bit around, trying to find any form for escape they might have overlooked, but she found none. So instead she used time to find their connection. They were all demigods, but there weren't any especially paten about their parents, neither Roman and Greek.
It had to be something they all had been in contact with. They had different styles, so it couldn't be that. Different haircuts. Not one single thing alike. It couldn't be a monster that stood behind this, but it was too complicated. It had to be something, someone, else. Someone like Circe, maybe. Her and Percy had been in contact with Circe, but nobody else had. Who else?
Suddenly Reyna stopped in her tracks, at the answer arrived to her. But no, it wasn't right. It couldn't be them. She wouldn't do that. Not to her, maybe the others, but not her.
Suddenly something gently touched her hand. It was Nico, she realized, and her heart started beat a bit faster. "Are you okay?" he asked, frowning slightly. "You seemed to pale a bit."
She nodded, "Yeah, I-" she hesitated, not knowing what to say.
"Hey," he said, "it's alright. You can tell me."
And as she looked into his caring brown eyes, she knew deep inside she could. Nico di Angelo would be her friend for life, if not even more. She took a deep breath, "I think it's the Amazons who put us in here."
Nico knitted his brows. "But your sister is their queen, right?"
"Yeah, that's why I don't understand-" she stopped in her track, as the realization crushed into her with bone-breaking speed. "What if, she isn't the queen anymore?" she asked Nico, her voice quivering a bit against her will.
"But we would know that? Won't we?" he asked her, stroking her hand to calm her down.
Tears whelmed up in her eyes, and she took a deep breath, trying to hold it together. "Twenty-four hours. That enough time for it to be changed."
Nico frowned, "But how did we get involved then? We couldn't be able to get there in time unless-" his eyes widened. "Oh."
In the same moment Percy, Thalia and Hazel walked back. "We got bad news, guys," Percy told them. "There is no water near here."
"And worse, " Thalia added. "No airways. We are going to slowly suffocate in here, if we don't find a way to escape." Thalia hesitated, "There are of course also that possibility that we will never live that long."
Hazel frowned. "How can they kill us if there are no possible way in or out, and we are the only thing in the whole room. There aren't even-" Hazel stopped, her mouth hanging a bit open. "Guys, if there aren't any lamps in here, then how can there still be light?" she asked.
Reyna studied the light closer, it was clinging to the walls, and giving off a faint bronze glow. It reminded her of the glow from celestial bronze weapons, but it couldn't be. The walls was made of cement. Unless...
"Hazel?" she asked. "Could you clear the room from the Mist?"
"Yeah." Hazel said, and knitted her brows in concentration, closing her eyes. Soon the image of the cement walls flickered, and it's true form showed. They were in a celestial bronze cage.
Percy paled, his eyes wide with fear. "Gods, no." he muttered. "Not now. Not here." His breaths was small and fast, as if he was having a panic attack. But what was he scared off?
"Percy?" Hazel asked. "Are you okay?"
He nodded, slightly shivering. "Yeah, it-" his voice broke. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter."
Nico sent Percy a sympathetic look, as if he knew why he was afraid. Meanwhile Thalia looked just as confused at Reyna felt.
"If it's made out of celestial bronze it explains why me and Hazel couldn't sense anything." Nico said thoughtfully, twisting his silver ring.
Percy nodded thoughtfully. "Hazel could you try to control the metal?"
"I could try," Hazel said.
"Wait," Nico interrupted. "Before we get out there, Reyna and I may as well tell us what we think is out there." then he started to explain their theory about the Amazons.
Thalia frowned. "It all makes sense, there are just one problem. How did we get there so fast?"
"Shadowtraveling," Nico explained, "And besides," he said, send Reyna a look, "the Amazons got other fast ways to travel."
Hazel nodded, "Well, I am going to try getting us out here." she said and started to stare intensely at the metal.
A few minutes went, where the rest of them waited in tension. Nothing happened. Nothing at all. At last Hazel opened her eyes, and let out a frustrated sigh. "It isn't working," she said, "it is like it's fighting against me!"
"Maybe it's enchanted," Percy wondered. "Like the nymphs water or like Styx."
Hazel sighed. "Anyway, I can't control it. Of course I can try again-" Hazel let the sentence hang in the air, not wanting to finish it.
"I can give you strength." Reyna offered. "Maybe that will be enough to get us out of here."
Hazel looked confused at her. "Give me strength?" she asked.
"It's a gift from my mom," she quickly explained, not wanting to talk about it more than necessary. "Hold my hand."
Hazel took her hand, and started to concentrate at the wall. Waves of worry and confusement rolled over Reyna. The metal started to steam, as if a hole was slowly getting burned through it. Reyna sent all her strength to Hazel. They were so close on.
Suddenly Reyna's knee started to buckle and the world seemed to spin. A gasp escaped her lips, as pain started to spread through her whole body.
She knitted her hands, trying to control herself. She just had to last a bit more. They would soon be out.
She tried to breath, but she couldn't, and soon she started to gasp, desperately longing for air. Her head felt mushy, and her thoughts seemed cloudy, and all she knew was that she needed air. But nothing came. Her vision started to be black in the edges, and soon the darkness invited her home as an old friend.
She tried to fight it off, but deep inside she knew it was too late. She would never get to tell Nico about her feeling for him. Never know if they ever came out of the bronze cage or what waited outside.
"Sorry," she whispered, with the last air in her lungs. And the last word she heard was Nico shouting her name. But it was too late.Soon Nico's voice fainted, and her heart stopped. Another important person in Nico's life had once again died.
-----------
So, I hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading.