Hazel.

Hazel was his first priority.

Nico blinked himself awake trying to shake off the blackness that had over come him. What had happened? Where was he? Where was Hazel?

The room spun for a second. The silence was deafening. Nico tried to move, but his limbs were heavy as lead. He groaned as a wave of pain dimmed the rest of his senses. His side was burning, like it had been used as a soccerball in an elementary schools recess.

Was Hazel okay?

All at once it came back, Nico tipped his head onto the cold hard tiles, and his eyes fluttered closed again.

First block was English for Nico. He remembered staring at the textbook script of the Odyssey and thinking his life sucked for so many reasons.

The teacher, who's name Nico had a hard time remembering, droned on and on and on about the historic significance of the epic and what it meant to be a hero.

None of which Nico understood, because to him it seemed that Odysseus wasn't really a hero at all. The guy was the reason everyone in his crew freaking died.

Everyone was shaken from there thoughts by the scream. It was right outside the door. Nico sat in the back of the class so he couldn't see but judging from everyone else's faces it wasn't good.
It was followed by two gunshots.

"HOLY FUCK!" Michel Yew yelled. The teacher didn't even scold him. Two people fell into the room and the teacher slammed the door closed behind them.

"Everyone get down!" She screamed. She ran for the interconnecting coms the button that would connect them straight to every other classroom. Before she got three feet, the button exploded in shards.

Nico fell out of his chair in shock.

The guy next to him was holding two, very dangerous looking guns. He smiled crookedly.

"NO BODY MOVES!" He demanded. The entire class was silent in shock. Nico looked at the two girls who'd fallen into the class last second. His heart rate sped up.

Hazel's eyes looked back at him swamping him in her hopelessness. Next to her was the girl she'd saved by shoving them both out of the way. The Cherokee girl in the designer clothes from yesterday.

What had Chiron called her? Piper? She was gasping in pain tears falling down her face. Red was blossoming through her white tank top on her side.

The guy with the guns stood on his chair, looking like he was king of the world. "NO BODY MOVES OR I'LL SHOOT EVERYONE!"

His words smacked Nico in the face. He'd shoot everyone? Even Hazel? He got a flash of Hazel screaming as a bullet went through her chest again. He saw the light leave her eyes.

NO.

He couldn't let that happen.

Hazel was the only thing he had left.

He was the only thing Hazel had left.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Nico registered that the fire alarm somehow went off. He didn't even care. Nico kicked his foot out and it connected with the legs of the gunners chair.

The chair flew out from under him and his guns clattered away. The guy's chin rammed into the desk in room of him. Before anyone could move Nico pinned him on the ground.

"GO!" Nico yelled, "Get out!"

The students in a frenzy knocked into one another. Someone tried to open the door to the hall where the original guys with guys were. The teacher ran to the back of the classroom and threw open the doors that connected with another classroom, and practically tossed kids out it.

Nico tightened his hold on the guy but he couldn't hold it forever. The guy spit out curses. He rolled underneath Nico, but Nico held fast.

Hazel was staring at him fearfully. Her cinnamon curls twisted back. Her eyes were watery so they looked like liquid gold. Next to her Piper choked in air, trying to move but it sent ridges of pain all over her.

"GO!" Nico yelled at his sister, "Hazel get out of here!"

She shook all over. What were the chances of something this traumatic happening twice to them?

"Nico!" She whimpered, "I-"

"Hazel!" Nico yelled at her, "GET OUT!"

Michel Yew grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door. The teacher tried to get Piper but she was in too much pain. "Leave me!" She yelled, "Save yourself!"

The guy broke Nico's hold jamming his elbow under Nico's gaurd. Nico coughed but before he could catch his breath, the guy slammed his fist into Nico's jaw. He stumbled back his eyes sight blurry with pain.

The guy dove towards one of his guns.

Nico shoved another desk at him blocking him from it. Instead he crashed into the wall. The guy got up sneering at Nico. Or maybe it was growling. Whatever it was he acted more like a wild animal than a human.

The teacher let out a scream. The wooden reinforced for of the classroom broke open and she was knocked backwards. The two guys entering had guns and they shot not exactly carrying where it hit. Nico fell on the ground to avoid several bullets. The wind ripped his hair, the heat bushing his arm, neck, ear, and side all at once.

Piper struggled to move but she seemed to be having trouble just breathing. One of the guys in black grinned at her disturbingly predatory. He focus his gun down on her. She screamed in terror.

Her scream hit Nico like one of the bullets. His mind scrambled, tossing him back into the past. The melancholy shouts, the gunshots, the scream...he'd heard it before.

"Stay here, Nico!" She yelled, "Don't move!" Her eyes were darker than normal, the spirit of the night was gone replaced by a seriousness he didn't like. The shouts were getting louder, the sound of metal and explosions accompanied it like a bad concert performance. She was running before he could move.

"NO!" He yelled at her retreating back, "Don't go! Wait!" He ran after her....

The teacher found someone's back pack and flung it over her shoulder into the gunners. The guy slammed into his partner. His shot went wild and Piper's life was saved.

Nico blinked away the untimely flashback but didn't have a chance to move. The empty handed gun guy charged at him and slammed his foot into Nico's unprotected side. He gasped in pain sliding across the floor. His head hit a desk breaking his motion. Nico's vision clouded for a second, but when he cleared it, it was too late to move again.

The guy, his fellow student, yanked his up by his shirt collar. Nico's feet dangled a couple inches off the ground. Up close Nico still couldn't recognize the student. He never bothered with people. He didn't want anyone finding out his...secret.

"Say goodnight, freak!" The guy roared, spit hitting Nico on his cheek. He cringed, "Forever!"

It sounded so cliche. Like some lame line in a movie. That's probably where the guy got the idea. But it didn't matter. This wasn't that movie. Terror clawed in Nico's throat, until he couldn't Breath. Hazel. At least she was okay.

"NO!" The teacher flung the back pack at them and it hit the guy. Even so he didn't even flinch. He growled at her, and flung Nico away like an uninteresting toy. Nico let out a gasp.

His head hit the bookshelf that housed the huge Webster dictionaries. The entire frame shuddered. Nico hit the ground and the bookshelf leered over him. Nico pulled himself into a fetal position, but it didn't do any good. It toppled on top of him in a rain of books paper and weighty wood.

He yelled out in pain. The top shelf slammed again his head, everything went dark.

Such a peaceful darkness.

Nico's body hurt, even pressed against the cold floor he felt sick with a fever. Someone must have dug him out of the wreckage. Why though?

He let out a groan, and forced himself to roll over. His body shook trying to accommodate the command. Even so, it took him a couple seconds to realized both his hands and feet were bound with duct tape.

The lights reflected off the tile floor shining so bright Nico had to blink away. He was in a classroom, a history one by the looks of it. He was still in the school.

Nico choked on his own saliva, trying not to throat up. His nerves were scattered to the ends of the earth. He was still in the school. That meant those gunners were still in the school.

He wobbled slowly regaining use of his limbs. His side had to be bruised if not worse, his ankles were sore and his wrists and shoulders cramped from the awkward position of the duct tape.

Across the room he heard signs of other life. Groaning, shuffling, something metal hit the floor. Nico could just see a girls outline, jet black hair and running shoes.

She must have been caught in the middle of changing for gym because she wore the gray gym shorts that were mandatory and a
Black t shirt with scribbled writing probably promoting some band. Blood was dried on the corners of her mouth and a little on her forehead.

"Thalia...." Someone else moaned.

Nico couldn't see from his position, but he knew it was a girl. Her voice was shrill, shaken, like on the verge of breaking into thousands of pieces. That other girl had been crying. It was the same tone Hazel used when she cried. Where was Hazel?

"Annabeth..." The gym shorts girl groaned in reply, "He took my fucking bracelet." Her voice was airy with a sorry of unhindered malice, "I liked that bracelet. It was my favorite. I can't believe I ever fucking trusted him."

Nico was confused, his brained trying to decipher what she was saying. Why did she care about a bracelet. They were tied up in a room. They were most likely not going to survive another ten minutes.

The other girl, Annabeth, moaned again. Nico drew a deep breath and forced himself it to roll up into a sitting position. His hands were bound in front. Nico counted about seven wraps before his head stared pounding.

His ankles were bound crossed, making his legs uncomfortably tight. Even if he somehow managed to get up, set of his legs would more likely have him break his ankle than move around.

"This is Mr. Morpheus' classroom." Annabeth said quietly. Nico saw her laying on her side in the back of the class, a cover of blond hair and pale skin. "I have him first block."

All of the backpacks were shoved to the front of the room. It looked like someone had gone through all of them, probably pocketing money and gum.

Annabeth's grey eyes unfocused. Nico thought maybe she was just taking to hear herself, "That backpack? The one with the owl Key chain? Its mine. They took my IceBreakers."

Nico closed his eyes, trying to diminish the pounding headache that was rising in his skull. He tried to remember where Mr. Morpheus' classroom was. He thought was across from Mr. Hypnos, on the east wing of the school.

How far from the nearest exit? A flight of stairs, an entire hallway. An entire school filled with an armed gang. People he'd gone to school with...damn.

With a flash he remembered the look on that guys face. The ease he had holding guns, like he was perfectly fine terrifying every person out there. Heartless, cruel...evil.

Goosebumps wrapped his arms in a cold embrace. His breathing slowed down. He hasn't been this scared since...Bianca.

Since he saw Bianca die.

He suffered so much. He could almost feel her arms wrapping around him, her ghostly form so pure, her touch of a smile and the lively glow that shone like a beacon of love. She was a Di Angelo. An Angel.

His eyes roughly broke open shattering the vision before it turned to the blood red nightmare of that night.

He knew why the other girls were mumbling about bracelets and mints. Because it was normal. Those were normal things. Not this Hell. Not this surreal version life that had been ripped to shreds. The events of ...what the past hours? This morning? The terrible things that sent them all into a daze.

Nico had been there. He'd been in that daze.

He opened his mouth, hesitating on his words. He looked at Annabeth, she was unfocused still.

"Where are the others?" He asked keeping his voice low an even. Both girls flinched like they didn't know he'd been there. He was used to that.

"What?" Annabeth's voice was quiet.

Nico didn't think she'd missed his underlying tone. Are there any others? Her entire body froze up and then collapsed into shakes.

"Other rooms." She whispered, "They didn't want too many off us together at once."

"How many?" Thalia croaked.

Annabeth shook her head. A sob escaped her lips instead of an answer.

Nico closed his eyes again. He swallowed a lump in his throat, nearly choking. Cold sweat chilled his muscles. His shoulders protested any movement. How long had it been since He'd knocked out? The ticking clock in the room was little more than a blur of sound.

He wondered if the police were outside. Surely they would be. Firefighters, ambulances, nosy pedestrians, reporters live. Someone would've seen the kids running out, at least student had to have made it out.

Someone would've called 911. A lot of people. Nico didn't know where his phone was, or even if it had battery.

If there was emergency respondents outside, it didn't matter. Nico couldn't hear them. He was pretty sure they were being held hostage as well.

He felt weak.

Almost on cue, a scream echoed in the building. It was horrifying. Like someone's heart was being ripped out of their chest. Nico's own heat nearly stopped.

Annabeth wailed out, twisting fanatically. Her voice was a jumble of words and phrases that didn't make sense.

Thalia paled until she looked lifeless.

"NO!" Annabeth wailed again in response to the scream, "It can't be! IT CAN'T BE TIME!"

Nico didn't know what she meant. He didn't care either. His heart thudded in his chest. His wrist fear come to life. His ears prone to hear something more, anything. There was nothing.

He knew as long as he lived, whether it was for years or for minutes, he'd never get that scream out of his head.

Because it was Hazel's scream.