Kardia Sanctuary

Chapter 9: Back To Me

                    The group of demigods went through the other side of the portal. They came out in a dark tunnel. There were torches all across the walls and they just barley lit up the underground path. But the horror was what they could see. 

                   ''By the gods,'' Piper swore.

                  ''Cages, hundreds of them,'' Jason said.

                  The cages lined the tunnel, each of them were containing a different creature. While a lot were empty, some did have mythological creatures in them.

                 ''Whoever did this wants to expose the world of myths,'' Angel said, nearly crying at the sight of a caged unicorn.

                  ''I don't think so,'' Lyon said. ''The scratches on them, DNA samples. They're testing them like lab rats.''

                  ''Whoever's doing this wants magic destroyed, so they need to figure it out first,'' Marina said.

                  ''We can free them on our way out,'' Hazel says. ''White is down here, and i'm going to find him.''

                  The demigods search the prison, getting more angry and depressed with every creature they found. They passed a hellhound, unicorn, pegasus, cyclopes, harpy, dragon, and even one of Artemis's hunting wolves. Percy, Marina, and Angel seemed ready to strangle whoever did this to them.

                   Then, the worst thing possible happened. A giant scream echoed through the hall. A scream of pure agony and pain. Hazel took off, running toward the scream and crying her eyes out. She was yelling for White.

                  ''Hazel, hold on,'' Frank yelled.

                  ''Wait for us,'' Piper called, all of them going after her.

                 Hazel turned a corner. At the end of the hall was a larger cage than the others. She could see the figure of her brother on the ground. They all bolted toward him. But when they reached the door, something stopped them. They bounced off an invisible wall, making them fall onto their butts. 

                 ''White,'' Hazel called, putting her hands on the invisible wall.

                 ''Ha...zel,'' White stuttered.

                  Hazel cried even harder as she saw how much pain he was in. Cuts and bruises covered his arms and face. There was a lot of blood. 

                  ''Whoever did this to him, show yourself so I can kill you,'' Hazel yelled into the dark cell.

                 ''I'd like to see you try,'' Redson taunted, coming out of the shadows in the cage. ''Black pearl works to stop magic AND keeping you freaks away.''

                  ''You can either do one of two thing,'' Hazel said. ''One, you bring down this shield so I can kill you. Or two, I bring down your shield and kill you.''

                 ''Why care for a monster,'' Redson asked. ''It's not like he can feel pain. He is a freak. Someone that belongs in a cage. Or better yet...''

                 He pulled out a dagger. He approached White.

               ''Don't you dare,'' Hazel growled.

               ''By my calculations, you can't do anything to stop me,'' Redson said, cocky.

               ''That's what you think,'' Hazel said. ''I'm a child of the underworld, and you don't mess with us.''

                 The ground started to shake. It was like a concentrated earthquake that only she could pull off. Ever since she was able to learn to move the underground, they never got her angry. Like when Percy would nearly drown someone or Thalia and Jason shooting lightning at them.

               ''You may have gems that stop magic, but there is one problem with that plan,'' Hazel says. ''I control gems.''

                Redson put his dagger close to White. 

              ''Try anything...'' Redson started. ''Oh, who am I kidding.''

             He took the dagger and drove it into the area between his stomach and chest. And the entire time, Redson was smiling as White screamed. 

              Hazel lost it. She screamed in anger. All the black pearls around the cell shattered. She even shattered the chains and collar on White. Hazel walked in, pissed. She was ready to kill him, by any means necessary. 

              ''You. Will. Pay,'' she growled.

              ''I'll be back for him,'' Redson said. ''He can't escape his fate forever. He is mine.''

              Redson melted into the shadows, completely vanishing. They ignored that and all ran to White. He was badly bleeding.

               ''He's going to die,'' Harmony says, crying. ''What do we do?''

              ''The only thing we can do,'' Percy said. 

              ''Percy, you can't be serious,'' Jason said. ''They've never been to camp.''

               ''We have the most children of Apollo there,'' Percy says. ''They can save him.''

               ''I'll have Loralie meet us there,'' Hawk said.

                ''Hazel, Nico, get us moving,'' Percy yelled.

                The underworld kids joined hands. Everyone vanished as the two shadow traveled them all. They all landed, or crashed, on a field in between cabins. Angel, Marina, Harmony, and Lyon all threw up, not used to this way of travel. Hawk was fine, weirdly.

               ''Percy, my boy,'' Chiron, their centaur mentor, greeted them. ''I see you've brought the demigods we sent you to collect.''

                ''Chiron, we don't have times for pleasantries,'' Jason interrupted. 

                Nico looked toward one of the campers at the Apollo cabin.

              ''Will, we need help,'' he called.

              The Apollo camper ran over.

               ''Hey, Nico,'' he greeted. ''What is...oh dear.''

               He saw White on the ground.

              ''Get him to the infirmary,'' Will ordered. ''We need nectar and ambrosia, stat. Move people.''