A/N: Again, sorry for the delay. I had the first part of this written up, and then I had a crazy weekend. But, again, this is longer than I usually write my chapters so, yay!


Chapter 4/Complications

When Artemis awoke the next morning there was a mouse in his bed. Only it was not a complete mouse, only the skeleton. It lay in a heap near his head. Pulling back with a look of disgust, he wondered how it had gotten there. He grabbed a wad of tissue and reached over to brush it off the sheet. He anticipated a simple sweep of his hand would do the trick, but suddenly the skeleton moved. With a small cry of surprise, Artemis fell back, scrambling off the bed as the skeletal mouse crawled toward him. Grabbing the lamp that was on the bedside table, he smashed it down on the mouse, crushing the bones.

He stood there for a minute, thinking hard. Then he tightened his jaw and stalked out of the room. Percy, Annabeth, Rachel, and the men were still asleep, but Nico and Juliet were at the table that sat in the small kitchen area. Juliet was pouring milk in a glass for Nico and the demigod was eating pancakes. Artemis stepped up and frowned slightly at the boy.

"There was a live skeleton of a mouse in my bed this morning," he said flatly. "I'm curious as to how it got there."

Nico did not look up from his breakfast. "Could've been just your imagination," he said coolly.

"My mind is not inclined to just imagine things," Artemis replied with stiff politeness. "Rachel told me last night that you are the son of Hades. This gives you command over the dead, does it not?"

"So what if it does?" Nico asked, looking up finally with a frown.

"Why did you put the skeleton mouse in my bed?"

"Who said I put it there?"

"You are the only logical conclusion."

Nico's frown darkened. "Well, it wasn't me."

Artemis was not convinced. "Who then?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"It did not animate itself," Artemis said with a patronizing look. He spoke slowly, as though speaking to a slow child. "Percy and Annabeth cannot control the dead. You, however, can. Therefore you are the one responsible."

Nico flushed. "You're crazy!" he snapped, standing abruptly. The table rattled and Juliet swiftly reached over to catch the glass before it fell over. She gave Artemis a warning look, but if he saw it he did not acknowledge her.

"I'm simply stating the facts," Artemis said, growing somewhat impatient now. "I know what it is I saw."

"Yeah, well, maybe your head is screwy," Nico shot back angrily. "I didn't put a mouse in your bed."

"Do you presume to call me a liar?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing Nico could not know that Artemis had indeed lied more than a few times in his lifetime. However, Artemis was not lying now and that was what mattered.

"No, I presume to call you insane," Nico said, throwing his hands up in the air. "I don't care what you think you saw. I didn't put anything in your bed. But now I wish I had." With a scowl he stormed off to the room he shared with Percy, slamming the door behind him.

Artemis could not believe he had just been baited into an argument with a twelve-year-old. He sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as if fighting off a bad headache. When he opened his eyes, Annabeth was watching him from the doorway of her and Rachel's room. She did not look happy.

"That was a bad move," she told him matter-a-factly. "It's not good to get Nico angry at you. Holding grudges is his fatal flaw."

Before Artemis could respond, the door Nico had just closed opened again, and Percy flew out of the room, the door slamming shut again after him. Annabeth hurried to help him up, blushing slightly at his half-naked state as he was only wearing pajama bottoms. He looked perplexed.

"What's wrong with Nico?" he asked. "I just said good morning, and he threw me out of the room."

"Ask Artemis," Annabeth said with a frown in the teen's direction. Percy glanced over.

"Nice PJs," he said with a smirk. "Very chic."

Artemis did not look down at his silk pinstripe pajamas with the monogrammed breast pocket. "Thank you," he said tonelessly. "Yours are very . . . amusing."

Percy flushed slightly as he glanced down at the pajama flannel pants that depicted hundreds of little seahorses playing around in bubbles. Looking away quickly, he turned to Annabeth. "So what was that all about?" Percy asked, running a hand through his unruly black hair.

"I awoke to find the skeleton of a mouse in my bed," Artemis explained. "I assumed it was di Angelo who had placed it there. He denies it."

Percy looked surprised. "Why would he want to put a skeleton mouse in your bed?" he asked.

"Possibly because I insulted his fighting methods of last night. Or really the lack thereof."

Percy nodded slowly but did not speak, looking thoughtful. Rachel opened the door of the room she shared with Annabeth and poked her head out, her red hair unkempt and bushy. She frowned at the gathering in front of the room. "If we're all up shouldn't we start looking for that guy who insulted Lady Artemis and challenged her?"

"Yes," Annabeth said quickly. "Let's all get dressed and then we'll convene again at the kitchen table to work out a plan."

Rachel nodded and disappeared behind the door. Annabeth turned to follow but Percy grabbed her arm. "What am I going to do?" he asked, his eyes wide.

Annabeth looked perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean—I can't—Nico's all moody and my clothes . . ."

Artemis resisted the urge to roll his eyes and sighed despairingly. Not wanting to get caught in the middle of this conversation, he returned to his room to change into some proper clothes. Annabeth, in the meantime, stared at Percy as if he had just grown a third nostril.

"What are you babbling about? Just go in, get changed, and get out. Honestly Percy, it's not that hard."

"What if he won't let me in?" Percy asked, looking nervously at the door, obviously not eager to face Nico again after their little confrontation.

Annabeth sighed. "He's probably not even in there. He probably shadow-traveled somewhere to sulk. Stop being such a baby."

She shook Percy's hand off her arm and vanished into her room. Percy swallowed hard and glanced at the door to the room he shared with Nico. It felt somewhat silly to be afraid of a twelve-year-old boy, but Nico could be very scary when he wanted to be, and Percy did not feel like battling any hellhounds or zombies half-naked and without Riptide. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped inside, hoping Annabeth was right.

Nico was in the room, but instead of turning on him in a rage like Percy expected, he remained where he was. He was seated on the edge of his bed, facing the wall, his back toward Percy. Nothing moved. Percy stepped toward the dresser where a bellhop had put the half-blood's suitcases while they were at the theatre. Chiron had sent them, probably figuring they would not be back to pick up their things after the show. Aside from a slight chill in the air, everything in the room was as it should be. No signs of any kind of tantrum. Nico did not look up the entire time Percy changed into normal street clothes and put Riptide in his pocket.

The silence unnerved Percy. He knew he could not stay silent forever, so he went up and tapped Nico lightly on the shoulder, pulling away quickly just in case the boy exploded from suppressed anger. Nothing happened. Percy frowned and sat down next to the boy. Looking down, he noticed Nico was fingering the Hades figurine Bianca had found in the god's junkyard.

"Hey," Percy said, clearing his throat. "You okay?"

"I didn't put that skeleton in Artemis's bed" came the abrupt answer. Nico kept his head down, eyes fixed on the figurine.

"I believe you," Percy said automatically. Really he thought it was unlikely anyone else could have done it, but he also thought Nico was telling the truth. Which was weird.

Nico's head jerked slightly at this and he slowly glanced sidelong at Percy. "You do?" he asked skeptically, his brow furrowed beneath his black hair.

Percy nodded. "Sure. I mean, I didn't hear you get up last night after we went to bed so how could you have done it?"

A flicker of a smile crossed over Nico's face as they both knew Percy slept pretty deeply on a normal basis. But he raised his head higher and did not look as dejected as before.

"Does Annabeth believe me?" he asked after a moment.

"What?" Percy asked, surprised.

Nico shook his head and looked over at the window. "Never mind."

Percy thought he saw a faint blush color the pale boy's cheeks but quickly figured he had just imagined it since it was gone as soon as it appeared. Nico stood and glanced over at Percy, pocketing the figurine. He frowned again, this time in deep thought.

"Percy," he said slowly. "When you dream things . . . they're happening as you dream them. Right?"

Percy was again surprised, wondering what that had to do with anything. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, that's usually what the dreams usually end up being about. Things going on somewhere else but at the same time as I'm dreaming them. Kinda like live television. Only a lot cooler and scarier."

Nico was silent for a moment, walking over to where his stygian sword lay on the dresser. Picking up his belt and sheath, he put them on slowly before picking up the sword and staring at it for a moment. "Did you have a dream last night?"

"No," Percy said.

There was a long pause as Nico continued to stare at his sword. The chill in the air grew colder, Percy noticed.

"Why do you ask?" Percy asked finally.

Nico slid the sword into the sheath and turned back to Percy. The chill instantly lessened and Nico gave him a thin smile. "Just curious," he said lightly. But the troubled look in his eyes did not go away, and Percy knew he was lying. Before he could say anything however, an impatient knock sounded at the door.

"You two ever coming out?" Annabeth called. "We're all waiting for you."

"We'll be right out!" Percy called back, standing. He turned back to Nico. "Look Nico—"

But before he could continue, Nico disappeared, a shadow swallowing him up and transporting him elsewhere. Sighing, Percy used the conventional way of traveling and walked out of the room via the door. When he arrived at the kitchen table, Annabeth, Rachel, Artemis, Nico, and Juliet were already there. Mr. Dare and Mr. Fowl were awake now and were discussing business over tea on the hotel's balcony. The glass doors separating them were closed and none of the teens could hear the adult's conversation. This meant they could talk freely.

Percy noticed Nico and Artemis were sitting as far away from each other as they could get. Artemis was ignoring the younger boy as he listened to Rachel who was talking animatedly, using her hands. His mask of faint boredom was on, so it was hard to tell if he was really interested in the one-sided conversation or not. He had changed into a suit similar to the one he had been wearing the previous night. Percy wondered if he ever wore normal kid clothes. Nico was glaring over at Artemis and only stopped when Annabeth kicked him underneath the table.

Percy sat down between Annabeth and Rachel, across from Juliet, who looked more relaxed than she had the last night. When her eyes met his, she grinned faintly. Slightly flustered at the unexpected attention, Percy looked over at Rachel who had stopped talking by now.

"Rachel and I did some research last night," Annabeth explained once she saw everyone was paying attention. "Apparently some guy by the name of Roger Hamilton posted flyers for an archery challenge to be held at his warehouse. He sells crossbows and such weapons. He boasted on his website that he had skills to rival even the great goddess Artemis, if she existed. Now, the competition was supposed to be held on a Monday, two weeks ago. He said he would update his website with the results of the contest and a list of the winners. The website was never updated."

"Was he a monster?" Nico asked. "He could have kidnapped her as soon as she arrived and that's why it wasn't updated. The whole thing was a set-up from the beginning."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "And how did you come to that conclusion?" he asked with obvious contempt at the idea.

Nico flushed angrily. "I'd like to see you offer a better explanation," he shot back hotly.

Artemis shrugged. "If you remember the story of Arachne, Athena turned the poor girl into a spider after she hung herself when Athena made her feel guilty about depicting the errors and poor judgment of the gods in her weavings. There's a possibility the same happened here. To use the old cliché: history repeats itself."

Nico snorted, but did not contradict him. It made sense, Percy thought. Only . . .

"Then how did she go missing?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Nico jumped in, quick to challenge Artemis. The teen stared back at them with his unnerving, two colored eyes and looked amused.

"Perhaps her disappearance is something completely unrelated. Have any of you considered that? Who do you know who might harbor hard feelings toward Artemis? He or she might have used this competition as a cover."

Automatically, Rachel, Annabeth, and Percy glanced over at Nico. He noticed and scowled.

"You think I'd kidnap her, only to then go on a quest to get her back? I'm not stupid. I may not like her very much, but I would never try to kidnap a goddess. That's suicide."

Annabeth nodded quickly. "Of course we don't think you did it," she said. She nudged Percy.

"Of course not," he said, and would have said so anyway even without the nudge.

"We're just trying to be objective and look at all the angles," Rachel said gently.

"Yeah, I know," Nico muttered, but he did not look entirely convinced they had ruled him out as a suspect. He ducked his head but glanced at them all suspiciously from underneath his long, dark eyelashes.

Artemis watched the exchange curiously. "You'll have to tell me this story on our way to the warehouse," he said, standing.

"Whoa, wait." Percy said, standing as well. "What do you mean 'on our way to the warehouse'?"

Artemis stared at him with slight incredulity. "Are you trying to be funny?" he asked. He glanced over at Juliet who nodded and stood, walking over to the glass doors and sliding them open.

"Master Artemis wishes to attend a gallery opening," she told the men sitting there. "And he asks if Rachel and her friends could come along as well."

Mr. Fowl glanced over at Mr. Dare. "It's alright with me. William?"

Mr. Dare nodded. "That's fine, Juliet. Just have them back before dark."

"Yes, sir," Juliet said, sliding the glass doors shut and turning back to the table. She nodded to Artemis. "We're free to go, Master Artemis."

"We're going to the warehouse," Artemis explained as he retrieved his coat that was slung over the back of the chair he had sat in the night before. "In order to investigate this man Roger Hamilton. We will know for sure whether or not he has taken Lady Artemis once we do. It should not be difficult to get the information we seek."

The half-bloods exchanged glances and Rachel did not look entirely convinced it could be that easy, but they all stood and followed Artemis's lead. Annabeth dashed off to her room to retrieve her Yankees cap of invisibility and bronze dagger. Rachel packed her laptop and some money into a backpack, while Juliet packed food into another. Percy had Riptide so he did not have anything else to grab. Nico pushed his fingers into his pocket, as if to make sure the figurine of Hades was still there. When he saw Percy watching, he quickly drew out his hand and looked the other way, resting the hand on the stygian sword's hilt instead. Walking briskly into their room, Nico slipped on his aviator's jacket. Before Percy turned away, he saw Nico also grab his skull ring and slip it onto his finger.

In a few moments the teens were gathered in the front room, ready to go. Artemis smiled faintly.

"Let us proceed," he said, and nodded to Juliet, who drew car keys out of her pocket. Mr. Dare's keys to the limonene

On the way down to the garage, Annabeth fell into step beside Percy. She reached out and took his hand. Percy squeezed it slightly. She smiled up at him faintly, but then frowned.

"Percy," she said softly so the others could not hear her. "The prophecy said that 'the child of death' will lead the quest. So far it looks like Artemis is doing all the leading. Shouldn't we do something about that?" She sounded worried.

Percy honestly had not even thought about that. He tried his best to recall the entire prophecy from the beginning. "Well, but didn't it also say that 'eyes of two colors shall see things through'? Isn't that the same as leading, kind of?"

"I thought it meant see things through the Mist. Artemis seems to be able to see the Monsters almost as well as Rachel."

Percy shrugged. "Things seem to be falling into place with Artemis leading. And it takes some stress off of Nico."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "I'm not so sure about that," she said, glancing over at the youngest member of the team, his eyes focused on the ground before him as he walked. "Do you think he put the mouse in Artemis's bed?"

Percy sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea. I think Nico is telling the truth when he said he didn't, but how else would you explain it?"

Annabeth frowned thoughtfully. "Things are getting complicated here," she complained softly.

Percy grinned. "But that's what makes it fun, right? And anyway, you'll find a way to figure everything out. You are the daughter of Athena after all."

She grinned back. "Right," she said. But she could not help but glance once more at Nico and look concernedly at the way he looked at Artemis. With veiled hatred that could easily explain a skeletal mouse hidden beneath bed sheets. Complications had arisen for sure, but Annabeth was not entirely sure she would be able to figure things out in time to help him. The Oracle had said he would fall before the end if he did not send away his fear. Fear led to anger and hatred, she reasoned. So was Nico afraid of Artemis? She did not know why he would be, but there was a nagging feeling in her that she was missing something important.


Dun, dun, duuuuuuuuun! =P Just felt like adding some dramatic music there. Remember, third time's a charm! So three reviews (or more) is like, double that. XD Oh, and just because there's already 3 reviews, doesn't mean you can't review too! The more reviews I get, the faster the chapter is most likely to go up!