The Ties That Bind

Chapter 6: Things Denied

What happened to us
We used to be so perfect, now we're lost and lonely
What happened to us
And deep inside I wonder, did I lose my only?

- What Happened To Us? (Hoobastank)

Morning came a lot sooner than it should have, in my opinion, and we didn't talk much as we pulled on clothes and stumbled out of the cabin. Nico didn't mention my dream and I wasn't inclined to do so, either. If he wanted to think that I'd forgotten all about it, then that was fine with me. I felt bad for not talking to him about it, but I'd begun to realize that the best way to keep Nico safe was to not let him know I was trying to do it. Don't ask me why I figured that, but it seemed like the best plan at the time. After all, Nico was pretty stubborn. It was one of the things I liked about him so much – he wasn't willing to back down when he cared about something. Sometimes it was annoying, but sometimes it made him the bravest person I'd ever met.

The first thing I noticed as we walked into the dining pavilion was that one of the tables that was normally empty, well, wasn't. See, just like there are cabins for Artemis and Hera, there are tables dedicated to them in the dining pavilion and they're also just for show – usually. But this morning there was a group of girls eating at the Artemis table. Most of them had bows or knives either strapped to their bodies or sitting just beside them, and none of them seemed to take notice of any of the other campers – all of which were staring at them. Instead they were talking quietly amongst themselves like they were better or more important than everyone else. Well, they were kind of right, in a way. After all, they were immortal. They were also sworn off men, which most of them seemed to think was a great idea. I wasn't sure immortality would be worth it if I didn't have somebody to share it with. Not that I'd exactly thought about it a lot or anything, though.

Nico immediately stiffened next to me, and of course I knew why. Bianca had left Nico to become a Hunter of Atermis – for all of a few days before she'd died. Of course he would feel uncomfortable around them. Honestly, I wasn't sure if they'd feel all that comfortable about him. Or me – after all, I'd managed to help get two of their ranks killed in the space of just a couple days. (Sure, you can try to tell me it's not my fault, and most of me would believe you, but not all of me. There was a part of me that never stopped thinking that every person I'd ever seen die might have somehow been my fault. I guess it's just the way I am.)

I realized we'd both stopped walking; I reached over and took Nico's hand in mine and started walking again towards the Poseidon table. As we slid onto the bench my eyes searched the Artemis table, but one of the Hunters was conspicuously missing: Artemis' first lieutenant and the daughter of Zeus, Thalia. With her dark hair and punky clothes she would have stood out right away, but after a few visual sweeps I realized she just wasn't there.

Next to me, Nico was staring at the group of girls (who hadn't seemed to notice us at all). I could see that his jaw was clenched. I squeezed his hand, almost making him jump before I grinned as best I could and said, "I'll get us some food." I got up and walked right past the Hunters on my way to get a tray of food for Nico and myself. I did my best not to pay attention to them, heaping pancakes and sausage onto two plates, but it was hard not to notice that all their conversation had ceased.

I walked by them again and over to the brazier in the center of the pavilion, scraping off a couple sausages from both plates. "For Poseidon, and Hades," I murmured, watching the thick black smoke as the fire hissed when the greasy sausages hit it. "Please, let Nico be okay. Both of you."

But like usual, nothing happened. I went back to the table and put Nico's breakfast in front of him, which he at least ate, even if he didn't seem very interested in it. I scooted a little closer so our sides were touching and started in on my own breakfast, trying to let him know that I understood how he felt. Maybe not entirely, but at least a little bit.

Of course, eating was kind of hard because I realized that now all the girls at the Artemis table were paying attention to us. Not directly, but every time I glanced up from a forkful of pancakes I saw one or two of them averting their eyes like they'd just been staring at us. Nico was still tense next to me; I was sure he saw it too. All around us, the other tables were murmuring amongst themselves, probably either at the Hunters' reactions or mine and Nico's. I wanted to tell them to mind their own business, but I was pretty sure that would only make things worse.

Then suddenly all of the murmuring fell silent. The clink! of my fork against my plate as my hand slipped sounded way too loud as I turned around to see Chiron entering the pavilion, with the previously absent Hunter at his side. Thalia's hair was longer than I'd remembered, pulled up into a messy ponytail so that a couple of strands fell around her face despite the silver tiara circling her head. Her bright blue eyes were looking straight at me – no, next to me. She was looking at Nico.

I turned to see him looking warily back up at her. But even so, she and Chiron walked right past our table and into the center of the pavilion, where Chiron stopped and held up a hand for silence even though he already had it. I guessed it was habit.

"Campers," he said, his voice echoing off the marble, "I have called the Hunters here to ensure that the monster responsible for yesterday's attack has either fled or is caught. Please do not hinder their attempts, and assist them if they ask. I expect you to treat them with the utmost respect." He nodded down to Thalia, who was looking like she didn't really like being the center of attention but had long ago accepted that she couldn't help it. I pretty much knew how she felt.

"We shouldn't be long, and we don't plan to get in your way. All the same, if you see anything suspicious, don't try to deal with it on your own. I know you can," she said quickly, looking around the arena. A lot of these kids had known her, and all of them knew who she was even if they'd never officially met. Thalia was supposed to be dead. And, barring that, she wasn't supposed to have existed in the first place. Just like me. Just like Nico. "But this is our job, and we will get it done," Thalia finished, to a round of nods from the girls at the Artemis table. They all stood, obviously finished with their breakfast, and with a nod from Chiron Thalia led them out of the pavilion.

As soon as they'd gone, Chiron announced, "Normal activities will resume this morning, but be on your guard. As Thalia said, let her or myself know at once if you see or hear anything suspicious." And with a flick of his tail he trotted away up the path to the Big House, leaving the dining pavilion in a sudden cacophony of voices as everyone started talking again.

Nico pushed his plate away, a couple of half-eaten pancakes still soaking in the maple syrup pooling around the edges. I looked down at my own plate and realized I wasn't really hungry anymore, either. There was something about the Hunters being here that made me feel uneasy, even if I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe it was just the fact that they had to be here in the first place. After all, it was only another reminder that something had managed to sneak in and practically maul Michael Yew in broad daylight. That didn't sit to well with anyone, I was sure.

"Come on, let's get to the arena. Maybe we can warm up against each other or something," I suggested, levering myself up off the bench. Nico and I had sword and shield training with the Ares (ugh) and Hermes cabins this morning.

Nico followed me in silence, trudging alongside me until I couldn't take it anymore and stepped off the path into the shade, pulling him in beside me. We weren't exactly hidden, but most of the campers had either still been working on their breakfast or talking about the Hunters when we'd left. I didn't think we'd have anyone happen upon us for a couple of minutes at least.

"Hey," I said, pulling him close. He just slouched against me, hands in his pockets, like he mostly wanted to be close but also didn't. I snuck my arms under his and around his back anyway. "Hey, are you okay?"

He snorted a bit and glanced up into my face. "You ask me that a lot."

"Well, I mean it a lot," I replied, leaning my forehead against his. It was cool and solid, almost like the shadows around us. Suddenly I didn't want to go to sword practice at all – I wanted to melt into the shadows like Nico did and never leave. I almost thought about asking him to take us somewhere, but I knew we couldn't. We'd be missed. And I was sure that no matter where Nico took us, the Hunters would find us if someone raised an alarm and the whole thing would be more trouble than it was worth. But just barely.

"Yeah," Nico said, leaning against me in silence until we heard shuffling coming from a little ways down the path. Then Nico glanced up and suddenly we were falling though the shadows, flying through the darkness for a mere instant before we were standing in the far end of the training arena, next to where we kept all of the dummies Mrs. O'Leary had chewed to death.

"Heh," I said, feeling a little breathless as we pulled apart. "Thanks."

"Yeah," Nico said, and we wandered over to the center as the first few campers started to trickle in. I was still worried about him, especially since I knew the Hunters' presence must still be bothering him, but I didn't have a whole lot of time to think any more about it as Clarisse and the rest of her cabin showed up and practice started in earnest.

Practice started out like normal, but everyone was tense and no one joked around very much – not that anyone had been joking around a whole lot before, either. I just hoped the Hunters would be able to find whatever had attacked Michael, if it was still here. And I hoped they killed it.

Nonetheless, I tried to keep my mind on the task at hand. I loved sword training – it was the thing I was best at, and it also let me get out any frustration in a relatively safe environment. And I'd had a lot of frustration, lately. But the fact that I had to do it with Clarisse and her siblings was sometimes more of a headache than I wanted to deal with.

Okay, so I was only "Nancy Jackson" half the time anymore, but that was mostly because almost all of Clarisse's attention had been focused on Nico lately. It was no secret that they didn't get along – and I mean worse than she and I didn't get along, and we'd certainly never make friends of the year. Clarisse didn't trust anyone to begin with, and she trusted Nico less than anyone else in camp. In fact, she pretty much loathed him, and I knew that the feeling was mutual. I couldn't blame Nico for hating her just as much as she hated him, but now was not the time for personal grudges. I knew Clarisse didn't think we should be following Nico into battle (or anywhere, for that matter) but aside from her usual complaints at war councils at least she kept pretty quiet about it.

Until today. Maybe it was the breach in security that had pushed her over the edge, but we didn't get halfway through the morning's exercises before the fight broke out. I wasn't on the same side of the arena when it started, but pretty soon the shouts started to get the attention of everyone else. After all, these were no longer shouts of encouragement or catcalling, but cries to stop.

I rushed over to the knot of campers that had suddenly sprung up in the center of the arena, but I was stopped at the edge by the mass of people crowding around the two people in the middle: Nico and Clarisse.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! I thought. I shouldn't have let us get separated during the drills, but Nico and I usually trained in different groups. I hadn't thought about the fact that today it might be a bad idea until now. And by now it was clearly too late.

"Say that again," Nico was saying, his pitch black sword dangling lightly but deadly from his right hand. His voice sounded gravelly and tired – just like it had in my dream. His eyes looked hollow in his face, which seemed like it had gone even paler in the bright sunlight.

Clarisse spat on the ground in front of him, just barely missing the toes of his boots. Her face had seemed to go redder, if anything. "I said, you're probably the one they're looking for." She narrowed her eyes as they paced around each other like hunter and prey. I couldn't tell who was hunting who, though. "You were the last person Yew talked to before it happened. I bet he had you figured out, so you messed him up and now you're acting like it wasn't your fault." She swung her own weapon – an electrical spear (her second) – around in an arc to point at Nico's chest before she took a step forward. "Well, I'm on to you. I'm not going to let you lead us to our deaths, you little traitor."

"Nico didn't do it!" I shouted, fighting my way to the front of the crowd, my own sword gripped tightly in my hand. "You heard Will! It wasn't a person that attacked Michael, it was a monster."

Clarisse swung her ugly face around to me. "Oh yeah? Well who's to say your little boyfriend didn't have some monster at his beck and call to do his bidding for him?" She tilted her head back at Nico, her disgust more evident than ever on her face. "We all know how many unsavory things the Underworld has to offer, after all."

Before I – or anyone else – could say or do anything, Nico suddenly leapt at Clarisse while her face was turned. She twisted and parried just in time, his Stygian iron sword screeching off her spear with a sound like nails on a chalkboard. She pushed him off with a kick to the stomach and Nico stumbled backwards, but before I could breathe he'd shot back at Clarisse again as they let loose on each other like the rest of us weren't even there.

Like everyone else pressed at the edge of some invisible line that no one dared to cross, I was frozen in place as I watched. I could barely follow what was happening as they fought, no-holds-barred, in the middle of the arena. Nico was a good fighter, but today he was amazing. I'd seen him fight before, but never like this. He got up close in Clarisse's face, dancing in and out of range and attacking her like a shadow so she only had seconds to parry with the shaft of her spear, which was much better as a ranged weapon than for the close-up fight Nico was pressing her into. I had to admit, Nico's strategy was effective; he was wearing her down. Clarisse was a heavy hitter, but that meant she had to hit you to do any damage. Even taller and broader than he had been before, Nico was still faster than Clarisse and it was starting to make her angry and reckless.

The Ares campers were shouting, egging Nico on and telling Clarisse to run him through. The Hermes kids were shouting, egging them both on and cheering for whoever was winning at the moment. I finally snapped out of my stupor and tried to climb through ring of bodies that had pressed in front of me again to get to the combatants, but there were too many arms and legs and torsos in the way. By the time I broke through the line of people in front and stumbled a couple steps past where any of them dared, Nico and Clarisse were both sweaty and dusty with a smattering of cuts on their faces and arms. I didn't know how this was going to end, but I knew I had to stop it before anyone got the chance to find out.

But Clarisse was ready for it to stop as well. She brought her spear down and around in an arc almost too fast to see, but somehow Nico met it with his sword. There was a loud electrical snap! that set the hairs on my arms on end as the spear's shaft sparked and sizzled, but Stygian iron apparently didn't conduct because Nico just slid his blade past hers and suddenly Clarisse was on the ground as her weapon clattered away in the dust. Nico stepped forward, one steel-toed boot on her chest as he pointed his sword at her throat and the world seemed to stop as everyone froze.

"I could kill you right now," he said, as Clarisse's face drained of all color until she was almost as pale as the marble stands of the arena. Nico's eyes were dark, almost too dark, and his voice had sounded so terrible –

For a minute all I could hear was Rachel's frantic voice in my ear, tinny and distant through the cell phone as she insisted, "Something terrible is going to happen, and he's the one who's going to cause it."

And then I couldn't stay still any longer. I peeled away from the group of campers standing around them and flung myself at Nico, trying to pull his arms back without making him slip and hurt – kill – Clarisse. "Nico!" I said, right into his ear as my hands clamped down on his arms. They were cold – they felt like steel. I shouldn't have worried about making him slip – his arms felt like they were locked into place. "Nico, stop!"

"No," he said, in that terrible voice and my entire body froze like it had been encased in a block of ice. "Why should I?"

I blinked, trying to believe that those words were coming out of Nico's mouth – Nico, who had been so worried yesterday about Rachel's dream and the blackouts that he'd been having for weeks. Nico, who'd been so uncomfortable at the sight of his sister's last friends eating breakfast this morning. How could he be the same person, when this Nico was standing like an onyx statue in the middle of the training arena with a three-foot blade at the hollow of Clarisse La Rue's throat?

"Nico," I said again, pulling at arms that still felt like steel. Gods, when had he gotten so strong? "Nico, it's me. It's Percy. You don't want to do this," I told him. "Put the sword down!"

And then, faster than anyone could blink, a silver-tipped arrow shot past just inches from Nico's nose. It seemed to finally break him out of his trance and he stumbled back, right into me. I wasn't about to waste any time – I locked my arms under his and half-dragged him away from Clarisse, having more trouble than I'd like to admit but at least succeeding in getting him a couple of feet away from the girl on the ground.

"What are you guys doing?" Thalia demanded, instantly garnering everyone's attention as she walked towards us with her bow still in her hand, a second arrow already nocked. "This isn't the kind of practice I remember." The rest of the Hunters stood at the entrance to the practice arena, but none of them had weapons drawn and none of them moved. They trusted their lieutenant to take care of things – and herself.

Nico stiffened in my arms, but I had a good grip on him and I wasn't letting him get away, no matter what. He looked up at Thalia with dark, hooded eyes and said, "Well a lot of stuff isn't how you remember, I bet."

"Nico!" I tugged him back a couple more steps, just in case he got any bright ideas about going attack-happy on Thalia. I wasn't sure who would win that fight, but I really didn't want to find out. I just wanted him to stop.

"No, Thalia admitted slowly, her eyes trained on Nico. "It's not."

She stopped a couple of paces away, bending down next to Clarisse and offering her a hand up. The Ares girl swatted it away and pushed herself up out of the dust, staring at us with eyes so wide I could see the whites all around. Her hair was dusty and frizzy and she was bleeding sluggishly from a dozen tiny cuts. She scrabbled around in the dust for her spear, watching us carefully as I held Nico where we stood. When she had her weapon in hand again and was sure I still had a firm grip on Nico, she spat, "You're not helping your case any by trying to shut me up, you lying little slime."

"Clarisse!" I shouted, feeling myself bristle. Okay, so Nico had been out of line. But so was she, and she knew it.

Nico slumped in my arms, refusing to look at her – or me. He was still watching Thalia. But at least he wasn't trying to attack anyone anymore.

"Look, Clarisse – " I started to say, but she just shook her head and backed away from us.

"I'm not listening to a thing you say, Jackson. Your little boyfriend is going to kill us all. But you know what? I'm not gonna let that happen." Clarisse turned and began walking swiftly towards the exit. "I'm telling Chiron," she said.

"Wait!" I called, not wanting to let go of Nico but definitely not wanting to let Clarisse out of the arena. If she told Chiron what had happened, he'd start asking questions. And if he started asking questions, I didn't know what I would say. I didn't know what I could say. "Oh, sorry, Nico's been acting kind of weird lately but I'm sure he didn't mean to almost kill Clarisse," was not going to fly and I knew it. I knew that if he started asking questions, sooner or later I'd have to tell him everything – the blackouts and the strange moods and Rachel's dreams, the whole shebang – and I knew that would force Chiron to come to a decision that maybe I just didn't want him to have to make.

But in the end, Nico made the decision for all of us. "No!" he roared, and the back of his head suddenly came hurtling towards mine and there was this crack! that rang through my head as stars exploded in front of my eyes. The next thing I knew I was sitting on the ground with blood dripping down my face and all over the front of my shirt, and Nico was tearing away towards the back corner of the arena where we'd appeared earlier.

Travis Stoll went bounding after him. But even before I saw Nico disappear into the shadows, I knew he'd be gone when Travis got there to look for him.

I heard crunching footsteps approaching in the dust, and then Thalia stepped into my field of view. "Percy?" she asked, her voice much quieter as she bent down to peer at my face.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I felt utterly dazed, physically and mentally. I realized my nose was still bleeding and I tried to put a hand under it to catch the blood, but it didn't seem to matter. All that seemed to matter was that Nico had run away from me without even trying to explain – or giving me the chance to explain to him that I had just been trying to help. Killing Clarisse was not something he wanted to do, no matter how mad he might have been. I'd only been trying to remind him of that.

The rest of the Hunters had parted to allow Clarisse through, and now they were milling about in the arena, though in a separate group from all the Ares and Hermes campers who were also milling about. Normally everyone would've been talking their heads off, but none of them seemed able to understand what had happened any better than I had. The Ares kids seemed angry, but they weren't yelling or trying to pick a fight. They were just muttering to one another and watching the entrance of the arena, waiting for Clarisse to come back with Chiron.

All I could do was sit in my butt on the dust, staring at the shadows where Nico had disappeared and wondering where I'd gone wrong.