Full synopsis:
Sequel to God of Night: With her brother and their Patron along with some of her newly made friends Bianca set out to fulfill the Great Prophecy; The prophecy that had always been meant for her. The daughter of Hades will take some daring risks that will have her brother scared for her life as he desperately trying to fight the fates, while continues to get she gets closer to reaching sixteen. The Battle between the Titan Lord and the Child of Prophecy like never before written!
A.N.: Here it is chapter one to CHAMPION OF NIGHT the sequel to GOD OF NIGHT.
And to the reviewer who commented on no closure, did J.R.R. Tolkien give closure at the end of book one in The Fellowship of the Ring?
If I remember correctly a dying Frodo was being rushed to Rivendell.
I bring up The Lord of the Ring because that's how I will be writing the tale of Perseus. Like how The Lord of the Rings had Frodo as the main character before telling paths of other characters before ending with Frodo, is how I am going to write this stories. (Little sneak peek at to what's to come, Perseus will have a Gandalf-ish role.)
If what I just said made no sense to you; just ignore it and just read the story.
DISCLAIMER: SADLY I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS OR HEROES OF OLYMPUS.
Also, I revised this without Anaklusmos14's help - yeah, I know, I'm an idjit (gotta love Supernatural, the best T.V. show ever, Damn You Dick Roman for killing Bobby!).
If needed be I will repost this chapter, but I think I fix all my errors.
The Prophecy Child
The girls walked through the snow covered camp in silence for a bit. One in silver pants, a white shirt with black lettering spelling out "Death to the Barbie" and a depiction of just that (a Barbie with an arrow in her head and blood dripping profusely from the wound), and a silver jacket. The other in black jeans, a grey shirt, and a black jacket. The two girls had not grown up together, and yet they in their week, week and a half of knowing each other, they had become closer them any mortal cousins who saw each other on a regular basis could ever be.
Finally Thalia spoke.
"So it seems that you and Nico are staying for a bit," said the newest addition to the hunters.
Bianca smiled.
"Yeah, Nico isn't really interested in staying long, but still, I hope he makes some friends here at camp like me." she responded with a small nod.
"You're a good sister," Thalia said with a big smile.
"Thanks Thalia." Bianca said. They walked in silence once more for a while before it was broken again, this time by Hades' daughter.
"So are you excited about being in the hunt?" she asked.
"Yeah, I am," the new huntress said with an unconvincing frown. "Artemis actually made me fourth in command behind her, Zoe, and Phoebe. She said she's got a feeling that now that Perseus back, he and Zoe are going to be spending a lot of time together, so she wanted to make sure she had someone to help Phoebe lead the hunt when necessary."
"But then what's wrong with that? You'll do great!" Bianca asked slightly confused.
"It's not the hunt... Listen Bianca," Thalia said stopping and Bianca followed suit. "About you being the prophecy child now, I'm so-."
Bianca immediately cut her off before she could finish her apology.
"Thalia listen," she said taking her cousin's hand in her own. "First, I know the son of Hermes is your friend, I promise I'll do everything I can for him. Holding him back on Mount Othrys so that the others could free Artemis was more than anyone could ask of you."
Here Bianca paused and looked around to make sure they were alone.
"There's something you need to know," the daughter of Hades continued taking a deep breath, "Nico and I aren't from this time. We were born near the end of the second world war."
"Come again?" Thalia said blinking a couple of times as she tried to comprehend what she'd just been told.
"On the quest, everything seemed out of place. In D.C. I remembered the train station wasn't there when Nico and I grew up as kids, but as you saw the place has obviously been there for a while. So I mentioned it to Perseus. He just smirked and said, 'What's the last President you remember? F.D.R right? That was over seventy years ago grandma.' He then told me that our father had placed me and Nico in the Lotus Hotel to protect us from Zeus." Bianca said turning to look at the top of Half-Blood hill where the Golden Fleece hung on Thalia's tree as the young dragon Peleus curled around its base guarding it.
Thalia followed her gaze. She understood how it felt to be pulled out of time. She'd heard when the power and thus the gods came to America, the lotus eaters had settled in Las Vegas. Annabeth had once told her of the time she, Lee and Beckendorf had accidentally gone in the hotel for an hour during a quest to recover Zeus' master bolt, only to discover five days had passed since they'd gone in. Thalia didn't know what to say.
After a minute Bianca turned back to Thalia.
"The reason why I'm telling you this is not so you feel bad for me and Nico." She said, her dark, obsidian black eyes staring straight into her cousin's startlingly electric blue eyes with a look so intense Thalia wondered if Bianca was using her abilities as a daughter of Hades to see her soul underneath her skin. "He and I have always been able to take care of each other. I'm telling you this so you know; I was the one meant to be the prophecy child from the beginning. I was to be the first child of the three eldest gods to reach sixteen after it was issued. So don't you see Thalia? It's always been meant for me, so I'm going to finish it. No more of the gods trying to change fate," Bianca continued with a shake of her head, "No more games. The prophecy is mine, and mine alone as it was made to be. I'm not going to let you, or Nico, or anyone else carry my burden."
Thalia just looked back at to her cousin for a moment before she embraced her in a hug.
"I'm honored to know you." she said softly. "Whenever I can, if you need me, I'll be there."
Bianca smiled as she hugged Thalia back.
"The same goes for you," she replied.
"Did you mean it?" Thalia said pulling back from the hug and looking at her cousin's face trying not to show the small amount of hope she still had lest it be stuffed out, "What you said about trying to help Luke?"
"Yes," Bianca nodded solemnly as she added, "Thalia, I swear it on the River Styx. I will do all in my power to save Luke."
She then started to walk towards the big house again as thunder boomed so loud the nymphs yelped as their trees shook violently. Tears of gratitude glittered in her eyes as she followed the daughter of Hades who she suddenly realized had become her best friend.
Into the Darkness
Ch.1
The next morning after eating breakfast with Bianca Nico walked to the big house for the meeting Chiron had called, his sword hanging from his hip in its black silver edged sheath. Bianca had gone ahead with Thalia, who to the utter shock of the other campers was in the attire of a huntress. Nico didn't mind Bianca had left with Thalia. Though he didn't remember much of his past before being taken out of that hotel in Vegas by their mother's lawyer, he did know that he and his sister had always been there for each other their entire lives; well to be honest it had mainly been Bianca taking care of him when he got himself in sticky situations. So he was glad that his sister had finally found a friend. However, he himself wasn't personally interested in making any friends. He just preferred doing his own thing. Though he did think that guy, Will, and his older brother Lee along with the Beckendorf kid was alright.
Thalia becoming a hunter wasn't the only surprise that morning. Nico smirked as he remembered the look on the campers faces when they saw the new table in the pavilion.
Though the majority of the campers didn't mind after they got over their initial shock, Clarisse to his amusement still didn't look too happy about it. He also knew some of the campers were uneasy about Bianca, and in particularly him; though they did a pretty good job of not showing it.
He didn't mind. He knew that they'd learn to accept his family over time, but even if they didn't the campers would have to learn to deal with it. For later that day a new cabin was going to appear in camp, a cabin made in honor of his father in which he and Bianca would live.
'Yes, and when they see it,' he thought to himself as he walked up the steps of the big house porch, 'They will know that the House of Hades is here, and it was here to stay.'
The second Nico walked in the rec room which doubled as the camp's unofficial war council headquarters Percy, who was sitting at the head of the ping-pong table shook his head.
"No, that's just not gonna work." he said.
"What? What are you talking about." he asked completely puzzled.
In response Perseus snapped his fingers and Nico's sword disappeared and a dog tag hanging from a silver chain appeared around his neck.
"Hey!" Nico cried.
"Look at the dog tag Nico," Perseus smiled. "Sorry but the whole "sword hanging from your hip thing's" out of style pal."
Nico gazed at the tag and read:
Nico di Angelo
Son of Hades
C.o.W: B.I.S- Soulsucker
"What's cow bis mean?" he said confused.
Percy laughed,"I know you have Demigod Syndrome kid, but if you used context clues you'd see that it's W.o.C. As in 'Weapon of Choice'. And that says sib, not bis."
"Oh," Nico blushed turning sightly pink in face. "sib as in Stygian iron blade. Got it."
Indeed, when Nico looked at the tag again he saw it did say:
Nico di Angelo
Son of Hades
C.o.W: S.I.B- Soulsucker
"Bingo," Percy smiled.
Nico experimentally tugged on the dog tag. When he did it changed, and his sword appeared slung over his right shoulder in a back scabbard.
"Sweet!" he said grinning before he turn smugly to his sister. "Ha, your weapons can't do that!"
Bianca smirked and pulled on the two bracelets she wore, one on each wrist, as she did Nico realized that they were a new addition to her outfit he hadn't seen before. When she tugged on the bracelets her hunting knives appeared in her hands before she tapped her wrists together and they returned to bracelet form. She then pulled on her new black beaded necklace and her bow and quiver appeared slung on her back. She pulled the strap to her quiver and it along with the bow returned to necklace form.
Nico scowled and return Soulsucker to its new form before he sat down. Thalia and Percy laughed at the brother and sisters' interaction.
The hunters were the last to arrive. The huntresses Sophie and Chloe, who were sort of Zoe and Phoebe's, helpers had come for the meeting too. The instant she entered the room Zoe made a beeline to Percy and sat on his lap after giving him a kiss. Then, after Artemis, Phoebe, Sophie, and Chloe sat down near Thalia, and Katie Gardner the head of Demeter's cabin summoned snacks; Chiron finally began the meeting.
"So, for those of you who don't know, last night during the games an entrance to the Labyrinth was found in the ruble of the demolished Zeus' Fist."the old centaur announced. Immediately the campers started asking questions.
"What? Labyrinth? As in the one in Crete?"
"The Labyrinth moved with the gods?"
"Isn't that place haunted?"
"Isn't that where they found Chris Rodriguez?"
Yeah, we're gonna just blow up the entrance right? We can't send anyone in there, the place drove Chris insane!"
Chiron stomped his hoof on the ground.
"One at a time please." he said with the patience he'd developed over thousands of years. Silena the head of Aphrodite raised her hand.
"First off why are they still here?" she said gesturing at the present hunters with a look of disgust.
"Because I am," Percy said jumping in before a fight broke out. "Silena, I am part if the hunt too. I know you have no love for the hunters because they forsake love in favor of being eternal maidens, but if they go, I go. You don't want me to leave and let Dionysus take over again do you?"
Silena frowned but shook her head.
"Besides," Zoe said. "We'll only be here until we can help you get this Labyrinth business taken care of. We owe Annabeth for helping save Artemis."
"Oh yeah girlie,"Phoebe added."As soon as this is over me and the hunters are out of here."
"Anyways,"Artemis interjected,"The gods have decided that Bianca di Angelo is to consult the oracle for a prophecy so that she may lead a quest into the Labyrinth and find Daedalus, its creator who has managed to cheat death within its walls. The Titans seek to use the Labyrinth to bypass the camp's magical borders and invade the camp from inside. To do this they need Ariadne's string, which the inventor has. You must find him before the Titans."
"I'm going," Nico said instantly.
"Hang on a moment deadboy," Clarisse said slamming her hand on the table. "We're fine without your help. If the gods can run Olympus with out your daddy, we don't need you either."
"Really? That's why it was my sister who-." Nico began to retaliate when Bianca stepped in.
"Clarisse, my brother's name is Nico. And I would suggest you go look outside while I go consult the Oracle. It's probably isn't the best to speak for our fathers unless we are sure we're really speaking on their behalf. As you'll see when you look outside and Lady Artemis can vouch for, the Olympians have realized that they need my father. Be grateful he is forgiving and kind contrary to popular belief and also remember that it was my father who allowed Annabeth to leave the Underworld last night. We will discuss my companions after I consult the Oracle." Bianca said standing.
"She's right. Well spoken Bianca." Percy said smiling at his champion with pride."Clarisse I would add, remember we're at war with the Titans. Your father understands the need to put aside grudges and disagreements to focus on the true enemy. He would expect you to do the same. Now we'll take a fifteen minute break and go from there."
Clarisse nodded as Bianca headed toward the attic.
"Oh great Oracle, I seek your guidance in my quest through the ancient maze to find its inventor." Bianca said to the Oracle that stood before her, green mist swirling around the mummy's body.
Something about the mummy unsettled her, causing the back of her mind to tingle. She could sense the spirit of its last host trapped inside her own mummified remains, imprisoned with the oracle spirit. She could almost swear that she recognized the girl's spirit, but quickly pushed the thought aside as mist poured from the mummy's mouth. It combined with the mist already in the room to form an image of an old satyr with enormous horns and a set of reed pipes hanging from his neck who was sitting on a roman style bed along with a erupting mountain with young man at the base.
The satyr opened its mouth and began to speak.
"The dead, the traitor, and lost one will be found in the darkness of the endless maze."
The young man continued on were the satyr left off,
"Death and Water will learn the answer in a fiery haze.
The huntress will fall without the aid of the ghost king's hand."
The satyr pick the prophecy up again,
"Against one who bears the warrior's fate another must stand.
Brought down with an ancient's last breath."
"One shall be lost by means worse than death."
The young man finished.
As the young man finished speaking and the mist when back into the oracles mouth, Bianca stared as it continued to glow green.
The oracle spoke again sending chills down Bianca's back, for as it spoke although she could tell it was another prophecy, she could also hear the voice of a girl along with at of the spirit of Delphi.
"A half-blood of the eldest gods,
Shall reach sixteen against all odds,
To see the world in an endless sleep,
Before the hero's soul the cursed blade shall reap,
A single choice shall end their days,
Olympus to preserve or raise."
The oracle said before it spoke one last time, this time it was the girl whose spirit was trapped alongside the spirit of Delphi inside the mummified body, was speaking alone.
"Fulfill your destiny child, so that you may bring honor to your father's house so the my curse will be broken and I may be free of the oracle spirit."
Bianca remained frozen as the mummy stopped glowing and became still again.
The fifteen year old could almost feel Thanatos was creeping towards her.
"I need Nico and a child of Poseidon, and a huntress to go with me on the quest." Bianca said.
Immediately the campers began to protest.
"What, no way, our fate isn't gonna rest on two children of Hades!" someone said
"There are no children of Poseidon! " another added before;
"Enough guys." came the rich, deep voice of Charles Beckendorf. The African-American son of Hephaestus rarely spoke but when he did people listened. Everyone turned to him. " As we all just saw, Nico and Bianca are here to stay. They have a cabin here at camp, so this is their camp now too. I'm sure that just like us they'll do whatever they can to protect the camp. "
Bianca smiled at him and Nico silently nodded.
"Well said Beckendorf, " Chiron said. "Now Bianca, would you kindly repeat the prophecy for us seen as we were not present as the oracle gave it."
Bianca nodded.
"The dead, the traitor, and lost one will be found in the darkness of the endless maze. Death and Water will learn the answer in a fiery haze. The huntress will fall without the aid of the ghost king's hand. Against one who bears the warrior's fate another must stand. Brought down with an ancient's last breath. One shall be lost by means worse than death." Bianca recited."The Ghost King is obviously Nico, so he has to come. The huntress how-."
"The Ghost King isn't necessarily Nico. It could be Minos, the maze was after all made on his orders." Malcolm interjected.
Before anything else could be said the shadows in the room darken and seemed to surround the son of Hades who blinked in surprise as a wreath of human bones appeared on his head.
"Great, that's just going to increase the boy's ego,"Artemis muttered.
"I thing it's official, Nico is the Ghost King the prophecy speaks of," Percy said with a slight smirk at his friend's display as the wreath of bones shifted into a crown of black fire before turning into a dragon head."Lord Hades has crowned him himself, and made him his own helm of darkness no less. "
Nico drew a shadow to him as he reached up and took off the crown before placing the crown in the shadow were it vanished.
"Ah, thanks dad, but I think I won't need that anymore right now." he mumbled quietly but everyone heard.
Percy smirked, "What was that sis?"
Artemis kicked him under the table making him laugh, but she couldn't deny she was slightly impressed at her brother's champion's humility. Though the boy was blunt at time she couldn't fault him for it. She knew that it was only when the situation called for it or in order to come to his sister's defense.
Wh she didn't like this idea of one of her huntresses lives depending on any boy, she decided to let it be.
"Um, so... Who's the huntress?" Nico said uncomfortable with everyone's attention on him after his father Hades' show. Though he barely cared how they felt about him, his dad definitely wasn't helping him show the campers they had nothing to fear from him. Then again he knew Hades didn't care if the campers feared him as long as it meant they respected his son. Nico however made a mental note to show the campers they had nothing to fear as along as they didn't try to pick any fights and left him and his sister alone.
"The huntress is me." said the girl with sea green eyes and raven colored hair that when to her shoulder in a soft and calm voice that was like the sea on a beautiful and peaceful day as she looked at the boy who she was supposed to die without. "It would give some meaning to the lines 'Water and Death will learn the answer in a fiery haze, The Huntress will fall without the aid of the ghost king's hand'. I'm the water and Nico is death, and without him I'm supposed to die in the fiery haze we're suppose to find some answer in."
Nico nodded as he stared back at the girl from the night before with a blank face.
"Makes sense, Sophie right? I promise you and Lady Artemis, " he said, his eyes flicking to Artemis before returning to the daughter of Poseidon, "That I will keep you alive."
Chloe, who was Sophie's best friend, jumped to her feet.
"Oh no, Sophie isn't going without me, I'm not losing my best friend because some boy was incompetent!" she said making Sophie roll her eyes.
"Okay," Nico nodded in agreement to everyone's surprise after she'd just basically called him incapable of completing a task the fates had preordained. "If Bianca and Lady Artemis consent."
Bianca nodded and so did Artemis.
"Very well, if both Sophie and Chloe go I will permit it."
"What about 'the, dead, the traitor, and lost one', who's that?" Malcolm asked obviously unhappy to not be among the members of the quest.
"The oracle showed me an image with an old satyr and another of a guy near a Volcano." Bianca said.
The immortals in the room blinked in surprise.
"Pan? He's the lost one?" Phoebe said stunned. "But the other satyrs have been searching unsuccessfully for him for eons."
"A satyr, Grover perhaps must be added to the quest group." Chiron said quickly.
"No," Nico shook his head."We're pushing it as it is. The huntresses will have to suffice in representing nature friends. As for the dead and traitor we can figure that out later."
"Nico's right. Only he, Sophie and myself embark on this quest. We leave in the morning." Bianca agreed. "Besides on the last quest with five members, only four of us survived."
"The satyrs won't be happy." Chiron said, but nodded in agreement, her closing statement unrefudiable."Council dimissed, quest members go prepare for your journey."
"Better unhappy, than one of the dead." Nico said as he stood and walked out of the room to go check out his new cabin.
"Nico I would like a word." Artemis said as they stood with Bianca, Sophie, Chloe, Phoebe, Zoe, and Percy near the entrance to the Labyrinth the next morning. The quest members appeared to be empty-handed besides their weapons, but the girls quivers and the small pocket on the front of Nico's back scabbard strap were actually enchanted to hold and unlimited amount of stuff.
He nodded and they stepped off to the side.
"I hold you accountable for anything that happens to my hunters." Artemis said simply.
"Okay," Nico said blankly and they walked back to the others.
"Normally I'd say ladies first since I was born in a time were chivalry wasn't dead, yet, but I don't think that applies for entries into suicidal places like a insane maze that can partially think for itself and is designed to kill you." Nico said wryly as he stomped his foot and the gold slab moved away from the cave entrance. The girls all rolled their eyes and Percy chuckled at his male champion's sarcastic remark.
"Into the darkness we go." Nico stated off handedly as he took the lead and entered the Ancient Labyrinth.
As the others followed him the makeshift golden door slid back in place.
A.N.: I will update Tale of the Night: The Origins of the Banished Olympian next.
Don't forget review! I wanna hear you thoughts on what I'm done with the Oracle and Pan in particular, but also about how I'm doing in general!
If you got the Supernatural reference you're awesome.
COVER COMING SOON! (gotta love photoshop)
Love ya guys, you're awesome.
Sincerely yours,
-SamIthuriel