Sorry for the sudden stop. This giant monster came and tried to eat us. But no worries. I totally kill it. Well...i helped. I didn't actually kill it... Natalie...OK back to the story.

So after I said i'd tell her everything about me, in exchange for information about her, she seemed to relax. But I still couldn't feel my arms...or legs...or hardly any part of my body. It felt like I was underwater. Really deep underwater. When the girl saw this, she gave herself a face palm.

"Gods, I'm sorry. I forgot to take the spell off of you." For a second I thought I heard her wrong. But then, she mumbled something under her breath and It felt like my arms went from lead to putty. I sighed and started to stand, but she raised an eyebrow.

"OK, so I made you more comfortable, but I'm not letting you roam around completely. I'm not an idiot." Again, i was gong to make a smart retort. Something like you must be to mess with a son of Hades. Then I would have gone all Demigod and slash with my sword. But again, she reacted before I could.

She pulled out a long piece of what looked like string. I looked at her and laughed. "String. Really? You're kid..." Before I could finish my sentence, she threw the string and shouted a single word.

Tas!

A glowing picture, almost looking like I hieroglyphic appeared and The string wrapped around my arms and legs, making me fall back into my chair. I looked at her with a dumbfounded expression. I haven't even seen children of Hecate do that. This girl had magic, and she was good at it. But then when the end of the string was almost finished wrapping around me, it smacked be in the face. "What was that for?" I demanded, mad I couldn't rub the aching red mark. T

he girl groaned and smacked the bed post. "Dang it," she exclaimed, "Almost had it perfect." I just stared at her. I was surprised this powerful magic girl sounded so childish. She huffed and looked back at me. She still looked angry when she said, "Alright, mystery boy. Time for you to tell me who you are." I shook my head. "You first." But when I saw the look on her face, I knew it was time to fess up.

"Alright, alright." I said. I took a deep breath "My name is Nico DI Angelo." The girl waited a second. "Go on." She said. But I shook my head. "First, you tell me your name. That's kind of how it works." She hesitated. "Natalie," she said. "Natalie Mason."

I tried to reach out my hand to shake it, but I forgot I was tied up with a magical string. It held me tight like a viper. Natalie stifled a laugh, which was a nice change from all the seriousness.

"So Natalie, tell me. Where did you learn magic?" I said as casually as I could. Natalie's eyes darkened for a second, but it passed so fast I thought I had imagined it. I looked at her expectantly, but she gave me the same look from before and I knew that wasn't going to happen. "OK...you win...again. You might not believe me, but my father..." I hesitated for a second. Natalie raised an eyebrow. "I can do magic...i'm best friends with a gryffin...try me."

I hesitated for only a second then I spoke. "My father is Hades."

Right after I said that, Natalie jumped up and ran to the huge book shelves in the corner, the entire thing crammed with books. She started to throw books off, mumbling excitingly to herself. After around 5 minutes of this, i cleared my throat. "Ummm...I'm still here."

Natalie ran back over clutching a book to her chest, grinning like a madman. I wanted to shrink away, but couldn't. "Hades? Like Hades the god of the dead? Married to Persephone, Ruler of the underworld, Hades?" She flung open the book and flipped to a page of a figure sitting on a throne of bones, surrounded by skeletons. Once version of my dad, Hades.

I was stunned, but i nodded. "Yeah...all that stuff." Natalie beamed. Her smile was natural, like she smiled all the time. Which was weird to think about, since she was friends with a dangerous monster and (supposedly) knocked me out.

"I knew it! I knew there were other gods! Carter and Sadie suspected, but they weren't sure...But i always thought it was totally possible." Natalie was pretty much jumping from excitement. She was acting like a little kid finding a puppy.(Yes you were) Again I cleared my throat. "Hello...again...still here."

Natalie looked at me and smiled apologetically. "Sorry...I get kinda carried away." She snapped her fingers and said that word again.

Tas

The string instantly fell off of me and I stretched. I sat all the way up. Natalie leaned forward and stared right at me. I felt kinda uneasy. This girl had gone from crazy, to really crazy, to absolutely calm in about 10 minutes. What ever was up with her, i didn't know what to expect.

"So..." I said, trying to get some answers. "I told you my secret. Now you tell me yours."

Natalie bit her lip. She suddenly looked scared. "Look...can i trust you?" I

had no idea what she meant by that. I just met her, tried to kill her pet, then she tied me and freaked out when I told her about my dad. "Ummm...sure."

"OK," Natalie started fiddling with the necklace around her neck. I hadn't noticed it before. Hanging from it was a strange looking charm. It looked like another hieroglyphic.

"This place is called Brooklyn house. It's for kids with magic. The kids are called the blood of the Pharaoh. Here...we follow the path of the gods."

I was officially confused at that point. I had no idea what being "Blood of the Pharaoh" meant. I didn't even know there were Egyptian gods still running around. Although I was surprised I was so surprised. I mean, i know several Greek gods personally. I should have known there were other gods somewhere in the world. I just didn't expect them so close to camp.

I must have been staring blankly for a while, because Natalie waved her hand in front of my face. "Hello? You OK Nico?" I nodded. "Yeah...its just...a lot to take in. I guess i'm not as well as processing things as you are."

Natalie laughed. "I believe anything, so don't feel too bad. I guess it is kinda overwhelming. I mean, I've suspected other gods for a while, so it was easier for me to accept."

I smiled and leaned forward in the chair. "OK, so you're obviously really excited about the whole Greek god thing."

Natalie laughed again. "Understatement."

I decided then and there to tell her everything. She was so excited, it would feel like a crime not to. I couldn't wait to see her face when she found out about all the other demigods. And Camp Half-blood...man she'd be jumping off the walls. (Don't deny it, Natalie)

"If you're excited about one demigod...wait till you hear about Camp half..."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. I could hear a girl's voice with a British accent coming from the other side of the door. "Nat? Are you in there? Me and Carter are back from the 57th (random number) Nome."

Natalie's eyes widened. "Y...yeah I'm here just a sec." She looked at me and whispered "Go. Meet me in central park tomorrow,OK?"

I nodded and created a shadow for me to walk through. Natalie grabbed my arm, "Thank you...for showing me I'm not crazy." She released me and i walked through the shadow, my mind still full of questions.