"I hate you, but I can't stay away from you. What is this power you have over me?"
Nico rolled his eyes at the Aphrodite cabin's dramatic confessions of love. It was obviously staged to look casual, but confessions of love can't be casual, especially when the confession is being performed outside the amphitheater. Nico sulked away, cloaked in shadow, trying his best not to be seen by Chiron, who insisted Nico be "a part of all camp proceedings", and "associate with other campers". The grass underfoot was soft and springy, making his sneaking easier. He strolled into the forest, blocking the enthusiastic cheers from the camp grounds and instead focusing on shadow sight. Shadow sight was something he had only recently discovered. A rare magic, it showed a child of Hades where death was being cheated, where one was concealing darkness. He concentrated on the shadows around him, drawing the power into his hands, and then releasing it, speaking an incantation:
"Umbrae mortis, non esse palliatus," darkness flowed from his lips as he spoke the words. A globe of darkness was formed around him.
"Map layout." He said. A robotic female voice answered,
"World, Country, or State?"
World, and can you please stop sounding like my voicemail? I thought I changed the voice to 'Jack, Australian'."
"Did you say 'World class jackass Australian?" Nico groaned.
"Did you say 'Guttural House'?"
"No, you stupid, idiotic little, little, arghh!" growled Nico.
"I'm sorry, 'No you stupid hjkaloeruaggg' is not in your contacts."
"Not in my contacts? What? Wait, are you my cell phone?" there was a rustling behind him, and Nico turned to look. Two girls were standing there, pointing and whispering. Nico realized that since only extremely powerful demigods could sense shadow and the presence of the underworld, the girls probably saw him standing alone in a clearing talking to…no one. As if his reputation wasn't bad enough already, he was now going to have 'crazier than we thought, talks to self' in those files the Aphrodites kept in their cabin. He sighed and suppressed the urge to shoo the girls away with a flyswatter. He probably had one in his pockets. Those underworld flies could be a real pain. Nico didn't realize until the girls started screaming that he was surrounded by shadow wraiths- they often surfaced when strong emotion mixed with any type of underworld power. In this case, the emotion was extreme annoyance.
"Go away," he told the wraiths. "Go eat dirt or flamingoes or whatever you do in your spare time." They looked offended, but one of them smiled, as if Nico had given it a fabulous idea.
"Oh, Gods, what have I done?" he demanded of the sky, watching the wreaths dissolve into the darkness.
000-000-ooo-000-000
Harry rolled over, awoken from a deep sleep. A vague beeping echoed through the dormitory, and there was a chorus of groans from the awakening boys. Ron rolled over and found himself on his nightstand, while Seamus fell off his bed in his desperation to turn off the alarm.
"MAKE IT STOP!" Seamus was patting the ground, as if the off button on the alarm would just be lying around. Harry rose with a grunt and joined the others in the search for the source of the beeping. Ten minutes later, the alarm was louder and they were still looking. Ron muttered angrily to himself as Dean stumbled over him. Harry staggered to the window- perhaps the alarm was outside? But Neville was already there. And he was screaming.