Chapter 35: I Go on a Jelly Bean Adventure
The smell of rich chocolate and fresh pastries lingered in the morning dew air, and the horrific sounds of seagulls snatching unattended food and sea salt spray pilling the boards of stores was something I could almost call relaxing. But I've never really been a fan of the ocean. There was just something so frightening about the endless sea stretch this way and that, and all the creepy critters who bit and stung and swam underneath.
Still, I was determined to enjoy myself today. The boardwalk of San Francisco wasn't nearly as terrifying as it was the night of the battle of Mt. Othrys. Especially when you could see it in person and not from the petrifying view of Artemis' chariot.
Yesterday morning we arrived from Olympus with lead legs and heavy eyelids, and as far as my knowledge goes, all of us slept the entire day. Connor and Travis Stoll were kind enough to not wake Bianca and I in the Hermes cabin, but I made sure to keep my ring on me and under the covers in case they got any ideas.
Chiron was notified of our time traveling predicament and called us late at night to fill him in on the details. He didn't outright say it, but there was a weariness in his gaze every time he regarded me and Bianca. A knowingness that comes with three thousand years of experience—three thousand years he's had to recognize two children of Hades when he sees them. But I decided not to dwell on it. He hasn't revealed our parentage yet, and I don't think he would reveal it at all unless directly ordered to by the Gods.
So, I was determined to make the most of today, because this would probably be the only time I have to myself before I'm glued to Bianca again (not that I'm all that upset about it) and have to endure the exhausting task of socializing with people (which I am definitely upset about).
Go. Have a day to yourself and try to stay out of trouble. IM me if you need anything. I'll make a good excuse when they start asking questions.
It was times like these I was happy to have a friend like Annabeth Chase cover for me for the whole day. What Bianca and Percy don't know won't hurt them.
I wandered through the boardwalk, watching the indistinct faces pass by. I had to remind myself I didn't look like a walking corpse anymore, and therefore shouldn't expect looks of terror and second glances. But my fatigue from the overstretched shadow jump couldn't have been all that appealing to look at either. Somehow, I found my way to a small bench overlooking the foggy harbor. A little while back, I passed by a candy shop and treated myself to a load of rainbow jelly beans, paying with the infinite credit card I still had from my time in the Lotus Hotel and Casino—never mind the fact Bianca would have never let me eat candy this early in the morning. I made sure to save the blue jelly beans for Percy and the rest for my friends, but the purple ones were all mine.
I stopped when I was about to stick a purple jelly bean into my mouth. Something about the colorful treat left me with nothing but a bad feeling of sorts. Not the kind of bad you feel when you eat a Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans and realize the grape flavored bean is in fact not grape. It was the kind of bad that felt like emptiness; hollow like the echoing chasms of despair where the lost go, and senselessly miserable for reasons I couldn't explain, glazing my face with unforeseen tears.
A memory caught up to me before I even knew what was happening.
"Ambassador of Pluto, what news do you bring?"
The room looked grand enough, with its high columns of white marble, and book shelves filled to the brim with parchments of gold inked texts. But the tables and chairs had a more modern taste that somehow complemented the royal purple, giving way to a new style the Romans didn't know they needed.
"Praetor Reyna," I greeted with a nod towards the girl who could've passed off as a queen in her gold throne. But the look was a little off, with much too dark circles under her eyes like she carried not only the weight of her kingdom, but the weight of the world on her shoulders—which she did.
"Have you heard any news of Jason's whereabouts?" She repeated, a hint of steel in her voice.
I stared blankly at her for a moment. "No. I'm sorry."
Which was true. It was one of the first things I've said to her that wasn't a complete lie. Though the coincidental disappearance of a certain Son of Posiedon did raise some questions and dangerous theories. Her dogs Aurum and Argentum didn't bark in disagreement, which was a relief.
"I see. I wish to thank you for your help, Son of Pluto. It… it has not been easy dealing with my partner's disappearance."
I knew coming from her, that was a lot to admit. After all, it wasn't the Roman way to admit defeat, though it was pretty clear Reyna wouldn't give up without a fight. Still, Octavian's recent claws to power were problematic, and his silver tongue was proving to be troublesome among the loyalties and allegiances of the Legion.
"We'll find him, Reyna," I promised. "We have dozens of search parties out looking for him, there's no way we'll miss him."
We'll find both of them.
"I suppose you're right," she said stiffly, and I thought I heard a tremble of doubt in her otherwise confident voice.
She reached a hand into a jar full of jelly beans, the only colorful object sitting on her otherwise bland but fancy looking desk. She sorted out the greens and tossed them back in the jar unceremoniously, then she downed the other colors like it was nectar of the Gods.
She must have noticed the alarmed look on my face.
"Jelly beans," she said simply, as if that explained all of the secrets of the universe. "Care to have some?" Reyna slid the jar closer to me.
I frowned, wondering if this was a trick. The last time someone made a move for the jelly bean jar, Reyna wolf glared at them until they were trembling like a leaf in the wind and about ready to wet themselves. Granted, that was Octavian. But still.
I raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"
Reyna's expression was nothing short of amused. "Personally," she said as she grabbed a single purple jelly bean, studying it, "I prefer the purple ones. Grape is, in my opinion, superior to all flavors—jelly bean or no. Here. Try it."
I eyed the jelly bean for a moment. What if it was actually poison disguised as grape? Has she figured out I'm Greek? Is she trying to kill me with a jelly bean? Then I realized how ridiculous that sounded. No, If she wanted to kill me, she would've done it with hot chocolate. It makes the probability of consumption that much higher.
With that comforting thought in mind, I ate the jelly bean.
It was rather delicious. It tasted artificial, unbelievable, magical. If it was poison then it was really good poison. I found myself wanting more. I sampled some different flavors, but found none of them to be as good as the grape.
"Jason's favorite was always the green ones," Reyna admitted with a look of disdain, and I didn't miss the way she talked about him in past tense, as if she were already planning his funeral. "We made a compromise that he can eat my jelly beans as long as he gets the watermelon and I get the grape."
"Sounds like a good compromise."
"I suspect he was eating the cherry ones behind my back."
I smiled ruefully. "The Golden Boy taking more than his fill? No. He couldn't."
I blinked in confusion and frowned at the jelly bean in my hand. How could such a small thing remind me of so much? And a piece of candy of all things…
I wiped my tears in embarrassment and put the jelly bean back in the bag. Suddenly I lost my appetite for it.
I stared out at the steel grey water. Heavy mist blanketed the morning dawn, giving way to an ominous and mysterious feel, as if something was lurking beyond the fog. A splotch of light shone where the sun should have been, and somewhere behind the cloak of mist, wisps of shadows and indistinguishable shapes danced. I wondered how much of the mist was magical, given the concentration of monsters in this area. Suddenly a larger shadow appeared in the mist—swirling like ink in water—and it was growing in shape and size, as if it was getting closer.
Then I realized it was getting closer.
I fingered my ring until it was in the palm of my hand. I trained my eyes on the shadowy mass treading the silvery waves, trying to discern its shape among the many others. It was an odd looking ensemble of thin spires and bulky masts, and the mist seemed focused on that one shadow in particular with relentless intent, like it was trying to cover a rather nasty ink splotch.
It's a ship full of monsters, I thought, recalling the armada of mismatched vessels and blood thirsty crews only two nights prior. Or Luke's ship full of monsters.
No. That's impossible. Luke died. There's no way he could've survived that fall. But even as I tried to deny it, I knew there were plenty of ways. Luke Castellan was one of the greatest swordsmen this generation, save for Percy. Swords can't save you from a fall like that. But if the rumors were true, alliances were already made with the old Sea Titan, Oceanus, for protection against Posiedon's raging storms and deadly monsoons. I wouldn't put it past the deal they made to involve protection from brink-of-death falls to the sea, especially for the future vessel and personal puppet of Kronos.
But these thoughts were nothing but what ifs, little doubts sprouting like weeds in my mind that would only fester with my paranoia. He died. Thalia ended him. He was just another asset of the enemy who met an end that was less than he deserved.
But did you hear the ringing?
The shadow emerged out of the heavy mist, a full fledged pirate ship that looked like it had seen better days. Barnacle and plankton and what I suspected to be algae hung from the head of a burnished gold statue of a mermaid like a wrangly wig, and her dress was made out of nasty decor of mildew and mold. The sails of the ship were adorned with what looked to be the remnants of a black skull, but it was patched with mismatched floral patterns. The deck looked pretty spotless and polished to the point where it sparkled—or well, it would've had it not been charred and gutted and marred by shrieking gorgons wreaking havoc on the stern.
This must be their lovely, humble ship, I thought. But then I changed my mind quick enough when I noticed they were darting around the deck like they were attacking something. Or someone.
Then I noticed two human figures dressed in white with glinting weapons in their hands. They were outnumbered by two to at least twenty, I noticed after closer observation of the other monsters stalking the deck. Friend or no, I couldn't just sit there while they fight all on their own. I made a split second decision. In an instant, I shoved the bag of jelly beans into my pocket, threw my ring in the air, and caught it by the handle just as I slipped into the cold embrace of the shadows.
Was it risky and stupid to shadow travel to a boat on the ocean full of monsters? Yes. Extremely. At the moment, did I care? No. Not really. Self-preservation was such a measly thing to worry about these days.
The shadows pooled and teleported me to the middle of the ship, where riggings of rope were tied in a maze of knots, holding in place what I assumed were the sails. Then again, I'm no son of Posiedon. Skeletons and zombies were more my cup of tea.
An empousa was in front of me, some of the other monsters surrounding and cornering the two half bloods while one tried to man the ship, much to the other's protests. In an instant, my sword slashed like a shadow clean through the weird donkey, metal body of the empousa before she even had time to scream, the blade pulsing with power as the monster's essence was sucked dry.
I stepped through the shower of golden dust, making my presence known with a bone rattling glare. "I hate empousa," I grumbled, the memory of Kelli's claws sinking into my shoulder in the Labyrinth resurfaced. "They talk too much."
But my glare morphed into shock quick enough when I saw the two demigods in front of me, because I recognized one of them immediately, and I came to the conclusion that the Fates had quite the sense of humor.
There, standing in a tattered white toga dress and adorning a wild look in her eyes, 15 year old Reyna Ramirez wiped a trail of blood running down the side of her mouth, looking ready to run through each and everyone of these monsters with the force of an entire army. And I knew, even now, Reyna was still a force to be reckoned with as ever. The older girl standing next to her, who I assumed was Hylla, shared the same cold fury in her dark eyes, though it was masked plenty well with confusion.
Well, things just got a little more complicated.
A sudden urge came over me, an acute sense of danger, a voice in the back of my mind screaming at me to get away.
You don't belong with their kind.
But I do, I whispered back fiercely. They aren't my enemies. They're one of the only hopes this world has left to survive the next apocalypse.
I tried to push the feeling to the back of my mind, to ignore it, but a faint weariness still remained. One that I don't think will go away anytime soon.
We snapped out of our daze of confusion quick enough when one of the dracane said, pointing at me with his grueling claws, "Hey, that guy ran a knife through my friend Billy two nights ago! Kill him!"
I wanted to tell this dracanae that Billy probably got what he deserved, but I was much too busy rolling out of the way from the killer talons that got too close to my internal organs.
"Who are you?" Hylla demanded as she stabbed through a monster with ease. She yanked Reyna back from a bold empousa that got too close, and she looked positively annoyed by the prospect of her older sister's overbearing protection. I unfortunately could relate. "Keep your eye on all the enemies," she paused to berate her little sister.
"Nico di Angelo," I introduced myself, swiping through the dracanae who tried to avenge Billy in vain. "Pleased to meet you."
"We didn't need your help, you know," Hylla hissed. "Especially from a child. We had it covered."
"Oh, I'm sure you did," I agreed not unkindly. "Being outnumbered by two to twenty with a hellhound on the loose on a tiny ship with nowhere but the sea to go can't be too difficult to handle."
Actually, I miscalculated. There were two hellhounds that somehow fit on this pirate ship, and one of them was barreling right towards me. Seriously, where did all of these monsters come from?
"They managed to hijack our ship a few minutes back," Hylla grudgingly admitted as if she read my mind. She pointed to a small, more modern looking ship abandoned right next to the gigantic pirate vessel with her old fashioned pirate sword. "And right when we were about to reach shore."
What impeccable timing.
A hellhound snapped its sharp canine teeth in my direction, but his glowing red eyes set on Reyna, who was busy dealing with one of the other gorgons and didn't see our new furry friend. The hellhound suddenly decided I wasn't interesting enough and stalked towards the Daughter of Bellona, growling menacingly. Reyna was all the way on the other side of the deck at the very foot of the ship, and by the looks of it, she didn't hear my shout of warning over all of the shrieks and cackles of the monsters.
What I did next was very, very impulsive, and Bianca—not to mention all of my friends—would not have approved, but they weren't here right now to tell me themselves. Besides, ever since I travelled the Athena Parthenos across the world with Reyna, I've grown accustomed to watching her back like she always watched mine, and right now that means keeping my soon-to-be-Praetor friend from becoming hellhound kibble.
I darted to the post securing all of the knots in the middle of the ship's deck and gripped one of the ropes. Then I cut it. It was a hopeless stunt really. The rope fell like a dead snake in my hand, useless and motionless. I saw it once in this weird pirate movie I watched with Percy: The guy sliced the rope and it became taut, zipping him up due to the uneven weight of a human body to a loose rope. I should've known it wouldn't work like it did in Hollywood.
I should've told someone where I was. I should've gotten help. I should've known better without a terrible circumstance to prove me wrong. But I didn't, because at the end of the day, a part of me is still that same little boy grasping all of those childish fantasies and silly daydreams like straws. And now the death of the girl I used to call my best friend will be the newest of many unforgivable circumstances.
I'm so sorry, Reyna, I wanted to say. But of course, I knew she wouldn't hear me over the roars and the growls.
The hellhound was prowling from the shadows now. Hylla was still busy near the wheel of the ship, and I doubted I could reach Reyna quick enough by shadow travel, let alone my short chicken legs. I've never felt so useless in my entire life, save the memory of my breath stolen out of me little by little in Gaea's glass jar, and the feeling of hopelessness, and all the agonizing days as a skeletal butterfly in captivity, waiting for death to wither me into nothing.
I felt like I was slowly drowning in my own misery. Why does nothing work out the way it should? Why do I always screw up and everyone I care about over? It's not fair.
A little laugh escaped me—somewhere along the lines of madness and hysteria. You should know this by now: It never was fair, and it never will be.
In a cry of anger and frustration, I slashed all of the ropes. Suddenly I felt something latch around my ankle, and up I went with a yelp of surprise like some accident-prone pigeon. If my demigod reflexes didn't kick in a split second to grab the nearest rope, I probably would've broken my neck. The ropes taut, and I stayed suspended in midair, upside down, next to the lookout post at the very top, now really away from Reyna.
I screamed her name—temporarily excusing the fact I shouldn't have known her name yet. She didn't look up. I screamed her name again, this time cupping one of my hands to my face, the other gripping my sword. She still didn't look up. I considered dropping my sword down, hoping she would see it, but it might just fall on her and kill her, or she could be tempted to pick it up which would also kill her. Or it might pierce the hellhound who was padding even closer, but the chances of that were slim to none.
So I did the only thing I could do. Like an idiot, I opened the jelly bean bag as a means of salvation.
Reyna probably thought it was pelican poop dropping on her. The scuttle of jelly beans as they hit her shoulders and the polished deck of the ship echoed as a silent and very miscommunicated warning. What a waste of good jelly beans, I thought mournfully. I'll have to go back for more if I survive this.
She looked up in a scary mixture of shock and annoyance, and I gestured as wildly as one could tied up, upside down, and in midair at the approaching hellhound, more jelly beans raining down in killer rainbows that could easily murder someone from this height. I didn't think it was possible, but that moment might've been more embarrassing than the living nightmare that was otherwise known as Albania.
Thankfully, Reyna was observant if not clever and noticed the hellhound charging towards her. With a war cry, she shredded the monster she was quarrying with to dust, dashed to the creature of shadow, and slid underneath the gaping mouth and razor canines, slicing up the furry thing from belly to jaw like it was a sick pig. She emerged unscathered with that familiar fury in her eyes, the unspoken challenge daring anyone to try and fight her. Hanging from above, I found myself nodding in approval even though I knew she didn't need it. This, among other reasons, is why Reyna Ramirez is the warrior queen she is. She doesn't need a guy—or anyone for that matter—to save her. All she needs is jelly beans.
With one questioning glance, Reyna cut whatever rope ensnared me, and down I went with a very uncharacteristic yelp. I dropped less like a fallen angel, and more like one of those birds that discovered they were an ostrich at the worst timing imaginable. I landed roughly on my sword arm, and I gasped in pain as a thousand daggers punctured my skin. Broken, sprained, dislocated—I wasn't sure. But I could worry about it later. Right now I needed to focus on a more important task at hand.
"Are you okay?" I asked breathlessly at the future Praetor of New Rome.
"Jelly beans," she said incredulously.
"What?"
"You… dropped jelly beans on me to… That is a interesting way to warn someone." There was something like respect in her voice. Or was that ludicrousy I sensed?
"And effective," I pointed out, straining a little as I struggled to get up. "I'm always searching for more creative ways to get out of life threatening situations. Makes for a more interesting lifestyle."
"And your lifestyle is… life threatening situations?" Her eyes roamed over me, probably wondering just who she got mixed up with.
I smiled wryly, attempting to switch my sword to my left hand with a pathetic whimper. Definitely broken. I made a mental note to ask Will to heal it later. "It's more of a living, actually."
"That I can agree with." Then she hesitated, and I got the feeling she was getting the same warning signs I was. "Nico, was it?"
I nodded distantly, nibbling on a couple pieces of ambrosia, though it hardly helped to ease the pain, and only did so much to mend the bone. Will is never going to let me live this down. I searched the deck, cradling my arm, looking for something to use as a makeshift sling.
"Here, let me help with that." She ripped a piece off of her already tattered dress, successfully tattering it more, and after another wince in my part, wrapped the fine cloth around my arm and neck.
"Thanks," I bit out with much difficulty.
She smirked. "It was the least I could after you… warned me. Perhaps I'll consider using the jelly bean strategy later on in the future." She held out her hand, and the wariness in her eyes eased into something calmer. "I'm Reyna, by the way."
I would've shaken her hand, but a monster growled and jumped in the middle of us out of nowhere. Then my brain stupidly thought, Oh, yeah. Still fighting monsters.
Pleasant conversation can be awfully distracting for a demigod.
"Fight now, talk later!" Then we were unwillingly dragged into the fray once again.
I was surprised to find I only stumbled a little while fighting with my left hand—given my terrible 10 year old coordination—as we slashed and stabbed through monster after monster. We even killed this one gorgon who claimed she worked at Bargain Mart, and she kept offering us and all the other monsters who were busy trying to eat us some "Cheese 'n' Wieners" from that Gods forsaken tray she carried around for reasons I could not explain. At some point, Hylla took care of the second hellhound in five seconds flat like it was less of a bloodthirsty creature of the Underworld, and more like a small puppy that needed to be put down. At that point I was thoroughly convinced the Fates really did have a sense of humor if they made taking down a hellhound that easy for her and horribly hellish for me.
Soon the wave of monsters waned from horde to none, until only the worst of them remained: Medusa, a monster I've never fought before, but heard Percy had a run in with a while back. My stupid 10 year old brain thought it was a good time to remind me Medusa had 3,500 attack points plus 5 on saving throws, which did not sit well with 10 year old me or teenage me.
Only 500 points less than the average God, I thought gloomily. We're doomed.
Reyna, Hylla, and I dashed behind one of the boxes of cargo lined up on the deck to catch our breaths, and I made a point to tell them I was supposed to be on break.
"Well, why did you help us then?" Reyna whispered incredulously.
Medusa was treading the deck slowly, her soft voice like a harp trying to lure us out of our not-yet-discovered hiding spot. I'm sure her hair—if it could even be called hair—was more hideous than her voice sounded, though I rather not find out.
"Because!" I exclaimed in an exasperated whisper. "You guys were outnumbered really, really bad. What else was I supposed to do?"
Reyna frowned. "We were still outnumbered badly, even when you came."
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious."
"Don't tempt him, Reyna," Hylla warned. "Remember the green eyed demigod and his clever friend? He's one of those heroes." The sisters shared a knowing look of disdain, as if they were both recalling a cruel joke.
Suddenly I sensed hostility in the air, and I knew it wasn't because of the cursed creature somewhere on the other side of the crate.
"Does anyone have any ideas on how to kill Miss Scale Follicles over there?" I asked lightly, trying to relieve the tension before I wound up dumped on shore and brutally murdered.
Hylla peered through a small hole in the decaying wood. "There's a rumor that went around among the island of our old home. It might be a myth, but they say the witch's power only works in direct eye contact, not reflection."
"As in Perseus using the reflection of a mirrored shield to kill her?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah. That."
"I don't suppose you have any mirrors on hand?" I asked. My silver skull ring was shiny enough to see my reflection, but it was distorted and small, and would never work long range. And my sword didn't reflect light, it engulfed it in the reckoning shadows of its blade, never to be seen again.
Reyna offered her golden dagger. "This might work, but I think it's too small."
"Probably," Hylla agreed. Then she grimaced at her own blade. "This sword isn't exactly shiny." It was a dull disappointing silver covered in barnacle and what looked suspiciously like blood. "Those stupid pirates couldn't even bother to polish their own weapons. No way you can see a reflection out of this."
I looked away, lost in thought. Out of all the strange experiences I've gone through since time traveling, this one definitely takes the cake, and that's saying something after the gods awful flying pig experience. Everything about this meeting felt wrong, like it was too soon. Like things were happening too fast. When I was 10 years old, the idea that Romans existed didn't even cross my mind. Now, I was teaming up with my not-yet-best-friend and her dauntless older sister to fight the very monsters that shouldn't even be in their vicinity, simply because the culprit behind it all isn't Roman, let alone would directly associate with them.
Could it be a coincidence that I'm seeing the very Roman who will soon have the most influence in this inevitable war, right after being told by the Gods they can't make the two pantheons merge? Was this just a second chance at our unlikely friendship gifted by the Fates, or something more?
Before I could ponder it, I found a solution to another pressing issue at hand. Because I was staring at my kneeling reflection in the polished wood of the deck, the detail so clear, I could discern the silver smudge in my otherwise black hair to be part of my hair.
Another side effect of holding the weight of the sky, I thought distractedly, but I couldn't worry about that now.
"The floor," I whispered hurriedly. "We can use the floor."
Reyna and Hylla trained their eyes to the deck, too, and I knew they saw it just like I did. The perfect mirror that pooled all around us.
Hylla smirked suddenly. "I knew those pirates were good for something."
"What?" I asked. Seriously, I can see why this girl became Queen of the Amazons.
"After the pirates of this ship tried to imprison us and we escaped, Hylla forced them to polish and clean the deck until, in her exact words, it shined 'so much you can see your own coward faces the sharks will call delicious,'" Reyna explained drily. "Then she threw them overboard."
"Did any of them survive?"
"It was hard to discern the screams of terror from the screams of limbs being gnawed off," Hylla said with grim satisfaction. "Though I like to think the sharks ate well that day."
I stared at her for a moment. Suddenly I was glad Reyna became the Praetor of New Rome and not her sister. Still, I told myself I shouldn't be unnerved by the idea of death and murder, being the Son of Hades and all that. But there was something extremely unsettling about ending a life by a shark of all things. I even shuddered at the thought. "Lets just go kill her before she finds us."
We scrambled to the side of the barrel, unsheathing our weapons and watching the planked wood in weariness, waiting for an opening. Medusa searched the deck like a lighthouse at the edge of sea; intently, blindly, relentlessly. The only sound on the ship was the low, soft hisses of petrifying serpents, and the gentle lull of the waves brushing the hull. Everything was too quiet, and suddenly my breaths sounded too loud.
"Children, I am so lonely." The voice was nearby, barely above a whisper—the soft caress of death. She's close.
We drifted over the deck like spirits, untethered to sound and ground. We kept our heads down as we tried to search for the source of the voice, but on a ship this big, it was harder than it looked. Still, I was surprised Medusa hadn't spotted us yet, and if she did, she gave no indication. I summoned the shadows and thickened them around us for some much needed cover, but at some point, the mist wandered over the vessel, clouding the sheen of the deck and ourselves. I couldn't see the bay anymore, and without memory, I wouldn't have even known it was there, not a shadow or even a wisp of darkness to give a clue. Our eyes were unreliable now, and it was all I could do to stay close to Reyna and Hylla without getting lost to the mist.
This deadly hide-and-go-seek was anyone's game now.
"Please, children, I have been alone for so long. My sisters have come back to me, only to fade to dust once again," the cursed woman moaned from somewhere to my left. I suddenly felt a twinge of guilt. This poor old woman had been alone for centuries, dwelling in the shadows, away from her family. Not unlike yourself. If that Bargain Mart fanatic really was her sister that we just killed, well, I might just be responsible for centuries more in solitude, a fate that had almost been my own undoing.
Snap out of it. I had to remind myself this isn't some poor old woman. This is a monster—a witch who has murdered hundreds of mortals and demigods alike, petrifying them in one of the worst kinds of death, encasing their unsuspecting souls in stone where they may never know peace. Sending her back to Tartarus to her foolish sisters is too merciful.
My ears perked at the soft tread of something like a heavy dress maybe a few feet away from me, but I couldn't be sure. The acoustics here magnified and deceived, like the mist was a yawning tunnel that echoed with walls of its own. I felt a nudge at my wrist in the direction of the disturbance, and I knew they heard it too. With alarming observation, I couldn't even see my own sword in front of me, let alone my hands. Hopefully my instincts don't need to see my sword to fight.
I heard what might've been the sounds of sniffing. Then the tread got louder. And closer.
She's smelling us, I realized with horrific clarity. Just like any other monster would've, whether their sight was good or not.
The hairs on my arms prickled in warning, and the cold fingers of certain death splayed down my spine. My senses were on overdrive now, my eyes skimming the fog for any sign I could get.
Something moved in the mist. A hand shot out suddenly, wrenching me into the thicket of fog with an iron grip and malice intent. I let out a strangled scream as my arm twisted in an even more unnatural angle.
Black spots danced behind my eyes, and I was only distantly aware of my sword slipping out of my hand.
"Nico? Nico, where are you?!" They were crying my name, but they were far away now, unreachable and untouchable.
Close your eyes!The voice in the back of my mind was screaming now, the forbidden meeting with the Romans long forgotten.
But I couldn't close them now. A part of me didn't want to. A part of me was curious. I stared at the hand still clutching my arm with an iron grip. It was well manicured, with pretty nails decorating wrinkling skin. I could've mistaken this cursed monster for a beautiful woman who had simply aged.
Thankfully, I knew better.
"Look at me, child." She tilted my chin up, and I finally got the good sense to shut my eyes. I couldn't see it, but I could feel her petrifying gaze drinking my face, her serpents hissing and brushing my cheek with their rough scales. I cringed away, squirming to get free, and she only gripped my broken arm tighter. "You have such lovely curls," she whispered, stroking my hair. "I once had curls like yours. But she took it all away from me."
"Sounds tragic," I said loudly, trying to buy myself some time. I couldn't just swipe with a blade I didn't have, and Reyna and Hylla haven't found me yet.
"It was," Medusa agreed miserably. "But if you open your eyes, I will not be alone anymore. Please. Just… open…"
I didn't want to open my eyes, I wanted her to let me go. I wanted her to feel the pain and suffering she wrought on all of her victims. I wanted to curse this monster farther than Tartarus. I wanted the world to fix itself, without my help, without the demand of my sister, my cousin, my friends, my allies. I didn't want this role anymore—I never did—this power to ruin and save so many lives.
I just wanted to be left alone.
I felt something inside of me stir awake.
A ploom of energy that might've been in an eternal sleep had I left it alone. And I should have. It thrummed through my veins and sizzled my fingertips, this familiarity I could not conceive. It was like an old friend long forgotten, one I used to know. And I wanted it. I wanted it as much as I wanted to get rid of it.
And yet, I didn't care that it felt wrong. Or that it felt right, too. I didn't even care as Medusa's screams echoed in the caverns of mist. I smelled the burning flesh wading the air, watched the embers disappear like fireflies in the brightest, boldest suns as her skin and snakes singed away into nothing. I didn't care because it was a part of me, and I knew it. But I didn't understand it.
It terrified me.
The burst of fiery light did not wane, but intensified. Strange symbols burned in the air, dancing around me. This wasn't godly power—this was mine. This secret of my soul I only just discovered. It burned away the mist and shadows, all in wisps and tendrils of divine light until the sun shone. For all of its mysteries and terrors, it was rather helpful in eliminating the impaired eyesight factor, all the unnecessary mist.
Then the ship caught on fire, and I reconsidered the thought.
Just as quickly the strange power left, leaving me nauseous and in the care of a rapidly burning ship and two extremely confused demigods. Wait, make that three. Can't forget about myself.
But I couldn't worry about it now. I had to get my sword. I had to get the Ramirez sisters off this boat before either the ship sinks us, the smoke kills, the fire burns us, or the new wave of monsters slaughter us. Either way, it was bad all around.
"What was—?"
"I don't know," I cut Reyna off in a hurry. I grabbed my sword that lay abandoned nearby, willing it back into a ring, and snatched Reyna's hand, commanding her to take Hylla's. They protested, but I couldn't care less at the moment as I summoned the shadows to my will. "Right now we need to leave. This ship is going down."
"Wait!" Reyna pointed to the ship next to us full of monsters. "We can't get to shore, but they can!"
I put a halt to the gradually collecting shadows. Reyna was right. Even if I managed to get all of us back to the docks, the monsters from the sister ship could still follow without cause and kill us anyway. We won't be safe without that ship destroyed.
A look passed between the sisters, and some selfish part of me wished I was on the other end of it instead of Hylla. "Cannons," they said in unison.
"What?" I feel like I've been asking that one too many times today to be healthy. Wearily, I followed their eyes to the humongous cannons lining the deck. An undignified shrill of excitement escaped me. "Cannons."
This has turned into a rather strange morning.
"Reyna, Nico, I want you two to cover me while I man the cannons, understood?" Hylla ordered like a true captain would.
"Hold up!" I would've done the universal sign for it too if one of my arms weren't broken. "Why can't I fire the cannon?"
"Because it's my ship," Hylla answered matter-of-factly. "And you can't man a cannon with one arm."
"This isn't your ship," I said, "it's the pirates'. And you need two people to man the cannons."
Hylla took a good, hard look at me, scrutinizing me with her dark eyes. "I have seen bold boys like you crash and burn, Nico di Angelo. I can only hope you won't take us with you."
Without another word, she darted to the nearest cannon, her black braid swaying behind her like a banner of war.
The cannon fitted to the side of the deck was bulky and criminally immobile, equipped with heavy cannonballs. It was probably used for shorter range if I had to take an educated guess—perfect for the current target at hand. I sat in the gunner's seat while Hylla hefted the heavy ammo into the compartment, locking and loading it. Behind us, Reyna stabbed and dodged every which way, of course, holding her own without any additional help. But the hordes of monsters from the neighboring ship just kept inviting themselves on board, now that Medusa was… well, whatever she was.
Ash. Nothingness. Fireflies fading into the brightest suns.
My hand shook at the thought. The thing inside of me that chose to reveal itself. The divine light I never knew I possessed. Was it another power I acquired from Hestia's blessing? It certainly didn't feel that way. There was no flood of warmth and comfort—just mystery and a wrongness I didn't know I could feel. What other secrets are you hiding? I thought bitterly—mostly to myself, the part of me that was still the little boy I used to be. Before Bianca's death. Before the Lethe. The part of me I will never remember. Maybe it's better if I don't remember at all.
I pushed the troubling thoughts to the back of my mind again, focusing on the task at hand. I coughed as a bit of smoke seared my lungs, but I managed to adjust the grip of the cannon with my still intact arm to the general space of the other ship's hull. I fashioned a sort of makeshift lever system rather quickly, tying some excess rope to my good wrist and around the handles to steer with one arm and twice the coordination. Valdez would be proud.
"FIRE!" Hylla sparked a rope, I think, and it blasted a cannonball right into the sweet spot of the ship. Monsters were screaming in a frenzy as a fire ignited on the side of the mast. I couldn't help but smile devilishly. It was truly glorious to watch.
I adjusted the cannon again, aiming for the platform acting as a bridge between the two ships, where the monsters were concentrating to get a taste for our godly blood. Hylla sparked another rope. "FIRE!" She screamed once more.
It missed by a good couple inches, but managed to scrape underneath the planked walkway, successfully tearing it to shreds and doing the trick.
"Hylla!" We turned to find Reyna getting flanked by both sides—monsters and flames alike. She can't hold them off forever. We need to get off this boat and fast.
"I can teleport you off the boat," I said desperately. " I can get the both of you safely to the harbor."
"No!" Hylla protested. "We have to end this! I will not let the monsters who hijacked my ship go walking!" Did stubbornness run in their family?
I sighed. I could already imagine my obituary: He listened to the Ramirez girl. He pelted the other one with jelly beans. He wanted to fire a cannon on a burning ship. He shouldn't have.
"How much more damage can we possibly do?" I asked incredulously, but I was seeing it now: The fire on the hull of the ship had already been put out, and minions were working tirelessly and relentlessly in repairing it.
"One more shot!" Hylla commanded. She wasn't going to back down, I knew just by one look on her fierce face. "Make it count, hero!"
I grumbled something about seeing if she could move a cannon this stingy, though I still examined the ship for its weakest point. I already tried the hull, and that proved to be a bust. The deck, I doubted would make much of an impact, but luckily the bridge was still crashing against the grey tides. If I wanted to do some real damage to this ship, I would need to strike it at its source. The engine. The ship is motorized.
"Hylla, do you know where the engine might be on the ship? Can you see it?" I called over my shoulder.
She looked up, another cannonball already loaded. "I don't think we hit it yet!" She yelled over the roaring flames, hacking from the rapidly increasing smoke. "Try the middle?"
I adjusted accordingly, praying to Hestia this would work. A trick shot through the smoke, I thought. Let's hope I can make one.
"FIRE!" We watched in suspended silence as the cannonball moved in slow motion. The smoke seemed to part for the cannon, and wisps and shadows danced over the grey water as it soared. I watched in a mixture of horror and delight as the cannonball caught even more fire, and it was almost as if someone doused it in the flames of the Phelegethon. When it hit the ship, it missed the engine—but it didn't matter. Because the ship was sinking now, with a gigantic hole gustling water out of its side.
Then the ship disappeared beneath the silvery waves, never to be seen again.
…
We caught our breaths, wheezing from the inhalation of smoke. I managed to shadow travel us out alright, and a good thing too, since the pirate ship vanished as soon as we turned our heads. But my arm throbbed in ways I didn't know it could throb, and I knew the jump couldn't have helped the broken bones heal.
"How did you… how did you do that?" Reyna asked. She was staring dubiously at the thicket of shadows we came out of, as if she couldn't comprehend how they ever moved in the first place. The only trace of disturbance was the shiver of a stray shadow, and it clawed out into the shard of sunlight with its wispy fingers, but just as quickly retreated back to the pool of darkness.
Before I could answer, my back was shoved against the mossy brick of a darkened alley, Hylla's sword threateningly pressed against my throat. "Inimicus," she hissed in Latin. Enemy.
"I'm not your enemy," I insisted as calmly as one could at sword point. "I'm just different. Different doesn't have to mean bad."
"And the different instincts I sense whenever you are near?"
"Not your instincts. There's." The Greek and Roman Gods' instincts—their hatred for each other in particular.
"Whose?"
This was getting too close to the secret of the pantheons, one I wasn't sure either sister would be ready to hear. So I tried to work my way around the complicated question with a more satisfying one.
"You think you and I are the first to stumble across each other? You think there weren't others? Others who felt the same instincts you and I feel?" I questioned. "If I wanted to kill you, I would've left you to die."
She leaned in closer, her dark eyes blazing. "So, why didn't you?"
"Sociis," I whispered in the Dead Language.
"And why," Hylla asked, "do you think we could ever be allies?"
"I don't believe in senseless killing," I said honestly. "And I'm certainly not going to determine if I should kill you or not by a stupid instinct I feel. Instincts like that are reserved for monsters—nothing more."
Reyna emerged from behind her sister, a shadow strewn across her face. "You said you were different. What differences would you say we have, Nico?"
I stared at her, and I wished I could ask that question myself. I wished I could ask that question to all the Greeks and Romans who hated each other without sense or reason, to all the Gods of the pantheons and their forgotten three thousand year old feud.
"I think you need to find that answer out for yourself."
"Should I hate you?" Reyna asked suddenly. I knew what she really meant by that question. There was a reason the Greeks and Romans had a blinding hatred for each other, a reason that was instilled in them before they even existed in order to keep the existence of other pantheon a secret. A kill or be killed kind of instinct that most—especially the bloodthirsty—just couldn't resist. The mess was always cleaned up afterwards by altering the memories of the survivors. But I was surprised they didn't act upon it until now, even if Reyna had an abundance of self control compared to most.
Still, I thought about the task I, the Angel of the Prophecy of the Seven, had to partake, and how I failed miserably. I fell short when I tried to close the Doors of Death. I managed to stumble into Gaea's clutches, her precious butterfly bait that led the Seven right to her. I lied to the people I cared about, including Reyna. I was too weak to shadow travel the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half Blood in time, even with Reyna's assistance. But worst of all, I couldn't unite the two pantheons. Gaea and her Giants won, and the Greeks and the Romans—Reyna's people paid the price because of it.
Should I hate you?
I looked away, unable to meet her eyes. "Not for the reasons you'd imagine."
The Daughter of Bellona stared at me for a long moment, studying me. "You're not talking about the jelly bean incident, are you?" The way she asked, I got the feeling she knew there was more to the picture than I was letting on. A rather large, very crude, impossibly confusing picture.
"You're not mad about that?" I asked hurriedly, taking the opportunity to make a segway in the conversation.
"Reyna doesn't get mad," Hylla said earnestly. "She gets even."
I willed my sword to turn into a ring, thumbing it onto my finger with great difficulty. "That makes two of us."
Hylla was watching me closely, her stare unwavering, an unreadable expression on her face. Reluctantly, she released me and said, "You are not like any 10 year old I've ever met."
I held back a smile. "I get that a lot."
"I'm sure you do." Then, without warning, she yanked me real close and said, "You may not be at the edge of my sword anymore, but make no mistake—I am still very dangerous."
I nodded thoughtfully. "I'll keep that in mind, as long as you keep in mind I don't need two functioning limbs to wreak havoc."
Behind us, Reyna raised an eyebrow. "I don't think he's lying."
"Oh, I'm sure he isn't," Hylla barked a laugh. "A midget with four severed limbs floundering about like a fish out of water is sure to scare the monsters away well enough."
I frowned. What happened to the missing limbs?"
"Who said they were missing?"
"You did."
"Oh, you misunderstood me," Hylla sighed. "I merely meant they weren't severed off completely. Makes them incredibly dysfunctional, all that dead weight dragged around with your blubber chin and that big head of yours."
"I would not want to be your murder victim," I muttered, recoiling slightly. I've never heard someone talk about merciless violence so casually before. Except, of course, me, Persephone, and serial killers—but usually they don't talk about these sorts of things so openly.
"Trust me," Reyna said, "you would not want to be her victim. Period. Murder or no."
"Rest assured, I will be sleeping well tonight with those splendidly graphic images engraved in my skull," I said dryly.
An awkward silence hung over the dark alley after that, neither of us knowing what to do now. Which was funny, actually. Reyna and Hylla were both very capable people and headstrong leaders, and yet there was just an aching quiet from all of us. A stalemate. I couldn't just take them to Camp Jupiter. I doubted the current Praetors would take them in without letters of recommendation, even if they are the daughters of a war goddess, one of the most important beliefs the conquering Romans value.
I could, however, take them to the Wolf House. Though I wasn't sure I would have enough energy to do it, after the tiresome shadow jump to California and the boat. I had to remind myself I didn't have the exertion I used to as a 14 year old. I was 10 now, with flimsy chicken arms and interesting abilities that didn't quite mesh well with my happy-go-lucky persona.
And yet, I stubbornly persisted—which was getting kind of annoying, even for me. "I can try to take you two to the Wolf House to train with Lupa," I said tiredly, and I tried not to pay attention to the way my eyes drooped. "It isn't too far from here, and you can travel the rest of the way yourselves to Camp."
"Camp?" Hylla asked.
"Camp Jupiter," I clarified. "The only place that is safe for people like us." One of two places that is safe for people like you. "You can enlist in the Legion in different Cohorts, and you can serve for about 10 years before you are able to retire to New Rome's homes, shops, colleges, etc. Basically, they take care of you."
"And this camp, where can you find it?"
"You don't exactly find it until you are summoned to the Wolf House," I explained. "Lupa, the Wolf Goddess will teach you basic survival skills that will help you thrive in the army, wilderness, and more before you're sent off to find the camp."
"Lupa, as in the Lupa who trained Romulus and Remus?" Reyna asked.
"Yeah," I said confidently. Thank the Gods I've touched up on my Roman lore recently. "She's been training demigods for the last couple thousands of years after the twins."
"This Wolf House, can you take my sister to it?" There was something about the way Hylla asked that set warning bells off in my mind, because I've heard it all before. And that scared me.
"Well, yes, but—"
"And this camp, will they accept her?"
"Yeah, probably—"
"Then my work is done here."
A moment of silence passed. "...What?"
"Hylla?" Fear trembled in Reyna's voice, the last syllable in the unspoken question disappearing with a waver. She switched to Spanish and fired away at her sister, flailing her arms in a strangely similar manner I do when I'm upset. I kept a respectful distance away at the bench I was sitting at earlier, understanding this was a conversation they needed to have alone.
I just hoped it wouldn't turn out like my conversation went, and if it did… Well, I hope grudges don't run in the Ramirez family.
The argument went on for about 10 minutes, and by the end of it, the Ramirez sisters were quieter and colder than the dead of winter. I heard no tears that were shed by either sister, and I didn't know if they were just quiet about it, or if they held themselves together better than I ever could. But I guess it didn't really matter. I didn't need to understand any words or see any faces to know how the conversation ended. I was just sorry I ever brought up the subject of camp in the first place.
And now, it would seem I'm not the only kid who's lost an older sister.
"Nico."
I turned around, taking my leave from the quiet atmosphere of the bench, though it was nowhere near calm, even with the sound of the waves crashing the sand of the harbor. Hylla held her head high in the mid-day sun, which was unusually bright and cheery for such a somber moment in the dark alley. Reyna, on the other hand, kept her stubbornly eyes trained on the planked boardwalk.
"Nico, I need you to take my sister to the Wolf House. Can you do it?" I stared at Hylla, and I was surprised by the sheer resentment I felt towards her.
I pretended to not to feel it, but this particular situation reminded me too much of before, when Bianca was wayward and I was a burden she wouldn't take. Here was another protective older sister abandoning a younger sibling in a cruel world, leaving them alone to the wolves. What was the point? What was the point of showing all that love and protectiveness, only to snatch it away and leave without as much as a goodbye? It was pointless. All that could come from it was a charade of guilty grudges and long-overdue apologies.
Pointless.
Except it wasn't, was it? I got Bianca back, and it was because she wanted to come back. But this, I knew, would not turn out the same way. Reyna would need to grow from this into something stronger than steel—just as I did—hopefully into the amazing leader the world will need her to be, not into some depressed teenager who felt alone and ostracized for too many years.
"I'll take her to the Wolf House," I promised quietly. "Where will you go?"
Hylla looked off somewhere into the distance. "To the Amazons," she said wistfully. "Specifically the ones that run . I hear there is a specific job opening I am interested in."
I raised an eyebrow. "Job opening?"
"To be Queen of the Amazons and run the company, of course."
I nodded. Sounds a lot like the golden opportunity Bianca took a week ago to become a Hunter of Artemis. It was even worse to think I knew Hylla would get the job, and convincing her to live the crappy life of a demigod instead of the luxurious life of a queen is otherwise futile. Still, it couldn't hurt to try.
"Are you sure you want to leave your sister like this?" I asked. "There's some mistakes you can't take back, and this might be one of them."
I thought Hylla would tell me it's none of my business, or try to gut me with her pirate sword, but she simply said, "Reyna is strong. Soon she won't need me anymore."
As much as I wanted to deny it for Reyna's sake, I couldn't argue with the truth in that statement.
"Hylla…" Reyna started, but her sister interrupted her before she could finish the words. She's saying goodbye, I thought, as I watched Hylla mutter a few words in Spanish to her little sister quietly, a hand on her shoulder, a kiss on her cheek. Then she disappeared into the crowd of people passing by, another nameless face among the hundreds of others.
…
We sat down on the bench, staring out at the grey water. Reyna was quiet, her eyes fixed on something I couldn't see beyond the reef. The mist had receded, giving way to a busy harbor of ships and tourists and people down by the beach. It made me wonder if the water was freezing or not, but I was under no circumstances going to check. I wanted to talk to Reyna, to assure her she can rise from this experience instead of sink in it like I once did. But I couldn't find the words I needed to say. So we just sat there in what I liked to think was a comfortable silence.
"Your ring," Reyna spoke up suddenly, her eyes still fixed beyond the reef. "Where did you get it?"
"What?" My hands flew to my silver skull ring, and with no surprise did I realize I was twisting it again. I stared at the glinting silver in the sunlight, wondering if I should answer. Finally, I said, "My sister gave it to me."
Which was true. It was a gift from her in the last timeline.
"Is she…?"
"Dead? No." I shook my head. Not anymore. "It's just very special to me."
"It turns into your sword," she noted. So she was definitely paying attention—which was nothing new. "I've never seen a blade like that before. All pitch black. No reflection."
I tried to steer clear of the unspoken question of what unique metal the sword was, finding the answer would hit too far home to my secret parentage. "It came to me when I needed it most. Whoever sent it was looking out for me that day."
"Monster attack?"
The memory of Luke's icy gaze suddenly flashed before my eyes, the stare that lured so many demigods to their deaths with pathetic promises and lovely lies. It was disturbing how desperate those ice eyes looked when they were on me, how I shook on my knees with Backbiter pointed to my chest, and the scary truth he really did believe Kronos could make the world better. Luke Castellan, a monster who looked like one of us and used to be once one of us. The worst kind of monsters are the ones with a good reason, and Luke may have had the best reason of all.
"Something like that."
Reyna nodded. Then there was silence.
I hesitated. "I, uh… I know what you're going through."
The Daughter of Bellona frowned. "No, you don't," she said stiffly. "Don't sit here and pretend you do just to make me feel better."
I should've been mad, and yet, I wasn't. Not really. If Reyna was anything like I used to know her, then I could take a guess she was probably more angry at herself than she was at her sister, or even me. And if that was the case, she wasn't planning to open up about it anytime soon—if ever. I know it wasn't my business, but after keeping all of that weight on my shoulders for years without telling anyone, I didn't want Reyna to go through the same thing.
"My older sister ditched me a week ago to join an immortal group of huntresses that swear off the company of men."
The words left my mouth before I had time to think it through.
Reyna froze, then she turned her gaze away from the grey water to me. I kept my eyes on a little boy's toy boat making tiny ripples in the water down by the beach. I wanted to be that boy again so very, very much.
"We both held grudges. Neither of us wanted to apologize after I screamed at her about it." A bitter laugh escaped me. "Then she almost died trying to get an I'm sorry gift for me. It was a stupid mythomagic figurine. I felt like crap about it. I think we both did." I finally met Reyna's eyes. "You know, it's funny how near-death experiences can remind you how much you care about someone. It took a while, but she quit on her own terms, saying she needed me as much as I needed her. We came to an understanding after that. We stick together now."
She was quiet for a moment, processing my words. Then she asked, "What's her name?"
"...Bianca."
She nodded in what might have been approval. "Bianca seems like a good sister, coming back to you after all that."
"Hylla seems like a good sister, too," I pointed out.
Reyna stiffened. "She's gone. She said her goodbyes. There's nothing to talk about."
I shrugged, feigning indifference. "If you insist." I reached into my coat pocket for the near empty bag of jelly beans. There couldn't have been more than 10 beans in the bag, stuck to the creases of the crumpled plastic. Most of them were green, much to my disappointment, but I saw a glimmer of hope—two purple jelly beans still survived the dangerous encounter.
Reyna noticed me struggling to open the bag with one hand. Wordlessly, she helped me. I reached into the bag for the two grapes, presenting them to her. "Personally," I said with a ghost of a smile, "I prefer the purple ones. Grape is, in my professional opinion, superior to all flavors—jelly bean or no. Here." I handed her one of the grape beans. "You look like you need it more than I do."
Reyna's lips tugged up into a convincing smile, a victory more rewarding than any quest I could ever complete. "Professional opinion, huh?"
"I have a very credible source."
We popped the grape flavored beans in our mouths, both of us nodding in satisfaction. "I have to ask: Who or what is your source? They or it definitely knows the jelly bean market well."
I winked. "They're one of the best sources out there, I promise."
"I'll find them one day."
"Oh, I'm sure you will." I shoved the rest of the jelly beans into Reyna's hand. "Now that the life-threatening situation is over, I have no use for them anymore. I think you'll find the other colors besides the greens are delicious."
The future Praetor of New Rome raised an eyebrow in question. "No more heads that need warnings?"
I shook my head. "No more warnings to be made—for now, at least."
Suddenly, I felt the atmosphere change into something sadder. Reyna looked down at the bag in her hand with something like fondness in her eyes. "My sister and I used to eat jelly beans at the front doorsteps of our childhood home, watching our street come alive at night." She paused. "I didn't have many fond memories growing up in the life I did. That was the exception."
"Bianca and I used to watch funny movies in our hotel room, eating popcorn and chocolate." I shook my head at the ridiculousness of it all. "We were so happy then, and we didn't even know it. Those times, me and her just smiling for the dumbest reasons? One of the only happy memories I have left to cherish. The rest… I don't have any memories of my childhood anymore. They're gone."
Reyna perked up. "Amnesia?"
I twisted my ring. "You could say that."
Another moment of silence passed. "She was right, you know. About you being strong and all that," I said. "Pretty soon, you're not going to need her anymore. Trust me, I know."
"And this is coming from the boy who got his sister back?"
"This is coming from the boy who didn't." I remembered the cold brush of Bianca's translucent fingers on my cheek, wiping away my tears. She didn't come back, not really. The girl who came to me was nothing but a whisper of my sister's departed soul.
I ran a hand over my tired face. "Just because we need them, Reyna, doesn't mean we can have them. Sometimes sisters leave. Sometimes it ruins us completely," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "But you have to understand we are warriors just as much as we are broken. We learn to put the pieces back together and keep fighting. That's what makes us stronger. And it's going to make you stronger, too."
"Why didn't Hylla stay?" Reyna whispered. I don't think I've ever seen her this vulnerable before. Then again, I guess the cold exterior of the Daughter of Bellona didn't exist until New Rome. "Why did she have to leave?"
I sighed. "I can't answer that question, Reyna. I can only tell you I used to ask myself the same thing, and it got me nowhere. You can't let this ruin you. You need to move on. Take it from me, I know."
"But Hylla—"
"Is gone," I cut in. "You tried your best, but it was out of your control—it still is. You need to accept that. You need to move on. It's not worth it, asking yourself the same questions over and over, wondering what went wrong, forgetting to live. I know it. I've seen it. I've been it." I looked Reyna in the eyes. "Don't make the same mistake I did. Move on."
Reyna didn't say anything for a while, mulling over my advice, watching me intently with an emotion I couldn't read. After a moment, she spoke. "Your sister was away far longer than a week, wasn't she?"
I looked away, finding it hard to answer that without revealing my complicated history. "Just promise me you'll keep what I said in mind, okay?"
"You should know, Nico, in this life it doesn't do to keep promises." She hesitated. "But I… I'll keep it in mind. Thank you. I needed that."
I nodded. "Well, if that's all, I think I'm going to go grab a cup of well deserved hot chocolate. Care to join me?"
Reyna gave me a suspicious glance but rose from the wooden bench, taking her jelly beans with her. "I thought we were taking me to the Wolf House?"
"We are," I said. "But I'm tired, and I need my strength back to do it. Delicious chocolatey caffeine is, in my experience, the best way to wake me up."
"You never did tell me how you moved the shadows."
I shrugged, lying smoothly. "Your guess how I did that is as good as mine."
"Have you been claimed?"
"No. Have you?"
"No."
"Something else we have in common." It came out more bitter than intended.
Reyna merely hummed in agreement, and we made our way to the café on the boardwalk in silence.
…
"This is as far as I can take you." We were standing in the middle of a clearing, the evening sun casting a golden glow in between the spots of gaps in the overhang of leaves and shadows. Somewhere far to the left the ruins of the Wolf House would come into view.
Reyna didn't say anything, her eyes trained on a thicket of branches that led to the ancient home of wolves. I wondered if she was feeling the pull to it, the calling all Roman demigods get to train with Lupa.
After grabbing a cup of hot chocolate, we went to a local department store to get Reyna a change of clothes. It was only luck I found a nice aviator jacket there, one that looked almost exactly like the one I used to have, and I paid for it in a heartbeat. Along the way, we replenished our stock of jelly beans, making sure to purchase the extra large sized bags.
Overall, I had the most fun I've had in awhile, which most people would've considered a train wreck. But that was the life of a demigod, I guess. It wasn't everyday you run into your best friend and have a depressing but enlightening conversation about sisterly abandonment. And fire a cannon, of course.
Still, I was dreading how my overprotective friends and sister would react to my broken arm, and all the questions they might have I very well can't answer.
"I guess this is goodbye then," Reyna said, holding out her hand to shake. "Thank you for bringing me here, even if your methods of travel are… questionable."
"I know it probably isn't what you want to hear right now, but I… I really am sorry," I said quietly.
Reyna pursed her lips and looked away. "It was out of both of our control."
She didn't have to say it—I knew what she meant. The feeling of helplessness and caving in, the wave of fear that made your legs tremble and your ears buzz. Because no matter what you did, no matter what you said, absolutely nothing would change the outcome. I've known that feeling a lot lately. Bianca leaving. Zoë dying. Gods forsaking. Gaea winning. The realization crashing in and stealing the breath from your lungs. A feeling I will never get used to, I'm afraid.
Little Angel, why do you still fight?
It can be done. But us Gods? We can't do it.
You're telling me I came all this way for nothing?
I'll find a way. I don't know how, but I'll figure something out.
"Reyna, I need you to listen to me very carefully," I said, my voice pained and distant. "One day you're going to meet someone who is different. Like me. Don't fight them. Don't turn them away. Respect them. Unite with them. Soon you're going to realize you need them as much as they need you."
"Different," she repeated suspiciously. "Like you. Let me guess, they won't all be as friendly as you? Whoever they are?"
I looked away. "No. They won't. But this one will be." Hopefully Percy won't have a change of heart in this timeline either.
Reyna's stare was unrelenting, unraveling, unearthing. "That funny feeling I get whenever you are around—you know why I have it. What aren't you telling me?"
I twisted my skull ring. "Some things are best left unsaid, Reyna. You'll know why one day. Hopefully before it's too late. I just… I'm sorry you had to be dragged into this, but it has to be you."
"Not good enough," Reyna said. "You're hiding something. I want to know what."
I shook my head, suddenly feeling very, very guilty. "I'm sorry, but it's for your own good."
Reyna curled her hands into fists, her knuckles white, her eyes trained on the forest floor. "I told you things I've told no one else, and you can't tell me this?"
I froze. Out of all the things she's said to me today, that one hit me the hardest. Reyna, the fierce girl I knew who held it together when everything else fell apart—who held me together when I was falling apart, I cannot tell this secret to, the words that might save the world before the end of it starts.
It's too early, the stupidly rational part of me thought. It's too much to handle, even for her. She'll be killed if anyone finds out she knows.
But I have to give her something.
I started fishing into my pocket before I could think better of it. When I found it, I slipped it into her hand. A golden Drachma. A dangerous clue.
She frowned, studying it. "What's this?"
"Penance. Compensation. A clue to what's coming. Call it what you want," I said briskly. "I can't give you anything more."
Reyna paled suddenly. "Are these inscriptions in… Greek?"
"Two Summers from now, I want you to toss this coin into a rainbow and repeat these words, 'Oh, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Nico di Angelo' and I will answer," I explained. "I'll tell you everything."
Two years from now should be enough time to prepare her for the Second Gigantomachy, and what to expect from the "different" demigod that comes to Camp Jupiter. Anything earlier than that would be too soon. I have to wait until she's elected Praetor of New Rome before she can truly understand the necessity of uniting the Greco-Roman Pantheon.
"What are you—?"
"Don't show this coin to anyone. Don't even think about it if you can help it," I warned. I don't need any pesky Gods like Terminus reading her mind. "Remember what I said. If anyone asks, we never had this conversation. We never met."
I darted towards some denser shadows underneath a tree, summoning them to my will to take me back to the forest in Camp Half-Blood. It's almost dinner time, and Annabeth would be expecting me back by now.
"Wait."
I stopped short.
"You said the coin was a warning of some kind," she said, watching me closely with her piercing stare. "What for?"
The shadows were swirling around me now in a sea of darkness, but I spared her one last truth as the world of color disappeared. "The end."
A/N:
Hey, guys, I hope you liked the chapter! Sorry if Reyna and Hylla are a little OC. I tried to write Reyna as a girl who is kinda sheltered by Hylla and hasn't gotten the chance to really grow into the Praetor we all know and love, then descending into something colder and more unsure when trying to deal with the aftermath of her sister leaving her. I also really tried to stay true to the character, writing her as closed off after the stuff that went down with her dad and the secrets she can't tell. Hylla... I don't know what happened with that. I guess I've just been into dark humor lately. And sharks.
Overall, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter with all the jelly beans and cannons, and the dialogue between Nico and Reyna (let's be honest here they have an amazing friendship that is so underrated). But it was a lot more than I expected I would write. Like, a lot more dialogue. If you're wondering why I didn't reveal the secrets of the Pantheons to Reyna, honestly I don't have a super good reason. But I went with my gut and it didn't feel right to reveal it this early. So, I didn't.
Anyway, next chapter is the last one of this book! I've already come up with a name for the next book, and I'll be posting the last chapter of this book and the first chapter of the second book simultaneously so you guys don't have to wait! Stay safe, everyone!
-Echo
