Chapter 34
Poseidon stormed through Hades' palace, his fists clenched. "Hades!" he roared. "Where are you?"
"Hello, brother," Hades said calmly, materializing from the shadows in front of Poseidon.
"Explain yourself," Poseidon snarled. "Where did that drakon come from? My children were alone and attacked in the middle of nowhere by an ancient monster! Those types rarely escape Tartarus to go after demigods! I thought you'd said you shut off the flow of monsters escaping! Why were my son and daughter attacked?"
"How should I know?" Hades responded, his voice eerily calm. "I did what I could, and for a while nothing seemed wrong. Everything appeared to be stable, Tartarus was quiet, and I went back to my usual routines. Maybe there's something else we need to look into. I was thinking about it, and –"
"If you've been thinking about it," Poseidon hissed, "That means you've known this was going on! Why didn't you warn us? What if one of my children had died?"
"I wasn't too sure what was going on, and maybe if your foolish daughter hadn't run off in the middle of the night, the entire incident wouldn't have happened! I can't keep track of every monster running out into the world, especially because that's a usual occurrence!"
"Your son is the reason my daughter left the camp. Don't blame her for –"
"I am not blaming anyone," Hades said, his eyes glimmering with barely suppressed annoyance. "But now you know that there is a possibility that someone is agitating Tartarus – and I think it's a god. There's no way Kronos could have reformed quickly enough to have even enough power to facilitate the entrance of more monsters into the world. Someone is definitely meddling, and we need to find out who."
Poseidon nodded, unclenching his fists slightly. "All right. But do what you can to contain them. Any ideas as to who it may be?"
"Yes, but it's just a hunch. If I find anything more concrete, I'll tell you. Now, I have somewhere else to be. So, if you don't mind, I will…"
"I'll talk to you again soon," Poseidon decided, before disappearing in a sea mist just as Hades melted back into the shadows.
Back at Camp, Percy was yelling in pain as Annabeth held him still and Jessie dabbed nectar onto the burn on the back of his shoulder.
"Hold still, will you?" Jessie sighed in exasperation. "If you keep wriggling like that, I'm not going to be able to get the middle of the wound, and it'll just take a lot longer for you to heal. Just work with me, okay?"
"Fine," Percy said through clenched teeth. "But hurry up. This hurts."
"I know it does, but I have to do it. Or would you rather Will did it? He's less caring than me." Exchanging a quick glance with Annabeth, encouraging her to keep Percy talking, Jessie stealthily reached for the nectar again.
Percy snorted. "Less caring? Will's a great guy. You're just jealous because he plays guitar better than you."
"Whoa," Jessie laughed, using a soft cloth to press the nectar gently onto the burn. "Aren't I a better guitarist, Annabeth?"
"Sure?" Annabeth asked. "I don't think I've ever heard either of you play, so I can't be –"
"Damn!" Percy hissed, twitching.
"Done," Jessie decided. "Are you always this bad with pain, Percy?"
"I'm not bad with pain," he protested, "It just hurt! Have you ever gotten a burn of a drakon?"
"Why was it there anyway?" Annabeth asked. "I knew we shouldn't have left you two alone! You, Seaweed Brain, are a magnet for trouble."
"But you love me anyway," Percy grinned.
"Unfortunately," Annabeth admitted, laughing as he pulled her close.
Smiling at the besotted couple, who were leaning closer to each other, Jessie tossed the bare-chested Percy his shirt and walked out the door. Dawn was breaking over the horizon, and Half-Blood Hill was silhouetted by the rising sun. She'd been doctoring Percy every few hours, trying to make sure the wound didn't get infected and that the poison would be flushed from his system as quickly as possible. She winced slightly as she remembered how terrified Annabeth had been when a barely-conscious Percy and a sleeping Lily had returned. The girl had freaked out, although later she had berated her boyfriend for being stupid enough to demand to be left alone in the dark in the middle of nowhere.
Yawning, she was near the door of the Apollo cabin when she heard a voice calling her – a very familiar voice. Turning, Jessie saw an Iris-message floating behind her, with an all-too-familiar Italian boy calling her name.
"Quiet," Jessie ordered, running towards the woods so that no one else would be able to see the message, which bobbed along after her. When she'd made sure she was safely hidden in the trees, Jessie turned to Nico again. "Yes?"
"I need your help," Nico said, knowing that she wouldn't agree that easily, and wishing that she and Isabelle were less similar.
"What, you want me to help you separate Lily from Chase? Don't answer – I know that's what you want. But I'm not doing this over an Iris-message, okay? Use your shadow-travel and get over here. Then we'll talk."
"Fine," Nico groaned, closing his eyes and envisioning the secluded spot in the woods where Jessie was standing. Moments later he melted out of the shadows next to her. "Why are you in your pajamas?"
"Because I was in bed when Annabeth comes running in at like three in the morning scared out of her wits because Percy's in pain – like on the floor having spasms kind of pain. What she was doing with him at three don't ask me." Jessie crossed her arms, staring straight at Nico. "Why?"
"I miss her."
"Not good enough," Jessie said, her midnight blue eyes boring into Nico's dark ones. "I am her best friend, and I refuse to put her through a repeat performance of what just happened. So give me a good reason, or you'd better leave, pretty boy."
Nico crossed his arms, resting his fingers on his biceps and feeling the muscles tense. For a few moments he seriously contemplated blasting the impudent girl in front of him into a little puddle. Then he considered just leaving. And then he remembered that Jessie wasn't normally this rude or annoying – and that she was just protecting someone she cared about because she wasn't sure if she could trust him. And he could fix that.
"I love her."
Jessie paused, fingering her red hair. "Okay. I think I believe you – you blushed enough that I don't think you're lying." She giggled suddenly, punching the air with her fist. "Yes! I was hoping this would happen!" Her face became suddenly solemn, and she gazed up at Nico with a slightly worried look. "Sorry about calling you 'pretty boy,'" she said. "It just slipped out. I didn't mean that."
"It's okay," Nico said, glancing around as the sky lightened considerably. "But is this –"
"Don't talk, just listen to me," Jessie ordered. "You can explain everything about that other girl you kissed later – if at all. First of all, you need to shadow-travel yourself into your cabin, and stay there. No one has been able to get in since you left, and yes, the Hunters did try. We stopped them, though. You'd be surprised how many people here like you. And the entire Apollo cabin is behind you – not really sure why, but now isn't the time to complain. I think it's because the Hunters said they didn't like our poetry the last time they were here. Anyway, you stay in your cabin, I will explain to mine that you're here, we'll scout out Percy and Annabeth, and set up a meeting in our cabin, okay? I'll Iris-message you when you need to show up. Once we get the rest of the camp convinced that you're a good but misunderstood guy, and they quit trying to string you up the moment they see you, we'll work on you and Lily. Sound okay?"
"I don't really think that you need to make such a big deal about everything," Nico said, not really liking the idea of drawing that much attention to himself. "I mean, you don't need to plan out an invasion or something, right? I don't think we need to do anything much, as long as –"
"You don't understand," Jessie said, pulling him a little further into the shadows of the trees as a few early risers began to emerge sleepily from their cabins. "There are some people here who won't do anything unless Thalia is here – she really doesn't like you, buddy. Maybe it's because her father hates Hades so much, and I'm starting to back Annabeth's theory that the gods' liking or disliking each other can affect their respective children's relationships. And some people in the Ares and Athena cabins especially get affected by that. Clarisse, for example, is really mercurial about it – isn't that a great word? I learned it from Isabelle the other day. Anyway, sometimes Clarisse thinks you're a valuable fighting machine, and some days she just hates you. We need people to stop thinking you're a monster, just because you're more powerful than they are."
"You talk a lot," Nico muttered, rubbing his forehead with one hand.
"Okay, well, get going." Pushing him away, Jessie moved a few feet away before turning back to him again. "And, Nico? Thanks for coming back for her. She's really been miserable without you. Just thought you should know." Not waiting to watch him blush, turn pale, and then vanish, Jessie jogged towards Cabin 7, admiring the way the gold it was made of glinted with and appeared to even generate sunlight.
Grabbing a change of clothes from her bunk once inside the cabin, she changed and then headed towards Cabin 3, stopping suddenly when she realized she had nothing to actually say to her friend. Shrugging, she stepped into the Poseidon cabin, gazing with wonder at the abalone walls, which seemed to echo of and reflect the sea.
Percy's bunk was empty, so she stepped towards Lily's and shook her sleeping friend. "Lily, wake up," she murmured. When her words elicited no response, Jessie rolled her eyes and grabbed a pillow from a nearby bunk. "Get up!" she ordered, whacking Lily with the pillow.
"Jessie, go away," Lily mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "What are you doing here? It's just past six! Are you okay? Is something wrong?" Patting her messy hair down, Lily scrambled out of bed, snatching her sword up from her nightstand.
"Put that down, I'm fine," Jessie smiled. "I just wanted to talk – and I'm pretty hungry. How about we get something to eat and then, well, I have something I want to ask you."
"You've been asking me things ever since…" Lily trailed off, nostalgia misting over her aquamarine eyes. She sighed. "…Ever since Nico left."
Jessie raised her eyebrows slightly. This was the first time Lily had used Nico's name since he had left her – she was making progress in getting over him. Hopefully she hadn't forgotten how to love him yet, Jessie thought. "It's nothing to do with Nico," she smiled, crossing her fingers behind her back. "I just was wondering how you and Chase are doing together. You've stopped telling me things! We used to trade stories all night, and now I don't even know what you're up to!"
"I just haven't had much of a chance to talk to you, and everything's been really…strange," Lily answered, sitting on the bed again and pulling Jessie down next to her. "Have a cookie – we might be here a while, and you look really tired. How long have you been up?"
"I had to get up in the middle of the night because Percy was in pain – don't panic, he's fine now! Relax," Jessie said hurriedly, trying to calm her friend as she saw shock, fear, and guilt cross Lily's face. "He's totally fine – he'd not been getting any rest because Annabeth was still with him, don't ask why, and his exhaustion was helping the poison get to him. I've been getting most of it out, but it's slow progress. Drakons are nasty creatures."
"They are. Ugly, too," Lily added, laughing. "I'm glad he's okay – I was going to see him but I didn't know how to face him – it's my fault he got hurt anyway, even if he says it had nothing to do with me, and –"
"It isn't your fault, and you should go talk to him sometime. He gets lonely in the Big House, but Will and I won't let him leave until he's better. There's a full medicinal cabinet in there, so if he relapses or something it'll be easy to treat him. And Annabeth's been staying up with him all night because the pain is so bad he can't sleep sometimes. I've got him on painkillers, so he's better, but go visit him. You two really need to talk anyway." Jessie shifted her position, grabbed a cookie from the stash under Lily's bed, and leaned forward, twirling a strand of straight red hair.
Lily took the hint, and, hugging her knees to her chest, smiled sadly at the floor. "It's okay with Chase, I guess. It isn't anything fantastic, and there's no fireworks or butterflies, but it's a start – and that's what I need to get over Nico, you know? I just need a distraction, something to get my mind off him. And then eventually I'll find someone else, who doesn't run away every time he has a problem."
"He isn't a coward," Jessie frowned, wondering just how Lily felt about Nico, because the girl was making less and less sense.
"No, he isn't – and he's a wonderful guy, but I can't help it if he isn't here for me anymore, can I?" Lily fought back tears and reached for a cookie, wishing even the memory of her former boyfriend wouldn't evoke such a reaction from her, while Jessie was secretly jumping for joy on the inside. Nico di Angelo had a chance.
A/N: So sorry about the tragically late update, everyone! But THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all the reviews, favorites, and subscriptions I got! I love hearing from you all – please tell me what you thought! :D