Note: I made some modifications to Chapter One. And we added a lot to our profile (more information on us!). Old or new readers, check them out!
Our hits are finally more than 1000! Hurray! This may be not a big deal to some people, but it is for us! Because no people we know in real world know or read fanfiction (they don't read or write English like we do). All of our readers are "strangers"! Thank you all so much, "strangers"!
Um, back to Nico and his friends. Ta-da! Chapter 11 right on schedule!
-Hazel-
Chapter 11 Nico
The girls sat down by a large ragged black stone and watched the skeleton policeman teach Landyn how to use his revolver not far away. Meanwhile, I stood nearby and looked into the distance, wondering where on earth, or in hell would the Doors of Death could be. Suddenly, a loud "Landyn!" brought my attention back to the twins. One of the twins was shooting a warning glare at Landyn. He held up a hand in an apologetic gesture. In front of him, a pile of white bones covered with a policeman's uniform was reforming. The girl turned her head back and sighed exasperatedly to her twin, who merely frowned.
"Hey, what happened?" I sat down next to one of the twins and asked. Maybe I can tell apart the Loras twins, but why bother? It's simpler if you just address yourself to them both at the same time. Saves me from being embarrassed when occasionally calling the wrong names.
"He was doing his trick again." The girl beside me said. It took me a moment to remember what "his trick" was.
"I don't know what the skeleton saw. But he looked like he just met a ghost, stumbling back and falling over himself." The other girl said.
When I was going to state that a skeleton shouldn't be scared of a ghost, since they're both dead, the girl beside me said to her sister sardonically: "And you won't even tell me who you saw. So much for being my twin and other half, June."
"What does that have to do with this? Besides, I did tell you!" June protested.
"Not the whole truth! Don't you think I don't know. There's someone else besides the sandy haired guy!" July fired back.
By then, both girls have gotten up to their feet, glowering and trying to tower over each other. They looked even more horrible from my sitting point of view so I stood up hastily too. How did this turn into a fight anyway? I thought. As reluctant as I was, I stepped in and held out my hands to force them apart before a full war could break out.
"Cut it out, you two!" I called.
"It's none of your business, Nico!" July snapped and crossed her arms, fuming. I winced and waited for the second blow. But it didn't come. June looked just as mad as July, red faced and scowling, yet she seemed as if struggling to keep her temper from boiling.
At last, she said through gritted teeth: "Nico's right. We shouldn't be arguing now." She turned her back to us and kicked a stone. "Oww!" The stone hit a poor damned soul who unfortunately was chasing a cheeseburger too close to us right in the eye.
July, on the other hand, appeared slightly taken aback and if possible, even angrier. She stomped her feet in frustration and cursed. Slowly, the irritated look on her face dissipated, replaced by a rather confused and hurt expression.
When she realized that I was still looking at her, she glanced up and mumbled: "Shouldn't've shouted at you, sorry. I was just so angry…"
Before I could hear the rest, Landyn came jogging towards us and calling: "Hey guys! What's the matter? I just got the hang of shooting and I thought I heard some shouting." He eyes moved from July's face to June's and finally mine.
I figured that he already knew the answer so I said: "So now you know how to use your weapon. Let's see if you're good."
Thankfully, the girls didn't object but they didn't talk either, and together we headed back to the forever-starving party. The twins both looked nervous, but they didn't exchange looks like they usually would. In fact, they didn't look at, speak to or even walk beside each other. Gods know how many petty things girls care about. I thought wearily. I can never understand girls: why they love each other for the first second and hate each other the next, why they would leave their little brothers to join a whole girl hunt, why they would choose rebirth and leave their little brothers a second time…
xxx
Phineas' face broke into a wide, horrible grin as we approached his circle of stones. The skeleton harpies screeched above and flapped their bony wings.
"What are you waiting for, brave heroes? Afraid of a flock of white bones?" Phineas taunted and turned his milky white eyes on us.
Something felt wrong, like I had forgotten a crucial point. But time was running out and we needed Phineas' help. I gestured Landyn forward. He stepped up and said confidently: "Show time."
He took a deep breath and aimed at a harpy. We held our breath…bang! Landyn pulled the trigger. We looked upwards wildly, trying to see pieces of white bones flying. But we saw nothing.
"Oh gods, I missed!" Landyn cried in shock, face ashen and horrified.
For half a second, the twins and I just stood there staring at Landyn in disbelief, who stared back. Then chaos broke out: the harpies turned and dived towards us, snapping their sharp beaks and waving their bony limbs. I drew out my sword from my chain belt and slashed at a harpy that got to close. Its deadly sharp talons came a centimeter to my face before it disintegrated into ashes. At the same time, a flash of gold zipped by and another exploded with an angry shriek. But more kept coming.
"July! Get Landyn!" June yelled.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw July nod and drag Landyn aside. Seeing that the harpies were too many, June threw down her bow and drew out her dagger instead. Together, we fought wildly, trying to win some time for whatever July and Landyn were doing.
"Aim at the skull!" I heard July saying loudly. "Your hands shake too much. Don't you see all the gaps between the ribs? Your bullets would only pass through them. Besides, they don't even have hearts!" Apparently, July was trying to give Landyn last-minute How to Shoot a Skeleton Harpy lessons.
Just when I thought we were going to be overwhelmed, there was a bang and a harpy burst into dust. June was so startled she didn't see another harpy zooming in on her. Just as I was about to yell at her, a golden arrow whipped past. Poof, another dead harpy. Landyn and July had returned to battle. Together the skeleton harpies were no match with us. In the matter of minutes, piles of white dust lay at our feet and there was only one lonely harpy left, circling above our heads. July drew back her bow and let the point of her arrow follow the harpy's skull. Suddenly, to our surprise, the harpy screeched loudly and changed course, flying straight towards the circle of black stones.
Phineas! I cursed under my breath. The old sneak was jumping over his circle of rocks and trying to run away. The harpies were there to stop him from escaping!
"He tricked us!" June cried. As she said it, Phineas threw a rock at the harpy with surprising strength. I have no idea how he could aim, since he couldn't even see, but the rock hit the unlucky harpy right in the skull and it went down. When the twins tried to shoot him, he managed to dodge the arrows as well. He laughed crazily as Landyn's bullet missed him by inches.
"I won't be seeing you, puny demigods!" He yelled triumphantly, getting farther and farther away from us. Fury broke out in my heart and I drove my Stygian sword into the black sands of Underworld.
"Serve me!" I demanded. Right on cue, the ground cracked open and a troop of skeleton soldiers and policemen emerged. I heard a collective gasp behind me. I ignored it and thrusted my hand forward in the direction of Phineas. The skeleton men marched towards the escapee. They caught Phineas in a flash and held him with his hands behind his back. The skeletons pointed all kinds of weapons at Phineas, preventing him from escaping.
"Bring him to me!" I ordered. The skeletons obeyed, chittering and chattering, prodding the scowling Phineas with spears and guns. After he was brought back to us, I looked around and realized the damned souls of the Fields of Punishment were all staring at us mutely, as if watching a show. I tried to ignore the fact that my friends were also watching me with wide eyes like I was a freak. So much for my plan to lay low.
I turned to my audience of dead and spoke with all the authority I could muster: "Any fool who wants to follow Phineas and try to make an escape, hear me! Thanatos may be gone, but that do not mean his duties lay forgotten. I, son of Hades, am now the lieutenant of the god of Death. DO NOT try to escape. If you do, you will end up worse than Phineas. Much worse, I guarantee." I glared around, hoping my expression was as scary and threatening as the Loras twins'. To my relief, the dead seemed to take me as a seriously menacing being. They knelt to me and made all kind of promises to be good.
I let out a breath and turned to Phineas. I gestured the skeleton soldiers to take Phineas back to his circle of black stones. After he was dumped into his circle, I raised my hands and concomitantly the black jagged rocks rose until they stood four feet taller than Phineas. I left four skeletons patrolling outside the circle and dismissed the rest.
"Phineas!" I demanded though a gap between two black rocks. After a second, his loathing face appeared.
"We killed the harpies. Tell us where the Doors of Death is."
"Oh, but I don't have the answer." Phineas said in a drawling voice such that I wanted to smack him in the face. The twins looked as if they were ready to pounce too.
"What I have…is a prophecy." Phineas cackled.
"A prophecy?" Landyn said.
"Oh yes. I am a seer." Phineas said, setting his milky eyes on us in turns. I felt one of the twin shiver.
Then he began to chant in a sick sing-song voice:
"Three join the loner on the quest under
A gain a loss with conflicts encounter
Rays shall break by the fire-flaming shore
He who deceived time lost at the door"
My heart went cold at the last sentence. He who deceived time, that meant me, didn't it? I was kept from aging for several decades.
"Why did you tell us that?" June asked in a shaky voice.
"Because you're all going to die anyway." Phineas shrugged. "It's a pleasure to sense fear on arrogant demigods."
Landyn started to say: "What rays? What shore? How-" But he stopped mid sentence. In fact, everything suddenly seemed to be abnormally still. There was something wrong with Phineas too. His was no longer sneering and his white eyes were glowing.
"Nico di Angelo." He said, but not in his own voice, but a sleepy woman's voice.
"You're Gaea." I started, but recovered quickly. "What do you want?"
"Oh, to show you something, dear. This is not what you really want, is it?" Gaea said softly, "You don't want to risk you're life just to help that son of Poseidon, do you? He has no idea what is waiting for him. All you efforts will be wasted."
"What do you mean?" I demanded.
Gaea ignored my question and continued to say: "The truth is: you still resent your sister for leaving you behind. She left you to fight for your life and deal with problems too big for you alone. She never regretted her choice to join the hunt. You want to know the reason? Because she needn't look after you anymore. She didn't want a little brother who weighed her down. That's why she left you a second time. This time for good."
"You're lying!" I shouted. But inside, my heart ached. Was that really why she chose to rebirth? Because she didn't want me? She didn't even give me a chance to say goodbye.
"Look into my eyes. I can show you Bianca." Gaea said.
I tried to resist, but something compelled me to look. The minute my eyes met Phineas' white ones, an image appeared in front of my eyes. It was a baby girl sleeping in a crib. She couldn't be older than a couple of months. I stared as if enchanted at the infant that was my sister in its last life. But she looked nothing like Bianca, who was olive skinned and dark haired. Instead, the little puffs of hair perched on her tiny head were red. She had white skin and rosy cheeks. However, the minute she opened her eyes, which were green, I knew she was Bianca. It was just a feeling, like there was a strong bond between us.
"She sleeps soundly, in the shelter of a warm and complete family. She is not even a demigod, mortal and blissfully ignorant. Whereas you, on the contrary, have no one left in the world. You are always looking behind your back, never a minute safe. Alas, she doesn't remember you, but you remember her. Is that fair?"
Gaea's voice was slow and soft, but her words were like sharp blades stabbing my heart. My eyes stung from the hurtful truth.
"But I can change that. Give up your hopeless quest and come to me. I can take you back to the moment Bianca made her choice. You can say good bye, or maybe even change her mind. If that does not appeal to you, I can even make you her little brother again. You two can live peacefully in the mortal world, with nothing to worry about. Give up, Nico." She crooned.
Her offer sounded so good that I wanted to cry and run into Gaea's arms. I didn't need to shoulder all of this. I could escape from all of my responsibilities. If Bianca was here, as least I didn't need to face them on my own. But you're not alone anymore. You never were. The green eyes of the reincarnation of Bianca seemed to say through the image. Think about Percy and Hazel, look around you. Aren't they your friends? They are willing to take a share of your burden off your shoulders.
"No." I managed to croak. "Leave me. You will be destroyed!" I called on all my will and jerked my eyes from Phineas'. For a scary moment, nothing changed.
"No, you shall be destroyed, foolish demigod! Pity you refused my offer, now you and your friends will have to endure painful deaths! Remember my words, demigod: You shall fail your quest." Gaea let the menacing note hang in the air and suddenly, everything came back to life.
"-are we supposed to know what it mean?" Landyn finished his sentence like a paused record being played again. Suddenly a wave of nausea washed over me, as if the tiredness from using my powers had finally caught up. I staggered and held the wall of black stones for support. Landyn and the twins rushed forward.
"You okay?" June or July asked softly, touching my arm tentatively. I nodded, but it made me dizzier.
"Maybe we should sit down and rest for a while." Landyn said anxiously.
"No." I said weakly. "Get me away from here." Maybe I was more vulnerable than I thought, but Gaea really shook me. Whenever I see Phineas' milky eyes peering out through the cracks, I thought of the vision Gaea showed me.
If the others were confused, they didn't show it. Landyn draped one of my arms over his shoulders and helped me walk. We stopped until there was quite a distance between us and Phineas. Landyn laid me down carefully and one of the twins stuffed a square of ambrosia in my mouth. I chewed it gratefully and felt warmth returning to my body. None of us talked for some time.
I sensed the twins looking sideways at me from time to time. If they were bright, which they were, they probably have guessed that the last line of the prophecy was about me. Or worse, they were still thinking about how I called on an army of the dead and scared the lights out of the damned souls. To add some highlight, how my freaking power makes me swoon like a girl every time I use it just more than a little.
As if reading my mind, Landyn spoke up: "Dude, that trick you used back there was wicked! It's like you have your own private army!" The girls nodded quickly. But I'm still a freak. Death boy who can only have a place among the dead. I thought sullenly.
"Yeah, it was cool." One of the twins said, sitting down next to me. My instincts told me it was July. Immediately, the other twin appeared on my other side.
"Where are we going anyway? Did you understand any of the lines in the prophecy?"July asked casually. I nodded, trying hard not to think about the last line.
"Prophecies are usually given before a quest. So that means some contents in our prophecy have already happened." I explained.
Landyn caught up with us and said: "I get that. Three join the loner on the quest under. So here we are, joining you in the Underworld to find the Doors of Death. What about the second line? A gain a loss with… something… encounter? It doesn't make any sense."
"Conflicts encounter." June corrected. "It doesn't make sense to me either. Maybe we're going to acquire something and then lose something."
"I don't know. Words can have double meanings." I said.
"What about the rest?" July asked carefully.
"I only guessed out a part." I said. "It mentions a 'fire-flaming shore'. I'm quite sure what that refers to." I looked around and saw three extremely attentive faces.
"Φλεγέθων. We need to go to Phlegethon, the river of fire." I declared.
"Phlegetho, the river of fire." July repeated slowly.
I nodded again. "We have to be quick. It's near Tartarus, which is on the other end of the Underworld." I stated.
"Tartarus?" June squeaked. Landyn let out a low whistle.
"So what are we waiting for? Can we get there before dark?" He said cheerily, jumping up. "I don't want to camp out here listening to painful screams to sleep."
"You forgot that it is always dark down here." June reminded him as she got up too. But the atmosphere perceivably lightened. Just then, July broke into a lively song.
"...You said: 'Darling, I'm tired of living my routine life.'
There's so much in the world I'd like to soak up with my eyes."
"What's with the sudden singing?" I asked, amused.
She smiled and sang: "So I wouldn't feel so scared." She stood up and extended her hand out at me. I took it and let her pull me up. Her voice was so sweet and beautiful I felt my heart warming up, as my hand was holding her warm one. I wondered if it was some kind of Apollo magic.
Soon the four of us were all singing, even me, who would never be caught dead doing:
"We can do it all together,
from the colds of the poles
to the tropics of Borneo.
Ba da da ba da…"
What do you think? Amber wrote the first two lines of the prophecy and I wrote the last two. It took us soooooo long! Because we had to make sure it rhymes. We even managed to keep the numbers of syllables of the couplets the same! The phrase "rays break" was thought by Amber ages ago. Apollo should be proud of us. Please REVIEW and tell us what you think!
P.S. The song in the story is Just You and Me, sung by Zee Avi. And the line "So I wouldn't feel so scared" can actually fit in the song!
-Hazel-
