Sunday, Dec 3rd, 2007-Westover Hall, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America.
POV: Nico di Anglo, age: 10, chronological age: 67, Species Demigod
It is surreal reliving your life. Its kinda like being trapped in a pensive or a rerun of your favorite show. The exception is you can change things...small things that make big altercations in the long run. Despite making small changes the script remains the same. Gods and demigods have dyslexia and ADHD but the Fates and Norns have OCD. Everything MUST fit into their plan even if it was unplanned. Thankfully Nico and Adrian have the blessing of the Norns and the Fates, otherwise, this would be a Hel of a lot harder.
"Mortals," Lady Artemis announced in a deadly calm voice, "are not allowed to witness my hunt." She thrust out her hand, and the helicopter dissolved into a flock of birds- ravens, which scattered into the night. Then the Hunters advanced on us. 'Oh shit! I forgot they don't know me. Not any more then this version of Percy knows me. These are not my friends no more than Bianca was my sister before I grew to love her the same.' Nico thought in a panic absentmindedly reaching for a sword he no longer has before forcefully stopping himself.
Thankfully Zoë stopped short when she saw Thalia. "You," she sneered with obvious distaste.
"Zoë Nightshade." Thalia's voice trembled with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."
Zoë scanned the rest of us her eyes pausing on me and Bianca and her eyes widened when she saw me. "Four half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."
"Yes," Lady Artemis agreed her eyes also lingering on me. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."
"Annabeth!" Percy screamed voice full of desperation and sorrow. 'Gods, how could I have ever thought he could have loved anyone else when this would have been my earliest memory of him? Past me was so stupid.' Nico thinks to himself, "You have to let us save her!" Percy pleaded with tear-filled doe green eyes.
Lady Artemis finally turned toward Percy a look of pity briefly crossing her features for those who know her. "I'm sorry, Percy Jackson, but your friend is beyond help." Lady Artemis said putting special emphasis on the word friend. Percy tried to stand struggling against the hunters of Lady Artemis but being Gods they easily held him down. "You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," Lady Artemis chided.
"Let me go!" Percy demanded enraged and aghast "Who do you think you are?!" Zoë stepped forward fully prepared to smack Percy upside his head for the disrespect.
"No," Lady Artemis ordered. "I sense no disrespect, Zoë. He is simply distraught. He does not understand. I am Artemis," Lady Artemis introduced. "Goddess of the Hunt."
Nico rolled his eyes as Grover dramatically gasped, then hastily knelt in the snow and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so… you're so… Wow!"
"Get up, goat boy!" Thalia snapped. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"
"Whoa," Bianca said. "Hold up. Time out." Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at everyone assemble but us like she was trying to connect the dots. "Who… who are you, people?"
Artemis's expression softened. "It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you? Who are your parents?"
Bianca glanced nervously him and he gave a small smile in return. "Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our schooling, but…" She faltered at the disbelieving looks leveled at us. "What?" Bianca demanded. "I'm telling the truth!"
"You are a half-blood," Zoë Nightshade patiently explained with her usual odd accent. It is a mix of the usual old Latin and Greek with a tint of something Nico has not encountered before in anyone else other than Adrian. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."
"An Olympian… athlete?" Bianca asked hesitantly... and oddly hopeful.
"No," Zoë said. "One of the gods."
"Cool!" Nico said hoping to move things along.
"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is NOT cool!"
Nico turned to Bianca confused. "Why not? This means Father or Mother might still be alive! Father could be a powerful God and-"
"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? . ! Mum died! She was killed in a freak lightning accident, remember?!" Bianca asks kneeling to be on eye level with me.
Thankfully Thalia, Gods I had completely forgotten about her over the decades didn't she turn into a tree? I should probably try to stop that, Thalia spoke up. "Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well… Our lives are dangerous." Wait, wait was the tree thing before or after I came to camp… definitely before so I shouldn't have to worry about that.
"Dangerous," Bianca said blankly, "like the girl who fell."
Thalia turned away. Even Lady Artemis looked pained. "Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess Artemis said. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."
"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" Percy demanded kneeling in the snow aghast with tear tracks running down his face. The only thing that would have completed the emo look would be black eyeliner and mascara mixing with the tears. Granted Nico will be in a similar state soon enough if Bianca dies again. He and Adrain have an agreement with the Fates and the Norns to keep. This means they honestly don't know what is going to change and what isn't. They're lucky to have changed anything given there joint shitty and unpredictable luck.
"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished." Lady Artemis explained.
"Oo!" Nico raised his hand thankfully remembering this part and not finding it too cringy to say aloud. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"
"He was a manticore," Artemis explained looking to him confused. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."
"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia said.
Bianca di Angelo shivered. "That explains… Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"
"And that bus driver," Nico quickly agreed while nodding along. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."
"That's why Grover has been watching you," Percy piped up. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."
"Grover?" Bianca stared in utter betrayal at the poor satyr tasked with us. "You're a demigod?"
"Well, a satyr, actually." He kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves. I thought Bianca was going to faint right there.
"Grover! Put your shoes back on," Thalia scolded. "You're freaking her out."
"Hey, my hooves are clean!"
"Bianca," Percy said slowly and carefully. "-we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."
"Camp?" she asked.
"Camp Half-Blood," Percy patiently explained thankfully moving things along. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."
"Sweet, let's go!" Nico said hoping to get to camp asap. Pretending to be a clueless demigod is hard work okay?
"Wait," Bianca shook her head. "I don't-"
"There is another option," Zoë said.
"No, there isn't!" Thalia insisted. Thalia and Zoë glared at each other looking like they are about to battle.
"We've burdened these children enough," Lady Artemis announced. "Zoë, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."
"Yes, my lady."
"And, Bianca, come with me. I would like to speak with you."
"What about me?" Nico asked with a pout
Artemis considered him with a thoughtful frown. "Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while… as a favor to me?"
Grover just about tripped over himself getting up. "You bet! Come on, Nico!"
Nico was confused for all of a second before he remembered using his Mythomagic cards as an explanation for his knowledge thus far. Last time he babbled excitedly for half an hour to an exasperated Grover. Thankfully he now knows which mythomagic cards are Greek and which are Roaman. Given that the two pantheons rarely interact despite both being olympian he'll do well not to mention the Norse, Egyptian and Hindu cards. With a game plan in mind, Nico followed Grover toward the woods, talking about battle skills, armor ratings and how it compared to the real thing. Meanwhile, Lady Artemis led a confused-looking Bianca along the cliff and The Hunters began unpacking their knapsacks and making camp.
Sunday, Dec 4th, 2007-Westover Hall, Bar Harbor, Maine, United States of America.
POV: Nico di Anglo, age: 10, chronological age: 67, Species Demigod
By the time a thoroughly amused Nico and a contemplative and bewildered Grover got back The Hunters had set up their entire camping site. Given that they were gone seven minutes max it was an impressive feat. Seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent around one side of a bonfire. Circling and guarding the camp were a dozen white wolves. The Hunters walked among them and fed them treats, completely unafraid. Falcons guarded the camp against the trees, their eyes flashing an unnatural silver in the firelight. The raging blizzard had bent to the goddesses well within the camp. While the night air was still cold, the wind died down and the snow had stopped falling within the camp perimeter. It was almost pleasant for the average person to sit by the fire. Being a child of Hades Nico personally didn't mind the cold.
"Hold still," Grover told a practically despondent Percy rushing from Nico's side and moving to begin tending to Percy's battle wounds. "Here, eat some ambrosia while I clean that out."
Nico rummaged through his own bag, which the Hunters had thoughtfully packed for him. He carefully laid out his figurines in the snow searching for the bag of mini chocolate bars graham crackers and marshmallows he packed for tonight.
"Big collection," Percy commented pointing to his figurines while munching on his ambrosia.
Nico grinned, despite all the bullshit he's been through faced mythomagic has stayed with him so far. "I've got almost all of them, plus their holographic cards! Well, except for a few really rare ones."
"You've been playing this game for a long time?"
"Just this year. Before that…" He knit his eyebrows though for a second over what to say.
"What?" Percy asked.
"We lived in some hotel in Washington before this, Locus Hotel and Casino I think." Percy stayed at it so he should get the reference.
On cue, both Percy and Grover flinched. They then shared an unsettled look. "Uh, Nico right?"
"Yep." Nico quickly agreed happily ripping open his Ziploc bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate.
"What did you even have that for, man?" Grover asks before Percy can ask his question.
Nico looks up wide-eyed "Oh, um, Westover Hall doesn't let us eat sweets. So… I uh may have smuggled some in." Nico admits looking between the two wide-eyed and worrying his lip. Thankfully that much is true.
Percy snorts and smiles before assuring him "Hey, we're not ratting you out even if you do want to return to that over-controlling school." then Percy gives him one of his blinding smiles and says "Besides what kind of shit school forbids chocolate?"
Nico relaxes a fractionally at that "Thanks." he says while taking a stick from the outside of the fire and putting a marshmallow on it.
"S'no problem so, Locus Hotel and Casino?" Percy asks clapping his hands and getting back on topic and causing Grover to stiffen at the reminder. "Do you know about how long you were there?"
"Oh, about four or five years why?" Nico asks looking up from his now speared marshmallows in time to see Grover fall off the log in a dead faint and Percy goes still in horror. "Is he okay?!" Nico asks horrified and worried snapping Percy to attention.
"Chocolate. I need to borrow your chocolate." Percy says already reaching for the bag.
"Okay? But what for?" Nico asks confused as to how chocolate will help only to watch as Percy waves the chocolate under Gover's nose. The smell seems to wake him.
"Baaa?" Grover asks
"English, Grover, or no chocolate." Percy chides.
"Hey man, that's just not fair," Grover complains in English while taking the chocolate from Percy.
"Percy Jackson." Zoë Nightshade greets coming upon the scene as silent as the hunter she is. "Come with me," she said. "Lady Artemis wishes to speak with thee."
