The rec room was jam-packed with cabin counselors, as well as all the Hermes and Athena campers. Chiron and Rachel Elizabeth Dare hadn't arrived yet, and everything was chaotic.
"We should go blow up stuff! Fight bad guys! Kill everything except for Annabeth and Connor!" a satyr who insisted everyone call him Coach Hedge yelled. Nico wasn't sure what he was doing here, except that he seemed to always pop up whenever violence was involved.
"Hey, Travis, if Connor doesn't come back, can I have his bunk?" a Hermes kid, maybe ten or eleven, asked, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.
Looking at him, Nico felt a lump in his throat. He still remembered when he was that age, fresh from Westover School, so naive and carefree.
Will Solace ran his fingers through his hair. "Maybe they just wanted to leave? I mean, some kids, they don't stay all the time..." He glanced at Nico, who was known for flitting in and out of camp. Nico stared at him wearily, not sure what to say.
"It's probably one of Stoll's bad jokes," growled Clarisse La Rue. "And Chase can turn invisible using her stupid Red Sox cap, maybe that's got to do with her disappearance. Never liked that team."
"It's Yankees, not Red Sox," Nico felt like he had to point out. The first time he'd seen the hat, he'd been ten years old, and Percy had been wearing it. It'd been so cool, seeing the boy disappear and reappear, just like the Rush of Vanishment Mythomagic card. Whatever. He was thirteen now. So over that game.
"Twit, same thing."
Percy cleared his throat. "So!" Even though he wasn't speaking very loudly, everyone stopped talking and looked at him. He had that natural-leader presence. "The situation is bad," he said.
"Obviously, wimp," Clarisse muttered, but Percy either didn't hear her or ignored her.
"Do you think Kronos has anything to do with it?" Katie Gardner's chocolate-brown eyes were full of concern.
"No," Percy said firmly, although a muscle in his jaw twitched. "He's gone."
The door burst open, and Chiron and Rachel walked in, both looking very grim. Everyone stared at them uneasily.
"Percy, what is going on?" Chiron asked in a gravelly voice.
"Annabeth and Connor are gone." Percy's face was tight with worry and conflict. Nico felt an itch in the back of his mind, but he wasn't sure why.
"Connor said he was going to step outside last night at around two," Travis Stoll said quietly. For once, he wasn't grinning in that snarky I-just-got-away-with-putting-fertilizer-on-Demeter 's-cabin's-toothbrushes way. Fleetingly, Nico thought that a sullen Travis was cute. Then he decided he must've really not gotten enough sleep last night, if he was thinking ridiculous things like that.
"He was just going to switch the perfume in Aphrodite cabin with weed killer," he continued.
"Hey!" Drew and Katie exclaimed at the same time.
"For the last week, we've had to pull out all the weedy growth by hand," Katie snapped.
"Even if I wore that disgusting liquid, I would still smell better than you, hon," Drew told Travis.
Nico privately thought that taking a sniff of weed killer would less likely kill him than a whiff Drew's current perfume.
"I fell asleep before Connor came back," Travis finished.
Percy looked at Nico. "Around two last night...I was outside with Nico, but I didn't see anything."
All eyes turned to Nico. He felt his cheeks heat up.
"I didn't see anything either," he managed.
"Argh!" Percy slammed his fist into his other palm. "I should've gone to check on Annabeth. I should've known something was going on!"
Seeing Percy in anguish made Nico's chest hurt, like it was hard to breathe. He was angry: he wanted to go and give whoever had taken away Annabeth a mouthful of Stygian iron. But at the same time, even though it made him feel really guilty, there was a tiny ember of hope inside his heart...
Suddenly, a rainbow appeared in the air, where sunlight was filtering through the window. Almost everyone jumped away like it was going to bite.
Coach Hedge grunted. "Permission to kill intruder?" He raised his fist.
"Shh!" three or four demigods hissed, all fixated intently on the Iris message.
Annabeth was bound and gagged, clearly unconscious. She was in a dark room that somehow looked familiar, and Nico could hardly make out her features. Connor was nowhere to be seen.
A note flashed across the mist. Nico knew a bit of Greek from his old Mythomagic days, but he still struggled to see what it meant.
"Two weeks. Golden Fleece or they die," an Athena kid translated before Nico had even finished deciphering the first word.
"That's subtle," someone muttered, after the silence got too long.
Travis looked like he was trying to swallow a sock.
Just as Percy opened his mouth to say something, Rachel slumped over. Katie and Will ran over to catch her before she hit the floor.
Her eyes glowed neon green. Nico flinched. Even though he'd seen so many things in the Underworld and the Labyrinth, he was still a bit weirded out by the Oracle's whole smoke-and-flashes thing.
"Four will travel west
Saved only by autumn harvest
Son of shadows conquers his worst fear
Bearer of the snakes loses what he holds most dear."
Rachel's face colored, and she stumbled. Katie slowly guided her to an empty chair.
Travis stood up, face suddenly grim. Nico hadn't ever seen him so determined before, but he knew firsthand what losing a sibling was like, and he couldn't blame the guy for being less cheerful than normal.
"So," Travis said. "It's settled. A quest, with four campers. I call dibs for a spot. I've got to save my brother."
"Me too," Percy said. "I have to help Annabeth."
"I'll go too," Nico found himself saying. Everyone stared.
He couldn't really explain why he felt so certain, so determined. But he felt he was supposed to save Annabeth and Connor. Percy needed help. No, he wasn't doing this for Percy. Not at all.
"Well, it says 'son of shadows'," he said defensively. "Son of Hades. Me." But deep down, he knew that wasn't the reason why he wanted to go.
Percy nodded. "Thanks, Nico. I appreciate it."
Nico forced a smile, but it must've came out creepier than he'd intended, for a couple campers standing near him backed away.
Or they just all hate you, he thought moodily. It wasn't like he didn't know how others felt about him-how they thought he was scary. He didn't belong. His fingers itched, but he fought to restrain his hands, because raising skeletons from the ground at a time like this would only cement the others' negative opinions of him.
"Autumn harvest. That's got to be Demeter," an Athena kid said.
Katie nodded grimly. "All right. That's..." For a mere second, panic and fear flashed across her face.
The children of Demeter were usually placid, and monsters didn't attack them too often. In fact, Nico couldn't remember ever hearing about a Demeter kid going on a quest. Even during the Battle of Manhattan, most of them didn't participate in hand-to-hand combat, opting to trip up enemies with vines and weeds instead.
"I'll go," she muttered finally, pinking. Nico remembered that he'd seen Travis and Katie talking on the beach a couple weeks ago. Absently, he wondered what that'd been all about.
"Then we're set," Chiron said, looking pained. "And here I was hoping for several months of peace and quiet after the recent war."
"What about the Golden Fleece, though?" Rachel asked, looking around the room. "We can't just give it to them."
Someone winced at the word we. Sure, Rachel spent a lot of time at camp, but she was still a mortal. Not exactly part of the demigod group.
"We can't let them die, either," Travis shot back.
"Then we gotta bust 'em out," Clarisse growled, slamming her palms down hard on the table. A cup of coffee tipped over from the force of the impact, spilling brown liquid all over the surface. No one bothered to clean it up.
"But...we don't even know where they are..." Katie said helplessly.
"They're in the Underworld," Nico said suddenly. He knew why the dark room Annabeth was in looked familiar. He'd been there before. "They're in Hades's castle."
Percy made a gagging sound. "Not the cells?"
"No," Nico said, shame flooding him. About a month ago, he'd tricked Percy into coming with him to Hades's palace, and the poor guy had been thrown into an airtight cell.
He shuffled his feet, not able to meet anyone's eyes. "They're in my guest bedroom."
Nico stared out at the waves glumly. The ocean was a grey-blue today, as if reflecting his mood.
They were going to leave in a couple hours, at sundown. Katie and Travis were preparing supplies. Since Nico had packed last night (for a very different trip-the kind that didn't involve other people) he didn't have anything to do except wait.
Nico didn't want to go anywhere with Percy Jackson. He hated the guy, or so he told himself. He was doing this stupid quest for Annabeth and Connor.
He was a pretty good liar, but not good enough to fool himself.
"Hey, can I join you?"
The son of Poseidon crashed down next to him. Nico bit back a sharp retort. Bianca had always told him to be nice and to give others a chance, and unfortunately, that advice applied to Percy Jackson too.
"I know why you're going on the quest," Percy said. His green eyes were the color of spring, Nico's favorite season. Not that he cared.
"Y-you do...?" He'd meant for it to come out brittle, but it sounded weak, pathetic. He shifted away from Percy.
"Yeah." The older boy smiled gently, making Nico's stomach twist. "It's okay, though. Falling for someone who's already taken."
What? Nico wasn't sure if he'd heard Percy right. "I'm not-who said-I don't like-" he sputtered, heart pounding.
Percy continued, "It's all right. I sure can't blame you. I mean, lots of people have a crush on-"
"Don't compare me to Rachel, you don't know anything!" Nico burst out.
Percy looked completely baffled. "Uh...what? Rachel? Who said anything about...I mean, Rachel likes Annabeth? What?"
"Annabeth?" Nico repeated, confused.
"I mean, I heard Connor Stoll liked her last year," Percy said. "And Michael Yew, too." He paused. "It's okay if you have feelings for her, too."
The words loomed in the air, heavy and suffocating. Nico's head spun. What was Percy on about?
"You can't help your emotions," Percy continued, looking a bit awkward now. He'd clearly planned this speech in advance, because there was no way he'd be this eloquent winging it. "That's okay. I'm sure one day you'll find the perfect girl. And I'm really glad you're coming on the quest with me."
Nico looked up hopefully, but then Percy said, "I mean...no one knows the Underworld like you do."
Heart sinking, he scowled. Of course. He was just a tour guide, a compass.
"But you've got to trust me. I won't be mad." Percy placed a hand on Nico's shoulder. Electricity chilled the boy to the bone, and suddenly he couldn't concentrate.
"Nico, be honest with me here. Do you like Annabeth?"
Hi guys! Thanks for all of your kind reviews, faves, and follows! This is my first fanfic and I really was not expecting such a nice response. I hope you keep reading!
-Etia