Nothing belongs to me and all that jazz.

This is set a year after Blood of Olympus and at the beginning of The Order of the Phoenix; Leo, Calypso, and Festus have returned for the sake of... my feels...

Enjoy!

Percy's POV

"I know that you are all still... rattled after these fearsome attacks, but this is an urgent matter that concerns all of us." Chiron's voice rang out over the clearing. The assembled demigods shifted uncomfortably, and nervous whispers among them. "Many of you have been injured in the fight. Even though no lives are to be lost, I call for a quest to end this war before it begins." He gestured for Rachel to step up. She obliged. Her knees buckled, and her head snapped back. Green smoke poured out of her mouth. A raspy voice issued a new prophecy:

"Boy who lived beware the snake

"For precious breath he longs to take

"To death eaters' home, great heroes travel

"To Hecate's own, and join the battle

"'Tween light and dark, again are thrust

"'Tween two kinds, forge bond of trust

"All children of the mighty three

"Find the convict who now walks free

"And volunteers to join the fight

"Rica Mortis awaits the fated night

"To it, has himself resigned

"Upon it, is our fate assigned"

Percy groaned; he hadn't understood much of the prophecy, but 'children of the mighty three' definitely included him. He'd have to ask Annabeth about everything else.

The crowd started breaking away, group by group. Percy grabbed Jason and dragged him after Nico, his amazing girlfriend following close behind.

Shockingly (note the sarcasm), Nico was headed back to the infirmary. Since the Giant war, he had formed a bizarre friendship with Will, head counselor of the Apollo Cabin. Now he spent most of his time helping treat the growing numbers of wounded.

"Hey, Nico! Wait up!"

The son of Hades paused long enough for Percy to catch up. "What is it, Percy?"

"Quest. Children of the mighty three probably includes you."

"It is also includes Hazel and Thalia, who aren't set to arrive for a few more hours. We can talk then." Nico said curtly, he ducked inside the infirmary and shut the door before Percy could ask him any more questions.

"He has a point."

"Do you know where we should start." Percy asked his girlfriend, pointedly ignoring Jason.

"Lou Ellen, she might know something about Hecate's kin and rica mortis."

"The veil of death."

"What?" Percy asked, finding that he could no longer ignore Jason.

"That's what rica mortis means. Have you already forgotten Latin?"

"Are you two fighting again?"

"No!" They both said at once.

"What's it about this time." She sighed, turning toward the Hecate Cabin.

"He stole my towel!" Percy said accusingly.

"Borrowed!"

"While I was in the shower!"

"You don't even need a towel! You can use your powers to get dry!"

"But towels are so soft and nice!"

"I only needed a towel in the first place because someone 'accidentally' flooded Cabin One."

"It was just a little water!"

"I open the door and get completely soaked! If that's a little water, then Atlantis is slightly damp."

"Are you guys still fighting about the cream pie incident?" An amused voice asked from behind them.

"Thalia!" They both shouted, their argument already forgotten.

"Baby brother! Fish breath! Brainiac! I've missed you guys!" She hugged them each fiercely.

"You too, pinecone face!"

Thalia scowled at the nickname, "so what's this I hear about a quest?"

Annabeth recited the prophecy.

"That does not sound like the carefree fun I came for. Are headed to Hecate Cabin right now?"

They nodded.

"I'll join you. The Romans were right behind us, but I think they stopped for drive-thru. They should be here in the next hour."

"Doesn't 'veil of death' sound like something we need Nico for?" Percy asked, still breathless from Thalia's crushing hug.

"I'll get him. Meet you guys there?" The daughter of Zeus volunteered. She turned around and jogged back to the infirmary.

Five minutes later, they were waiting in front of the Hecate Cabin when Thalia and Nico arrived, both of them were extremely red in the face and looking stunned.

"What's wrong? Mr D isn't wearing a speedo again?" Percy shuddered, once again wishing that mind bleach existed outside of cartoons.

"No, it's–" Thalia started explaining, then froze at a pleading look from Nico, "it's nothing. Nothing at all. Shall we go in?" She led the way before they could ask any questions. Percy eyed them suspiciously, he resolved find out what had happened later.

"Oh, it's you. I knew you'd come sooner or later. Shall I go get Lou Ellen?" Asked the dreamy voice of a camper who'd been claimed by Hecate just last week. She long, pale blond hair, vacant eyes, and an accent that was probably British. Percy was about to answer, but she had already wandered into the back room.

Nico's POV

Lou Ellen walked in almost immediately after the blond girl left. "If this is about Hecate's kin, I'm afraid I have no idea." She said sharply. There was something off–no downright creepy–about that girl, and coming from the Ghost King himself, that means a lot.

"What about rica mortis?"

"I can answer some of that," a still blushing Nico said, raising his hand slightly, "it's an old story, a kind of cautionary tale, dates back to the Norman Invasion."

The dreamy-eyed Hecate camper added, "battle of Hastings, ten sixty-six, the Romans recapture a rogue group of Hecate's followers and legends who had tried to break away from the empire to follow the path of magic for magic's sake instead of conquest's."

Lou Ellen clenched her jaw, "please ignore her, she can be a bit... odd at times."

Nico cleared his throat, their attention returned to him. "Anyway, I heard the story from a spirit in Elysium. She was a strange one, her and her husband... sorry, distracting myself:

"Once, in the time of myth, when magic was a mere babe in the crib–"

"That's a weird way of starting a story. What happened to once upon a time?" Percy commented.

"That's a question I ask myself every Sunday." Thalia muttered darkly. When the rest of the demigods gave her confused looks, she merely said, "it's a tv thing. Please, continue."

Nico sighed, he could already tell this was going to take a long time. "Once, in the time of myth, when magic was a mere babe in the crib–"

"You said that already."

"Would you stop interrupting?"

"Once, in the time of myth, when magic was a mere babe in the crib, there was a beautiful woman of great ambition and greater cunning–"

"Like Annabeth."

"For gods sakes, Percy, are you physically incapable of shutting up for more than a minute? Now, as I was saying–"

"Are you going to start from the beginning again? 'Cause we've heard it twice."

"Thanks to you! There was a beautiful woman of great ambition and greater cunning. Today, we know her by the name of Morgan LeFey. All in the land sought her hand in marriage–"

"Does 'all' include women and kids and babies and old people?"

Nico ignored him. "But she wished to marry none of them. Annoyed at her stubborn refusals, her father arranged for her to marry a mighty prince, hero of the land. She pleaded and begged for him to cancel the wedding, but he was deaf to her entreaties. Heartbroken, she climbed to the top of the tallest tower and threw herself from it. She refused to live in a world so unfair. But she was saved by death–"

"Death saved her? That doesn't make any sense!"

"It's a story, Percy, not a history textbook! It doesn't have to make sense!"

"But–"

"But she was saved by death; he had been sent to collect her soul but had fallen in love with her the moment he laid eyes on her. He bore her back to the tower where she told him her woes and begged for help. Unable to refuse her, he endowed bestowed upon her a wand wrought from the branches of a hanging yew–"

"Me! Why am I in the story? Or is it you...? Why were you hanging out with branches? This story makes no sense!"

"Yew, Percy, the tree!"

"I'm a tree?"

"Y. E. W. It's a kind of tree." Nico was having difficulty resisting the urge to strangle Percy. He ground his teeth and continued the story. "A wand wrought from the branches of a hanging yew–"

"I still don't understand why the tree was hanging."

"No! A hanging tree is where they hang people. With nooses. Ropes around their necks. It's a form of execution. Any more questions?" Nico waited about two milliseconds, "good! The wand gave the woman unrivaled power. Magic that would give her control over her own future. She thanked him and said, that in return for the wand, she would become his bride, to be wed that very evening. Ecstatic, he gave her a white veil, the rica mortis, and departed. She went to her father and told him he would control her future no longer. Her enraged father ordered her to drop the farce—"

"Farts?"

"Farce, Percy, an act!"

"He ordered her to drop the act or face execution—"

"Woah! He was gonna kill his own daughter? Not cool, man!"

"Annabeth, get the duct tape!"

"Gladly!"

"No wait! I'll be quiet!"

"Good!" Annabeth and Nico shouted at once.

"Or face execution. In response, she drew the yew wand and killed everyone in her father's court in one fell swoop."

Percy looked like he desperately wanted to interrupt, but Nico's and Annabeth's death glares silenced him.

"She spared none, not even her family. The only survivor was her brother; Hecate whisked him away moments before he was destroyed, for he was her favored one among the mortals." At their confused expressions, he explained, "like Jason is Hera's favored one, Merlin, Morgan's brother, was favored by Hecate even though he was a mortal."

"I'm not a mortal!"

Nico raised his hands defensively, "just an example! Anyway, he was her favored one among the mortals. Hecate knew that the yew wand would throw the powers of light and dark, so she gave Merlin a wand of sacred holly endowed with light powers equal to those of the dark yew wand and taught him in the ways of magic, so he could fight against the darkness and teach others the way of light magic. Morgan too gained followers, and she taught them the darkest of arts. Her most powerful disciple was her own son, Mordred. After years of fighting, Merlin and his followers trapped her spirit in an elder tree, but her students carried on the dark arts to this very day. As did Merlin's students for light magic. Death was heartbroken at her defeat. He took up her wedding veil and cursed it; he swore that one day the rica mortis would steal the soul of one of Merlin's descendants, a hero who was a great player in the fight against dark, and trap the soul in the underworld, as Merlin had trapped his beloved in the elder tree. The veil became another passageway to the underworld, it led directly into my father's halls, but only a descendent of Mordred could pass through without his soul being rent from his body.

"Then she said some stuff I didn't understand about ancient bloodlines and purebloods and um..." he switched to a British falsetto, "all great heroes and villains are descended of the first two, Merlin and Morgan, even my little boy." He changed back to his normal voice, "and how, some day the first two wands would be reborn and a great battle between the forces of light and dark would be fought by new players with the same, ancient blood."

Everyone sat in stunned silence, except Annabeth, who looked positively furious.

"I can't believe I've never heard this!" She fumed.

The blond daughter of Hecate appeared in the doorway, "I suppose you'll be going to London, then? We can go together... it'll almost be like having friends..." Her eyes turned misty.

Nico felt a pit in his stomach, he'd been like that before... friendless... alone... He mentally slapped himself, focus! The prophecy! The quest! Still kind of important!

"Why would we need to go to London?" Annabeth inquired as Nico opened his mouth to ask the same question.

"To see Harry, of course."

I pretend that I know where I'm going with this, but I really don't. If have any ideas where I should take this, please, don't keep them to yourself! I would love to hear them and might even use them! Seriously, reviews make me so happy that I grin like an idiotic Cheshire Cat for at least ten minutes when I read one!

Also, don't hate me for tweaking the Merlin/Morgan/Mordred story to serve my the purposes of my story!

—XOXO your friendly neighborhood kumquat