Fire in the Woods
Chapter Twenty-Five
Maree POV
From last chapter:
We are so lost in the kiss that we don't even hear the loud rustling of the trees and a loud popping sound that emits from behind us until I hear an all too familiar and at-this-very-moment, annoying voice.
"Maree?"
I whip around, shocked at the familiar voice. Nico, stands by a tree, staring at the two of us. His Stygian sword hangs limply at his side and shadows dissolve around him. Seth's hands are on my waist and he growls softly.
"Who are you?" he shoots at Nico, who starts walking to us.
"Who are you?" the demigod lifts his sword.
"I'm her boyfriend," Seth points at himself.
"I'm her best friend."
"You're Nico, right?" Nico frowns and tightens his grip on his blade. I slide my hand over Seth's arm, reassuring him and walk over to Nico. He drops his sword and grips my arms with his hands. I stare at him and then slap him. Nico holds a hand to his cheek, and glances up at me, shocked at what I did.
"What was that for?"
"That was for not talking to me regularly!" Seth chuckles in the background. I lunge at Nico, nearly knocking him over. He grunts as he grips me tight. We break apart and he sheathes his sword as I walk back to Seth, dragging him over to where Nico stands.
"So, you're one of the demigods who are coming to Forks, aren't you?" Nico nods and holds out his hand to Seth; who reaches to take the offered hand, when a flash of dark light appears in front of Nico. Two figures become visible and I notice a hellhound that looks remarkably close to Mrs. O'Leary. The other figure has short, spiky black hair and camouflaged clothes.
"I told you, Nico. We should have disappeared at the same time," Nico smiles sheepishly at the girl.
"Uhm, if I might say something?" he starts to speak, but she places her lips on his. My mind whirs with trying to figure out who it is, when the girl's arm moves to her side, and I see a familiar bronze bracelet on her arm.
"Thalia?" I whisper and the girl spins around.
"Maree!" she replies, shocked and her eyes grow wide.
"I suppose you're not a lieutenant of Artemis anymore," I say, more of a statement than a question.
Maree, if you'd let me explain I stop her and look at Nico.
"I can't believe it,"
What's wrong, gorgeous? Seth's hand rests on the small of my back.
I'll tell you later I reply and glance backwards, having smelt Leah's scent. I smile when I see Hawkeye on her shoulder and Arwen at her heels. Seth growls, which brings my attention back to the two demigods. Thalia has an arrow nocked and aims her bow at Leah.
"Thalia, what are you doing?" I ask her as Leah reaches us, placing a hand on my arm.
"Lay your weapons down, Leah's a good friend of mine," Thalia reluctantly puts her weapon away.
"Sorry, I thought she was a threat."
"Most of the inhabitants of La Push and some of Forks are my friends, i.e, not a threat," she sighs and I turn to Leah.
"What's wrong?"
"Jasper just called me. He said that Alice had a vision of a group of demigods arriving in La Push. He told me to tell you that they bought a house-mansion, actually, and it's close to La Push and Forks. Alice then took over the phone and then told me a lot of things. She said that the first ones have just arrived and the rest will be coming via ship. The wolves are meant to escort the first group of demigods to the mansion, because the mansion is close to the water, and the ship will dock by the house. Oh, and the vampires will come later, it's their time to patrol," Leah finishes and sighs.
"Did you leave anything out?" I tease her. The Clearwaters and I laugh. Nico coughs and looks at us pointedly.
"All right, you heard the wolf. We need to stop at Emily's house and then we can go to the mansion," I start to walk and the rest follows me.
I step into Emily's house, not even bothering to knock.
"She's probably in the kitchen," I tell the demigods.
"I'll just wait in the living room," Leah stops and sits awkwardly on a couch, stretching her arm for Hawkeye to sit on. I stroke Arwen's ears and reach down to whisper in her ear.
"Go sit by Leah," she barks happily and trots over to the oldest Clearwater.
"When did you get a hellhound?" Nico ask.
"On our second date," Seth replies for me, earning a glare from Nico.
"Hey, Emily," I stage whisper as I walk into the kitchen.
"Hey, Maree!" she greets me, hugging me with her flour-covered arms.
"Sorry, I'm making supper for the wolves and the demigods," at the mention of food, Seth walks to us, wrapping a muscular arm around my waist.
"Did you say supper?" Emily and I groan, and I slap Seth's arm.
"First thing you should know about the wolves, they're always hungry," I tell the two demigods who are awkwardly standing by the door.
"Shouldn't the first fact be that they're extremely built?" Thalia asks me, earning a laugh and a shake of the head from Seth.
"That's very true. Seth here is actually one of the smaller wolves," Thalia's eyes grow wider.
"You mean they're bigger wolves?" Emily grins at her and nods.
"Oh yes. Hi, I'm Emily, the pack leader's mate," she holds her hand out to the two, who take it.
"What do you mean by mate?" Thalia asks.
"She means soulmate," Sam's deep voice comes from behind them. They jump and nearly take out their swords, but sheathe them upon noticing it's not a monster.
"I'm Sam, the pack leader," Nico shakes his hand.
"You're the demigods who are going to be staying in the new halfway house, right?" Nico nods.
"You'll probably see wolves running past a couple of times in the day, or in the day. We'll be patrolling, along with the Cullens," Nico frowns.
"We can take care of ourselves, thank you," Sam smirks.
"From what I've seen from Maree, I'm sure. But I'm sure you've never battled, what did you call them Maree, ancient Vampires?" I nod and the two stare at me.
"You didn't tell me that you found Ancients here!"
"Well, maybe if you talked to me a bit more often these past few months, you won't be so surprised! But I guess you're too wrapped up in whatever this is to talk to me!" I shout angrily at Nico. Thalia widens her eyes as fire begins to shoot out of my fingers. Seth wraps his huge hands around mine, soothing me by rubbing circles on my palms.
"Let's talk about that later, shall we? Are the other wolves coming soon, Sam?" Seth asks him. He nods.
"I went ahead and told them to stay for a while longer until the Cullens appear. As much as I dislike them, I must admit that they do a good job at protecting." Emily pulls out trays of freshly-baked biscuits from the oven and places them on the counter, letting them cool.
Sam kisses her on the neck and sneakily steals two biscuits from the tray. Thalia and Nico stare in wonder as he props the fresh-out-of-the-oven biscuits in his mouth and swallows.
"You...just...ate..." Nico points at Sam, then at the oven, then at the tray.
"The other thing you should know about wolves: They don't care how hot their food is, or how cold. They'll eat it. Oh, guard your food around the wolves. They won't think twice of stealing something off your plate," I glare accusingly at Seth, who smiles sweetly at me.
Sam cocks his head to the side.
"That sounds like the rest of the pack. Quick, give me all off the biscuits!" he pleads to Emily, who laughs. I grab a few plates and give them to the demigods.
"You'd better take some biscuits soon," I warn them.
"We just ate," Nico says.
"No, I'm serious. When the pack gets a hold of the food, they'll devour it in seconds," Seth nods, agreeing to this. The two frown, but smile and grab a handful of biscuits.
The rest of the Pack rushes through the house. Paul leads the Pack and Nico instinctively moves his arm in front of Thalia.
"I smell food," Emily rolls her eyes and points to the tray.
"There's biscuits, try not to eat all of them, Paul," Emily teases him.
The Pack quickly polishes off the four trays of biscuits and we walk to the house, along with Emily.
"So, this is our new home for the next few weeks," Nico looks up at the mansion.
"It's huge," Thalia simply says.
"It's the Cullens," Paul tells her.
"So, you're the modern wolves, and the Cullens are the..." Thalia asks Paul.
"Vampires," she looks at me.
"Modern vampires," she nods and enters the mansion with Nico to take a look around. Seth nudges my hand, and points to the water. I smile and walk to the door.
"Nico! Thalia! Get your butts down here and greet the others!" I hear them run down the stairs and Nico opens the door.
"Thalia wanted to choose her room before Clarisse gets here," I smile and the Pack, plus the three demigods, along with the animals walk down to the docks.
"Where's your luggage?"
"I persuaded Clarisse to carry it on the ship,"
"Clarisse? Where's Percy?"
"He was going to come, along with Annabeth and Grover; but Chiron sent them on an urgent quest. Annabeth sends her love and Percy wants to know when you're going to battle with him again," Nico slides his hand into Thalia's as I slide mine into Seth's.
"I'll tell him to stop by soon,"
We watch as the ship docks and Clarisse jumps off onto the pier.
She looks up to the ship.
"All right, losers. Get off my ship," demigods start to hesitantly jump off, and I push the Pack towards them.
"Come on, lets go help them," the Pack pick up the bags that the demigods throw down and carry them into the house. I tug Seth's hand and Nico steps in behind us. Clarisse shields her eyes from the faint sunlight and grins when she sees me.
"Maree!" she runs to me and almost knocks me over.
"Calm down, Clarisse. I haven't been away from camp that long," she narrows her eyes.
"Trust me, with those two acting like lovesick teenagers all the time, a few weeks without my best friend feels like an eternity,"
"Did everybody know about Nico and Thalia?" the daughter of Ares grimaces and nods, taking her bag from Paul.
"I'll take my bag inside, thanks. It has pretty dangerous weapons in it, and I don't want anybody to damage it. To answer your question, Maree, Annabeth, Percy and I wanted to tell you. I know, I agree with him, it's amazing. Nico persuaded us not to, so I said that it's his responsibility to tell you," I cross my arms.
"A little notice before would be appreciated next time, Di Angelo."
"I would have told you when I arrived here, but Thalia beat me to it."
"That she did," I walk into the house with the demigods and grin at seeing the Cullens and the Pack standing awkwardly in the large living room.
"Let's get this party started!" I clap my hands and give the room a fake smile.