Halloween was approaching, and like each year Nico loved it. He enjoyed the spooky atmosphere, the free candy, the ghosts that secretly walked around on the streets (they all appeared on the twenty-seventh of october and disappeared on one November. Hades had given up on keeping them inside of the Underworld long ago), the free candy, the mist that got weaker and weaker (only to get it's usual strength back by one November) and spending time with Will.
Nico had spend most of his Halloween-years in camp Half-Blood, but this year he decided that that wasn't the only thing he would do. The idea had been in the back of his mind for a long time, and now he was going to put it to action. He needed Will for it, plus the three demigods that had once helped him to walk Cerberus.
On the twenty-eighth of October, Nico made sure Will ate a lot and they shadow-traveled to the Underworld after that. They appeared in Elysium, which was exactly where Nico wanted to land. Together, Nico and Will walked through the streets, which had been severely spookified for Halloween. First, they arrived at Silena and Beckendorf's house. Nico knocked. Silena opened the door, and when she recognised Nico, immediately called her boyfriend and pulled them into her house.
Some of the rooms in the house of Beckendorf and Beauregard were pretty and smelled like roses, while others looked more like little factories. Somehow, it still looked good. Nico quickly explained what his plan was, and the four of them ran out of the mansion. The next house was Castors' place, which looked like somebody just threw three styles together and covered if in grapevines (because that's what happened).
Silena knocked on the door, and a woman opened the door. Silena talked with her for a bit. 'That's Castor's half-sister, Amelia. She had to many rooms left, so he decided to move in with her. The house is split into two sides, one being in Victorian-English style and the other very modern.' Castor walked past his half-sister, and joined the group. 'I heard something about a plan. What it is?'
'Lee Fletcher was a very good guy, but I never guessed he would be 'Isles of the Blessed'-good,' Will remarked. Nico shrugged as he and Will ran over to a huge house, even bigger than the most humongous house in Elysium. 'Apparently his soul has earned Elysium three times.' They had already send the other three over to Hades' palace, where they were almost always welcome on part of being Nico's friends, which kept him out of Hades and Persephone's hair.
Will knocked on the door. Lee seemed surprised to see his brother, and was even more surprised to find out Will wasn't dead. 'Make sure you don't get hungry,' he told his brother as he got out of the house. Will leaned closer to Nico and whispered into his ear: 'If everybody keeps talking about food, I am going to get hungry.'
As soon as they had reunited with Silena, Charles and Castor again, Nico decided to explain his plan further. 'So. The idea is to scare Hades, and I already know how I am going to do that. Don't worry, I told Persephone about this, and she thought it was hilarious too. We can't trust her completely, obviously, but I think Hades won't blast us to Tartarus. I mean, we also went bungee jumping and kart-racing here, and build a news channel, and whatever else. So I think he will spare us when we only want to give him the ultimate Halloween experience.'
'Lee, you stand at the music over here' - Nico pointed at an old DJ-stand - 'make sure it is the classical creepy music, or just whatever you found in The Fields Of Punishment. Lee grinned. 'Is my recording of Luke Castelan singing in the shower enough?' Nico's expression darkened. 'That's maybe to creepy. To be honest, I don't even want to know how you got that. Just build up a spooky atmosphere.'
'Silena, you lead him to the Throne room. Talk over him when he tries to ask questions. Beckendorf, you handle the construction. I assume you can figure out on your own how it works. It will trigger a few scary dolls to fall from the ceiling. So, Silena, make sure he is really distracted, so the surprising element is very big. He is not going to be scared of a few paper dolls.'
'Castor, you make sure vines grow around his body so he can't move. Than, the dolls will get closer. Lastly, Will, you record everything.' As Nico pushed an old recorder into his boyfriend's' hands, Will coughed. 'Erm, Nico, not to ruïn the fun, but he's a god - won't he just blast everything away?' Everyone stared at him in complete silence. Will coughed again. 'Do you guys just always make up plans and think afterwards?' Lee sighed. 'Will, you finally get it.'
Smiling sweetly, Silena walked over to Hades. 'Lord, I have a few questions. I understand you need to get to the throne-room, so maybe we can talk along the way?' Hades raised his eyebrow. 'Is this about that stupid newschannel again, or are the five of you trying to get permission to paintball around here?' Silena shot him a shocked look. 'Lord, we would never! Well, accept for that one time...' she muttered behind it. The lord of the dead sighed. 'This is going to get crazy in a few minutes. So, what is the first question?'
Slowly, Silena and Hades made their way to the throne room. As soon as they entered, Lee started the scary music. Hades sighed. 'What does the machine has to do with anything?' Silena widely opened her eyes. 'What machine?' I don't see any machine!' She said while looking around the room. Hades gave her a stern look. 'Girl, you know exactly what I am talking about. Was this Nico's idea? What's going to happen? How many of you are involved?' Silena gave him a confused look in return. 'Lord, you need to say what you are talking about!'
Just as Hades was about to tell her to back off and let him work, beckendorf put the machine in action. Four scary dolls flew through the room, all in different styles, even though two were victorian-looking. Hades tried to step away, bit realised he was stuck. Vines had grown around his feet and stuck him to the ground. He sighed again. 'Very funny. I am going to run out of sighs for this century if you kids keep doing this.
Will rolled his eyes. He jumped on the DJ stand. 'This isn't going to work!' He screamed, while accidently slamming a button. Lee gasped. 'No!' He screamed, while the old music stopped and a new record started playing. Will tried to stop it, but accidently turned the volume up.
What followed was a horrific sound. It sounded like a dolphin in pain, and the hidden demigods fell out of their hiding spots, holding their hands to their ears. Silena sunk to the ground, Castor and Nico got down from the ceiling, and Beckendorf came from behind the machine. Lee and Will were frantically trying to stop it, while Hades just stood in the middle of the throne room with a horrified look on his face.
Finally, Lee punched the right button, and the sound stopped. Hades glided over to him. 'What was that?' He asked angrily. Lee grinned stupidly. 'A recording of Luke Castellan singing in the shower. It wasn't supposed to start playing.' Hades turned to Will. 'Can you be even more clumsy?' He asked, while Will ducked away in a corner. Nico walked over to him, and tapped his dad's arm. 'So it was terrifying?' He asked.
Hades sighed. 'Yes. I guess you succeeded this time.' Will quickly grabbed Nico's hand, and squeezed it tightly. At that moment, Persephone walked into the room. She looked around, saw the ghosts and demigods scattered around the room, the creepy dolls hanging from the ceiling with invisible strings, the music stand, and her husband just standing there looking both impressed, angry and annoyed, and stopped walking. 'What happened?'
Hades sighed (he was going to run out of sighs before the decennium was over like this) and explained everything. His wife held back a giggle, which Hades noticed and the ghosts and demigods took the chance to sprint out of the room, back to Elysium.
When they arrived, they stood still. Will looked at Nico. 'I think I am a little hungry now. Let's go back to the surface. The others waved them goodbye, and told Nico that if he had another plan (like playing 'Poor Unfortunate Souls in front of everyone in the fields of punishment, or playing the imperial march anytime Hades entered a room) he should notify them.
Will wasn't so sure he would be around in the Underworld next time, tough.