Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or Nico di Angelo (sadly)
"Can I go now?" Nico asks.
"Please Nico, we need someone to get this demigod. She really needs to get to camp. She thinks she's going crazy. She's in Mrs. Gate's Orphanage for Girls. She's fourteen and it says her name is Astrid. Please Nico, just this once," Percy replies. Nico scowls.
"Fine. I hate you," Nico says. Percy smirks.
"No you don't." Nico stands up to leave.
"Yes I do!" Nico calls back. Percy smiles and rolls his eyes.
"My. Life. Freaking. Sucks," I say, annoyed.
"Oh c'mon, it's not that bad," Callie replies.
"I guess it's not. I just wish I had a family for once."
"So do I." Callie walks out the room. I lay down and close my eyes for a moment. Suddenly, a flash of pictures whizzes in front of me. A boy in an old aviator jacket, a trident, a boy sitting on the shore with dark hair holding a bronze sword, and a boy with blonde hair holding a scythe. He turns around to face me. He smiles and says,
"Nice to meet you, Astrid." Then he slashes his scythe at me. I jolt up panting hard. It's the nightmare again. Sometimes I think I'm crazy. Mrs. Gate is even sending me to a therapist. I overheard Mrs. Gate and Nancy (my therapist) talking about putting me on medication. I talk to Callie about it and she seems to be keeping something from me. Callie is like my older sister. I love her, but I wish she would just tell me what's going on with me. Whenever I ask, she just smiles and says when the time is right. I wash up in the bathroom and walk downstairs for dinner. Georgia our cook, actually makes some decent food. I scarf down a plate of lasagna. After dinner I watch TV for awhile. Then it's story time. Let's get this straight I'm thirteen, fourteen in two months, but Mrs. Gate let's me help put the little girls to sleep. I sit down, and pick Rose up and put her in my lap. She laughs and I tickle her. After about an hour, all the girls are asleep and I just finish tucking Rose in when Mrs. Gate asks me to get extra blankets from the supply closet. I'm about halfway down the stairs when someone pushes me down. I tumble down the stairs. I get up and brush myself off.
"Hey! What the-" I stop because a winged demon is flying towards me. I run outside and look for a place to hide. I run into the storage closet, locking the door as tight as possible behind me. I look around for something to fight with, and all I find is an axe. The demon is pounding itself against the door. In a moment, it opens. I freeze in terror. The demon picks me up and throws me into a wall. I swing my axe at it, but it dodges my attack. The demon knocks the axe out of my hands. I'm cornered and put my hands up in front of my face and look away. I really, truly am going to die. Just as the demon holds up the axe to swing down at me, the boy in the aviator jacket runs in front of me and stabs the demon. It cries out and flies away. The boy turns to me. He has pale skin, and deep brown eyes, which look old and worn out. The guy looks like he's been through a lot. I stand up and brush myself off, which is difficult because I feel like I just went on a tilt-a-whirl twenty times in a row. I stumble, but I catch myself.
"Uh, thanks, for saving me there," I say looking at my feet. I look up and he nods.
"Uh, are you Astrid?" he asks. I almost jump when I hear my name.
"Yeah, so?" I ask confused.
"Finally," he mutters, "this is going to be hard to explain. That thing that just attacked you was a monster, a harpy. It attacked you because you and me are what happens when Greek gods ... do the dirty with humans. So, I am the son of Hades and you are the daughter of...oh my gods." The boy looks up and so do I. A picture of a trident is above my head.
"Exactly, so there's this camp for people like us to train us to survive and to protect us," the boy concludes.
"Are you trying to tell me my father, is the god of the sea?" I ask.
"Yes. You seem to be taking this easily. By the way I'm Nico," Nico replies.
"I'm not crazy. Oh my god, or gods! I'm not crazy!" I start jumping up and down like I'm crazy when the dizziness comes back. My knees buckle and Nico catches me.
"Woah there. Are you ok?" Nico asks, he finally seems to be taking notice of my physical condition.
"I'm not feeling that great," I say and black spots appear in my vision. Nico picks me up and I put my arms around his neck.
"I can get you to camp really quick, you just have to promise to hold on," he tells me. I nod. Suddenly I'm submerged in pure darkness and skin feels like it's peeling off. In a moment it's all over and Nico and I are in a strawberry field. Nico's knees buckle and I roll out of his arms. We lay there and my vision goes completely black.
My eyes flutter open and my surroundings come into focus. I'm in some kind of infirmary. I sit up and suddenly I'm face to face with Nico. He smiles.
"You're alive," he says as he hands me a mug of hot chocolate.
"You sure this isn't Heaven?" I joke.
"If anything, it'd be Hell," NIco replies smirking.
"Right," I say. Memories of last night come flooding in.
"So, this is...camp," I sigh.
"The one and only. They say I can take you out at one, which is...now," Nico throws me a bright orange t-shirt that says Camp Half-Blood on it and tells me to change.
"So why were you in an orphanage?" Nico asks. I sigh.
"I ran away when I was five," I reply.
"Sorry." There's a weird moment of silence. "So do you remember your family?"
"Yeah. It was just me, my mom, and my brother," I reply. "I ran away because my mom said that staying with them wasn't safe. I don't remember her smile or her laugh or her face. I just remember Percy." Nico looks startled.
"Percy?" he asks.
"Yeah. Sally and Percy Jackson."
I hear a knock on the door. My heart skips a beat and my hands shake as I open the door to the Poseidon cabin. Percy stands in the doorframe. His eyes full of tears. So are mine.
"I'm so-" I begin. Percy stops me.
"Don't," he says. I run into Percy's arms, my eyes flooding with tears. We just hug. Tears stream down my face.
"I missed you so much," I whisper. Percy nods and hugs me tighter.