A/N. I don't own Percy Jackson. (Jay is mine though.) Thank you so much to everyone who reads this story- especially those of you who've left a review!
Chapter Three
Hades was waiting for us at camp Antarsia's borders. My uncle is at least three metres tall and dresses in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin is albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He radiates danger and power, and his aura makes you want to bow down and serve him as if he and he alone is worthy of being your master. He is terrifying. Right up until the moment he darts forward and grabs his son in tight embrace as if he's afraid that if he lets go, Nico will crumble into nothing but dust. He does the same with Bianca, and occasionally me if I've been doing something really, really risky. It seriously ruins his image.
Eventually, he let Nico go, smiled at me, and then turned to Artemis.
"Niece" he greeted coolly.
Artemis bowed "Uncle, I must talk with thee and my lord Poseidon. Thy brother Zeus... "
"Let me guess" Hades said in a bored tone. "Take over the world, kick his brothers of Olympus, and get away with it because none of the other gods are brave enough to stand up to him..."
My uncle holds a serious grudge against, well. Anyone he can get away with holding a grudge against really.
Artemis flushed. "Uncle, please. The entirety of Olympus is in peril, if thy brother's scheme succeeds, you and the Lord Poseidon may well be the only two other real gods left in existence, and I cannot even guarantee that."
Hades nodded slowly. "Well then niece. Let us discuss your problem with my brother." He looked past Artemis to us. "Bianca's waiting for you in the hospital wing"
"Is she-"Nico Began?
"She's fine" Hades reassured him.
I could see the relief on Nico's face. We were trained not to allow ourselves to feel overwhelming concern whilst in combat - being too worried about each other getting killed is likely to lead to our own deaths (This one time, Nico and I were so worried about Bianca that we both dived to pull her out of the way of this tongue of fire, banged in to each other and went crashing to the ground, where we were nearly stepped on by a giant, fire breathing duck. Man, that was embarrassing. Not least because whilst we were on the floor with mild concussion, Bianca finished the monster off.) Anyway, now we were out of the battle with the Minotaur, we were allowed to feel as worried as we liked- and, whilst we weren't overly concerned that Bianca might have some mortal wound - if she did she wouldn't have been able to shadow-travel; it takes up to much energy- if anything had gone badly wrong, and we'd lost Bianca...
Hades led Artemis to the Big House, where he and my dad lead the command of Antarsia. Nico and I, meanwhile, sprinted to the Hospital Wing.
The Hospital "Wing" is a huge building, big enough for everyone in the camp - around three hundred - people- to have two beds each. I don't know why dad and Uncle Hades built it so big, they clam up whenever Bianca or Nico or I try and get them to talk about the camp's early beginnings. The rooms, which for the most part are like dormitories with six beds each- are always kept spotless- except for one. Ours.
Yeah, Nico, Bianca and I have our own personal hospital room. Our parents did it up when we were stuck there for three months thawing out after an encounter with the goddess of snow. Dad said that given how much time we spent there, we may as well stay in the hospital. It was a joke, but we thought the idea of having our own privet hospital room was kind of cool. So. One spotless hospital with the exception of one room which has a sign on the door saying
Nico, Bianca and Percy are either critically ill or bunking off classes. Either way, we're armed with a dozen skeletons and half a bottle of water- Enter at your own risk!
We barged in to the room to find Bianca laughing and holding with this guy we'd never seen before. "What the hell-?" I said.
Bianca looked up and blushed, jumping to her feet. "Um, hey." She squeaked. "This is uh... this is Jay."
I'd like to say I took walking in to a room and seeing my cousin with some random guy I didn't know well. The truth is, I wanted to feed this guy - Jay - to the pet hammerhead shark my dad built an aquarium for after it tried swimming up river to be with me. I wanted to uncap Riptide (did I mention it turns in to a pen?) and run him through with it. I was feeling insanely jealous, which was kinda weird. I mean, Bianca's... Bianca. We're practically siblings. It's not like I think of her like anything more. Although she is pretty. Insanely pretty. Okay. Now I'm beginning to sound like some cheesy Aphrodite kid. Let's change the subject.
Nico was looking annoyed. "You alright, Sis." He said a little too loudly. "I mean, you retreated out of the battle, so I kinda assumed..."
Now Bianca looked annoyed. "I'm fine." She snapped. "I was tired, that's all. Jay's seeking refuge from hostility outside the camp. It's a pity he's only changed it for hostility within it- "
"Whatever." Snapped Nico, his dark eyes begin to smoulder. He turned to Jay. "So how come you were in trouble on the outside?" It's a question I'd heard him as a thousand times, but this time there was no curiosity. Nico was throwing down a challenge.
Jay shrugged. "I guess I annoyed the wrong people." He said. There was a moment's awkward silence, hostility crackling in the air like oil being heated in a pan. In the quiet, I began to notice things about Jay. He was muscular, and tense like he was expecting a fight. He seemed weary of Nico, which was understandable, but he also looked as if he were seizing the son of Hades up. And the way he was standing, with Bianca almost hidden behind him... it was almost predatory. I didn't like him - and not just because he seemed so close to Bianca. He was dangerous.
Finally, Jay shrugged. "Look." He grinned apologetically. "Bianca was just being friendly, I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be doing around here, she materialized practically on top of me earlier -"
Whoa. Back up there. Earlier!? As in today!? No way should he be that close to Bianca that quickly. I could tell by the way that Nico's hands clenched suddenly that he was coming to the same conclusions as I was.
"-so we just started talking." Jay continued "Look, I really don't want to make trouble, so ... if there's a problem, I'll leave. If not-" he stuck out his hand. I really hate it when people you don't like are reasonable. It makes it harder to wrench their hand off when they give it to you to shake. Nico reluctantly took it - which was probably more to do with the glares Bianca was giving him then any eagerness to make nice.
For a moment, everything seemed fine.
Then Nico snarled.
It was a feral, sudden sound, and Nico pulled back like he'd touched a candle. He retreated to the back wall, the snarl twisting his face. He was breathing heavily, as If a tonne of adrenaline had began coursing through his body.
"Nico!" Yelled Bianca. "What the Hades is up with you!"
"Get him out. Get him out!" Nico yelled.
Bianca opened her mouth to say something biting but I cut in. "Sorry, man, it's probably best if you leave." I said to Jay, trying to sound apologetic. "It looks like he's having some sort of seizure or something-"
"Shall I call a medic?" Jay asked
"It'll be fine." I said
"Okay." He looked at Bianca."I'll see you soon" he promised.
Bianca nodded, her lips still slightly parted. Then Jay slipped out the room. Nico collapsed, sitting against the wall, shivering slightly. He clasped his knees to his chest, like a child trying not to be noticed.
"What is up with you!" Bianca screamed again.
"Wrong. Felt cold." Nico mumbled. "Felt horrible, like being frozen. Like being locked in the deepest, darkest dungeon in the underworld."
Bianca looked at him sceptically. "He felt fine to me."
Nico's head shot up. "Yeah, I could see that!" He snapped. "What were you doing with him alone in here anyway?"
"Who are you - Lady Artemis?"
"She's here, by the way." I said quickly, before Nico could retort and the pair of them flew in to a five scale argument. Even Hades makes himself scarce when his kids fight.
Bianca looked across at me, her rage slipping away to be replaced by confusion.
"Lady Artemis?" She asked. "But why would one of the Olympians be here.? The other gods never come unless-"
At that point, Hades materialized out nowhere and announced "The world's going to end".
