Disclaimer: I do not own any PJO/HoO characters
Chapter 4: The Cabin
"Nick, we have a problem" Chiron said, "and a prophecy."
Nick walked out of the building, but he didn't walk out the same he walked in. Nick was scared now, he was confused. "Why me? Why now?" He thought.
He needed something to calm him down. He passed by the Hermes cabin, and not by accident either.
"Conner, Travis." Nick whispered through the side window of the cabin, he knew they were awake, they almost always were.
He waited for about two minutes until he tapped on the door, gently. He knew if he wasn't quiet and stealthy, the harpies would catch him, and that was not anything enjoyable.
Conner came out the door followed by Travis. "Sup." said Connor. "Hey." Nick said.
"So…?" Travis cut in through the silence of the night.
"So, what?" Nick responded.
"Exactly, so what do you need or want? Why are you here?" Travis said.
"Oh, right, um do you guys have anything to ease the mind, I know you guys have some weird shit to do that, but no drugs I don't mean that kinda thing just like… I don't actually know, and I was hoping you would." Nick said, hesitant, nervous.
There was silence for a moment.
"Do you wanna cookie?" Conner asked, the empathy clear in his voice. "Yeah, a cookie sounds pretty good"
Travis brought out of bag of cookies and they all sat on the side of the cabin, eating cookies, all of them mute.
"These are really good, thank you." Nick said. "They do smell strange though."
"Oh, wait, Travis, weren't these the edibles?" Conner looked at his brother.
"Wait, edibles?" Nick said concerned. He set his cookie down on the bag.
"It means it has pot in it." Conner said, as if it was nothing.
"What?" Nick said, irritation in his words. "Ya know, cannabis, marijuana, weed, the devil's lettuce, the greens, the…" Travis was interrupted.
"Travis, I know what pot is, but why are they in the cookies?!" Nick exclaimed, trying his hardest not to be loud and trigger the harpies. "I dunno. Forgot I guess." "Forgot? You just forgot that there is drugs in a batch of cookies?" He said in an angered whisper. Travis and Conner both shrugged.
"Oh my gods! You guys are no help!" Nick tried to stand up and walk away but found it very difficult to do so. "Dude, are you okay?" Conner asked, about to stand up and help. "Yes, I'm fine." Nick said and Conner sat back down.
Nick tried his best to make it back to the Ares cabin, but he struggled the whole way there, even though the distance wasn't large.
He was almost at the door when he saw a figure outside of the cabin. His vision was blurry and he couldn't see who it was, but he walked closer to it.
He eventually got there to see it was Em, she turned around and saw him.
"Oh gods, Nick you scared me! I was calling your name and I was wondering where you were I needed to talk." She said.
"Yep mhm." Nick mumbled.
"But that is obviously not important right now, Nick, are you okay?" Em said, she sounded scared. Nick tried to shake his head, but his head just ended up going in every direction. "I don't think so." Nick mumbled. He let out a small giggle.
Em checked his eyes and looked him in the face as she tried to stand him up straight. "Nick? Are you high?"
Nick attempted a shrug, "Maybe."
"Oh my gods, Nick!" Em said. Em didn't want anyone to see him like looked around then helped lead him to the closest, empty cabin— the Poseidon cabin; just until he was better. She led Nick in first then followed after him shutting the door.
"Hmm this place seems familiar." Nick said as he chuckled.
"Yeah, remember Percy Jackson?" Em said in a said in a sarcastic, but informative way as she looked around the cabin.
"Oh I remember him, why? What about him?" Nick asked. Em looked at him like an alien. "When he went to camp here he was in this cabin." Em explained.
Nick looked around and then sat on one of the bottom beds. "Oh, yeah."
Em sat beside him. Nick turned to see her face. They just stared at each other. Em leaned in as her lips touched Nick's.
Nick started to pull away. "Em..." Nick was serious now. "This isn't right, you know it isn't."
"What feels good isn't always right, and right now, I feel good" Em said. This time when Em leaned in for a kiss, Nick didn't pull away.
It was just Em and Nick, all alone, behind a shut door in the empty, quiet night of the Poseidon cabin.
It was dark outside. Nick didn't notice when he first woke up, but soon realized. He knew it was the next day. "The next day, the next day," Nick thought. "Why is it the next day?" He wondered. He then asked himself "What happened last night?" Where was he and why was he there?
"My gods." Nick mumbled, a little drowsy. He looked around. "Is this the Poseidon cabin?" Nick thought aloud.
"Mmmm hey." Em whispered as she awoke. Her hand touching Nick's bare chest.
Nick turned and was startled by the sight of Em next to him, and the realization that he was naked. He looked over at Em who was also naked.
"Em, what is going on?" While Nick sounded scared, Em sounded disappointed, "You don't remember." Nick tried to keep his voice down, "Like hell I remember!" Em just looked at him with her light hazel eyes, then she looked down.
Em started, "Nick, last night you were really high, like so high you could orbit earth. You could barely walk." "Okay, then?" Nick asked.
Em sighed, "Then, I brought you here so the harpies wouldn't catch you, and…" She stopped. She looked at Nick, guilty. "We kissed."
"Em, why are we naked?" Nick said, not ready for the truth. "Nick…" Em was interrupted. "Em, please tell me th-that we di-di-did not do wha-what I think. Please Em, you did not do this." Nick said as he was starting to remember little bits.
Em's eyes started to water, "Nick, I'm sorry."
"Damn it, Em! How could you do this. You just took advantage of me? I couldn't even fucking walk, Em, you have a boyfriend!" Nick was frustrated. He looked at Em, she had tears running down her face.
"I was a virgin, Em. You took that from me." Nick said softly. "I'm so sorry." Em said, her voice cracking. Nick didn't say anything.
There was a silence for two or three minutes.
Nick took a deep breath in, "Can you um, turn around? I kinda wanna get dressed." Nick said, sadness detected in his voice. Em turned, tear stains on her face.
Nick put his shirt on, "Hey, um, get your clothes on and go to your cabin, act like you were there the whole night...you are going to have to tell Alan ya know." Nick walked out the door. He walked into his cabin and to his bed. He tried to sleep, but he only thought about what happened, he was sad. He was saving himself for someone special, he would never get that back.
Alan awoke by the sound of the megaphone outside. "Up, up campers, time to wake up." Alan groggily got out of bed along with the other campers in the Tyche cabin. There wasn't many campers, maybe 5 including Alan.
Alan left the cabin to go get breakfast, he wasn't very social, so meals were never really that enjoyable for him; sure he talked to his friends sometime, but mostly he just ate.
"Hey, Lucky." He gave Quin a smile as he sat down at the table. Alan had always thought that was stupid nickname, but that would never stop Quin from using it.
"Hey." Alan continued to eat his waffles.
Nick started to approach the table and he sat next to Quin. "Hey Quin, Alan." Alan looked up and saw Nick's eyes were bloodshot. "Dude, are you okay? Your eyes are hella red." Nick rubbed his eyes, "Yeah, I'm just, uh...tired." Alan nodded.
"Hey fellas." Em's voice was heard.
She sat down next to Alan who gave her a peck on the cheek. "Hello, dear lover." Alan said with a smile. Em smirked.
Nick and Em barely looked at each other. Alan didn't noticed because he just ate the whole time.
The time flew by. Before anyone knew it was noon, and that meant lunch.
Alena was about to sit down when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, Alena." She turned around to see Nick.
"Um, hey? What's up?"
"I need you to come with me. Now." Nick sounded urgent, not scared, or nervous. Just urgent.
"Uh, o-ok-okay." Alena said. She grabbed an apple and then she grabbed Nick's hand.
Alena was led to a cabin. They went inside and she saw a fountain.
"This is the Poseidon cabin." Nick said as Alena bit into her apple. "And this," Nick pointed to the fountain, "is what will help you contact your mom." Nick said, smiling, very proud of himself for coming up with this solution.
Alena dropped her apple. "What?" Alena was a little uncomfortable doing this. She didn't know where she was or what she was doing, but she let Nick lead the way.
Nick explained how to create the iris message, which was a new term to Alena. Alena pulled a silver clip out of her wavy, dirty blond hair.
She held it to the light and it reflected on the water, creating a rainbow, just like Nick said.
"Okay, you got this, just say the words, remember, exactly." Nick said. "Right, got it." Alena said hesitantly. She felt bad, she didn't wanna really do this, but Nick had already thrown his drachma at the rainbow; she had learned the name of the coin that disappeared in the mist.
"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering." Alena said. She closed her eyes and thought about her mom. When she opened her eyes she saw a figure appear in the rainbow.
Alena's eyes started to water and she felt a frog in her throat.
When the figure fully appeared a "what in the world?" was heard on the other side.
Alena just couldn't do it. She waved her hand across the mist. She was sobbing by now. Her hand covering her mouth, and tears streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't do it, I just couldn't do it." Alena said, looking at Nick. He reached over and hugged her and she hugged back. "I'm so sorry." "No, no, don't be I should've asked if you were okay with this first." Alena chuckled, "Yeah, you should've." Nick held her chin up, so she was looking up at him. "Yeah?" He said smiling that perfect smile Alena adored so much. He wiped her tears away.
Alena looked down, and broke away from the hug, she was blushing.
"If I remember correctly, you have bow and arrow training next?" Nick said.
"Um, yes." Alena said. They walked out of the cabin.
Nick and Alena passed by Em, and just for a moment Nick and Em made eye contact. Nick quickly looked away.
The rest of the day went by quickly for Alan. It was like any other day, besides the fact that the whole camp just got attacked.
It was finally 5:00 pm, which meant free time. Everybody had free time from 5:00 pm through 6:00 pm. Alan always hung out with Em during his free time, so he went on his way to find his girlfriend.
"Alan, hey!" Alan heard Em's voice. "Hey, beautiful."
Em grabbed Alan's hand. "Whoa, hey where are we going?" Alan chuckled. They eventually ended up behind The Big House. Em pressed her lips on Alan's roughly and ruffled her hand through his gorgeously messy hair. He cupped his hands in her face and they made out. Their session only lasted for a few minutes.
Alan bit his bottom lip and raised his eyebrows. "That's one way to start off an evening." He said chuckling to himself.
"Yeah, well I wanted to give you something to remember." Em said sadly. "Why?" Alan said with a confused grin.
Em took a deep breath in, "Alan," She paused, she smiled at Alan like it was the last time she would ever see him, "I'm breaking up with you." Em said. Alan's grin immediately turned to a frown. He laughed doubtfully, but soon noticed Em wasn't laughing.
"Em, we've been dating for 3 years, our anniversary is in two days."
"Yeah, I know." Em said sadly.
"Did I do something wrong? Do I need to change something?" Alan asked desperately. "No, Alan you're fine." Em saying wishing he would just accept it.
"Then what?" Said Alan a little too loudly, but he was frustrated.
Em looked away from Alan. "I slept with someone else." Em said, her voice soft and gentle.
Alan's eyes started to water. "When? Who? Where?" Em hesitated. "That doesn't really seem that impor…" She was interrupted, " Em? Seriously? The least you could do is tell me." Em sighed, "Last night, the Poseidon cabin, and" Em didn't want to finish her sentence, but it really was the least she could do, "and Nick."
"Nick?" Alan's disappointment very clear in his voice.
"Alan, I'm sorry, truly."
"You know, maybe it isn't such a bad idea if we break up." said plainly, wiping a tear from his eye.
Alan left Em behind The Big House. He went on his way to find someone else.
Alan eventually found Nick; it looked like he was waiting for someone, but he was by himself and that is all that matter to Alan.
"Hey, Alan." Nick said looking around. "If you don't mind I'm kinda waiting for someone."
"Did Em sleep with you?" Alan said bluntly. Nick immediately stopped looking around and looked at Alan.
"Wow. Um, yes" Nick said.
"That bitch!" Alan mumbled to himself.
"Whoa, whoa, look, dude, I know you're angry, but no excuse to use that word. Em isn't a bad person, she made a mistake, who doesn't. It was my fault to." Nick told Alan.
"Damn right it was your fault it to, I thought you were my friend. I trusted you." Alan had a few tears coming down his face.
Nick put his hand on Alan's shoulder, but Alan slid it off.
"Alan, you don't have to forgive me, but please forgive Em, she really is a good person."
Alan stayed silent.
"Didn't you forgive your dad when he went to prison." Nick wasn't thinking about what he said when he said it, but decided to go with it.
Alan remained quiet, and looked up at Nick, " How the hell do you know about that?" Alan asked.
"It doesn't matter, didn't you forgive him?"
"No, no, I never told anyone about that, it does matter because I only wrote that in my diar…" Alan had realized it.
"You ready my diary didn't you?" Nick didn't respond, he only gave a guilty silence.
"You cliché asshole." Alan gave a forced laugh. "Fuck you, Nick." Alan started to turn around, he tilted his head a little bit. "Oh that's right, Em already did."
Alan turned around and started to walk and heard Nick's voice behind him, "You can't just be the victim, you must have know at some point she wasn't into you anymore!"
Alan didn't even turn his back to face Nick, he just kept walking and held both his hands in the air, raising his middle fingers.
Alan walked all the way to the Poseidon cabin. He opened the door gently and walked inside.
He started to cry. "Gods, I miss you, Percy." Alan whispered. He sniffled and wiped his face.
At dinner Alan sat at the Tyche table. He didn't talk and he only had a few bites of his meal. He overall, looked really depressed.
Alan started to head over to the North Woods when he all of a sudden felt Quin's arm around his shoulder.
"Hey, Lucky." Quin turned to face Alan and started to walk backwards. "One question — are you ready to ruuuummmbbblle?!" Quin asked. Alan and Quin had unarmed combat together. Quin noticed Alan was feeling down.
"Lucky? Hey, man are you okay?" Quin stopped in his tracks.
"Do you think bad thing happen to bad people?" Alan looked into Quin purple eyes.
Quin chuckled, "Alan, you are the son of the goddess of luck, how could anything bad happen to you?"
Alan down, "Yeah, right."
Quin felt bad. "Uh, no, I don't think bad things happen to bad people; I think bad things happen to people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. I also don't think you are a bad person." Quin answered.
"How would you know?"
"Are you okay?" Quin asked Alan.
"At the moment? Not at all." Alan said calmly as tears started to fell from his eyes. Quin pulled him into a hug.
"I heard you and Em broke up." Quin said.
"Yeah, um does everyone know?" Alan asked pulling away from the hug.
"Word gets around pretty quick around here." Quin smiled. They both walked to the woods.
At the campfire everybody seemed less tense than yesterday. That's how it Seemed, and it didn't get any better when Rachel Elizabeth Dare started to shake in the middle of a song.
She fell to the ground with her eyes rolled back, some of the campers started to panic. Chiron had to come over to move them away from her.
Rachel started to glow a bright green, but what surprised everyone even more was that she started to rise to her feet. Her arm started to stretch out, and her fisted hand let out a finger and she pointed, and in a raspy voice that everyone heard was the one word— "You!"
A/N: Ha! I'm evil. Gah I suck at updating. I will try my best to make future chapter this long, but I'm proud of myself this is my longest chapter, yay. Also yay to Bodecea for reading parts of my story and helping me with my writers block, you are a blessing. Leave feedback for me guys, I love it when you give me comments. Well thats all for now, deuces (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)