Another week, another chapter. I surprise myself sometimes. Heh. Enjoy, or do not. That is your prerogative.
Marzipan.
"Fight like a man, Jackson!" Clarisse bellowed from inside the cage, her voice more than drowning out what had just occurred between Rachel and Annabeth.
"That's cheating!" someone in the crowd yelled, booing loudly at Nico's intervention. The rest of the new Ares and Nemesis campers quickly joined them, showing their dissent, as did some of the other braver-looking kids. Someone wadded up a sheet of paper and tossed it at Nico; taking their cue from this someone else threw an empty, crumpled can of Coke.
Clarisse snarled, throwing her spear between the pillars of volcanic rock. The newbs were only just in time with their scrambling to avoid being impaled about five deep by it. The spear stuck, quivering, in the wooden border around the edge of the arena.
"Playing fair only works until it gets you killed because your opponent doesn't abide by your precious moral code," she spat at the recruits. "Remember that! It might be your most important lesson so far. You know who fights predictably? The Romans. Drills and legions only get you so far. Nothing beats a Greek frenzy. As none of you are at Camp Jupiter I'm assuming that you're Greek. I cheated first, remember?"
The dissent calmed down slightly but some of the campers who already had a bead or two around their necks, especially those from the Ares cabin, weren't to be cowed as easily as the newbies. They still looked mutinous, muttering at the entrapped Clarisse and glaring daggers at Nico.
"Nico!" Percy yelled suddenly.
Nico spun to find Justin back on his feet; Justin was carrying a bullwhip in his hand and the air cracked as he lashed out with it, entangling it around Nico's sword arm and yanking hard. Nico bit the sand violently, his fingers spasming from the stranglehold on his wrist and his sword falling limply from his hand.
Justin grinned at him. "Hey, if you're going to cheat I'm going to cheat," he said. "Gotta keep things balanced."
Nico rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You're practically Lady fucking Justice," he bit out good naturedly. "Can I have my arm back now?"
"You gonna release my partner?" Justin countered with, keeping the whip taut.
Nico opened his mouth to tell him to go roll naked in honey and sit on an anthill when a geyser suddenly erupted underneath Justin, blasting him up into the air and halfway across the arena, limbs flailing.
Nico used his now-free hand to wipe the spray from his face and looked up at Percy, who was blocking out the sun and grinning lopsidedly at him. His hand was extended to help his cousin up.
"You really bring out the worst in me," Percy said as he hauled Nico to his feet. "Encouraging me to cheat. Nice job with the cage by the way."
"Nice job with the jet washing," Nico replied. "I think that's victory us?"
Percy glanced over his shoulder at Clarisse to confirm this and she shook her head and sighed. "Victory's yours," she muttered reluctantly. "Fine. You win. But in the rematch? I'm gonna mop the floor with you. Now, how about you let a girl out and offer to buy the losers a beer?"
"Shouldn't the losers by the winners a beer?" Percy asked as Nico let the black rock sink back into the sand as if it had never been there.
"Dream on," Clarisse said. She walked over to where her spear was embedded, shoving campers aside who weren't quick enough to move. She wrenched her spear free and shrunk it back into its steal mode. "It's not like you won fair and square."
Percy grinned at her. Clarisse had come a long way since they were both teenagers in terms of her personality — they all had. Age had prevented her from seeing things in the black and white manner she had used to when they had been at Camp together. It had also taught her to curb her temper when the situation called for it as well as mellowing her attitude to losing — she now saw a strength in admitting when she had been beaten rather than denying a loss.
"Battle training 101," Justin said, staggering back towards the spectators and shoving back sopping wet hair. He wrung out his t-shirt, too. "After never say you'll never cheat, try not to piss of sons of Poseidon. I think I just got a free colonic."
"It wasn't free," Percy replied with a grin, reaching forward to shake Justin's hand. "Clarisse has just volunteered you to buy the first round."
Justin groaned. "Fine, but we're going to this dump I know where they charge five bucks a pitcher."
"Don't look at me," Clarisse said. "I said nothing." She turned to the crowd which had gathered to watch the show. "DISMISSED!" she barked. "Tomorrow, you try some of that out for yourself. Go and get ready for dinner and the campfire."
"Where're Rachel and Annabeth?" Nico asked suddenly as he sheathed his sword.
Percy looked over to their empty little spot of shade and frowned. "I don't know," he said, mildly perplexed. Then he shrugged. "Bathroom? They won't have gone far." He mopped his face on his t-shirt and walked over to the edge of the arena, tossing a bottle of water each to Justin, Clarisse and Nico from an ice bucket.
Nico watched Percy. He seemed oblivious to the gawking going on amongst Campers old and new as he walked towards them to get the water but Nico could see them whispering and nudging each other, probably recounting the tales they'd heard of the famous son of Poseidon.
Hanging out with Percy in the demigod world was kind of like hanging out with a celebrity; he always got bumped down to the nobody sidekick. Much like when he was eating in some fancy ass restaurant with Rachel. Maître d's looked at him the same way demigods did sometimes — like he was something they could have scraped off their shoe.
Of course, it was for very different reasons; with maître d's, it was more because he probably looked like some kind of street trash Rachel had scooped up off the sidewalk on the way in and decided to treat to a free meal. He could accept that because, frankly, they were snooty assholes and fuck them if they didn't like the fact that his Metallica t-shirt had a hole in it and they felt that it was lowering the tone.e
With demigods, though, even after the wars the House of Hades still had a long way to go to rebuild its reputation. The fact that he had a cabin at Camp and that there was a throne on Olympus dedicated to his father meant little, apparently, and demigods were slow to change their perceptions of him. People still associated him with death and shunned him, resented him, probably out of some deep-rooted fear more than anything else.
They seemed to think he was the grim reaper and, as he liked being left alone, he did little to debase the notion. Let people think he was the weird kid of death and make fun of him behind his back. He barely cared anymore. He wasn't a kid anymore and he knew that other people's opinion meant jack.
Although it was just… sometimes, he wondered why Percy got to be the lovable rouge, the hero, even though he had practically drowned Justin, whereas he made one little show of Underworld power and the whole crowd treated him like he was some kind of pantomime villain. The bad guy. Like he was twiddling a handlebar moustache and tying a helpless (ha!) Clarisse to some train tracks.
Nico rolled his eyes and tore them away from Percy's adoring fans; he knew from experience that it was never a happy avenue to explore. Instead, he took a long gulp of water, relishing the feeling in his parched throat.
Percy was busy shaking hands with Justin again, then Clarisse. "Nice fight," he said. "I thought you almost had us there."
"Yeah, yeah. And we did almost have you, kelp head," Clarisse growled. "Next time, you're toast. Got it?" She turned to the campers. "Didn't you hear me? Get gone!" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder for emphasis and the remaining campers filtered out.
Percy put a hand to his stomach. "Toast… Is anyone else starving?" he asked.
Justin nodded. "Oh yeah. I've gotta catch a shower before we eat… although you've done a pretty good job already, Percy."
"I second that," Clarisse said, raking back a strand of hair that was slicked to her cheek. "Catch you guys later." She left with Justin.
Percy and Nico were left alone in the arena.
"We kicked ass," Percy said. "How's the arm?"
Nico looked down at his forearm where a welt was rising from the whip and shrugged. It stung and throbbed but some nectar later would pretty much take care of it. "I'll live. Hey, random question. Do you really not notice how famous you are with the new brats? You're like a legend to them but you act like you don't notice."
Percy frowned and then snorted with laughter. "Seriously?"
"Never mind," Nico said dryly. "Shower?"
"Gods yes," Percy said, opening his bottle of water and tipping the last half over Nico's head. "Better?"
Nico sputtered and spat water out, gasping. "I'm writing this stuff down, you know," he said. "Pay back is a bitch. Just ask Justin."
"Yeah yeah," Percy said, breaking into a sudden sprint. "Beat you back to the cabins!" He left the arena at full pelt, with Nico trying his hardest to keep on his heels.
"What about Nico?" Rachel demanded of Annabeth, grabbing the blonde's arm.
Annabeth had just run off without saying anything. She'd been walking furiously this entire time and Rachel had had to struggle to keep up. Annabeth had finally come to a stop at the canoe lake and stood there staring out over the water.
"Why run off like that?" Rachel pursued. "You're kind of scaring me."
Annabeth continued glaring at the lake, obviously conflicted. Rachel had no idea what was wrong with her still and she stumbled back when Annabeth shook her arm out of Rachel's grasp.
Annabeth retrieved a stub of pencil from the pocket of her cut-off jeans and flipped to a blank page in Rachel's sketchbook and, hesitantly and haltingly, scribbled out the translation there. When she was done she tore it out and handed it to Rachel, who started to read it to herself.
"I don't think I can say it out loud," Annabeth said, swallowing and chewing on her nub of pencil.
When sons of Hades come of age
They must learn to yoke their rage
Hades' line wields great might
But its use in wrath is humanity's blight.
The time will come when they must choose
To live a virtuous life or to lose
to anger all they know
And do naught but cause widespread woe.
Their choice will lead them one of two ways:
The world they will either raise or raze.
Rachel read it through a few times and then cocked an eyebrow at Annabeth. "This rhymes," she said. "Did you translate this from Ancient Greek to English in a way that made it rhyme?"
"Prophecies are meant to rhyme," Annabeth admitted sheepishly. "If it had been in English it would have rhymed so… I felt like I should make it rhyme. But that's not the point. Did you read it?"
"Your brain is a scary place. Super computer scary," Rachel said. Then she sighed. "I read it," she confirmed.
It was unlike any of the Oracle's messages she had seen or heard before. Instead of the ambiguity of prophecy there was only stark warning. That wasn't generally how the Oracle operated; the spirit tended to always leave wiggle room.
Then again, perhaps the warning was so clear because the Oracle had already felt the wrath of Hades and warning people about it was important to the spirit. The whole thing left little doubt that Nico (who else could it be?) could wind up in some serious trouble if he didn't learn to control his powers.
She shuddered despite the heat. World War II had been the reason the Big Three had made the pact not to procreate with mortals anymore. The global suffering and death caused by the conflict had resulted in them deciding not to sire anymore children as powerful as those who had been involved in the war.
You didn't need an A+ in European History to guess which side Hades' kids had been on during World War II and Nico… well, he was a child of Hades whether he liked it or not. Surely he had the same potential in him as any of the despots of the Axis did? The way he had looked just now when he'd summoned Clarisse's cage came back to haunt her, that mania in his eyes that left him teetering on the cusp between genius and insanity…
Could it really be?
"We can't tell him," Rachel said quickly. "If he thinks he's about to raze the entire world then only the gods know what he'll do. He'll fall apart. He spirals, you know that. If we tell him he's just going to end up hating himself. We might just be pushing him into making it come true."
Annabeth let out a shaky breath. "Really? You don't want to tell him? What if we don't and he doesn't learn to keep his anger in check and he goes nuclear?"
"He won't," Rachel said fiercely, suddenly aware that she was gripping the sketchpad so hard she was shaking. She suddenly wanted to tear the thing into tiny pieces of confetti and scatter it to the four winds, pretend it hadn't happened, pretend that it might not be true. "He won't because we won't let him. I won't let him."
Annabeth hesitated, uncertainty crossing her face. "It's weird. On one hand I feel like this prophecy was meant for ten-year-old Nico, the one who was so consumed with his grudge against Percy after Bianca and his hatred that he saw nothing else. On the other hand… he's not the same person anymore and I know that. He's different, and it's hard to imagine that he has the potential to do something like this, but aren't you even a little bit worried that a tiny part of that kid is still in him waiting to get out?"
Rachel's nostrils flared. "Then we put that little kid in a corner and leave it there and tell child services to get lost if they come knocking," she said determinedly. "Whatever it takes."
Grey, uncertain eyes met green, determined ones and they were locked in a staring contest for a minute. Annabeth was the first to look away.
"Fine. We don't tell him," she said. "Yet. If the situation arises where he needs to know this then we tell him everything. Okay? And we can't tell Chiron. If he thinks there's even the slightest danger of another freaking World War then…"
"Lotus Casino," Rachel said darkly. Her thoughts were confirmed by Annabeth's nod.
Chiron was very fair and balanced as well as being incredibly kind. However, he was also very wise and charged with leading a summer camp full of demigods who were burdened with protecting the world if it needed it. His duty to protect the world and prevent war had resulted in him keeping the Roman camp secret for the best part of a century and a half, even if it was at the gods' behest.
To him, saving the lives of many demigods and upholding the safety, security and stability of the West was more important than any one demigod. Which was an admirable attitude, but… this was Nico.
And if Chiron knew that Nico would pose a threat, both Annabeth and Rachel had apparently come to the same conclusion: Chiron probably wouldn't hesitate to lock Nico in the Lotus Casino so that he never became the kind of person the Oracle had warned about. Even if there was only the slightest indication that he might.
"So… what now?" Rachel asked.
Annabeth shrugged. "We just be his friend," she said. "The way he is right now I don't think he's going to be a danger to anyone. We just need him to stay that way."
Rachel nodded. "Easy," she said. She closed the sketchbook over the Oracle's warning and tried to put it out of mind. "I'm not going to let him be some kind of monster. He won't be."
Annabeth gave a sad smile. "I know. Nor will I. Let's just hope that's enough, huh?"