"Doesn't matter. Can I know your names?" I interrupted. I did not want to explain everything that happened these last few days.
"I'm Will Solace and my boyfriend here is Nico DiAngelo"
Nico DiAngelo, Nico DiAngelo, Nico DiAngelo. The name bounced around in my head like a bouncy ball, slowly turning into my mother's voice. The son of Hades, Nico DiAngelo. Helped defeat Kronos. Survived Tartarus alone. All the stories came back to me. The tales my mom used to make up just before bed. How he saved all his friends in the so-called 'Second Titian War', by convincing his dad, Hades, to help. How in the 'Second War against Gaea', which is obviously made up, he had gone to Tartarus, the deepest part of the Underworld where all the monsters and immortals go once they are killed, and made it out all by himself, still alive and with his sanity, which has never been done by anyone before. I had always thought his stories were made up, that they never actually happened, that he wasn't real.
Then there was his boyfriend, Will Solace. My mom told me about him before, when she was explaining this fake universe. He was an example for a child of Apollo. But she never told me that it was her friend from camp. The one she calls every week for an update on each other's lives.
All this time, both he and his boyfriend were just characters in a made-up story. But here they were, standing before me, very much real. Wait, if they were real… did that make the stories real too? Did that make them… demigods? No. There's no way. My mom probably just used the names of some of her friends from that camp. Hold on… Camp Half-Blood, demigods. Demigods are half-god, half-human, which would make them half-bloods! Half-human blood, half-god blood. If they went to Camp Half-Blood with my mother, it meant they fit the criteria.
"W-what are you?" I asked, frowning at them. "You guys are definitely not humans. Well, humans like me. Are you demi-"
"Shhh!" The blonde- sorry, Will shushed me urgently, glancing at the few people that work here. "Not here! Let's go outside, then you can ask any questions you might have."
And so we went outside, not before I grabbed all my things. You didn't think I'd forget, did you? After we all grabbed our things Will and Nico led me to an empty alley. I know what you're thinking. I was thinking about it too. I'm following strangers, who I think might be my mom's friends, but could also be tricking me, into an empty alley, where no one could save me if something bad happened. But before I could decide whether to run away or continue to follow them, they stopped suddenly and turned around. It was a good thing I was paying attention to everything or I would have bumped right into them.
"Okay. I think we are safe now." Will sighed in relief. "What is it that you wanted to ask?"
"I was asking if you guys are demigods, because if you used to go to Camp Half-Blood with my mom, and if you did do all the things I was told you guys did, then it would only make sense that you are demigods. Also does half-blood mean half-human, half-god?" A asked rapidly, taking a breath only when I was done.
"Wow! She's smart!" Nico said incredulously.
"Yeah! How did you get all that so fast? And you're right too!" Will chimed in.
"Well… I already had all the information, I just needed to piece them together to create the full picture. And by telling me your names, it clicked a lot of the puzzle pieces together. I still don't see the full picture though. Where was my mom in this? How do you guys relate to anything that's been happening? Was it all an accident, or did it happen for a reason?" By now I was just speaking out loud. I completely forgot Will and Nico were there until the latter spoke up.
"Wait a second. I'm very confused. What's been happening? Who's Alice? And how did you have so much information?" Nico interrupted my thoughts.
"You know Alice. My oldest sister. The one that left after the Titan War. I've told you about her, right?" Will explained.
"Ooh! The one you talk to for an hour every week. Now I remember." Nico said, realization crossing his features. "But that doesn't explain why she knows so much." He added, pointing at me.
"No… it doesn't. How do you know so much?" Will mused.
"My mom used to tell me stories every night. They'd be about the Second Titan War, and a bit about the Second War against Gaea, and a bunch of other stories about heroes and stuff. Obviously, I thought they weren't real, and she'd always tell it like it was a made-up story. Actually, come to think of it, they stopped sounding like stories around the time she-" I stopped suddenly, my throat closing up. Did I want to share that piece of information with them? Would I even be able to speak about it?
"Around the time she, what? What happened to her?" Will pushed.
"Umm… it doesn't matter. You said she was your oldest sister? I didn't know my mom had siblings." I said, desperately trying to change the subject.
"It's complicated. And it obviously does matter. What happened to her?" Will didn't buy it.
"Fine," I sighed, preparing myself for what would undoubtedly happen. "Sh-she got hit b-by an out-of-control car and… died," I said, my voice cracking, tears welling in my eyes.
"What? …no. No, she can't be dead. Not after everything." Will said, his voice getting smaller as he spoke. I knew I shouldn't have shared that. I wanted to console him, but I doubted I would be of any help. Luckily his boyfriend was there.
"Hey, look at me. Let's focus on what we have to do now, then we can mourn her and give her a proper burial." Nico said, taking Will's shaking hands in his own and squeezing them reassuringly, or at least I think so, I was too busy crying to tell. Then he turned to me and asked: "when did she die? And did you already have a funeral?"
"T-two days ago. A-and no funeral yet. T-they never found her body, a-and the police are still o-on the case." I replied, in between tears.
"Oh. Well, that complicates things a bit. Are you staying with anyone?" Nico asked.
"N-no," I replied, wiping off my tears. I had to get a hold of myself!
"Great! Then we can leave straight away!" He sounded relieved!
"W-what do you mean? Where are we going? And why do I have to go with you?" I couldn't just run off with these strangers because they told me to!
"You need to come if you want to figure out everything that is happening. And as to where. We're going to Camp Half-Blood."
AN
Wow! Chapter 2 is here! So fast! Hope you like it. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
I do not own the Percy Jackson books or any of the characters (they belong to the wonderful author Rick Riordan) except for my OC's Rose Brown and Alice Brown, and the plot.