"Wait, so Hades had another child?" I repeated.
"Yes," Nico gritted his teeth. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"
"It is a little…shocking." Annabeth admitted.
Obviously, Nico didn't care whether we were shocked or not. Instead, he looked rather panicked and scared. He groaned out, "Augh. She's going to kill me. She isn't a daughter of Hades for nothing."
"Daughter of Hades? You mean like…Bianca?" I asked, thinking back on the kind, slightly shy twelve-year-old girl who had sacrificed her life so that Thalia and I (and at that time, Zoë) could survive. I hadn't thought of Bianca in years. I also had a slightly uneasy feeling, since I felt a pang of guilt whenever I brooded on her death. If Nico was still angry at me for her death, I would've died of guilt a long time ago.
"Yeah, like Bianca." Nico snapped sarcastically. He twirled with the cord of the phone. He had dialed the number, talked with the person on the other end briefly, and then hung up. "No, dimwit. Bianca was a nice sister. Caitlin is a true terror from hell."
"Oh, am I?"
We all turned around sharply to the voice. At the doorway, was a girl. Caitlin Styx. Age seven. Daughter of Hades. Self-proclaimed hellhound trainer.
An, as I would later find out, almost a female counterpart of Nar Beauragard.
Caitlin did look a lot like the late Bianca di Angelo, despite the fierce scowl on her face. There were some differences, though. Her skin was rather pale, not the same olive color as Bianca's and Nico's, and some of her features seemed softer, too, despite her personality. She had black hair and sharp, black eyes that were currently narrowed in distaste. (I would find out they were almost always narrowed in distaste.) She was short for a seven-year-old, but height didn't matter, especially with the way she slaps.
She also had tasteless clothes. Well, not tasteless, if you really thought about it. Still, I didn't like it. She had on a frilly black dress that looked like it belonged in the last century, an equally dark, oversized hat, shiny black dress shoes, and some kind of necklace with a delicate black ornament on it. She was also holding something in her arms that looked like a little person, but it turned out to be a doll clothed in black.
"Caitlin!" Nico squealed. "How long have you been there?"
Caitlin looked down at her watch. Rolex, too. I wondered where she got it. "I've been here for five minutes and two seconds."
"I'm so sorry!" Nico wrung his hands in a distressed way. Any second I thought he would go on his knees." Please forgive me!"
Caitlin walked on over to her brother. She completely ignored me and Annabeth, which I found incredibly rude. Then she looked at her brother straight in the eye, and said, "You forgot, didn't you?"
And Nico really did go on his knees. I suppressed a groan. Be a man, Nico! Have some dignity! Don't be intimidated by this little girl!
And then…she slapped him.
A short seven-year-old brat slapped the famous Nico di Angelo.
Very hard. Even harder than the slap Clarisse so kindly gave me earlier today.
Nico flew to the other side of the room and groaned in pain, rubbing at a fresh handprint mark on his cheek. Wow, Caitlin was strong. That probably came from being a demigod, especially a kid of that stupid uncle of mine. But that was beside the point at the moment.
"Caitlin…so sorry…" Nico whimpered, and quickly scooched to the corner of the room. He tenderly touched the handprint mark again, and then quickly drew away in pain. It looked like it was going to leave a bruise.
"You should be!" Caitlin stated in a calm and cool voice. Then she cussed. She cussed badly. She cussed so badly that I knew that Nico and Grover had some influence over her. She cussed so badly that I knew that she watched late night TV. She cussed so badly that I knew that I needed to get that brat away from my pure and non-late TV watching daughter. She cussed so badly that I knew she could outcuss me. She could even probably outcuss Clarisse. That's saying a lot.
And that is how I first met Caitlin Styx, who cussed badly, who had Nico as a guardian, who was a daughter of Hades, and who was also enjoyed torturing me, as well as everybody else. She was also the same tough Caitlin who had a long and winding road ahead of her, who was really a good person, and would become one of Min's good friends.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
At the same time I met Caitlin Styx, two brothers and their friend were nearby, looking for refuge.
"Alya, where are you going?" Dominic asked as the girl started wandering off.
The girl smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry. It's just…I felt weird for minute."
The two brothers were Dominic and Daniel Li. Their friend was Alya Rivers. I would meet them soon. But not right now.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Caitlin was upstairs with Min. Although I hadn't wanted her to be with my little Min, but Nico had insisted on getting the little girl out of the way, and this way was the fastest (as well as the safest) way. I just prayed that nothing too bad would happen. Especially that goth girl influencing my little Minnie. Seriously, what kind of a seven-year-old wears all black, and such old-fashioned clothes, too!
"Explain." Annabeth said flatly as we sat around our little table. She had offered Nico some tea, but he refused. He drank some very strong coffee, though, saying that he needed the caffeine to stay awake.
"How can I explain? There are some parts I don't know myself. I don't even know who Caitlin's mom is, and whether or not she's dead or alive." Nico said, and ran his fingers through his dark hair. "Whenever I ask, Caitlin says something evasive like, 'I don't have a mother' or 'I used to live far away.' Or she just glares at me and tells me to shut up."
He took another sip of his coffee and then continued with, "I've been her guardian for two weeks. Two weeks, and it's been like Father's kingdom."
"You mean like…hell?" I asked, swirling my own cup of coffee with a teaspoon.
"No, I meant the Land of the Sugar Drops, where Hades reigns supreme. Yes, you idiot! I meant hell!" Nico roared at me in a way like Uncle Hades once did.
I did not whimper.
Okay, maybe once. But it was so small that nobody noticed.
"Look, she came to my doorstep about two weeks ago with a suitcase, and her doll. Did you notice the doll she was carrying around?"
"What doll? I didn't see any doll." Annabeth snapped.
"It's over there." Nico motioned to the couch. Annabeth and I turned around to stare at the doll.
It stared back. It looked like an ordinary doll other than the fact it seemed so…melancholy. It had black hair that curled down to its waist, pale porcelain skin, dark brown eyes, and a gloomy black dress on. It looked pretty expensive, but was also dark and depressing at the same time. And it seemed as if that doll was alive, and it was staring at me.
After staring at it for a full minute, I realized something. That doll looked a lot, and I mean a LOT, like Caitlin Styx.
"That is creepy." Annabeth said, and I full-heartedly agreed.
"You think that's creepy! Well, what if I told you that Caitlin is looking at you. Right now. Through the doll." Nico snorted, and finished his coffee.
Annabeth and I both jumped simultaneously in our seats, and then glanced nervously at that staring doll.
"You're not serious." Annabeth whispered.
"I am serious." Nico said, and then told us the entire story with Caitlin. We didn't interrupt him at all. Not even once.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Flashback of how Nico met Caitlin
Nico di Angelo yawned and irritably turned off his alarm clock. Stupid alarm clock. Whose stupid idea was it to get that? Oh yeah. Bianca always used an alarm clock, and he had always continuously used one out of habit. Nico couldn't bring himself to say that Bianca's ideas were stupid. Because they never were.
Ah. Why did his bossy sister have to bug him so much, even after all these years? Nico felt the same feeling in his stomach whenever he thought of his sister, a feeling of soft sorrow mixed in with a warm fondness and total depression. His anger at Percy had faded long ago. Bianca herself had once said, "Don't blame others when it's not their fault, Nico."
I don't anymore, Bianca. Nico thought. I don't blame because I can never feel angry anymore.
Thinking of his sister was so depressing sometimes. Sometimes she would just inch into his thoughts without him knowing, and it would be hard to get rid of her. Sometimes she came in bursts of nice memories, the time when his usually soft-spoken sister punched that bully square in the face, the time when she scraped enough money she found around the orphanage to get some candy, the time when they went to the park and bought ice creams, which happened back when their mom was alive.
Nico yawned again, and stretched out his arms. Then he scratched his stomach, and then yawned again.
All in all, it was a rather generic, boring, everyday start of the morning. Nico got up reluctantly, brushed his teeth, showered, and then stole the newspaper from old Mrs. Fridely next door again once he found out his stupid television still didn't work. Seriously, he needed someone to fix that TV. But of course, that cost money, and money was something Nico didn't really have. In fact, he was wondering if he could scrape together the 600 dollars for rent.
Nico peeked into his fridge and sighed. He checked the banana yogurt. Still not past the expiration date, so it was edible. Nico looked in despair at his almost empty fridge, and stuck his hand in to get half of an eaten sandwich. He finally got out the last item. Or items. They were a bunch of potatoes. Potatoes were cheap and nutritious. Nico hated things that were nutritious. He sighed, and put the food on the table. Pitiful. Just pitiful.
You would think that a child of the Olympians, especially a child of the Big Three, and particularly the only living child of Hades would at least have some money to live off of something other than…this stuff. But as it was, Nico didn't have money. He was the black sheep of the Hades children. Whatever expectations his father had secretly expected of him, Nico failed. He doubted that he wanted his only son to be an aspiring artist on welfare who had no interest in glory and honor for the Hades name.
Still, Nico had some measure of pride in him, pride that every demigod had. For one thing, no matter how bad his situation was, he wasn't in debt. He refused to borrow money. Twice, he had been kicked out of shabby apartments in the poor parts of the Big Apple. The first time he went to Grover's until his welfare check finally arrived. The second time he bunked at Beckendorf's, and managed to get another part-time job in his schedule.
There was a pounding noise on the door. Nico hoped that it wasn't his landlord demanding rent, and went over to the door. He opened it.
Nico could see the top of the head of a dark-haired girl who was clutching onto a porcelain doll rather tightly. There was a plain brown suitcase next to her. She looked up with her piercing eyes, and said, "Hi. My name is Caitlin."
"Um…hi…Caitlin?" Nico stuttered, wondering why the hell a little girl was there. With a suitcase, no less. "My name is Nico."
"Good." Caitlin said, and then stomped into the room. She set here suitcase on Nico's table, next to the potatoes, and sat down on the couch. All in two seconds. Then she stared at him for a long time.
"Wait. What the (beep) are you doing?" Nico asked angrily, tapping his foot on the floor.
"I'm going to live here from now on. My name is Caitlin. I'm seven years old. I was born on May 4th. I don't have a mother." Caitlin recited matter-of-factly with melancholy eyes.
"What right does that give you to come into my house…um…apartment?" Nico demanded.
"Father told me to come here. Father said you would take care of me." Caitlin said, and then paused. "Father said that besides me, you were his only child."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"And that's what happened." Nico said.
"That's it?" I squeaked.
Nico nodded. "That's it."
"No it's not! For one thing, if you know nothing about the mother, then how do you know Caitlin's last name! Another thing is how did you take care of her? And how did you have enough money to put her in a daycare? And do the proper authorities know?" Annabeth demanded. She was one sharp woman, pregnant or not.
"Caitlin doesn't have a last name. Whenever I asked her, she said she didn't have one. So I made up on for her. You know, the Styx River? Anyways, I put her in a daycare center because it was free. And the proper authorities do know. They think that she's my half-sister who doesn't have a single relative. I think Hades had something to do with that." Nico replied easily.
Hades. Meddlesome god. Troubling uncle. Seriously, why was it me who had to have the weird family? There was my ocean dad who I hadn't seen since the Titans' War except for that one time with Min. Then there were my two all-powerful uncles who despised me. And then don't even get started on my second cousins through Dad's side. I hate to think that I'm related to Ares. And there are my mortal in-laws who are REALLY annoying. They also despise me. Except maybe old Fred, Annabeth's dad. But he's Annabeth's dad!
My mental tirade over, I looked at Nico even closer. He looked tired. I felt another guilty pang, but this time over another di Angelo. Why hadn't I ever noticed how hard Nico work to achieve his dream, only to fail?
"So. Do you mind if I stay here?" Nico chirped brightly, with such hope in his eyes that I knew I couldn't refuse him.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"G'night, Percy." Annabeth yawned, and fell instantly asleep, snoring loudly, a barrier of pillows she had made while painting her toenails separating us. Even though I knew that the pregnancy made Annabeth tired, I felt so lonely.
I stared off into the dark, wondering what dream I would have next. If I had one. Seriously, did being Poseidon's child ever entail that you were going to have prophetic dreams? You would expect that from a child of Apollo, and only a few of the Apollo kids I knew back at camp had prophetic dreams. Lucky me. I guess.
I hugged my pillow close to me. It was soft, but not the one I wanted. I threw it away and grabbed for the next pillow. It felt weird. I screamed the house down.
Annabeth woke up instantly. Scooter also ran for the door and started pawing it, whimpering the entire time. Min reached the door and opened it, letting Scooter and herself in. Caitlin entered a few seconds later, looking calm. Annabeth turned on the lamp and asked drowsily, "What's the matter, Percy?"
"That. That's the matter." I said, pointing to newly awoken and grumbling Nico.
"What the? What the (beep) are you doing in our bed!" Annabeth shrieked. Then she looked nervously at Min, and said, "Forget that word I used, honey."
"Got tired. Hate sleeping on the couch. 'Night." Nico yawned and fell into our bed again. "And Percy. Please don't grab on to my hair ever again. It makes me feel uncomfortable."
"You are going into the couch. And you are going to like it." Annabeth hissed, and proceeded in dragging and hitting Nico out of the room at the same time. I don't know how she did it, but she did it. He yelped the whole time. They sounded very satisfying.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
I dreamt about Athena that night. I just saw her with that young god. That's all I remember.
BIG Extra and BIG Spoiler (Read at your own risk):
"Heeeeey!" Lily Greene called out to her friend, Min Jackson.
Min stiffened, then recognized the voice, turned around, and grinned heartily at her incoming friend. "Hi, Lily! I thought you had detention today."
Lily smiled brightly as she finally caught up to the Jackson. "Nah. Caitlin made a lot of trouble, so the teacher excused the rest of us so he could deal with Caitlin personally."
Min shivered in fright for poor Caitlin. "Don't tell me it's…"
Lily nodded. "It's Mr. Arthurs."
Min winced. "Ouch. Isn't he that guy who got Sara Jankins in trouble because she read a book about the Renaissance in history class while they were actually studying about it?"
"The Renawhat?" Lily asked innocently, and cocked her head to the right.
"Never mind." Min quickly said. To be blunt, Lily wasn't very book smart. Or street smart for that matter.
As they were both walking to Min's home, Min felt that they were being followed. So did Lily. They exchanged glances, but acted as if nothing was wrong. Whenever they stopped to tie their shoes or to do something, the thing or person stalking them also stopped. Lily estimated that it kept about ten meters away. See, Lily may not be that book smart or street smart, but she was demigod smart.
"Reveal yourself!" Lily finally yelled out after a few minutes.
"I just wanted to see if you'd improved." Gabriel Granger, son of Hades, popped out of the bushes. "But I did get better at stalking. Didn't I? Didn't I?"
"Idiot! That's not a thing to be proud of!" Min bellowed, and hit him on the head.
"What are you doing?" another familiar voice asked. The trio turned to see Caitlin.
She looked rather amused, and drew both of her dark eyebrows up. Her black hair was tamed into a ponytail, and she held heavy textbooks in her hand as if they weighed nothing.
"Oh. Nothing." Min smiled. "So you got excused early?"
"Yeah. Lucky me." Caitlin said, and joined the three in their walk to Min's house.
"Say, what are you gonna get for Nar's birthday next week?" Gabriel chirped up. "It is his sweet sixteen, after all."
Hey. I've written another chapter. If you haven't noticed, I changed my penname to CaliforniaWriter.
Anyways, I put up a poll on my profile page asking who Min should be with. Vote now. You might have a say in who Min gets to be with. Okay, not really. But I want to see what the current favorite is.