Hey, again, sorry for the short chapter but I sincerely thank those of you who reviewed.
Disclaimer: I Do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians! No one would read them if I did! (I don't own any brand names either)
It was well after curfew when Annabeth and Nico walked soundlessly into a small grass field completely surrounded by trees. The moon was full and millions of stars glowed. There were far too many stars visible considering that they were so close to New York City so nature magic had to be at use. Annabeth had been waiting for the moon to be at its fullest. Nico had said that either the full moon or the absence of the moon were the best conditions for what they were about to do.
Annabeth held a six pack of diet Coke. She had nicked the sodas from the Big House. Dionysus probably wouldn't be too happy when he found out that his endless supply of Diet Cokes had been pilfered through. Nico held a Ziploc full of dinner leftovers.
Nico put his hands to his sides and closed his eyes. The moonlight got a little darker and the normal night noises got quieter. A slow, cold breeze caused the grass to wave eerily.
He then slowly raised his hands and a skeletal hand rose from the ground. Two skeletons dressed in tattered miners' uniforms grinned at the duo grotesquely.
"Dig me a small hole, uh, please." said Nico, still a little not used to commanding skeletons around. The skeletons saluted and scrambled to dig a hole. They communicated to one another in their dry, bony language. The sound of their dry bones clacking against one another sent chills up Annabeth's spine. She shuddered and crossed her arms in front of her uncomfortably. The woods had never seemed so dark or so empty. The hole was quickly finished and Nico snapped his fingers.
"You are dismissed." he said calmly. The skeletons fell into a pile of dry, yellowed bones. Annabeth dumped the leftovers into the freshly dug hole and poured in the Coke. Nico began chanting in ancient Greek. Annabeth kept hearing about scenes of death and pain. Real happy stuff.
"Show me Percy Jackson, Son of the Sea god." commanded Nico. His eyes gleamed with a maniac, intense fire that looked terrifying and out of place in his young eyes.
Suddenly, in the center of the silver, moonlit field, a bright spirit appeared. It approached slowly, gliding with more grace than any natural thing on earth. It stooped when it reached the hole in the ground and drank the Coke. It also took a bite of the triple cheese and pepperoni pizza that Annabeth had 'collected' after dinner that night.
It has to be Percy! I got his favorite kind of pizza. Of course, the dead can't taste but still… thought Annabeth miserably.
The shiny and bright figure became more distinguished and recognizable, but remained a bit blurry. The spirit was blurry because Nico was already tired summoning it. He didn't have enough strength or real practice for detail.
"Percy?" Annabeth whispered. Her eyes shone with tears and were as silver as the purest moonlight. She stared in awe at the specter standing before her.
"Hey Annabeth. You too Nico." said the spirit. Percy was a mere shadow of what he once was, and it broke Annabeth's already shattered heart to see him again, knowing that he was already gone. But she had to see him. She had to talk to him. She had to tell him goodbye.
"'Sup Percy." said Nico in a strained voice. His energy was depleting by the moment, because the energy required to keep Percy away from the Underworld was staggering.
"Hey." Annabeth managed, too choked up to murmur anything more. She stared forlornly at her best friend and the boy that she had loved from the moment that she saw him collapse on the porch of the Big House the night he defeated the Minotaur.
"Did you guys miss me?" Percy asked in a poor attempt at humor. He smiled crookedly, and his familiar smile was all that it took to push Annabeth over the edge. She tried to compose a sentence, but out of all the words that she knew, she couldn't utter a single one of them. She started sobbing and wrenched her eyes closed in an attempt to keep too many tears from falling.
"Shhh… Annabeth. It's alright. Don't cry. Please." Percy said softly, his own voice cracking. He tried hold her close in an embrace, but was forced away as he neared living skin.
"You're still a seaweed brain. Nothing will be fine if you're not here!" Annabeth sobbed wretchedly.
Bianca, who had followed them, started tearing up from the bushes.
"This… this is all my fault! I… was so stupid!" cried Bianca quietly. Luckily, no one heard her. But then, she realized that she could at least help Nico. She quickly directed Percy's life force to feed energy off of her instead of Nico. Nico passed out on the grass.
Bianca racked her brain in an attempt to remember the ancient Greek verses to recite when resurrecting a dead spirit. She murmured the incantations, slowly and deliberately. She felt her energy slowly being drained, but she would give every ounce of her energy to let Percy give his final goodbyes. She owed it to him.
Suddenly, Percy's figure came into focus. He appeared to wear his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. He also wore his bead necklace. It only had two beads. He also wore a pair of jeans and a ghostly form of Riptide appeared at his side. Why t wasn't in pen form, Annabeth didn't really understand. His longish black hair swayed in the night breeze over his sea green eyes, which were brighter than ever but also sadder than she had ever seen them, even after he thought that his mother was dead.
"Shhh… It's ok. Alright. I'm here. By the life force of some mystery being." said Percy as he looked into Annabeth's eyes. She looked into his beautiful, amazing green eyes.
"I'm sorry, but I think whatever is powering me to be here is gonna join me soon if they keep it up." said Percy as he leaned toward Annabeth. She leaned over to him. They closed the distance between their lips with a sweet kiss. But his essence started vaporizing at the touch of living skin.
"I love you Annabeth. Thank you, Nico. You too Bianca." said Percy as he faded and disappeared. The mist faded in mere seconds. The crickets resumed their chirping and the moonlight became brighter. The woods ceased to be scary and were merely woods once again.
"Bianca?" muttered Nico in a dazed voice. His brown eyes fluttered shut before he could say anything else.
"No!" yelled Annabeth as she fell to her knees in body wracking sobs. She stumbled to her feet and trudged to the Big House.
Bianca quietly emerged from the bushes and carried Nico's unconscious form to the Big House.
Soo… was it good? Bad? Awesome? I'd love to know. Please tell me in a review.