A/N: Hey, guys. I know it's been awhile since I updated, but this chapters really long, so hopefully that makes up for it. Now, I'd love to say this chapter got really into the plot, and questions were answered, and battles were fought, and love triangles were resolved, etc, etc. But none of that happened. The reason this chapter is really long is because I made one tiny reference to Percy's job in the future... And then it got kind of out of hand... And now I'm emotionally invested in a non-existent fictional universe, and I kind of want to write a book series, but copyrights, so I might just make it a new fanfic, as kind of a sequel/spin off to this one. Eh, we'll see how it goes.

Here's the next chapter, hope you like it. Please review!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO but I OWN NICOLAS ANGEL MWA HA HA HA HA

Chapter Nine

"I'm sorry, A… you know I love you...but I despise... your house," Kerri gasped as she stumbled into Adrianne's bedroom, immediately collapsing against the door. "Why couldn't… we all meet… somewhere without five flights of stairs?!"

Adrianne smiled apologetically at her, but it was Jeannine who answered the question. "God, K, didn't you read the email? We have to be here, because we need to look at A's fire escape. It's evidence!"

"Evidence for what?" asked Kerri, who had, in fact, not read the email.

Jeannine rolled her eyes. "I told you! Adrianne's really hot stalker!"

The five friends had all gotten somewhat situated in Adrianne's bedroom, the three of them who'd had the "pleasure" of meeting Nico the other day lying on her bed (well, Adrianne and Tricia were lying on it, Jeannine had sat up to glare dramatically at Kerri), while Helena sat at Adrianne's desk, an unlit cigarette dangling from her teeth.

"He's not that hot," Adrianne assured her friends, specifically Kerri and Helena, who had not been present for their interesting meeting with her "hot stalker". "He's really just a stalker."

"Shut up, you have no taste, he's really hot," Jeannine insisted, waving an impatient hand. "T? Back me up here?"

Tricia, who was fiddling with Adrianne's holographic Walk Man and only half paying attention, looked up. "Well, I mean, he's kinda emo," she remembered, "and really short…" She shrugged. "But he's got nice eyes. Or, I mean, so I assume. He was wearing sunglasses."

"Ugh, why don't you guys agree with me?!" Jeannine groaned, glaring at the other two. "Trish, you said you liked him!"

Tricia shrugged again. "Sorry, J. I really just liked his car."

Adrianne looked up at her sadly. "J, I think you're just feeling boy deprived because Fazz dumped you."

The anger in Jeannine's eyes increased even further. "Bill and I are simply having a rough patch in our relationship!" she snapped. "And besides, A, this isn't about me. This is about you, and your hot crazy stalker boyfriend. Now!" She stood up from the bed, officially changing the subject, and crossed the room to the open window. "You said he stood out here?"

Adrianne sighed and sat up, deciding to give in for now. "Yeah, right outside." She gestured to the fire escape with one hand. "He'd lean against the bar, which is like really dangerous, by the way, and just kinda watch me, but whenever I looked at him, he averted his gaze, and when I opened the window, he disappeared. He also would, like, talk to himself, which started my theory that he's mentally unstable."

Jeannine waved a hand. "Doesn't count, he's got Bluetooth."

"He showed us," Tricia confirmed.

"Who even uses Bluetooth anymore?" Helena pointed out, taking the cigarette out of her mouth and holding it lazily between her fingers. "Isn't that what phone chips are for?"

Jeannine turned from the window. "That's a good point," she realized. "Although, I don't know, he did seem kinda… retro."

"Yeah," Tricia agreed. "Like, his shades had sides, instead of the lenses just fitting to his face."

"And his car had doors, didn't it?" Jeannine added. "Like, actual physical doors, not just force fields?"

"Fun Fact," Adrianne spoke up. "The last time a car with doors was manufactured was in 2025, but the idea for a car without doors came from a Percy Jackson book, published in 2017."

"How do even know that?" Helena asked. Adrianne shrugged.

"You know, Percy Jackson's actually a really good author," Kerri commented, still on the floor in front of the door, but participating in the conversation now that she'd gotten her breath back. "Like, he started writing when he was 20, but he's actually like really good."

Jeannine rolled her eyes. "K, you're just saying that cause you had a crush on Nicolas Angel in sixth grade."

"He is the hottest fictional character to ever be brought into existence by a New Yorker," Kerri countered. "But, I read those books again, like, recently, and Nicolas isn't just hot. He's, like, deep. Jackson's writing style is really thought-provoking, it really debates about issues, and talks about the world how it is, not just how it seems to be, and Nicolas figures this all out while trying to save his and his friends' lives, not to mention having really sexy abs, and-"

"You do know Nicolas Angel is gay, right?" Adrianne interrupted.

"He is not! That is an Internet theory and it is a lie!" Kerri protested.

Adrianne exchanged glances with her other friends, but none of them seemed to be as passionate about it as Kerri was. "He specifically states that he had a crush on his best friend… and all of his best friends are guys."

"Bi counts as his best friend!" Kerri insisted.

"She's his sister," Adrianne countered. "And her name is Bi, that's just Jackson trying to tell us something."

"Nicolas kissed Anna in book four," Kerri pointed out.

"That was just a rumor, even in the books," Adrianne fought back. "Jace found out in book six that Nicolas had made it up to get Talia and Greyson to leave him alone about his mysterious crush, who, in my opinion, died before the books happened and that's why Nicolas refuses to talk about him."

"Also, have you guys noticed that Percy Jackson, like, refuses to write about death?" Tricia joined in. "Like, even in book five, when Bi's killed by Nicolas's stepfather, and Nicolas officially enters his emo stage-"

"His really hot emo stage," Kerri interrupted.

Tricia continued as if Kerri hadn't spoken. "Jackson doesn't actually write the death scene, which is kinda what makes that book the worst of the series, I think. Like, Nicolas gets the threat from Mr. Nekros and hears Bi scream, but then they just skip to the funeral and it's like, what happened? How did she die? Did Nicolas see her dead body before the police showed up? How did he react to it? It's just kinda underplayed, you know?"

"Yeah, and it's the same thing when Levy gets sick in book nine," Adrianne added. "Like, she's Nicolas's stepsister, and they're almost as close as he and Bi were, but not once does he visit her in the hospital. He just drags Jace out to Canada to fight Levy's aunt, and by the time they get back, Franco's healing powers have kicked in and she's fine."

"It's like Jackson's specifically avoiding the emotional scenes," Tricia realized. "And have you guys noticed that all the villains are related to Nicolas in some way? Isn't that weird?"

"Okay, you know what guys? We can discuss this at our next book club, we need to get back to Nico," Jeannine cut in. "Remember? The other hot emo guy in our lives who's, you know, not a fictional character?"

Kerri sighed. "I wish Nico were Nicolas Angel. That would make this meeting so much more interesting."

"No," Jeannine said, glaring at her. "It would just make it more depressing. Now can we please get back to the topic on hand, the topic being how we're gonna see Nico again?"

"Why do we even need to see him again?" Adrianne asked. "He hasn't been on my fire escape since we saw him at school, isn't that victory enough?"

"Of course not!" Jeannine insisted. "Don't you wanna know why he was on your fire escape in the first place?"

Adrianne sighed. "Yeah I guess so..."

"Ooh, did you guys hear Percy Jackson's having a book signing/Q&A at Fordham this weekend?" Tricia asked.

"OMG really?" Kerri squealed excitedly. "Guys we have to go!"

Helena raised the hand not holding her cigarette. "I'll drive."

Adrianne rolled her eyes. "H, don't be stupid, you can't drive four people legally. I'll ask Gigi to drive us."

"A, no one wants to spend twenty minutes in the car with your sister," Jeannine reasoned. "Fordham's not that far, we can just take the bus."

"Wait, so you'd rather talk about Nico the semi-hot stranger than Adonis Nicolas Angel, but as soon as we mention a Q&A session with Percy Jackson, suddenly you're all for it?" Kerri asked.

Jeannine rolled her eyes. "Duh. I follow his wife's tumblr, this thing's gonna be epic. It'll be the best Q&A he's ever had."

Helena fit her cigarette back into her mouth. "Let's just hope he can correctly quote his own books this time."

The Nekros Castle was even scarier at night, and Nicolas held tight to Levy's hand as he led her down the winding pathway to the large, ominous gates. Not for the first time, he regretted agreeing to show his stepsister the home of her father, the home where Bi had been murdered, where he could have saved her, if he'd tried.

"Nicolas?" Levy asked carefully, and he realized he was clenching his fists, squeezing her hand too tight.

"Sorry," he muttered distractedly, loosening his grip.

"It's okay," Levy told him, giving him a soft smile. "Are you all right?"

Nicolas took a deep, yet shaky, breath and reached into the pocket of his aviator's jacket to grip Bi's dagger. "Of course," he told his sister. "I'm fine. Let's go."

He pulled her along, ignoring the skeletons standing guard at the gates, even as Levy stared in awe at them.

"Do you control them?" she whispered. "Or are they still under the power of-"

"No," Nicolas cut her off. "They obey me. Reluctantly. As long as I don't give them too complicated directions, they just stand guard there and leave me alone. You should be safe too."

"Should be?"

Nicolas smirked at her, his scar looking more gruesome than ever. Levy suddenly understood why he usually covered it up.

"Come on," he told her, pulling her through the doors. "I told you I was the Ghost King. Come see my castle."

"Gods, I hate book signings," Percy complained as he entered the kitchen, shirtless and wearing Annabeth's sweatpants.

Annabeth looked up from the couch where she was drinking tea, and smirked at her husband, who was flipping through Nicolas Angel and the Unruly Uncle with one hand and making coffee with the other. "Why?" she asked him.

Percy held up the book in his hand. "Cause the fans are stupid and expect me to memorize stuff I wrote ten years ago so that they can fangirl about it. Like, I don't remember half the stuff that happened in these books, much less the exact words I used."

Annabeth smiled. "Well, you didn't really expect those books to get published."

"Exactly," Percy agreed. He looked back down at the book, reading a passage, then frowned. "Apparently I described Levy's hair as 'chocolate sunlight.' I don't remember doing that." He looked up at Annabeth. "Who does that?"

Annabeth grinned around her mug. "Frank might have added that part."

A look of understanding crossed Percy's face. "Right, I forgot I let him edit this one."

Annabeth shrugged. "Chocolate sunlight's not that bad. I mean, it's nothing compared to the original draft of book three where Jace was said to be 'excessively ripped, almost to a point of unhealthiness'."

Percy groaned. "Gods, Jason. I am so glad I caught that before it went into publishing."

Annabeth laughed. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The fans will love you whether you can quote your books or not. The tumblr followers are already really excited."

Percy rolled his eyes. "What'd you tell them this time?"

Annabeth's smile disappeared, and she looked down into her cup, avoiding Percy's gaze.

Percy frowned and put his book face down on the counter, coming to sit down next to his wife. "Annabeth? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she assured him. "Just… well, I may have made some interesting promises to the fans regarding this signing."

Percy nodded. "Yes, as you always do."

"Except I may have made those promises while Nico was here, and those promises may have included Nicolas Angel's real-life doppelganger coming to talk to them…"

It took Percy a minute to understand what she meant, but he got it eventually. "You told them Nico would be there?"

Annabeth reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, which she handed to him. "Got an anonymous email, saying Nico wants to keep in touch but wants us to contact him first. This is his number. Think you could talk to him?"

"You wrote books about me?!"

"They were never supposed to be published," Percy tried to explain as his cousin paced the kitchen, frantically flipping through Nicolas Angel and the Abolishing Aunt. "They were just a therapy thing, but then Piper knew some people, and we were just gonna print a few copies for us, but then it… ended up being sold worldwide."

"But… you wrote books about me," Nico repeated, staring at the book like he couldn't believe its existence. "You made me tell emotionally scarring secrets to Bianca in Italian, knowing that the fans would be too lazy to translate it. You changed my name, yet you kept the Ghost King. You gave me a scar!"

"That was not in the original draft," Percy reasoned. "It was my editor's idea."

Nico looked up from the book. "Percy. I would look awesome with a scar."

"I know, right?! That's why I put it there!"

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the boys. "Nico, will you come to the signing or not?"

Nico shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. I'll have to read the whole series, though, get into character. And I have to talk to Frank, I kinda left him at the hospital with no explanation so I could follow Bianca's older sister all the way to Staten Island- worst idea ever, by the way. But yeah. I'll come to your thingy thing."

Percy grinned at his cousin. "Great! Thank you, Nico! That- that's awesome!"

"But I need to talk to you first," Nico said, suddenly serious. "I need to… establish some things."

Percy nodded, his smile fading. "Right. Yes. Of course. We can talk right now."

Nico looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you kidding? We can talk later, I gotta read these books, they look awesome!"

With that Nico shadow-traveled away, taking all ten books with him, and reappeared in his father's throne room, where Hades was waiting.

"So are you all good with Percy now?" the god asked.

Nico rolled his eyes and dropped the books into a pile on the floor. "Of course not, Dad. I hurt him too much, I can't get too close to him, or… or I might do it again."

"Then why are you going to his book signing?" Hades questioned.

Nico sighed. "Dad, I followed Adrianne's sister all the way from Manhattan to Staten Island and back. She talked about a lot of things.

"Adrianne reads those books, Dad. She'll be there."

A/N: So yeah. Nicolas Angel is my new favorite thing. I hope you guys like it too. Please review!