By the time they got there, everyone had already made their sacrifice to the gods and started digging in. Percy and Annabeth waved at them from the Posiden table. Originally, the rule was that demigods were not allowed to sit at another demigod's table that didn't belong to them. Athena children sat at the Athena table, Hermes children sat at the Hermes table, and so on. Now, since we came out victorious in the war against Gaea, Mr. D let that rule slide. Though it's technically still in affect. Not many demigods change tables regardless anyways. The Big Three's table were empty because Nico, Percy, and Jason were the only children of the Big Three. Though Percy's cyclops brother, Tyson, usually comes by to visit. He's the only other person who is allowed at the Posiden table. Also, Jason's sister, Thalia Grace, comes by the camp sometimes to visit him and everyone else. She's the only other person allowed to sit at the Zeus table. Besides those two, no one else could sit at those tables. After the war, Annabeth was allowed to sit with Percy at his table, and Piper was allowed to sit with Jason at his table. That also allowed Jason and Nico to eat together, too, so that they didn't feel so alone. Sometimes, Nico, Jason, Piper, Percy, and Annabeth sat together at the Posiden table together. Along with Tyson and Thalia when they were here, too. Tyson works and lives with his father, Posiden, at his underwater palace. He comes by every once and awhile when he has time. Thaila is the second-in-command of the Hunters of Artemis. A group of pure, female maidens that serve the Goddess Artemis, herself, and have been granted immortality. Nico's late sister, Bianca di Angelo, was a member of the Hunters of Artemis, but she died. That had crushed Nico's soul, and it sparked the beginning of his pain. His sister was everything to him. She was all he had when he was young. Bianca understood Nico better than anyone else, and accepted him for who he was. She had died on a mission she went on with Percy, Thalia, and a hunter by the name of Zoe Nightshade to rescue Annabeth who had been captured by the titan Atlas. Nico couldn't get over her death, and would often summon her spirit just to see her again. Later, he found out Bianca had tried for reincarnation, and had successfully been reborn. Nico would never be able to see her again. That brought a pain all of its own, but Nico was glad his sister was happy. He was able to move on from the pain her death caused, and look on the brighter side to life. His friends and new family were here, and that's all he needed now.
Percy called them over to his table, so they made there way to them. Nico didn't see Piper at her table, so he turned to Jason.
"Where's Piper?" Nico asked.
"She said she wasn't feeling well, so she's resting in her cabin. I already brought her some food earlier." Jason answered, but Nico could tell Jason was sad about Piper not feeling well.
"She'll get better soon. Don't worry." Nico reassured him and it felt weird to him. He wasn't really good at reassuring people.
"Yeah, you're right. Thanks." Jason turned to him and smiled. Nico again thought about how beautiful that smile would look on a certain person...
"Hey guys! What took you so long? We were starting to wonder if you guys got lost or something. I thought you guys ended up ditching us." Percy said while he was stuffing his face with a blue lobster, and his favorite blue soda. Nico could never get over Percy's weird obsession with blue food, but what Nico found strange was not Percy's weird obsession, but the fact that there was such a thing as a blue lobster. Where did he even get that?
"Sorry to worry you guys. Nico was asleep, and I had to practically drag him out of his cabin to come eat." Jason lied casually. Nico looked at him and secretly thanked him for not telling anyone. Jason just smiled and looked back at his food. They had gotten their food and made there offerings before sitting down at the table.
"It's okay. We're just glad you guys are here." Annabeth said with a smile. Nico use to resent Annabeth because he had a crush on Percy. But that's water under the bridge now. He cleared the air between them, and everything was perfectly fine now.
"So, have any of you guys heard from Hazel, Frank, or Reyna recently?" Annabeth questioned us as she took a drink from her cup. They were our Roman friends from Camp Jupiter. They traveled with us, and fought alongside us. Hazel and Frank, along with Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and Leo, were the seven chosen heroes from the Prophecy of Seven. They were chosen by the Goddess Hera, herself. Though, no one likes her in the slightest. Everyone would happily tie her up and chuck her off the side of Mount Olympus while they danced on the ashes of her statues and shrines.
"Everything at Camp Jupiter is running smoothly. Reyna said that Frank is a great praetor, and has really took a liking to it. Hazel has brought the pride and respect back to the Fifth Cohort. Besides that, everything is back to the way it should be. New Rome is as bustling as ever. You two will live peacefully there." Jason informed everyone. He was made Pontifex Maximus, essentially a high ranking priest, and has been going back and forth between the two camps and building shrines for all of the minor gods and goddesses who haven't received the recognition they deserve. It was a promise he made, and he has stuck to it.
"That's great to hear! We should go visit them sometime." Annabeth advised. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. Maybe tomorrow or next day?" Percy suggested.
"Tomorrow's fine by me." Nico stated.
"Maybe some other day. Sorry guys, I want Piper to come along with us when she feels better." Jason said with an apologetic look.
"No, it's okay. We understand. We want her to go with us. We can wait until she feels better." Annabeth reassured with a smile.
"Yeah, no worries dude. We can go when she's feeling better. I wouldn't want to leave her behind. Then I would have to hear your never-ending complaints." Percy stated nonchalantly as he took a sip of his drink.
"Thanks, man. Knew I could always count on you to support me." Jason said with dry sacracsm. Percy was ready to make another retort when Annabeth slapped him in the back of the head, and sent him a warning glare. Percy quieted down after that.
Nico couldn't help but laugh a little at his friends' usual playfulness. Things never got boring around them. Everyone joined in on the laugh, and then broke out into other various conversations. After dinner was over, everyone in the camp gathered around the campfire to sing songs and have fun. Chiron was there along with Mr. D, who was looking as unimpressed as always. Dionysus is the God of Wine and Madness. He's acting as the current director of Camp Half-Blood because Zeus punished him for apparently chasing after an off-limits nymph even though he's married. Mr. D may seem and act like a jerk who doesn't have a care in the world and is always looking bored, but he really is a nice guy once you get to know him. Chiron is our activist director. He's a centaur, half man, half horse. He has guided and trained hundreds upon hundreds of demigods throughout the ages. He treats each and every demigod as his own child. Everyone loves Chiron and his leadership. There wouldn't be a Camp Half-Blood without him.
Everyone was having a great time. The Apollo cabin lead everyone in a campfire song, and the fire was burning a bright pink with hints of violent. The fire was reaching up high into the sky, symbolizing everyone's happiness. Nico looked over towards the Apollo campers to see if he could see Will. Nico couldn't see him anywhere, and that made him worry. Was Will upset with him, and refusing to come to dinner because he didn't want to see Nico? Nico felt bad for being so harsh towards him earlier in the morning. He wanted to apologize to Will, but decided to do it after the campfire was over.
"Hey, what's up Nico?"
Nico turned to see Jason looking at him with a concerned expression. Nico sighed and punch Jason in the shoulder halfheartedly.
"You found a new way of asking if I'm okay or not." Nico joked.
Jason smirked at him. "I thought you wouldn't notice."
"I'm not that clueless!" Nico defended himself.
"Really? That's surprising." Jason said with fake surprise. It earned him another punch to the shoulder. He started laughing along with Nico.
"I was kidding. I know you're not that stupid, or I would have mistaken you for Percy." Jason joked.
"I heard my name!" Percy turned around from where he was seated in front of them with Annabeth to stare at them questionably. Both Nico and Jason burst out laughing.
"What? What is it? What did you guys say about me?" Percy question them as he turned all the way around and looked at them. Annabeth was just giggling at the boys' antics.
"Nothing, Percy." Nico said after his round of laughter.
"No, you guys said something about me. What was it? I heard my name." Percy persisted.
"We were just talking about how amazing you are, and what a great fighter you are. You know, not as great as me, but you'll do." Jason said with a smirk on his face. Nico and Annabeth both looked at each other, knowing where this was heading towards.
"Oh really? Is that so, Sparky? Well, why don't we see who the better fighter really is here." Percy challenged with a devious smirk on his face. If Nico hadn't already moved on from his crush on Percy, he would have had a huge blush on his face because that smirk was attractive.
"We don't need too know, fish boy. I already know my powers are stronger than yours." Jason challenged back, enjoying every bit of it. Jason used to be very serious and always abiding by the rules. But after the war, he's learn to let loose and not be so serious all the time. He's still pretty serious, but it's times like this where he can just forget about everything and have fun.
"Oh yeah? Since when has your winds ever been able to lift a finger against my water?" Percy shot back. He was getting hyped up by this. He knew there was no real meaning to it, but he always wanted to have a real fight with Jason to see who was truly stronger.
"I don't just command the winds, you know? I also have control over lightning, and we all know lightning beats water." Jason countered back.
"Please. You can barely summon a bolt of lightning in normal circumstances. What makes you think you can summon some during our fight? I can drown you in my ocean before you even knew what hit you, spark plug." Percy challenged Jason without losing his smirk.
"Why don't we see just how much lightning I can summon to fry your brains out, sea biscuit?" Jason usually didn't bait people into fights, and he usually isn't the type of guy to pick fights with someone either, but he always wanted to see who would win in a battle between him and Percy.
Right when it looked like they were really going to start a fight, Annabeth was going to break it up when all of a sudden, the ground shook violently.