Nico felt a heavy pit in his stomach. No, this was not what he wanted at all. All Nico wanted to do was get in and get out - no need for conversation or goodbyes. Now he was straight in the middle of this new prophecy that everyone was there to witness. He wanted to go away, be on his own. He wanted to leave all of this kind of drama behind.
As his mind repeated back to him what he had heard, an overwhelming sense of dread overcame him. "The Ghost King," Rachel Elizabeth Dare had said, and he knew it was no coincidence. One of the people of the prophecy had to be him. He knew he had to accept this, but instead he decided to immediately give in to denial. He wasn't a hero, he was an outcast, he told himself. He tried to sink into the shadows, unseen, but there were too many eyes on him. Even the Oracle was staring him down, there was no way he could escape their gaze.
He looked over to Daniel to see how he was reacting. He had a similar look on his face to the one Nico had assumed was on his. He bit his lip and his eyebrows furrowed in worry. Drew didn't look any better.
Chiron's voice rang out through the dense silence, "Well, it looks like our Oracle has predicted another Prophecy!" Immediately, the campers turned to each other and talked excitedly amongst themselves, trying to discern the meaning. Dozens of voices rang out one after another.
"The Charmspeaker has to be Piper!" said a daughter of Aphrodite.
"But she was already part of another Prophecy," countered another.
"Percy was involved in more than one Prophecy," said another.
"I don't think Piper is the one the Prophecy is referring to," said Chiron solemnly, "Piper has duties elsewhere right now."
"The only other Charmspeaker is Drew..." someone said, then trailed off. Every face turned towards her, and Nico was shocked to be able to witness a child of Aphrodite actually shying away from the limelight. She shrunk into herself, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them close. The firelight illuminated her glitter eyeshadow, and her whole face sparkled in the warm light. Nico never would have thought he'd ever find Drew beautiful, child of Aphrodite or not. She was the one that had tormented Piper and was a huge bully to her. But as the light shone across her face as she hid behind her knees, he had to admit there was an attractive kind of vulnerability about her. She definitely looked a lot better now that her nose wasn't in air and her expression was devoid of a scowl.
"It shouldn't be me," she said, her voice as small as a mouse. Everybody's eye widened as they stared at her, incredulous.
"That's not what you said when Jason and Piper went on their first quest," a daughter of Aphrodite said, "You were practically falling all over yourself to be on a quest with Jason."
"This is different," she said, glaring at her cabinmate.
"Because there's no hot guy to follow around," a camper with a guitar, possibly Apollo's kid, joked. He spoke under his breath to his other cabinmates, but he was still heard clearly by the crowd. A couple of people laughed and Nico felt a burning pit in his stomach at the comment. He couldn't stand it when people made fun of others.
Drew lifted her head and glared daggers at the boy, "I didn't know what their quest would lead to. I didn't know the dangers of a quest then, but I do now. So I'm not going on the quest." This only caused another onslaught of chatter in response to her words.
"She also didn't know that her only quest would be with those two," said an older camper, referring to Nico and Daniel sitting next to her. Nico remembered the camper from the short time he had stayed at Camp Half-Blood, and he recalled that he was a son of Hermes. Nico was also not a fan of his tone and what he was implying.
As the camper saw that more people had begun to listen to him, he continued, "Well the Ghost King is obviously Nico di Angelo. I remember him being called that back in the Titan War. And we all know who the 'Madness Wielder' is," he said, which caused Daniel to shift in his seat sheepishly.
"Well, I think that's enough talk of Prophecy tonight," Chiron intervened, obviously displeased with the way the conversation had turned so sour, "We will discuss the Prophecy and those it concerns tomorrow in a Counselor meeting after breakfast. We will begin the planning towards a new quest, too. All heads of Cabin must attend," he said, then paused and looked over at all the campers, ending on Nico, "Including you, Nico di Angelo."
Nico groaned and laid his head in his hands. It was so typical that everything turned to shit the second he returned. All he wanted to do was get in, get out, then go to McDonalds. Of course he had to get roped up in some dumb prophecy. Hades, Rachel basically referred to him by name! "The Ghost King" was, sadly, practically the only nickname he ever had in his life - not counting when Bianca used to affectionately call him a twerp.
Chiron then dismissed the campers to their cabins and they all stood up in a flurry of activity. The crowd practically ran back to their cabins so they could discuss with their bunkmates all that happened and what they believed the Prophecy actually meant. Nico, however, had no one to walk with. Drew already scurried off to beat everybody else to the Aphrodite bunk, probably to be alone. He stood up with a sigh just as Daniel stood up beside him. Daniel gave him an uneasy smile, his usual vibrancy lost. He nodded at him before turning away and walking towards his cabin, his back hunched over and hands buried deep in his pockets.
"I'm sorry, Nico," he heard a voice say behind him. He turned, surprised. He had assumed that he was the last left at the campfire, but there was Rachel looking sheepish with her arms across her chest. "I know how you feel, like how you're kinda an outsider and that quests aren't really your thing..." She played with the ends of her hair, avoiding his gaze as she nervously picked off split ends, "I think this will be good for you, though."
And with those mysterious words, she walked away. He could tell that Rachel was trying to comfort him somehow, but it was more annoying than it was helpful. He was done with cryptic words and saving the world - all he wanted to do for the rest of his teenage life was to travel around and be alone. But, obviously, the Fates thought differently.
As he walked into his cabin he couldn't help but frown at his bed. He never slept well when he was at Camp, and he seriously doubted he would get any rest tonight. Still, he took off his shoes and hopped into bed, jacket and all. He laid on top of the blankets and looked up to the ceiling. He watched the shadows dance, glowing different shades of green caused by the lit torches on the walls. The green light reminded him of Rachel, green smoke swirling around her as she recited the prophecy. It only made him feel worse.
Oddly enough, he totally related with Drew on his feelings towards a quest. He straight up didn't want to do it at all. He could also tell that Daniel felt the same way, but Drew was the only one with enough guts to say how she truly felt. It was really ballsy of her to speak her mind, he thought, especially since so many campers would kill to go on a quest. It took a pretty strong person to go against what everybody else felt, and Nico had to begrudgingly give Drew props no matter how awful she actually was.
Nico realized with a sigh that the Prophecy was all he would be able to think about that night. He found it interesting how it had not even mentioned their names, and yet every camper knew immediately who it referred to. Drew and Nico were the two obvious ones. For Drew, she and Piper were the only two Half-Bloods that had to ability to Charmspeak. And since Piper was off with Jason trying to unite the two camps that eliminated her as a candidate for the prophecy. So, by process of elimination, it had to be Drew.
For Nico, the Ghost King had become his title in the Underworld, so his part in the prophecy was readily apparent to him. Though, he was caught by surprise that the campers knew about the name, as well. But even if they did not know the story behind the name, it was pretty easy to assume that the Prophecy was talking about Nico. He was the only son of the Underworld after all. And even if it wasn't already gender specific, Hazel's powers weren't over the realm of the dead.
Then there was Daniel. Nico knew that Dionysus was the god of madness and ecstasy, but Daniel wasn't the only kid in the Dionysus cabin. He had even pointed out his brother to Nico earlier in the day. He wondered how everyone was so sure that Daniel was the one the Prophecy referred to as "the Madness Wielder." He assumed that there must be some story that everybody else knew about and he wondered what it could be. Judging by the reactions from some of the campers, it probably wasn't very good.
All he knew for sure was that he was already sick of this Prophecy and that he just wanted to run away. He could even do that right now - he had done it before - but he knew he would never be able to face himself again. His guilty conscience would keep him from ever showing his face to another half-blood again. He was already the freaky son of Hades, he didn't want people to see him as a coward in addition to that. No, he'd have to face his fate head on. He couldn't run away this time, but he could try to put it off for a little while. He decided he'd better try to sleep. It would be the only way he would be able to stop thinking about it until the morning.
Breakfast was a little awkward for Nico, but to his relief most of the campers got used to his presence pretty quickly. He sat alone at the Hades table, his plate manifesting McDonald's pancakes and hash browns, along with an Egg McMuffin. He sacrificed half of his hash browns to his father, although Hades was always complaining about Nico's eating habits and dedication to the restaurant. He was just going to have to deal, thought Nico, it wasn't like he was getting a bunch of offerings anyway.
Nico sipped on his orange juice as he stared at the rest of the tables, specifically taking note of how Drew and Daniel were faring. They were interacting with the rest of their table, but Nico could tell by their eyes that the Prophecy was weighing on them. He was pretty sure that they were all dreading the oncoming meeting about it.
It was unfortunate, then, that the meeting was so close. Immediately after everybody had finished their breakfast the Heads of Cabin filed to the Big House while the rest of the campers ran off to do their activities. Nico found himself at the end of the pack, side by side with Daniel and Drew.
He nodded at them, "You guys are heads?" he asked them.
Daniel nodded, "I'm the oldest of the Dionysus Cabin."
"And I'm the backup for when Piper's not here," said Drew.
They filed into the Big House's rec room, each sitting on a fold-out chair around the Ping-Pong table. On top of the table was an array of snack foods, which most people were heartily diving into. Nico didn't have much of an appetite, so he let them be. He looked around the room, and felt surprised when he saw that Mr. D was sitting at the table as well. Nico hadn't seen him last night and had assumed that he was at Olympus. Maybe he was called back because one of his children might be part of a Prophecy? Nico wasn't sure, especially since nobody else's godly parent ever came to Camp when their child became involved in a quest. He looked over to Daniel to gauge his reaction and found that he was actively trying to avoid his father's gaze, turning his attention to stress-eating as he picked at a bag of chips.
Chiron came into the room at last, rolling in with his wheelchair and a blanket over his legs. As he took his place at the end of the table, everybody fell silent.
Connor Stoll, surprisingly, was the first person to speak up and break the tension building in the room. "Sorry if I'm out of line, but I have a feeling that the ping-pong table is getting a little too small for these council meetings."
Everybody chuckled at that. The last time a council was held in the rec room the only cabins at the camp were for the big twelve. Now that there were many other cabins for minor gods as well as a living Oracle, the ping-pong table was definitely starting to feel crowded. Nico, himself, was smushed between Clarisse and Drew. It wasn't the most pleasant place to find himself in.
Now with the tension slightly diffused, Clarisse spoke up. "We already know who the three of the Prophecy are," she said, "I say we just give them supplies and send them on their merry ways."
Nico nodded, he didn't want this to be made into a big deal. And generally, Clarisse had good ideas when it came to strategy. She also respected Nico a lot more than others, which put her in his good books.
"But we don't even know what we're supposed to do," said Drew, "Not to mention the fact that I said I am not going on the quest. So we obviously need to reevaluate."
Everybody nodded along with her, talking about how Drew had the right idea. Nico even found himself changing his opinion. Drew was right, he thought, she wasn't meant to go on this quest. They had to think of a different plan.
Dionysus groaned from his chair, rolling his eyes at the child of Aphrodite, "You've got to be kidding me, right?" he asked. Everybody looked up at him in confusion.
"You guys see what Dana's doing? She's charmspeaking you to get out of the quest. Which is incredibly stupid of her, considering the quest specifically calls for a Charmspeaker," said Dionysus with a flippant tone as he grabbed a handful of cheetos and began to snack.
The Stoll brothers met eyes with each other and immediately start to crack up, like they couldn't hold it together when they were around each other, "Oh, that's rich," said Travis, wiping an imaginary tear from his cheek.
"The irony, man," said Connor.
"Beauty Queen over here just basically proved her rightful place in the Prophecy," said Connor, giggling.
"Looks like that plan backfired on you big time, huh?" Travis teased, which caused Drew to scowl and sink deeper into her seat as the brothers continued to giggle at her.
Nico looked to Chiron, who was watching the scene with amusement in his eyes. He turned to Drew, "It looks like you are definitely a part of the quest," he said, "Whether you like it or not."
Before Drew could chime back in, Mr. D intervened and spoke up once more, "Great! Now that's settled, the other two questers will be that Nicky boy and my son, Daniel."
Daniel also sunk low in his chair, but nodded as he nervously bit his lip. Nico noticed two things from this exchange - first, that Dionysus didn't respect any campers other than his children enough to use their correct names. Second, that Daniel had a really bad nervous habit of biting his lip. He found both of these facts somewhat amusing and couldn't help but give a small, unintentional smile at the thought of it.
"See! Nicky's happy to be on the quest. You two better cheer up soon, because there's no backing out now!" he gave a hearty laugh that could definitely be taken as a little maniacal, took a dainty sip of Diet Coke, pinky up and everything, then leaned back in his seat as though he had settled the matter.
"Are all Cabin Leaders in agreement with who will be going on the quest?" asked Chiron, and everybody agreed. At least, everybody but the three that had been volunteered against their will.
"Good," he said, "That simply leaves us with what we think the quest will entail."
"D'you think it has anything to do with the increase in Monster attacks? They've even been going after mortals," said Jake Mason, who Nico assumed was filling in for Leo Valdez.
Chiron nodded solemnly, "I do believe that is what the Prophecy is referring to. Namely, the cause behind these attacks. I think the questers will have to stop the monsters by stopping the source of their power. Perhaps the 'Sorceress Instigator' and 'Monsters' Mother.'"
"Wait, hold up," said Nico, leaning forward in interest, "Since when are monsters attacking mortals now? Being son of the Lord of the Underworld, I think that I would know if mortals were dying because of monster attacks." Frankly, Nico felt a little hurt to find himself left out on such crucial information, especially since he usually would be the first to know about things like this
"The Olympians have tried to hush it up," said Daniel, "Typical, right? Your dad was probably hiding it from you the whole time."
"They simply don't want anyone to panic," assured Chiron.
Daniel rolled his eyes, "More like Zeus doesn't want anyone to think he's a bad leader, so he won't let anyone fix the problem."
A deep rumble of angry thunder shook the room, but Daniel simply waved his hand like it was just an annoying kid trying to get his attention, "Yeah, yeah," he said.
Nico raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "You're gonna get struck by lightning if you keep that up."
Daniel smirked and shrugged, "Like my grandpa's going to do anything to me."
Clarisse chuckled at Daniel's comment, then tried to turn their attention back to the prophecy, "Well, it seems like you three will have to find the source behind the attacks and stop it. The Prophecy said something about a sorceress, right?" she looked to Rachel for approval, who nodded, which led Clarisse to continue, "Well, if a sorceress is making it possible for monsters to attack mortals, then she's probably using magic to make it happen. And magic is traceable, so all you need to do is trace it back to the source and stop her. Well, stop her and Grendel's mom, too."
Nico nodded, "I know someone who can help with that, too," he said, "They're in Brooklyn, so that's as good of a place as any to be the first stop."
"And we have until Halloween to do this, for some reason," Drew said, finally speaking back up, "So we have a destination and a deadline, which is good enough information to start a quest." She didn't entirely look too happy about that fact.
"Well, Halloween has always been a night where dark magic has been especially powerful. Maybe that has something to with it," said Nico, "We would need to stop the two women before nightfall on Halloween if they're planning something nasty to happen that night."
Daniel exhaled a nervous breath, "Just a little less than a month."
"Well, I think we've settled it, then," said Chiron, a sad smile on his face, "We have a quest. Nico, Daniel, and Drew will first venture to Brooklyn to find the source of magic that is allowing monsters to attack mortals, and they will defeat the source of the magic by the night of Halloween. You guys can have a couple of days to say your goodbyes and pack your things. We will give you some supplies, and then you'lll be on your way."
The three questmates nodded solemnly as they took it all in. "Well, I guess I'm ready," said Daniel, though still obviously nervous, "What do we have to lose? Our lives? We got those for free anyway. Who needs 'em."
Dionysus gave a hearty laugh and simply lifted his diet coke can in a toast. This did nothing to comfort the three new questmates.
Nico walked to the Big House's porch with Drew and the rest of the Cabin Leaders. He stopped to look for Daniel, but seemed to have lost him. He looked to Drew for an explanation, who just shrugged. Without even having to discuss it with each other, they walked back into the Big House to look for him. But as soon as they walked through the front door they spotted Daniel in the hallway, talking with his Father. Mr. D's expression was solemn and Daniel simply stared at his feet, nodding intermittently.
Drew grabbed Nico's sleeve and pulled him back through the door, "They should have their privacy," she said. Nico nodded, then followed her out to the porch. They sat on a rickety porch swing to the right of the door and waited in awkward silence for their fellow questmate.
After a couple minutes Daniel joined them. He looked surprised to see that they had waited for him, but then gave a small smile. They both stood up from the porch swing and started walking.
"What was that about?" Drew asked.
Daniel shrugged, "Nothing, really. He was just lecturing me on learning to control my powers and stuff. To not be afraid of them."
Nico wasn't entirely sure where they were walking, but he followed anyway. He was curious about what kind of powers Daniel even had, and why he would be afraid of them. He decided not to pry, though. Nico knew what it was like to have scary powers and the work it took to accept them as a part of you.
"Well, he's right," said Drew, "You shouldn't be afraid of them. It's like me with my charmspeak. You just have to do it a lot, and then you'll be able to control it."
Daniel rolled his eyes, "Like it's that easy. My powers could actually hurt someone. It really isn't as simple as you're making it out to be, I can't just practice on someone and expect things to be fine."
Drew huffed, "My powers could totally hurt someone," she said, offended by the very thought that she couldn't be found dangerous. "Nico, trip Daniel," she said forcefully.
Nico immediately stuck out his foot in front of Daniel, who predictably stumbled over it. He grabbed Nico's shoulder to steady himself, then glared daggers at Drew.
"Fine, you proved your point," he said to her.
Nico and Drew gave each other sidelong looks, then started to laugh uncontrollably. "I didn't even charmspeak him," she said with a giggle, "I would never use my charmspeak to harm someone."
Daniel gave a giant groan, "Then you're just proving my point. My powers are meant to harm people. And you!" he pointed to Nico, who was still chuckling, "If she didn't charmspeak you then why did you trip me?"
Nico shrugged, "Cuz I wanted to. And I thought it would be funny," he said. He didn't mention that he also secretly wanted to lighten the mood a bit.
Daniel couldn't help but break a smile at that, "I didn't realize you had a sense of humor," he said, studying Nico's face intently, almost as if in approval
Nico turned his head, feeling a little uncomfortable under his gaze, "I can understand why, ghosts aren't known for their appreciation of jokes."
Drew had walked them all to the lake. Nico looked it over, seeing campers taking canoe lessons and swimming happily. A couple of giggling naiads had overturned a canoe filled with campers, and the kids held on the sides of the canoe as they laughed and tread water. The three questmates walked over to the dock and sat down on the edge, legs swinging just above the lake.
Drew crossed her arms and huffed, "I don't even want to do this stupid quest. This is so ridiculous."
Nico rolled his eyes, "Well, that's what happens when you're a Half-Blood, so you better get used to it."
"You don't understand," she said, "I'm a child of Aphrodite. The only cabin that go on less quests than us is the Demeter cabin. We're not cut out for fighting, and I've learned to accept that. I don't know why other people can't. And maybe it's not a big deal if you get killed cuz then you'll scamper on right back home to the Underworld. But me? I, personally, do not want to die."
Nico scowled, "Has anyone ever told you that you have an attitude problem?" he said.
"I don't have an attitude problem. You have a problem with my attitude, and that's not my problem," she said haughtily, and with a speed that suggested she had said that line often, and maybe even practiced it.
Daniel snorted, "You'll get used to it, trust me," he said, "Well, you're going to have to, since we'll probably have to share some cross-country soul-searching journey, just the three of us."
Nico groaned, "Great. That was exactly what I wanted." Which was actually slightly true, though it was just like the Fates to throw a wrench in his plans and add some unwanted company.
A/N: This one required a lot of editing lol. The dialogue was def not where I wanted it to be and there was a lot of little characterization things I had to go back over and fix. This was definitely a bit of an awkward chapter so I tried not to make it so heavy-handed on telling people exposition, but it is what it is lol. It's so funny to go back and read and re-edit this and see my writing improve with (almost) every chapter, so that's definitely a treat! I also wanted to make Dionysus seem even more like an unhinged agent of chaos? lol otherwise he's just kinda a jerk from the original books perspective
If you're taking the time to read this, thank youuuu! I'm doing this mostly for myself, it's a nice exercise and I really do love these characters, I can only hope it shows. I'm gonna continue to work on editing/re-writing all the existing chapters. Chapter 11 is also currently being written too, and should be up soon!
love you guys, have a nice day!
ORIGINAL A/N: Exposition, yay! Unfortunately, chapters filled with information and not much action are necessary sometimes. Future action-filled chapters will definitely make up for this one, though, trust me. (I wonder who is in Brooklyn that can help Nico on his quest? Hmmm...)
A bajillion thanks to Sam, Narufan1st, and mysterious anonymous guest for posting reviews :) You guys are the best and you make me so happy a tear comes to my eye I swear. And I'm sorry Guest, but I really doubt I will be able to post once a day. Your enthusiasm for the story does make me really happy, though! I will try to post at least once a week, and if I forget a week then you can punish me. Deal?
Reviews and whatnot would be the beeesssttt