School of Terror

"Wait wait wait; First day at our new school?!!! Why are we doing this exactly?!" Percy questioned the laughing Serena.

"You're so clueless it's not even funny! I thought Chiron would have mentioned it to you!"

"Mention what?!"

Serena rolled her eyes. "Nico was snooping around when he saw this girl being attacked by a hellhound. She looked so scared at first, but when Nico was about to jump in, the Hellhound ran away whimpering." Percy gave Serena a strange look. He knew Hellhounds, with the exception of Mrs. O'Leary, where vicious and was never scared of anyone.

"Does he know why?"

"That's just the thing; when the Hellhound left, she collapsed on the ground. He would have helped her, but he felt a strange energy emitting from her. He's gonna meet us there."

"Wa-, wh-, hu? Nico? He's meeting us there, as in, enrolling?" Serena nodded. Percy's face paled. "But isn't that dangerous?"

"Hey don't look at me! I'm not him!"

Percy looked out the window in deep concern. If Nico decided to attend a school, there had to be something up; he wouldn't be caught dead in a new school, especially since he now knows his father was Hades…

The car ride lasted a rough hour or so; both of them were sitting in complete silence until they pulled in front of a large five story building. Once they stepped out of the van, they both stared at the school in awe.

"Does this school require funding?" Percy asked; never ripping his gaze from the building.

"How would I know? Chiron took care of our admissions." Serena replied.

"Serena! Percy!" They ripped their gaze off the building to see a thirteen year old boy with ruffled black hair and all black clothing. He had purple bags under his eyes like he hadn't slept in weeks, and he seemed to be stressed out.

"Nico!" Percy exclaimed; rather relieved to see he wasn't being perused by any of Krono's monsters.

"I knew you would choose Percy; everyone does…" He trailed off as if recalling the day he learned Bianca died. "Anyway, Chiron and I made sure that we all have the same classes with her." His voice seemed to darken a bit.

"You alright Nico? You look like you haven't gotten any sleep lately." Serena asked getting worried. Her and Nico were close, in fact, they considered each other as siblings; despite her being a daughter of Athena and him being the son of Hades.

He shifted uncomfortably. "This girl, she…she just doesn't seem right. You'll see what I'm talking about when we get to class." Serena gave him a concerned look before they heard a bell go off. "We better hurry, they beat you if you're late." Percy and Serena gave him the look 'Great…'

They found their first class with three minutes to spare; all thanks to Nico, who had been a student there for a least a week.

"Well, we don't have assigned seats so you can sit by me if you'd like." Serena and Percy followed Nico to his seat while 'admiring' the school's atmosphere. The walls were completely covered in posters and papers about the new clubs that were opening. In the front of the room were the teacher's desk, the white board, and a leather whip. Serena and Percy gulped at the sight of it.

"Do they actually use those things?" Percy asked nervously.

Nico looked at it sadly. "Ya; if you don't answer a question right, pay attention, or do anything else that counts as disobeying, they call you up and they whip your hands at least five times." Nico held up his battered frail hands to prove it.

Serena became stern with anger. She couldn't stand it when people hurt her friends, especially little kids. "But that's illegal, isn't it?"

Nico nodded. "They're aloud to do it; it's their 'religion'."

Serena and Percy raised an eyebrow. "Religion? That's so stupid! Only an idiot would believe that!"

"Unless some of our 'friends' are behind it; remember, they can control the mist too." Serena gave Percy a look of annoyance. Nico looked at the two of them a chuckled; something he hasn't done in a long time.

"You know, I forgot how funny you guys are together." Percy and Serena blushed madly before pointing their fingers at each other.

"THERE'S NO WAY I-" They stopped mid-sentence as they felt a strange presence near by. Nico felt it too and his face went grim; the shadows covering his face again.

"She's coming…"

The door opened rather slowly revealing what looked like twelve to thirteen year old girl with short black hair that seemed to have a purple shade when the light hit it. She wore a black long sleeve shirt with black pants and a mini skirt. When she turned to go to her desk, her deep lavender eyes caught their glance; sending a shiver down their spines. The girl seemed to notice their reaction before looking down as she took her seat by the window; far away from anyone else.

Percy and Serena wanted to go up and talk to her, but they found that they couldn't even move nor talk. Nico was giving her a small glare from his seat. "You see, that, that feeling…it's not natural…" Percy and Serena could only nod in agreement as they still couldn't move.

The door slammed open and a buff tall man entered the room. He slammed his books on the desk and glared at the new comers. "Well, you gonna sit down or do you want to get beat the first day?!!!" He snorted in a rough jagged voice.

Serena was tempted to beat the crap out him right there and then, but found she had already token a seat.

"Now, I want you all to get out those ten thousand word essays I assigned you yesterday and they better be done!" To emphasize the 'done' part, he picked up the whip and squeezed it hard.

The class immediately pulled out what seemed to be about ten pages each with the exception of a few; including the undercover demi-gods. The teacher then began to walk around and picked up the papers one by one. When he got to Nico however, he chuckled. "Looks like you've got to pay up boy…" He trailed off into laughter before grabbing the collar of his shirt and thrusting him out of the chair. Percy had to hold Serena in her chair as she tried to get Nico back; but he was having difficulty.

The teacher threw him against the white board. "Now hold out your hands in front of the whole class." Nico gave him a glare before doing what he was told. He would have refused, but then he couldn't have been able to keep an eye on the girl.

The teacher laughed. "This is what you get if you don't do what we ask you to." He slammed the whip against Nico's frail hands, causing him to flinch in pain. "Four more to go!" He then repeated the process. Serena looked like she was about to explode in anger, but she caught a glimpse of the girl to see that a tear slowly trickled down her pale white skin.

The punishment was soon over and Nico returned to his seat; hands bloody from the leather. Everyone else in the room seemed to be completely still as the teacher walked on by. When he got to the girl however, he seemed even more outraged. "Where's your homework Hotaru?!" The demi-gods turned their attention to the conversation immediately. "Are you gonna need the punishment too? Or are you gonna give it to me?!"

The girl he called Hotaru looked down even more sadly. "I…I didn't have time sir…" Percy and Serena were shocked at how fragile her voice sounded. It seemed like even the faintest sound would shatter it…

"Didn't have time?!! That's the best excuse you can give?! Not-"

"I had another attack." She whispered so low that if they didn't have keen hearing, they wouldn't have heard it.

The teacher seemed to lay off a bit as he stood up straight again. "Very well then, there's nothing you can do about that I guess…" He muttered annoyed.

"Another attack? What does she mean by that?" Serena asked wondering is she was being hurt by immortals.

"She's sickly; everyone says she was born that way…"

"But no one is born with things like that without having a reason for them." Percy said feeling as if the shadows casted on the walls were terrified themselves…