Sally knew something was wrong the moment she stepped through the door.

The lights were off, and the house was unusually still. Normally, the Christmas tree would be up by now, its lights casting a warm glow in the corner of the living room. But the corner stood empty.

"Percy?" she called, her voice echoing faintly. No response.

Frowning, she set her bag down and switched on the lights. This wasn't like Percy. He always came straight home from school—especially today, when he was supposed to start dinner and help with the Christmas decorations.

It's fine, she told herself, trying to push back the unease rising in her chest. He must have been held up. I'll start dinner. He can explain when he gets home.

Sally had nearly finished cooking when she heard the front door creak open. Paul stepped inside, brushing snow from his coat. His expression stopped her mid-stir.

"Where's Percy?" he asked without preamble, his voice tight.

"Percy?" Sally turned off the stove, her frown deepening. "He's not home yet. Why? What's wrong?"

Paul pulled out a chair at the dining table and sank into it, running a hand through his hair. "I ran into Annabeth on my way back," he said after a moment. "You remember Percy's... hellhound? Mrs. O'Leary?"

Sally's heart skipped a beat. "What about her?"

"She came up to Annabeth," Paul explained, his voice low. "Annabeth said she was agitated, like something was wrong. She was leading her somewhere. Annabeth told me to send Percy instead. Said he'd be better equipped to... deal with it."

Before Sally could respond, shadows rippled across the room, and a chill swept over her. Paul jolted upright as Nico di Angelo materialized on the dining table, his dark eyes wide.

"Gods!" Paul yelped, clutching the back of his chair.

Sally, already accustomed to Nico's dramatic entrances, forced a smile. "Nico, dear! It's good to see you. Still getting the hang of shadow-travel, I see."

"Sorry for the surprise, Mrs. Jackson," Nico said, stepping off the table. He glanced at Paul, giving him an awkward wave.

Paul tried to return it, but his smile looked more like a grimace.

"What brings you here?" Sally asked, setting a tray of cookies on the dining table. "Do you plan on staying for dinner?"

Nico shook his head. "I can't. I have to get back to my dad's place tonight." He hesitated, glancing between them. "Have you seen Percy?"

Sally's stomach twisted. "No. He was supposed to be home hours ago. We were just talking about him."

"Actually..." Nico shifted uneasily. "He was with me and Thalia this afternoon. Persephone dragged us into one of her

Sally paled. "Was he hurt?"

"He's fine!" Nico rushed to assure her. "He got a little nicked during a fight, but one of our friends healed him completely. I swear he was fine when he left."

Paul straightened. "Left? When was this?"

"About thirty minutes ago," Nico replied. "He should've been home by now... unless Persephone decided to mess with him. I mean, he was a bit impertinent, but I don't think she'd..." His voice trailed off as he noticed Sally's growing alarm.

"Nico," Sally said gently, "is there something else you're not telling us?"

He hesitated, then sighed. "It's probably nothing," he muttered. "It's just... I felt something, about ten minutes ago. This weird sense of unease. I've been practicing with my powers, and the last time I felt something like this..." He paused, his gaze dropping to the floor.

"What happened last time?" Sally pressed, her voice tight.

Nico looked up, his expression solemn. "The last time I felt like this, Percy had just blown up Mount St. Helens... and everyone thought he was dead."

*****

The fight ended quickly after Mrs O'Leary entered the fray. Thalia had already weakened the bull with her hunting knives. All Mrs O'Leary had to do was keep the bull in a head-lock as Thalia jumped on the beast's back and stabbed it with her knife until its head rolled off its body. 

Annabeth wasn't worried about that. She'd gotten off Mrs O'Leary as soon as they made it to the clearing. She ran towards Percy, who lay injured on the ground. His breaths were laboured and was shivering badly. He needed help, sooner the better.

She tried prying his hand off his stomach, only to realise metal clung to his hand like a second skin. "Seaweed Brain... Percy! can you hear me? Stay with me." she called out gently, taking his hand in hers as she assessed the dage. His left side was soaked wet with blood, but she couldn't assess how deep the cut was in the poor lighting. Percy groaned, trying to keep his eyes open. "Now I'm definitely hallucinating. You're supposed to be at the other side of the country right now." he muttered, slurring half the words. 

Annabeth smiled faintly at this. Trust Percy to make her smile even when he's practically dying on the ground. No, not dying. Just hurt, she corrected herself. 

Thalia came to stand beside her, her face grim. "We should take him home. It's not safe here." she suggested, glancing around warily. "The wound at his side looks deep. The bull must have caught him at the side. Wrap it tightly while I hold him. I don't want him to lose any more blood." Annabeth suggested. 

"Stop talking, it's hurting me!" Percy cried, trying in vain to cover his ears. "Please Annabeth, make it all stop. Everything hurts. Please make it all go away. Please..." he whimpered. "Shh now... everything's gonna be alright. Stay with me." she said, gripping his hands firmly. 

Thalia quickly tied her scarf along his side. Percy thrashed for a moment, resisting Thalia, before stopping abruptly.

His head lolled to her side. He'd lost consciousness. "Percy! Stay with me. Listen to me, sea-weed brain, please!" Annabeth demanded, tears flowing down her face.

Thalia came to her with Mrs O'Leary. "Help me buckle him up." Thalia called out urgently, spurring her into action.

They secured him to Mrs O'Leary's back before climbing up. "Take me to Percy's home immediately." Annabeth whispered in its ear. The hellhound must have understood her request, because a moment later, they were in front of his house. They'd shadow-travelled and Annabeth didn't even register it.

Ms Jackson and Nico came running down the corridor when they saw them. Annabeth didn't ponder on what the son of Hades was doing there. She had other important matters at hand. Tears streaked down Sally's eyes when she saw Percy. Her hands trembled when she tried to take hold of Percy, afraid to hurt him more. Paul came ahead and quickly carried Percy to his room, careful not to disturb it too much.

Annabeth hurried after Paul as he gently lowered him on his bed. Annabeth got to work straight away. She cut his shirt with her knife. The wound at his side had swollen and turned a horrible shade of purple. It must have gotten infected. The bull's horn must have had some kind of toxin coating on it.

"Do you have Ambrosia and nectar Sally?" she heard herself asking when Sally came in with a bowl of hot water and a clean cloth. "I think so, yes. I - I'll get it" she stammered, hurrying out.

Annabeth quickly cleaned the wound, noting that the cut wasn't as deep as she'd suspected. She cleaned the wounds as best as she could, just to be safe. The coating of celestial bronze on his arm was worse than what she'd anticipated. "Don't give him any more ambrosia or nectar" Nico murmured beside her, startling her.

She'd forgotten he was there with them. She didn't know what he'd gotten himself into, but he looked exhausted. His eyes were tinted red, as though he had been crying before, but he was putting up a brave front. Annabeth could respect that, given that she was doing the exact same thing. "He's had enough ambrosia and nectar to last him a week. He got really feverish when we tried to feed him nectar." he added.

Sally stopped rummaging for the food of the gods on hearing that, and sat down, looking helpless.

Nico came forward and touched Percy's forehead, muttering something in greek. Percy visibly relaxed, his skin turning slightly blue. "I've put him in a death trance for now. I can't hold it forever, but it should by us sometime. The infection is spreading through his system fast. We need a healer ."

Thalia pitch in then. "I tried contacting one of the healers from the hunt, but they're too far from here. Do you know of any healer in the city? Even a satyr's healing would do. Is Grover in the city?" She asked hopefully.

Sally answered then. "Grover's in Texas. He iris-messaged Percy yesterday." She stammered. A thought crossed Annabeth's mind then. "Will's in the city!" she exclaimed, remembering her earlier interaction with the blonde." "Isn't he a year-round camper? Son of Apollo?" Nico enquired. "Yeah. I met him today. His mother is performing in the City Lyric Hall tonight. He's with her."

"I'll go get him then." Nico concluded, and before any of them could discuss it out further, Nico melted into the shadows .

*****

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