Chapter 25: The Uncomfortable Truth
The Erymanthian Boar made a pit stop somewhere in Arizona, and when I say "pit stop," I mean the flying dodo dropped us like a sack of potatoes. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper.
We hiked about an hour after that, until we encountered an eerily familiar place that sent cold shivers down my spine: The junkyard of the Gods. I shook involuntarily, my eyes deep set on the celestial bronze mound in the distance.
Annabeth noticed. "Hey, Nico? Are you okay?" The others turned around to look at me. "Nico?" She asked again.
I didn't say anything. Instead my eyes drifted from the entrance of the junkyard, to Bianca, then to Percy. Annabeth's eyes widened as she connected the dots. "This is where it happened last time, isn't it?"
I paled considerably and slowly nodded. Annabeth and Percy paled too. Thalia frowned. "What are you guys talking about? What's going on?"
Percy, Annabeth, and I all had a silent conversation.
You need to tell them, Nico, Annabeth glanced at a very confused looking Bianca. Now more than ever.
No more secrets, Nico, Percy's eyes were pleading.
I nodded in agreement. No more secrets.
My eyes searched for some twigs to make a fire. A couple of feet away I found a pile of dry wood next to a cactus. I turned to the questers. "I think it's time I've cleared the air."
Without another word I walked over to the wood and started to arrange it into a tent formation. Their footsteps were slow, reluctant, and nervous as they followed.
I didn't say anything for a long while as I tended to the fire. My eyes were fixed on the hypnotic, dancing emerald flames, but I could see their anxious glances at each other from out of the corner of my eye. I didn't care. The news I'm about to break to them is not something that can be said lightly, so I will gladly take my time to collect my thoughts.
Finally Zoe broke the silence. "What is it thou wish to inform us, boy?"
The twig I was using to tend the fire snapped clean in my hand.
Whoops.
I sighed in defeat and tossed it into the fire. My eyes narrowed and I suddenly became aware of my hand twisting my finger. I looked up and met their eyes. "I… I'm not what you think I am."
"What are you talking about?" Thalia demanded fiercely.
A wave of questions broke out like a shattering dam.
"What is the Demon saying? I warned everyone he is hiding something!"
"I think you're a little confused, Nico. Don't worry, we all have those moments."
"Nico, quit talking like that! I'm sorry, my little brother doesn't know what he's saying."
"Everyone needs to shut their face holes and listen!!" Percy roared. That did the trick. "Nico has every right to talk, and I think you should stick around and listen to what he has to say."
"Percy's right," Annabeth added. "What Nico is about to say will very well change the fate of the war as we know it. Including the world."
That shut everyone's face holes quick enough.
I decided to try a new approach as I lost my train of thought with all of the rude interruptions.
"Angel of the Fallen, you shall heed the call,
You shall use your gifts of shadow to prevent a squall,
In four years time the world shall rise anew,
Together you shall unite all half bloods and the Argo II,
You shall make a choice, both will cause unbearable pain,
In order to end Mother Nature's eternal reign,
A hero shall make a promise as they take their last breath,
To endure a fate far worse than death."
"Nico," Annabeth said quietly. "When did you receive this prophecy?"
"The first day I arrived at Camp Half Blood, I could feel something watching me from the attic upstairs. Next thing I know, I'm receiving my first prophecy," I recalled bitterly.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Percy asked. I was surprised to hear such concern in his voice.
I looked away. "It didn't seem important at the time. And when I was trying to tell you, I never got a chance."
"'Didn't seem important?'" Percy scoffed. "'Never got a chance?'" He shook his head. "You're twisting your finger again, which is a clear sign that you're hiding something. So tell me, what's the real reason you didn't say anything?"
I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. The real reason? I rather not admit the real reason.
"I didn't want to worry you with another prophecy," I lied.
"You're lying."
"The real reason is of no concern to you," I tried again.
"Nico, you told us your secret. You brought us into this. We're in this together now," Annabeth said irrefutably.
"Secret? What secret?" Bianca asked.
"I knew he was hiding something!" Thalia exclaimed. "He was acting strange on the train the other day."
"Boys," Zoe grumbled. "Never to be trusted."
"Guys, I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for this," Grover said.
"No explanation I'm about to tell you will be a good one," I confessed. "Any way you slice it, it all sounds pretty terrible. Though I guess that's to be expected, there's no way to really sugarcoat war."
"Nico, what are you trying to tell us?" Thalia asked. This time, I detected no malice in her voice. What I heard instead was an open view to the uncomfortable truth: Fear.
Thalia Grace, the bold Daughter of Zeus is afraid.
Good.
Maybe if the Gods see their fiercest pawn is frightened, their priorities can be set straight in preparation for what's to come.
Maybe then their eyes will be clear enough to see the uncomfortable truth too.
I took a deep breath, taking my time to release it. "What I'm trying to say is… I'm a time traveler. I just came back from a very messed up future. Four years from now, in fact. And this future is something no one saw coming."
The whole desert seemed to be trapped in an invisible, silent void for a long moment. Fear, confusion, and every emotion in between circled around us tauntingly, daring us to cut the tension and accept the foreboding reality that's coming.
"Well, Demon Boy, I regret to inform you that I believe every word that's come out of that smart mouth of yours," Thalia admitted, cutting the tension with one clean, precise swing. "What I want to know is… just how messed up is the future?"
This time, I was unable to hide the emotions I was feeling deep inside. The misery and hopelessness I felt back at the war is finally starting to catch up to me. Maybe it's for the best that I tell my story without the obscurity of an emotionless mask. Perhaps then it will give the questers every reason to take me seriously.
"Let's just say no one's going to get their happy ending if we don't do something about this," I said.
Everyone paled considerably. Somehow the light and warmth of the campfire didn't seem so comforting anymore. Now the emerald firelight was nothing short of eerie and sinister.
"So, you're really from the future?" Grover was surprisingly the one to ask. "Everything you said is true?"
I nodded. "Unfortunately."
"Time out," Bianca said as she made the universal time out motion with her hands. "Are you guys seriously believing this? Just like that?"
Zoe frowned. "Bianca's point proves to be valid. Where is the proof?"
Everyone glanced at me expectantly. I quickly schooled my features to mask the panic invading my senses. I was stupid enough to assume the other questers wouldn't need proof. Or at least, I was so wrapped up in the truth that I completely forgot about the proof. Either way, I don't have it.
And now I'm screwed.
I racked my brain for anything I could use as evidence, but at the moment, my thoughts were about a useful as a toaster oven. I stalled for time as I tended to the fire with a new stick, silently reviewing each profile I've gathered of everyone seated around the campfire.
What can I use as proof?
I thought about saying something Bianca doesn't know about herself in hopes of proving a point that I'm from the future, but I realized that wouldn't really work as everyone would just assume she already told me. We are siblings after all.
Perhaps Grover? I could tell him the location of the Lord of the Wild, the god he and his kind have so desperately been searching for, though that probably wouldn't work either. Simply because the questers have no way of proving Pan is in the Labyrinth—that is, unless we delay the quest and go look for him, which would defeat the whole purpose of saving Artemis and ultimately proving to the Gods they need to start war preparations immediately.
I obviously can't say anything about Annabeth and Percy, especially because we've grown closer over the quest. If I said anything about them as evidence—like the scenario with Bianca—the questers would just assume Percy and Annabeth told me ahead of time.
Maybe Thalia? I could pull a risky move and inform her that her brother is still alive, but is it really worth it? If anything, that would just make things more complicated, especially because she would insist a location, definitely the proof that her brother is even alive, and she would certainly demand an explanation on how I know about Jason in the first place. Not to mention, I would have to explain to Thalia why her and her brother were separated at all.
What about Zoe? What secrets do I know about her?
I recalled something Percy casually remarked once at his apartment on his birthday.
"Apparently my sword used to belong to Hercules. You know, the Starbucks of Ancient Greece?" I remember him saying in between bites of blue birthday cake. "I had a dream about it once. Did you know Zoe Nightshade used to be a Hesperide? In the dream, Zoe helped Hercules deceive Atlas and retrieve one of Hera's golden apples as a quest. She took off her hairpin, gave it to Hercules, and it turned into Anaklusmos."
Wait… I can use that.
I turned to Percy with new-found confidence. "Percy, why don't you ask Zoe how Anaklusmos came to be," I suggested calmly.
Percy frowned in confusion and stared at Zoe questioningly. "You know where Riptide came from?"
Zoe began to visibly sweat. Suddenly her calm, collected attitude didn't look so good. "I… I do not know what thou art talking about," she lied not-so-smoothly.
I laughed coldly. "That's okay," I reassured everyone. "I can tell you why Zoe is familiar with Anaklusmos' history." I stood up and began to slowly walk around the lieutenant huntress in circles, trying to take on an intimidating demeanor in my otherwise small, harmless-looking 10 year old frame. "Like me, Zoe here has a big secret too. You see, Anaklusmos didn't always belong to Percy. Before Percy, the sword belonged to Hercules—or should I say Heracles. And before Heracles… Anaklusmos belonged to Zoe Nightshade, former Hesperide and lieutenant of Artemis," I said. Everyone stared in quiet shock at Zoe, but I wasn't quite finished yet. "When Zoe tended to the Garden of the Hesperides thousands of years ago, she had an encounter with Heracles. Charmed by him, she helped the hero in his quest to retrieve Hera's golden apples by helping him deceive the Titan who must uphold his curse of carrying the weight of the sky. In this encounter, she gave him her hairpin, which had the ability to turn into a sword. And not just any sword—it turned into Anaklusmos. I'm assuming Zoe was exiled for her treasonous help and later joined the Hunters as a result."
Zoe, cherry-faced and shaking with anger said, "Thou have no right to claim such things!"
"I have every right to claim such things," I fired back.
"Thou art just like all of the males I have encountered over the centuries," Zoe snapped venomously.
Something deep inside snapped. "I am nothing like those self-centered, conniving toaster ovens!" I rebutted lowly. "Don't ever compare me to them!"
"I have lived longer than thou, boy. I have seen history repeat itself in the most horrific of ways, I have witnessed the evolution of wicked men and their earnings, I have looked a thousand evils in the eye. I am certain thou art a demon with many secrets and many gains. What makes thou think thou art different?"
"Because I'm the person who has been chosen to prevent history from repeating itself! I'm no saint, but I'm not about to screw anyone over just for the fun of it!" I shook my head in disbelief. Here Zoe is claiming she's looked evil in the eyes. I scoffed. She has no clue what it's like, and if she does—she hasn't witnessed the worst of it. "You think you've looked evil in the eye? Try staring down Mother Earth! Or better yet—the God residing in the deepest depths of the Underworld!" I took a shaky breath, trying and failing to rein in my skyrocketing emotional turmoil. Blood pounded through my ears as the rage, the misery, the pain of war—of my life in general—rushed through my veins, pulsing in a thousand shades of scarlet. I looked away in shame. "You have no idea what that feels like," I whispered dangerously low. "And… if I can help it, you will never know what that feels like."
I mustered the last bit of my dignity and courage to meet their eyes. A few days ago, I thought I would never see those shades again—save for the darkest depths of my memories and the blackest shadows of my dreams. What I saw were identical ashen faces, all with the same startling degree of horrific fear stretched achingly in detail along their features.
"What… What has the future become?" Zoe whispered, terrified. "What horrific turn has the world taken that thou would look them in the eyes?"
I sat back down in defeat. The rage and adrenaline finally left me, leaving nothing but a hollow shell of pain and misery in its place. "Do you really want to know?" I asked quietly. The once electrifying atmosphere around us suddenly felt ominous as the words tumbled out of my mouth. "Are you sure you want to bear such knowledge?"
"You're telling the truth, aren't you?" Bianca said. She seemed to be looking at me in a new light with her wide, black eyes.
All I could do was nod at that petrifying statement. Because—oh, Gods—this is the bitter reality we demigods are forced to live. This is the source of the uncomfortable truth. The uncertainty that we won't win this fight, that this is the end as we know it. Except now there will be no other chances to fix the mistakes we—the Gods—have made.
This is the second chance.
Pain flooded Bianca's face. She shook her head sadly. "Gods, Nico. I—I had no idea! That explains why you've been acting so off lately! And to think I was actually jealous of you! I've been an absolute brat while you—you've been trying to hold everything together this whole time!" She got up and ran over to me, smothering me in a hug. "I—I'm so sorry!"
For a moment I was debating whether or not I should return the hug. I was debating whether or not I should give into my fatal flaw.
Then a realization—a certain awareness I never knew was possible—occurred to me: Fatal flaws kill because everyone wants to choose the easy path, which is understandable as a demigod's life is full of struggle. In fact, the flaws of the Gods have ultimately killed off an entire race of godlings—their children—because the Gods simply couldn't accept the fact that a situation might actually be out of their control. I realized my fatal flaw of holding grudges may seem like the easy path, but it isn't. For years, I couldn't bring myself to forgive Percy Jackson, my sister, or myself. As a result, I was drowning in my own misery.
But I'm done giving in. I'm done drowning. I won't give into my fatal flaw, not anymore.
I will fight and I will forgive.
Without a second thought, I wrapped my short skinny arms around my sister and buried my face in her strawberry-scented hair. I whispered the words I've been thinking—the words I need to say. The words that might actually save my sister's life.
"I forgive you."
Bianca hugged me tighter.
After a couple of minutes we finally broke the hug. We turned to find everyone staring at us and smiling around the campfire, which I have to admit is a little creepy. Regardless, a crazy grin erupted on my face, because now I have people I can trust. My old friends have become my friends once again. Gods, that's so weird to think.
"We're with you, Demon Boy," Thalia said. This time, the nickname sounded affectionate. It no longer held the hostility I've grown accustomed to. "Whatever craziness you've gotten yourself into, we'll help you through it."
Annabeth smiled knowingly. "Told you they wouldn't judge."
Percy laughed. "When did you ever say that, Wise Girl?"
Annabeth shrugged. "I said it at some point."
Percy frowned in contemplation. "No you didn't."
She turned to him with a challenging expression on her face that meant business. "Wanna bet, Seaweed Brain?"
Percy's eyes widened. "No, thank you."
"Wow!" Grover exclaimed. "We're friends with an actual time traveler! How cool is that?"
"In all my years of life, I have never encountered a time traveler before," the lieutenant of Artemis admitted. "Thou art—thou art not like the other males I have seen before," she grudgingly said. I couldn't help but feel honored. I figured that would be the first and last time those words ever left her mouth though.
"We're in this together now,fratello," Bianca said undeniably as she ruffled my hair.
The thing is, I believe her. The future sucks, but maybe we can find some way to soften the blow together.
"Now," Annabeth addressed me directly. "You really need to tell them."
And tell them I did. Before I knew it, the words spilled out of my mouth like a waterfall, free and out in the open air. Now, depending on how open that air is, we could be in trouble. I really don't need anyone but the people around the campfire listening to my tragic story. I mentioned pretty much everything, save for the dangerous details like Jason's existence, the location of the Romans, my little sister's resurrection, and other details that weren't required to paint the foreboding picture looming just beyond the horizon.
Just as we were about to decipher the lines of the prophecy, a limousine parked in our line of sight just a few feet away from us. Something about the limousine made me sick to my stomach. A terrible feeling washed over me as I realized who exactly is in that vehicle.
Needless to say, we're in trouble.
A/N:
Hey peeps! Still building up to the something big. Well, actually, there's a lot of something bigs. A fair warning, it won't be for a couple of chapters so hang in there. Am I killing you with suspense? I sure hope so this is fun. Anyway, as always, I'll update soon!
-Echo
