Nico had been picking a splinter for the past ten minutes. The cabin was illuminated with a dim green light from the torches on the wall. Nico winced. The splinter finally broke free from his flesh, leaving behind a droplet of blood. He glanced at the jagged little wood person Hazel had made for him before leaving with frank. Take care of yourself she had said.
He fell back on his ridiculously large bed. He was still shirtless, though he had pulled on socks after washing the dirt and grime off his feet. Nico cringed, remembering his irrational anger. He shouldn't have been able to beat Percy. Maybe if Percy had actually felt like hurting him, Nico would have lost. But Percy had seemed slower than he should have been, or maybe Nico's rage had made him faster and more skilled. Nico sighed and turned his head to look at his sword on the ground where he had thrown it after storming in. It had a fleck of Percy's blood on it. Above the black blade his stygian iron sword hung off his belt where it was dangling on a nail. He used the black sword when he needed to spar with other campers in case he cut them. He remembered Percy staring at his little wound on his arm as if it had been cut in half. He would never use his stygian sword against a comrade, least of all Percy. Still, it helped in friendly fights when your opponent was terrified of getting hit, so he never told anyone about his spare sword.
Maybe Nico threw all his bottled rage at Percy, even if it wasn't his fault. And maybe Nico felt a little guilty about cutting percy. Percy probably thought he was going to crumble into dust right about now. Nico flinched at how scared he seemed. Nico hated the way Percy backed away from him, But he was too jealous and angry and miserable to care much. He shied away from the other campers, taking little food from the cafeteria at night and sulking alone in his cabin.
Nico thought of last night, when Percy had seen him in the woods. That little clearing was one of the only places Nico would go to besides the dining hall and his cabin. It was where he rose the dead and sparred with them and stared up at the stars. Nico would not go back there, now that Percy knew where it was. He would find someplace new.
He stood up, grabbing a pair of black jeans. His wallet still sat in one of the pockets, secured to a silver chain. He grabbed his belt, pulling out the pants had gotten looser over the past few weeks. Percy was right about one thing. He was getting thinner by the day. He threw on a black t-shirt and pulled on his aviator jacket, finding a little comfort in the smooth leather. He felt in the pocket, pulling out his silver skull ring and slipping it on. even the ring was a little looser on his slim finger. He closed his eyes and turned on his heel, disappearing into a cloud of black smoke.
Nico stumbled, suddenly surrounded with mist. Shadow traveling always made him a bit weak at the knees. Nico straightened and peered into the fog. he wondered if this was the right graveyard. He had tried to travel to his mothers grave, but this didn't look like the same one. It shouldn't be this foggy or cold. It was only two in the afternoon. Nico pulled out his sword and headed towards where his mother's grave should be. The mist was so dense and white, he walked right into the tombstone. Nico kneeled down, his sword still raised, and looked down at his mother's name.
"Hi mom," he murmured. He let his sword drop. Nico reached out and brushed pale fingers against his mother's name. She had been beautiful, full of light and warmth. He saw a bit of her every day when he looked in the mirror. Nico had inherited her glossy hair and thin face. He had her dark eyes, though his had lost all their warmth, replaced by anger and bitterness.
Nico grimaced, willing tears away. Bianca didn't have a grave. She no longer existed. She stopped existing to mortals when she accepted artemis's offer at becoming a hunter. She stopped existing at all when she was reborn into another life. The day she died was the first time Nico had been so angry. The first time he felt betrayed and so alone he could hardly breathe. Then Nico noticed a pair of pale feet wrapped in black leather sandals just a few feet behind his mother's gravestone. Swallowing hard, he looked up and his throat closed. Standing above him was a anomaly of a dog. It looked a bit like a german shepard, if you only saw its head. It melted smoothly into the shoulders and torso of a man. It also seemed to be wearing a skirt.
Nico was close to panicking when the air around him shimmered, and the dog man turned into a teenage boy with a black leather jacket and ripped jeans. He had tousled black hair and warm brown eyes that held the sadness of a thousand years. Nico scrambled back, grabbing at his sword.
"What are you?" he demanded, raising his sword. The boy frowned.
"You can see me?" he asked. He looked nico over, noting every detail. "That's not a magician's tool."
"What? Tell me who you are. Or I swear I will run you through." Nico clambered to his feet, weapon raised. The boy's frown deepened.
"What kind of metal is that?" he asked, reaching towards his sword. Nico stepped back, unsure. Most monsters could sense the underworld on his blade.
"Tell me who you are," Nico repeated. The boy turned his gaze from the sword, which glinted dimly in the mist, looking at nico in fascination.
"I am Anubis. Tell me who you are."
Nico scowled, confused. his mind raced with creatures, trying to pin one onto the dark boy that stood before him. "Anubis? What is that, Roman? Greek?"
"Egyptian," Anubis said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you not a magician?"
"What?" The boy- Anubis- looked as bewildered as nico felt. "No! What are you talking about?"
In his confusion, Nico's blade dropped, pointing to the dying grass.
"What is your name, boy?"
"Nico," he snapped. "Nico di Angelo."
"And what are you, if not a magician?" Anubis peered into his eyes curiously.
"A demigod, obviously," Nico said. "Can't you smell it on me?"
"A demigod." he sniffed. "Indeed, you do smell peculiar."
Nico examined anubis's face, suddenly stunned. Anubis was beautiful. His skin was smooth and pale as bone. There were four studs in his ears. he had a strong jaw and delicate features, though the most startling was his eyes. They held a certain melancholy that Nico could understand only too well. He pointed his sword at anubis, struggling to remember a monster that had a dog's head. He came up with nothing. A spirit? he thought.
"But what are you?" Nico demanded again.
Anubis scowled. "You mean you still do not know? Fine. I am the god of funerals. I measure the souls of mortals and assist Osiris in judging them."
"You're a god? You? there aren't any funeral gods named Anubis! There aren't any funeral gods at all! And who's Osiris?
"He is the god of death!" Anubis said, clearly offended. "The king of the underworld! Sadie's dad!"
"King of the underworld?" Nico said in disbelief. "Hades is my father! And I don't have other siblings."
Besides Hazel he thought. Anubis recoiled, as if Nico's words had stung him.
"Hades is not my master. He's greek. Hades-," he paled further. "You- demigod! You're one of them."
"Yeah. Haven't I said that already? What are-?" But Anubis wasn't listening. He was muttering frantically to himself, wringing his hands. Mist swirled, hugging the god's body and lingering in his shadow.
"That smell... I smelled it on Carter last week. Something about a crocodile and one of you, a demigod, this is not good-"
Nico snapped his fingers under the god's nose, annoyed. "Gods, i will run you through so help-"
"Alright!" Anubis looked nervous, twisting a lock of his hair with thin, tapered fingers. "I'm an egyptian god, yeah? I'm not from your little universe. Our gods, our religions- they're different from yours. They're Egyptian."
Nico waited. "And?"
The god glanced down at Nico's sword again. "What sort of metal is that?"
"It's stygian iron," Nico said irritably. "Forged by the cyclops, cooled in the river Styx."
"The Styx," murmured Anubis. Fascination creeped back into his eyes. "And who's your father again?"
"Hades," Nico said. The god's eyes widened.
"I shouldn't be here," the god said.
"What do you mean? You've hardly said a thing yet," Nico said angrily. This dog god was getting distracted easily and Nico still wanted answers.
Anubis smiled a little, and even though the smile was half hearted and sad, it gave Nico a peculiar tingly feeling in the pit of his stomach. Stupid, Nico thought irritably.
"Nico-" He lowered his sword at the sound of his name on the god's lips. "You have to understand, the Egyptians and the Greeks, even the Romans- our worlds haven't been in contact. Ever. No one knows what would happen. Our underworlds overlap like multiple dimensions, they just cant touch. And we're from separate hells. I don't know what would happen. It's probably a good thing you haven't stabbed me yet. I don't know if your weapons would hurt me."
Nico's head buzzed a little. It wasn't that he was surprised. He had heard Chiron say multiple times that all gods existed in some way, all religions took on some form, blah blah. He never imagined he would meet anyone from the other side.
"You cannot relay this to anyone," said Anubis. His voice was low and urgent. He took a few steps back, stirring the fog.
Nico was unpleasantly reminded of traveling between the romans and greeks, keeping quiet and never telling one about the other. He supposed this was much the same.
"Right. Fine." He slid his sword through his belt. Anubis's shoulders relaxed and exhaled heavily, as if he had been holding his breath.
"One thing," Nico said.
"And what would that be?"
"Why did you come here? In front of me, right behind that gravestone?"
"Ah, that." Anubis looked sheepish, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "you see, there hasn't been a mortal in this part of the graveyard in ages. And i enjoy watching visitors. The strange sentiment of mortals fascinates me."
"So you hide behind bushes and watch people cry."
"I suppose I do." The dog god raised a hand in a farewell gesture. His eyes gleamed. "Bye Nico, son of Hades. I hope I never see you again."
Nico tensed, slightly offended. Anubis laughed quietly, a soft throaty sound like a cat's purr, and Nico was dazed. He blinked and saw that Anubis had let his form slip into the dog-headed boy in a skirt and then he vanished, leaving behind a wisp of dense mist and the smell of pomegranates.
