I was so relieved that both Nico and Oliver agreed to join me on my quest that I felt dizzy. For some reason I was afraid that they would hate me if I asked. Oliver was so excited about going on the quest that we skipped Mythology class and started packing instead. I was surprised that he wanted to come so badly, considering he didn't even know what our quest was.
When Oliver and I each went to our cabins to pack, I realized that I would need a smaller suitcase. I sat on my bed pondering my problem when, as if on cue, Nico came in holding a light blue backpack.
"I thought you might need this." He said as he tossed it onto my bed next to me. He seemed to have gotten over the awkwardness of our last conversation. When I looked up at him he didn't avoid my eye or make an excuse to leave. I smiled.
"Thanks." It was a small bag, but hopefully I would be able to cram a lot of things in it. Nico sat down across from me on Victoria's bed and put his hands in the pockets of his aviator jacket.
"Shouldn't you be packing?" I said, even though I wanted him to stay.
He shrugged. "I can do it later."
"So you're just going to sit here and watch me while I stuff my underwear into a bag?" I raised my eyebrows at him and he turned a bright shade of red. He tried to say something, but nothing came out. He looked like a fish that washed up on the beach. After a minute of watching Nico flounder, I burst out laughing. Relief flooded his face when he realized that I was just messing with him.
"You're a jerk." He said, but I could hear the smile behind his words. He fell backwards onto the bed so that he was staring up at the bottom of the top bunk.
"You take things too seriously." I shot back. I finished folding a t-shirt and placed it into the bottom of the bag. I reached down to grab another one when I realized I wasn't even sure what to pack, other that the obvious necessities, of course. I placed the second shirt in my bag. "So, what am I even supposed to bring on this quest?"
"Whatever you think you'll need." He replied simply. I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me.
"Anything specific?" I prompted.
"Clothes, weapons, money, drachmas, ambrosia –" but I interrupted him.
"Ambrosia?" I asked, pausing mid-fold. Oliver had told me about drachmas, but I had never heard of ambrosia.
"The food of the gods." Nico said wistfully. "It heals your wounds, but it tastes different to every demigod. Chiron will give some to you tomorrow morning." For a second I stopped to wonder what ambrosia would taste like to me. When I resumed packing I realized that my bag was already hallway full and I didn't even have two outfits in it.
"Uh, how long is it going to take to save the world?" I asked Nico, concerned about my less than adequate amount of clothing. He sat up again and pulled his legs up so that he was sitting crisscross.
"It depends," he replied. "It could take a week, it could take two."
"Two weeks?" I repeated, looking sadly down at my miniscule bag. "I've barely got enough for two days." Nico shrugged.
"When you're running from a monster who wants to eat you, clothes suddenly seem a lot less important." I glanced up at him and his face was dead serious and I had to suppress my laugh. We sat in comfortable silence for the next ten minute while I filled the small backpack. I decided to take my old iPod with me, even though I had no idea when I would need it. It felt comforting to have an item from my old life.
I was zipping up my backpack when Oliver walked in, carrying his own black bag. He glanced at Nico and for a second I thought I saw contempt flash in his soft green eyes, but it was gone before I even had time to register it. Nico's face immediately hardened and his eyes went cold. I held back my exasperated sigh and stood up.
"All ready?" I asked Oliver. He nodded and held up his little bag in reply. Nico cleared his throat.
"I'm going to go pack." He said curtly and left the cabin.
What ever happened to 'I'll do it later'? I thought, rolling my eyes. I fought the urge to march after him and grab him by his neck and –
"Juliet?" Oliver asked and I was snapped out of my thoughts.
"What?" I asked, totally oblivious to what he had been telling me.
"I was just saying that we should go to our next classes." I nodded. We left the Apollo cabin and went different directions.
"I'll see you later." I called out to him. He grinned and waved. As I walked across camp to find the rest of my cabin, I thought about the quest. Was it a good idea to pick Nico and Oliver? Would they get along? I wondered for the millionth time why Nico was so guarded with everyone else. I mean, I've always had slight trust issues, but Nico wouldn't even let anyone near him. Except me.
I was jerked out of my thoughts when I ran into something soft. Both me and the object tumbled forward.
"Ow, get off, you weirdo!" I heard Austin say as I stood up and brushed myself off. He looked up and saw that it was me and he immediately looked sorry. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know it was you." I smiled to let him know that it was alright. In fact, it was actually my fault. I held out a hand to help him up.
"Have you seen Kayla?" I asked. He shook his head.
"She's doing some special training with Chiron today." My heart sank. I was hoping we could review everything I had learned so that I would be more prepared for the quest tomorrow. "But she told me to tell you that Victoria would teach you today. She's over there." He pointed to an empty field about fifty feet away.
"Okay, thanks." As I walked towards Victoria I heard the dull thud of Will and Austin shooting targets. The noise grew fainter and fainter, until all I could hear were Austin's distant triumphant cheers when he hit the bull's eye.
A new sound began to drift over the field. I heard the distinct crackling of a fire and I smelt charred grass. I picked up my pace and jogged over the last hill. I'm not sure what I had been expecting, but I had to suppress a laugh when I saw a frantic Victoria extinguishing a small fire with a fire extinguisher. She finally managed to put it out, leaving a black circle of dead grass behind.
"What happened?" I asked curiously, walking up to Victoria. She jumped and turned to me. Her forehead was smudged with soot and hair was falling out of her pony tail. Despite her ruffled appearance, she radiated more beauty than Aphrodite herself.
"Oh, I was just shooting light beams." She said casually, but she was still breathing heavily.
"With no targets?" She blushed.
"Well, I had one of the Hecate campers enchant a small area of grass so that it was fire proof. I guess I forgot which area it was…" I felt a laugh bubble up inside of me. I had to clench my fists to not giggle.
"So," I said, changing the topic. "Austin said you were gonna teach me today." Victoria perked up immediately.
"Yeah!" She said enthusiastically. "Since you're already super good at healing, I thought I might show you the basics of photokinesis, you know, shooting light way you'll have at least a little experience before you go on your quest." I started to nod, but then stopped.
"Wait, how do you know about my quest?" Victoria gave me a look that said 'Seriously?'.
"Everyone knows!" She exclaimed. "Not many people have gotten quests recently. Not since, you know, Percy Jackson won the Giant War." There he is again. Percy Jackson. I knew what he accomplished, not who he was. Or why Nico refused to talk about him. Suddenly I got an idea.
"Did you ever meet him?" I asked Victoria casually. She shrugged.
"We talked a couple of times, but other than that no." I pressed her for more details.
"Do you know if he was ever friends with Nico?" Victoria looked at me suspiciously, but I kept my face emotionless. She glanced around and lowered her voice even though there was obviously no one around.
"Well, Nico came to camp before I did, and even after Percy graduated there were still rumors going around." I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Rumors?" Victoria nodded.
"All the older campers say there was a special connection between Nico and Percy. Some of them even say that Percy saved Nico from drowning in the lake." A wave of guilt crashed over me. That would explain Nico's panic attack when I forced him to join the canoe race. "Percy was like the older brother Nico never had. They were inseparable. That is, until Nico's sister died. She went on a quest with Percy, but she didn't make it back. Ever since, Nico blamed Percy for her death. Now, whenever Percy comes back, Nico avoids him or mysteriously disappears until Percy leaves." I feel like I'd been betrayed. Why wouldn't Nico tell me about this? Did he not trust me? Victoria's eyes softened in concern. "You really like him, don't you?" she said quietly. My eyes widened and I felt my cheeks warm.
"Wha- I, no… It's not… I mean –" I stuttered, but Victoria only laughed and rolled her eyes.
"It's pretty obvious." My shoulders sagged.
"Really?"
"Uh, yeah! You spend practically every minute of the day with him." Victoria leaned closer to me and in a whisper she said, "But don't worry, because he likes you too." I turned an even brighter shade of red, if that's possible.
"No he doesn't." I said nonchalantly, but Victoria didn't let the conversation drop.
"I see the way he looks at you." She said, putting her hands on her hips. "Whenever you aren't looking, he will just gaze at you and his eyes melt."
"How do you even know what that looks like?" I said, trying to act like I don't care. But I do. I desperately want to know if Nico has feelings for me.
"Because it's the way that Percy looks at Annabeth. I know you've never met them, but they are the definition of 'true love'." I raised my eyebrows skeptically. "I'm serious! And it's the same for you and Nico. When he looks at you, it's like he's getting lost in your words. All the stress and sadness fades away and he's floating on Cloud 9. Millions of girls would give anything to be looked at the way Nico looks at you." I felt like my blush was permanently painted onto my face. "But seriously, just kiss already!" My face was so red and hot that I was expecting it to burst into flames. Even so, a warm feeling spread through my stomach at the thought of Nico's lips pressed against mine. I quickly dismissed the idea from my head.
"Uh, ha ha." I laughed nervously along with Victoria. Thankfully, Victoria did not continue the conversation. She began telling me the basics of photokinesis, how you have to be really focused, don't let the power control you, blah, blah, blah. I nodded here and there, but I wasn't paying attention. I was still thinking about Nico and what Victoria had said. True love. I was certain that I wasn't in love with Nico. Love was way too huge and complicated. But I'll admit, I really did like him. I'm not sure when it started, but every time I'm around him I feel at ease and I'm not worried about being myself. I started to take note of his little quirks, like how when he smiled the right corner of his mouth rose higher. And whenever he was flustered he would fiddle with his skull ring. And finally, whenever he was around the air became thicker and scented like rich pine trees. But the best part about being with Nico was that we could sit in complete silence and still say so much. Just thinking about Nico made me smile.
"Juliet!" Victoria said, waving a hand in front of my face. "Were you listening to anything I just said?" I shook my head and tried not to grin. She looked at me suspiciously. I could tell that she knew I was still thinking about Nico. She gave me a sly grin, but didn't say anything about it.
"As I was saying…" she continued. She repeated all of the tips for controlling the sun's energy again. When she had finished talking she showed me how the professionals do it. "You might want to step back." She warned. "Oh, and take this, just in case." She handed me the fire extinguisher. I took a few paces backwards and held up the extinguisher, ready to put out and fires.
Victoria was amazing. She looked so peaceful, but so powerful at the same time. She began with her eyes closed, her arms raised towards the sun. I held my breath and waited for something to happen. Suddenly Victoria's eyes flashed open. They looked like two molten orbs of golden light. She grinned mischievously and suddenly a thick beam of light, the same color as her eyes, tore down from the sky. It was about as thick as my fist, but it radiated so much heat that I had to step backwards to stay comfortable. Molten splashed of sunlight swirled around the glowing beam. It was so bright that I had to turn away after a few seconds.
Victoria dropped her arms to her sides and wiped the sweat off her forehead. She looked tired, but pleased.
"So, what did you think?" she asked as she caught her breath. I tried to find the right word to describe it. Beautiful. Powerful. Breathtaking.
"It was amazing!" I exclaimed. She laughed at my excitement.
"Hey!" she suddenly said, pointing at the spot on the grass where the beam of light had hit. "There's no fire!" True enough, there were no flames or smoking grass. Then she turned to me and wiggled her eyebrows. "Your turn."
Oh no. She put her hands on my shoulders and rotated me so that I was facing the sun. It warmed my face and I closed my eyes.
"Hold up your arms." Victoria commanded. I felt like an idiot, but I did it anyways. "Now, concentrate on the sun's warmth. Pretend like you're pulling the energy towards you. Once you feel like you have control over it, open your eyes and target the ground ten feet in front of you." I heard her soft footsteps retreat to a safe spot. I took a deep breath and let the warmth of the sun radiate through my body. I imagined the golden rays seeping through my skin and gathering in my chest. I felt the orb in my chest grow until the power was radiating through me.
It's now or never. I took another deep breathe and opened my eyes. Everything was bathed in yellow light. I focused on the grass about ten feet in front of me and released the ball of power I had stored in my body.
Nothing happened.
I tried again, and again, and again. No matter how hard I tried, no beams of lights came out of the sun. I was beginning to feel hopeless. I was ready to give up, but I decided to try just one more time. I gave one last tug at the sun in my gut, and I was amazed when I saw something golden shoot from the sky. It wasn't a thick beam like Victoria's, more like a glowing piece of string. It was about twenty feet from the spot I had been aiming at, but I was as still proud of myself. I relaxed my arms and the thin ray of light vanished. Victoria cheered.
"That was incredible!" She said. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.
"I didn't even get it on my first fifteen tries!" I felt like a failure, but Victoria was not daunted.
"Are you kidding?" She cried throwing her hands up. "Most people are lucky to get it on their first 15,000 tries. Sure, you're not the best. But, you're definitely not the worst." Her words made me feel a lot better.
"Can I try again?" I asked eagerly. Victoria shook her head.
"You don't want to work yourself too hard."
"But I'm not even tired!" I complained. As soon as I said this, a wave of fatigue hit me and I nearly collapsed. Black spots danced at the edge of my vision. Victoria held me up.
"Not tired, huh?" She smirked. "Let's get you to bed." We stumbled back towards camp and I was surprised at how drained I felt.
When we finally reached our cabin it was time for my next lesson. Victoria told me that she would tell all my teachers that I wouldn't be able to attend class. I rested my head on my pillow and thought about everything that was happening. Erebos was taking over the world and I had to stop him. For some reason, it didn't feel as heavy in my chest as it did earlier. I felt like I had a chance, now that I knew Nico and Oliver would be coming with me.
What did make me nervous and cause my palms to sweat were my growing feelings for Nico. I knew that there were dozens of guys who would kill for a date with "gorgeous" girl like me. But would Nico?
He's your best friend. I told myself. Don't mess that up. I sighed and rolled onto my side. I pushed Nico out of mind and closed my eyes.
Sleep came almost immediately, but so did the dark prophecies.
Okay, from now on I'm going to update either on Saturdays or Sundays. I've been pretty busy lately, but since school is almost over I will hopefully be able to update sooner and have better quality chapters. Right now I have a problem: I want to have some Nico/Oliver bonding moments later, but I have no idea what they will be. What do you guys think I should do? I appreciate any ideas (: Also, thanks for all the reviews so far! It makes me incredibly happy to know that you like what I'm writing!