REVIEW REPLIES:
Summer: Hi! I'm glad you like it! I feel like the Slytherins in particular would have a great time backing Lockhart into a corner, so they're not really revealing his secrets, but they're putting in a position in which he has no choice but the spill the beans himself. Snape would probably love it too, considering how eager he was to get rid of Lockhart at the end of the Chamber of Secrets. And you're right about that, Lockart bashed himself Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Nico was doomed.
He was truly, utterly doomed.
It was 3:00 PM. And he still hadn't figured out a valid excuse to get himself out of detention.
He knew perfectly well that by Hogwarts standards, getting one night of detention for insulting a teacher was an extremely light punishment, and that trying to get out of it would not work in his favor. The reasonable part of him argued that he could just skip detention and suffer through a worse punishment later, but when the 'worse punishment' could involve taking a stroll through the Forbidden Forest, he'd rather not get in trouble for missing detention. The Forbidden Forest meant monsters, and he was this close to blowing his secret as it was. It was a miracle nobody (read: Artemis and/or Hermione) had figured it out yet...
Nico frantically paced around the empty dorm room. He had to shadow travel to California within the next fifteen minutes if he wanted to get some rest before... whatever his dad was planning. Shadow Travelling always left him exhausted, and travelling from Scotland all the way to the States would probably leave him unconscious for at least a day, under normal circumstances. Right now, he was depending on unicorn draught(a miraculous substance the Romans had introduced to him on one of his visits), luck(aka Tyche), and the fact that his dad would probably want him to show up on time(and mostly conscious). Oh, and a granola bar.
The odds were not in his favor.
He grabbed his bag and hastily chucked out the books, stuffing a canteen of unicorn draught , a flask of nectar, a small zip-lock bag full of ambrosia, the granola bar and a few clean T-Shirts into it instead. Call him a heavy packer, but his trips to New Rome were rarely ever quick and hassle-free. He'd learnt the hard way to always pack a change of clothes. His eyes quickly scanned the room for anything else that could be of use, but what he did see was definitely NOT useful. At all.
"Where are you going?" Artemis Fowl asked, tapping his foot impatiently.
Nico nearly jumped out of his skin, "Don't sneak up on people like that!" he chided, taking a shaky breath, "I might have chopped you in half!"
Artemis ignored him, "Where are you going?" he repeated, "We have detention with Professor Snape in an hour."
"Just going for a little walk to... the lake." Nico said as smoothly as he could. He forced himself to meet Artemis' eyes, "I thought I'd get started on that Charms homework."
Artemis rolled his eyes at him in that terribly condescending way that made Nico want to smack that smug expression right off his face, "Don't be ridiculous. All of your books are lying on your bed. The only things in that bag are," he paused, peering into the bag, "Lemon squares, drinks, a granola bar and fresh T-Shirts." he said, crossing his arms.
"Right." Nico said, nodding slowly, "You.. got me. I'm actually going to..." Nico's eyes darted around frantically, "Have a picnic. By the lake. And go swimming."
Artemis raised an eyebrow, unimpressed, "You're going to have a picnic. By yourself. Next to the lake. And you're going swimming. In September. You. The one who's deathly afraid of water."
"Uh... yes?" he said, although it came out a lot less confidently than Nico had hoped.
"Spare me theatrics." Artemis scoffed, "Where are you really going? You've packed a change of clothes, so you're obviously not planning on coming back any time soon. Or at least, you'll be there over night."
Nico groaned, abandoning all pretenses, "Ugh, fine! You win!" he grumbled, "I'm not going to the lake."
"So where are you going?" Artemis asked testily.
"Why is that any of your business?" Nico snapped.
Artemis smirked at him, "Well, you do need someone to cover for you, don't you?"
Nico cursed under his breath. Artemis was right, no matter how much he hated to admit it. He needed an excuse for not being able to show up for detention, and no one was better at excuses than Artemis Fowl.
"Fine." Nico admitted, "I need your help. I have to... go away for a while. Family issues. Can you cover for me so that Professor Snape doesn't decide that I need a worse punishment?"
Artemis appeared to think about it, "Alright." he said casually.
Nico squinted at him suspiciously, he knew Artemis well enough to know that the boy rarely ever did anything for free, or if there was nothing in it for him, "What's the catch?"
Artemis' smile was too innocent to be real, "Oh, no catch." he insisted, "But..."
Nico stifled a groan. "But?" he prompted.
"But I need to know where you're going, and what you'll be doing there. Or else, our excuses won't match up."
Nico didn't bother stifling his next groan, "Why do you want to know so bad Fowl? Why can't you just accept that I've got a job to do?"
Artemis shrugged, "I don't like not knowing things."
"There's nothing to know." Nico grumbled, gritting his teeth, "I just need to run an errand for my dad."
Artemis opened his mouth, probably to point out the number of plot holes in that statement, but Nico beat him to it, "Look, I really don't have the time to explain right now." he said anxiously, glancing towards the door, "Can you please cover for me? I might be away for a while."
"I don't know..." Artemis said hesitantly.
"Please?" Nico pleaded, "I promise I'll explain when I get back." he lied, squishing down the pang of regret at his empty promise.
Artemis sighed in defeat, and Nico knew that he'd got through to him.
"Fine." he relented, "I'll figure out some sort of excuse."
"Thank you." Nico sighed in relief, grabbing his hastily packed bag and slinging it over his shoulder, "Don't freak out if I disappear for a few days." he warned.
Artemis mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "I'd worry a lot less if I knew where you were going."
Louder, he said, "Stay safe, di Angelo. If the look on your face is anything to go by, whatever you're going to do isn't pleasant."
"It really isn't." he agreed, waving goodbye before fading into the dark shadows of the dormitory.
*****Line Break*****
Nico really needed to work on his aim.
He had intended to emerge near New Rome's infirmary, so that he'd be able to rest for a bit without attracting too much attention before facing the rest of the camp.
Instead, he just had to shadow travel right into the middle of breakfast.
He had apparently shadow travelled onto the Fifth Cohort's table, and his foot was in someone's cereal. Demeter wouldn't be happy about that.
"Oops." he said sluggishly, taking in the startled faces all around him.
Before promptly faceplanting into someone's breakfast.
*****Line Break*****
Nico awoke to see a blonde head hovering over him.
"Go away Draco." he mumbled, rolling over and pulling the blanket over his head, "Five more minutes."
Draco cleared his throat, and when he spoke, his voice was much deeper than usual, "Um.. Who's Draco, if you don't mind me asking?"
It was then that Nico realized that this person was not Draco.
Not-Draco cleared his throat again, sounding a bit uncomfortable, "You know, it'd be nice if you woke up soon. Reyna's going ballistic, and I really don't want to face her on my own."
Nico blinked blearily, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes, "What?" he muttered groggily.
Not-Draco perked up, "You're awake!" he said happily.
"Duh."
Once Nico had gained his bearings, he realized that the face that had been hovering over him was the farthest thing from Draco. Beside his bed, sat Jason Grace, Camp Jupiter's golden boy and Praetor.
Nico eyed Jason warily, "What are you doing here, Grace?" he asked, stifling a yawn.
Jason chuckled nervously, rubbing his neck, "I thought I'd check up on you. You freaked us all out a bit back there. What with disappearing for 2 days and then faceplanting into Dakota's eggs and toast."
"Ah." Nico winced, "Sorry about that. Shadow travelling takes a lot out of me."
"Don't worry about it." he said dismissively, "It was hilarious." Jason cracked a grin.
Nico hesitantly smiled back, his months had taught him that smiling usually encouraged people and make him seem more approachable, and this seemed to work with Jason, as the blonde boy's grin somehow become even wider than it had been before.
"So, who is this Draco?" Jason asked curiously.
Nico shrugged, "School friend."
Jason nodded, "Right-" he paused, "Wait, what?"
"What do you mean, 'what'?" Nico asked, more than a little confused.
"Nothing." Jason said a bit sheepishly, "I just assumed that you didn't go to school. Although, I suppose the uniform should have tipped me off." he gestured to Nico.
It was then that Nico realized that he had forgotten to change out of his uniform.
"Hogwarts." Jason read slowly, squinting at the crest on Nico's uniform, "School of... what is that? It's tiny."
Nico hastily covered the crest before Jason could read the rest.
Jason raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't comment.
"Hogwarts?" he asked instead, "Do all mortal schools have such weird names? And... uh, bathrobes?" he asked, nodding towards Nico's robes.
Nico silently thanked Jason Grace for not knowing a single thing about mortal schools.
"Yep," he answered, "Especially in Scotland."
Jason's eyebrows skyrocketed, "Scotland?" he asked in disbelief. "I've never been very good at geography, but I know enough to know that that's really far away. Did you shadow travel all the way here?" he asked, sounding a bit like a concerned parent, which was ridiculous since they barely knew each other.
Nico nodded curtly, "I was in a hurry. Usually I'd stop somewhere and rest instead of shadow-travelling directly here, but... I was short on time." His eyes widened, "Wait, how long have I been here?"
"Relax. You've only been here for an hour or two." he assured.
Nico's mouth fell open, he had been expecting to pass out for at least a day, and most probably 3 days. 2 hours was miraculous. Lady Tyche really was on his side for once.
'Dad.' he thought, 'If you had something to do with this, then... thanks. If you didn't... well, thanks anyway I guess.'
"So," Jason began, "I don't know if you heard me when I told you this before, since you were half asleep, but your sudden reappearance is making Reyna go crazy. And..." he winced, looking sheepish, "I'd rather not face her by myself."
Nico nodded, stumbling slightly as he pulled himself out of bed, "Do you have a jacket I could borrow?" he asked as un-suspiciously as he could, which wasn't saying much since California was boiling .
"Sure." Jason shrugged, "I have a purple hoodie that might fit you. We can pick it up on the way to the Principia."
"Alright," he said with as much confidence as he could muster, "Let's get this over with."
"That's the spirit!" Jason cheered, steering him towards the door.
*****The Line Break of Doom*****
Dakota, one of the centurion's of the Fifth Cohort, clapped Nico on the back on his way to the Principia.
"Great to see you back on your feet dude."
"Uh... Thanks." Nico replied, "Sorry about your breakfast, by the way."
Dakota waved a hand lazily, "Water under the bridge, man. Besides, us Fifth Cohort losers need to stick together, right?"
"Right," Nico agreed whole-heartedly. The Fifth Cohort reminded him of Slytherin House sometimes. They were both considered as the disgraced group, and were looked down upon because of the mistakes of their predecessors. Just like the Slytherins, the members of the Fifth Cohort knew that it was important to take good care of each other, because no one else would.
Dakota laughed, and Nico noticed that his breath smelled distinctly like Kool Aid.
"Good Luck, man." he said, "With the stunt you just pulled, you'll need it." He patted Nico on the back one more time before stumbling away.
Dakota's last words lingered in Nico's head.
He was starting to think that detention with Professor Snape would've been better.
*****Line Break*****
"So," Reyna barked, pausing in her frantic pacing, "You disappeared for 2 days, without any sort of warning, because you had to go to school?"
Nico gulped, "Yes Praetor."
"And you didn't think that people would worry? Or wonder where you had gone?" she demanded.
A year ago, Nico would've been able to confidently say that no one would care enough to look for him. But now, he had friends, and no matter how annoying and melodramatic certain friends could be, Nico was fairly sure that they cared.
"Um..." he hesitated, "Maybe?"
Reyna collapsed onto one of the Praetor's chairs and massaged her forehead, "Do you know how worried we were? We thought you had been devoured by monsters!"
Nico fumbled, "Um... sorry?"
Reyna payed him no mind, "Do you know how hard it was to convince Octavian that you aren't a traitor? The only reason you are still here, is because Jason vouched for you again. He assured the senate that you weren't a traitor, and that you had a good reason for disappearing." she paused to take a deep breath, and when she continued, her voice was slightly less tense, "Octavian already thinks that you're trouble since you're a son of Pluto, and the fact that you never trained with Lupa just made him more suspicious. If he had his way, you would never have been accepted into the legion in the first place. The only reason you are here, is because Amazing Grace here is a trusting dork." she grumbled, glaring at Jason.
Jason just smiled at her, looking completely unperturbed.
Nico had to agree with her on that one, Jason was the most trusting person he had ever met. After all, who else would vouch for the weird Pluto kid who had stumbled into camp without even enduring Lupa's training? Half of the Romans, including a skinny kid named Octavian who was apparently supposed to be important, had wanted to throw him out in the hopes that he'd eventually end up at the Wolf House, where he could train with the wolf goddess for a month or two. Jason had argued that they couldn't just turn away a half-blood in need, whether they had trained with Lupa or not, and had vouched for him, getting him into the Fifth Cohort(Jason's former Cohort) on probatio.
Nico wasn't sure if Jason's trusting nature was a sign of heroism or stupidity.
"Explain to me now why 'school' was so important." she commanded.
"Well. for one thing, I go to school in Scotland, and I needed a while to grab my supplies. The actual travelling was a nightmare, by the way." Nico rambled, "My dad would kill me if I flunked school." Nico knew perfectly well that this was a lie, seeing as Hades himself had suggested that he should drop out, and apparently Reyna's metal dogs knew as well, and they let out a soft growl. Nico rushed on, "Besides, education's important, right?" he finished half-heartedly.
Reyna looked vexed, "You know, we have schools in New Rome too."
Nico had no idea how to explain that his school taught witchcraft and wizardry. He fumbled with Jason's oversized purple hoody self consciously, thanking Tyche for what felt like the millionth time that day for the fact that his Hogwarts uniform had been covered up. He felt like an absolute idiot, waltzing around in Jason's SPQR hoodie and what looked like a bathrobe. Unfortunately, in desperate times, certain sacrifices had to be made. In this case, it was his dignity being sacrificed.
Thankfully, Reyna wasn't waiting for an answer.
"I'm assuming that you need to leave soon?" she sighed.
Nico nodded hesitantly.
She grabbed a handful of jellybeans from the bowl in front of her, "As a member of the legion, you are required to remain in camp and train here for at least a few years. You are aware of this, correct?"
Nico responded with a nod.
She sighed, "You may not be a full member of the legion yet, but that doesn't mean you can come and go as you please. Especially not at this age with no proper training. I'm only seeing two options here. Either you leave your school in Scotland and stay here, or I have no choice to ask you to leave."
Nico swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded silently.
Jason protested, "Reyna, we can't just turn him away!"
"He's a son of Pluto, Jason. While I hold no such opinions, the other campers fear that he will bring bad luck to us all. Especially considering the... darker nature of his powers. Even if he was the perfect soldier and followed all the rules, he'd be lucky if people treated him without suspicion. If we bend the rules for him and allow him to keep disappearing every few days, it will do nothing but stir up unease amongst the legion." Reyna reasoned, "So, Nico di Angelo, what will it be?"
'Dad!' Nico screamed in his head, 'Now would be a good time to show up!'
Reyna mistook his panic for hesitance, "You can take a while to decide, you know. Just let us know by-"
Reyna was cut off by a series of high-pitched screams from outside.
The two praetors rushed out of the room, soon followed by Nico.
Outside the Principia, stood a giant of a man dressed in a black toga, with what Nico could vaguely make out to be writhing souls trapped in the fabric. The man towered over the demigods, and was surrounded by a dark purple aura.
"Take me to your leaders." he boomed.
The terrified campers pointed a stiff finger towards the Principia, and the figure turned towards.
The man narrowed his eyes at them, "I'm assuming you two are the praetors?"
Jason and Reyna managed a polite nod, still gaping at the towering figure.
Jason was the first to speak, "If you don't mind me asking, uh... sir, who are you?"
The figure rolled it's eyes, "You are a son of Jupiter, aren't you boy?" he asked, "I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised. My brother's spawn aren't really known for their intelligence."
Jason's eyes almost fell out of his head, "Your... brother? Does that mean you're..."
Reyna's eyes widened in recognition, and she dropped to her knees, the thousands of other Romans who had come to investigate following in suit.
"Took you long enough, uh... I suppose I'll have to call you sky spawn." The man, no, god, scoffed. His eyes roamed through the gathered crowd, finally settling on Nico.
"There you are, son." he said pleasantly, "You know, you really should stop befriending my brother's children. First the sea spawn, and now this one." ,he sighed in disappointment, "Befriending them makes it very difficult to threaten their lives with a clear conscience."
Nico gritted his teeth, stepping forward, "Dad, you can't keep threatening my friends."
"I don't threaten all of them." Hades (or Pluto, whichever one of them it was) answered, "Only my brother's children." he said as though it was obvious.
Nico resisted the urge to facepalm, "Dad, you're freaking everyone out. Can you please just say what you came to say? You know, quickly?" he asked desperately, his cheeks burning as he noticed the entire camp staring at the pair in disbelief.
Hades/Pluto clapped his hands together, "Very well then." he turned his attention back to Reyna and Jason, "Praetors, as I'm sure you know, I am Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, and I have a proposition for you."
A.N:
Mwahahhaa!
That cliffhanger felt so satisfying. I can see why Uncle Rick likes writing them so much.
Sorry if this update's late. I didn't really have much time till now. I'm not going to go into the details, but let me tell you this, Indian weddings are VERY loud. And tiring.
The Romans have finally made an appearance! Hazel will also be appearing soon! I just love Nico and Jason's friendship, and I wanted to take it a bit further back. Also, Hades/Pluto is an awesome dad who can't tell that he's embarrassing his son. He's still working on it. I'm blaming the fact that Jason couldn't read the rest of the crest on his bad eyesight.
Anyway, this chapter was pretty long, if I do say so myself, and I'm sorry for any typos I may have made.
Part Two will be out soon, since I don't have anything better to do this week. Next week is an entirely different story.
As usual, I'd love to hear what you think!
-Keera