The Age of Heroes

Chapter 7: Familiar Faces

While I was waiting, I had plenty of time to think – time I didn't want, honestly, because all I could think about was Kronos and his offer, and how I had almost wanted to give in. I knew his deal had to be too good to be true – after all, why should he keep his word to me, or anyone else? The instant he had my body, he could do whatever he liked with it and I would have no power to stop him.

But then again, he'd said I was powerful – that I had no idea, but he did. I frowned, wondering what that meant. I mean, sure, being the son of Hades did give me certain powers over the realm of the dead. It had also given me the ability to crack the earth, though it was much harder than you'd think and the only times I'd done it, I'd been really freaked out. I didn't even know if I could do it without getting worked up first. There hadn't ever really been the chance to try.

And aside from all that, there were Percy's powers. Chiron had told us that because of… well, the nature of our relationship, we had started to pick up on each other's abilities. I'd learned that I could choose whether or not I wanted to get wet, and I could also control water for a limited time – but that was as hard, if not harder, than starting an earthquake. It only worked when I got freaked out. It was really hard to do it otherwise, like trying to grab at something just out of reach.

But all of that together still didn't make me all that powerful… did it? I looked at my hands; they didn't look much different without anything to compare to, but now that I knew what had happened they looked wrong somehow. Why had it mattered so much to Kronos to make me sixteen? I knew there was the prophecy about a sixteen year-old half-blood, and as a child of one of the big three gods I supposed I had been next in line behind Percy. And if Percy wasn't willing to help, and Thalia would never grow old or have her sixteenth birthday, then I guessed that did make me the titan's best shot. And he knew it.

I thought more about what I knew of the prophecy. I knew half-bloods got more powerful as they aged, and that probably went double for the children of Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades, who were the most powerful of all the gods. That made it dangerous for the gods (or anyone else) to let them even reach the age of sixteen, let alone live past it. So what if being sixteen meant that I had more powers – or just better control over the ones I already had? I had no real way to test that, short of creating an earthquake or something, and that wasn't high on my list of things to do right now. And I didn't exactly have any dead souls at my beck and call. So there was no real way to know, but if Kronos had planned this out so carefully... What if Kronos already knew how my powers would change? I wasn't stupid enough to think I was the only son Hades had ever had. But I was the only one who had some of Poseidon's powers as well. And I was the only one alive right now.

Kronos had been around a long time – as long as the gods. Maybe he did know what would happen to my powers, or at least he probably had a good guess. And he already knew how to entice me. So then if I said yes to his deal, what kind of power would I be giving him? He had claimed that in my body, he could cheat death. What if that was really true? What if I could do that? And what if that meant I could keep other people from dying too? Suddenly I felt my heart begin to race. If I could do that, I could save Percy – I could make sure my father never got his hands on him again –

My train of thought was interrupted as I heard something outside my door. I tensed, not able to tell from the noise who or what it was. Was it my rescuer – was it Annabeth? What if it was Medea, or even Kronos himself? What if he wanted an answer now? Or worse, what if someone had seen the piece of paper and –

There was the sound of someone punching something into the keypad, and then the door unlocked and swung open. My eyes were already fixed on the door, looking for the figure on the other side, but there was nothing there. Until…

An outline appeared in the doorway, like a shadow that quickly gained more color and definition until, maybe five seconds later, I saw Annabeth Chase standing there. Her New York Yankees cap was in one hand and she had what looked like an ATM card in the other. I opened my mouth to speak but she held her finger to her lips and motioned for me to follow her. I looked past her and saw that there was no telekhine guard outside the door. I didn't know if he'd just left, or if she had taken care of him.

As soon as I'd gotten out of the room she swung the door shut behind me and grabbed my hand, pulling me down the hall. I wanted to know where we were going – and I didn't want to leave here without Percy – but I knew better than to ask her out loud while we could be discovered at any minute. I just wished I had something to distract me from the way I could see over the top of her head as it bobbed in front of me.

We turned a few corners until she stopped in front of an unmarked door. There was no keypad beside the handle and when she turned the knob it opened easily. Then Annabeth grabbed my arm and pulled me inside after her. She flipped a switch beside the door and I blinked in the sudden light as the bulbs overhead came to life.

The look on my face must have asked the question for me – "Storage closet," Annabeth said quietly, as the door swung shut behind us. "I found it and hid here earlier."

I looked around. "Some storage closet." It was more like a small room, windowless like the rest I'd seen and filled with more of those metal canisters and tubing. The walls were lined with metal shelves full of beakers and pipettes and centrifuges. It looked like a mad scientist's junk room or something. Where exactly had Percy and I been taken? I looked back at Annabeth. "Do you know where this place is?"

"MIT," Annabeth said, looking around like she was checking the room for bugs. "In the basement. I think we must be in some part of the Chemistry department." She frowned, and I copied her. If we were at MIT, then we definitely weren't in Rockville anymore – in fact, we weren't even in Maryland anymore. MIT was in Boston. "I tracked my friends here. Do you know how you got here?" she asked, finally seeming satisfied that the room was secure, though she did pull me over to the side so we could crouch behind two of the canisters.

'Her friends'? Then she hadn't realized who I was, I thought with a sinking stomach. I turned a bit so that I could look her in the face. I had to look down rather than up, even while we were crouched on the ground. My stomach clenched at the look on her face. It felt so wrong to have someone I considered a friend sitting inches from me without recognizing who I was. It was just like the look on Percy's face the last time I saw him. "Annabeth," I said carefully, "it's me."

She frowned, looking at me a bit more critically and tilting her head. "Do I… know you?" She looked like she was wracking her memory, probably trying to figure out who I was and how I knew her name.

"Yeah, you do," I hissed, before she could say anything else. "I'm Nico."

She blinked, and for a second her face was blank. Then her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. Recognition began to dawn in her eyes, slowly. "Nico?" Her eyes flitted across my face, like she was trying to make my name and my face match up with what she remembered. "But you can't be – you're… what?"

"They did this to me – Medea did this. She's the one who brought us here. She's working for Kronos. She knocked me and Percy out and when I woke up she gave me some kind of injection," I said, watching Annabeth's face and hoping she would believe me. I had to still look at least a little like my old self. Maybe she'd see it, now that she knew it was me. "I don't know how, but she did this. I swear, I'm Nico." I spread my hands in a silent plea.

The tentative recognition in her eyes started to grow into something more confident. "Nico…" she whispered, continuing to stare at me until suddenly she said, "How did you and Percy get to Maryland?"

"What?" Was this some kind of test? "We flew on Blackjack. We ate at McDonald's and then we went to the service. It was at 6016 Roseland Drive. You can ask Percy – well, I mean, when we find him." I paused, trying to catch her eyes. "Annabeth, really. It's me."

The look in her eyes finally registered as true recognition, though her features still showed shock. I didn't blame her – it was a lot to take in. I knew that much. "But then if you're Nico... Is Percy…?"

I shook my head, already having figured out what her question was going to be. "No, he's still fifteen. At least, he looked normal when I saw him, maybe a couple of hours ago. He didn't recognize me, either." I frowned. "I don't think Kronos needs him. Not if he has me."

"But why would Kronos want you?" Annabeth asked. "And why turn you sixteen? Percy's – "

"Not likely to give him what he wants," I said grimly. "Kronos wanted to make the prophecy come true now. He already knows Percy's probably going to side with Olympus. He thought he could convince me to join him much more easily." I didn't really want to go into it any more than that right now, because he had almost been right.

"Oh." Annabeth was looking distinctly worried, and still very much off-balance, like she was still trying to reconcile the person she was seeing with the Nico she had known. I could just imagine the same look on Percy's face, and it made me feel sick. Then she asked, quietly, "So… can he? Convince you, I mean."

I felt my stomach drop as she asked so bluntly whether I was going to betray them or not. Leave it to Annabeth to get right to the heart of the matter. I thought about how I'd almost given in, about how I had thought about what aiding Kronos could do for me. I thought about how maybe Kronos could show me how to use my powers to keep Percy from dying again, ever. But the thought of the price I'd pay still made me feel queasy, and I shook my head resolutely. I didn't like the gods, but I wasn't going to help Kronos overthrow Olympus. I didn't trust him. Annabeth didn't need to know I almost had. "No," I said firmly. "He can't."

She studied me for a while, her gray eyes dark and I got the feeling that she was trying to see into my heart, like she wanted to make sure I was telling the truth. It was one of the worst things I've ever felt, and it made me feel like a traitor without ever having said yes to Kronos' offer. I felt more like a stranger in my own skin than ever, right then. The only thing that could've made it worse was Percy looking at me like that, and I realized I had no guarantee that he wouldn't, when I found him.

How could I have even thought about letting him down, I thought, when he'd already given his life once for me? I felt like a horrible person, but I tried not to look too miserable in case it would make Annabeth think I was lying. The last thing I needed right now was to think that I'd turn on her – or Percy.

After a long moment, she finally let out a breath and said, simply, "Okay. Then we need a plan." I felt almost faint with relief, but I didn't really have time to think about it because she was still talking. Athena's kids aren't nicknamed know-it-alls for nothing; right now, any plan Annabeth could come up with was probably a good bet. My head was still reeling from, well, everything that had happened. I knew I wanted to get out of here, but I honestly didn't know if I could come up with the best way to do it, so I was better off listening to her.

"We need to get Percy, and we need to get out of here," Annabeth said, and I nodded. That much I knew. "You said you've seen Percy – do you know where they're holding him?"

I frowned. "I don't know. This place is like a maze," I said, and Annabeth's face fell a little. I mean, yes, I'd been to see Percy, but this place was a maze of hallways and they all looked the same. I wasn't even sure how Annabeth had gotten me here from the room I'd been in, and that meant I definitely wasn't sure how to find Percy's room from here. I had to admit, it was a pretty crappy layout for a school – but then, Annabeth had said we were in the basement. I supposed they didn't hold classes in the basement.

"Besides," I went on quickly, "how would I get there without being seen?" I was pretty good at sneaking around, but I was pretty sure there was nowhere for me to hide if I ran into someone in the hall.

Annabeth quirked a half-smile and held up her Yankees cap. "I could lend you this," she said, dangling it from one finger. I blinked – she was actually offering to let me use her invisibility cap? Before I could think about it any more, she added, "But it doesn't do you any good if you can't find his room from here. Could you find it from the room you were in?"

I closed my eyes, trying to remember where I'd been taken when Medea had come for me. It hadn't been a long walk, and though there had been a number of turns, I was pretty sure that if I started from where I had before, I could find it. "I think so," I said finally, opening my eyes. "If you can direct me back there."

I realized she couldn't come with me – the cap only worked for one, and she'd taken a huge risk just getting me here without being spotted. I wasn't sure we'd be so lucky a second time, especially if I was going to have to get Percy back here once I'd found him. I didn't really believe in luck (when you're a half-blood, it doesn't seem particularly useful), but now might be a good time to start. I just hoped it'd be enough to get us back here safely, so we could finally get out, all three of us.

Annabeth nodded, but as she began to stand I thought of one last complication. "Wait – what about the lock on the door?" I asked. "How did you open it?" I remembered she'd had some kind of card in her hand. Was it some kind of universal keycard? Or had she stolen it off someone and seen them type in the code? If it was the latter then I was in real trouble, because I hadn't seen anything when Medea had taken me to see Percy last time.

Annabeth nodded, pulling the card from her back pocket. It was blue, with white writing that read Kleidouchos Enterprises in Ancient Greek letters. "Here," she said, pressing it into my hand. I turned it over, and saw that on the back it just had a regular black magnetic strip, like any old bank card or credit card. "It'll open any door. Just swipe it and punch '1234'."

I felt my eyebrows rise. So it was some kind of universal access card. "Where did you get this?"

Annabeth coughed, and I glanced up at her. "I... it was a gift," she said. "From my mother."

I felt my mouth fall open. "Your mother? You mean Athena sent you?" That was kind of a big deal – why hadn't she mentioned it before?

Annabeth shrugged and looked away, but I could tell she felt proud of herself. I didn't blame her – I mean, it's not every day your deity of a parent decides to give you a gift that will help you on a quest. I mean, my deity of a parent had never given me anything – not that I was bitter. I probably wouldn't have taken anything from Hades even if he'd offered it to me in a box wrapped up with a bow.

Hell, I thought, especially not if he'd offered it to me in a box wrapped up with a bow.

But that wasn't the point. If Athena had sent Annabeth, or at least had a hand in helping her get this far, that was a good sign in my book. It meant the gods were trying to help us. I guessed it made sense – they were the ones who would suffer the most if Kronos managed to get ahold of the prophesied sixteen year-old half-blood and sway him to his cause. I just wondered if any of them knew it was me.

I swallowed my unease at that thought and tried to focus on what I had to do here and now. Get back to my room, get to Percy's room, and bring him here. I would worry about everything else later.

When I looked back at Annabeth, she'd taken a folded-up piece of paper from had back pocket, along with a pen. I recognized it as the same kind of paper her note to me had been written on. She pressed it up against the wall and started drawing on it, marking turns with little arrows. Then she turned around and handed it to me.

"This should get you back to the room I found you in," she said, tracing out the path with her finger. "From there you'll have to find Percy's room on your own, and then make it back here." She glanced up at me – it was just as weird as it had been a few minutes ago – and studied me for a minute. "Do you think you can do it?"

I looked at the tiny map she had drawn, every line perfectly straight and labeled neatly with the direction I needed to go to get there and back. I glanced at the card still in my hand, before I put it into my back pocket and held out my hand for her cap. "Yeah," I said, wishing I felt as confident as I sounded, "I can."