Nico awoke with a start, his shaggy, jet black hair stuck to his forehead as he was sweating heavily. The prophecy has been running through his mind, since he had fallen asleep, so it was no wonder his dream had been horrifying.
He had dreamed of fire, all around him, burning him. Burning through his flesh and down to his bones, staining the bones and charring them, her voice was screaming at him, telling him she hated him. It was terrifying and it had shook Nico down to the core, he usually could avoid dreams, stop himself from even having them! But not this was, it was as if it had been sent to him, burned into his mind. He shook from it, his heart was going like mad and adrenaline was running through him like no tomorrow. He felt soft arms find their way around him and he instantly relaxed into the hold of them and fell back onto the bed.
His dark eyes found their way up to her face and he smiled gently, he looked into her deep green eyes and he could see they were full of worry. Her arms had not left him yet and he didn't want them too. He put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, trying to ease her worry. He had to be strong at the moment. He knew the prophecy had scared him, but he knew it worried her more. He wasn't afraid of dying, but he was terrified of leaving her and she was petrified for him and for the rest of the world. They both knew prophecies were a big deal and if they were not handled right all hell could break loose. He held her close to him and ran his long fingers through her long curly hair, he could smell the scent of fresh flowers flowing from her and it made him smile. The tension that had come into him since the dream slowly dissolved into nothingness. Until he just lay there with her, in silence. She was the first to break the silence as she cocked her head up to him, she chewed on her pink lips before she spoke up to him.
"I'm coming with you." She announced, with a little smile. Nico opened his mouth to respond, but she put her lips to his and silenced him quickly with a kiss.
"Its my decision not yours." She added, before leaning back from him, so she could look at him properly. It was no surprise Nico had fallen for her, she was intelligent, kind, beautiful and annoyingly stubborn. Nico knew there was to be no arguing with her, when she set her mind on something she would see it through to the end. She was very determined in that way. Nico ran his hand through his hair, his mind deep in thought, before he looked back to her.
"Alright, but its not just your decision, we will say it at the meeting today and if they say no. That's final Bailee." He responded, with a little frown. He didn't really want Bailee to come, but she was right. He had no say in the matter and he had to admit. She was great in a fight! Her mother was Demeter, Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons. She was one of quite a few of the Goddess's children at camp, but she defiantly stood out the most. She was the most passionate about the things her Mother represented and she was the one with the most spark. A lot of the others (At least the ones Nico knew!) were kind of boring, they loved nature like Bailee, but they were always so good and so two dimensional as far as Nico could tell. He liked people with a bit of fire in them, so you could say Bailee was a match made in Olympus for him. According to him, she was perfect. So it was only natural that she was head camper for that cabin. Nico was snapped out of his thoughts about her when a t-shirt was thrown at him.
"Deal, now come on slow poke! We will miss the meeting if you stay in bed all day!" Bailee giggled at him, and he smiled softly back. He hadn't realized he had actually woken up in the morning, he had assumed it was the middle of the night, it was hard to tell in the cabin. But he trusted Bailee and without another word, he slipped on his t-shirt.
Nico and Bailee strolled into the meeting. They were a little late due to Nico's sluggish attitude in the morning. But they were not that late and Nico knew everyone would wait for him to arrive, he was after all this Quests leader it seemed. He gave everyone a little smile as he took his seat, Bailee sat next to him and looked around at everyone. All the others were here and everyone looked grim, they tried little smiles for the sakes of others, but it was hard. They knew the risks of this quest and none looked forward to stepping up and joining it. Chiron looked at everyone, his face was a perfect mask, but his eyes gave away his worries. Nico gulped as he looked up as the Centaur rose.
"Good morning everyone, I trust we had a good rest last night, in preparations for what looks to be a busy day." He said, it was clear he was not speaking from his heart, but just going through the motions. He quickly pressed on.
"As we all know, a new prophecy has been called and it has called for a quest. We already discussed it a bit last night and agreed Nico should lead it." He looked to me with a nod, he was lying, we had discussed nothing. It has been presumed and noone had spoken against it. But Nico held his tounge, he did not want to start a fuss.
"It has long since been told that a quest should involve three people, we have one so far. We need two more, any volunteers?" He asked, looking around at everyone. Bailee stood up, she made a effort not to do it too fast or too slow.
"I volunteer." She responded, her voice was soft and musical. She tried to a little smile. Chiron looked to me then the others, a couple of people stood up. "We approve" they muttered before sitting back down again and looking uneasy. Nico slowly stood up, he looked to Bailee, then Chiron and the others. "If everyone approves of the decision to let Bailee join the quest, then I will accept her in the quest." Nico spoke loudly and clearly, he did not speak as if Bailee was his girlfriend, nor did he let slip how terrified he was of taking her. But he could not let his personal affairs get in the way of this decision. Chiron looked at everyone, going around people one by one, slowly but surely everyone nodded their approval and Chiron signalled for Bailee to sit down.
"Very well, it is decided. Nico, would you like to pick someone to go on this quest with you, or shall we ask for another volunteer?" he asked, staring at Nico, as if he was silently communicating with Nico to pick someone, put the fate of the quest in his own hands and not the hands of the others. He bit his lip nervously, his gut was telling him what to do, but he didn't know if he could, but he had to try. He cleared his throat and looked over at Chiron. "I choose Percy Jackson, if he so accepts." He announced, to a groan from the crowd around him and some people sneering. It had never been that a non camper had been chosen for a quest. But Chiron let slip a little smile. "It has never been done before, but if Percy accepts it shall be." He signalled to the rest of the group to be silent and he then stood up and walked over to a nearby door. "Nico, Bailee, come through please. The rest of you," He glanced over at them. "We will be back in a minute."
They all walked into the room and the door closed behind them. The room was like a mini garden, full of grape vines, tangling and twisting throughout the room. A small sun was near the roof and if Nico looked directly at it, his eyes stung.
"A gift from Apollo." Chiron muttered as he saw Nico looking at it. Chiron clicked his hoofs and headed off to the other end of the room. Bailee had been lagging a little, as she stared at the wine garden within in the room and the sun. It was clearly Dionysus's the camp director's private garden, Demeter cared little for wine, but it was still nature and Bailee smiled happily at it, before she ran after Nico and Chiron. They had stopped in front of a water fountain, which was splashing out water in a spray. Nico smiled a little, he knew what he had to do. He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a Drachma, he quickly tossed it into the fountain. "Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, messenger of the gods, accept my offering and show me Percy Jackson, please" he added hastily, his eyes closed. He opened them a fraction and saw the water cloud over as a image began to form. It was Percy, he was in a apartment with Annabeth and they were laughing about something, they had not seen Nico yet. "PERCY!" Nico shouted, making them jump, to which he laughed about. After getting over the initial shock, Percy smiled and laughed a little too. He walked over to the message.
"Nico, how's it going?" he asked lightly, with a little smile, he probably assumed it was just a casual message and nothing big. Percy noticed Bailee in the background and gave her a little wave.
"Not good, but listen Percy, this is important. Rachel, the oracle, told a prophecy last night." He explained.
In the background of the message, Nico heard a loud "What!" and suddenly Annabeth appeared besides Percy.
"But the oracle has not spoken in years!" She exclaimed, her face was fallen and confused, it would have made Nico laugh under different circumstances, but these were serious times.
"I know, I know, but listen. A quest has been issued and I am leading it, Bailee is coming too, but Chiron asked me to pick a third member and well… um, I chose you Percy, if you accept that is!" He was talking really fast and it came out in a blur, Percy looked a little confused. He stayed silent for a while, thinking it over. Annabeth was silent too, she probably did not want Percy to go, but everyone knew that they had left camp because they thought their time was over. But that was obviously not the case and Annabeth could not change Percy's mind. Whatever he chose. Percy looked up at Nico suddenly.
"Why did you choose me?" He asked quietly. Nico frowned a little.
"I-I…I had a feeling it had to be you Percy." He mumbled stupidly. Percy smiled softly through the haze of the message.
"I accept the quest. I will be there by tomorrow," Percy shifted to look over at Chiron. "Will that be soon enough?" he asked. Chiron nodded, Percy nodded back before looking to Nico. The message was beginning to fade, time was nearly up. Percy and Nico smiled a bit at each other. "See you tomorrow" they said at the same time, then laughed a bit as the message dissolved completely. Nico turned away from the fountain, he had a feeling he had chosen this companion wisely and that it would soon be proved he had.
Percy would be here tomorrow. Was the only thing going through Nico's head as Chiron told him and Bailee to rest and prepare. Walking away, hand in hand, Nico's stomach clenched tightly. This quest was going to be big, he just knew it. But how?