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Chapter 1-
Nico
I am now facing the most difficult decision of my life. I couldn’t be more certain that I’d mess it up.
“I can’t do this.” I tell Will.
“You
have
to make a choice.” He says to me.
I scowl at him. “No. I’m not picking.”
“It’s the rules.”
“You said you wanted to play.” Kayla says, continuing to eat her lollipop.
“I don’t want to anymore.” I decide.
Austin stops pacing (which hasn’t been helping…
at all
.) “Is there something I can do to help?”
“I don’t know, maybe, shut up!?” I respond, playing with my ring as I think about it. They don’t usually present me with such difficult dilemmas when we’re playing these dumb games.
“Let him think.” Will says softly. “Take your time, Nico.”
“Thank you,
Billy
.”
I went on a trip with Will and Leo one time to Texas. On that trip, I had the honor of meeting Naomi Solace (Will’s mother) who promptly only referred to her son as
Billy
. Since then, I’ve been pulling out that nickname for him as often as possible.
He rolls his eyes playfully. “Don’t call me that.”
“Whatever. I made my decision anyway.” I decide, shifting in my seat and putting my hands on the table.
“My head is going to explode. Finally.” Austin sits by Kayla.
“Okay, I’m going to marry Darth Vader.” I…confess.
“Are you for real?” Will asks me, shocked.
Austin grins. “Same!”
“
Darth Vader
? You’d marry
Darth Vader
?” She takes a bite of her lollipop. “This is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Hey, hey! Hear him out, sis.” He warns her.
“Marry Darth Vader,” I repeat. He ended up pretty good in the end… I think he could have been a good father to our kids too. “Kiss Darth Maul because he looks really cool. I’ll kill Dooku.”
“
I hate you.
” Kayla decides.
“Safe space! This is a no judgement zone and also he is right anyway.” Austin still insists. We must have all the same answers.
“This is a
full judgment zone
. Marry Dooku, Kill Maul, Kiss Vader on his little mask.”
“You have to kiss his lips.”
“That’s fine too.” She decides.
“Will, you have anything to say about this?” I ask him.
Will is sitting beside me with his arms crossed. When I ask him this question, he uncrosses his arms to scratch his chin thoughtfully. It’s a little patchy and he should probably shave.
“I’m just trying to figure out why you answered the way you did. I might be willing to agree with you, if you can defend it.”
“Darth Vader is very powerful. And hey, if he could have stuck around, he would have been a good dad-”
“Well, he did
kill all of the men, not only the men but the women, and the children
…” Austin rambles.
I shake my head dismissively, “I’m ignoring that part. They’ve all killed, they’re the bad guys, so that’s the point.”
“Number one sand hater, too.” Kayla adds.
“I don’t disagree. Sand kind of sucks,” I shrug, “I’d kiss Darth Maul, because…he’s cool looking, like I said. And I’d just kill Count Dooku because he’s old and kind of ugly.”
“I think you’re right, My answer is your answer.” Will decides. “I think it's your turn to come up with three characters.”
“I think I’m not doing that at all and it’s time for us to go back to my cabin and relax.” I huff.
“Oooh~ Will, now is your time to start glowing. Good luck.” Austin says. He is dead-convinced that Will glowing is
like him having an erection
–implying we’re going to have sex. We are not.
We haven’t yet. The closest we’ve gotten is kissing with our shirts off, which is impressive considering Will has been almost exclusively staying in my cabin for seven months. Long story short, I’ve been having crazy dreams that have led to such activities as;
Shadow-traveling in my sleep. Specifically, to the Lotus Hotel and Casino, where my sister and I were trapped for seventy years.
Producing a skeleton army in my bedroom, consequently destroying my floor.
Waking up dazed, screaming, crying, and looking for someone who doesn’t exist anymore.
These things only are settled by Will being in bed with me. Rumors go around about it (ones I’m pretty sure Austin started) but I don’t let it get to me.
“We’re not-” Will pinches the bridge of his nose, cutting himself off. “I give up,
whatever
.”
“Defend my honor.” I command. He usually does, and it’s just funny at this point. Even though it still stings a little when Austin says stuff like that.
I wonder if Will wants that sort of relationship with me, and if I want him to? If he doesn’t, is he really so into me? If he does, is it going to ruin us?
Will looks up at me, then at Austin. “We’re
not
doing that sort of thing.”
“Why?” He counters, “Will and Nico sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-...S-I-N-G
?”
I don’t think that’s right?
“That’s one
s
too many,
partner
.” Will tips an invisible hat at his brother.
“Bye guys.” I get up.
“Bye, have fun doing
nothing
.” Austin responds.
“Happy birthday!” Kayla adds.
I almost instinctively say
you too
, but I catch myself. “...
Thank you
.”
Will gets up and stands with me. “Thanks for hanging out, come get me if y’all need anything.”
“We will. See you at dinner, if you even say
hi
to us.” Austin chuckles.
In addition to staying in my cabin, Will additionally has been sitting with me for every meal. Much to his
cabinmates’
dismay, if you can even call them that.
Siblings’
, I guess. He has to so he can get me to eat anything, I get distracted too easily to sit on my own and focus on a meal that I don’t want to have in the first place.
Will and I start walking away from them after finishing saying our goodbyes and after their additional
happy birthdays
to me.
I’m
fifteen
now, kind of. It’s complicated because of the whole a few dozen years going by like a couple months, but I can’t imagine that set me ahead much at all.
“So what are we doing now actually?” Will asks, taking my hand and walking with me in the direction of my cabin.
“I could raise a skeleton army to dance for us. I bet you could teach them
Single Ladies,
if you’d like.” I suggest, half joking. I saw him doing it once and I’m traumatized for life.
“Oh my gods, I’d love that.” He laughs, “Can we do that sometime?”
“I was kidding.”
Was I
?
“
Goshdarnit
. Let me know if you ever change your mind.”
“Okay. Ugh, I’m so tired.” I mess with my bracelets.
Leo made me bracelets that magically become forearm crutches, which I use when I’m exhausted. It was all Will’s idea, but he’s my doctor, so I pretty much assume he’s always right even if I hate his ideas. I don’t use them unless I absolutely have to, usually after shadow-travel when we’re going on long walks.
“Want a lift?” He stops and gestures for me to get on his back, which is a much better option. Not many people are here anyway, so I can’t be too embarrassed.
“Thanks.” I put my hands on his shoulders and he hoists me up. It always surprises me how strong he is.
“To the cabin!” He announces, starting to walk again, “I am your noble steed.”
“That means
horse
.”
“I’m aware of that.”
As long as he’s aware.
I relax against him as he carries me.
I haven’t told him about the prophecy and the guilt is starting to eat at me. A month ago, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our oracle came to me with a horrible prophecy;
“Dark pits of the underworld call,
A child of shadows must fall.
Find the one who calls out your name,
Who suffers and despairs for refusing to remain.
Daughter of sleep must defend,
Something of equal value will meet its end.
Bringer of light will join its course,
Lend a hand, and share your life force.”
If there’s anything I understand from that, it’s about me and Will. Emphasis on
Will
. In the Underworld. No, thank you.
Not unless it’s for another holiday visit, but we haven’t both been invited again. My father and my step-mother haven’t made a peep about my birthday, even.
Or about this prophecy, other than the little I’ve said to them about the help I’ll need for it.
I think my dreams are related to it. Someone needs help, my help, and consequently Will’s help… And someone else’s.
Daughter of sleep
.
Morpheus
, or
Hypnos
, someone along those lines.
I think I know who it is, but I can’t say for sure.
I regain consciousness when we’re back at my cabin, and Will is shifting me off of him so he can open the door. I barely land on my feet, trembling all of a sudden. I’m not sure if he has been talking to me this whole time or not.
“...So I guess it’s up to you.” He says. He must have been talking to me, then…?
I blink at him when he says this. “No.”
“You… what? I
guess
I can return it.’
“I guess you can if that’s what you want.” I say, not sure what he’s talking about.
“It’s really not? I got you your gift because I thought you’d like it. I want you to have it.”
“I’m sure I will.” I say, increasingly confused.
“Then why did you say
no
? Do you have different plans for us back at the cabin?”
I blink harder like I’m trying to wake myself up. “What did you ask?”
“I asked if you wanted to open gifts when you got back, or if you had other plans for us. You said
no
.”
“…I don’t have other plans. We can do that.”
"Okay. Good, it was difficult to get, so I hope you like it... not too difficult, but I had to go to a few stores."
I put my hands on my hips, trying to breathe even though I wasn’t even the one walking. We go inside.
“Yeah, sorry. Thank you.”
"You're welcome. Want to sit and I can bring it over?"
“I think I’m having a panic attack.”
He frowns. "Is it difficult to breathe?"
“Yeah,” I blink hard a few times, “Wait. It might be going away.”
This tends to happen whenever I think of the prophecy. Will hasn’t caught on that something is up since I’ve been having the dreams for so long anyway.
"Can I check and see how you're feeling?"
Will has the ability to touch people to check in on their physical health. It’s weird. He lied to me about it for a long time.
“No, just bring me to the couch then give me presents.”
So, he gently scoops me up into his arms, lifting me with an arm under the backs of my knees and another on my back. "Yes sir. Is there something specific on your mind...?"
“I’m just tired.” I say as usual. Which, I am. It’s been a long day.
Last year, Will went all-out for my birthday. We hadn’t been together for very long at that point either. The whole thing was a giant mess and I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive him for it. This year was much more low key. We just stuck with whoever was already at camp (Austin and Kayla) instead of inviting
everyone
.
I’m tired either way.
He slowly puts me down on the couch. "It could be that. Just try to stay relaxed. I can do things for you today, it's your birthday."
“I like the sound of that.” I admit, also trying to keep him calm. I don’t feel better.
He leans down and kisses my head, before pulling back. "Okay. It's settled then. I'll grab your gift, stay put."
“Thanks.” I say.
He’s going to leave me alone, even if it’s only for a second, I’m going to be
alone
.
Thinking
.
He walks away. "I brought it here and stashed it in the bathroom you don't use to hide it this morning."
I curl up on the couch. “Thanks.” Again.
If we fulfill the prophecy, I wonder if the dreams will stop? They could at least go back to normal, how they were before about a year ago when everything went wrong even though my actual quality of life has been on a steady incline.
He's back in front of me in what seems like seconds, holding a black glittery gift bag. "Here, honey. There's a card on top, but it's worth it because there's money in it."
He always calls me that, then I tell him to stop and he apologizes but doesn’t stop. “Are there
words
in it?”
"Just a few. They're ones you can read, I promise."
I take the card and open it. I’ve been working on reading, and other than being dyslexic, I’ve pretty much got the hang of it. Writing every day has helped. Loving to read and to learn has also helped.
“I appreciate that.” I chuckle. It’s still funny to act like
I know
nothing
.
“Of course. I spent so much time making sure to write correctly so you could read it.”
I open the card. It has a cake on the front and
Happy 15th Birthday. Love, Will
on the inside, accompanied by some balloons. There’s also a dollar bill in it.
“Easy peasy words. Thanks.” I laugh it off before starting to open the actual present.
“No problem.” He says, sitting down beside me and fiddling with his necklace chain nervously. “I hope you like these, I wasn’t sure what to get you this year, I’ll never top last year.”
I pull out what appears to be a black hoodie, but is very soft, almost fuzzy. “Whoa, this is way soft.”
“Right? I wanted something extra comfortable. I was half tempted to get myself one, but I think I’d get too warm.”
“You could always borrow mine. Thank you.” I kiss his cheek.
He starts glowing. “You’re welcome. There’s a second thing at the bottom.”
I roll my eyes, thinking about what Austin said. I do my best to ignore that too and shut my brain off.
Once I succeed at that, I get the second thing out. It’s a water bottle. “Oh! Thanks.” I say again. It has a rock’n’roll skeleton hand, making me mimic it with my own hand. “Haha, nice.”
Will smiles at me. “I actually found that a while ago, it was hard not to just give it to you right away.”
“You waited. Smart.”
“It was difficult, I’m not very patient.” He chuckles. “You like those then?”
I give him a real kiss. “I like them. I’m going to put on this hoodie, you’re going to put coffee in this water bottle, and we’re going to take a nap now.” I laid out a new plan for him.
“You want
coffee
in the water bottle? It might be hard to clean if you do it that way.” He warns me.
“Fine, put water in the water bottle and coffee in something else.” I grin.
“Nico, I love you, but why would you need coffee
before
a nap? Wouldn’t it make more sense to have some after if you’re still tired?”
“I love you too.” I reply. He isn’t smart if he actually has to ask me that.
He sighs softly. “Do you want coffee
after
? I can make it for you then.”
“Did you think I would be drinking it in my sleep anyway? Hey, I said
I love you too
.” I point out.
“Should I say
I love you more
?” He offers, getting up.
“Yes,
correct
. Thanks. You can go now.” I lean back and shut my eyes. I better not actually sleep, but at the same time, I better get some rest.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 2
Nico
-the next day-
“How’s it been going recently? I feel like I haven’t checked in with you lately.” Will asks from the bathroom. He has the door propped open and he’s getting ready to leave for the day.
“You check in every day.” I roll my eyes. Living together and going to the same activities as each other every day is starting to take a toll on me.
“I meant
emotionally
. You’ve been talking with Mr. D at like… every meal basically.” He clarifies himself.
“Not
every meal
, one meal every couple days.” That might be the only time I get away from Will.
“Right,
right
. You know what I mean, though. You just have been…
spaced out
lately. I was just wondering, that’s all.”
“I have been?”
“Yeah, like you’re somewhere else.” He tells me. “It’s okay if you are, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t need to talk with me about anything.”
“It’s just the dreams.”
Will is aware of my dreams. When I feel okay letting him know what’s going on in them, it’s him who helps me put them into my journal. When I don’t, it’s Dionysus, the god of wine and
so many other things
.
“Have they been getting worse?”
“They haven’t been worse. You know what the worst was.”
“Yeah, I figured. I just wanted to make sure.”
“I’m just
tired
.” I tell him.
“I’m sure. Are you feeling up to heading to breakfast?” He peeks out the door at me.
“No,” I say, but that’s probably not surprising, “I feel like I’m being beckoned to do something.”
Probably because I was given a prophecy that said
I’m being beckoned to do something
.
He frowns worriedly, stepping out of the bathroom to look at me. “Really? Can you tell what might be… calling to you?”
I fold my hands in my lap, trying to keep still. “I don’t know yet. I’m going to head to the Underworld real soon to talk to my father about it, maybe tomorrow?”
I need today as a rest day, but after that, I’m getting on this prophecy. I’m going to figure out how to change it to keep everyone else out of it.
“Alone? I don’t know… can you take someone with you?”
“Like who? There’s hardly anyone here.”
“I guess that’s true… I could go with you, but I’m sure I’d be more of a
hindrance
than a help.”
“Not you. No.” I snap immediately. That would defeat the whole purpose.
He raises an eyebrow at me. “
Noted
. I’m just worried about you shadow-traveling right now. You’re exhausted.”
“I didn’t say anything about shadow-traveling, and I said tomorrow, not today.”
Will only ever hears what he wants to. Sometimes, he blames it on being hard of hearing, but at times like these, I'm proven right.
“How else can you get to the Underworld?” He comes over and sits down on the edge of the bed.
“There’s multiple ways to get there. I’d assume you’d know that…?”
“I know about the one that you have to sing at, I just assumed you’d travel the fast way, knowing you.” He shrugs.
I don’t have the option to be exhausting myself in that way when I might be about to go on a quest. I will need to get to these places the old fashioned way.
“Let’s talk later.” I decide. I’ll find another way into the Underworld, there’s plenty…
He nods, getting back up. “Yeah, of course. Are you sitting with me this morning?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Breakfast, I wasn’t sure if you were meeting with Mr. D today.” He steps into his flip-flops.
I roll my eyes. “I’m staying in bed, thanks.”
He frowns yet again. “Are you sure? I can bring you something back if you want, too.”
“Don’t bother coming back until tonight.”
“Are you sure? That’s a long time…”
“Don’t think you can handle it? See, we spend so much time together. That proves it.” I try being dismissive of whatever concerns he has.
He needs to get out so I can think and make a plan, and to relax…but not sleep. Well, I might sleep a little in preparation.i
“I probably can’t, but I’ll figure something out if you really don’t want me here today. Can you let me know if you need anything…?” He puts his bag over his shoulder, very clearly nervous as he messes with the strings of his hoodie.
“What do you think is going to happen? I’m just sitting in my cabin.”
“I’m
not sure
. That’s why I’m worried.”
“You think you walk out of here, and my brain literally explodes?” I chuckle.
It might
.
“Honestly? At this rate maybe.” He doesn’t laugh. “Can I peek in at lunch time? You don’t even have to say anything.”
“Don’t disturb me, I’m
hibernating
. I’ll come out if I want.”
“Okay,
okay
. I’ll head out then if you don’t need anything else right now.” He steps back away from the bed, still watching me.
“
Love you
.” I respond, stretching a bit.
“I love you too.
Be safe
, have an awesome nap.” He says, before starting to the door.
I’ll just be awake, thinking. And if he comes back, he’ll see me cry and I’ll have no choice but to punch him.
…
As much as I’m pretty sure Mr. D doesn’t care about me or anyone else here, I do get the urge to tell him about some things by now, as soon as they happen. I was digging through my journal and I basically felt myself physically losing my mind, so I figured I need to talk to a god (or at least an adult in my life) about all of this again.
After all, he and Chiron are the only ones who know about this prophecy, other than Rachel, of course. I appreciate their wisdom, even just to give myself more ideas.
One of the other things Dionysus is the god of is madness, insanity… So since I’m losing my mind, he’s my best option.
When I came out of my cabin, I came to the unfortunate realization that I have kept myself locked up for
hours
. People are having dinner right now, it’s early in the evening. I was expecting it to be somewhere around 2:00 or 3:00, not 5:00.
In that exact moment, as I walk into the dining area, I realize I’m starving. I clench onto my journal harder and go straight to where Mr. D is sat, sipping his favorite soda (you already know what it is) and watching the kids, feigning disinterest.
Mr. D leans back in his deck chair when I sit with him, messing with the can in his hands. He hasn’t ever been intimidating to me, but there’s something specific about him right now that’s bothering me.
“I have a problem.” I start.
His purplish eyes dart from my notebook to my face, then back to the notebook all before he says anything to me. “Don’t we all. What is it?”
“I figured out a way to avoid the prophecy.”
“I highly doubt that, but I’m curious.
What is it
?”
“I’ll go by myself to get things started. Tomorrow,” I say, “The other people mentioned in the prophecy don’t even know it’s happening, and if I keep it that way, they’ll never have the opportunity to get involved. They can’t even get down there easily, not without me, whoever they are.”
“I don’t think you’ll be able to complete this prophecy on your own. I know you think you’re protecting them, but they need to be there for this too.”
Then he doesn't know anything. It isn't surprising, but it is disappointing.
“I’ve done everything on my own up to this point.” I set my notebook on the table and tap it.
He looks at it. “What is this? A new dream?”
“Every night, Mr. D.” I nod, “Most recently? It involved my stepmother,
Persephone
.”
“It was another memory, I presume?”
“With a twist at the end.” I confirm. That’s how almost all of them have been, minus a few more…complicated ones.
If you’ve been around for a while, you know what I’m talking about.
“Why don’t you walk me through it?”
“I’m not going to talk to you about my dreams anymore.”
“Why not?”
“I’m done. I figured it out. Once I fulfill this prophecy, on my own, I will not need to worry about having these dreams anymore. That’s my only priority.”
I look around and quickly find that Will has spotted me from his table, he’s looking over and pouting, seeming worried as always. He doesn’t come over though. He knows what’s good for him…sometimes.
He did pop in around lunch time, but I just told him I was good and he left a slice of banana bread in there then left.
“We don’t know that for sure. I don’t think these will go away if you try to do this alone, even if they are connected.”
I glare at him. “
Am I crazy
?”
“You’re not crazy. Having dreams like these can make it feel like you’re losing grasp on reality. I think what you’re
attempting to do
could classify as crazy.”
“You’d know.” I say.
He sighs deeply, like he’s going to respond, but instead a second plate of food appears in front of him. I go to complain, because I already know what he’s going to do before he does it.
“Mr. D, this is serious, I’m trying to get your approval.” I tell him, watching him scoot that plate to me instead.
Half of it is covered in spaghetti, the other is a couple pieces of garlic bread. It’s all seasoned and topped with parmesan cheese. It’s not what Mr. D is eating (mashed potatoes and turkey, but hey, this guy doesn’t even have to eat…? What is he doing?) and it’s pretty clear he’s giving this to me because I’m Italian. Or something.
“I know it is. Eat something, people not enjoying food should be a crime. I know you’ve got the whole
gaunt-and-pale-son-of-Hades
thing going on, but demi-gods need food to survive.”
I shrug. “I guess I’m so used to it, it doesn’t really bother me anymore.”
He grunts with disapproval either way, eating a bite of mashed potatoes. I guess this is why he eats; because he can have whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and he’s the
god of feasts
. There is another thing he is
the god of
. Gods are weird like that and tend to have like twenty things that is
their thing
.
“Your appetite has only gotten worse since we’ve started talking with one another.” He says.
“I’ve always been able to handle it, though. You don’t need to protect me anyway,
you are not my father
.”
“I know that demi-gods are surprisingly resilient, like
cockroaches
, but,” Did he really just call me a cockroach? Why am I not surprised? “You’re still part human. You don’t need to punish yourself by going hungry, just because you’re
used to it
.”
“
Punish
?” I hesitate. Has this all been about more than just my
crazy
dreams to him?
“This is stemming from you thinking you’re not worthy of it. For your mind to heal, your body must also.”
“It’s just because it’s what I’m used to,” I insist, “Nothing more, nothing less. Are you saying these nightmares have nothing to do with the prophecy and it’s actually just because I need to eat garlic bread?” I gesture to the plate.
“As healing as garlic bread might be?
No
. That is not what I’m saying. I think that the dreams could very well be tied to the prophecy, since there’s such a pattern to them, but you won’t be able to do anything about it if you’re not physically strong enough to go.”
“I’m going to eat this in hopes that the dreams stop though, and I’m going to pretend you said I had to.” I ignore him, “But please, can I go sit at the Apollo table? Not that I don’t respect you, but this is already my least favorite conversation we’ve had, and that’s saying something.”
I grab the plate and the notebook in preparation. Even if he said no, I’d pretend he said yes.
He narrows his eyes at me. “As long as you’ll actually eat over there, go ahead. You have a
doctor’s note
, after all.”
I grin. “Thank you.”
At that, I leave him and go to Will instead, with my stuff. He’s eating chicken off a kebab. He looks down quickly and acts like he hasn’t been watching me for the past couple minutes since I came in. “Hi.”
“I’m sitting with you, but don’t talk to me.” I tell him, nudging him a bit so he scoots. I sit down by him.
“Can do. Austin, keep telling me about that new jazz piece you’re working on.”
I put the plate down on the table and keep my notebook in my lap. I don’t know what I’d do if someone else got a hold of it, even Will at this point.
I start eating, ready to spend this evening trying to get my mind off of the
shitshow
that tomorrow is going to be.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 3-
Nico
“
Welcome to Salona
,” Favonius says. My heart drops. “
Capital of Dalmatia! Birthplace of Diocletian! But before that, long before that, it was the home of Cupid
.”
The word
Cupid
gets repeated through echos. Usually, demigods can control their dreams to an extent, as long as it isn’t a prophecy-esque dream and it isn’t imposed on us. I can’t control these, not even slightly. They match reality up until they twist entirely and fuck things up by somehow getting worse.
“Oh, he’s not like that.” Favonius tells Jason, who flinches and eyes him warily.
“You can read my mind?” He asks. I hope he couldn’t; he doesn’t technically answer this question.
“I don’t need to.” He tosses his bronze hoop in the air, “Everyone has the wrong impression of Cupid… until they meet him.” He shoots me a subtle smile and I lean back against one of the columns, shaking so bad, I might collapse.
Jason seems to notice, coming closer to me. It makes me feel even more sick. I remember how he held me when we were flying together. “Hey, man.” He says, so I wave him off quickly to keep him from coming closer. The grass and plants are dying around me.
I wonder how much control I have over things dying. No wonder people are scared of me.
“Ah…” Favonius nods,
brutal
, “I don’t blame you for being nervous, Nico di Angelo. Do you know how I ended up serving Cupid?”
Of course I know the story. There probably isn’t a story about Greek and Roman mythology that I haven’t ever heard. I definitely know ones that are so
impactful
.
“I don’t serve anyone,” I respond, “Especially not Cupid.”
He just keeps yapping, “I fell in love with a mortal named
Hyacinthus
. He was quite extraordinary.”
“
He
…?” Jason says dumbly, hearing about homosexuality for the first time, “Oh…”
Sometimes, I think Jason knows a lot of stuff. Then I think of times like this and I just have to assume it’s Juno/Hera’s interference as well as being knocked unconscious semi-frequently that makes him so,
so
stupid.
“Yes, Jason Grace. I fell in love with a dude. Does that shock you?”
Not just any dude.
Hyacinthus
. Apollo’s lover…
his
favorite
one
.
Jason stares at him blankly for a solid minute. “I guess not. So… Cupid struck you with his arrow, and you fell in love.”
He snorts like that’s funny somehow, “You make it sound so simple. Alas, love is never simple. You see, the god Apollo also liked Hyacinthus. He claimed they were just friends. I don’t know. But one day I came across them together, playing a game of quoits–”
“
Quoits
?”
“A game with those hoops,” I explain, “Like horseshoes.”
“Sort of. At any rate, I was jealous. Instead of confronting them and finding out the truth, I shifted the wind and sent a heavy metal ring at Hyacinthus’s head and…well.” Favonius sighs sadly, as if he wasn’t the one who killed him. I guess that confirms that. “As Hyacinthus died, Apollo turned him into a flower, the
hyacinth
. I’m sure Apollo would’ve taken horrible vengeances on me, but Cupid offered me his protection. I’d done a terrible thing, but I’d been driven mad by love, so he spared me, on the condition that I work for him forever.”
Every time he says
Cupid
, it seems to echo louder. Then again after he finishes his sentence.
“That would be my cue.” He continues, standing up, “Think long and hard about how you proceed, Nico di Angelo. You cannot lie to Cupid. If you let your anger rule you… well, your fate will be even sadder than mine.”
He vanishes with red and gold swirling around him. The ground shakes, so I draw my sword. I guess I thought I was going to fight Cupid or something.
“So,” Cupid says, but doesn’t appear for us. Jason looks around frantically, ready to fight something. I stay close to him. “You come to claim the scepter.”
“Cupid,” Jason calls out, “Where are you?”
Cupid laughs…evilly. He sounds so cruel. It doesn’t help that I know he
is
cruel. “Where you least expect me, as
Love
always is.”
I don’t like the sound of that, even now.
Jason gets blasted backwards, down the stairs. I process what’s going on as soon as I can and turn to go after him.
“I would think you’d know better, Jason Grace.” Cupid’s voice whirls around us, “You’ve found true love after all. Or do you still doubt yourself?”
That hits hard now that Jason isn’t with Piper. He’s with
Percy
…which makes this all the more insane. This whole time, he has been gay?! They got together in some wild little
open relationship
thing that doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m half sure it’s just a sex thing, but maybe that’s just me overthinking Percy and Jason’s sex life.
“You okay?” I ask Jason once I get to him, offering him my hand because I’m stupid.
He takes it and I help him stand. “Yeah. Just sucker punched.”
“Oh, did you expect me to play fair?” Cupid laughs, “I am the god of
love
. I am never
fair
.”
Love
. That’s one way to say it. Cupid is the
god of attraction
,
of
lust
. Above all else, Cupid rules over
desire and sex
.
An arrow materializes out of nowhere, coming from Cupid himself. It’s coming at me, but before I can react, Jason knocks it aside with his sword. Apparently he’s focused now.
The arrow explodes, blasting limestone around us.
We go back upstairs, with him still holding my hand and keeping me close. It’s even more embarrassing now after I had that one weirdly sexual dream with him (
LONG STORY
. Maybe Cupid had something to do with that, huh?)
Jason pulls on me, yanking me to his other side and moving both of us before one of the columns collapses beside us.
I feel the same way as that column does
.
“Is this guy
Love
or
Death
?” Jason growls.
Same fucking thing
. I wish I could say
that
right now. I let go of him.
“Ask your friends,” Cupid says. “Frank, Hazel, and Percy met my counterpart,
Thanatos
. We are not so different. Except Death is sometimes kinder.” He hasn’t even gotten into the
Percy
stuff, and I don’t know if he will, but it already bothers me when he says his name.
“We just want the scepter!” I call out, “We’re trying to stop Gaea. Are you on the gods’ side or not?”
A second arrow hits the ground between my feet and starts glowing, so I pull fully away from Jason and back off. He does too, right in time for that arrow to explode into flames.
“
Love
is on every side,” Cupid says, “And no one’s side. Don’t ask what
Love
can do for you.”
“Great,” Jason says, “Now he’s spouting greeting card messages.”
I smile a bit, then Jason springs into action again when something moves behind us. He slices the air, and for a moment I think
gee, thanks, very effective
…then he hits something that grunts in pain or irritation. Golden ichor shines as it drips on the ground.
“Very good, Jason,” Cupid says, “At least you can sense my presence. Even a glancing hit at true love is more than most heroes manage.”
“So now I get the scepter?” He asks him.
What if the twist in this dream was Cupid responding with
yes
? That would be nice. I don’t know where this one is going.
He laughs. “Unfortunately, you could not wield it. Only a child of the Underworld can summon the dead legions. And only an officer of Rome can lead them.”
Fuck
. So I have to do it here, too. I have to prove myself to Cupid again. The difference is, I’m not going to confess interest in Percy. I’m going to confidently say
I am in love with Will Solace, son of Apollo.
I’m
not
afraid of that anymore.
“But…” Jason pauses for a moment, looking confused as usual, “Just leave that to us. Nico can summon–”
The third arrow zips by Jason’s shoulder. He can’t stop it in time. I gasp, expecting immense pain as it pierces my skin.
“Nico!” Jason exclaims, actually sounding worried for me. This is when he started caring about me…
I stumble, about to fall over. My whole body cringes.
Percy
…
I love Percy Jackson.
“Enough games!” I beg, “Show yourself!”
“It is a costly thing, looking on the true face of Love.” Cupid says, too melodramatic for my liking, as most gods are. Another column topples, but it doesn’t hit Jason, so I can’t bring myself to care.
“My wife Psyche learned that lesson,” He continues as if anyone cares or doesn’t know this story, “She was brought here eons ago, when this was the site of my palace. We met only in the dark. She was warned to never look upon me, and yet she could not stand the mystery. She feared I was a monster. One night, she lit a candle, and beheld my face as I slept.”
“Were you
that
ugly?” Jason says.
The god laughs. “I was too handsome, I’m afraid. A mortal cannot gaze upon the true appearance of a god without suffering consequences. My mother,
Aphrodite
, cursed Psyche for her distrust. My poor lover was tormented, forced into exile, given horrible tasks to prove her worth. She was even sent to the Underworld on a quest to show her dedication. She earned her way back to my side, but she suffered greatly.”
Jason uses his lightning powers, focusing the electricity toward his sword and then blasting a whole crater across the amphitheater. His
power
still scares me to no end.
Then he gets to look satisfied for a second before getting pushed over again, his sword going flying.
“A good try,” Cupid says, now further away, “But Love cannot be pinned down so easily.”
The wall by Jason collapses and he barely has time to move out of the way, purely angering me.
“Stop it!” I demand, finally mustering up some level of confidence, “It’s me you want. Leave him alone!”
“Poor Nico di Angelo.” Cupid says. It doesn’t matter what he says…
I love Will now
… “Do you know what you want, much less what I want? My beloved Psyche risked everything in the name of Love. It was the only way to atone for her lack of faith. Any you–what have you risked in my name?”
Everything
. “I’ve been to Tartarus and back. You don’t scare me.”
“I scare you, very, very much. Face me. Be honest.”
Not anymore.
Jason gets up. The ground begins to crack, and the grass dies even more. “Give us Diocletian’s scepter. We don’t have time for games.” I say, ready to defend him.
“Games?” Cupid hits me this time, throwing me into a pedestal. I almost cry. I’ve been hurt enough times that this shouldn’t bother me as much as it does.
With these dreams, I can feel the sensory experiences I felt when they actually occurred. I hear all sounds, feel the wind, and can feel every ounce of pain as well as anxiety as I felt in the moment. That’s what separates them from other dreams. They’re ultra-vivid.
Cupid’s voice booms louder, and it’s like I’m a small child getting scolded. Screamed at… “Love is no game! It is not flowery softness! It is hard work–a quest that never ends. It demands everything from you–especially the truth. Only then does it yield rewards.”
Jason retrieves his sword, officially pissed. He’s going to try protecting me. It bothers me that it ends up working for him, and he breaks down my walls in the same way the literal physical walls are crashing around us.
“Nico,” He says, “What does this guy want from you?”
“Tell him, Nico di Angelo,” Cupid says. “Tell him you are a coward, afraid of yourself and your feelings. Tell him the
real reason
you ran away from Camp Half-Blood, and why you are always alone.”
I take a deep breath, but instead of screaming, I harden my expression and ignore all the pain I’m in. I ignore every bit of worrying about liking Percy or losing my mind feeling myself falling for Jason, of all people.
“
I’m in love with Will Solace, son of Apollo
.” I tell him.
How…
?
Did I do that…?
He’s silent in a way that makes me think he’s contemplating that just as much as I am. I can control this dream? Is the weird stuff over?
“Are you sure?” He asks.
I chuckle, “I’m-”
I’m sure… Why did I stop?
“You don’t know what you feel. You don’t know what you want.” He insists.
I can’t argue. I want to, and I have plenty of arguments. I knew how I felt about Percy, and I know damn well how I feel about Will. I’m fifteen years old and I am already fully sure I’m going to be with him forever.
Another arrow flies, but it doesn’t hit me like it’s supposed to. Jason grimaces as Cupid’s arrow hits him right in the chest.
Shot through the heart.
“How could you hurt him?!” I ask, trying to get up. I can’t though. I’m too hurt, and when I try to move even a little, nothing happens. I’m trapped, seemingly by the air.
No…definitely by the air.
I stare at Jason as he turns to me. His eyes look glazed over and sad, but that’s not new. “
Nico
…”
“I won’t let him hurt you again.” I say like I can do anything.
"No, I love you... I've liked you since the start, I... there's no one else for me."
“
WHAT
?!”
Jason falls onto his knees, before starting to basically crawl over to me, his eyes full of pain and lust. "I love you so much. Don't be in love with Percy."
“I’m not in love with Percy!” I hiss, and Cupid hits me again, but I still don’t move.
"You are, I can tell. You'd be happier with me..."
“How come?” I try to go with the dream instead of fighting against it. I remember what happened last time I tried to fight off a
Dream Jason
who was filled with desire.
"I'd be good to you. I'd love you with all of my heart and never leave you... you don't need more people leaving."
“I don’t.” I agree.
He stops by me, looking into my eyes. I stare back for a moment before looking around desperately instead. “
WILL
?!” I call out.
"He's not here. I'm here. Be with me." He pleads, more desperate than he's ever been.
“
WILL
!?”
…
I sit upright. “Will!” I whimper.
"I'm right here. It was just a nightmare." He promises me, already sitting up in the bed beside me.
I try to catch my breath now that my ribs aren’t aching. I’m in bed…?
Oh. Right.
Dream
.
“That was so weird.” I manage.
"Was it not like the others?" He asks, glowing faintly so the cabin isn't dark.
“No…it was weird,” I say again, “the twist wasn’t as bad as reality.”
"So it was the opposite of what usually happens. That
is
weird. Do you want to go over it? You were calling out for me."
“…I have to tell you something.”
"Okay...? You can tell me anything." He says kindly.
“When I met Cupid, he was kind of weird about me liking Percy. He made a really big deal out of it.”
"I mean, he's the god of love or
whatever
, right? Of course he would."
“
Right
,” I say. He’s implying I was
in love
with Percy…? “Anyway. He made me come out to Jason, and to him, and kind of to myself. And by
made me
, I mean he was going to kill me and Jason if I didn’t.”
He glares at the bed. "He
outed you
? I'm so sorry Nico... that's horrible."
“But the point is, this time he was telling me to admit it and stuff…and I mustered up everything I could and I told him off. I said I was I love with
you
. Because I am. He couldn’t trick me or make me say things I didn’t mean, not even in my dreams that have been
so
out of control. I told them I loved you.”
He looks up, surprised. "Really? That's so...
gods
. I love you too, Nico."
He glows brighter, clearly not doing it intentionally.
“I feel like I fixed that whole thing.” I lie to him. I feel sick. As if Jason ever could have had feelings for me.
"I'm glad it had a positive outcome at least. I'm really sorry it ever happened and that you had to relive it in the first place."
“It’s okay.” I kiss his cheek, “We can probably just go back to sleep. I’m sorry for waking you up.”
"Are you sure? We can take a minute to try and calm down if you need it." He tells me worriedly.
“I’m fine.” I push his hair out of his face.
"I... can I hug you? What happened wasn't okay. It never should have and I'm going to
train
and find a way to
kill a god
."
I then gently smack his head. “
He’s a god
. And he was right.”
"But he forced you to come out before you were ready.
God
or not, that's fucked up."
“Will.
Please
. Go back to sleep.” I sigh, pulling back a bit and lying down.
He lays back down too, the light from his skin slowly starting to fade out. "I'm sorry. Thanks for telling me."
“We can talk about it later.”
He nods. "Try to get some rest. Do you want me to sing or anything...? Calm your heart?"
“Yeah.” Of course, he can still tell when I’m anxious…
I don’t know if he’ll actually be able to help. He’s what is making me feel
guilty
.
I do love him
. I don’t know why these dreams won’t stop harassing me.
Being able to control some of it was a good sign, let’s keep that up.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 4–
Nico’s P.O.V.
After relaxing in bed for a while, we fell back asleep. I don’t remember the dreams I had, but I still wake up uncomfortable. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same dream had repeated.
In the meantime, Will has been singing to me and he even made breakfast. He’s too sweet. I know I love him, and I always will.
If we weren’t in our mid-teens, and we were young adults, I’d ask him to marry me.
You know,
if boys could marry boys
. There’s a lot of
ifs
in that one.
When I finish eating breakfast, I scoot in close to him on my couch and wrap an arm around his waist. I rest my head on his shoulder.
“Back to bed?” I joke.
I love being in here instead of out with everyone else when it’s mealtime. This is the best part of having a functional kitchenette. I can barely handle it when so many people are looking at me.
He puts his arm around my shoulders. "I'm tempted. I do have stuff I should be getting to today."
“
You do
?”
"Sadly. I have to do a few hours at the infirmary, I've got to teach a basic first aid class, and I have paperwork to go over....
oh
! and there's that counselor meeting tonight."
“
There is
?” I complain. I don’t want to go to that.
"Yeah, but I can take notes for you if anything important comes up." He offers.
“And I can go there and slump over and sleep.” I chuckle. No one would be surprised, with my track record. I could probably blame it on Clovis.
"There you go, that works, too…" He grins, "But as for the other stuff, I've got some time to just hang out, I don't need to leave
right
right now."
I kiss his cheek. “Anything I can do to make you stay with me longer?”
He sighs playfully. "I have responsibilities~"
I link my legs over his lap to trap him in. “Me too, but we can ignore them sometimes…?”
"We
can
." He looks at my leg pointedly but rests his free hand on my knee. "It's good to take breaks, but I also promised to help with that class and the infirmary..."
The door opens. I pull my legs off of him and shift to sit normally. My heart twists in dread when I realize who it is. I was only
annoyed
before that.
Rachel
.
The Oracle
.
She pushes her hood back and I don’t even know how she got all of her orange hair stuffed in there. It practically explodes around her face.
“Will,” She huffs, looking tired, “Thank the gods.”
The green smoke pours from her mouth and I
panic
. The prophecy. The one she gave me.
No, no, no
… Not
Will
. She did
not
just say his name right now.
“Get out.” I plead with her.
She doesn’t
. The prophecy spouts from her again;
“Dark pits of the underworld call,
A child of shadows must fall.
Find the one who calls out your name,
Who suffers and despairs for refusing to remain.
Daughter of sleep must defend,
Something of equal value will meet its end.
Bringer of light will join its course,
Lend a hand, and share your life force.”
She collapses and Will rushes over to her. He manages to catch her before she fully hits the floor. He’s probably used to it because of me.
Will looks back at me, seemingly processing what the Oracle just told us.
“Well. This is awkward.” I remark.
"What... was that for
me
?!" He asks, picking her up and bringing her over to the couch.
“Yeah.” I scowl. I guess it was.
Rachel stirs, half-conscious. "Just relax. I've got you." He assures her, sitting her down on the couch. "Take your time, Rachel."
“Act like you didn’t hear that?” I suggest.
It shouldn’t be about him…he shouldn’t be involved.
I literally pushed off leaving until later today so I could spend more time with him, and
here we are
. Now he knows.
"
No
...? I need to go over what it said..." He stops, waving a hand in front of Rachel, "Should I check her vitals? Does she do this often?"
“She’s fine,” I assure him. She’s already starting to be…
upright
.
"I'll be okay. It just takes a minute." Rachel mutters.
"Here." Will goes to his bag, getting a Gatorade and KitKat out. He brings her both, and she takes them.
"Thanks, Will." She takes a sip of the Gatorade. I am weirdly jealous of him helping her, but that’s not new. There was a time I was so possessive over Will that I was mad at him for letting other people help
him
.
“This is about…The Underworld. It’s
my
business.” I mutter.
I should have left earlier. He wouldn’t have even known how to get to the Underworld without me, and I would be so far ahead of him that it wouldn’t even matter if he did find his way there, because he wouldn’t find me.
"There's a part that says
bringer of light
. That's got to be about me, Nico. Did... you know about this?" He looks over at me, confused.
“Yes,” I panic, “but, you aren’t coming.”
"It's a prophecy, I have to... Why the hell didn't you say anything?!" His voice cracks halfway though, making his anger almost funny to me, especially since I’m not changing my mind.
“I’m going by myself.” I explain. “The prophecy can’t
make
you come. And I can handle this. I’ve delayed it as long as I could.”
"No, you're not. You need me and...
who
, Rachel?"
"
Daughter of sleep
." Rachel repeats back for him.
“
Kamaria
.” I guess, finally saying it out loud. I was meant to protect her, and she left to join the Hunters of Artemis. Seems like that might become an ongoing trend in my life, luckily I can trust Hazel and Reyna to never do that. Now she’s going on a dangerous quest with me and the person I care most about, and when three go on a quest, it’s not super common that three always return.
"We need to call Kamaria, and we need to all go on our quest... to the Underworld." Will shivers.
"Or deeper." Rachel murmurs, so I glare at her.
“You’re
not coming
.” I tell him again. I don’t know if Kamaria should or not either.
"I have to. That prophecy was told to
me
. And it was told to you and you
hid
it from me? How long have you been lying about this?"
“Shut up,
Will
.”
He crosses his arms over his chest. "No."
“Yes. You two need to listen to
me
,” I tell them, “I’ll go to the Underworld, I’ll talk to my father and see what’s going on.”
"
Take me with you
." He demands.
“I can’t let anything happen to you!”
"I'm getting pretty good at defending myself. If you go alone, things could go wrong. It talks about all of us for a reason. I can't believe you didn't tell me."
Rachel opens her Gatorade and drinks it, just watching us. She doesn’t look like she’s enjoying it, at least.
“I can do this.
You
can’t
.” I say.
Will takes my hand. “I sure can. If you go, I’m going with you.”
I try to laugh it off, horrified. “
No
, you’re not going. I can do this quest as long as I’m not putting you in danger.”
“Excuse me,
Noble McSacrifice
, we’re both perfectly capable of survival.”
This makes me roll my eyes, at least relaxing a bit. “It’s the Underworld, though. You won’t have much power there.”
“I can manage.”
I squeeze his hand before letting it go. “You’re a
child of your Sun
and you’re
solar-powered
like Superman. There’s not exactly a ton of
sunlight
in the Underworld.”
"I'll find a way to... I don't know. I'll figure something out. Maybe a sunlamp? I don't know if that'll help. I've gotten pretty good with my bow, if not." He claims, maybe making things up or maybe actually thinking he would be fine somehow.
“
Not good enough
.”
"I'm good! I'm going with you, really. We can do it if we do it together."
“Is there another option?” I ask whoever has ideas.
"I... no? But maybe we could ask your dad if there is? Together? And pack as if there isn't, just in case?" He suggests.
“You in danger isn’t an
option
,” I say, “I don’t know why you’re doing this.”
“This isn’t some
hero play
I’m trying to make.” He tells me. His tone is more serious than I’ve ever heard it be, I don’t like it considering how much more chill he typically makes every situation. His eyebrows are furrowed and I can see the fear in his eyes.
I stare blankly at him, not sure what to say. I don’t think we have a choice here.
My
head is going to explode.
“Are you sure? You could die.” I remind him. I’m agreeing with myself eternally; he’s so stupid.
“I’m telling you, that’s not going to happen.” He promises, "I swear I'm coming back,
alive
."
“Why do you want to come?”
"To
help you
. And because I have to, because of the quest. I don't want you going alone."
“I have no choice. I think this is going to help my nightmares.”
"Then I have
no choice
but to help you."
"Look, I should... give you guys time to discuss this. Do you know where this Kamaria girl is?" Rachel asks.
Will jumps. "I forgot you were here!"
“I don’t know for sure that it’s her.” I say. I just figured because she’s the
daughter of sleep
that I care about.
"I'll give it a try. Is she at camp?" Rachel asks, opening her KitKat.
“Nope. She’s a Hunter.”
Rachel would probably have already talked to this
daughter of sleep
person if she was at camp.
"Right... great. I'll have to
hunt
her down then."
"...Are we good? Can I start packing so we can go talk to your father?" Will asks.
“…I guess so.”
I don’t want him to pack. I don’t want him to come….
"Okay, it's settled then." Rachel gets up. "Sorry for bursting in. I have to get going, I have a trip to Paris in two weeks, and I don't want finding Kamaria to get in the way of that."
“It won’t take that long.” I say. We’ll just
IM
her. And if it’s not her…? We’ll go down to the Underworld, just the two of us. And I’ll thank the gods I didn’t get anyone else involved in this, since Will has to go that far with me either way.
"Can you get a hold of her for me?" She asks hopefully.
"We can, sure thing." Will tells her, "We'll get ready first?"
“I guess so.” I say. I’m completely unsure about this. Will
could not
follow me if I didn’t tell him how to…
"Okay. In that case, I'm taking a break, this is exhausting. Can I meet you before lunch?" She asks.
"Should be more than enough time, right?" Will asks, glaring at me.
I stand and start pacing. “
Okay
.”
"...Good luck, you guys." Rached says, getting up and starting to eat her KitKat as she leaves the cabin. The doors close behind her.
"Pardon my french, but…
holy fucking shit.
" Will mutters.
I hit my face with both hands and then rub my eyes as hard as I can. “
Will
…”
"How long did you know about this, Nico?" His anger increases.
“Like, a month…?”
"You've been sitting on this for a
month
?!"
“A bit less than that.”
He rubs his eyes. "I don't get why you wouldn't be honest with me."
“…I was going to go do the quest without telling you. That’s why. I was waiting to see if it was about someone else first.”
"You could have
died
, Nico. I wouldn’t have known what happened to you, and we’d have had to do the prophecy anyway, without you. Do you realize that?"
“In the Underworld? I have nothing to worry about. You
do
.”
Dread fills me. He’s mad at me and I didn’t even get to do what I wanted. I’m not letting him get hurt, him going just makes it more likely that I would die.
"You can still
die
. It's the
Underworld
."
“It’s somewhere I’ve been a ton.”
"I know. It's still a quest that could lead to…” He trails off, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his shorts. “A
child of shadows must fall.
I don't like how that's worded."
“…I’m not going to let it be anyone but me.”
"You can't
change
fate. No one can."
“It’s probably already me anyway.”
"I know it's you, but I'm in this too. We have to work on things
together
, not hide them from one another."
“You’re not
falling
with me.”
"
Bringer of light, share your life force.
I have to... and I'm writing this down before I forget it." He murmurs, getting a pen and paper from his bag.
I drop my head in my hands. I’m going to cry. “Will, please don’t. You’re
not
coming.”
He writes it down anyway. "
I am
. We're doing this together."
“
You’re not
falling
…” I mutter, starting to cry like I thought I would.
He stops and looks up at me. "Nico...
hey
." He sounds worried now. Is he being nice all of the sudden? "We'll be okay. We have to do this."
“Don’t talk to me. I’m going to go get ready for the day.” I start storming off to the bathroom.
What Will doesn’t understand is one
big
thing.
Falling
isn’t referring to dying, or anything like that.
The dark pit of the Underworld…
It’s Tartarus
.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 5-
Will’s P.O.V.
I’m so freaked out I could probably become a solar flare and explode all of Camp Half-Blood if I wanted to. Luckily, I’ve been doing well at controlling my powers and only using them when I can channel them into my blaster. A solar flare is probably more than I’d be able to do in the first place.My good friend Leo Valdez, son of Hephestus, made the weapon for me. He also made it look exactly like Han Solo’s blaster. It was one of the best birthday gifts I’ve ever gotten.Nico is madder than I’ll get out as he sits on my bed. I’m going through my things and packing up everything I think we could need on this journey. He has a small backpack on the bed with him, containing everything he brought.Austin is digging through the huge medical supply and is making sure I have everything I could need in my first aid kit, as I go through my personal things. I glance over at Austin, who’s set himself up beside me on the floor, packets of bandages and pills sitting around him like the whole kit somehow exploded since I last looked over at him.
“Do you think I’ll need warmer clothes, too?” I ask Austin as I start trying to pack up my outfits for the trip, “I mean, it’s cold in the Underworld, isn’t it?”
When I went to celebrate Thanksgiving last year with Nico and his family in Hades’ palace, it was
cold-ish
, so it must be that same temperature outside of the place too, right? Maybe Hades just likes blasting the AC all year round, how would I know?
“I don’t really know.” Austin says.
We both look at Nico, since he’s the one that will actually have an answer. I’m not really sure what I asked Austin for.
“You’ll need a hoodie, at least. Some places are cold, when it comes to the areas that aren’t near the hellfire.” He says begrudgingly. He doesn’t seem like he’s processed the fact that I’ll be coming with him on this quest now.
“Okay, I’ll pack an extra in case the first gets dirty.” I decide.
Thanks, Dad, for the magical bag after the Battle Of Manhattan. He was impressed with my
field medic skills
, and gave me this messenger bag that is limitless and doesn’t weigh much at all. As long as it can fit through the top, I can take it. So, I roll up my light blue counselor hoodie and stuff it inside.
Nico glances down at my legs, and of course I have my cargo shorts on, per usual. I did swap out my flip-flops for a pair of sneakers at least.
“
Will
,” Nico says my name like it takes all of his energy to do so, “How are you worried about it being cold in the Underworld but you’re still wearing shorts?”
I shrug. “I don’t really
get
cold. Plus, cargo shorts are so handy! You never know when you might need to store something in a pocket.”
“Why? You have a magical bag that can hold literally anything, even Nico.” Austin points out.
That is a very valid point, but I like having things just
right
in reach. The shorts are nice.
“You’re not going to need to bring so much with you anyway, or carry things on you. You’ll get exhausted if you put a bunch of shit in your pockets and have to carry it around for
gods know how long
. Just bring clothes, water, some medical equipment… That’s about it.”
Clothes, water, medical supplies, my weapons, and
food and water
?
“What about food?” I say, “We still have to eat.”
I’m stopping at the kitchen and grabbing canned goods when we get our ambrosia and nectar.
“
Sometimes
. I’m not anticipating you being down there long enough for that to matter.”
“I think it’s better to be prepared just in case.” I tell him. “You think I need to put
pants
on?”
I can, I only have two pairs, so I’d need to wear one pair and pack the other. I guess I can if he thinks I should, I should. He’s the one who knows what we’re doing.
“I think he’d enjoy you just as much with no pants on.” Austin suggests.
“Put pants on.” Nico growls.
I hold a thumbs up and get my pair of jeans, then my pair of cargo
pants
out (no one tell Nico, but they do zip off into shorts…) I stuff a third hoodie then my cargo shorts into the bag, before tossing my jeans over my shoulder to change before I leave the cabin.
“Did you bring extra socks?” Kayla asks us.
“I don’t need them.” Nico says dismissively, “This is pretty much all the clothes I’ll need.”
“...Okay, then. Will?”
“I have three pairs packed, then the ones on my feet. If I take much longer, Nico’s going to send me to the Underworld the old-fashioned way.” I chuckle a bit.
“I do not want you to come to the Underworld at all.” He reminds me, “But also, I don’t want to get stuck in that meeting this evening.”
“That’s fair, but you should at least pack a second set of clothes?” I point out to him.
“
No
. I don’t have a bag I can put things in and I don’t want to carry extra things. I went years without having
stuff
with me.”
“I can put an extra outfit in here for you if you give it to me.” I offer.
“Why don’t
you
just do it then?” He huffs.
I also grab goggles and bandannas from my trunk, stuffing them in too, considering the fact that I don’t know the natural climate. Maybe there’s dust bunnies in the Underworld, too. Why aren’t we taught any of this stuff?
“I will. We’ll stop back at your cabin on the way out.” I tell him. Do you have the medical equipment sorted?” I look down at Austin.
“I hope so. If you need more than this…then you shouldn’t be going.” He says.
We shouldn’t be going, and we will probably need more than this. I hold a hand out for the kit and he passes it over, so I toss it into my bag.
I pull out what I’m hoping will help me with the whole
darkness
thing, a small sun globe. People usually use them to treat depression and anxiety.
I flip it on, making sure it works, and it glows brightly, so I turn it off.
“Will, what is that?” Nico asks me.
“
Nothing
.” I say quickly, stuffing it in my bag, along with a few sets of batteries.
“If you say it that way, he’s going to think it’s a
sex thing.
” Austin claims.
I sigh, before handing it over to him. “It’s
not
a sex thing. Here.”
Nico flips on the switch on the bottom, and grimaces when the light hits his face, as if he’s never seen
light
before.
“Sweet Hades, what is this?” Nico blinks a few times, quickly turning it off.
“Just don’t make fun of it, yeah?” I warn him.
“I can’t guarantee that I won’t.” Nico hands it back.
“It’s a battery-powered sunlamp. Usually, people use it if they have seasonal depression or just to calm themselves down… I think it could help me, even if it can’t
actually
give me powers.”
To my surprise, Nico seemed impressed by this as I put it in my bag.
“Okay, that’s super cool if it works. Maybe it’ll delay the effects of the Underworld on you and you’ll be able to be there for
a whole day
.”
Last time I was down there, it was only for a little while, so I only noticed being a bit colder than normal, that’s it. As far as my powers went…? I’m not sure how they’re going to react to being down there for longer than a day or two.
I have a strong feeling we’re not going to be able to
just leave
after we go down there. We’re going to have to see the quest through.
“I have a ton of extra batteries, so here’s hoping.” I pat the bag.
“What didn’t you bring, Will Solace?”
“The kitchen sink?” I smile at him, “I guess there’s still time to pack that, too.”
“You’ll have to get Leo to help you with that.”
I frown. I don’t think we should tell him we’re going. He’s going to try and come with us. “Ha, true. Let me go get these jeans on, then we’ll head to yours, then the big house?”
“I don’t need anything from mine.”
I’m stopping and grabbing him a set of clothes. “Clothes.” I remind him, before shutting myself in the bathroom.
I take a long, deep breath in and out, trying to steady my pounding heart while I’m alone for a minute. I’m terrified about what’s coming next. How am I supposed to go to
the UNDERWORLD
with Nico?! I’m going to really go over that prophecy when I have time, but we’re in a bit of a rush right now.
I scrub a hand over my face, before quickly changing from my shorts into some jeans, making sure to get my blaster back on my hip and my shoes back on before coming out. To my surprise, Chrion and Dionysus are in the cabin, talking with Nico and Austin.
Gods, what are they doing here? I need to tell them about what’s happening if the others haven’t already.
“-Well,” said Chiron, “at least allow the dryads to pack some ambrosia and nectar for you, you can’t leave without it.”
“Fine. After that, we have to leave. I don’t want to get stuck chatting with anyone.” Nico tells him.
I go back over to them and put my shorts back into the chest at the end of my bed. “...Did he explain what’s going on?”
“No. Where are you going, exactly?” Mr. D asks before stuffing a handful of ultra-buttery popcorn into his mouth.
Why does he have popcorn? I have no idea, he just does. Maybe they just came from a movie date.
“We’re going to the Underworld to talk to Hades about this prophecy.” I tell him.
“The prophecy Nico
told us not to tell you about
?”
“Yes. Yes, that one,” Nico growls, “
Rachel
told him. And now she’s trying to contact Hypnos’ daughter, Kamaria.
“Hold on just a second.” I hold a hand up, then gesturing for emphasis, “
You
all
knew I was a part of this and
didn’t tell me
?!”
“I assumed Nico would when the time was right.” Chrion says.
“Why in the world would you assume that? He was going to go try and do it
himself
.” I glare at the camp director. Some
directing skills
he’s got here.
“I was going to leave today. But oh well.” Nico shrugs it off like he hasn’t been complaining about it all day.
“
Oh well
.” I roll my eyes before moving my glare to Mr. D. “Why didn’t
you
tell me? Aren’t you supposed to care about his wellbeing or something?”
“Uhhh… No?” He says unsurely. “He’s right, he would probably be able to do it on his own if it weren’t for how
prophecies
work.”
“
See
?” Nico says as if he fully agreed with him.
“It doesn’t work that way.” I say to Nico.
“But
hypothetically
.”
"
Hypothetically
doesn't matter. This is a matter of the gods’ will, and going against that
never
goes well. We need to just... do it." I sigh.
"I agree with Will. Being a part of a prophecy is a big honor. Not every demigod gets to do that." Chiron says, now on my side for some reason. I can't believe they all knew and were
hiding
hiding
this from me.
“
The Fates…
” Nico mumbles.
"You can't change it. It's better to just let me help." I put my hands on my hips. "We'll need to go grab provisions, then we can leave."
"You may consider contacting loved ones." Chiron says.
He thinks this is
that
dangerous...
“
Pff
. Don’t have any.” Nico says.
"
Hazel
." I remind him. "You have to let her know, in case we don't come back."
“…She can probably assume what happened.”
"I think you should let her know. I have to call my mom anyway. We can even call them together, if you’d like."
I need her to know that if something happens, I love her. And that I'm dying doing something to help Nico, which is all that matters to me.
“Call…okay. Nothing is going to happen to you.”
"It's best to be prepared." Chiron says, which freaks me out a little more.
“I suppose so.” He mutters.
"
Popcorn
?" Mr. D offers to Nico, holding the container out.
Nico just gives him a weird look, glaring and cringing, then heads to the door, "I'm going to go grab an extra outfit, then we're leaving." He tells me.
"I'll get food to pack, then. Meet me at the big house?" I ask him.
"Whatever." He waves his hands.
Then, appearing out of the shadows in the corner, Kamaria steps into the room, making me almost jump out of my skin.
"
Ohmygods
!" I squeak, making her laugh.
"Hi Will, Hi Nico. I heard we're a part of a prophecy, huh?"
Kamaria is a daughter of Hypnos who came to camp last year. She found out she had the ability to shadow-travel, and she trained with Nico for a while.
I think it was good for him, to have someone he could be working with and training. But, that was short-lived, because when the Hunters of Artemis came to camp for Jason's birthday (they just happened to be in town in the beginning of July, as they always seem to conveniently be…)
She ended up joining them. Nico was furious, and I can't even blame him, because of what happened with his sister.
But, Kamaria is here and
well
, and seems to be ready to go on this quest.She's in her Hunter uniform, but doesn't have a braid, her hair is still as curly and big as ever. She always has these cool wooden little beads and sometimes metal cuffs in it.
“You are?” Nico asks, looking deeply disappointed in this situation.
"Rachel contacted me just a bit ago. She said you two were here so...I guess we're going to the Underworld?" She asks.
"We are. We're finishing up packing and then heading out. Why don't you relax here and we'll meet back up? You're probably exausted from the travel?" I point out, as she leans heavily on the wall.
She nods tiredly. "Very. I'll lay down... just get me before you head out?"
"Of course. Kayla? Can you grab her a Gatorade from the fridge?"
Kayla runs off to do what I say, and I watch as Kamaria just goes over to my bed and plops down, instead of the medical bed.
I guess that works...
Daughter of sleep must defend.
What exactly is she defending? Where is this leading us to? I'm terrified to find out. I go to look at Nico, but he's already walking out the door. If I want comfort about this, I won’t be getting it. I need to be brave for what’s coming next.
end
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 6-
Kamaria’s P.O.V.
I sit down with my lunch, finally away from the others a bit now that we’re taking a break. We just got finished with a problem in Pennsylvania, and we’re heading to track a group of monsters that are somewhere around New York. I don’t think it’s a particularly interesting lead, and it might not even amount to anything.
Still, we have to go check it out, even if it doesn’t amount to anything. I figure, if it’s in New York, that the people at Camp Half-Blood should be able to handle it.”
I take a bite of my sandwich, when out of the nearby lake, the sheen of mist takes shape, becoming an Iris Message.
There’s a girl there that I don’t recognize, with curly red hair. She looks concerned.
“...Hi? Wrong number?” I ask curiously, moving closer to the lake with my things. Iris Messages can’t be
wrong numbers
, can they? I don’t know, I don’t get or make a ton of them, other than sometimes calling my mother to let her know I’m alive.
“No… Are you
Kamaria
?” She asks.
“I am. Who are you?” I blink at her curiously.
“I’m Rachel, I’m the Oracle at--” She gets cut off with green smoke coming out of her mouth, her eyes glowing as she starts reciting a prophecy,
“Dark pits of the underworld call, A child of shadows must fall.
Find the one who calls out your name,
Who suffers and despairs for refusing to remain.
Daughter of sleep must defend,
Something of equal value will meet its end.
Bringer of light will join its course,
Lend a hand, and share your life force.”
My mind almost explodes as I try to process all of that at once. If the Oracle is contacting
me
, then I have to be a part of the prophecy… that’s how it works?
Daughter of sleep
literally describes me, I’m a child of Hypnos. But a
child of shadows
and one of
light
? I think I have an idea who that could be talking about.
Nico di Angelo and Will Solace from Camp Half-Blood. Things got really complicated with Nico this summer when I left to join the Hunters instead of staying and continuing to learn how to shadow-travel with him.
I get my notebook from my bag and quickly jot down the prophecy. Rachel looks a bit woozy when the smoke fully dissipates, but then she stares at me.
“...Woah. That’s for
me
?” I ask the dumbest thing possible as I look at the prophecy on paper. Of course it's for me! She called
me
and said
my
name.
“I… I guess it is… Nico said it could be…” She trails off, looking tired.
“Child of shadows?” I prompt her, “He’s part of this, it’s got to do with the Underworld, right? That’s what it said?”
And of course, Will is the one
sharing his life force
. He’s a healer, and would follow Nico to the ends of the earth, or
literally
to the Underworld, so of course he’s involved.
“Mhm. Go there. They have answers. Goodbye.” She hangs up on me.
So much fo help here…
That was weird
. I guess I’ll gather my things then go tell Thalia I have to leave.
It doesn’t take me long to wolf down my lunch and then gather up my things. We have to be efficient about what we pack with us on the road, so I really have my things weeded down to just what I can carry on my back.
It’s only an hour later by the time I catch up with Thaila, who’s packing up her own things, getting ready to keep going toward New York.”
“Hey, can we talk for a second?” I ask as she continues taking down her tent.
She stops for a moment only to look at me before going back to what she’s doing. “We can. Is something wrong?”
“Slightly? I just got a call from someone named Rachel, she’s the Oracle at…
from somewhere
. It was a
short call
.”
“Rachel is from Camp Half-Blood. Did you get a prophecy?”
“I did. Nico di Angelo is involved in it, and I think Will Solace, too.” I tell her, before reciting back the prophecy that Rachel told me.
She frowns and puts all her attention into me as I go over it with her. Once I’m done, she sighs deeply. “Nico…oh. I don’t like the sound of any of that. If you go, make sure you keep him safe.”
“I will, of course. He’s really powerful, though. I think we’ll be okay. I’m going to shadow-travel to camp now, then. As long as that’s alright?”
“That’s alright. Be careful. We do need you back here
soon
.” She tells me.
“As long as I make it back.” I murmur. “But for real, I’ll hurry back.”
“Like I said, keep me updated when you can, and return ASAP.” She tells me.
“I will. Iris Messaging doesn’t work in the Underworld, so contact might be few and far between. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” I promise her, before getting out of her way.
Once I’m out of the way, I step back into the nearest shadow, before popping up in the Apollo Cabin. I specifically made sure to come here, since it seemed like where everyone would logically be. To my surprise, it really
is
where everyone is hanging out. Chiron and Mr. D, the camp directors are here, and so is Will Solace and Nico.
It’s been so long since I’ve been here, I almost feel awkward about just barging in. I’m exhausted though, so I think I’ll say
hi
and then get a quick nap in. Shadow-travel is exhausting.
…I’m woken up by Will a while later. I’m not sure how long, but I practically passed out in his bed when I arrived, but it’s been long enough that him and Nico are both standing over me.
Nico looks mad. He usually looks like that, but also we didn’t part on the best of terms, so it’s not ideal that I’m the one he’s stuck with for this quest.
I really did just have to use my powers to knock him out and just…
go
when I left. I didn’t want to end things that way, I learned a lot from him, even if he was tough on me with all the shadow-traveling stuff.
But
here we are
, back together again like he wanted in the first place. Maybe he can teach me on the go?
“Good, you’re up. We’re going to head out if you’re ready?” Will asks me.
“Well, if you’re ready to IM any of your loved ones. If you have any of those…?” Nico says.
"I do. I should call Mom." I sigh softly, getting up, "Egh. I hate how this feels."
Something Nico did
not
have answers for, was how to feel
normal
after shadow-travel. I don’t think he knows either.
"Get used to it," He says, "I'm going to need your help sometimes."
"My help...? Traveling together?" I ask as I stand.
“Mhm. Inherently, when we’re on quests together, that’s how it’ll work.”
"I meant shadow-traveling. Is that something we can do?"
It's not like I got to finish training, we only got a handful of practices in before I left.
“Yes…that’s what I meant.”
"
Right
. I don't know if I have a drachma." I admit, grabbing my bag and starting to dig through it.
"I can get you one if not, don't worry about it." Will assures me, already being way nicer than Nico, per usual. Seems like nothing’s changed here then.
“I have a ton if not. I hoard them.” Nico says.
I find one in the front pocket of my backpack. "I'm good. Is there a good place to make a rainbow...?"
"I use the sink a lot, but I can produce light." Will admits.
"True. I'll head outside. Meet back here when we're done?"
“I don’t want to wait around a bunch. Did you tell the hunters what was going on?” Nico asks me.
"I only let Thalia know, I just told the others I'm involved in a prophecy, that's all. I wasn't sure what exactly was going on yet. Rachel really just told me to talk to you."
“Did Thalia seem concerned about it?”
"She did. She said to be careful, and to keep an eye on
you
." I point at him, getting up.
“
Me
?”
"
You
. She said she was worried about
you
specifically, and that I had to contact her as much as I could." I nod.
I guess she’s got a reason for it. I think Nico is the most prepared out of all of us, though.
“That’s weird. I’m the only one she shouldn’t be worried about since I know what I’m doing.” He says.
"That's what I'm thinking. I don't understand it, either."
"It's probably because we have to leave something behind." Will suggests almost hesitantly.
"What...?"
"
Something of equal value must meet its end
." He recites.
A shiver goes down my spine. Something about how he said it, maybe...?
“But it could be, like, an item. Maybe a candy bar.” Nico suggests.
Will laughs at that, but there's no humor behind it. "You think a
candy bar
will meet Its demise?"
“
Maybe
!? It was just an example! We don’t know. Prophecies are weird.”
"I guess there's only one way to find out? I hope you're right, Nico. If we can solve this by leaving a Snickers behind, that would be great." I sigh.
I'm scared, of course, but a surprising part of me is excited, too. I can't believe I got a prophecy.
“It might be something like that. You guys are so
doom and gloom
about everything.”
Nico
tells
us
.
Does he even know who he is?
"You know who you are, don't you
Lord of Darkness
?" Will asks, putting his hands on his hips. It draws my eyes to the...
gun
on his hip. Uh,
what
? Why does he have a gun on his hip?
“Don’t call me that.”
Things seem to be tense between them. Did I miss something…? Maybe they’re just always like this, I have been gone for almost six months now.
"You know what I mean, though.
Glass houses, stones,
all of that." Will waves a hand at him.
“No. I’m afraid I don’t.” He scowls.
"You can't tell us to quit being dark when your whole thing is
dark son of Hades.
" I help Will out at the risk of making Nico hate me more.
“Shut up.”
"Right. Do I go call my Mom now...?" I blink at them tiredly.
“Whatever, just be quick. We are going to call my sister and his mom.”
"Okay. I'll step out and call my mom. I won't take too long, don't worry." I assure him, gathering my bag and heading out the door.
It doesn’t take me long to get down to the edge of the Long Island Sound. I walk along it, until the lighting catches a rainbow. So, I call out to Iris and toss the drachma in, kneeling down and crouching over the shimmering section.
I see Mom right away. She’s in her studio, working on a new painting. Even with the fuzziness of the image, my heart is warmed just by seeing her where she loves to be the most. “...Hey, Mom!” I say cheerily, trying my best to not let my fear come through in my tone.
She jumps a bit, setting her brush down and turning to see me. She smiles.
How am I supposed to tell her I’m going on a quest I might not come back from?
“Hey, sweetheart!” She says.
"Hi. What are you working on?" I ask instead of getting to the meat of things. I look past her, seeing a painting of what might be the inside of a diner...?
“Just a piece for fun right now. I saw this place in a dream. How are you doing? Where are you now?”
"I'm back at Camp Half-Blood... I got a prophecy... um,
a quest
?" I admit quickly, just trying to rip the bandaid off.
She frowns, looking concerned. “Oh, is that a bad thing…?”
"Yes and no. It's a dangerous thing, but I'm going with demigods I trust... so that's nice I guess. I just don't know what the future holds, and it's freaking me out a little." I admit.
I try not to say stuff like this to her, I don't want her to worry. But, I need her to know that there's a chance I won't come back. We're going to the Underworld.
“That’s good then…? Or bad. Just let me know how it goes.”
"I will. It'll probably be a while before I can contact you again, so if your call drops, that's why." I warn her.
“Who are you going with?”
"Nico and Will. Nico... he's the one that taught me about shadow-travel, and Will is the head healer at camp."
“That
shadow-travel
,” She sighs, “that’s bad for you.”
"I know, mom. I don't do it unless I have to, and I'm careful about it." I promise her.
I'm not like Nico, who doesn't take care of himself and then also tries to shadow-travel.
“Make sure you’re being safe,” She adds, “Get plenty of rest.”
"I know, I'll be as careful as I can. And I've never
not
gotten enough rest."
I grin a bit at her.
Daughter of Hypnos...
haha
.
“I’ll take a nap in your honor.”
"Thanks, Mom." I chuckle. "Take care of yourself, and I'll come visit once this quest is over, if that's okay?"
I'm sure the hunters would allow it. I should get some time off if I save the world, right?
“That would be great. I’ll see you soon then!”
If she gets to see me ever again.
"Love you, bye." I smile at her.
I go to wave my hand into the water and she says
bye
, and I end the call. I sit back and down on the shore after that, ready to contemplate my existence.
I hope Nico's right and whatever we're leaving behind in the Underworld, isn't as important as we're thinking it will be.
A big part of me thinks that's not the case.
end
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 7-
Nico's P.O.V.
My Iris-message to Hazel goes through after only a few seconds. She has a serious look on her face, which is unlike herself.
It takes her a moment to notice me, but when she does, she relaxes and smiles a bit. Only for a moment. She must be able to tell something is wrong.
"Nico? I'm in the middle of something. Is there any way you can call back?" She asks me.
“No.” I say shakily.
She scoots closer before glancing past me. "Sorry guys, it's important, I have to take this."
“Who are you with?” I ask before seeing Jason poke his head into the image.
I scowl
. He’s here
. I wasn’t going to tell
him
this was happening.
"Nico? Hi! Are you-" He frowns, getting that
serious look on his face that is
very
like him,
“Are you okay?"
Hazel tries pushing on his shoulder to move him. "Get out of here."
“I was issued a quest.” I tell them. It’s okay that it’s both of them. I even see some of Frank in the frame, but he’s not
trying
to get into it, he’s just sitting with her.
"Oh my gods, you were?" She asks worriedly, leaning closer again even though Jason doesn’t move, "Why? Do you have any information yet?"
"Who's going with you?" Jason asks, bombarding me with another question.
“Uhh… Will is. And Kamaria, a Hunter and daughter of Hypnos.” I say.
"Will is on a quest with you? He better be ready to help." I hear the familiar voice before Reyna pops into the frame beside Jason. So she’s here too, is everyone here? "Don't let it take too long, we have some Ambassador of Pluto business for you to attend to here."
“That’s the thing. I doubt I’m coming back.” I tell them.
“What?!” Frank asks, popping in, too.
"What do you mean? What kind of a quest is this?" Hazel asks worriedly.
I look behind myself but there’s no one in the room with me. Kamaria and Will are calling their mothers. They’ll probably be a while, at least longer than I was planning to be.
“I think I need to go back to Tartarus for it. Alright?“ I admit what Will and Kamaria don’t know, “So I don’t think I’ll…yeah.”
"Nico...gods. I'm so sorry." Jason says.
"Just don't go! Come hide here. With me." Hazel says.
“I tried to say I wasn’t going to go, then I realized I had to go, and now maybe Will and Kamaria need to come too…?” I tell them.
I don’t want them to. Anything I can do to stop them, I will. Whatever it takes.
"Wait, wait. You're taking
Will Solace
to Tartarus? Can this
Kamaria
girl fight?" Hazel asks worriedly.
“I don’t know.” I smile grimly. She’s been gone for too long. I sure taught her how to shadow-travel and like nothing else.
"I hope she can. Maybe... I should come, too. To watch your back?"
“You can’t. I wouldn’t want you to anyway, I’m already taking the other person I love the most.”
She sighs worriedly. "I just... I wish a fighter was going with you. Jason is out of the question?"
"
Me
? In Tartarus?" Jason asks with wide eyes, like anyone
wants
to go there.
“I could go. Someone needs to go, you can’t just…let yourself get hurt, or worse.” Frank says, sounding desperate for some reason.
“Hey, if I die, that’s okay.” I tell them.
Of course, as soon as I want to live, there’s a high chance I’m going to die. Not that there’s been a point in my life where I’ve been safe.
"That's not okay. You
have
to come back if you won't let one of us go. I'm serious." Hazel tells me.
“Hazel, I think this is it for me. You should know better than anyone else that we can’t cheat death.”
Well, that’s not true. She did, in fact,
cheat death
.
Despite the haze Iris Messages have to them, I can tell she's holding back tears. "You do everything you can to come back, even if this is it."
“I’m going to prioritize Will and Kamaria.”
"...I understand."
“I need you to know that I love you.”
"I love you too, so much. We all do, I hope with all of my heart that this isn't the last time I see you, Nico."
"Hey... really, you have to come back." Jason tells me.
Jason Grace can’t be the one to make me emotional right now.
Not again
.
“I will if I can.” I promise.
"Good luck, Nico. I hope the gods are on your side for once. You better return." Reyna says. It’s a good thing she at least understands how this works.
“…I hope so.” I admit.
"You will." Hazel decides, "Let me know as soon as you're back and we're coming to visit you."
From the look on Jason's face, he doesn't look so sure that Hazel is right. I doubt it as well. There’s no reason for us to keep saying that to her and make her emotional. She could destroy everything if she got upset, she’s too powerful.
“After I nap for a long time, I’ll visit you if I get back.” I say to them.
"Good. I'll be waiting." Hazel says, despite my warning that I'm not coming back.
Ugh… Will is going to have to call them and tell them whatever happened. That’s awful.
I’m stuck on picturing him having to do that. Calling them, just like this. Whenever I get him out of going to Tartarus and I go alone, and then
disappear
.
I cringe when the thought leads me to Percy telling me about Bianca. That wasn’t fair. It wouldn’t be fair for Will to have to tell Hazel about me.
“
Bye
.” I manage.
"Bye. I love you." Hazel says again.
"I love you, too, Nico. Be safe." Jason says.
I get a chorus of
I love you
s and
goodbyes
, so I guess that’s all they had to say to me.
I end the call, and promptly have a breakdown in the bathroom. Because
of course I do,
I’m me
. I’m miserable and dark, and I cry all the time because my life sucks.
This is the first time I’ve wanted to live in
years
, and it’s the time I will finally die. All of those jokes about not making it to adulthood will prove true.
No one is meant to go to Tartarus and come back alive. Especially not twice. In a way, just like Hazel, I’ve cheated death.
I don’t know how long it is before I hear a knock on the door. Maybe about ten minutes? Not enough time.
"Nico... are you okay?" I hear Will call out hesitantly.
I smack myself in the face.
Come on, we're going somewhere very soon.
This is serious.
"...Yeah!?" I say, "Just hung up." I don't know how long it's been, but I definitely didn't
just
hang up.
"Can I come in?"
“
No
!”
He simultaneously softens up and sounds more firm than before. Maybe more
confident
? "Nico... it's okay to be scared and upset about this. I was just crying to my mom a few minutes ago.
Please
... you don't have to hide from me." He tells me.
“I’m not fucking
hiding
, I’m busy.” I scoff, rubbing my eyes as hard as I can.
"Doing what?"
“Go away, or you won’t get to go on this quest because I’ll kill you.”
"Nico,
come on
..." He says sadly.
How long is he going to bother me for? I need a break and I don’t know what I’ll do without one. I won’t actually kill him, but the feeling building in my chest makes me want to.
“I’m not done,” I say, “Are you?”
"
No
. I was gonna offer to be sad
with
you."
“Why are
you
sad?” I ask him. Does he know…?
"Because I'm scared and there's a big chance we're not coming back, or you wouldn't be so scared either."
“It’s the Underworld. I’m just worried about
you
, sunshine.” I claim. I think that’s
totally believable
.
"I'll be okay. Even if it's hard, we have each other. I think that counts for something, right?"
“
No
?”
"It does. It's better than being alone."
“
It’s not
.”
"I think it is. Let me in, I'll sit with you."
"Why can't you ever tell when you aren't wanted?!” I get up and go to the door, opening it now that I'm not actively crying. I shouldn’t get close to him right now, not when I’m so mad.
"Because I don't care if I am." He says, staring at me. His eyes are red from crying, which makes me pretty confident that mine are too. He continues when I say nothing, "... And I don't want to be alone."
“What’s wrong?” I ask him, softening up.
"This is more than just the Underworld, isn't it? You're terrified."
“I don’t want your light to run out,” I pull him into a hug, “Promise me you’ll listen to me down there, no matter what?”
He hugs me tightly. "It won't. And I will... You know what's best down there, I trust you with my life."
Good. He’ll follow my instructions. He won’t come down to Tartarus, even if we are supposed to. Then whatever happens, Will won’t be in too much danger. He’ll be safe. I’ll keep him that way.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 8
Nico’s P.O.V.
I get out of the cab that Jules-Albert was driving. “Here’s a tip.” I give him a drachma even though I don’t have to. It just feels wrong not to.
Kamaria and Will get out with me. We’re popping over to the Jackson-Blofis apartment to let them know I won’t be coming back for tutoring--
any time soon
.
Quote, unquote
.
Once we’re all out with our things, Jules-Albert drives off, leaving us on the streets of New York by ourselves. We are children, now that I know that and understand it, it sure makes these quests seem a lot shittier than they were.
“Why are we here again?” Kamaria asks, looking up at the building in front of us.
“We have to let them know we’re not coming back for tutoring, and that we’re going on a quest to the Underworld.” Will explains.
“Are you dumb?” I ask Kamaria, but the truth is, the reason is that she slept the whole way here (five minutes).
“I’m like, 90% sure that you didn’t even tell me.” She claims.“You were sleeping, don’t-” Will stops and pulls his gun immediately. It’s aimed at a poor, unsuspecting pigeon that’s landed on a bench nearby. “Normal bird?” He asks it.
I punch his shoulder. “It’s a
pigeon
, nimrod.”
Kamaria gives us a weird look as Will relaxes, putting his gun away and rubbing his arm where I hit him. “Thank the gods. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye, I thought it was a Stymphalian bird.”
“There’s no monsters here right now. It’s just a bird, you can tell because it’s not trying to kill you.” I tell him.
“I mean, it could
start
trying to kill me.” He shrugs.
“I don’t think it’s going to, it’s just waiting for the bus.” Kamaria says, gesturing to the bus stop sign that's beside the bench. “Show some respect, Will.”
“Sorry,
have a good trip
.” Will tells the bird.
Why are we talking to the bird?! Besides, it has wings, it flies, it doesn’t need to take a damn bus. Then again, I’m the person who can teleport practically and I just took a taxi cab here.
“...Maybe it
is
a monster.” I wiggle my fingers at Will threateningly.
“Aww, stop it.” He complains, starting to walk toward the building.
A middle-aged woman with an ice coffee in each hand runs directly into Will, spilling them both all over him. “Oh dear! I am so sorry, I wasn’t looking at where I was going…” She starts apologizing profusely.
Will steps back, shocked and presumably very sad. “It… It’s fine!”
“What do you mean it’s fine? You’re stuck in those clothes now.” I point out, laughing at him. That’s karma for treating me so badly today. Just because I lied to him about a very important prophecy, and I’m still lying to him…?
“I brought more clothes, unlike what
someone
wanted to do. I’ll see if I can steal one of Percy’s shirts or something.” He tells me as the lady stands there, almost awkwardly.
“Or, there’s street vendor just down there, let me buy you a new shirt.” She says apologetically.
“You could wear an
I <3 NY
t-shirt.” I suggest.
Will shoots me a look of warning, before looking at the lady. “Don’t worry about it, ma’am, I appreciate the hospitality…”
“
The pleasure is mine
.”
“Right, um, we’ve got to go now. Sorry about your coffee.” Will tells her.
“You’re not going anywhere.” She tells him, dropping the cups and taking a step back. She transforms into a giant. Which, of course,
stuns me in fear
.
Will backs up and stands in front of me, as if he’s going to protect me, pulling his gun again from the holster on his hip. This whole time, he was suspecting a random ass bird…and there’s this
thing
walking the streets.
An arrow hits its shoulder before it can even react, coming from Kamaria who’s standing next to us.
Out of nowhere, something hits the monster so fast that I can’t tell what it is. The monster starts scrabbling for its back, but can’t reach whatever is back there. When it turns, I see Percy Jackson holding onto the monster's shirt with one hand. With his other, he’s stabbing it repeatedly in the back with Riptide.
Instinctively, I grab onto the back of Will’s shirt and shadow-travel us into the apartment, which is probably putting Sally, Paul, and Estelle in danger, too…
It has to be after
me
. I’ll leave Will in here and go out and fight it. I let go of him, ready to just let him stay in this living room and be
safe
.
He looks around worriedly. “What the Hades are we doing up here?! We have to go back out there!” Will says when he realizes where we are.
I push down my anger because I am better than this…
“Shut up!
Shut up
.” I tell him sternly.
“No! Kamaria and Percy are both out there!” He pulls away from me. “We have to go help them.”
“I am.
You
stay here.”
“Nico… if it smells me it’ll risk
all of them.
”
“You don’t smell half as much as I do-- er… Just stay here!” I tell him, not giving him the opportunity to answer (or more likely make fun of me) before I shadow-travel back to my spot outside.
“-I can’t believe he actually left me!” Kamaria is saying when I get back out. Percy is standing in front of her with Riptide still out, watching as Kamaria paces angrily in front of him.
“I totally can. If you think that’s bad, I’ve got
quite the story for you
-” He starts.
“
Hey
!” I stop him, knowing where that’s going. I’m pretty sure we already talked about that and he should be over it by now!? “I’m here…looks like you guys got it handled.” I remark, based on the lack of giants around. So much for an
action scene
.
They both look over at me.
“Where’s Will? Why did you leave as soon as it appeared?” Kamaria huffs.
I was right. She is dumb.
“Safe, with Paul and Sally.” I tell her, “Will is really important. I had to make sure he didn’t get hurt even slightly.”
“Why is he any more important than you or me? We both heard the same prophecy, right? It involves all of us. Besides, he can take care of himself.”
“...Is it okay if we go inside?” I ask Percy, “I’m here to talk to you.”
“Uh… Yup, not a problem.” He gestures to the apartment’s entrance with his sword. I wonder what that looks like to mortals.
He’s so relaxed for someone who just killed a giant. I guess they’re the minor ones… not as difficult to handle as the actual giants, after all…
We start heading in, but as soon as we get into the building, someone crashes into me. My first instinct is to cuss them out, then I see the blond mop and I really want to cuss
him
out.
“
William
!” I growl. How dare he go against the one thing I told him to do?
“I can
not
believe you did that!” He glares at me, “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Any of you?”
“We’re fine, don’t worry about us.” Percy says, unknowingly stopping me from screaming.
“Thanks to
Percy
, not to you.” Kamaria glares at me.
“You know what, Kamaria? Go back to Thalia, have fun with the Hunters,” I say, then look at Will, “And you can go back to Camp Half-Blood, if you aren’t going to listen to me!”
“Hell no. You can’t spend this whole quest avoiding everything and trying to protect me.”
“Ugh! You’re impossible.” I push him aside and walk past him anyway.
These people
…
“
Ahem
. We should go upstairs and relax. We can talk this over and…” Percy stops and sniffs the air. “Do I smell a peppermint latte?”
“Oh my gods.” Will groans, “The monster poured two cups on me before trying to kill me.”
I am already mad at myself for coming here. I hate Percy, he always messes everything up.
“Well, let's go get cleaned up, I’m sure I have something you can wear, and I know Mom has cookies in the oven right now.” Percy says, starting to the stairs again.
Yum
.
Now Will is going to wear one of Percy’s shirts, and I’m going to have to deal with him…smelling like him, and…
Oh,
forget it
!
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 9-
Nico
Percy sits down on his bed. I stay standing, crossing my arms and watching him. Will and Kamaria are talking to Paul and Sally, I’m not sure what about. I admitted I needed to talk to Percy alone, and for some reason, Will was okay with that. I wouldn’t have been.
I
did
need to talk to him, though. Now? I don’t know what to say.
"Was there a reason you needed me one on one...?" He asks worriedly, "What's this quest about? It better not involve me, I have way too much to do."
“It doesn’t.”
"
Thank the gods
. What are you doing? Wanna lay it out, or do you have questions for me?"
“Can you keep a secret?” I ask him, dropping my hands.
"Sure. What's up? Pull the desk chair over."
I shake my head, starting to mess with my ring. How do I explain this to him? I don’t even know all the details.
“I have to go to
Tartarus
.” I say.
Then my hand goes for the necklace Will gave me. It has the
Rod of Asclepius
on it, a fellow
son of Apollo
. It perfectly represents Will. I can’t help but to go for it whenever I’m thinking of him, which is exactly what he wanted me to do.
"Shit.
Really
?" He shivers, "I'm never going back there. I'll never get rid of the nightmares... Why do you have to go back, do you know?"
Oddly enough, my nightmares recently haven’t been about Tartarus at all. They were for a while though.
I refused to sleep on the Argo II. The only one who really knew about that was Leo, I’m pretty sure. He came up and checked on me sometimes, since he was always awake too. Even if he didn’t come up, I saw him peek over quite a few times, but maybe that was due to fear more than anything else.
“I’m not sure? I have suspicious, since I’ve been having wild dreams, and it has something to do with this. I might be working up to fight Hypnos, or Morpheus, or one of their kids…?”
"That could make sense. Did the prophecy seem helpful at all...? Are Will and Kamaria going with you?"
“I’m not going to let them. I’m going to put them in cells at my father’s palace.”
Percy frowns. "That's a horrible idea. I know that from experience."
I glare at him. “Why? It’s not so bad. He’s redecorated the whole palace a little. I helped.”
"Thats besides the point. If they're a part of the quest, then
have
to go with you or it won't work." He says, "You'll be sentencing yourself to death if you go alone. I'd go with you over that."
“They haven’t been having the dreams. They’re not being targeted, why would I bring them into this?”
"Are they part of the quest or
not
?" He questions.
“They are. But I can prevent that.”
He turns his head to the side a little and looks at me from the corner of his eyes. "I'm... just be careful,” He lands on, instead of arguing. That’s a feat coming from him, “Are you ready to go down there again?"
“…Can I ask you something else, this time something I really shouldn’t be saying at all?”
He sighs warily. "I am allowed to not answer, but yes."
“It’s not something you can or can’t answer,” I tell him, “I was just going to tell you to look out for Will when he comes back? And by that, I mean keep
your
distance away from him.”
"Nico... you can't go into this thinking you
won’t
make it out. Having no hope will kill you the fastest. When Annabeth and I were down there... Having hope was all that kept us going. You come back and watch out for him."
“I can’t fight gods on my own and win. I’m not you.”
"Then
don't go alone
?"
“I can’t let Will get hurt. And Kamaria is just a kid.” I tell him.
"So are you. Being a demigod is dangerous. Try to protect your friends, but you can only do so much."
“I’m not a kid anymore, Percy,” I tell him, “Imagine if it was Annabeth? But a totally helpless Annabeth, who doesn’t know how to fight, is dumb, and is super impulsive. That’s Will.”
"I...
hmm
. She'd kick my ass for saying this, but I don't blame you for wanting to lock him up."
“And imagine if you had some kid you took under your wing and they’re supposed to go too…? Not a chance. Kamaria is staying out of this.”
"Kamaria is a powerful hunter. She is capable of going with you at least. Leave Will here." He lands on.
“See, that one you can’t understand then.” I say.
Why does this keep making me cry?
I might cry
.
"I understand
wanting to
, but she seemed very capable a second ago. The Hunters wouldn’t have let her join if she wasn’t."
“You have to ignore that part. She’s only thirteen. She doesn’t need…
Tartarus
.”
"No one does. But no one needs anything we're met with. Even if you protect her from this, she'll go on to do more dangerous things. It's just our lives."
“Doesn’t mean I need to take her there. That would be purposely traumatizing her,” I point out, “I can’t- I’m locking them up, I can’t bring them there. They need to be safe.”
"I don't think it's a good idea, but I'm not going to stop you."
He couldn’t even if he tried, because he isn’t going with us.
I shake my hands. “Can’t you just agree with me and act like you understand?!”
"I understand being
terrified
. And if anyone understands wanting to protect the people they love, it's me. I promise you that. I think that maybe there's another way. Can you go talk to your father about it?"
“I’m going to fucking tell him what to do, like always, and he’s going to listen to me.” I argue, teary-eyed.
Will is going to hate me.
I’d rather him hate me than…be dead, or hurt at all.
"I hope that's the case. I wish you all the best... Just sit down for a minute?"
“
No
. I’m not getting comfortable with you.” I tell him.
The door opens behind me, making my turn quickly to check if it’s Will. It isn’t. It’s a different curly-haired blonde. I’m going to see this moment in my nightmares probably, too.
Annabeth is here.
She looks between us, before slipping in and shutting the door. "Is everything alright, Nico? They told me about the prophecy."
“They did?” I ask. My voice cracks so I harden my expression, clenching my jaw and glaring at her.
"They did. I'm sorry... you're probably going to Tartarus, based on the wording?"
“I am.”
Emphasis on
I
.
"You are. Is there anything we can do to help...?" She moves and sits beside Percy on the bed, who's just watching me.
I cross my arms again.
Guarded
. There we go.
“Make sure Will and Kamaria don’t do anything too crazy when they get back.” I tell her.
"Of course. But you need to try and stay alive, too,” She says, "Did Percy tell you about how we encouraged each other-"
"I did. He doesn't want to hear it." Percy cuts her off.
“It’s great that you two went through it together and stuff, but I… I did it on my own. Two years ago. I can do it again.” I say. I’m older and stronger now, I should be able to take it. Maybe I’ll live…?
"You shouldn't have had to of done it alone, Nico. You'll be stronger with someone you love by your side."
“I figured it out on my own.”
"
You got put in a jar
." Percy says dryly.
"
Percy
..." Annabeth sighs, but then looks at me seriously, "He's got a point. You need someone watching your back, a healer isn't a bad choice."
“…I’ve already lost everything else, I’m not losing Will. End of story,” I tell them, “And don’t tell him!”
"Won't he find out once you get down to the Underworld?" Annabeth points out. "That's where they said you were going."
“I’m going to have my father watch him while I’m gone.”
"You can't be serious."
"He's going to lock him up until Nico is finished with the quest." Percy sighs tiredly.
"...And if you die? Is making Will resent and feel like you didn't trust him the rest of his life worth it to you? There are worse things than dying."
There are. But there are no things worse than Will dying.
“If he resents me…then
okay
.” I say.
"That's not... Don't do something you can't take back. You seem to have already made up your mind." She tells me.
“I have. Any
real
advice?” I ask them.
"Not particularly...?" Percy muses.
"Always keep moving, and go to Damasen's hut for a reprieve, it might be the only safe place down there." Annabeth says,
actually being helpful
.
“Where’s that?” I ask.
"Um... do you have a map?" Annabeth asks. "I'm not sure how to explain that locationally."
“A map,
of Tartarus
?
No
.”
"It's near the swamp, that's all I know. But there's shelter and food and a place to get sleep with him. I don't know if he's regenerated or not yet, or how that works with him." Percy murmurs.
“Okay. I’ll try to remember that. He can be trusted?”
"He can be. He helped us. He's probably the only one down there that can be, actually." Percy notes.
“That’s…okay. I understand.” I nod.
“I wish I had any other advice. Why are you going down there, do you know for sure?””
“No.” I say softly, rubbing my eyes
not
softly
.
“He said that he thinks it
could
be Hypnos or Morpheus.” Percy tells her.
“...If it’s Hypnos, you’ll have an advantage in taking Kamaria with you.” She points out to me.
I shake my head. “I’m not doing that, it isn’t worth the risks,” I say, “...Here, I trust you more than him. Can you make sure Will and Kamaria don’t do stupid shit when they get back?” I ask her.
“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure they don’t. I hope this isn’t the last time we see one another, Nico.” She says sadly.
“Do what you have to do to come back.” Percy says.
He isn’t wrong. Just because I’m going alone doesn’t mean I need to never come back.
I’m glad they gave me something to work with, at least. I can’t
fully
plan to die. I need to fulfill this prophecy by fixing what needs fixed, on my own.
Whatever it even is.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 10--Nico Percy (and Annabeth) were simultaneously very helpful and very unhelpful. Aside from them begging me to not go or to at least take my fellow quest-goers with me, they gave me very little. I would like to say I appreciated it, but their constant bullshit turned me off from anything they were saying.After being thoroughly filled with food by Sally and Paul, we made our way to the southernmost edge of Central Park. It’s damn cold out, but that’s a good thing, because it means there’s no one around.I guide Kamaria and Will over to the Doors of Orpheus, which to them probably looks like a pile of rocks. I can’t even picture it that way anymore. Will raises an eyebrow at it, then looks at me like I’m crazy. “Where to now?” He asks me, since I stopped. I point to the Doors of Orpheus (AKA the rocks.) “Ta-da, right there.”He looks at them again, eyebrows now furrowing. He looks so dumb, like he’s trying to process what is even going on. Kamaria is reacting in a similar way, but must trust me more, because she doesn’t complain and even walks over to the rocks. She inspects them, looking for a way through.“Am I dumb? These are just rocks.” Will says.“What are we supposed to do with them?” Kamaria asks, giving up pretty quickly.“I am not going to be doing anything with them. Will has to sing.” I tell them.Will looks around the park. “Is this a prank or something? Did you come up with all this?”A prank? I wouldn’t even think to prank him, but maybe I should. That would be really elaborate. I scoff, “As honored as I am that you think I’m smart enough or even have the ability to make a fake prophecy just to make you sing, which you do all the time…no. This is the Door of Orpheus, which you should be familiar with.”“I thought it would look more like… you know, a door? It’s not called the Rock Pile of Orpheus.” Will says, and I’m not sure if he’s trying to be funny (funnier than me…?) or what his intention is. “Would you shut up and sing already?” I say to him.“Just anything?”“I can sing with you, if it helps.” Kamaria offers. “Mm-mm,” I shake my head, “It works best for descendants of Apollo.” I lie to them because that part doesn’t matter at all. It’s funny to just make him sing. “Why?” Will steps forward, closer to the rocks. “Orpheus was a son of Apollo. Sing whatever you want, just make it good.”Will starts singing in the way he does when he’s using his healing powers. It's not a real song with words, but instead it’s just a lilting tune. The snow melts around and on the rocks, and he starts radiating heat. There’s nothing better than it. Kamaria holds her hands out toward him like he’s a bonfire, warming them up. I roll my eyes at her and let his singing relax me. I’m so glad he didn’t start a rendition of Single Ladies by Beyoncé, because I wasn’t sure if he would or not. A while ago, he, Piper McLean, and Leo Valdez showed off their…ahem…dancing skills to that song. Will doing something called twerking will never leave my brain, and not in a good way.The doors open for us, showing us our path. “Told you, bitches.” I say.Will stops singing, looking at it excitedly. “Woah, that’s cool!”“That was beautiful.” I add.“Oh, thank you. Do we just… go in?” Will asks, peeking at the entrance curiously. “I don’t see why not! Lead the way, Nico.” Kamaria tells me. “It’s very dark.” I warn them, stepping up as their leader and starting to go down the stairs, “And I hope you rested well, because it’s going to be a long walk.”“How dark, exactly?” Kamaria asks. Wrong question, because she should be more concerned about how long this will take without her having a nap. I start heading down, with Will following behind me and Kamaria following right after him.. “Look at it,” I say simply, “Don’t lose your footing, or you’re going to tumble all the way into Hell.”It isn’t actually Hell, at all. It’s just funnier to say it that way.“There’s not a part of the Underworld also called hell, right?” He asks. “This is so creepy.”“It’s not creepy once you’re there. This is the only really dark area. The Underworld is not Hell, I just wanted to be funny, but for some reason, you’ve lost your sense of humor…”“I haven’t lost it. This is creepy, and you could literally lie about anything and I’d have to believe you. I don’t know much about this place.” “If you say something too unbelievable, obviously we won’t.” Kamaria tells me. “Nothing unbelievable about it. It’s just a few different areas, it’s a big place… You’ll see some lost souls, the rivers will talk to you, things like that. It’s what you would expect, but more peaceful rather than…sad.” Or whatever else they would think. Creepy, I suppose. I don’t see it that way, I never have. Death is more angering than anything else, people usually don’t understand it, but once you forget everything…? You’re fine, more blissful. “I guess that’s nice. Are there a lot of lost souls?” Will asks.I slow down my pace. These stairs are steep and for some reason, I’m worried Will is going to start this off by twisting his ankle or something. Maybe it’s the whole Annabeth in Tartarus with a broken ankle thing, I don’t want to be in that situation either. I am increasingly worried about Will and even Kamaria the longer this goes on.“There are…yes. Everyone who has died, unless they were a hero who chose rebirth, is somewhere in the Underworld. So there’s a lot of them.” I describe. “I was going to say that’s sad, but if it’s peaceful down there, I suppose it’s not too bad.” Kamaria says, “You know a lot about all of this, are you down here all the time? Did you grow up down here?”“I didn’t grow up anywhere.” I scowl.“You clearly did, you’re older than me.” “I didn’t say that I didn’t grow up, I said it didn’t happen anywhere. I’ve been all over the place. I spent about a year in the Underworld when I was a bit younger than you are now, and then I have been in and out as needed for business through Camp Jupiter and things my father wishes for me to do.” I explain even though I don’t have to.“Do they count as quests if you get them right from your dad?” She continues asking dumb questions.“Yes?” Why wouldn’t they be…? They are missions delivered from a god. “It’s a different kind of quest, I suppose.”
“Because
no prophecy.
”
There doesn’t always have to be a prophecy, but I see why she’d think that. Things have changed. “A lot of quests are given to demigods directly by gods themselves. It kind of caused a whole war a while ago…?” I don’t know if anyone has talked to her about that, it was three years ago, after all.
“I wasn’t here for that. I know there was a war a while ago, but nothing about it.”
“There was also the Giant War, though. Against Gaea. That’s probably what you’re thinking of.”
She sighs, “I did hear about that one. The seven saved the world, right?”
“And Nico did a lot of it,” Will adds, “But yeah.”
“Reyna did most of the work. And, hey, you were there too,” I point out, “Not that you did a bunch of shit, but you
whistled once
and that was helpful.”
He was a
crucial medic
in both wars, the Titan one and the Giant one, but it’s funnier to pretend that he was
useless
. He never has been and he never will be, but I still don’t want him on this quest.
“I did what I could, but I don’t do combat, so you’re right. I was totally just twiddling my thumbs the whole time, waiting to whistle.” Will chuckles.
“What about you? How did you get to camp? What was your life like before you just waited around twiddling your thumbs?” Kamaria asks him.
“I got to camp when I was, like, ten and got attacked by Stymphalian birds. Before that, I went on tour with my Mom. She’s a country music artist.”
“She’s pretty good at what she does.” I add. I like Naomi Solace. Will came from an attractive and talented couple, no wonder he turned out the way he did.
That might be weird of me to say, but it’s true. He is very reflective of his parents. I don’t even know if I am, because I’ll never fully know my father and my mother is
dead
.
“I’d like to think so!”
“You grew up on tour? Wasn’t that… I don’t know, weird?” Kamaria asks.
“I don’t think so, but I don’t know how other people lived. I was just homeschooled, it was nice.”
“Huh. I guess it would be nice to spend that much time with your mom…”
We walk for quite a while, with them jabbering on and me chiming in whenever I see fit. I have so much anxiety walking down these stairs, like I’m about to face impending doom.
Which I am
.
After what feels like an hour (I really am not sure how long this journey actually is), Will and Kamaria’s conversation starts to die off.
I look back at them. It’s too dark to make much out, but I at least can double-check they’re there.
Ironic
, considering our method of getting to the Underworld.
“You guys okay?” I ask them.
“It feels like something’s watching us.” Kamaria says eerily.
“It’s probably because Nico keeps trying to break his neck to look back here.” Will says.
“I just glanced back at you for the first time. It makes me uncomfortable to do so, considering…” I say to him.
“Then we should be dead, considering. Good thing you’re not
Orpheus
.”
“Good thing you’ve never been dead. Thus, not bringing Hazel even though she would have been more helpful than you dweebs.”
I’m so scared. I’d be even more scared if she was here. I can’t do this.
Something is wrong
…?
“It’s not as if you got to pick. We were chosen for a reason.” Kamaria tells me.
“Don’t know why.” I mutter, tensing up.
Are we done yet?
“It smells like
death
down here.” Will says.
“We must be getting close to the land of the dead, then…?” I glare at him.
“There’s
souls
down here though, not
bodies
, right? Why would it smell like decay?”
“...Did I fail to mention that part?” I stare straight ahead now. My legs are so insanely tired. I’m exhausted. I haven’t even done anything yet, but I seemed to have forgotten about my most formidable foe in the recent months;
Stairs
.
My body is falling apart, really ever since the Doors of Death, Tartarus, and Athena Parthenos stuff.
“You did, are there bodies down here, too?”
“Yes.” I tell him.
“Who’s burying bodies down here?”
“It’s complicated.” I shrug, not going to expand on that.
Something dark and menacing appears beside me (which is saying something, considering how dark it is) and it makes me grab my sword. I stop entirely, turning to face the shadow. My worst sucks in what little light is coming from the Underworld entrance that I’m now realizing is in view.
Instead, Will is right there, where the shadowy figure was, and he’s not dark or menacing, as usual.
Kamaria bumps into me, but I manage to catch myself and also reach out to stabilize Will, too. Gods only know how I managed that.
“Is there something there?” Will asks, getting his blaster out.
“You. I guess.” I growl, continuing to walk. They regain their footing too and keep following me. I’m shaking…
“How much longer?” Kamaria asks.
“It’s right fucking there.” I point out, eying the fiery colored stone archway.
“What? It’s still dark down there…” Will trails off.
These fucking assholes, what are they talking about?! We’re done, we made it. We just need to get to the palace, then I can get them somewhere safe before continuing on! I can’t tell them those things, but I can still get snippy with them about being dumb.
I go to do just that, but when I look back at them again (I’m doing it more often than I was now that Will mentioned it)... The scenery is different.
We’re in
Central Park
. It’s fully night time now, less dark than the stairway was but as dark as New York gets.
I take a deep breath, ready to scream, but I’m cut off by Will collapsing beside me.
Then I do the same, finally giving in to exhaustion and passing out.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 11
Will
Nico looks over at me, seeming just as confused as I am. I look over at Kamaria, who’s sitting beside us.
“What just happened…? Why are we back in the park?” I ask her.
I feel like I haven’t slept in a thousand years, my eyelids so heavy that I’m tempted to just lay down and go back to sleep, despite being on the cold ground in Central Park.
“I don’t know. We were walking then all the sudden we were brought back up here.” Kamaria rubs her eyes tiredly.
“Nico..? Any ideas?” I look back at him.
“We fell asleep.” He says simply, as if that explains anything.
“I know
that,
but… we wouldn’t have all just passed out here. You all… we were heading down the steps, right? Did you guys have that dream, too?” I ask. My brain is foggy from sleep, and the ground seems a lot more inviting than the idea of having to go back down the steps… Again.
“I did. I thought we were close and then we woke up here.” Kamaria agrees with me, frowning.
“Don’t bullshit us. Why don’t you want to go down there?” Nico asks her.
Kamaria widens her eyes. I think she forgot she has dream powers until this very second. “It wasn’t
me
! I have no idea what’s happening, I just woke up the same as you. I can usually…
sense
when it’s a dream.”
But she couldn’t this time? If a child of Hypnos is confused about that, I’m really worried about what or
who
did this. I don’t know why Kamaria would try to confuse us like that. I don’t think she has a motive.
“What did you do?” He continues.
“I didn’t do anything! I swear it.” She insists, getting up slowly. “Gods, I’m exhausted. We should probably just… try again, right?”
I look at Nico, unsure. He’s suspecting her, isn’t he?. “...Why would
she
do that? It doesn’t make sense, you didn’t even want her to come on this quest.” I point out to him. So why would she force her way with us just to mess things up?
“Let’s just go.” He huffs.
I get up slowly, before offering him a hand up. “I guess we’ve got to walk down all those again… or for the first time.”
He takes my hand weakly. “It won’t be for the first time, I can feel it.”
I hold onto him tightly, helping him up as carefully as I can, resting every urge to do a wellness check on him.. “It won’t be? You think we were brought back up here? Could your father be keeping us out?”
That’s even more concerning.
“
No
.”
“Are you sure?” I let go of him. “I don’t understand what else it would be.”
“I am literally completely sure, yes!” He snaps at me.
I put my hands up in submission. “Got it! Okay. I’ll just… go re-open the door?”
Why is he being such an ass about this? We’re all stuck in the same problem here. Turning on one another is the best way to get nowhere.
“That’s a good idea. I just don’t understand what happened.” Kamaria says again.
I look between Nico and Kamaria. If Nico doesn’t think it's his father preventing us, then who else would it be? Is Kamaria lying? I don’t exactly know her well enough to believe her, even if I don’t want to turn on her.
“I guess so. Unless you guys need a break?” I ask, stepping closer to the pile of rocks again. I could use one, but we really haven’t even started. I can tell Nico is exhausted, even without checking on him with my powers.
“No breaks. We wasted a lot of time already… I did.” He says.
Despite my better judgment, I sing again to open the door, ignoring my exhaustion as I try to calm the others and get the doors open. It’s snowing faintly, so any trace of me melting it before has disappeared. It melts as I sing, everything getting a little bit warmer as the rocks part to reveal the passageway down.
I step toward it again. “Here goes nothing, right?”
Nico moves in front of me so he can go down first, and I’m glad for it. “I knew I shouldn’t have brought you guys.”
“You had to. The prophecy said we’re supposed to come along.” Kamaria says as we all start down again.
“...Do you want me to light up our path a little more, in case you notice anything off?” I offer, ignoring her since Nico won’t have a good reply to that anyway. He doesn’t want us here at all.
“Don’t make yourself tired. Do it only if you can safely.” He tells me.
“I can if I don’t do anything crazy.” I tell him, just lighting up a bit. It does make it easier to see the steps at least… I turn and look at Kamaria. “What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know… but I don’t like it. I can usually tell if I was in a dream, and this sure didn’t seem like one.” She says, shaking her head.
I guess we’re all at a loss for words on this. We fall into silence for a moment before Kamaria starts coming up with theories.
…
Kamaria and I kept trying to come up with what could have happened on the way back down, but it's not long before we run out of ideas and quit talking again. The faint glow luckily isn't making me too tired, but once we can see the light at the bottom of the steps, I quit doing it, wanting to conserve as much energy as possible.
Nico stays quiet,
deadly quiet
(pun not intentional, but noted), the whole way down, seeming like he's just focusing on not falling down the steps. I should have offered to help him, but with how mad he is at me, I have a feeling he wouldn't have let me help him anyway. It’s really best to pick your battles with him.
It feels like another eternity for us to get down the steps, and as soon as we are, I sigh in relief. "Thank the gods we made it." I say, stretching out a bit, my legs burning in a way that makes me think that we
did
take these steps twice now.
"Now where do we go?" I ask Nico, standing up straighter.
“I’m going to start by bringing you to my father.” He tells me.
Just then, a shock of black smoke in the shape of a sword stabs through Nico's stomach. A monster, double the size of anything I've ever seen is wielding the blade. Nico goes to speak again and blood pours out of his mouth. I scream, running forward and trying to blast the monster with my gun, but when I aim and shoot, nothing happens.
The monster pulls the sword away and Kamaria starts after it, beginning to fight it with her bow, shooting with deadly accuracy. If the arrows do anything to it, I don’t notice. My vision tunnels and all I see is Nico. I run to his side as he crumples forward to the ground. I carefully shift him so he’s laying on his back, move him so I can get to his wound and my hands are coated in the slick, warm blood.
"Nico... I'll heal you, stay awake." I cry, my hands shaking as I push my hands down on the wound. I try to sing but no sound comes out. I start crying. Why isn't it working?!
“Will- Help!?” He whimpers desperately.
I can't even save him!? I'm here to save him,
share my life force
. I push all of the healing energy into him that I can, but it doesn't work. Even when my hands light up brightly, I can feel him slowly slipping away.
He's dying... and there's nothing I can do.
"Nico please... don't do this. Fight it." I say, trying to sing again, but no sound comes out. His eyes roll back into his head, but he still somehow speaks as he's dying.
“
Save me
…?”
"I can't." I cry, leaning down and putting my head on his chest. "I'm worthless.... I can't help you!"
I cling to him, trying desperately to pour power right out of my chest.
Heal...
heal him, Will
!
I can feel him dying. Just like everyone else, I'm not powerful enough to stop it.
There's so much blood everywhere now, I can feel it seeping onto me as I cling to his limp body.
Kamaria limps over to me. "Why aren't you helping him?! You didn't help me with the monster and now you're going to let Nico die?"
"No, I'm not... I'm
going to heal him
..." I murmur, holding him so tightly that it hurts. But I feel it, he's going to die. He’s slipping away as we speak… He's on the brink of death and it's
all my fault
.
This is all my fault. Nico is gone and it’s my fault. Nico’s dying.
“You have to do something!” She screams at me.
So I keep trying, and
trying
… I try again to heal him. I’ll keep doing this until it works…it
has
to work. I
have
to save him.
There’s no other option. I’ll go until I’ve used every power I have.
end
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 12--Nico’s P.O.V. When we get to the Underworld, I turn to look at Will and Kamaria again. As soon as I do, I’m blasted far away from them, seemingly by nothing. I slam onto the ground, coughing weakly. I lift my head, clutching onto my sword tightly. A dark mass flickers from beside Will and Kamaria, swaying back and forth. Looming.My heart pounds in my chest. We just got here and I already feel so damn sick.Appendages of some sort swirl and twist. It moves unnaturally jerky. I don’t move at first, trying to figure out what is going on.Shit. One of those appendages is holding Will and dangling him upside down by his left foot. I knew this would happen. Not this specifically, but something like this.Kamaria is splayed on the ground nearby, too. She is unconscious, or at least completely still. Will is sleeping, too. He’s even snoring, despite being upside down and his life being in danger.The demon is…standing? Its other tentacles are moving rhythmically back and forth or side to side, almost like they’re casting a spell on Will. “Sleep, demigods,” It says in a tired voice. It sounds neither feminine nor masculine, and the way it echos softly makes me unsure if it’s communicating straight into my brain.It isn’t talking to me though.At that moment, I got up and pulled my sword all the way out of its sheath. “Let go of him.” I warn the demon thing, pointing my sword at its head.It turns toward me, and the shadows surrounding it start to dissipate. The shape becomes more humanoid, having a face than it did previously. It has a black gladiator helmet on its head, made of stygian iron. Its eyes are glowing white orbs, and it has a beak in place of a regular nose. Its mouth is big and also glowing white.It is thin with fitted cloth on its body. Will is still dangling upside down, but the demon has its other tentacles tucked in behind its back, almost making it look like it has a cape the same color as its skin.I don’t want to say that it looks super cool, but it does. It really does.“Nico di Angelo,” It says, making me shiver. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the demon in the Underworld knows my name. “Finally, you might put up the kind of struggle I was expecting.”“I’ll do more than that.” I say, “What have you done to Will?”The creature smiles with a jagged line of pointy teeth that I didn’t notice before either. “I only pushed him toward what he wanted. His mind did the rest.”“If you hurt him, I swear… Who even are you?”Its smile shrivels. “Who am I?”“Well…yeah. I don’t recognize you. Do you work for my father?”“As if!” The creature roars, “Ew, why would I ever do that?”“I don’t know. You’re down here and I’ve never seen you before. You haven’t exactly given me a lot to go on.”“Honestly, I’m offended.” It tells me, “I know who you are. Do you not do your own research into demons?”“What? Research?”I didn’t think I’d need to. I’m supposed to know everyone and everything anyway, but I guess not. The demon drops down and sits on the floor. “It’s ludicrous! Just ludicrous.” He waves Will around as if gesturing when he speaks. I become less concerned that this thing is going to purposely kill him and more concerned that he’s going to drop him on his head and give him a concussion. “You really can’t even muster up the slightest bit of interest in who we are before you come here? You’re supposed to know this stuff…” I try to play it off like I was kidding, “Of course I know who you are, I’m the son of Hades, Prince of the Underworld, which is where you are…”“Oh yes! Yes, I visit you all the time, after all.” It does? I have no idea what is going on anymore. Aren’t I supposed to actually know everything, for real, no joke…?“Yeah. We’re basically best friends.” I deadpan, lowering my sword a bit.It finally puts Will down, and I glance over at Kamaria again. She’s stirring. They might wake up if I can keep this demon distracted. It is making them sleep, I can tell that much.“We are?” It sounds confused now. Maybe I went too far. “Did you just do the stairs thing to us?” I ask softly.“Stairs thing? Just a bit ago? Of course, who else would that have been?” This time, when I look at Kamaria, she’s pushing herself off the ground. I guess it wasn’t her, it was this thing. Which… also must be related to Hypnos? If it is making us sleep, and that makes sense why it would want me to know who it is. Or what it is.“What’s your name again though?” I ask, trying to sound chill. It remains looking pretty happy, tentacles relaxing and hovering again, moving in that slow rhythmic way but less ominously now. It is way less threatening after I’ve heard it talk so casually.“Well, my mother always wanted to go for the dramatic, so she decided on Epiales.”“Epiales.” I say slowly.Fuck. Personification of nightmares. No kidding, it visits me often. “Yes!” It says again.I try to see if I can get any control of it, but it doesn’t seem to do anything. “Do something…!?” I tell Kamaria desperately.She shoots an arrow at Epiales, hitting one of his tentacle/arms. "How do you fight this thing?!""Argh! Did you think you can fool me?! I will get both of you for this." It shoves Will away and towers over us."I-I don't know." I tell Kamaria. This is a daemon, I'm not sure if my sword will work on it or not."You don't know? What do you mean you don't know?" Will starts stirring. My eyes fixate on him."I don't know!" I repeat.Two of Epiales' appendages shoot toward me and wrap around my arms, yanking me toward the demon. The air is knocked out of me when I hit the ground. Some dumb part of me wants to cry out for help as my sword gets taken away from me by another tentacle."Shit! Nico...!" Kamaria cries out, before shadow-traveling beside me and picking up my sword by the hilt. "Put him down!"Epiales pulls me in closer, swatting Kamaria away so she falls on her butt. "Go to sleep." It says.I force myself to keep my eyes open, but this does lessen my ability to struggle. Shit, fuck... Dammit...Powers to make others fall asleep is way too OP! This is not fair!"No! We are not tired!" I tell it."Nico? Oh my gods!" I hear Will say."Don't go to sleep. No matter what. He might keep you that way forever!" Kamaria warns us."HE?!" Epiales exclaims, "I am not a he!""...What?" Will asks groggily. He might be tired."Does that really matter right now?!" Kamaria asks."Yes! How dare you assume my gender?! And to be male?!" Something about the way this thing is reacting wants me to go you're a boy, boy boy boy, man, male, guy, dude dude dude...but I don't have the energy to. Maybe I am also tired."So sorry about her. What pronouns do you use?" Will asks for some reason. Shut up, idiot, don’t keep talking to it."You may refer to me as they/them. Or by name! EPIALES!" He announces."I'm sorry, Epiales. What do you want with us? This isn't... just because my friends are rude, is it?" Will continues talking to him.Kamaria grunts as she swings my sword at the demon. She has no business trying to use it. It grabs it again, throwing it aside so it clatters to the ground in the same way she just did. I almost start crying, trying to stay awake. It doesn’t last long. The tired feeling overwhelms me and I collapse, asleep. End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 13--
Nico’s P.O.V.
Next thing I know, I’m at Camp Half-Blood.
I knock on the door to the Big House, shivering from the cold air surrounding me. Winter in New York has always been such a pain, even at camp where the weather never gets so harsh.
I open the door, coming inside, where everyone is. I glance over them, until my eyes find who I’m looking for.
Percy.
Even when I was so young, I couldn’t ever pay attention to anyone besides him. I’m glad I grew out of that and I don’t care anymore.
Everyone looks so sad. I realize that now, but I didn’t at the time… apparently. As far as I could tell, everyone was there other than the one other person I ever searched for.
“Hey! Where’s my sister?” I ask.
I watch him as panic washes over his face. His hands go out a bit defensively. “Hey, Nico… Listen to me, okay?”
This makes me want to not listen to him at all.
I don’t seem to have the choice though, I nod and we step out together. We walk as he starts talking to me, and I can’t bring myself to respond or interact at all. I couldn’t back then either.
“Your sister… She's dead. She died protecting all of us on the quest. I'm so sorry.” Percy says. “She sacrificed herself knowing one of us wouldn't get to leave the desert. I… I should have figured out another way.”
I look over at him, not sure what he’s even talking about without context. At least, I couldn’t figure it out at the time.
“She was really Brave. She climbed into a prototype of Talos… Um, an automaton. It had a maintenance entrance on the bottom of its foot… She climbed in and took it down from the inside. She saved us all.”
Tears fill my eyes, my chest weighing me down. When my breath catches in my throat, Percy pauses and looks at me sadly. Why is this happening…?
Why did this ever happen?
“I'm really sorry, Nico. I did
everything
I could to protect her.”
“I’m so sorry.” I respond, something I didn’t do before. I wouldn’t have. I didn’t have anything to apologize for yet.
He looks confused. “Right. of course. She stole something for you.”
“
I hate you
… Stop it.”
“What? I
know
you don't hate me.”
“She’s not dead.” I decide.
“She is. I couldn't search for as long as I wanted, but I know she died.”
“NO!” I scream. “I am not reliving this again!”
“...
You have to, young demigod,
” He says, but his voice is wrong. I could hear it now, it’s Epiales speaking to me, “You can’t escape this.”
I thrash out. I push him square in the chest. He stumbles and falls backward, staring up at me.
“You’ve been behind all the horrible dreams I’ve been having for like a year now, then.”
Percy’s face twists in confusion, and Epiales speaks through him again. “For a year? But–”
“You can’t manipulate me. This isn’t real, and you can’t hold me here forever.”
Percy/Epales scratches their chin… Percy’s chin. I don’t know. “Wait, can we go back to you claiming I’ve been sending you dreams for a year? I certainly wish I had been. That would have been so fun! No… Mother only required that I intercept you and Will Solace once you passed through the door of Orpheus.”
I want to keep attacking him, but I know these dreams don’t work that way… I don’t know if I can hold back anymore though.
“Who is
Mother
?” I demand. Their…mother?
Epiales smiles. Their mouth becomes their own, glowing white with bared sharp teeth. “Oh, some questions you don’t want to be answered, Nico di Angelo…”
That’s not true. I definitely want it answered.
I lean over him and my tiny hands wrap around
Percy’s
throat.
Finally
. It’s my turn, I have total control of this dream and I can stop this on my own.
Then everything shatters around me.
…
I open my eyes and find my fingers clamped around Epiales’s throat.
I am free
.
Epiales thrashes, two of their appendages fling me across the ground. I roll, avoiding another of the appendages that are trying to grab me.
The demon roars. “Why are you making this so difficult? Who doesn’t want to sleep all the time?”
“I’m pretty sure no one wants that!?” I respond, “Your mistake was thinking you could keep me down in my own home.”
I press my hands to the ground, summoning the undead around me.They rise, flesh and rotted clothes clinging to the skeletons, dim glowing in the eye sockets of the cracked skulls, rusted swords clutched in bony fingers.
“I can summon as many of them as I need to,” I tell it. I can do this until I pass out, and I will, “This won’t go the way you want.”
Epiales laughs, a high, giddy sound. “You can’t defeat me, Nico di Angelo. I am darkness. Yours, Will’s,
everyone’s
.” They reach out with their tentacles, starting to push most of the skeletons away quickly.
To my surprise, a blast of light shoots through the darkness before I can even do anything, hitting into Epiales’ side. The demon cries out and drops to the ground, writhing in pain.
I turn and look… It’s Will with his gun and he’s pointing it at Epiales. His powers have to be…
super effective
?
He fires more light at the demon. Even with the blaster that Leo made him, the light is kind of blinding me. Epiales screams, before going quiet and crumpling onto the ground and vanishing.
“You got
It
!” Kamaria cheers.
Will lets out a ragged breath, putting his gun back into the holster on his hip. “They’re made of
darkness
. I figured that I’m the opposite. I guess it worked.”
I was just thinking that.
“...” I let the dead around us go so they crumple too, “You’re OP here.” I decide.
He laughs. “Until I pass out from the effort, I guess I am.”
“Well, don’t pass out, we have a quest to complete.” Kamaria tells him.
“I can’t carry you.” I remind him. I’m also exhausted, from that dream and from raising the dead. Not to mention, I feel sick from seeing Will in danger and from the memory of Percy telling me about Bianca. I like retaliating against him more than breaking the ground and both of us getting attacked.
“Me either. Is it safe enough to rest here?” Kamaria asks, looking like she might pass out if we don’t let her relax.
“We need to,” I say, “Sit down. I’ll keep an eye out.” I sit too, but try to make sure I stay alert. We could get attacked again at any moment.
Will flops down onto the ground beside me. “I can keep watch too, if you need a break.” He offers, like I’d let him do that.
“Not a chance.” I say, “Go to sleep.”
“You're exhausted. Take a break, really…” Will starts.
“You guys have fun arguing about that. I’m going to try and take a quick nap if possible.” Kamaria says, taking her pack off. She lays down beside Will and uses it as a pillow.
“Goodnight.” I tell both of them, not letting it be an argument. I was just dreaming a few minutes ago, so basically, I already took my nap.
Will gives up and at least lays down. Perfect. I’ll protect them.
We only have a short bit more time before we will be at my father’s palace. They’re going to be mad when I leave them behind, but it’s better that they are mad and safe rather than not mad and not safe.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 14-
Will's P.O.V.
Nico leans on me heavily as he keeps his eyes trained on the barren landscape, still on high alert. I can tell he's exhausted, even without using my powers to check on him.
I'm tired too, and with Kamaria fast asleep beside us, it's hard not to just curl up beside her and go right to sleep. Maybe she’s subconsciously using her powers or something.
"You should try and get a little bit of rest." I tell Nico. "I don't know how far we're going, but... probably far enough that you'll need the sleep."
“I’m okay. We’ll stop in at my father’s palace and that’s where I can finally relax.”
"Do you know how far it is from here?" I ask curiously, looking out in hopes to glimpse Hades’ palace again.
Spotting it shouldn’t be difficult. It’s huge, with tall, looming spires of black bricks. The whole place was dark and terrifying, and that was when they
tried
to make it inviting for the holidays. I'm sure it's only worse now.
“Not too far. It’ll take less than what would be
a day
to get there.”
"That's good at least. I hope... we can figure everything out. I can't believe I just
killed a demon
." I say, mostly in awe. When I saw that
thing
holding onto Nico, I just reacted as quickly as possible. I guess what I did was right, because
I killed it
, or made it leave for now. I guess I don't know if demons respawn the same way monsters do?
“It isn’t dead.” Nico says, “It
shadow-traveled
.”
"...
Shit
. Do you think we'll see them again?"
“We could. Probably?”
I sigh softly. "I'll be ready then. Did you..." I trail off, thinking about the dream, I can’t get away from how he was dying in my arms and I couldn't help no matter what I did. I shiver, trying my best to shake the memory away. "-did you have a dream?"
“Yeah.” His eyes go wide.
"Me too. What was yours?" I ask softly. "Like...mine was
bad
."
"Really? What was it?"
"It was about you... I mean,
you were there
. And you were bleeding out and I couldn't stop it. My powers weren't working, and your dying was all my fault." I explain softly, staring down at my hands. If I blink, I can imagine the blood there...
so much blood.
“
That
is what you dreamt of? That’s ridiculous.”
"You're important to me. The idea that I didn't save you is..." I shudder, "It's horrible, Nico. It’s my biggest fear.”
“Oh. I guess so?” He doesn’t seem convinced. He never will be, when it comes to me caring about him.
"I'm not good at a lot, and healing is one thing I am. So if I messed that up too...?" I murmur, before rubbing my eyes.
"You're good at shooting your gun." Kamaria says, making me jump. I look over and realize she's awake now. Has she been listening the whole time we’ve been over here?
“He’s good at everything. Ignore him.” Nico says.
I laugh bitterly. What is he talking about? He’s the one who didn’t even want me coming since I can’t fight and defend myself. "
I wish
. What about you, Kamaria? Any dreams?"
She blinks at us tiredly. "Definitely not. No dream. Must be a
child of Hypnos
thing."
I glance at Nico, and we share a look. He doesn’t believe that, and I’m not exactly sure what I believe. She could be telling the truth, since she’s a child of Hypnos. Maybe Epiales wasn’t able to get into her head in the same way he was able to with us. Alternatively, he didn’t get into her head because she’s working with the demon, and possibly someone else. Something darker… whatever it is that Nico seems so scared to take us to.
“…Mine was my sister. When I found out she died.” Nico says, eying her.
"It was?" I ask him softly. I didn't think he'd answer now that Kamaria is awake. Since he seems to trust her even less than I do.
“Yes.
What was yours
?” He asks her.
She shakes her head, doubling down. "I
didn't
have one."
"Kamaria... you don't have to tell us what it was, but-” I start, but she sits up and stretches her arms over her head, cutting me off.
"How long is this break gonna be anyway?" She asks, yawning.
“We should probably get going pretty soon.” Nico says.
"Okay." She sighs, digging in her bag and pulling a protein bar from it, starting to eat it.
"...Do you want something to eat?" I ask Nico, reaching for my own bag. I have no way of telling the time down here, but her getting something to eat out made me hungry, at the very least.
“No… I’ll eat when we get there. We really need to leave.”
I don't love that answer, but I nod either way. I won't push much more than this, not after what we just went too. "Are you sure? You need your strength if we have a day's worth of walking left."
“Ugh, don’t say that.”
"It's true! Sorry. We could even split something if you wanted." I offer warily. If he's feeling half as bad as I am after all of these dreams, I don't blame him. But he can't expect to make it to the castle easily if he won't take care of himself, at least a little.
“
Will
.” He growls.
I put my hands up defensively. "Fine! I won't press it. I just had to...
try
."
“You already did press it.”
"I know, that's why I'm saying
sorry
now." I tell him, before shifting away from him. I pull my hoodie out of my bag and put it on. "I'm going to try and get in another power nap before we go." I bring the hood up onto my head and pull the drawstrings tightly so all that's poking out of the front is my nose.
"You look ridiculous." Kamaria says, but I think it's in a playful way.
"Well, it works." I murmur, laying down onto my back. It doesn't feel safe to rest here, but it’s the Underworld, it’s never going to feel
safe
.
"That's a good look for you." Nico tells me dryly, “
Cut it out.
”
I put my hands in my hoodie pocket. "I feel like a turtle."
“You
are
a turtle.”
"I am?" I ask, smiling a bit as my body starts feeling heavy. Having the gun that Leo made helps a lot to not drain all of my power, verses just shooting it from my hands. That being said, something about being down here is just
exhausting
to me. It won't be difficult to fall asleep here for a minute.
I know Nico can keep me safe.
“You look like one.”
"I have never seen a
baby blue
turtle before." I point out to him.
“You haven’t? I have.”
"Hmm. Not one in real life, anyway. Unless this is some
Underworld exclusive
, I'm going to have to assume is not real."
“You wouldn’t know.” He points out.
"Why would there be turtles? The rivers don't have wildlife, right?" I ask. I can’t tell if he’s joking or not.
He raises an eyebrow. “Don’t they?”
"..." I sigh tiredly. "Can I look along the way? Will we be close to any of them?"
“I’m kidding.”
"
Disappointing
, I was hoping for ghost turtles." I could actually fall asleep right here and now.
“I’m sure there’s ghost turtles. Hey, are you ready to go?”
What?! He was serious about leaving
right this second
?
I hold my hand in a thumbs down to him. "
No
. But I need to be." I force myself upright with a groan, before loosening the hood, keeping it on my head.
Kamaria is already standing, pulling her pack on.
“Good.” Nico says, not moving for a moment. He takes a deep breath and holds it as he gets up, moving like it hurts him to move.
I watch him worriedly. I don’t want to keep pressing him, but he
has to
try to go slow, or he’ll break. And if we don’t have him, we
don’t
have a chance of getting out of this alive.
Let’s just hope that Hades has a way to get us out of this, if anything, for Nico’s sake more than ours.
I glance at Kamaria as I get up. I still don’t know if we can trust her, and her not giving us a hint about her past or about her dreams isn’t helping. It’s only making me trust her less. I thought Nico was being paranoid, but now…? I guess we’ll try our best to keep our distance with her. As much as anyone on a quest together can.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 15–
Nico’s P.O.V.
We reach my father’s palace with Cerberus bounding behind us, wanting to play. He was kind of suspicious of Kamaria at first, but after she scratched behind his third head’s left ear, he adored her.
That’s a good sign. I’m not
as
worried about leaving her here with Will anymore. It’s possible she won’t hurt him, not that she would be able to with my father watching over him. I made the priorities clear with that.
Thank Percy Jackson
that some gods are willing to actually protect us and help us out now. I know there are rules, obviously they can’t fix everything or help too much, but still. It’s nice. Even when they’re inviting you over for Thanksgiving dinner.
“Okay,” I sigh, standing at the doors, “We have to go in now, buddy.” I tell Cerberus, who tilts his head(s).
"Bye~ it was good to see you again." Will tells him.
“Yeah, whatever.” I open the door, “Come on.”
Both Kamaria and Will follow after me like lost puppies, leaving the actual lost puppy(ies?) behind.
"Oh my gods, this place is so..." Kamaria trails off, but doesn't finish her thought.
"
Dark and gloomy
?" Will suggests.
"Yes!"
“What? No it’s not.” I say.
Kamaria gestures down the long hall. "
Dark
. And all of the Underworld is
gloomy
." She makes quite the assumption.
“It’s
pleasant
.”
"I guess you'd like the dark. It makes me sleepy." She says.
"Which also makes sense, considering." Will adds.
“You should just sleep.” I agree.
"In the hallway?" Kamaria asks dryly.
I think about the other Hypnos kids at Camp Half-Blood, and Somnus’ kids at Camp Jupiter. “Isn’t that what kids of Hypnos do?” That’s typical of what I’ve seen.
"Not if I can help it! I wouldn't sleep now, it's time to figure things out with your dad." She says.
"Exactly... aren't we all going to see him?" Will asks.
“Yes, I’m not sure where he is…” I murmur.
"Doesn’t he have a throne?" Will asks. "Could he be there? Or an...
office
?"
I shake my head a little. He shouldn’t be anywhere outside of where I would immediately be able to find him. “He knew I was coming…”
"Right. Does he usually meet you at the door?" Kamaria asks.
“No.”
Is he avoiding me? I wouldn’t blame him if he was, but it’s still quite irritating.
"Yell for him." Will suggests.
“Father!” I call out. I go stiff and widen my eyes when my father and his
kidnapped wife
Persephone appear in front of me.
“Hello, Will!” Persephone says, ignoring me…apparently.
"Hello Lady Persephone, Lord Hades." Will bows a bit for some reason. "It's an honor to see you again so soon."
Kamaria bows too after seeing Will do it.
I roll my eyes. So performative.
“It’s good to see you, I actually have to talk to you about something.” Persephone tells Will, moving closer to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You do?" Will asks, looking at her with wide eyes. He seems to melt at her touch.
"Take the child of Hypnos with you. I need to talk to my son." Father says, looking at me.
“You do?” I also say. I’m really just dropping them off, getting some food, then heading out. I don’t think we need to have a big long chat.
"I'd assume that's why you're here?" He remarks.
Saying
no
would be suspicious. “Yeah, I guess it is. I’ve figured out some new information.”
"Very well." He snaps his fingers and shadows envelop us. He travels us to the throne room, where he sits down and stares at me. "What new information do you have?"
“We got ambushed by a demon today.”
Father looks at me, surprised. He casually waves his hand and a comfortable chair appears behind me. "Sit. Tell me more." He orders. I don’t.
“Seriously?” I roll my eyes, “It gave us horrible nightmares. That is pretty much it.” I explain.
"Hmm. I might know which demon you speak of."
“
Epiales
.” I say bitterly.
"That one is tricky. You defeated them?"
“We did. Will did…” makes me feel like I need him here… I get too wrapped up in my nightmares.
"
Will did
? I thought he was just a healer."
“He knows some combat. He has a gun.”
"Is that so? I guess that's a good thing. I don't want you to be the only fighter on this quest of yours."
“He’s not coming. We’ve been over that.” I remind him.
“
You
do not get to decide such things. The gods decide who is sent on quests.” He points out, which makes me glare at him, because
what is he talking about?
“This is too serious. This has something to do with Nyx, and that’s too dangerous for him.”
Nyx is a protogenos… A primordial goddess, born before the Olympian gods or even the Titans, potentially more powerful than any of them. Protogenos are the constants of our existence, the fundamental powers of the cosmos, and
they really suck
.
“You don’t get to decide that. The gods wouldn’t pick someone that isn’t capable to complete the task at hand. Are you trying to say you’re smarter than us?”
“I’m trying to say that you don’t care about him and I do, and I’m not letting him get hurt.”
We already agreed to this… why is he refusing to go along with it now?
“You have done good work for me, I want you to walk out of this unscathed.”
“I will. I’m the most powerful one out of all of us, and whether you want to believe it or not, I am smart and I know the most about the Underworld, demons, Nyx, etcetera.”
“You think
you
can fight Nyx alone?” He asks, smiling a bit. Is he trying to stop himself from laughing?
“Considering… maybe.”
“No. At the very least take the Hypnos girl with you. She might have insight.”
“She doesn’t. She’s been a Hunter for most of the time she’s known she was a demigod.” Not to mention, I don’t trust her. She’s also just a kid, a couple years younger than me.
“You cannot complete this quest alone. It would have been given to you alone if that was the case.”
“Shut up,” I tell him, “Just watch Will and Kamaria for me so I can fix whatever is going on. Okay?”
He glowers at me, but doesn’t correct me. “Are
you
putting them in the dungeon? I will not hold them here, they are free to go if they find out.”
“They must be locked up temporarily. Or else.” We already figured this out.
He raises an eyebrow at me. “
Or else
?”
“Yes.”
“Or else what? Are you trying to threaten me?”
“Yes,” I say again, “I’ll tell Percy Jackson you were mean to me.”
He laughs. “I’m not afraid of Percy Jackson.”
“I’m pretty sure you are?” I raise an eyebrow at him. As far as I’m aware, all gods are, especially my father who cried like a
little baby
when he got defeated by a fifteen-year-old demigod.
“He’s a demigod who has done some impressive things, but I am not afraid of him.”
“I seem to remember differently.”
“Do not test me.” He warns, the room getting darker. “I will hold your friends, but only for a short while. I will not keep them from going after you.”
Does it matter if they don’t know how to get into Tartarus? I’d also hope they would be smart enough to not go there without me, or to try to track me down there. It’s almost impossible to find anything.
That being said, they are
very stupid
.
“Thanks.” I roll my eyes. “Any real advice?”
“Don’t underestimate Nyx. She’s a very powerful being even
I
do not like to cross.”
I can be just as powerful as he is. “She isn’t as much of a threat as Gaea is, at least. Or Kronos.” Not that I directly fought either of those two. I was there, though, they were fought off by demigods. Hazel even defeated Gaea on her own once.
“She is still a formidable threat.” He says.
“I am not weak, so it doesn’t matter.”
“She is stronger than
you
. And she clearly isn’t working alone.”
“I’ll be fine. Anything else?” I ask, done here, if that’s all.
I need to leave and go figure out what my mission even is. Something about fighting the
Queen of Darkness
or whatever.
“That’s all. If your intention is to sneak out of here, you best be on your way. I’ll take the others to the cells once Persephone is done with them.”
Good. We’re on the same page again. I knew it, he
is
scared of Percy. I can’t blame him, I would be too.
I’m even a little scared of everyone right now, and how they’re going to react once I’ve done what I’m going to do. That’s scarier than Nyx.
It just barely isn’t scarier than Tartarus, though.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 16
Will’s P.O.V.
I don’t move as I stare at her. Persephone invited us into her garden, under the stipulation that we don’t touch anything. It’s almost as beautiful as she is.
I watch her as she brushes her hair back away from her face when she leans down to inspect a flower growing up from the ground. This has to be the only place that’s so
alive
in the Underworld. It might even be the most
alive
place I’ve ever seen.
Kamaria stays standing beside me, watching her in the same way I am.
Utterly transfixed
. She moves like she’s an extension of the garden here as she flits from plant to plant, checking over all of the things growing here.
Finally, as she drifts over to us, I have to resist every urge to run, despite how pretty she is. There’s something
dangerous
about her. It’s how I’ve felt about every god I’ve interacted with.
“Is there a reason you wanted to talk with me, Lady Persephone?” I ask her, bowing my head a bit.
She starts slowly pacing around us, and I keep my eyes on her warily. A part of me wants to start looking for big interrogation lights.
“Relax, demigod.” She tells me, and suddenly the whole garden seems warmer, her face seems softer. “It’s nothing too crazy. I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh.” I relax, glancing at Kamaria, who just shrugs. “...Was there something specific you wanted to talk about, then?”
Persephone starts talking like I didn’t say anything at all (gods seem to do that), “You know, I haven’t always treated Nico as he deserves to be treated. It was hard for me to look upon him. Everything about him reminded me that Hades had betrayed me and had a child with someone else, someone he so clearly adored.” Her smile slowly morphs to be bitter, “We gods can be very jealous, you know.”
I just nod, not really sure how to reply to that. I can’t imagine what that would be like, but knowing there’s someone that your partner loved that much more than you…?
For some reason, my brain jumps to
Percy Jackson
, for only a second, but I don’t let myself focus on that. That’s
so
different.
“But anyway, recently I have had to reexamine my perception of Nico. He is not at all what he seems to be. There is more to that boy than what I saw back when I first met him.”
“That’s probably one of the best things about him, how much he can surprise you.” I agree with her on that. When I first met him, I just assumed he was, well, as terrifying as everyone acted like he was. Don’t get me wrong, he can be terrifying, but he’s a lot more than that.
“I still don’t think you know who he really is, or what he thinks…the meanings behind his actions.” She tells me, “Do you think you do?”
“I think so?” I say, but it comes out as more of a question than I intend for it to be. I clear my throat before continuing. “I mean- he’s really complicated.”
She raises her eyebrow at me. “And…?” She prompts, “I sense that you want to say more.”
I don’t understand how she can tell that, but… She’s right.
I don’t get how someone like her can live somewhere like this, just because she loves her husband. She gave up so much for him. Would I ever be able to do something like that for Nico? “How do you do it, Persephone?”
“Do what?”
“Love someone from the Underworld.” I manage.
This time, she actually looked surprised. “That is quite the question, son of Apollo… You know love is a difficult choice, right?”
“What?” It’s not a choice, it’s something you
feel
.
“Oh, certainly, there are people in this world for whom love comes easily or abundantly. It is instantaneous.”
“Sure, but-” I start, but she cuts me off.
“And there are, of course, those who experience no romantic feelings whatsoever.”
Of course there is, but I don’t know what that has to do with this.
I look at Kamaria, and she just shrugs. “Right,
but
--”
“But no matter what form love takes, no matter how much or how little you have, you must still choose to cultivate it. In friendships, romantic relationships… In life in general.”
She sure cut me off twice to
not answer me at all
.
I frown. “But that doesn’t really answer my question. Plus, didn’t Hades
kidnap you
?”
“Comparing your situation with mine will not be very helpful. You are right. I was brought here against my wishes. I only came to love this place--and Hades, too--after I began to appreciate my time away from my mother.”
“
Demeter
.” Kamaria says, finally pitching in.
Persephone stares at her for a moment, before fixing her eyes on me again. “If someone ever tries to force you into a relationship, I highly recommend running far,
far away.
That is not
love
, Will Solace. My circumstances were unique, and in that uniqueness, I found something I did not expect. There are aspects you may relate to.” She sits down on the carved jade bench next to a flowering bush and pats the spot next to her.
I take a shaky breath before going and sitting beside the goddess. Kamaria follows my lead and sits down in the space next to me.
“It was an adjustment. When I came to this place, I missed the sun, and I’m sure you do, too.” She finally gets to the point.
I can feel it, how much harder it is to reach for my powers down here. I’m so much more tired after that blast of light than I should be. “I miss it
so much
, I’ve never been this long without it.”
“Beyond that, though, I had to reconsider everything I believed about light and dark, about life and death. Nico has all of those things within him, just like his father. It took me too long to see because I was blinded by jealousy, but even with what he’s done… He isn’t all bad.”
She’s finally deciding to quit being horrible to him for little to no reason? I’ll believe it when I see it.
“I knew that as soon as I talked to him for the first time. Everyone thinks he’s scary, but he’s not just
one thing
.”
“A god or demigod so surrounded by death…they appreciate life more than anyone else does. They understand it even if they don’t drift toward it.” She continues ranting vaguely. “Sometimes, it can be hard for those like you and me to appreciate the darkness the same way they appreciate the light.”
“You want me to
appreciate the darkness
…?” I ask her warily.
Persephone rises and crosses over to a large flowering tree. She picks an illuminated pink flower with long, elliptical petals. “It’s beautiful, is it not?”
I hold out my hand and she passes it to me. Once it touches my palm, the petals slowly begin opening. In the center of the flower, there’s a stone-- pitch black, so dark that it seems like a shard of absolute nothingness.
Kamaria peers down at my hand, seeming just as in awe of the pretty flower I was handed.
“Those are a special breed of
night-blooming cereus
, Will. They grow beautifully down here, in the presence of darkness.”
“I didn’t think anything could grow down here. Clearly, I was wrong. This is the most beautiful garden I’ve ever seen.” I gesture around me with my free hand.
“Thank you,” She says before continuing, “I cannot tell you how to love someone, Will,” She sounds sympathetic toward me, like my life is
sad to her
for some reason, “But it really is a difficult choice. Know what you’re getting into, then choose to continue loving him if you still wish to. Just having feelings isn’t enough.”
Having to choose to love someone every single day, and in every single action? Is that how it’s supposed to work? I don’t pick that sort of thing, I just… love him and do things knowing that.
“That’s.. a lot.” I admit to her. “What if I’m not ready for all of that?”
I already know I love Nico. I just don’t understand why he does things the way he does, or how he reasons them out in his head.
“I can answer that with a question; do you understand Nico? Say it with confidence this time.”
“...Not completely.” I say, turning to her, “I’ve never met anyone like him. But I
want
to understand him.”
“Nico is going to betray you. He hasn’t been honest.” She tells me in a serious voice now.
“What?” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “He wouldn’t betray me…”
Right
? My heart drops into my stomach. Why would she say something like that?
“What do you mean, your highness?” Kamaria asks before I can. “He’s going to betray us?”
She must be wrong. Gods can be wrong…
right
?
“Nico is planning to leave you here and imprison you until he completes this quest… on his own. He informed me and my husband of this a short while ago, and we agreed to it, although
I
do not fully agree with it. He wishes for us to keep you here until he can ensure your safety, even if it means you would lose interest in him.”
Anger rises up in me so quickly, that if we were above ground and I was at my full power, I might have accidentally blasted her with a ray of light. “
Where is he
? He isn’t leaving without us.”
I shoot up to my feet, and Kamaria does the same.
“I may be right to assume he is already leaving, off to Tartarus.” Persephone says.
Kamaria groans. “You wouldn’t be able to point us in the right direction
before
your husband captures us, would you?”
I tighten my bag on my shoulder, ready to run as soon as she tells us where to go.
“I do not know where it is, you will have to discuss this matter with them, not with me. I was merely distracting you.”
“I guess we run back to the castle and hope we run into him?” I look at Kamaria.
She nods. “I can shadow-travel us, if I really have to. Come on!”
I look at Persephone for only a second. “Thank you, goddess.”
With that, we run away, back to the castle that we came from. Is what she said really true? Nico said he was going to talk to his dad and get this sorted out, not that he was
locking us up in the Underworld
.
“I can’t believe this.” I mutter to Kamaria as we make it back to the main hall. Where the fuck do we go from here?
“I can. He wants to protect us, and he’s a
major idiot
!” She scoffs. “Where do we even go?”
“
Out
, I guess?! I don’t want to be thrown in a dungeon, do you?”
“Not really!”
As soon as we turn to leave the castle, Nico walks out of one of the rooms. I keep running towards him. If he shadow-travels, we won’t be able to catch him.
When he turns and looks at us, he looks confused more than anything else.
“What the Hades do you think you’re trying to do?!” I snap at him as we skid to a stop right in front of him. “Persephone said you’re
leaving us
?!”
His look of confusion turns to anger. We're right, then. The
goddess of springtime
was telling the truth.
My heart sinks as I try to catch my breath. "You were really going to abandon me here?!"
“Uhh… No?” He says.
I narrow my eyes at him. "She said she was a distraction. We need to leave then,
right now
."
“No. Go ahead and go lay down in bed, try to sleep.”
"Fuck no." I stand up straight and cross my arms over my chest. "You're not leaving me here. Genuinely, what are you thinking?!"
“Don’t talk to me that way.”
I push my hair out of my face. "Don't abandon me to go on a dangerous quest on your own, then?"
“You aren’t ready!”
"I am! I have to go with you, I have to be ready or..."
You could die. If he had left... he would have died. My anger deflates the smallest bit, realizing if we were just a bit slower, then he’d already be gone, probably forever.
“You have no idea what we’re getting into, you can’t come. I can’t lose you.”
"Then
tell me
. Quit sheltering me and let me help. It's why I'm here." I curl my hands into fists.
“It’s Tartarus.” He narrows his eyes at me, getting an even more serious look on his face.
"I know that much. But... I don't know how bad it is, and I don't know what to expect. But I'll be okay!"
Just like that, his eyes widen again and he tilts his head. “How did you know?”
"...That you were leaving? Persephone told us. She wants us to go with you." Kamaria says.
“
About Tartarus
.”
"What…? I guessed. There's kinda only one thing
lower
than the Underworld." I shiver. I just didn't want to think of it until now. I still don't.
“I’m not bringing you there. Go away.”
"No. I'm not letting you go off and die alone." I insist. “It’s not up for debate.”
“I’m not letting you die with me!” He says, “If you guys came, I would just have to be protecting you the whole time.”
"I can protect myself. I proved that against Epiales. Kamaria is a
Hunter
, for god's sake. She can protect herself."
"We'll work together, Nico." She agrees with me.
“…It’s not safe. You guys have to be
ready
. Seriously.” Nico tells us.
"Help me be ready. Stay a minute with us, let us rest and then we can go." I tell him.
“What if you die?” He asks.
"What if
you
die?" I point out.
“Nothing,
nothing
if I die.
Everything
if
you
die.”
Knowing he doesn’t have a high opinion of himself, then hearing him say something so blatantly false is devastating. He’s my
everything
, doesn’t he get that?
"No. You can't choose to... you're going to live through this. And I'm going to help you."
The nightmare flashes in my head. He's in my arms, and he's
bleeding
, and there's nothing I can do.
“Promise me you’ll be okay?” He asks, looking back at me in terror.
I nod. "I swear I will be. We'll make it back if we work together." I'll do everything in my power to keep all of us safe.
“…Okay then. Rest up, we’ll go back in.”
"You won't leave?" I ask him warily.
“I don’t want to leave you.” He says, looking like he’s going to start crying now.
“Promise that you won’t, then. Don’t leave.”
“I promise, I won’t leave without you.” He huffs.
"Good." I relax. "...Where can we all go to take a break?"
“My room?”
I nod. I didn't think about the fact that he probably has a room down here.
Maybe I shouldn’t trust that he won’t leave, but something about how he said it makes me think he’s telling the truth. That being said, I didn't think I'd have to worry about this in the first place.
"Lead the way, then," I say, now more tired than anything else, the other emotions becoming a swirl of exhaustion inside me.
“…Okay.” He turns and starts walking the other direction, and we both follow.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 17-
Nico
Fuck
, Will and Kamaria know what’s going on now. They’re also both mad at me for some reason, like I did something wrong in trying to protect them…?
“You’re both going to have to practice your combat as well before we can leave.” I tell them as I bring them into my room.
“When are we leaving?” Will asks as he looks around the room.
“At this rate? Maybe tomorrow.”
“I don’t know when we’d practice, if we’re just going to bed soon then getting up and leaving?” Kamaria asks as she makes herself at home, kneeling down and undoing her boots before dropping her pack beside them. “Nice place you got here.”
“I’ve been working on it for a few years now… So thanks,” I say, “Just relax for a while, train, and then go to sleep so we can leave later. There is no
morning
here.”
“Okay… it
feels like night
and it's making me want to take a nap. I will after we do some training, I guess.” She tells me as Will crouches down to untie his sneakers.
“Don’t you always want that?” Will asks dryly.
“Well… yes. Fair point.”
I sit on the bed, starting to pull my boots off. “You need to get over that
napping
thing.”
“I can’t, that’s literally a trait I received from my father.” She says, “You don’t ask Will to quit glowing all the time.”
“Actually, he does. And it’s not really possible.” Will gets up, putting his things into a neat pile compared to the mess Kamaria has already made with her stuff.
“He doesn’t glow all the time, just when he’s…
excited
.” I mock him.
“No! And embarrassed. And when I want to.” He glows softly for emphasis.
“Don’t exhaust yourself to prove a point.” Kamaria says, going to the small chair and flopping down into it tiredly.
Will stops glowing, taking a water bottle over to the couch and getting a long drink out of it. “Don’t need to tell me twice.”
“You’re cute that way though.” I try.
He looks at me tiredly. “Thanks. Are you going to train with us?” His
thanks
don’t seem genuine, and from the edge in his tone, he still seems mad at me.
“It depends. I will at least have to watch you guys to make sure you’re ready to fight Nyx.”
“What if we’re not?” He asks.
“I hope you’d be smart enough not to go. This is dangerous enough without all of us being aware you aren’t ready.”
“...I guess I have to be ready then.” He says worriedly. “Wait,
wait
. Did you say
Nyx
?
The goddess of night
?”
We’re going to Tartarus to fight Nyx. Glad he’s finally catching on that it’s a bad thing.
“Yes. I can imagine you’re going to be super effective on her, but I don’t think she’ll be after you at all.”
“Then I’d have an easier time helping you fight. Does she have something against you specifically?” He sits his bottle down on the coffee table, leaning forward to look at me.
I drop my boots on the floor. “Nyx is…obsessive, inherently. She’s a primordial goddess of
night and darkness
.
She won’t like me.
There’s nothing she despises more than someone who leaves their darkness behind, like I’m trying to.”
I’d imagine she’s wanting to change my mind. That, and there seems to be so much more going on here.
Will comes over and sits on the bed beside me. “She doesn’t like that you don’t live in the Underworld and only work for your father, then?”
“Gods don’t like change, I’m not surprised.” Kamaria notes. Will looks over at her and waits to see if she’ll continue, but she just takes the blanket off the back of the chair and pulls it over herself.
“I’d say…” I agree.
If Nyx despises all that is light… I can’t imagine she will be okay with Will. She could just as easily be after him, or Kamaria, who is a child of
sleep
,
her grandchild
.
“Nico?” Will puts a hand on my shoulder.
I blink hard a few times to refocus myself into reality. This is a mess, I need to pay attention to what is really going on, not what
could
happen. “Sorry. It’s still a lot to think about.”
If I break down in tears again, I’m kind of afraid I might never put myself back together. At least, not in time for this quest.
“Have you crossed paths with her before?” Will asks, pulling his hand away.
“Not fully. She’s in Tartarus, that’s why it makes sense that it’s where we have to go and she’s who we’re facing. She wants us for something.” I tell him.
“Do you have any idea what that could be?” He asks, furrowing his brows.
“I don’t know,” I admit, being genuine for the first time with all of this, “Though… if she wants me in Tartarus, why would she send Epiales to attack us?”
He gives me an
even more
serious
look, which doesn’t fit his
surfer boy aesthetic
at all. I already want him to shut up before he speaks. “Some sort of test?” He suggests.
I have no clue why she would want that, though? But there’s no way Epiales came after us without Nyx telling it to. “It could be. I don’t really even know for sure if this quest is for her or against her, the prophecy is mega unclear about everything.”
“I don’t think there’s any prophecy I’ve heard that’s aggressively clear, either.”
“They can be. Are you sleeping right here with me?” I ask, actively trying to change the topic.
“Can I?”
“It would really fucking suck to shadow-travel somewhere by myself tonight.”
“That’s what I was thinking. Not that your dad isn’t great, but I don’t want to have to go beg for him to take me to you.” He chuckles softly, “Let me go grab the tether.”
“Just wake me up if I’m asleep for too long.” I’ll do the same, vise versa.
“I figured I could set an alarm on my watch so we’re all only down for a few hours.” He gets up again, going to his things.
That should work fine. Normally, when my mind is buzzing like this, I can be up for hours and hours while feeling tired. Not this time. I’m beyond exhausted, and my body desperately needs the rest after everything I’ve done and before everything else I’m going to have to do.
…
I turn my head to see two nearly identical giants, which makes my head have to tilt back to see their faces. Both were twelve feet tall and with snakes where their feet should be, but otherwise, they just look like people who are really tall and really ugly. They are dressed in tie-dye overalls and white t-shirts (whoever made clothes for giants better be getting paid enough).
“Who are you two?!” I ask since they’re so damn close to me.
The twin giants have their hair tied back in thick braids that glittered with coins, though their hair is different. Otis is the one with the green hair and Ephialtes is the one with the purple hair. Even now, I still think they look like Tartarus' version of Pokémon trainers.
That is to say, they look stupid.
Ephialtes pointed at his twin. “That’s Otis, and I’m the Big F.”
So casual… Like they aren’t planning to kidnap me and slowly starve and suffocate me. Like they don’t almost
actually
do that.
Otis makes a disgusted face. “Dude, I don’t know about that stage name.”
“The big F?” I prompt, trying to keep them occupied. Now I know it doesn’t work out for me anyway, so it feels pointless, helpless… “What does the
F
stand for?”
The purpled-haired giant put his hands on his hips and raised his chin proudly. “
Ephialtes
.”
I tilt my head a little. It doesn’t sound right, even now. It’s like I want to say
I don’t give even a
little F
about you, much less a
big F
. He wouldn’t even get it if I did.
“Does it not make sense?” He asks, continuing even though no one wanted him to, “You know, because the way you say my name is–”
“No, no, we
understand
!” Otis assures him, likely only to get him to shut up.
“Yeah,” I nod, “There’s certainly a logic to it, but…” I trail off a little when Ephialtes looks down at me. I have to convince myself I’m not scared. I shrug, “It could use some more thought.”
Otis grumbles, “I told you to workshop it more. How are we supposed to get our big break if everyone thinks your name is ridiculous?”
“
Dude
-”
“
Dude
!”
I interrupt them, for some reason, instead of trying to get away. I’m ashamed to say that’s what I actually did, it’s like I knew even then that I had to go with them. “What are you two doing?”
“Right! We’re here for the little demigod…
you
.” Ephialtes announces.
“Not now.” I tense up. I was trying to find the Doors of Death, to help everyone…not to get
trapped
.
“Gaea wants you.” Otis says.
I back away slowly, “
Gaea
?”
“
Yep
.”
“For what possible reason?”
Ephialtes smiles from ear to ear and I shiver, raising my sword. “Oh, we‘re trying to trap the seven demigods from the prophecy.” He says.
“I’m not one of them.” I tell him. I was not entirely sure who
is
a member of the
Seven
, but I knew none of them were me.
I think back to the first time I heard the Prophecy of Seven. Rachel terrified me back then. Now, more than anything, I’m just mad at her. I don’t even care about her life force anymore.
“We’re gonna kidnap you and use you as bait,” Otis says, “Then, when your friends come to rescue you, we’ll just wipe out everyone at once.”
“It’s brilliant, and it will definitely help us
go viral!
” Ephialties says excitedly.
I should try to make a break for it, but I’m deep in Tartarus, and they’re giants who can go a lot faster than I can. They would catch me.
“I don’t have any friends.” I say. Percy, Hazel, Annabeth…the others, even if I didn’t know them yet, they cared enough to come for me.
I can barely stand, I didn’t even know I needed crutches or a cane back then. I had no idea anything was wrong with me, just assumed it was normal to be in so much pain.
Things only got worse after I was placed in the jar. My health took a nose-dive, then again with the transporting of the Athena Parthenos. Until I met Will and he started protecting me, my life was just one bad thing after the next, killing my mental and physical health both.
“We need your friends to come for you.” Otis just says again.
Because I don’t know I’m in pain and my body is weak, I bolt away from the giants. The giants cry out in alarm as I get away from them.
“
Nope
!” I yell out and veer into the woods.
I hear stomping and rustling behind me, and I turn and start thrashing my sword around as a hand comes at me. My weapon doesn’t make contact. They have better reflexes than I expected them to and it gets knocked away.
Otis’ huge hands wrap around my rib cage and lift me from the ground, but I’m too tired at this point. I had been walking through Tartarus for about a day, which is way worse than it sounds.
Ephalites snaps his fingers and an enormous bronze jar poofs into existence on the gravel path. As Ephialtes pries open the lid, I almost start crying. My heart pounds against my chest, I can’t even say anything anymore. I can barely breathe, both from anxiety and from being squished by a giant.
“Thanks for making this so easy, kid,” Otis says, lifting me over the mouth of the jar, “This will hurt.”
I’m squeezed into it (I won’t bore you with the details of that) and I think this dream is already a bad enough memory that it won’t twist and get worse.
Then I realize I don’t have any pomegranate seeds.
Then a dark face appears in front of me. By dark, I mean pitch black. It’s Nyx. I don’t know how I know this, but I do.
She grins at me as I struggle. The pressure around my ribs and my chest is killing me. I thought it was hard to breathe a moment ago, now my body feels the same but the air is painfully thin. I remember the slow suffocation feeling, not being able to get enough air, and how long I was in agony.
The pressure on my chest grows heavier, more unbearable, suffocating, as if the weight of the world itself is pushing down on me. I feel my body growing weaker than it already was.
Is
this
going to be like that, but last forever?
“
Don’t fight me anymore.
” Nyx says, her voice just echoing in my mind without her face moving with her words.
I try to scream, but nothing happens. There’s not enough air… I can’t do this.
Everything feels distant, muffled, except for her. It’s as though I’m sinking deeper into something that’s pulling me down. Like drowning, and all that’s with me is
Nyx
.
Her eyes narrow at me as I try to back off away from her, as if I could escape through the “
Go ahead, Nico di Angelo. Try your best to escape
.”
I guess she changed her mind…?
I feel her grabbing onto me, wrapping around me and squeezing me like a snake. So I try to scream, and this is apparently enough to break me out already.
…
I wake up in a rush, my hand going straight to my chest as I realize I can finally breathe. My face is damp with sweat and a sharp pain throbs in my sternum. Like I’m still there.
I force myself to endure it all quietly, since I don’t want to interrupt Will and Kamaria sleeping in the same room as me. Even though I have every right to be scared. I’m lucky I didn’t scream.
I feel like I’m still there, in Tartarus, with Nyx. Maybe because that’s where I’m going and she’s what I’m going for.
I have to look around to ground myself. Right now, the curtains over the giant windows on the wall are pulled shut. There’s the couches that I approved of, with their comfortable pillows and blankets thrown on them. Kamaria is on the couch, unmovable.
Kamaria looks at peace when she’s sleeping, not that she’s particularly not at peace any other time. It makes sense in a way, because she’s the daughter of sleep. I have to wonder if I fit the best in darkness, and if I’ll only be at peace once I’m dead. That would be the equivalent.
I let my eyes trace over the walls, the pictures in frames, the door to the bathroom, and the door to the hallway. This place is so grand, it barely feels like it belongs to me, but it’s not a jar, so I’m relieved.
I especially appreciate the potential of light being let in via the bedside lamp, or if the windows hypothetically had their curtains open. Not to mention the potential of escaping, through windows or doors.
Most of all, I appreciate the
air
. The potential to breathe, if I could get a handle of myself. It’s like a burst of light after an eternity of darkness.
I get out of bed, unhooking myself from Will so I don’t drag him with me (that’s happened, luckily I can’t move him very easily, so I’m usually the one to fall) and go to one of the windows, opening the curtains and looking out over the Underworld.
Ah, yes, my kingdom.
I finally take a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. For a second, I just stand there, breathing, soaking in that simple yet forgotten gift that is
oxygen
.
Things will be bad again once I’m in Tartarus. Not to mention, that could all happen again.
I look back at Will, who is still sleeping peacefully. I hope his sleep was free of nightmares, but we’re demigods, so that is probably too much to ask for. He deserves better.
I don’t know if I want to tell him about this dream. I’ll add it to my journal on my own, I shouldn’t need his help to spell
giants, jar,
or
then Nyx got there somehow.
The feeling when I got back was almost worse than when I was in the dream, because now all I can think of is I
do not deserve to be here still
, and
that could happen again
.
I stay by the window, relaxing in the dim light from the torches outside, and watch Will sleep. I kind of pretend any light source is coming from him.
I am going to fight for him, and for myself. I refuse to let Nyx get to us this easily. Once again, despite not being a hero, I’m going to have to be.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 18-
Will
I was eleven when Maron found me, and my nightmare follows the same pattern. I get the typical, weird demigod dreams sometimes (sadly, no prophetic ones, thanks a lot, Dad), but they don’t usually follow a memory so clearly…
Is this dream going to be like one of Nico’s…? Where it’s
super realistic
until it isn’t anymore?
Suddenly, it’s like I’m my ten-year-old self again, holding hands with my Mom as we entered Washington Square Park for the first time. We were in town together, playing a few shows in lower Manhattan, and she took me sight-seeing. As we go through the big, stone entrance, a cold pit forms in my stomach, but I’m unable to do anything I wasn’t doing that day. I’m just a passenger in my body.
I look over and see a huge group of college students playing in the big fountain with a boombox blasting music,
Sugar We’re Goin’ Down,
A song that I should hypothetically like, but now only makes me think of this moment in time.
Beside the fountain, there’s someone doing a kickflip and hopping over one of their friends, and it makes me have a hard time focusing on anything at all. There’s a lot going on
all the time
in New York, and as much as I love Camp, it’ll never fully feel as much like home as being on the open road with my mom does.
I point with my free hand to a flock of pigeons that are bathing in the fountain, surprisingly close to the group of dancing teenagers.
“I’ve never been so close to a bird before.” I tell Mama in awe. “There’s
so
many of ‘em.”
And I’m right, because now that I’m looking, there’s flocks of the birds everywhere…
“No other city has more pigeons than New York.” Mama tells me, gently squeezing my hand. “They’re all over the place.”
One of the pigeons lands right beside where we’ve stopped to look around, making me uncomfortable with how close it gets as it pecks at the ground, seemingly at nothing.
The pigeon stops, blinking up at me before pecking my foot. Pain spreads there, and I cry out. I shouldn’t have worn flip-flops, but I hate how sneakers feel on my feet.
“Billy, it’s alright… I’ve never seen one be that aggressive before… let me see.” Mama says, nervously looking down at my foot. She seems way more scared than anyone should be, as they shoo away a bird at the park.
But the swarm hits after this, making me panic.
A big part of me knows it's a dream. I’m a demi-god, I’ve faced worse than this in dreams and real life alike, I need to get my panic under control…
But I can’t get it under control, I’m filled with more fear than I’ve felt in a really long time, like someone turned a dial from minimum to
maximum
.
Mama’s screams are the worst of all, her hair all over the place as she tries desperately to shield me with her own body.
Little does she know that the birds are after me.
Marion appears out of nowhere, just like he did in real life, jumping in front of the two of us and holding open a huge umbrella, one bigger than I’ve ever seen before (in hindsight, it must have been magical in some way).
I cling to my Mama as she screams, staring at the weird man with an umbrella and an even weirder outfit; neon green pants, pink suspenders and a bow tie to match, with a white button-up shirt.
The birds rained onto the umbrella, and I’m trying to fight all urges to scream and try running away from him.
In real life, Marion helped us escape to our hotel in the East Village, and he told us the truth about who my father was. He brought me to Camp Half-Blood that same summer. It pulled me away from the only life I’d ever known.
In my nightmare, though, something is
wrong
. Under the umbrella, when I look at Maron, his eyes are blood red.
I scream then, fully able to control myself now.
“When the time comes, Nico’s going to get hurt. He’s right, you
aren’t
strong enough to face what’s coming.”
He laughs as the birds pelt into the umbrella.
“H-he won’t.” I stammer, so scared that I can’t even begin to think of what to do. I need to
wake up
.
“He will. He doesn’t trust you, he should have left while he had the chance.”
With that, Maron disappears, taking the umbrella and my mother with him, leaving me by myself to try and fend off the birds.
They start attacking me again, pulling at my hair, pecking into my skin. My whole body feels like it’s on fire.
I have to wake up, I need to wake up, and…!
…
My eyes bolt open and I almost shoot forward, breathing heavily as my heart pounds a thousand miles a minute in my chest. I put a hand on my chest. My heart rate is around 110,
too high
.
It takes me a moment to get my bearings as I squint around the dark room. We’re in the Underworld, in
Hades’ Palace
, in Nico’s bedroom… I’m safe, or,
safe-ish
, I guess.
I try to get my breathing back to normal as I reach out to where Nico should be, asleep beside me.
When I realize the right side of the bed is cold, I sit up quickly, my heart going right back to pounding.
He left me… he let me go to sleep here, and he left me and Kamaria in this damned palace.
He’s going to go complete the quest on his own.
Before I can get too far with that line of thinking, the bathroom door opens and Nico steps out of the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel. He’s in the same outfit but different, per usual, (black skinny jeans, black skull shirt, you know the drill by now,) and he stops when he sees me sitting up in bed.
“There you are.” I say, relieved. I laugh softly, but it comes out much more tense than I meant it to. “I thought you snuck off and went on the quest without me.”
Ever since we got down here, things have been tense between us, even before I knew of his plan to leave Kamaria and us behind.
Nico frowns. I really seem to be doing and saying the wrong thing, even when I’m just trying to lighten the mood.
Even that term,
lighten the mood
, seems like a biased statement here in the Underworld, but what else do I do?
Cry
? I don’t want to do that, I want to keep things upbeat so we can keep things going. I don’t want to make Nico even more upset.
Before he can reply I sigh heavily, let out a meager
sorry
, and give up. I lay back down pressing a hand to my forehead as images from the nightmare. Mama, screaming, the warning Maron was trying to give me, the birds, attacking and
literally
starting to pull me apart. Are the dreams just going to get worse the deeper in the Underworld that we get? What will happen when we reach Tartarus?
I jump a bit when Nico sits down on the edge of the bed beside me. “Are you okay?”
“Bad dream, sorry.” I mutter.
There’s so much more to worry about than some stupid dream. I’m really worried about him. He’s clearly terrified of all of this, but he has to be brave. He’s the only way we’re all getting out of here alive.
“Me too.” Nico says as he lays beside me. He cuddles up next to me, resting his head on my shoulder, his damp hair tickling my neck.
If I closed my eyes, with him laying there, I can almost pretend we’re back in his cabin, putting off starting the day like we always seem to do. If only we could stay like this and not think about what's coming next…
“Do you want to talk about it?” I offer half-heartedly. I don’t know if I want to say mine out loud yet or not.
“I added it to my journal. I don’t think we need to talk about it.”
“Oh, alright… you’re up early. Did you sleep at all?” I ask instead, rubbing my eyes before sitting my hand down at my side.
“Not really. Sorry about unhooking from you, and for leaving. I needed a bath.”
I shift my arm around him, holding him close. “It’s alright, sounds sort of relaxing, honestly.”
“You can have one if you want, real quick. Our journey won’t be long today, so we have time.”
It’s probably a good idea to clean up before we set out, so I’ll take him up on that. Who knows how long we’ll be trudging around the Underworld and Tartarus?
“I might take you up on that in a second. It’s not going to take long today? Do you know what we’re doing next?”
“We’re going to head out after breakfast. My father told me about a shortcut to Tartarus. We’ll take it.”
“A shortcut? That’s good, right?”
The sooner we’re there, the sooner we can figure out what this prophecy fully means, and
get the hell out of dodge
.
“It means we don’t have to enter the way I did last time, which is fucking great. I’d rather not fall into darkness for an indeterminate amount of time again.”
“...That’s probably for the best,” I prompt him to talk about it more, but he just stays silent. I clear my throat, before continuing, “I’ll take anything to help us at this point.”
Nico shifts next to me. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“It’s the right thing to do. It’s not about… wanting to do it. We just
gotta
.”
“I can’t tell how you’re really feeling. I know you want to help, and that’s why you’re trying to do this, but you’ve been…
different
since we got here.”
I sigh softly. It’s been harder to tell how Nico’s doing. I don’t know if I like that he’s feeling the same way that I am.
I don’t think I’ve been different, but I guess I could be?
“I’m scared.” I admit, “I don’t know what’s coming, and…” I falter, remembering Maron’s nightmarish voice:
He’s right, you aren’t strong enough to face what’s coming.
“-And I don’t like that I can no longer feel the sun. I’m cut off from it for the first time in my life, it’s so
weird
. Kind of draining, honestly. I wasn’t expecting that as much as I should have been…”
Nico moves away from me, making me trail off. He reaches over me, getting into my knapsack that is on the nightstand. He pulls out my sunglobe, turning it over in his hands before he flicks it on. He smiles and hands it over.
I can’t help but smile back. It’s a cute gesture, making me think that maybe we’re on more of the same page than we both think we are.
I take it from him, and the gesture reminds me of every time I hand him over his crutches. It’s like my disability is
the lack of sun
, and he’s fixing it for me.
I hold the sunglobe in my hands, and I’m surprised at how quickly it calms me down. The light isn’t a good substitute, but it might boost my morale at least. I’m glad I brought it with me.
“Thanks, Nico.”
“You’re welcome. Let it fix you, then go bathe.” He tells me, “You stink, teenage boy.”
I scoff, going to correct him, but I
do
stink. “You’re right. I’ll go in a second. Are you going to wake Kamaria up in a bit?”
“I’m going to try to rest until you get back. Then we can get her up…
You
can wake her up.”
“Egh, okay.” I say, taking a second to enjoy the light before shutting it off and slowly pulling away. When I get up, I reach down and push his hair away from his eyes gently. “Be careful if you think you’re going to fall asleep, okay? Don’t want you shadow-traveling back to camp or something.”
“I won’t. It’ll just be for a little bit.”
With that, I gather up a fresh set of clothes and go into the bathroom and stop, staring at it for a moment in awe.
The place is really nice, with intricate black tile flooring. All of it is black with silver accents, even the shower and toilet. It’s a lot, but I guess it’s kind of fun? The bathtub is the real star of the show, though. It’s a huge corner tub, and it might even have jets in it.
I could get used to something like that, wow. I guess there’s
one
good thing in the Underworld, other than
Nico
, that is.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 19-
Will's P.O.V.
I was right, the bath made me feel a lot better. Once I was finished, we all took time to get dressed in fresh clothes, before heading down to the dining room. A skeleton cook took our order (which was sort of terrifying), and our food was brought to us.
I pretty much had limitless options, so I opted for a very fancy
bowl of cocoa puffs
and
a couple of sausages
, and Nico got the same. Kamaria got an actual
fancy looking
omelet. The more I look at it, the more I wish I had asked for that instead.
Now, we're sitting on the floor in Nico's room, eating in silence. Nico sips his coffee, before sitting it down and going back to eating his cereal.
"What exactly is going on today?" Kamaria asks Nico.
“We’re trekking to Tartarus.”
Big gulp
, by the way. I really don't know what to expect out of a trip to the darkest place in the world, but
very few
people have gone there and came back. Luckily, my boyfriend has gone to Tartarus and come back, and if anyone has a chance of knowing what to do, it's
him
.
"Egh, right. Don't remind me. I meant, where are we starting?" She asks.
"You mentioned a shortcut this morning?" I prompt him.
“We have to go through a tunnel to get there. Then we will meet with
Gorgyra
, and somehow we have to convince her to let us use her boat.”
"A tunnel?" Kamaria asks at the same time that I ask, "Gorgyra?"
We both stop and look at one another, so I just shove a spoonful of cereal in my mouth, letting them continue talking.
“Yes.”
It takes me a second to chew and swallow before I can reply, since Kamaria has also gone back to eating her food. "...Who's
Gorgyra
, and why a tunnel?"
“No one you need to worry about, and…Because that’s the way?” He says.
"How do we convince her to give us her boat?" Kamaria asks.
“I don’t know yet. I haven’t met her.”
He knows everything, he has to have some sort of strategy with this, or know something about her that can give us an edge.
"Is there anything you
can
tell us about her?" I ask instead.
“No.” He says, “I’m sorry.”
Well,
shit
. I guess he doesn’t know
everything
. "It's fine, we'll figure it out once we get there." I assure him, starting on one of the sausage links.
"Do you not know, or is there a reason we
can't
be prepared?" Kamaria asks.
“I just don’t know. I don’t know everything, contrary to popular belief.” He says.
"I thought you did." I say dryly, shooting him a grin.
“…Would you shut up?”
I give him a thumbs up and just shove the sausage link in my mouth. He stares at me blankly for a moment, before I look away.
Kamaria rolls her eyes at me. "
Boys
. I sure don't miss being around them."
“Hey, if I could join you, I would.” He tells her.
"I wish that's how it worked, but it's
not
, sorry." She sighs. "Start a group for men, but leave Will out of it." She suggests to him.
That's just harsh, but
okay
.
“If I started a group for men, I would have quite a problem getting away from boys.” Nico points out to her.
"You could at least get away from
this one
." Kamaria points a thumb at me.
I pout at her. "I thought we were chill."
Or, at the very least, we’ve never had problems with each other. Nico and her have had… some complications, sure, but that has nothing to do with me.
"I like messing with you." She explains. “Don’t take it seriously.”
“This is the only boy I like,” Nico says, staring at his food.
"True. That's a little sad."
"I think it's sweet." I decide.
“Why would it be sad?” Nico asks.
"You don't like
anyone
." She says.
“I
said
I like Will, who else would I need?”
"Friends?" Kamaria suggests.
"He has them, he just never says they're his friends." I explain.
“What, who? Like…?”
"
Jason? Hazel? Even Frank?
" I suggest. "
Reyna
?"
“Oh, right.
Hazel
. She’s a girl though.”
I chuckle, "And the guy you have literal best friend bracelets with?"
I was a little jealous at first, if I'm being honest, but I think it's sweet that they're close friends. It also helps that Jason is
painfully straight
(
Percy
is the exception, I don't understand all of that with them…?)
“…” Nico looks at the bracelet on his wrist, “
Oh
.”
"Yup. That's probably your best friend." I point out the obvious. I will never understand why he insists he has no friends.
“I miss him.”
"
Yeah
... maybe once we get home we can have a party... after we've slept for a week." I suggest.
After I've
laid out in the sun and baked like a potato
. That's my plan when I get home.
“That’s a good idea.” He murmurs, but he doesn’t seem to actually think so. I guess that's something we'll see about if we get
home
.
No...
when we get home
.
"You guys can party, I'll just nap the whole time." Kamaria decides.
"I was thinking that I'd just lay out in the yard in the sun." I chuckle.
“This party sounds lame.” Nico glares at me.
An unfamiliar irritated feeling bubbles up inside me. Why is Nico bothering me so much?
"We can have a real one, but you didn't seem too interested."
“In parties? Never.”
I think we have our answer then. When we get back, we’re just recuperating, no big party, no
nothing
. I love a party as much as the next person, but I have a feeling I won’t want to do one either.
…
After we finished breakfast, we packed up and got on the road. It was pretty quiet at first, the three of us walking in companionable silence, the road ahead dark but not to the point that you can’t see, almost like it’s evening twilight, but there’s not
actually
a sun to be causing that. Once we enter the tunnel, though… It's
pitch black
. Luckily, Nico gets out a flashlight, so I don’t have to expend my energy.
I really wonder how all of this works. Will it be
even darker
in Tartarus? What will the differences be between here and there?
As we continue walking along, I can’t even start to imagine what that place will be like. Monsters come from Tartarus, so I’m sure we’ll need to be as alert and aware as possible.
I’m not sure how much time has passed since we left, or since our supposed
breakfast
, either.
For all I know, it could have been an hour in the mortal world since we’ve entered the Door of Orpheus, or maybe a month has passed.
“Just let me know when you need a break,” Nico tells me abruptly, breaking me out of my thoughts, “Don’t feel bad about it.”
“Yeah…” I try to untense my body by rolling my shoulders a bit. I didn’t realize how stiff my whole body has been.
I still feel
so
irritated even though I have no reason to, it’s like anything could set me on edge. Especially right now, when Nico is trying to help me.
“
Tartarus
. All together.” I nod.
“You wanted this.”
Saying
want
in a situation like this is ridiculous. No one
wants
to be here… the only people who come to the underworld are people on quests, or souls that are dead.
“No one
wants
this.” I correct him, “It’s
what needs to happen
. Besides, I’m not letting you go somewhere like that alone.”
“Exactly, we don’t have a choice, it’s a quest.” Kamaria adds.
“You know nothing about
quests
.” Nico tells her.
“
Okay
? I know it’s an honor, not every demigod even gets one. We get to make our parents proud and we have a chance to prove ourselves.” She tells him.
“You can’t just assume you’re going to make your father proud when we don’t know what’s going on, or which side he’s on.” Nico adds.
“What if he’s against this?” I ask her.
She frowns. “Then I guess I’ll make him
mad
. It’s still an honor to get chosen for a quest.”
I guess so. I assumed that I wouldn’t ever get to go on one. There are way more Apollo kids that would have been better suited for something like this.
I find my mind drifting back to camp, wondering how they’re doing back home. Maybe it’s been a year and that’s why I miss a lot of things already. Not just the sun, I also miss campfires, too. Being under an open night sky, eating s’mores, and singing with friends at Camp Half-Blood.
A melody comes to me and I start humming it. Low at first, and then increasing in volume. I pick up his pace when a sudden burst of energy fills me. I get warmer, so I unzip my hoodie a bit.
“What song is that?” Nico asks softly.
I pause, but don’t lose my energy. “Something my mom wrote a long time ago. I only realized pretty recently that it was about my dad. The crowds would go
absolutely bonkers
for that song. It was about love as
a brightness of the spirit
.”
I start humming the melody again, remembering the story. It’s funny, it’s probably not my favorite song of hers, but I think I’ve always resonated with it. I never asked, but I’m
99%
sure it was written about Dad. I wonder how many of her love songs are.
“Should you stop? You’re glowing,” Nico says, “Is it draining you?”
I look down at myself, surprised. “Whoops, I was thinking about camp and it made me happy, I guess.”
“You glow when you’re happy?
Really
?” Kamaria asks.
“And sometimes when I’m nervous, but
yes
.” I sigh.
“You’re just asking for people to make fun of you.” Nico chuckles.
“I know! It’s not like I wanted
light
powers.” I complain.
In reality, there are a lot worse powers to get. I could have gotten stuck with
prophecy
.
“I didn’t know that Apollo’s kids had light powers.” Kamaria muses.
“It’s kinda rare, like how you can shadow-travel, but you shouldn’t be able to.” I explain.
I guess shouldn’t have worded it that way, if she can do it, then it’s something she’s able to do, but I don’t know how else to explain it.
She seems to understand because she chuckles. “
RIP
. Good thing we’re already in the Underworld.”
When we leave the tunnel, we’re back in that slightly brighter, but still dark atmosphere of the underworld.
Nico turns his flashlight off, and I take a deep breath, stopping myself from continuing to glow.
“We’ve got this. Now we just get to Gorgyra.” I nod. “Are you two ready?”
“I am.” Kamaria says, adjusting her backpack straps.
I look over at Nico, and to my surprise, he leans up and kisses my cheek. “I’m proud of you. I know this is hard.” He whispers to me.
A part of me knows that he’s just repeating what I tell him all the time, but a warmth spreads across my face anyway. It doesn’t
feel
like I’m doing a good job. Guilt fills me when I remember how mad I’ve been at Nico since all of this started.
Nico’s little gesture of affection makes me want to
try harder
and
be braver
. I grab his hand in mine and the three of us head into the dark unknown.
End
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 20--
Nico
Once we exit the tunnel, I take in the scenery. It’s dark and everything has a reddish hue. The exhaustion and the nerves are starting to really hit me and bring me down, but that just makes me ten times more impressed by Will doing this.
“Look,
cows
!” Kamaria says, making me turn to the right, where she’s pointing.
So,
weird thing
.
Menoetes, who takes care of Hades’ cattle, is leaning against one of his nectar trees. Down in the pastures, a herd of black cattle seemed to be doing marching-band maneuvers in perfect synchronization. Looks like he is
working hard
.
I roll my eyes. “It’s my father’s farm.”
“His farm… are they just normal cows or are they
undead cows
?” Will asks.
“Do they look normal to you, idiot?” I ask him in the same gentle tone I was just using a moment ago.
“I don’t typically see normal cows doing
dance routines
, but I wouldn’t put it past them.”
I pull away from him at that, crossing my arms. “Why were we sent this way? Think we’re supposed to stop and talk to him?” I glance at Menoetes, who doesn’t notice us.
“Maybe? Or was it just a faster route?” Kamara asks.
“It can’t hurt to try… unless he’s going to attack us, in which case…
it would really hurt
.” Will snorts.
“He literally can’t attack me, he would get fired.” I point out, like that’s the most important thing to this guy, starting to walk that way, “Come on.”
They both follow after me. “Who is he?” Will asks.
“Menoetes. He’s a demon; A sort of bull-human hybrid, who runs my father’s farm and watches over his cattle. He’s basically as harmless as any man.”
“...The last demon I met tried to put us all in an
eternal slumber
. Are you sure this one won’t?” Will asks incredulously.
“I don’t know what that thing was,” I scoff, “I know this guy. Menoetes!” I call out.
He looks over at us, and panic washes across his face. Maybe your boss coming out of nowhere and yelling at you is a little aggressive, but at this point, it’s too late for me to turn back.
We reach him, and he seems to relax at least a little. “What are you doing out here, did you need something?” He asks me worriedly.
“Not necessarily.” I say.
“...! I am working on the
missing cow case
, I promise. The culprit will be caught and brought before Lord Hades for punishment.”
I don’t know what he’s talking about, but his fear tells me I should be worried. “You’re missing a cow?” I ask, because
does that matter
? There are so many of them.
“Yes! They occasionally go missing. It really messes up their dance routines and the milk production for your father and your stepmother.” He tells me.
“Can’t they make anything appear from thin air? Why would they need milk?” Will asks.
“You know just as well as I do, kid. The gods
want what they want
.”
I interrupt, “That’s not why I’m here, and I actually couldn’t care less about your cows. I am following a quest.” I tell Menoetes.
“A quest? What for?” He asks.
I uncross my arms, putting my hands on my hips instead. “We’re going to Tartarus, my father said this was the best path. I’ve been getting called there for a while,
not sure why,
has something to do with Nyx.”
He looks worried again. “And who are these two?”
“I’m
Will Solace, son of Apollo
.” Will tells him.
“I’m
Kamaria, Daughter of Hypnos and Hunter of Artemis
.”
Pretentious bitch.
“Oh! You’re the prince’s boyfriend.” Menoetes says to Will knowingly, making my eyes go wide. Is that common knowledge among those who work for my father down here?!
Will glances over at me. “I am,
yes
.”
“Queen Persephone talks about you all the time.”
And…that makes sense.
“I’m honored. She’s been… very kind to me.” Will says, choosing his words carefully.
“That’s because she likes you. I don’t know who you are though.” Menoetes tells Kamaria.
“She’s just a friend. She was issued the same quest, that’s all, as was Will.” I tell him.
“You were given the same quest as your boyfriend? You got lucky.”
Lucky
is not the word I’d use, not even slightly. It’s
disgusting
.
"I know. A lot of people get sent with strangers." Will says. “That would be so much better.” I mutter. “I guess that’s true. Since you’re going to Tartarus.” Menoetes says.
"...It's better to be able to look out for one another." Will insists.
"Or die amongst friends." Kamaria adds.
“Anything scary is better when you have someone you care about with you.” Menoetes claims.
"Exactly. Do you... have someone like that?" Will asks.
“I do have a boyfriend here. It makes things so much better, easier and more fun.”
"That's good! Having someone you can depend on really helps." Will tells him.
"This is
too sappy
." Kamaria decides.
“It’s not sappy. It’s true!” Menoetes says.
“Who is your boyfriend…?” I question. I didn’t know there were so many queer demons. It makes sense that demons are…
sinning
, but still?
“Geryon.”
“…!? The monster?” I question, which makes him give me an angry look. Not something you want to see from a Bull.
"Who's
Geryon
?" Will whispers to Kamaria.
"
Dunno
."
“
Hello
? the story of Heracles?” I say to them. I can’t believe how stupid they are, especially Will after all this time.
"Like the movie?" Will asks.
Even Kamaria facepalms at that.
“No…not like the movie.” Menoetes says in a pitiful way that makes me wonder if he has seen Disney’s
Hercules
cartoon.
"Good to know...?"
“No offense, but that’s really weird.” I tell Menoetes.
“I think it’s weird that you’re with a son of Apollo.” He remarks.
“Fair enough. So you just are fine with your monster boyfriend and your funky cows?” I ask.
He nods, still looking frustrated with me. “Of course.”
“
Wow
,” I say. “So, you’re not worried about being stuck here forever?” I continue.
“Why would I be?” He asks, “I love it here. I don’t ever want to leave, and I’m sure Geryon will feel the same. We would never be accepted anywhere else. Where would people like us fit in? I have a job here that I like a lot, too.”
It sounds stupid to me. Not to mention, they’re hardly
people
, so it doesn’t matter if they
fit in
. They were evil, that’s why they’re slaves to my father now. They deserve suffering.
Will stares off into the distance. “But you’re
not
worried about what you might miss out on in the mortal world?”
Menoetes grunts. “Every so often, sure. But I’ve been working for lord Hades for a long, long time. This is what I’m accustomed to.“
“That’s so sad.” I say.
"I mean... he's at peace here, and he has someone he loves. It could be worse." Kamaria points out.
That’s so annoying, though…? He is still trapped.
“Anyway, we better get going on our quest.” I say.
“I would like to offer you something besides just safe passages through my land. I can offer you information.”
My pulse jumps. “What information?”
“About your quest, of course,” He continues, “I know what you’re up to. You’re not the only one hearing his voice calling from Tartarus.”
A voice calling from Tartarus
…?
His
voice
?!
I don’t know if I’m more confused or terrified. How does he hear it? I didn’t know…that someone was calling. “I’m sorry,
what
?”
“Many of us down here can hear him from time to time. He is… loud.
Sorrowful
. We learn to tune out those who are suffering because we have to. I mean, the Fields of Asphodel and Punishment are basically white noise to me at this point.” He sighs. “But he is different. Because… well, he’s not dead. He's a living being in terrible pain, calling out, aching to be listened to.”
“Yes, right. Who are we talking about?” I ask.
He narrows his eyes. “The Titan.”
“You gotta be more specific.” I glare back.
He doesn’t mean… that I was right about this whole thing?
“
Bob
!”
Oh my gods
. Not
Bob
, he has to be kidding me. Ever since I had a dream about Bob, where he suddenly started crying out and pleading for help, I’ve been wondering why
that
was the twist in that particular nightmare. He kept saying I needed to help and that I wasn’t listening, throwing a big baby fit like I used to with Bianca.
I must be thinking for too long, because Will speaks up. “Bob like… from your dream? The one that used to be Iapetus?”
“
Shush
.” I growl.
“Who’s Iapetus… err,
Bob
?” Kamaria asks.
“Shut up!” I tell her more firmly, “If you knew this was happening, why didn’t you try to do something about it?” I ask Menoetes.
“I wanted to go help, but after that incident with the Doors of Death, we’re all prohibited from entering Tartarus. So none of us can go confront her.” He says.
Will’s worry lines increase. I’m worried about his perfectly flawless freckled skin at this point. “Her? Do you mean–”
“
Nyx
. She’s obsessed with Bob. He represents everything she hates.”
“I hope I never meet her,” Kamaria says, shaking her head. “She sounds
terrible
.”
That’s unfortunate since that is what we are doing. Kamaria is so dumb, I wish she wasn’t here. For so many reasons.
Menoetes looks at the ground, defeated. “Nyx believes that what is born in darkness should remain in darkness. The problem is… Bob willingly chose to stay as
Bob
rather than return to being
Iapetus
. That is why she has detained him.”
“
Detained him
…
how
?” Will asks.
Menoetes looks up and into
my
eyes. “Do you remember your time in Tartarus?”
“
Unfortunately
.” I wince. For all the things I don’t remember, I wish that was one of them.
“Do you remember the regeneration blisters?”
“
Yeah
…”
“It is an experience most monsters and demons have had.” The bull-man-demon continues grimly, “I heard Nyx speaking, berating the entity inside who was trying to be reborn, telling him he wouldn’t break free until he relented. It was Bob.”
I try to ignore the logistics of that. Does every demon know about this, and no one told me? Why do I know about it, then?
Am I a demon
? That makes sense now that they’re all gay.
I clutch Will’s shoulder, leaning on him unsteadily. “No. That’s fucking despicable.” I say.
“I’m afraid it is true, Nyx is holding Bob in a permanent regeneration cycle until he chooses to become Iapetus again.” Menoetes tells us.
My fury rises again, but Will–
illuminating Will
, squeezes my hand. A radiating calmness passes up my arm and spreads into my chest. It makes me sick.
The kind act warms me, both in the literal and figurative sense, which makes me realize he’s using his powers. I go right from being relaxed to worrying. He’s trying to make me feel better, but all I really care about is fixing this and making sure he’s safe.
“Will, you need to conserve your energy.” I tell him.
“I just thought you might need the reminder.”
“Of what?”
“That I’m here. That I know this is upsetting.” He murmurs. I pull Will closer, still vibrating with residual anger, but I say nothing. This makes him continue, “...You should feel what you need to feel, I don’t want to diminish that. I don’t even know Bob and
I’m
furious, too.”
I stare at Will as he gives me his best
angry
face. He’s almost never this tense.
I pull away from him when I remember we’re doing shit. I look at Menoetes, “So, where do we find Bob?”
“Yes, that is information I wanted to give you in the first place. Deep in Tartarus, there is a hut that belonged to a reformed giant.”
“You mean… like Geryon?” Kamaria asks.
Menoetes looks at Kamaria thoughtfully, before replying, “Yes, I suppose so. This giant is well respected here in the Underworld, for he opposed the Maeonian drakon and helped the demigods close the Doors of Death.”
“Percy mentioned a helpful giant…
Damasen
?” I ask. I fucking hate giants.
“Yes! That is the giant. When you emerge in Tartarus from the shortcut, follow the trail to the left until you reach the swamp. There you will find Damasen’s hut. And once you do, Bob should not be far away. I hope Damasen has regenerated. He was killed fighting the Drakon, but if he has, I am sure he would help you.”
“We’ll do our best to find him.” Will promises.
“Very well. Make sure to fill your nectar before you go, you will find no more of it where you’re going.”
“Thanks.” I huff to Menoetes.
He shakes his head. “
No problem
. We can’t let Nyx get away with torturing Bob. What if this is only the start of her tyranny?”
His words dig under my skin as I think them over. I hadn’t even considered that. I figured she was setting a trap to kidnap and torment me and possibly Will and Kamaria, too. That was one thing. At least we were choosing to face that danger, whether I want that fate for my boyfriend and my…Kamaria or not.
Nyx had no right making
everyone
suffer, especially not against their will.
My last glimpse of Menoetes is the bull-man-demon’s red tinged silhouette, waving at us from the top of the hill, his cattle still standing at parade rest behind him.
The path leads into a dark stretch of hills–part of the Underworld I’ve never visited even during all my travels from back when I was twelve and thirteen years old.
I don’t even know what the hell is going on.
However, as Will walks one one side of me, Kamaria on the other, I wonder what this abyss will do to the two of them. It's Will I’m worried about the most. Has this whole trip been a mistake?
Duh
.
I walk on, full of questions with no answers, which I will never verbalize at this point. Will is already mad at me, no need to make it worse when he’s just now starting to be nice again.
End