I woke up sweating.

Something's wrong, I can feel it in my bones. My limbs were uncomfortably damp from perspiration as I pushed the blankets off of me, crawling out of my cot like a disoriented climbing perch. I was still in the tent, judging from the amount of light seeping in through the cracks I guessed it was about mid-morning. A wave of nausea and ache hit me and I rubbed my fingers against my head, a blistering migraine had settled in. Probably from the lack of sleep.

"Craig?"

It was Jason from across the room. He was staring at me a sharp look of concern chiseled onto his features. He was perched on the frame of his bed like a... well a bird of prey. It took me few moments to realize he had repeated my name.

"Yeah?"

"Are you... okay?" he blinked and the light caught his icy blue eyes.

"I'm... has something happened?" my eyes scanned around the room, looking for things out of place. "Where's Percy?

Her cot was empty.

"We have to go find her." I still can't shake the feeling that something has gone wrong as I stumbling to my feet and pull on my poncho.

"Craig," Jason grabbed my arm, "slow down, what's wrong?"

"I don't know? Something?" I stammered.

"Something?" Jason frowned.

"I don't know!" I threw my hands up in the air.

"Craig," he grabbed onto my shoulders and turned me around so that we were facing each other, eye to eye. "Take a deep breath, calm down. Tell me what's wrong."

I sucked in a deep breath, as prescribed, "I feel kind of sick, I have a bad feeling."

He placed the back of his hand on my forehead. "You look sick."

Jason gently pushed me back down to my cot, where Peri tilted his head at me curiously and crawled up onto my lap. I stroked him gently, watching Jason as he leaned back on his heels and folded his arms. I realized with a start he was... taking care of me.

"Everything's fine, you're safe, get some rest. I'm going to find you some water," he explained, swinging a bag onto his shoulders and pushing aside the flaps to the tent.

"But what about Percy?" I frowned.

"I'll find out where she went, don't you dare move." Jason threw me a pointed look, then slipped out the tent.

I huffed in annoyance. Peri looked up at me, then had the audacity to laugh. I raised an eyebrow at him but he wouldn't stop snorting in his funny little bird way.

"Look at you, you've got Jason worried and fussing over you and you're pouting," he chortled. "This is one of your daydreams, right?"

"No!" I gasped, feeling my face grow very warm. "Sh-shut up."

"Spirits above," Peri grinned. "You've got it bad."

I responded by balling up the front of my poncho and screaming into it, Peri let out a few more amused chirps. "You're right," I sighed.

I clenched my hands into fists, letting my fingers curl and uncurl. The seconds ticked by and I tried to bid my time, but I could help but squirm and fidget. Peri was cleaning his feathers absentmindedly. It was too quiet. I'm sorry Jason, but I just... had to get to the bottom of this.

I stood up and peeked out of the tent. People were walking past, Jason wasn't in sight. There was something panicked about the way the kids scuttled a long, a sense of satisfaction filled me, I knew something was up. I stepped out and Peri landed on my shoulder. He bit my ear and I yelped, craning my neck to glare at him.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded.

"To find out what's happening. I feel better now, I probably just need to sleep more."

"Then sleep more," he muttered as I didn't stop. "Kosmos knows I could do with a little more beauty rest."

I headed towards Bundi and Nole's tent, determined to find out what the ruckus was about. That's when I spotted Jason in the huddle of other humans, holding a jug of water. He tended to tower over most crowds. He spotted me and even from the distance I could make out the disapproved words he was sending my way. I tried to duck down and squirrel my way past him but he caught up easily and I felt my body being yanked back at he grabbed onto my poncho.

"What are you doing?" he asked, when I straightened and looked sheepishly up at him.

"I want to know what's going on!"

Jason rolled his eyes, then handed me the water jug, "here."

I reluctantly took a sip, then continued on my way, "come on, let's go find Bundi."

Jason followed and we found Nole pacing outside of his tent, Opey had been saddled up and it looked like Nole was going somewhere. He stopped when we approached, and I realized how tired he looked. Nole looked like he had been alive decades with no sleep, like a tree recovering from a fire.

"Ah Craig, good to see you're here."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Bundi's gone missing, they went out last night and never came back. I'm just about to search the deep woods, where we don't allow the other kids. We're keeping Persephone under surveillance until we find them," he sighed. "We have no reason to believe she's connected yet, but just in case."

"Missing?" my stomach contracted on itself.

"Bundi told me they took you out to the cave, that's the last place they said that they were. I was just about to go out," Nole paused, "you know the way better than me, don't you?"

"Me?" I blinked.

Nole nodded, "I admittedly, haven't been out there in months. You were there last night."

"You were?" Jason shot me a look.

"Long story," I told him. "I can show you the way."

Nole and Jason followed me on foot, with Opey bringing up the rear as we trekked through the woods. It looked so different in the daytime, but with Peri's soft guidance we managed to stay on the right path. My heart was hammering in my chest, it felt like we walked for hours when I knew it wasn't. I was just panicking and time as slowing down because of it. I had to calm down, I had to keep my cool around everyone because I knew a small part of Nole was relying on me to be okay.

We made out way down into the valley, quickly scaling down the hill. Then there it was, the cave stretched out before us like a menacing maw, fangs and all. I slid my hands onto the cool rocky surface, still that same as it always was.

"They're not here," I squinted, looking into the underbrush.

Nole walked into the small clearing before the closed off mouth of the cave. "No, there were people here, and animals." He pointed to the scuffed-up earth, and I recognized the shape of animal tracks.

  "That's a wolf," I pointed to the canine paw print. "Looks like maybe about, four people total." Then I felt my heart drop into my stomach like it was a stone thrown into a river bank. "That's a snake track."

"You're sure?" Jason leaned over my shoulder.

"Positive. If Apophis was here she could have opened up the cave."

Nole glanced up at me, "They found a way to open it up?"

"Yeah, Bundi told me they thought a green-handed Daímonas could open it," I explained, then turned back towards the wall of granite. "They could be inside, and they wouldn't be able to open it up."

Nole ground his jaw into his upper teeth, trying very hard to stay calm. "Can you... can you open it?"

"I can try," something told me from the look in Nole's eyes he knew I hadn't been able to open it last night.

I took a deep breath, Peris feather brushed against the skin of my neck, the stone was cold underneath my fingers as I found the grooves in the rock. The warm feeling in my stomach that accompanied my powers wasn't there and instead was replaced with he the cold and buzzing ache of anxiety and bit into my ribcage in vermillion shards. I pushed it down, I had to.

Jason was watching me, he believed in me.

Very slowly a dull green glow seeped out of my palms and into the rock. Startled, I realized the cave itself was pulling at me, and sucking out my energy. It was like I had reached my hands into ice-cold mud, and an uncomfortable chill ran down my spine, But I didn't move. The door wasn't open yet. My jaw ached, and I felt dizzy. I numbly heard Peri chatter in my ear, probably to tell me to stop but I pushed on.

The wall let out a loud creaking noise, like a dying mountain, and began to move. I yanked my hands back, the feeling rushed back into my fingers. I stood there and stared into the rapidly increasing opening, taking a moment to collect my rampant thoughts. Voices buzzed in and out of focus until I looked up and saw Jason standing above me, his mouth was moving and his brow was furrowed, there were creases in the skin next to eyes, he looked worried.

"I never want to do that again." I shivered.

"Are you alright?" his hand was on my shoulder, I was painfully aware of this.

"I'll be okay," you should not be allowed to be this tender, Jason Griffith.

Nole's voice was like a gust of cold air and he cried out from in the cave. He stumbled out, holding Bundi's unconscious body in his hands, their head lolled against his chest. There's was a ghostly look in his eyes and I realized a good deal of Bundi's body was slight and rank with dried blood.

"Help me," Nole begged.

I shook aside the cobweb-cloak of cold tucked around my shoulders and sprung to action, securing Bundi onto Opey, who's ears flicked back but the okapi remained still and vigilant, leaning down so we (read: me) could tend to them. I reached for Bundi's wrist, and found there was an incision about three inches long, it was clotted over. I could smell the infection. I check the other arm for a pulse, it was faint, but it was there. Nole had already torn off a section of his shirt and handed it to me, I tied it firmly around their elbow.

"Do you have a hospital?" I asked.

"We had medicine in one of the more protective tents... I can take you there, do you know what you're doing?" Nole replied, his face scrunching up with stress.

I nodded. "I can use my powers, I just need the space."

"Opey will take you," Nole promised, "thank you."

I wanted to tell him to not thank me yet, but instead I remined quiet, Nole hoisted me on top of Opey's back. The okapi's hooves dug into the ground and he shot off like a bird, flying across the forest floor. I closed my eyes and hung on tight, hoping we weren't too late.