Chapter 6

Lawrence p.o.v

"Nico Di Angelo, Hades cabin head counselor." She paused in the library doorway and turned to me. "You coming?" I stood and followed her.

We walked to a black cabin and Emilee knocked on the door. No one answered but I could hear muffled talking inside. "Your ass is mine Di Angelo."

"Oh yeah big boy? Come and get it." I heard footsteps.

"You ready for this?"

"Oh yeah!"

Emilee knocked louder on the door, it swung open and the scene inside was not what I was expecting. The guy who opened the door was tall, with unruly blonde hair, on the floor was a short pale guy in pyjamas holding a Wii controller.

"Hey, we were having our monthly Mario Kart tournament, is it important?" Emilee looked a bit stunned at the lack of sex.

"Uhh yeah," she got out. "We need to talk to Nico about some dead people stuff. Sorry Will" Will looked a bit disappointed but he let us in. Nico turned to us with an annoyed look on his face.

"What is it?" He said in a monotone voice.

"Well, this is Lawrence," She gestured to me. "And he's been experiencing some unique stuff. Visions and memories from a dead demigod's life. Like flashbacks." Nico's eyes widened he stood up.

"That is interesting, do you know who the demigod is?" Emilee nodded, and was about to respond, but she was cut off by the breakfast horn. "Well, let's pick this back up." We turned and went to breakfast.

"Hmmm," Nico sat cross-legged on his bed, Will looking over his shoulder as he read Emilee's research notes. "I've gotta say, I've never heard about anything like this before."

"Good to know," I said sarcastically, "but what is it." Nico glared at me, normally I would have been intimidated, but Nico's skull and crossbones pyjama pants kind of ruined it.

"I'm getting there." He flipped through a few more pages. "What seems to have happened is, this Thomas died, but either he didn't go to the underworld, or he's returned as a ghost somehow. In both cases he's become attached to you." Nico stood. "I'm going to get answers, you coming?"

"Where are you going?" I asked, standing as well.

"To talk to him, of course." He said, with a wicked grin. My face went pale, must be a figure of speech or something. "Hold on to my arm." He continued to us, still with that eerie smile. I grabbed his arm like he said, as darkness pooled around his feet. Holy shit. I saw Will roll his eyes and lay back nonchalauntly. I wanted to ask how he was so fucking calm, but then he was gone.

The three of us were standing in a McDonald's parking lot. I let go of Nico and stumbled back my stomach flipping like a kite in high wind. The venue seemed odd. "Nothing like the Golden arches for communing with dead paratroopers eh." I asked, he shot me yet another glare.

"We aren't doing it here, obviously." He growled. Emilee stumbled around struggling to find her balance.

"Yeah Lawrence, don't you know anything about talking to the dead?" she said, sarcastically. She was still unsteady, so I put a hand on her shoulder, she straightened out immediately, which was good.

Nico led us inside the McDonald's. It was mostly empty except for some high schoolers, eating their lunch and laughing. He sauntered up to the cash register, still wearing his pyjama bottoms. "Ten cheeseburger Happy meals please." The order didn't really fit Nico's gravely tone. The cashier looked stunned then just asked.

"Uh, for here or to go?" Nico handed her forty bucks.

"To go." She took the money and gave Nico his receipt. He turned and took a seat by the window, staring off into the distance like he was in some crappy music video. Emilee and I sat beside him.

"So," I started, semi annoyed. "How is this supposed to help us speak to Thomas?" Nico gave me a look that I couldn't read, probably annoyance and ignored me.

When our Happy meals were ready Nico grabbed them and led us back to the parking lot. "Hold on to me." He said, we both grabbed back onto his arms, and we dissolved into the shadow of a Toyota Prius.

"Gods damn it," I stepped back shivering. "That's fucking weird." We were in a big open field, next to us was a little run down tool shed. I looked to Emilee to make a joke, but it quickly died in my throat. She was on the ground clutching her knees to her chest, clearly shaking. "Emilee," I stepped toward her. "Are you okay?" She nodded, I didn't believe her.

"I'm fine." She said her voice so brittle it sounded like it could shatter at any second. I sat next to her and tentatively put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine," she repeated, voice settling a bit. "It's just, a long story, I'll tell you some time." I helped her to her feet, Nico was standing there awkwardly.

"Alright," he said shuffling from foot to foot. "Let's go get shovels." He pointed to the run down shed. I was about to walk to it, when I had a thought. I reached into my jacket and pulled out my lighter. Quickly it transformed into a long celestial bronze spade.

"I'm set." Nico pointed to the ground at my feet.

"Start digging then." I gave him a thumbs up as he started to walk away with Emilee, who was still unsteady on her feet. I started to dig a hole, I wasn't sure how big to make it so I just kinda dug. The soil wasn't too hard and it was a warm day, so the going was quick.

By the time the others got back I had a pretty decent sized hole. They shoveled a little bit before Nico stepped back. "Alright that's good, everyone out of the hole." We all stepped out and Nico started emptying the Happy meals into the hole.

After he was done wasting all that food he closed his eyes and concentrated. Mist started forming around us and shimmering brings started appearing and walking to the food filled hole. Nico pulled out his sword and held them away, swishing the blade through the misty night air.

Suddenly, my arms started to glow bright white. A figure stepped out of me and turned. He was tall, a helmet on his head, a rifle slung over his shoulder. His body was well built, with broad shoulders, and a lean frame. But his uniform was covered in blood, it dripped all down his front from his chest, which was riddled with shrapnel. Nevertheless, his face held a proud smile, and when he spoke his voice was clear, and commanding.

"Lawrence," his voice was familiar, like I'd heard it in my head a thousand times. "Good to meet you face to face." I nodded.

"Likewise."

"Hopefully the others will join us soon."