Why was he here again? Nico was meant for indoors. He was a gamer, played card games, and collected comic books. He was not meant for summer camps. This was where his friends belonged. Well, it was their fault that he was there. For a lot of his friends, it was their last few months at home before they would go off to college. Nico would still have several friends that would still be there, but it was more about a particular blond with glasses that was going to be leaving at the end of the summer.
"Nico, you cannot sit in the backseat all day," Nico's father, Hades, said after he opened the car door.
Nico frowned as he watched Persephone, his stepmother, dropped his and his two sisters' luggage on the sidewalk. She smiled and adjusted her sunglasses, turning back to look at Nico. "Come on, Nico, don't you want to enjoy your summer with your sisters and friends?"
"I'm allergic," Nico mumbled.
Hazel climbed over him to get out of the car. "To what?"
With a dull look, Nico climbed out after her. Glaring when Bianca came around the car to ruffle his hair. "To the sun," he grumbled.
His family was a bit complicated. Bianca was the oldest and Hazel the youngest, which left him as the practically invisible middle child. That was not the complicated part. Bianca and Nico had been born to Hades' first wife, Maria. Then, when Nico was ten, they found out that their father had an affair with a woman during a business trip to Louisiana a few years prior, and that they had a younger sister. Their mother had taken them and left. They did not see their father for a year after that, until their mother was in an accident and died.
Hazel was living with their father when they came back to live with him, but not her mother. No, her mother had to be locked up in a asylum. Then, when Nico was fourteen, Hades had met Persephone. The two had married last year. And Nico was not stupid, he knew the reason they wanted all the kids out of the house for the summer.
Bianca had graduated along with their friends Luke, Annabeth and Thalia, who was actually responsible for Nico's current relationship, the year before. Bianca was a counselor this year, along with the other two. Thankfully, she was not in charge of Nico's cabin. Unfortunately, however, Luke was.
Nico frowned down at his phone as Persephone dug in her purse to find a camera. Hazel leaned over and arched a brow at him. "He'll be here in two day. You've survived a month without him, I think you can last a few more days."
The brown-eyed boy let out a sigh and nodded. Jason, Annabeth, and Reyna would be arriving late to camp. Jason and Reyna were presidents of the student council, which was what Annabeth ran when she was a senior. Both were looking at the same school Annabeth were attending, so she was giving them an academic tour. That was after Jason's father and stepmother had flown Jason and Thalia with them to the Bahamas for a few weeks. Meaning that Nico had not seen his boyfriend since right after Jason's graduation.
After taking their picture, Persephone smiled. "And don't be afraid to go to my mother if you guys need anything."
Nico liked Persephone, he really did. It was just that the woman tried too hard to be liked by the kids. Still did not make Nico want to gag any less with the knowledge that Hades and Persephone were going to be trying to have a baby while the kids were gone. Nico was the hardest to get out of the house. His sisters had to finally intervene on their parents' behalf and remind Nico that he would get an entire month with Jason before the blond was leaving for college. After being away from Jason for a month had made the dilemma pretty easy for Nico.
"There you all are!" Came Demeter's voice. The woman grabbed Persephone by the shoulders and pulled her daughter in for a hug. "How are you, dear?"
"I'm fine, mother. Thank you for keeping any eye on the kids for us."
Bianca cleared her throat. "Um, I am over eighteen."
"You're helping keeping an eye on your brother and sister," Hades informed her. "Keep them out of trouble."
Nico and Hazel both scoffed. "She gets into more trouble than we do," Hazel snickered. Bianca elbowed her sister.
Bianca smirked in Nico's direction, who was still looking at his phone. "He means keep Jason from defiling our dear brother." Hades gave a nod.
"Hey!" Nico looked up with a scowl.
"I had to find out you two were dating by finding him naked in your bed," Hades stated plainly. "And to think I trusted that boy with sleepovers."
"To be fair," Bianca interjected, "at least Jason is a straight A student and someone to bring home to the parents. Unlike Nico's last crush."
Bianca's cap was snatched off her head by a grinning boy with black hair and sea-green eyes. "I'm so hurt, Bianca," Percy said, feigning hurt. "I thought we were friends." He slung an arm around Nico. "But I still have the nicer body."
"I had to witness your naked body in my home more than Nico's actual boyfriend, Jackson," Hades said dully.
"At least we weren't having sex," Nico supplied.
Percy leaned in towards Nico. "Because... I'm not Nico's type."
Nico shoved the boy off. "Hey! Back when I was crushing on you, you were invested in girls. Then you go and declare you're bi." Percy just grinned at him. "Do not throw blame at me for any lack of sex between us."
Hades pinched the bridge of his nose. "I think it is time we left. This is not a conversation I need to hear." He patted each of his children on the head. Stopping on Hazel to tap her under the chin. "At least Frank respects my child enough not to try anything."
Once their parents were in the car, Hazel leaned in to her siblings and Percy. "That's because Frank is too afraid of Dad to do anything."
They left Demeter to go to their cabins. Bianca and Hazel split up with them to head to theirs, while Percy led Nico to their cabin. As it happened, Nico knew everyone in their cabin. Probably Luke's doing. Nico would not put it past the blond to have fixed the lists for the cabins. This also meant that Nico might want to murder some of his friend group by the end of the month. Mainly Leo. Possibly Percy.
Unfortunately, this also meant just how much male nudity that he was going to be exposed to for the rest of the summer. Percy, Luke, and Leo had little shame when it came to their bodies. This list sometimes included Jason, but Nico wouldn't complain about that. He wouldn't have even complained at all last summer.
Percy directed Nico to an empty bunk and Nico deposited his stuff on the bottom bunk. Percy slapped a hand on the top mattress. "This one can be Jason's." A wicked grin crossed the tan boy's lips. "Well, we will call it his bed. We all know where he will be sleeping for the duration of camp."
Nico quirked a brow at the other raven haired boy. "Yeah? Well let me guess, your stuff is in Luke's private room?"
Percy pointed his thumb over his shoulder. "I got the bunk next to yours. Luke and I aren't technically dating, since I just finished high school. Gonna talk it over during camp." His head tilted to the side. "But... I probably will sleep in his room some nights. Don't want to keep the rest of you up. A shame you and Jason don't have the privacy."
"I hate you," Nico said, playfully shoving Percy.
Luckily for the cabin counselors, they had their own private room, separate from the campers in the cabin. They did have to share a bathroom with the rest of them, but that was a small price to pay. Nico let out a sigh. Percy had to go and remind Nico about them leaving. Percy and Nico had been childhood friends, even living with Sally and Percy when Maria took Nico and Bianca from Hades. Percy had also been Nico's first crush, but that was ancient history. They were, first and foremost, best friends. One of Nico's best friends. The other being Reyna, who had actually started out as Jason's best friend when the blond had first moved to New York.
The door swung open and in came a sweaty Frank and Leo. The Latino boy held his arms open with a huge grin. "Hey! You found the walking corpse!" The boy's grin only grew when Nico glared at him. "Welcome to the great outdoors."
Frank just shook his head. "You're one to talk. We practically had to drag you away from your computer."
Leo narrowed his eyes and pointed at both Nico and Frank. "How are we supposed to complete our D&D campaign out here? Not to mention I have to raid with my guild."
They all jumped when a small trunk dropped down from the ceiling. They all peered up to see Luke and Grover grinning down at them. "Watch out below," Grover chuckled.
Luke jumped down first, dusting off his shoulders after hitting the ground. Nico arched a brow at the chest in between all of them. "What is that?" He asked.
Luke kicked the lid open. "Don't know. Grover and I got bored waiting around for the rest of you, so we decided to explore up there. Not sure why we never did."
"Dude!" Grover said as he dropped down. "The attic is rather creepy."
"It's just dusty," Luke mumbled.
Percy bent down and dug in the trunk. He pulled out a mask and held it up to his face, peering up at the rest of the group and tilting his head ever so creepily to the side. "Looks pretty cool to me. Think how much fun we can have scaring the rest of the camp with this stuff."
Luke grinned and pulled the mask down from Percy's face before capturing the green-eyed boy's lips in a searing kiss. "Okay!" Leo called out. "I have to deal with enough PDA with like Frank and Hazel, not to mention Jason and Nico. Can I not have a safe moment." The boy grumbled as he crouched down to look through the trunk. "Definitely a lot of weird shit in here." He pulled out some candles and even a knife. "Kind of cool."
"Looks like something from a cult," Nico pointed out, sitting down on his bed.
"Well," Luke said with a grin, "I guess we owe a thanks to whoever left it all here." He tilted his head to the side and reached down. From the chest, the blond pulled out a skull. "Do you think this is real?"
"Dude!" Frank whined. "That looks pretty real. Put it back. We should tell Chiron and the other camp directors."
"No way!" Percy said. He grinned and continued to pilfer through the chest. "Check this out." Percy pulled out a rather thick book that was covered in dust and looked hundreds of years old. He dropped it on the floor and sat down with it.
Nico peered over the boy's shoulder as Percy began to flip through it. "That's Latin. Last time I checked, you don't know how to read Latin."
Percy narrowed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. "And how would you know that it is Latin?"
Letting out a sigh, Nico dropped to the floor beside Percy. He knocked the page with the back of his knuckles. "Because, my dear friend, I had to endure enough time watching Jason go over his Latin homework with Reyna." Nico frowned down at the book. It gave him the creeps. He narrowed his eyes at a spot in the crevice of the pages. Was that blood? "We should put it back."
Leo picked the book up and pulled it away from Nico. "Refer to Percy's statement from earlier. No way. This thing looks cool." He flipped through a few pages. "This thing looks ancient. Probably out of the Dark Ages. There are like torture methods in here." He shut the book with a grin. "Maybe we can get one of them to translate it for us when they get back from California."
Nico's lips were such a thin line as he stood up. If it were just Luke or Grover, Nico knew there was no way that Jason would get roped into this. Frank would never even ask. Leo was iffy. When it came to his friend, Jason did decline when he knew it sounded like too much trouble. Nico's eyes shifted over to where a certain boy was grinning at him.
Then there was Percy, the only real problem in the equation. Nico knew far too well by now that Percy could rope Jason into just about anything. Those two were far too competitive. Not to mention there was the whole "bro" thing they had going on. When it came down to it, Nico knew the only way to keep Jason out of it was to get to the blond first.
"It's a stupid book," Nico finally said.
Percy squeezed Nico's shoulder. "I'm going to tell your boyfriend that you called a book stupid." Nico smacked his hand away. "Come on, Nico, it'll be fun!"
"Hey, guys," Leo called out from across the room. He was on his bed with the book. "There is one part that is in English. It's like a chapter title, or something."
Of course the others went over to check it out. Rolling his eyes, Nico let out a huff and went over to Leo's bed. He peered over the boy's shoulder. The words were readable, but they did not make Nico feel any better about the book. The heading was in big bold letters across the top of the page, with a chain with a sickle attached to it.
WARDEN
Underneath it was the only other words that were legible. "Jailer of the Damned and Reaper of Souls," Percy said with a huge grin on his face. "This is so sick! We could freak out the whole camp with this."
Luke bumped knuckles with Percy as the boy stood up. "Just what I was thinking. "So, who's in?"
"Totally!" Leo said.
Grover was biting on his thumb nail. Percy arched a brow at him. Grover let out a sigh. "Fine," he sighed.
Then they turned to Frank. The Asian boy was standing there with wide eyes. "Doesn't this freak you guys out even a little?" Percy, Luke, and Leo shook their heads. "Just... Fine. Whatever." He narrowed his eyes and pointed at the three of them. "Just don't be mean to Hazel."
Then it was time for them to turn their gazes on Nico. The boy let out a sigh. "I think this is stupid. We are not ten." No one was budging. "It's a dumb book." He frowned at Percy. "I have not seen my boyfriend in a month, and now you want to keep him busy with all the pranks that I know you're going to be pulling."
"Nico," Percy said, throwing his arm around the boy's shoulder, "relax. We just need him to translate it, really." He ruffled Nico's hair. "Besides, we all know your lover boy isn't cut out for this life of crime."
Frank arched a brow. "Crime? You're doing some pranks on the rest of the camp."
Percy waved him off. "Details." When he turned around, he had that kicked seal look that he did so well on his face. "Please, Nico?"
Rolling his eyes, Nico sighed. "Fine, whatever."
When the dinner bell rang, Luke threw the book in his room and directed the boys toward the dining pavilion. The other campers were all gathered there, waiting to get access to all the food. Luke spotted the rest of their friends and led his cabin towards them. A tall man that Nico was going to assume was the camp director, Chiron, that the others often spoke about.
"Welcome, welcome," Chiron addressed the camp. "I'd like to welcome all returning campers back, and a very big welcome to all of our new ones. I hope that your month will be an enjoyable one! Please remember that we do have a nurse here, should you need her. You'll find her at the Big House, as we call it." He pointed behind him, to the big red building. "That is also where you will find the directors. We also have a lounge with some games. It is also where the kitchen is, so feel free to go get snacks or drinks when necessary." He held up a map of the camp. "Feel free to explore the woods around camp or go swimming in the lake. The hills outside of the woods are where our boundaries are. So try to stay within that. The highway is not far from there, and we do not want any of you to get hit."
After he was done with his speech, Chiron let the campers get to the food. Their group grabbed at just about everything they saw. There was definitely plenty to go around. Nico did hate standing in line, though. It sucked. He had a personal space bubble, which was constantly invaded as he moved down the table. He had the feeling that this was going to be a common thing. He just wanted to stay out of all physical activities that might have people touching him or even tackling him. At least he had Leo and Grover.
The two of them would be able to keep him company during those times where his other friends would go off and do something physical. Percy would likely spend most of his time in the water, which was fine, but the boy liked contact sports. As did Jason, Reyna, Thalia, and just about every other friend of theirs. Even Frank and Hazel, who were both so polite and sweet, until they got on the field to play.
When they were all seated, Nico found himself between Percy and Hazel. Thalia sat across from him. Thalia was Jason's older sister, though she always passed for the younger sibling. Thalia always said that Jason was pretty short and tiny as a child, but shot up during puberty. He towered over most of their group, with the exception of Percy and Luke. Percy was just barely an inch shorter than Jason, which they stupidly had contests over. Luke was the same height as Jason, just with more definition to his body.
Jason and Thalia's parents had divorced when the two were still pretty young. Zeus was a CEO and constantly running around the world on business, and Beryl was a movie star. Bottom line, they didn't work out. Zeus got Thalia and Beryl got Jason. Thalia got to see her brother on breaks and some holidays. She would often come home and talk about him, but Nico had no real idea who he was. The only pictures she had ever shown them were from when Jason was little.
Then, when Jason was fifteen, his mother had died. She had been drinking, which was common from what Jason said. Zeus was furious that Thalia never said anything, but Jason said she didn't know. Jason had been doing a damn good job at cleaning up around the house whenever he knew Thalia would be visiting.
Thalia took one look at him and said, "Mopey because you don't have my brother to squeeze." A smirk touched at her lips as she took a drink from her water bottle. "Reyna isn't here and you don't see me moping."
Zeus had not really been that thrilled when both of his kids came out of the closet. Thalia had been first, taking much satisfaction from their stepmother's horror. Nico and Jason had been playing video games in the living room when she dropped the bomb. While Zeus and Thalia were adamantly discussing the news back and forth, Jason quietly paused the game. Nico watched the blond stand up and out of his mouth came, "I'm gay, too."
Piper looked up from her food. "Careful, you might make Percy jealous."
Percy glanced at Nico and slung an arm around him. "I lost him the second he laid eyes on Jason. I have moved on."
Nico shook his head, rolling his eyes. Maybe it was a little true.
He had just been a freshman at the time. That morning, Bianca was running a little late, which meant that Nico was running late. By the time that he got there before classes started, Thalia had already introduced Jason to the others. Nico saw the blond sitting there and it felt like his heart stopped. Jason was... beyond words. He was tall and hot, with an athletic build. He was dressed nice and had a dazzling smile.
In fact, it took several times hearing it for Nico to actually understand that Jason was Thalia's brother. Because the two dressed nothing alike. Barely looked alike. On top of that, he had quickly become friends with Percy, the notorious troublemaker of the school. But Jason had looked up at him and smiled when Thalia introduced them. He shook Nico's hand and Nico had wanted to fall over right then and there, because there was just no way someone that hot was talking to him. Jason was a jock.
Well, Percy was hot, but they had been friends for years. Percy had not really gotten hot until puberty. Jason went off to join the baseball team with Luke, but for some reason still wanted to talk to Nico. He even got himself elected class president the following year. Something that shocked everyone, including Reyna, who had been president the past two years. Somehow those two turned their rivalry into a friendship.
Nico turned his attention back to Piper. The girl actually dated Jason before Nico. That had been a very painful few months for Nico. When they broke up, the whole school was shocked. Everyone thought they were perfect. Neither of them would ever explain why they broke up, just that Jason had been the one to end it. It turned out that Piper was the first to learn Jason wasn't straight, and that he actually had feelings for someone else.
Nico and Piper didn't always get along, but he considered her a good friend to Jason if she could keep that kind of secret and not get angry with the blond. Because, even right after breaking up, the two continued on like they had never even dated. Just really good friends. Not even Leo knew what had gone on.
"Speaking of Jason," Percy suddenly said after Nico never actually responded to Piper, "we found a book that we think might be some fun."
"Wow," mumbled Thalia. "Percy Jackson having fun with books. I should call Annabeth. She will be so proud."
Percy glared at his friend. "So funny. No, we found this old book in the cabin."
"Grover and I found," Luke corrected Percy.
Rolling his eyes, Percy nodded. "They found. Anyways, the point is that we could have a scare with the rest of the camp. It's a rather creepy book. Better than a ghost story." He grinned when the girls' heads looked up. "I was thinking we could have Jason translate-"
Thalia snorted. "Jason? My brother? I know you can talk him into things, Percy, but let us not forget that this is my brother we are talking about." She shook her head. "You have yourself a prank war on your hands, from the sounds of things. I'm all for it, but I doubt Jason would be. Reyna, sure. Annabeth... maybe. Why don't you just mess with it tonight?"
Percy let out a sigh and slumped on the table. Grover rolled his eyes. "Brother doesn't know how to read it. Nobody does. Got it back in the cabin, but I doubt any of you know how to read Latin." Everyone at the table shook their heads. "Thought not."
"Could at least try," Piper suggested with a shrug. "How bad could we mess it up? Not like it's real." She brushed her hair over her shoulder. "Sounds fun to me."
"Maybe we should wait," Hazel reasoned. "Maybe it's how I was raised, but I'm a little superstitious." She frowned. "What was in the book?"
Frank cleared his throat and dusted food crumbs off his hands. "Some torture methods." That had a few of the girls putting their food back on their plates. "There was something about a jailer of the damned."
Piper grinned. "Sounds fun!" She nudged Percy. "That what you are talking about?" Percy gave a nod. "Yeah, we could work with that. Maybe try to dress someone up, have them go around to scare people at camp."
Thalia cackled, rubbing her palms together. "It will be great. We could scare the shit out of all the younger ones. I need to get a look at this book."
Nico let out a groan. That book creeped him out. He just wanted to put it back in the box and toss it into the lake. Or burn it. That thing belonged in the dark ages. "Maybe we should just not mess with it entirely," Nico suggested. Frank nodded eagerly in agreement.
Nobody else at the table seemed to agree.
"Come on, Nico!" Thalia whined. "It'll be fun. You don't have to partake. Just let us have some fun. We won't even include Jason, if you don't want him to. Which he probably won't anyways." She leaned across the table and took Nico's hands. "This is like a golden opportunity falling in our laps!"
After looking at the rest of the table, Nico let out a sigh. Not like he could stop them. "Fine," he relented. "Just... leave me out of it."
Percy clapped him on the shoulder. "You could at least come read it with us."
Nico snorted. "You mean try to read it? Good luck. I'll come watch, just to make fun of your bad Latin attempts. Maybe I'll video it so that Annabeth, Jason, and Reyna can have a laugh."
"That's cold," Luke said before grinning. "I like it. I've never been more proud."
They all agreed to meet in the woods within an hour. They had to be at campfire by eight, so they couldn't be out there more than an hour. When they met up with the girls, they all disappeared into the woods, Luke leading the way. Luke had been there the longest. He knew the woods like the back of his hand. Could probably navigate it in the dark.
He finally came to a spot and motioned to a downed log. "Here should be fine." He dropped a duffle bag that he had brought onto the ground and unzipped it. "Book." He handed Percy the book they had found. "Some candles because why not..." He tossed some long candles at Hazel, Piper, and Frank. "And a flashlight." He pulled it out, flipped it on, and shined it in his face with a grin. "Let's get started."
Percy blew out a breath as he flipped through the pages of the old book. "All right." He crouched down and put the book on the log. "So this thing is just called 'The Warden'." He snorted as he looked at the others. "Great name, right? Couldn't they come up with anything better?"
Thalia glanced over Percy's shoulder. "Yo, but those images are pretty graphic. I can't believe they actually drew a guy getting his insides ripped out by a chained hook in here." Her eyebrow shot up as she glanced at the other guys. "Is that like his weapon?" The guys shrugged. "Maybe we should get a chain."
Percy snapped his fingers. "Great idea. I'll talk to the Stolls."
Leo cackled. "Go dragging that around camp in the middle of the night."
Piper just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Can we just get on with it? What are we doing out here exactly?" She glanced at the book's pages. "Do you have a clue what that even says?"
"Then why are we reading it?" Hazel asked.
Grover shrugged. "For some fun. What's the harm in it? We won't be lying when we tell the camp that we read from this 'evil book'. The brunet dug around from his pocket and pulled out a cigarette and lighter. "Ghost stories aren't real."
So that was how Nico ended up in the middle of the woods with his friends, listening to Percy try to read Latin. "Okay, but why do you have to record it?" Percy suddenly asked, looking up from the book.
Nico slightly waved his phone. "Because you are really bad at reading Latin, and I know our dear friends would hate to have missed this travesty." Nico rolled his hand. "Please, do continue. I think you were about to call someone's mother a cow."
Percy rolled his eyes and huffed. "Not like you could do a better job."
The others snickered as Percy stumbled over his words. The green-eyed boy's would often crease and he would lean in when he was trying to sound out a word. True, Nico didn't know the language any better, but he also knew better than to butcher it.
When Percy finished, the others all stood around and waited. For what, Nico wasn't really sure, but he waited along with them. After five minutes of silence, Percy stood up and dusted off his knees. "Well that was a bust."
Piper shook her head. "What, were you actually expecting some supernatural thing to show up and kill us, or something?" She arched a brow with a smirk. "Maybe we can make it back in time for campfire."
Luke shrugged as he began to pack up the candles. "At least we can still have a good scare with the rest of the camp," he pointed out. The others nodded.
They got back to camp as everyone was sitting down to roast marshmallows. The group sat down on a log and got their own sticks to use. Demeter came up to them with a bag of marshmallows. "Hello, dears. Where have you all been?" She began to pass out the white pieces of fluff. "You sure do have some long faces on you."
Thalia kicked the bag at Luke's feet. "Just found some stupid old book. Thought we could kick up some scares around camp."
Demeter's head tilted to the side. "Old book? You mean that old book in Latin?" She tapped a finger to her lips. "I thought we threw that thing out years ago."
Leo perked up. "You know the book?" He asked.
"Yes, dear," she replied. "Some boys found it back when I was around your age at the camp." Nico watched as the woman's face slowly fell and her mouth briefly formed a thin line. "There was also a fire that year. One of the cabins burned down. Those same boys were in it."
Percy held his skewered marshmallow over the fire. "Sounds like a ghost story to me."
"Well," Demeter hesitated, "it was a bit more real than that. The boys were ranting about an old urban legend they read about in the book. I was sweet on one of those boys." She finished passing out marshmallows to their group and just stood there, fiddling with the bag in her hands. "The day of the fire, those boys started to sound crazy. They said they heard these horrible noises all night, like scraping and chains clattering. The camp nurse had to detain them in the medical facility. They were raving mad about some invisible jail that was beneath the lake and that something had rose from the water to come reap their souls." Demeter caught the disturbed looks on the kids' faces and she cleared her throat. "They probably found some mushrooms out in the woods." She pointed a finger at Grover as she began to walk off. "Do not get any ideas, Mr. Underwood."
"Yes, ma'am," Grover chuckled as Demeter left. He then clapped his hands together. "So, who feels like exploring the woods?"
Percy rolled his eyes. "Forgetting getting high for once. This just got better. Sounds like an old camp legend. Think how scared campers will be when they find out we uncovered that same book, and that we read from it." He grinned wickedly. "We should find a chain, since Demeter mentioned it."
"There was a chain drawn in the book," Leo pointed out.
After eating his fill of marshmallows, Nico got up and decided to head back to the cabin. "Nico, where are you going?" Percy called when he noticed Nico was gone.
Nico shrugged and turned around to face his friend. "Just gonna call it a night."
Percy pouted at him. "But we have scare planning to do."
"I feel that's more you're area of expertise," Nico chuckled. He waved off the pout that Percy was still giving him. "I want to get some rest, Jason will be here in the morning." He narrowed his eyes when Percy grinned. "Clear your dirty mind, perv."
"You're no fun." Percy swiped his nose with his thumb, still grinning. "Fine, go get your sleep. I'll try to resist the urge to scare your pants off." The green-eyed boy winked at Nico. "I'll leave getting your pants off to Jason."
"Ha ha. You're so funny, Percy Jackson."
Rolling his eyes, Nico headed on to the cabin. His brow eyes glanced up at the lake as he got to the center of all the cabins. The moon was out, illuminating the camp and casting a light onto the water. There was some fog that was rolling in. Perfect for his friends to go crazy with their scaring. The poor campers. As long as they kept him out of it. He really just wanted to spend the next few days with Jason, since he hadn't seen the blond in so long.
Nico stopped and turned around. He was alone, but it was weird. Like he was being watched. Not that he was that comforted. There were plenty of places to hide in the dark. The sides of the cabins were pitch black. Nico rubbed at his arm uneasily and briskly walked the rest of the way to his cabin, shutting the door behind him. Not that it would do much good. The cabin door was just a wooden screen door that didn't even have a lock on it. So comforting, really. Hopefully an axe murderer never showed up at camp.
After doing a quick check out the window, Nico grabbed a towel from his suitcase and headed for the shower. The front of the bathroom was three stalls, while the showers were in the back. The showers weren't that private. Nico was just thankful that they did have a curtain. He really wasn't left with any obvious place to get Jason alone.
Turning on the water, Nico stripped himself of his clothes and sat them on a little bench that was outside the curtains of each shower stall. Nico stuck his head on under the water and let out a sigh. He was not much of an athletic or outdoors person, so he doubted these next few weeks were going to be kind on his body. Nico nearly slipped and fell when his phone went off.
Scrambling to the curtain, Nico stuck his head out and retrieved his phone from his shorts. Jason's smiling face popped up on the screen. Smiling, Nico accepted the call. "Hey," he said.
"Hey!" Came Jason's voice. Nico's heart skipped a beat. "How's camp?"
"Good. Showering at the moment. The others are still at the bonfire. Just feeling a little off at the moment."
"Oh?" He could practically hear Jason's smirk. "So... you're naked? And alone? Interesting."
Nico snorted. "You're a dork. There's like no privacy here."
"Just have to know how to work the system."
Nico wasn't that convinced. "Really? And how is that?"
"I just tell Percy that I need some privacy with you, and he'll clear the cabin. Somehow. I wouldn't question it further. He owes me for clearing the cabin last year for him and Annabeth." Jason snorted. "Well, at the beginning. Somehow, by the end of camp, I had to do it again for him and Luke. I can't keep up with my bro's sex life."
"I don't think any of us can," Nico mumbled, resting his chin on the tiled shower wall. "What are you doing? Have a good trip?"
"I did! I wish you could have joined. It was beautiful out here. Not as nice as when your dad let me tag along to Italy, but still pretty nice." Nico heard something being zipped on Jason's end. "I'm just finishing up my packing. We are getting on a very early flight tomorrow. We'll probably be at camp around lunch time, though. Gotta get through New York traffic and all that. Reyna's sister is picking us up at the airport."
"Sounds nice." Nico took in a breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it out. "So, did you decide about the college?"
"Um... I'm still debating. I'd like to go..."
"But?"
Jason chuckled nervously. "You'll be mad, or call me a dork. Or call me stupid. Both Reyna and Annabeth called me stupid. Reyna also said it was predictable, but so did Thalia. Those two seem to share a mind. It's kind of scary, really."
Nico frowned. "Jason, you're stalling."
"Right." Jason let out a sigh. "I don't know. I'd like to go, really, but it's on the other side of the country. On the other side of the country... and away from you. There are some universities in upstate New York that were pretty good. Or something. Most colleges seem to want me."
"Your GPA would support that statement. Not to mention all of your recommendation letters, clubs, sports, volunteer work, and your father's promise to donate a hefty sum to whatever college you decided to enroll in."
"There is that." It sounded like Jason plopped down on a bed. "He said it was the money he didn't get to spend on Thalia's own tuition. Which is weird, because he still supports her when she needs it." Jason let out a chuckle, ringing music in Nico's ear. "Father really doesn't know how to voice his affection."
Narrowing his eyes, Nico let out a huff. "Getting off topic a little. You're right, I'm not too happy." Nico rubbed at his face. "Jason, you can get into any college you want. Annabeth's university is a great choice. I'll be fine for a year. I'll see you on breaks and long weekends." Nico's brow furrowed when he thought he heard the screen door of the cabin slam shut. "I think the others are back. But, my point is, don't settle for me. I can join you in a year. I have you and Reyna to thank for dragging to me to all your stupid events and making sure my grades were above average."
"Nico, you're top in your class," Jason mumbled. "I'd say that's better than average."
A door opened on Jason's end. "Is that Nico? Have you told him about the school yet?" Came Reyna' s voice.
"Yes," Jason replied. "He agrees with you. I feel so attacked and ganged up on." There was a thump. "Ow! Don't abuse me."
"He's right. Be smart. Go to the school," Reyna shot back.
Nico let out a chuckle. "Tell her I miss her."
"Nico says he misses you," Jason said.
"I miss him, too," Reyna replied happily.
"And I miss you," Nico smiled. "A lot."
"I miss you," Jason whispered. Reyna made a gagging sound before a door shut on the other end of the phone. "Okay, we are alone again. I'll think about it some more. I've been accepted into tons of schools. Just need to give one an answer within a few weeks." Jason blew his lips. "Lot to think on. It'll suck, being so far from you."
"You'll live." Nico took in a breath. "Hey, I'm gonna finish my shower. I'll see you when you get here."
"Yeah" Nico could hear the smile on Jason's face. "I can't wait to see you. Have a good night. I'll be dreaming about you."
Nico chuckled. "Night." He hung up the phone and put it back on his shorts before closing the curtain again.
As Nico scrubbed his body, he realized he had a scowl on his face. He let out a sigh. Yes, he wanted Jason to be happy and pursue his dreams. He didn't want Jason to ever look back and wonder what could have been, just because of their relationship. Jason was brilliant. He had potential. They would be able to be with each other the following year. It was only a year. They could make it work.
It sucked, Nico wouldn't lie there, but they could make it work. Part of him wanted to be selfish, wanted to ask Jason to stay, but Nico knew that he would end up hating himself if he did. At least they were only a year apart.
Nico nearly jumped out of his skin when a light popped and began to flicker. Cursing under his breath, Nico turned off the water and reached for his towel. After he toweled his hair, Nico wrapped it around his waist and gathered up his things. He padded out of the bathroom and nearly had a heart attack.
Standing in the middle of the room were the rest of his friends, all in dark clothing and wearing creepy masks. Luke had a chain slung over his arm, Percy had a garden shovel in his hand, and Leo was carrying a bag of fake blood under each arm. Why was he friends with these idiots?
"Where did you even get that stuff?" Nico asked in disbelief.
Grover shrugged, chewing on a random piece of celery. Nico wasn't sure where he had got it. "Stolls gave us the blood and the chain. Not sure where they got the chain, though," Grover replied. He pointed his half-eaten celery at Percy. "And then we stopped by the gardening station and picked up the shovel. Gonna use it to scrape against the cabin windows."
Nico opened his mouth to retort, but thought better of it and closed his mouth. He shook his head and continued to his bed. He sat down and slipped his boxers on underneath his towel before standing up to slide them onto his hips. Rolling his eyes, Nico dropped the towel and slid to the head of his bed.
"You all have fun with that," he finally replied. "I'm going to be here, not getting myself in trouble." He motioned to the group. "You even got Frank to misbehave?"
Frank gave a shy wave. "Don't tell Hazel?"
Nico rolled his eyes with a chuckle, sliding his legs under the covers. "Go. Cause chaos. Just let me rest."
The group let out a holler as they took their leave. Nico glanced over his shoulder at them and snorted. Aside from Frank, he was the youngest in their group. Leo was older by a few months, but responsibility was not even on the Latino's radar. It was sad that Nico was probably the most mature out of all his guy friends.
It was the first actual day of camp, and Nico already found something else he hated about it. They had to be up at seven for breakfast, and then move on to camp activities by eight. It was summer! They were supposed to be able to sleep in until around noon! They didn't even have coffee. Yet, all his friends seemed perfectly fine and happy. Not Nico, he looked like death. Well, even more than usual.
It was a little after ten, and Nico had already done crafts, climbed the wall, spent time in the garden—he was forced to by Demeter—and participated in a three legged race with Percy. It did not go well. After their crushing defeat, Percy had suggested swimming. Nico had gone along, but he opted for sitting on the edge of the dock, while some of his other friends swam around in the water.
"Luke!" Came a yell so loud that it caused everyone to stop and stare. Clarisse came barging through some of the bushes, charging at the blond when she found him. Luke let out a yelp as he was shoved into the water by Clarisse, who was slightly shorter than the blond, but nobody at camp really wanted to mess with. "I found it was you and your group that was terrorizing my cabin last night. Do you know how much bitching I had to put up with?"
Luke let out a chuckle as he floated in the water, not really caring that Clarisse was fuming and red in the face. "Not my fault they aren't bright enough to know fake blood when they see it."
Clarisse pounded her fist into her palm. "Do it again and I'll give you a broken nose to go along with that scar of yours."
Luke just rolled his eyes and Clarisse stormed off. Nico shook his head. Were they really that stupid to go after Clarisse's cabin? Nico had heard stories about her. Percy's first year of camp, she had flushed his head down a toilet. Last year, she had pantsed Leo and managed to knock the Stolls out long enough for her cabin to put makeup on them and get them into dresses. That one had backfired, as the Stolls wore the dresses the rest of the day as a fashion statement.
"I wouldn't worry about her," Percy said casually. "Chrion has her on probation this year. She steps out of line, she can't come back."
Nico arched a brow. "Aren't you all putting yourselves at the same risks with this pranking?"
"Only if they can prove it was us," Leo chuckled.
Nico rolled his eyes as his phone began to vibrate. He smiled when it turned out to be Jason. He accepted the call and put it to his ear, pulling his knees up to his chest. "Hey, baby," came Jason's voice. "How's camp going?"
"Would be better if you were here," Nico teased.
"Nice to know I've been missed. You look nice today."
A faint blush rose to Nico's cheeks. "You're here?"
His head spun around and spotted a familiar blond standing at the beginning of the dock, waving. Nico jumped up and ended the call, shoving the phone in his pocket and running towards Jason. He flung himself at the blond, who caught him with ease. Nico chuckled as he wrapped his legs around the blond and clung on to Jason with dear life. Their lips met and Nico melted into his boyfriend.
When they separated, Jason let Nico down before pecking him on the cheek and then adjusting his glasses. He smiled and lifted a dufflebag from his feet. Arching a brow, Jason fingered the hem of Nico's shirt. "So that's where my shirt went."
Nico blushed and batted the blond's hand away. "It's too small for you now."
Jason chuckled and kissed Nico again. "Fair enough. It looks good on you." He nodded towards the cabin. "Want to help me settle in?"
The two held hands as they walked. Nico took in a deep breath as he leaned against his boyfriend, taking in Jason's scent. He didn't want to let go of the blond. Jason kissed him on the head when they got to the cabin. He smiled down at Nico and opened the door for Nico. Nico rolled his eyes. Leave it to Jason to always be a gentleman.
They stopped short of the entrance when they were inside. It was like a hurricane had blown through the cabin. Mattresses were overturned, clothes were thrown everywhere, and even some of the lights had blown on. Jason nudged the shattered glass with his foot before going over to the only empty bed left, the one above Nico's.
He turned back around with a frown. "Did I miss something?"
Nico let out a sigh. "Gonna have to tell Luke about this. It was probably Clarisse." The brown-eyed boy shrugged. "Percy and the others are doing some pranks. They found this old book that had an urban legend in it. Apparently, it's an old camp story. Anyways, Clarisse was probably in here looking for the stuff they used to terrorize her cabin last night." Nico held his hands up in defense when Jason raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought it was stupid. I didn't participate."
Jason nodded as he looked around the cabin. "Good. You don't need to get on Clarisse's bad side. Not that she has much of a good side, unless you are Silena." Jason let out a sigh and rubbed his neck. "Let me text Percy. We probably should get the cabin cleaned up."
Five minutes later, the rest of the cabin came jogging into the camp. "What the fuck?" Luke shouted.
Percy ignored all the chaos and came over to Jason to give the blond a hug. He stuck his tongue out playfully at Nico as he squeezed the blond's ass. Jason chuckled and pulled back. "I hear you all got into some trouble," Jason pointed out. He motioned around the cabin. "Looks like Clarisse isn't happy with you."
Leo picked up the iron chain they had used last night from the floor. "Looks like she found our stuff, but she didn't take it."
Percy frowned. "Strange." He tapped Luke's shoulder with the back of his knuckles. "Wanna go talk to Clarisse?"
"Not really," Luke grunted, "but I guess I will." He headed for the door. "Try to get this cleaned up. We don't need the camp directors seeing this. There's a broom in my room."
With that, he left. Frank retrieved the broom and began sweeping up the broken glass. The others went about sorting through everything and sorting them to who it belonged to. At least none of their stuff got destroyed.
"So," Jason finally said, "I hear you guys found some old book?"
Percy grinned. "Yeah. I let Thalia borrow it last night, but you can take a look at it later, if you want." He scrunched his face. "We couldn't read it, though. It's in Latin."
Jason gave a chuckle. "I'll take a look at it for you."
Around thirty minutes later, Luke returned to the cabin as they were finishing up. Nico had just finished stuffing all of his clothes back in his bag. He was just going to stuff it all in there, but Jason made him fold all his clothes. Not that the blond jerk bothered to help. He just sat beside Nico, smiling innocently. If Nico hadn't missed him so much, he would have shoved him off the bed.
"What did Clarisse say?" Frank asked.
Luke let out a grunt, rubbing a hand down his face. "Just wasted ten bucks."
Nico glanced at Jason in confusion. The blond chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "If you want Clarisse to do something or talk, you usually have to pay her," he clarified. "She's gone up five dollars from last year."
Luke leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "She was playing games when I found her. More like crushing cabin five. Said she didn't do anything." Luke rubbed his jaw. "I'd have been more doubtful, if she didn't have Silena as a witness. She didn't do this."
Leo flailed his arms. "Then how do you explain this?"
"Well," Percy began, "she didn't take anything, if it was her. That doesn't really make sense. We couldn't find anything missing. Nothing." He glanced at Luke with a frown. "Why would someone come jack our cabin up like this?"
Plopping down on his mattress, Grover dug around in his pocket until he pulled out a smoke. Frank quickly snatched it from the brunet, who fell off the bed to try and get it back. "Hey, man!" Grover whined. "Do you know how hard I worked to get that?"
"You seem to always have some source of getting high on you," Frank retorted.
"Not the point," Grover sighed and laid back on his bed. Placing his hands behind his head, the brunet grinned. "Maybe that thing from the book showed up."
"You're an idiot," voiced Nico. Grover just grinned at him.
Jason just shook his head and turned to Percy. "Speaking of, mind if I get a look at that book?"
Unfortunately, Nico got dragged along with Jason and Percy. He didn't really have to go, but Nico just got Jason back and he just wanted to be around the blond. There was another incentive to go along. That incentive being Reyna.
Percy knocked on their friends' cabin and out came a head of blonde hair. Annabeth arched a brow at them and leaned against the door. "Well, well, look what we have here. Miss me, Sea-weed Brain?"
Percy smirked and clasped hand with his ex-girlfriend. Nico would never understand how they managed to stay so cool with each other. All three of them. Luke didn't get irritated with Annabeth, when Percy was with her, and Annabeth didn't seem to care at all when Percy was off with Luke. The only thing that really made sense was that Percy had a things for blondes. Perhaps he should be worried about Percy's bromance with Jason.
He had never really asked Jason why he wasn't interested in Percy, but the blond said that he only saw Percy as a brother. All of their locker room stories aside. Nico had heard plenty about how they got on after gym or sports. If Percy wasn't Nico's best friend, he might have killed him for all the times he pretended to drop the soap in front of Jason and rub his ass against the blond's crotch.
Thankfully, Percy had never really shown any actual interest in Jason, he just liked playing around. Nico would never understand the two of them. Hell, Percy had even gotten to kiss Jason before Nico thanks to a game of truth or dare.
"Always," Percy grinned. He pulled the blonde in for a hug. "How was the trip?"
"Same old. Thankful to be back here. I don't mind my stepmother, really, but it sometimes feels awkward at home with her and her sons." The blond motioned into the cabin. "Want to come in?"
The three boys entered and glanced around. The girls all looked up and waved at them as they entered. Reyna jumped down from her bunk and came across the room to steal Nico away from Jason. "Hey," the blond pouted. Reyna stuck her tongue out at him.
"Thals," Percy called out.
The door to the cabin counselor's room opened and out came Thalia. She smiled and ran up to Jason, pulling the blond into a hug. Even though she was several years older, Thalia barely even met Nico's height, which meant that her younger brother practically towered over her. She looked like a kid compared to him.
Percy thumped the back of Thalia's head. "Mind if we see that book?" He grinned when Thalia turned to glare at him. "Thought your brother could take a look at it."
"Oh." Thalia motioned over her shoulder. "I was letting Annabeth and Reyna look at it."
"Yeah," Reyna continued, moving over to her bed and picking up the old book that they had found. She handed it to Jason. "Take a look. Pretty graphic. Some of it is pretty old Latin, too. Some parts Annabeth and I couldn't understand."
With a nod, Jason opened the book and slowly flipped through the pages. He sat down on Reyna's bed, his eyes scanning across the pages. Reyna sat down beside him and pointed to a few words. Jason shook his head. He couldn't read those parts either. How old was this book?
Eventually, Jason blew his lips and shut the book. He shook his head and knocked on the cover of the book with his knuckles. "Well, a lot of it is discernible, but there are a few parts that I can read." He handed the book over to Annabeth, who began to read it. "From what I can make out, the book talks about some kind of jail."
"For what?" Piper asked.
Reyna shrugged. "The book calls them the damned, but that's not much help. The book seems to be written by several people over the years. One called them demons that fell from heaven. One basically describes them as monsters." She rolled her eyes. "It's just some old supernatural book. Like the old Grimm stories."
"So," Hazel voiced from her bed, "where is this jail supposed to be?"
Annabeth pointed to a passage in the book. "This looks like the word for 'plane'. So... not on this plane? Looks like the following passage talks about gateways to enter the prison." She hummed to herself and arched a brow. "One is supposedly under the lake at our camp. Since this is handwritten, it is entirely likely that the boys that Demeter told you about could have written this to scare people that found the book."
Jason held his hand out and took the book back from Annabeth. He flipped several pages over. "From what I was also able to make out of this book, some people in the Dark Ages put a curse on the book. It seems to reference something called 'The Warden'."
"That's what we read about," Percy replied.
With a nod, Jason looked back down at the book. "Well, that thing is like the jailer of this supernatural prison, according to this book. But at some point in history, some guy put this passage in the book." The blond pointed to a paragraph. "Says here that there was an incident. People died. Not sure what all happened, can't make it out, but this guy was pretty shaken up about it. He basically cursed the book for whoever used any of the rituals in the book."
Reyna nodded and pointed below Jason's finger. "Here it says that no matter what ritual you read, you summon your own death. Basically a defensive measure to keep anyone from..." Reyna let out a chuckle, "from letting anything out of the prison. The Warden is supposed to come and kill any within a..." She frowned and pointed to a word. "Can you make this out, Jason?" The blond shook his head. "Annabeth?"
Annabeth took the book with a sigh. After a second, she handed it back and shook her head. "Basically some undetermined distance."
By this point, Nico was fighting off a groan. His grandmother had been a very superstitious woman, and perhaps some of that had been passed on to Nico. So had his mother. Bianca was a little bit, and one glance at his sister told him that she was thinking the same thing. What if this was real? Maybe they shouldn't have messed with the book.
Percy let out a snort. "That's great." He flipped through the front of the book. "Does it say who wrote this thing? They're like some undiscovered Lovecraft writer, or something."
"Doesn't say," Reyna replied.
Nico fidgeted and sat down next to his boyfriend, looping his arm through the blond's. It was just a story, he kept telling himself. It was just some stupid story meant to scare them. It wasn't real. Right?
By the end of the day, Percy and the others had managed to spread the word of this story throughout the camp. Nico stayed out of it, opting instead to spend his day with Jason. The two laid out on the dock, curled up together and staring up at the sky. Nico sighed into Jason's bare chest from where he laid tucked under the blond's arm. They were supposed to have been at campfire, but they had both wanted some alone time.
Jason rolled on top of Nico and kissed the shorter male. Nico moaned into the blond's mouth. They might have been a tad bit naked, only covered by a blanket. What? Sue him. Nico hadn't seen his boyfriend in a month, and he also missed getting laid. Nico smiled and slid out from under Jason, reaching for his boxers.
A whine escaped from Jason as he wrapped his arms around the raven haired boy's waist. "You don't have to get dressed."
"But I do," Nico chuckled. He tossed the blond's underwear at him. "Campfire will end soon, and I don't think it would go well for us if someone found us. Especially our friends. They'd never let us live it down." He kissed Jason on the nose before standing up.
"Fine, fine." Jason smiled and grabbed Nico by the hips, slowly kissing his way across Nico's stomach and hips. Nico let out a moan when Jason squeezed his ass. "I guess we'll have to find some more alone time later."
Nico leaned down and kissed Jason deeply before grabbing the rest of his clothes and putting them on. "Definitely. Perhaps the showers when the others are for sure asleep. Don't need them listening or anything." He bit on his lip as Jason finally got up, exposing his nude form. God bless Jason for his body.
The two got back to the cabin around fifteen minutes before the others. As soon as Percy entered, he spotted them and grinned. "Well, looks like you two were a little too busy to join us roasting marshmallows."
Leo grinned as well, nudging Percy. "Probably more exciting than marshmallows."
Luke smacked both boys on the back of the head as he walked towards his room. "At least they are getting some, Valdez," he smirked.
"Harsh!" Leo retorted. His face scrunched up as Percy slipped past Luke and entered the counselor's room. "Please keep it down. At least Jason and Nico did their deeds in private."
"No promises," Percy called back before Luke shut the door.
Jason plopped down on Nico's bed with a smile, lightly rubbing the brown-eyed boy's back. "So, where's Grover?"
"With Juniper," Frank replied.
It took all of thirty minutes before Luke and got too loud for Nico to tolerate. He grunted and rolled onto his side. Jason had fallen asleep with his glasses on. Nico sighed and sat up, reaching over to remove the glasses and put them in the window. Nico grabbed his shoes and a flashlight, deciding to go for a walk. Frank was the only other one awake, but he had his headphones on while he read a book. Smart.
Outside was far more quiet. Nico took in a breath and walked through camp. While nobody was out, several cabins still had their lights on. There was a lot of laughter from some of the girls' cabins. Nico flipped on his flashlight as he neared the nature trail that ran through the woods. At most, he would only really have to worry about running across a snake along the path.
Nico sighed as he walked slowly along the path. He was happy for Jason, but Nico definitely had selfish desires coursing through him. If Jason went to California, Nico would see him like once or twice during each semester. Not counting breaks between the semesters. And what if Nico didn't get into the same university? There were other schools in California, but did Nico want to settle just to be close to Jason?
This was the crappy part of falling in love before graduating high school. There was no telling where life was going to take them from here. Nico wanted to be with Jason, and Jason wanted to be with him. But could they manage making this all work to stay together?
A chain rattling jarred Nico out of his thoughts. The boy's brow furrowed as he slowly pointed his flashlight around him. He frowned when he noticed something move off in the woods. Nico crept through the trees, holding his light towards the movement he saw. Someone was walking ahead of him, dragging something along behind it.
"Hello?" Nico called out.
Whoever it was stopped and turned around. Nico's eyes widened as a large figure with a black hood stared back at him. It looked like a foot was tied up in the chain that he was holding. Nico gulped as the person dangled a scythe that was attached to the chain in his hand.
"Luke?" Nico asked, trying to keep his hand steady with the light. No reply. "Percy? Frank?" Could it be any of them? Most of them had been back in the cabin, unless they followed Nico out here. Maybe it was another camper.
Alarms blared in Nico's mind when the person began spinning the scythe above his head. It was flung at his head, barely missing Nico by an inch as he ducked behind a tree. Nico fell to the ground, shaking in fear as the scythe was ripped back to the person wielding it. A faint dark glow briefly emitted from under its hood.
Nico shot to his feet and bolted in the opposite direction when the thing began to spin the scythe to throw again. Nico yelled for help as he ran, ducking and weaving through the trees. He wasn't entirely sure where he was headed, just as long as it was far away from the crazy person with the scythe.
As he ran by a tree, the flashlight smacked against it and fell to the ground. Nico debated turning around to go back and get it, but thought better of it. He kept running. He didn't care how much his lungs burned, Nico wasn't going to stop running until he was back at camp. That was the plan anyways. It ended up being ruined by a root that snagged his foot.
With a yelp, Nico was sent crashing to the ground. He rolled onto his back with a groan. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see two familiar faces staring down at him in confusion.
Juniper was slipping her shirt over her head before she moved to crouch down beside Nico. "Are you all right?"
Nico groaned again. "What are you two doing out here?"
Juniper blushed and Grover grinned. "Use your imagination, little man," the brunet replied.
Setting up with a start, Nico began to panic. "We need to go. Something's following me. I think." He flailed his arms wildly. "There was someone in the woods, and they nearly killed me."
After sharing a look with each other, the two helped Nico to his feet. "You hit your head, brother?" Grover asked. Nico was still in a state of panic. "Let's go have a look then."
"Wait, no!" Nico called out, but Grover was already wandering into the woods. Juniper just smiled and followed after him, which Nico with no choice but to go after them.
They wandered around for a long time, but never found anyone. They even went in search of the spot Nico had found the person. It wasn't that easy to find out in the woods, but they eventually did. Grover arched a brow as he ran his fingers across the slashed tree. Maybe that would convince them.
"What if that thing has come to kill us?" Nico whispered.
Juniper tilted her head to the side. "Is he talking about that old book you guys found?"
"Yeah, babe." Grover shook his head with a smirk as he turned to Nico. "Chill out, dude. I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation for this."
This was unbelievable. "Like what?" Nico shouted, slightly irritated. "Are you high, or something?"
"Well, yeah..." Grover replied. He shrugged. "I mean, maybe you did see something. But what is there really to worry about? Urban legends aren't real."
"Unless it's just a normal murderer," Juniper added.
Grover shined his light on her. "Not helping, babe." The brunet's brow furrowed. "Now that would actually be freaky. Not any cops anywhere around here." He scratched his goatee. "I wonder if Chrion or the adults have any guns around camp for that kind of situation."
There was a pounding in Nico's chest as his heart threatened to explode from his chest. How was this helping? He rapidly tapped his hand against the tree. "This! This is real. Someone threw a scythe on a chain at my head. How is that not bad?" He took in a breath. "This is beyond a prank."
Grover pondered this over for a moment. Juniper let out a sigh and put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "We will just bring this up to Chrion in the morning," she assured Nico.
It wasn't much, but Nico took it. The three headed back towards the cabin, Nico sticking close to the other two. He kept glancing over his shoulder. Maybe Grover right, maybe it was nothing. Maybe just hearing about that story so much was messing with Nico's mind. But, still, how would anyone explain what he saw in the woods? Even if it was a murderer, it was still a murderer!
Grover took Juniper back to her cabin. Nico took the opportunity to slip away and head towards the Big House. The doors on the side were supposed to belong to the adults. Nico found Chiron's door and knocked loudly on it.
No response.
Taking in a breath, Nico knocked again, a little louder this time. He glanced over his shoulder and began pounding on the door. Still no answer. Maybe Chrion was a heavy sleeper. Nico sighed and put his back to the door. Rubbing his arm, he moved on to Demeter's room.
She answered after the second knock. "Nico? What are you doing awake at this hour?" She asked, yawning a little.
"There's someone in the woods," Nico quickly replied. "Someone attacked me in the woods. He had this scythe and he threw it at my head." It took everything he had to not shake uncontrollably. "I don't know who or what it was, but the person attacked me."
Demeter's face had grown serious as Nico talked. She tied up the sash on her robe and slipped outside. Nico stopped her when she tried to knock on Chiron's door.
"He wouldn't answer."
Demeter gave a nod. "One of our campers broke her leg earlier tonight after campfire." She motioned for Nico to follow her. "If Chiron is still here, he's probably in our little medical room." Demeter opened a door and turned on a light. The medical room was empty. "Perhaps Chrion took her to the hospital. I'm sure he will be back in the morning." She pursed her lips. "Oh dear. Go back to your cabin, sweetie. Tell Luke. I'll see about getting the other adults and the counselors. We'll go search the woods. You get some sleep."
Nico gave a nod and quickly headed back to his cabin. He slipped inside and quietly knocked on Luke's door. There was a grumble from the other side, followed by the creak of a bed. Luke opened the door and let out a yawn, standing there in just his boxers.
"What's up, short stuff?"
Nico shifted. "Demeter wants you to come to the Big House?"
Luke frowned. "Why?" He asked slowly.
"Someone... attacked me in the woods," Nico confessed. Luke's brow furrowed, sleep vanishing from his eyes. "He was using a scythe on a chain."
Luke slowly nodded. "Maybe someone's taking this prank a little too far." He stepped back inside and Nico stood in the doorway.
Percy was fast asleep in Luke's bed, his leg sticking off the side and drooling on the pillow. Luke quickly dressed and grabbed a flashlight. He shut the door to his room and then stopped to look down at Nico.
"Get some sleep," the blond ordered. "I'll wake you up if we find anything." He pulled a knife out of his pocket and handed it to Nico. "Just in case there is some nut case running around camp." Nico gave a small nod as he took the knife. "Just be safe."
Nico stood there awkwardly as Luke left. He stared down at the knife before slipping over to his bed, where Jason was still sleeping peacefully. Nico undressed down to his boxers and slipped under the covers. He put the knife on top of his clothes on the floor before rolling over and curling up next to his boyfriend.
There was no way he was going to sleep tonight.
"Everyone wake up!" Luke shouted.
Nico groaned and rolled over to look at his phone. It was just a little after six. Jason groaned next to him and wrapped his arms around Nico's waist. Nico smiled and ran his fingers through Jason's hair before slipping out of bed.
"Get dressed," Luke ordered. The boys in the cabin groaned in response. "Demeter is going to address the camp." He glanced at Nico. "There was a situation last night."
By the time they got dressed and left, the other cabins were already waiting. There was a heavy fog out this morning, and the sky had barely risen. From the look of Luke, it didn't appear that the blond had gone back to sleep since Nico woke him up.
Demeter quieted everyone down. "If I can have your attention please." The campers slowly fell silent. "Last night, one of our campers was attacked in the woods. I know that there is this story going around right now, and it's possible that some of you wanted to scare your fellow campers. If this is true, I'd like to offer you the chance to find me and tell me if this is true. If it isn't, then I can only assume there was a dangerous person out in the woods last night." She took in a breath as she patted her hair. "I will be overseeing the camp until Chrion returns. As you know, Katie broke her leg last night. It seems Chrion and the other directors of the camp took her to the hospital." She gave a nod. "That is all. Get yourselves something to eat. The woods will be closed off today, for obvious reasons, so please stay clear of them. Stay where a counselor can see you at all times. I will be calling to see about getting a police officer to come out here in the meantime."
After they got food, they all sat at the table. "This is crazy, right?" Thalia said. "I can't believe someone was attacked.
"I know," Jason agreed.
Luke glanced up from his food, a stern look on his face as he watched Nico. "It was your boyfriend that was attacked."
Nico wanted to yell at Luke, but Jason was already turning on him in surprise. "Wait, what? Why didn't you wake me up?" He glanced Nico over. "Are you hurt? What happened?"
Nico let out a sigh. "I'm fine." Everyone was watching him. Bianca seemed to be in big sister mode, digging in her pocket for her phone. "Please don't call Dad."
"I can't," Bianca confessed. She held her phone in the air, shifting it around a few times. "No signal. Strange. I had some last night."
Others pulled their phones out. Nobody had signal. Jason frowned, but turned back to Nico. "Tell me what happened," he pleaded.
Nico let out a sigh before delving into the story. "We never found anything out there," Grover added when Nico was done. "Just a slashed tree, like Nico described."
Hazel glanced at Luke, Thalia, and Bianca. "You guys weren't told it was Nico that was attacked?"
"I knew," Luke confessed, "but only because Nico told me when he got back to the cabin."
Bianca looked angry. She slammed a fist down on the table. "Dammit, Luke, why didn't you tell me last night?"
The blond shrugged. "He didn't get hurt. Besides, we had other concerns last night." Wait, what? Luke let out a sigh and lowered his voice. "Don't let the other camp know this, Demeter wants to keep it quiet, but Chiron and Katie weren't the only ones missing last night. None of the directors were around. It was just us counselors and Demeter looking last night." He slowly shook his head. "Demeter says that maybe they went with Chrion, but I don't know."
"Okay, this is a little freaky," Piper confessed. Nico had to agree with her.
This was crazy. He just wondered how many of the others were freaked out. Were they just brushing it off? It was just too many coincidences, right? The person in the woods that attacked Nico, the phones, the adults missing... It just couldn't be a coincidence.
Nico's foot was rapidly tapping under the table. "Do any of you have your cars with you?"
"Nope," Luke confessed. "Rode with Thalia, and her stepmom dropped her off."
The others were pretty much the same. Jason took notice of Nico's leg and put a hand on it. He gave the raven haired boy a soft smile and squeezed his hand. It did little to calm Nico down. Was he jumping to conclusions? It was crazy, right? Legends weren't real. This stuff wasn't real. It couldn't be. That would be crazy. Right?
Nico found Demeter after breakfast. "Any luck reaching the police?" He asked.
Demeter lightly shook her head. "Phones aren't wanting to work." She let out a heavy sigh, wringing her hands together. "The camp jeep is gone, so maybe they did take Katie to the hospital. I'm sure they will be back shortly. I just wish they would hurry. I can't leave to go find a cop and just leave you all here, not if some crazy lunatic is out in the woods."
"We could all leave," Nico offered.
Demeter smiled and patted the boy on his cheek. "Believe me, we just might. For now, we might be better off here. We just need to make sure nobody goes into the woods." She patted Nico on the back and ushered the boy on his way. "Go enjoy your day, sweetheart. You shouldn't have to worry about this. We will get to the bottom of things."
It didn't really matter what Jason did, Nico stuck with him. He didn't participate in the physical activities, just sat off to the side. Jason didn't say anything, though. Why would he? Nico figured that Jason would have made Nico stick near him, even if the brown-eyed boy hadn't done so on his own accord.
It wasn't just Jason. Luke, Percy, Jason, Reyna, and Thalia all made sure that every one of their friends were accounted for. Nobody from their group was allowed to go off on their own. Grover had tried to go off with Juniper, but Percy had snatched his friend by the leg and dragged him back. Juniper just laughed and offered to stay with their group.
Jason sat down next to Nico on the grass after a match of volleyball. He smiled at his boyfriend as Nico handed him some water and a towel. The blond mumbled his thanks and took a sip of the water as he wiped his sweaty torso off. Nico let out a sigh and leaned against the blond, who wrapped his arms around Nico and pulled him down to the grass.
"I love you," Nico mumbled into Jason's collarbone.
Jason smiled and began stroking his fingers through Nico's hair. "Love you, too." He leaned back to look at the smaller boy. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Not really. Just shaken up."
The blond kissed Nico's head. "We'll be fine. If you really just want to leave, I will go with you."
"No," Nico mumbled. "I'll be fine."
Hours went on, but nobody returned to camp. She wasn't saying anything, but it was clear that Demeter was starting to worry. Nothing else had happened, though. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing. Leo apparently saw Jake and Lacy go into the woods. Apparently, Jake was wanting to scare Lacy and see if he couldn't make something happen. That had been an hour ago.
It didn't seem like they would be the last to go in there. "A few others are going in," Bianca announced at dinner. She shrugged and rolled her eyes, taking a bite of her food. "If they weren't staying in a group, I'd be more concerned."
"Is that smart, to let them go in there?" Annabeth asked.
"I mean, can I really stop them? If they want to go, they'll go. Not much anyone can do, unless you want to lock everyone up."
Annabeth gave a nod. "Fair."
Nico wasn't eating, he couldn't. His nerves were shot to hell. It was taking everything he had not to take Jason up on that offer to leave, but Nico knew that his friends wouldn't leave. The sun was slowly descending, too. By this point, they might just barely make it to the nearest town before dark. There was no way Nico was leaving camp after dark. Whether it be some crazy murderer or supernatural being, there was no way Nico was going outside of camp after dark.
Another hour went by and everyone was getting ready for campfire. Jake and Lacy still hadn't returned, and now Mitchell, Will, Lou, and Cecil had vanished into the woods. Beckendorf and Silena went out there under Demeter's orders to bring them back. Nico didn't understand why anyone would want to go out there.
Right, so, I had to break this thing up into two parts because it was 61 pages long. I could have just made it a giant one-shot, but I felt this would be easier on you guys. Also, as it is so long, there are bound to be plenty of mistakes that I overlooked. Editing something that long is not fun. Anyways, so the thing from the book in this fic is based on a character from a game I sometimes play. Any of you that play will probably recognize that, at least next chapter. The game is League of Legends(don't play if you aren't very thick skinned because players can be assholes), and the character is Thresh. Go look up images of him if you want an idea of the weapon he uses. Also, go look up "Thresh's theme" on Youtube to get some nice music to go along with this experience. Make sure to listen to that while you read the next part.
Speaking of, I'll probably post the rest of this before I go to bed. I'm trying to accommodate everyone with time zones and schedules. I know that some will be busy with Halloween plans, while people over in like Asia and Australia are already beginning their Halloween. I mean, I don't know how much people celebrate it everywhere else in the world. I've heard it's more just Americans that hype it up so much. But it is my favorite holiday, so I don't understand how people can't love it.
But I will see you guys in about 8 hours or so with the rest of this fic.