Quote of the Day: 'You know what would help this boy?' Demeter mused, 'Farming.' – The Last Olympian.
Here I am, posting a sequel I never thought I would write. But since so many of you insisted (and the fact I didn't like the ending to my last story) I'm going to give it a shot!
I do not own The Kane Chronicles or Percy Jackson.
Inside the spacious, brightly lit cafe, Sadie and Nico were talking over their half eaten sandwiches. Angelica, small and delicate, hadn't stirred in her pram; she looked peaceful as she slept.
"How did you defeat, urm... What was the name again?" Nico thought for a couple of seconds before continuing, "How did you defeat Apophis?"
They spoke in lower voices; they didn't want to disturb regular mortals by talking about their own violent lives.
"Apophis?" Sadie whispered, "Apophis has been dormant, we haven't seen him for like, seven/eight years!"
"You mean to say that Apophis is still out there," Nico exclaimed, "And the gods made you forget everything for no reason."
"That was stupid of them," Sadie remarked.
Angelica woke up, crying as if she had had a bad dream. Nico picked her up and cradled her in his arms.
"What's wrong?" Nico asked in his baby voice, "Are you hungry?"
Out of his bag, he pulled out a pink milk bottle and started feeding her. It was an amusing sight to see; Sadie stifled a laugh. Sadie wondered if Nico wanted kids of his own, and if he did, what kind of clothes he'd get them. Black baby suits with miniature skulls on them? That seemed believable.
"Do you want to feed her?" Nico asked Sadie.
"What? Tired already?" She smirked as she held her arms out to hold Angelica.
She'd never held a baby before, let alone feed one. Luckily, Nico seemed to be an expert on baby care and positioned Angelica correctly in Sadie's arms. No wonder Percy and Annabeth trusted Nico with their child. Angelica had finished her milk and yawned. Nico placed her back in her pram and placed a blanket on her as she fell back to sleep.
"Is that all babies do?" Sadie questioned, "Eat and sleep?"
"And poo," Nico added.
They both laughed. It felt like they were twelve again; laughing with each other.
"Do you wanna come to my house?" Sadie asked, "I'm sure Carter would like to see his little niece."
"Sure," Nico replied, "Where is it?"
"On the other side of the river," Sadie explained.
Nico nodded and they left the cafe and made their way to her house. After a few minutes walking, Sadie asked,
"Can't you just shadow travel us there?"
Nico looked down, "Sadie..." He held her hand, "As I got older, I started to lose my powers..."
He looked pretty upset about it. Sadie looked up to find that they were suddenly just down the road from her house. Nico smirked as he saw the shock on her face.
"How did we-
"You actually believed me?" Nico chuckled, "You are so gullible."
"But, I didn't even feel anything," Sadie stated.
"Powers get better as you age," Nico explained, "Now my shadow travelling is suitable for children under three."
He looked into the pram, where Angelica was sound asleep.
"Ok, ok," Sadie said, trying to brush off her gullibility, "You've had your fun."
They were outside the house now. Nico was surprised to see that Sadie lived in an abandoned workhouse.
"You live here?" Nico questioned with a shocked expression.
Sadie smiled; no one could see the mansion at first, "Look carefully."
A five storey mansion materialised in front of Nico's eyes.
"That's impossible!" Nico exclaimed.
Sadie waved her hand a metal staircase formed at their feet, leading up to the mansion.
"You take Angelica," Nico explained, "I'll take the pram."
Carefully, Sadie picked the sleeping baby up and made her way up the stairs. Nico folded up the pram and followed behind. The stairs ended at a big, black entrance; there was no door. At the flick of Sadie's hand the entrance exploded and they walked through.
"You always liked blowing things up," Nico noted as he turned back to look at the entrance, it was closing as a hole got smaller and smaller.
Maybe Nico imagined it, but he saw that the hole was in a heart shape. He placed the folded pram on the floor and took Angelica off Sadie.
"You live here?" Nico asked in admiration.
The place was huge. They walked into a big room where a statue of someone with a bird-head stood. It was slightly un-nerving for Nico to relax in the place as there were so many hieroglyphics scattered around the place. Nico hadn't been able to marvel at the sights when a woman pointed a knife at his throat. His natural reaction was to pull out his sword and slash the knife away. The woman hissed at him and Sadie yelled,
"Bast! He's a friend."
Bast didn't look too pleased as she scanned Nico up and down with her yellow, feline eyes. The look of hatred never left her face and Sadie was disgusted at how she treated guests. Nico, on the other hand, was shocked at what just happened, and even though he didn't know the woman, he resisted the strong, sudden urge of finishing her off clean with his sword.
"Carter," Bast hissed, "You've got guests."
Bast left the room, not wanting to stay another minute in the same place as Nico. Soon after she left, a dark skinned man holding a laptop strolled in; his eyes glued to the screen. When he looked up from it, a wide grin grew on his face.
"Angelica!" Carter cried as he ran up to approach them, "What are you doing here –
Carter never got to finish his sentence because when he looked up at Sadie and Nico, their faces showed that they were both confused and angry.
"I mean," Carter tried to cover up his mistake, "Sadie, who's this?"
"Carter, you're a terrible liar," Sadie said with a hint of anger in her voice, "How do you know who Angelica is?"
Before Carter could answer, Nico asked another questioned,
"And why have got Annabeth's laptop?"
"Urm..." Carter was stumped; he had no idea how to tell them without the risk of one of them trying to kill him.
Sadie glared at him; her blue eyes a dangerous shade.
In the end, Carter spat out the truth.
"Before we left camp," Carter started, "Annabeth insisted I take her laptop, but in the end I made her keep it. After all, she needed it for her designs for Olympus. But when we got home, her laptop was in my bag. She must've put in there when I wasn't looking."
"So you remembered everything after seeing the laptop?" Sadie asked, "But that doesn't make sense, Nico gave me this crystal and I still didn't remember everything."
"On the laptop, Annabeth had saved a document telling me everything that happened," Carter explained.
"And you didn't tell me?" Sadie questioned with a sharp tone, "You said that it was just a dream!"
Sadie looked to Bast; who had now entered the room once again after over-hearing the conversation.
"They had already angered the Greek gods and they made Carter and the other girl to swear on the River Styx not to tell you anything unless you had already found out," Bast spoke.
"You knew?" Sadie questioned; feeling even more betrayed.
Bast turned her face away. Sadie was fuming with anger, even Bast hadn't told her.
"Stupid gods..." Nico mumbled under his breath.
Thunder rumbled outside.
"I DON'T CARE!" Nico yelled up at the sky.
This startled Angelica who woke from her slumber and started whining. Nico apologised for waking her up by rocking her up and down.
"Do you have a phone?" Nico asked, trying to retrain his anger, for some reason, it was harder than usual, especially now Bast had joined the chatter, he didn't know why but he instantly felt a definite hatred towards her the moment she had stuck the knife to his throat. He felt he knew Bast; if he could get rid of her, he would be able to escape. Escape? What had made him think that?
"Yeah," Sadie said as she pulled out her cell phone, "Why?"
Nico didn't answer; instead, he took the phone and dialled a number.
"Hello," He spoke to the phone.
"Hey Nico, Angelica playing up?" Annabeth asked from over the phone, "Whose phone are you calling from?"
"Angelica's fine. But you two need to get here, quick."
"Why? Where are you?"
"Carter's house, you should know where it is," Nico added sharply.
He hung up before Annabeth could say anything else and gave the phone back to Sadie.
"So, you've met Angelica..." Nico started, "Does that mean you and Annabeth have kept in contact ever since?"
"Yeah," Carter admitted, "Sadie, you've even seen her."
"When? I never saw-
Her face filled with realisation.
"She's your boss!" Sadie exclaimed, "I thought I recognised her!"
"Your boss?" Nico asked.
"She runs an association for architects," Carter explained.
Nico remembered Annabeth telling him about some architect association she was part of, he never really listening to her though. As Nico dwelt in his thoughts, the rest waited in silence; but what they were waiting for, they did know. Carter made the odd funny face to Angelica at times, Nico and Bast shared the occasional glare.
Out of the window, down below, they saw a couple holding hands. The black haired man wore a face of confusion and his grey eyed partner looked more worried. Carter formed the stairway for them and opened the entrance. The couple entered the room; the man seemed fascinated by it.
Annabeth walked over to Carter.
"They were gonna find out anyway," She told him.
"Where are we? – Wait! Is that Carter?" Percy smiled.
Carter nodded and Percy clapped him on the back.
Nico wasn't taking this situation the same way as Percy. He was angry and he couldn't hold it back.
"You told me that we couldn't contact them!" Nico shouted, pointing his finger accusingly at Annabeth.
Annabeth tried to speak, but Nico was on a roll.
"You said – You knew how I felt – You lied!"
No one spoke, Annabeth couldn't really defend herself, and she felt terrible about lying to everyone.
"Send the baby to Tartarus."
"SHUT UP!" Nico yelled again, clutching onto Angelica who was crying due to the loud noise.
"Nico..." Sadie approached him, "No one said anything."
Percy's face whitened and then held out his arms, walking cautiously towards Nico, "Give Angelica to me."
"No," Was all Nico said before vanishing into darkness; taking Angelica with him.
"Where's he gone?" Annabeth asked; getting slightly angry, "Where's he taken my baby?"
Percy put his arm around her.
"It's alright Annabeth," Percy comforted, "It's not like he's gonna hurt her. He loves Angie to pieces."
He didn't sound too sure though. Sadie didn't know what to feel, at the same time she was angry yet felt sorry for Annabeth, who was now crying into Percy's chest as they sat on the sofa. Carter went over to comfort Annabeth and Percy. Sadie paced up and down the long room, staying away from everyone, even Bast, who at the minute didn't look too affected by the recent events. If anything, Bast looked happier now than when Nico had first entered the mansion.
"It's happening again," Annabeth sobbed, "And it's getting worse."
"What's getting worse?" Sadie questioned, suddenly stopping in her tracks.
"We've got to find him, quick," Annabeth said, wiping her tears as she stood up.
"What's getting worse?" Sadie asked again; losing her patience. She hated it when she never got a straight answer.
"The last time Nico went off the rails," Percy explained; his face pain-stricken, "He almost killed himself."
So, the first chapter to my sequel! What did you think? Love it? Hate it? Anyway please review!