Chapter 1: The boy, the Beast, and the Blade
Bianca's P.O.V.
I like being at the hotel. The food was free and always available, there seemed to be a never ending list of things Nico and I could partake in, and everything was already paid for. However, there was a nagging feeling that had burrowed into the back of my mind since we'd gotten here. Something about the hotel just felt off. I couldn't come up with an answer for what it was and thus, have chosen to ignore it. It's easier to write it off as paranoia. Besides, I found that their lotus flower cookies often took away the constant worry I was feeling, albeit temporarily. I suspected the sugar had a part to play in that.
As we walk, I pluck one for myself and another for Nico from a tray as a waitress passes and hurries to catch up to him. He stood in the doorway of the indoor theme park, which had quickly become Nico's favorite spot in the hotel. Today, they unveiled their newest edition to the park, 'a thrilling, high speed adventure through Ancient Greece', as the dozens of signs promoting the ride said.
"Can we go?" Nico asks, looking up hopefully at me, "Please?" The look he gave me nearly made me change my mind but I remained firm in my decision.
I sigh, "I already told you, you're too young. It's for grownups. Maybe, when they find us somewhere to go, we can come back and ride it then."
As a consolation , I hold out the cookie for him and takes a bite out of mine. It melts on my tongue and sends a shiver shooting down my spin. My vision goes a bit hazy for a short moment, but quickly snaps back into focus. I look up at the coaster and watch as the cart drops down quickly, much to the enjoyment of it passengers.
I could see why he wanted to ride it. From the look of it, it seems fun. Another cart full of people passes over the edge again, falling back to the ground. She glances down at Nico, his eyes glued wistfully on ride.
"Well, I never did see anything about an age limit."
—
I don't know what I had been thinking. It went exactly as I knew it would. I had to rush a crying, terrified Nico off the ride and all the way back to our suite. He'd finally calmed down enough to fall asleep. I stand up from my seat at his bedside and walk out of the room as quietly as possible. Why had I changed my mind? I let out a tired breath and sunk onto the soft velvet couch in the living room. I need to grow up, for Nico. With our mother and father gone, it was up to me to raise him as well as I could, at least for the time being. That means not traumatizing him on rollercoasters.
It suddenly hit me that it's the first time I'd even thought about my mother since we'd gotten here. I could barely manage a smile when Nico, the lawyer, and I pulled up to the Lotus. Now, my mother is hardly even crosses my mind. How have I managed to work through my mother's death in three weeks, and without even trying to? A wave of dizziness washes over me and I suddenly feel lightheaded. When was the last time I'd even been outside? It couldn't have been we were brought here, could it? I need to get out of this room, no, this hotel for a minute to think.
I glance over my shoulder, at Nico's room. He'd be asleep for at least a couple for hours. Grabbing the key for our room, I pull the door open and make my way to the elevators. Inside I select the button for the lobby and feel the elevator begin to move downward. It stops again to let someone else on and as the doors slide open it reveals a man bigger than any she'd seen before. He has to duck slightly to even make it into the elevator. The doors slide shut again and continue descending. I could feel his eyes on the back of my head as we rode.
When the doors opened again, this time into the lobby, I practically ran it of there. Looking back, despite that this was the first floor, he remained onboard, still staring at me. We made eye contact and didn't break it until the doors close. I let out a shaky breath and walked towards the entrance of the hotel. Passing a window I noticed it was dark outside, despite it definitely having been daytime when I left the room. Another wave of nausea washed over me, this time worse than the first. I felt myself begin to fall and catch myself on a table that was placed against the wall.
"Are you feeling alright, ma'am?" I turn to face an employee, who had an overly large, almost cartoonish grin on his face "We have an excellent physician on staff if you aren't feeling well."
"No, thank you though. I was just going to go outside." I say, turning away from the man and walking down the hallway.
He catches up to me quickly and placed and places a firm hand on my shoulder, "Unfortunately, you can't leave to hotel at the moment. Can I interest you in a lotus flower however while you wait however?"
Another employee, a woman this time, walks up, holding out a tray of the cookies. She too has the same uncomfortable smile on her face. A feeling began to creep it's way up from my gut, telling me to run. Everything about this situation felt wrong. The pair in front me looked insane.
"No thank you." I pull away from his grasp and begin to walk away from the two. I could hear their footsteps behind me, following me down the hall. As soon as I turn the corner I break out into a sprint down the hall.
I throw a glance over my shoulder and see the woman had discarded her tray and was running after me. I round another corner and duck into a door marked maintenance. It was a dark, long hallway that lead into the bowels of the hotel. Something told me not to go any deeper. I lean against the other side of the door until I was sure they had passed. I stand up and open the door, only to find that it wouldn't budge.
"What the-" I was suddenly pulled forward as the door was tugged open from the other side. I trip and slide onto the marble floor outside. I look up, expecting find the smiling faces of the employees that had been chasing me.
It wasn't. The man from the elevator stood holding the door instead. And I do mean literally holding the door. He'd ripped it from it hinges and was holding it in front of him like a shield.
"Bianca ... Di ...Angelo?" He said, staring directly at me. The way he spoke reminded me of Nico when he was still learning to speak, as if the man before her had trouble remembering what word to say next.
I push myself to my feet and dart past him, going back the way I'd come. As I round the corner, I run head first into a boy, who looked to be around my age. His jet black hair hung loosely around his face and contrasted nicely with his sea green eyes.
"Stop!" The man shouted, then made an odd guttural sound. The sound drew both of our attentions, and we watched as the door flew through the air towards us.
He grabs my hand and pulls me around the corner, just in time to see the door smash into the marble.
"Are you okay?" He asks calmly, as if a door hadn't just been thrown at us.
"No!" I hiss, peeking around the corner to see the man stumbling towards us. He looked the same, except for the bulbous, singular eye now on his face.
"Stay here!" He says, before jumping out from behind the wall.
He's going to get himself killed. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pen and pulls off the top, it suddenly expanding into a full sized sword.
I'm going crazy.
"Move out of the way, Son of Poseidon! I am not here for you!"
Why do I recognize that name? This looked to confused the boy, who threw a quick glance to me.
"Yea, well, I'm not going to let you take her." He asks, changing the position in which he was holding the blade, readying to attack if he needed to.
He charges the man, swinging the blade across his chest before rolling to the side to dodge his punch. The man lets out an animalistic scream and charges at the boy, pinning him to wall with the his massive hand. The sword he held clattered to the floor and the man kicked it away.
"You had your chance to leave, Son of Poseidon!" He pulls his other fist back, ready to punch him and given that he could rip a door from the wall, it would probably be enough to kill him.
I had to do something. Almost without thinking, I grab the boy's sword and plunge the blade into the man's back. He lets out another scream, before he began to crumble into a pile of sand on the ground.
"You killed it. How'd you do that?" He asks, taking his blade back and turning it back into a pen.
"I... I'm not sure." I answer, looking down at the pile that had been trying to kill them a moment earlier.
"You don't know..."
"Know what?"
"I'm Percy, by the way." He holds out his hand for me to shake it.
Ignoring that, I prod him further, "What don't I know?"
He opens his mouth and begin to speak several times before rubbing the back of his head, "I can't explain it well, I only just found out last week. Grover and Annabeth would be able to, if I could find them."
"Grover and Annabeth?"
"My friends, they've known about all of this for their entire lives. They're somewhere in the hotel."
"If I helped you find them, they could explain to me what just happened and why that man only had one eye?"
He nods enthusiastically and gestures for me to follow him.
As we begin to walk, he turns to look at me, "There's one thing I can definitely tell you."
"What's that?"
"You're definitely a half-blood."
—
A/N: Just to make sure everything is clear, Bianca is the same age as Percy and Annabeth in this story, that being twelve. It's unclear how much time passed between Percy being at the Lotus and the Di Angelos leaving. It's also unclear how long they were back in the world before getting to Westover Hall. Nico will be ten at the start of this story for the same reason.