Chapter 6:

"Whoa," said Chiron looking above my head at the glowing poppy. "Congratulations Poppy, your father is Hypnos!"

Well major duh Chiron. I studied Greek mythology this past year, so I knew all the Greek gods and goddesses. I guess I should have figured that Hypnos was my father. After all, he is the god of sleep, and I can make people sleepy and I can make me not sleepy. Sometimes, I'm just so naïve. I heard a chuckle from Taika.

"Hypnos? God of sleep?" she asked with that wide, stupid grin of hers. She started busting out laughing, falling to the ground clutching her gut. I didn't know what was so funny on account of I just beat the crap out of her about an hour ago. Does she want that to happen again? I will do it again if she's asking for it.

"All Hypnos does is make people sleepy. Big whoop di do," she said getting up off the ground, wiping imaginary tears from her eyes. Finn just laughed at me and gave me a glare.

"Well at least my mother isn't a witch that turns guys into animals," I said grinning to myself. After all, it was true. Louhi, for the first time I've heard, shot up her head and spoke to me.

"You take that back this instant!" she said with a stare full of hatred. I was loving every second of this.

"Make me," I said cocking my head to the side taunting her. She got up off her seat and started charging me. Some kid (I think his name was Seth) grabbed her hands and held her back. I mouthed the word 'thanks' to him, he just nodded his head and looked away.

"Enough of this! Campfire time is over! Everyone to bed this instant!" People groaned and marched their way to their cabins, but Chiron motioned for us to stay put. When all the people went into their cabins, Chiron led Taika, Louhi, Finn and I to the Big House. Once we got in his office and took a seat, he got right down to business.

"Kids, I won't be tolerating this type of behavior. Now would someone kindly explain what happened?"

"I go first!" I said automatically before Taika could even open her mouth.

"Continue young one," he said motioning for me to tell my story.

I told him about the times where they teased me and told me not to tell anyone. I told him about before the fight how they were teasing me about not being claimed, only to be claimed later that day. I told him why I started the fight, be sick of all the crap I've been receiving from the Circe cabin. Of course, after every comment I said, Taika or Finn would interject, making up some stupid reason for doing all that stuff to me.

After a while of arguing, Chiron just said to stay away from each other, and if this happens again, someone will be kicked out. The Circe cabin left, but Chiron said he would help me out by taking some of my luggage out of the Hermes cabin and into the empty Hypnos cabin.

Once all my stuff was moved, it felt nice to have a big cabin to myself. In the corner of the cabin was a small field of poppy flowers. They were in full bloom (they were magical poppies, so they were always in full bloom) with poppies with different colors! There were red ones, purple ones, orange, pink, and white ones. The were really pretty and lit up the room at night.

I crawled in a bunk of my choosing as Chiron left the cabin for me to sleep.

To be honest, I was exhausted, but I didn't want to sleep because of the upcoming secret meeting with Nico. I closed my eyes involuntarily, but shot them back open again. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I thought of Nico and me by the lake together, chatting silently with each other, sharing secrets and stuff like that. When I opened my eyes, I wasn't sleepy anymore. Cool.

I turned around in my bunk to check the time on the digital clock. 11:25 P.M. I guess I should change and stuff.

I hopped out of bed and changed out of my dirty outfit into a custom made t-shirt with jeans. I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail (which was very sloppy by the way) and slipped on my sneakers. I looked at the clock. 11:45. I should get a move on at 11:50. I didn't want to be late, that would be a bad impression. So for the remaining 5 minutes, I sat on my bed and thought about Nico.

Nico was cute; there was no doubt about it. I've never admitted it before, but I'm a sucker for guys. Cute ones especially. I loved the way his brown eyes glistened by the water. He was also mysterious and shy around people and doesn't like to show his feelings. He was also the same age as me, which was a good thing. But he wouldn't like me. The king of ghosts certainly wouldn't. Were just not for each other. Or are we? He might like me. After all, he did invite me to meet him tonight out of no where. But yet…

I started to think more in depth about Nico when I looked over at the clock. Oh my god! It was 11:55! I sprang off my bed and sprinted out the door, making sure not to wake anybody up.

I ran full speed ahead, dodging past the trees and ignoring the screams of the angry wood nymphs. I stopped to catch my breath. I checked my watch as I bent down to the ground, huffing and puffing. It was 12:04! Oh my god! I'm late! I picked up my pace and finally made it to the water, but before I even saw the gorgeous figure sitting next to the water, he spoke up.

"Your late," he said with a monotone voice, but I could hint a little bit of disappointment in there too.

"I know, and I'm sorry. I just got… Uh…" I tried to think of a word to describe what happened without actually telling him I was thinking about him. "I got sidetracked." Yeah, that'll work. I hope. He just let out a sigh and patted the ground next to him.

"Sit here," he said urgently, patting to his side one last time. I cautiously walked over to his side and sat down beside him. We sat there for about three minutes, not saying a word, enjoying the peace and quiet. But Nico spoke up.

"Do you know why I asked you to come here," he asked looking out at the water.

"No, but I'd like to know," I said following his gaze. He sighed.

"I wanted you to come here to get to know you better. You seem cool. Quiet but cool. Quiet and cool like me," he said grinning slightly to himself.

"Oh," was all I could say. Well what would you say to something like that? "Yes Nico, you are cool…." That surprised me as much as it did to Nico.

He turned his gaze over to me. His brown, gorgeous eyes glistening off the water by our feet. He laid down on the ground, now looking up at the clear sky full of wonderful stars. It was a perfect evening. I wonder how many stars there are up there right now. Billions upon billions I bet. Wouldn't it be cool if we could actually look at a star up close? Wait, I'm getting sidetracked. Back to Nico and I.

I laid down beside him, looking up at the light show in the sky.

"So, how did you figure out you were a demi-god?" he asked curiously still looking up at the sky.

"I didn't know until I got here. Nothing creepy ever came after me. I was living a perfectly good life until I faced that Graeae thing on Half-Blood hill."

"Ahhh… I don't want to get to in depth about this for me," he said closing his eyes, probably acting out that day in his mind. He shot his eyes back open and turned on his side to look at me.

"So are you excited you got claimed?" he asked meeting my gaze. I flipped over on my side to look back at him.

"Actually, yes and no. Yes because I get this big and empty cabin with an awesome field of poppies in the corner. Plus, I know who my parent is. But on the other hand, I really want to meet him and I feel alone. You know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean," he said sighing and closing his gorgeous eyes again and opening them back up. "I have a sister you know?" he said out of no where, it kind of took me aback.

"Really? I bet she's a great girl," I said cautiously and Nico just half smiled to himself.

"Yeah, she was." I noticed how he said was instead of is. I wonder what happened.

"I'd like to meet her!" I said enthusiastically, seeing what he'd say back.

"I wish you could. But you can't," he said with his eyes closed once again.

"Why not?"

"Because she's dead," he said choking up on the word dead.

"Oh my god! I didn't know! I'm so sorry! That was a stupid question for me to ask."

"No. It's okay. I'm kind of used to it now. But I miss her a ton."

"I bet," I said agreeing and nodding my head toward his direction.

"She died because of me! Do you know how that makes me feel?" a sudden rage forming in his voice.

"Uhhhh?" was all I could say.

"No! I didn't think so! She died because of me! Want to know how?" I nodded my head, afraid to say a word.

"When I was little, I was into these Greek Gods action figure types of things and Bianca knew how upset I was about not getting this one action figure I didn't have, which happened to be my dad, Hades." I assumed Bianca was his sister. He continued on.

"Well Bianca went on a quest with Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, and Grover Underwood. They were the main people. Well they went to this junkyard type of place. Of course laying there was my action figure Hades. Percy warned everybody about not picking up anything, or the giant junkyard robot would attack them. Bianca cared a lot about me and knew that if I had that stupid Hades action figure, it would make my world. She picked it up and tried to sneak it past the other guys. But nothing got past that stupid robot, so it attacked them all."

I stared in complete shock at him. Mostly because of his anger and the story itself was just so… I don't know…. Weird. Of course in the good way (not about the Bianca part though). I listened to the rest of the story.

"Bianca knew it attacked them because of her. Percy and Thalia couldn't take down the robot, so Bianca stepped in. She handed Percy the Hades action figure and jumped into the battle. She sacrificed her life, her stinking life, just for that action figure I could have!" He paused for a second. His anger went away and way replaced with sadness.

"When Percy came back with the news, I was devastated, angry at Percy for not stopping her. Angry at the world for taking her away from me. She was all I had. Then, I had nothing. Nobody to be with, to talk to about my problems. So I just kept in my feelings. I did end up trying to summon her back form the dead, like a 'soul for a soul' deal. But that didn't work one bit. My life just sucks," he said finishing his story with a sigh.

"Oh… That's awful! And I'm sorry Nico. This shouldn't have happened to you." I paused. "It should have happened to maybe Taika from the Circe cabin," I added trying to lighten up the mood.

"It shouldn't happen to anybody," he said matter-o-factly.

"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to brighten things up," I said feeling stupid and ashamed.

"No, don't be sorry. I shouldn't have brought this up in the first place. Sorry I got all angry on you for no reason. I'm just sick of all my feelings being bottled up inside of me," he said choking up, but he didn't cry. That wasn't like Nico. I could tell from his personality.

"No. You shouldn't keep all that inside of you. You needed to get that out, needed to talk to somebody about it."

"Okay," he agreed getting back to his normal self. "But I still have nobody in my life to talk to," he said sighing.

"Yes you do."

"Oh yeah," he said raising an eyebrow up at me. "Who?"

"You have me to talk to. Your new friend. Pal. Amigo. Your fellow Musketeer. Except I'm not a boy," I added with a shy smile. He chuckled at that.

"How do you feel about not seeing your dad a lot?" I asked curiously.

"Honest answer? It sucks. I mean, my dad isn't the best man in the world, but he's my dad. And I love him." He seemed surprised by his answer, but it seemed perfectly normal to me.

"I really want to meet my dad," I said with a sigh. I then remembered my dream from a couple days ago. My dad said that I could tell one person about the big war coming up, but I had to trust them to my fullest extent. I actually considered telling Nico right then and there, but decided against it. I barley know him. And I certainly don't know him enough to trust him. So I just shook off the temptation of telling him, and laid back down on my back. He soon did the same thing.

I laid there, looking up at the stars with my hands on the back of my head. Nico had the same position. Our elbows touched lightly, mine grazing his every time I moved. His touch to my skin was electrifying. It sparked my elbow and the spark went all the way through my body. I would shudder when it would.

I laid there, beside Nico near the water, feeling like I was actually a friend to somebody. Not just some person that may say 'hi!' to me or stuff like that. No. This was different. Nico and I had a friendship building up quickly. I had him to talk to. He had me to talk to. Our friendship would be everlasting.

But the question that kept replaying in my mind was 'would that friendship become something much greater?'"

Yay! Chapter 6 is completed! This is where a little bit of romance starts kicking in.

Here's the question for the chapter:

"Will Nico and Poppy date?"

Well the answer is…

Oh come on, you actually thought I would tell you? As if!

I liked writing this chapter the best (as you can see, it's a bunch longer than the other chapters)

Now for the disclaimer! Brought to you by the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz!

Tin Man: SpiritusAstrum does not own PJO, poppies, or anything you recognize in your real life! *squeaks the words real and life* Need oil now!

Me: *gives oil to Tin Man* Here you go! Review! I see how many people read my story, so you should review/comment! How long does it take you to just said "Awesome!" or "Good job?" Not very long :P Soooo Review and favorite! :D Thank youuuu! Hope you enjoyed!