CHAPTER TWO

It was Thursday, January tenth and Nico and was walking to the dining hall after a long night of nightmares about Tartarus. Luckily for him, Will had been there to comfort him through his terrors. They were about halfway through breakfast at the Big Three table with Jason and Percy when there was a big crash and a flash of darkness on Half Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's tree stood Reyna, with three other people. Two of them being unconscious. The new person who was not unconscious immediately bent down to examine the other two people on the ground.

Will dragged Nico up the hill along with Jason, Percy, Piper, Annabeth, and the Stoll brothers. Chiron was already up there, asking Reyna about what their journey and why the two girls were unconscious. They all looked pretty bad though, including Reyna. Nico watched with a concerned look as Will picked up the shorter of the two girls while Percy got the taller one. Nico stepped over to help Reyna down to the infirmary and Annabeth helped the new boy that had also arrived.

When Nico got down to the infirmary in the Big House with Reyna, the boy had passed out and Jason helped Annabeth get him up the stairs. The three new demigods were all now unconscious, and Nico turned to Reyna.

"So, what happened, who are these people?" he asked. He crossed his arms and gave her a demanding look.

"I'm not gonna tell you if you talk to me like that di Angelo. Say please," she demanded.

"Please." he turned his gaze over to the girl on the closest bed. She was the tallest of the new campers and she had dark brown, curly hair with faint reddish color on the ends, like someone had cut off a dyed section. On her shoulder was a large gash and there was blood staining her black and gray hoodie. He looked closer at her sleeping face and she vaguely reminded him of someone. He tried not to let the tears forming in his eyes slip and Percy came over.

"I know. She does look like her a bit," he whispered in Nico's ear. Percy was frowning.

"Ok so, the taller girls name is Eliza and the other girl is Caitlin. The boy is Ryan." Reyna interrupted. "They are all thirteen years, from the same town, on the coast of Massachusetts near Boston. Eliza was walking her dog and she was attacked by a cyclops. Mrs. O'Leary sensed a powerful demigod near where she was on the way here and I got there just in time. I talked to her parents. They had no idea what she was but they let me take her so obviously they believed me. Then Mrs.O'Leary decided that there were more demigods, and we needed to save them. So we went across town and got two more! Their neighbor turned out to be an empousa. We got attacked. Again. Their father knew what I was talking about and now, here we are." Reyna answered Nico's previous question. Nico nodded and turned to Will.

"Are they gonna be alright?" he asked his boyfriend.

"Of course! They all only have a couple scratches, although Eliza's the worst so she'll take more ambrosia, but they'll be fine" he concluded, answering Nico's question to his satisfaction. At Will's enthusiasm, one of the girls woke up. Caitlin, Nico remembered. He watched as the son of Apollo walked over to her bed and asked her some questions. She asked if her brother, Ryan was ok, and if Eliza was ok and when they would wake up, and where she was, and lots more.

They all turned around when Ryan moaned. "Ohhhh...my head…..gahhhhh…." he moaned more and a couple of seconds later, Nico heard a new voice.

"Ahhhh Ryan shut up. You're not the one whose bleeding out and I am. so please, I'm trying to sleep." and with that, she closed her eyes again.

"Your not bleeding out Liza. It's just a huge cut. Your not gonna die of blood loss." he retorted.

"Whatever" she mumbled. "Stop being a smarty pants, I'd call it something different but i'm not sure if swearing is allowed here" she glanced at Percy who nodded. "Swearing is perfectly acceptable, as long as your not around younger campers."

"Well then, stop being a smartass Ryan." the boy just glared at her. Then at Percy."Are you guys dating? Cause you biker like a married couple." Will chimed in. they both turned bright red.

"HA! You wish Ryan! And by the way, what did you give her?! She's never like this! Ever! Dramatic, but rude? Swearing? What did you give her?!" Caitlin burst out laughing. This made him punch his twin sister and glare at Will. Eliza didn't say anything else.

"Who are you people, I don't know your names" Caitlin asked. "By the way, I hate the name Caitlin so if you don't call me Cat I will punch you." she added.

"Well, I'm Nico son of Hades, and that's Will son of Apollo."He said, pointing at the healer.

"Im Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."

"Im Annabeth daughter on Athena, thats Jason and Piper, Jupiter and Aphrodite and they…" she pointed at the Stoll twins," are Travis and Connor Stoll, they're twins sons of Hermes and you better watch out for them if you want to stay out of the infirmary. They are major pranksters."

"Okay. Will and Nico, are you guys a couple? You'd be cute as one." Eliza said in her drugged ecstasy. Nico guessed he turned as red as a tomato and Will did to. "Yea, we are" Will responded. "And all of you need to get out. There three need their rest before the campfire tonight where they'll be claimed." Everyone nodded except Nico, who stayed with Will in the infirmary. He wanted to talk to Eliza. He sat down on a chair next to her bed and started talking.

"What did Will mean by 'get claimed'" she asked him as he sat down.

"One of your parents is a god. They will claim you and you'll be assigned to one of the cabins. With your other half siblings."

"Do you have a lot of siblings?"

"No. I have a sister, but she lives at the other camp, since she's Roman. Other than her, I'm an only child of Hades."

"Ohh, Eliza i bet you'll get either Aphrodite, Athena or Hades." Cat said.

"I bet you both will get Athena." she responded.

"Is this gonna be like Camp Hayward? I went there four times. It's a sleepaway camp on Cape Cod." Nico gave her a confused look.

"Oh sorry you don't know what that is. You go and you can't use your phone for a week and it's basically a summer camp but you sleep over and i used to go with my best friend….." she stopped her happy rant. A tear dripped down her cheek and Ryan and Cat both squeezed her hands. "I'm sorry" she told Nico. "my best friend Emaline...she turned into a popular biatch and she died a month ago. I never got to tell her sorry. She had issues with her anger management so she was never a very good friend but we went through a lot together. We were inseparable." more tears came and Ryan hugged her.

"I know." He said. "But remember the good times. Like camp and the pool at the country club and orchestra class when you guys got to play a duet."

"Again, WHAT DID YOU PUT HER ON?" Cat howled. "She never brings up Emaline! And never talks so freely to strangers! You ruined my best friend!"

"If you don't want to talk about it you don't have to" Will told her, ignoring Cat. Nico looked up at him and smiled a grim smile. "We all should get to have our own little secrets" he added onto Will's sentence. He knew that only too well. Although he had told Will almost everything, there were still some things he kept to himself. Eliza shouldn't have to open up to complete strangers if she didn't want to.

"Ok. I have plenty of secrets," she said.