Chapter 6: Sneaky Sorceress
Hey everyone I'm back with a new chapter. Sorry this one took a while but I think you'll enjoy how this one turned out. I hope you like what I have planned. Please Review and Enjoy.
We find ourselves along the coast, as the Olympian Academy Ecology class had to take notes on the coastal ecosystem during the weekend, but once they finished, they were allowed to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach. Needless to say, many wanted to get this done fast.
"Alright, guys just a few more and…we're done." Icarus said writing down notes.
"Don't you think you rushed this assignment?" Tempest raised an eyebrow.
"Come on Tempest. How often do we get a day to relax?" Hercules asks.
"Ha! Relax, the excuse of the weak." Tempest mocks.
"I'm guessing Amazons don't take days off?" Nico assumes.
"You would be correct. Every day is a battle to better ourselves and our skills." Tempest said.
"Well what if you took this as a way to better your interactions with your classmates and friends?" Nico suggests causing Tempest to pause.
"Hmm I never considered that. I do spend quite a large amount of time with you three." Tempest said looking at them.
"Yeah you do baby." Icarus said when Tempest grabs him and pulls him in close.
"Never call me that." Tempest glares.
"Yes ma'am." Icarus cringed before she let go.
"Come on guys how often do we get to enjoy a day at the beach?" Hercules smiles grabbing Nico and leading him. "Follow me Nico."
"Herc wait." Nico said struggling to keep up.
Ever since Nico had helped Hercules beat Perseus and earned Pegasus from his father, Hercules had basically made Nico his official trainer/ best friend forever.
Little did any of them know on a small island across from the beach someone was looking at the students gathered on the beach, specifically the males.
"Hmm quite a few men. Big and strong, small and average, maybe a few brains. Hmm maybe I can have some fun." A female voice said before walking away.
On the beach, the students were having a party as they enjoyed their beach weekend.
"Alright people! Let's party until the sun goes down!" A teenage boy with shiny blonde hair and a headband yells causing everyone to cheer. This was Helios.
"Ugh." Luna groans watching him from a table with Thea next to her. "Sometimes I can't believe he's my brother."
"Welcome to my world." Thea rolls her eyes speaking from experience.
"Hey Nico wanna join us for a game?" Hercules asks.
"I'm good." Nico said as he appeared to struggle finding a chair.
"What's wrong with him?" Thea asks curiously.
"Wrong with who?" Luna asks before looking over. "Oh it's him again. You know you're supposed to be keeping an eye on Hercules not his friend.
"I am well aware of my assignment, he just happens to associate with a mortal I have interacted with from time to time." Thea said.
"Look if you want to hear someone tease you about boys go talk to Aphrodite. I could care less about males." Luna rolls her eyes.
"You're just saying that because you've never been in a relationship." Thea smirks.
"You're one to talk." Luna smirks back.
"This why I prefer talking with you Luna." Thea smiles.
"I enjoy our talks too." Luna smiles.
"Let's see." Nico moves his walking stick around and feels an empty chair. "Perfect."
Nico was about to move in when suddenly a foot sticks out and trips him making him fall face-first into the sand.
"Oops guess you should watch where you're going. Oh wait you can't." Adonis mocks as he takes the chair Nico was about to take.
"Ha ha real funny Adonis." Nico said brushing sand off him.
"Thank you, now get out of the way you're blocking my sun." Adonis said shooing him away.
Nico grips his walking stick tight wanting nothing more than to smack Adonis with it.
"I hate you." Nico growls.
"Like I care." Adonis scoffs as Nico walks away.
Deciding to just down in the sand, Nico sighs.
"Hey Nico what'cha doing?" Pandora asks walking up to him.
"There's a familiar voice." Nico said looking in her direction.
"Yeah not since the box incident." Pandora gulps nervously.
"You haven't gone looking for that thing again, have you?" Nico asks.
"No absolutely not. I hope I never find that thing again." Pandora said.
"Thank Zeus for that." Nico said.
"But I am curious about one thing. You seem to be struggling just to get by. At school, you walk around like you're not even blind." Pandora said.
"That's because I use my feet to feel the vibrations around me, but this sand is so loose and shifty it makes everything feel fuzzy so I kinda have to drop down on the whole blind super sense scale and go back to my walking stick." Nico said picking some sand up.
"Sorry to hear that." Pandora said when Helios walks up to them.
"Hey can I borrow this? Thanks." Helios said taking Nico's walking stick.
"Hey! I need that!" Nico said.
Pandora looks over to see Helios was using Nico's walking stick as a limbo stick.
"How low can you go people?!" Helios laughs as students lined up.
"He stole a walking stick from a blind person. I'm pretty sure whoever he is just won." Nico glares causing Pandora to giggle.
"S-Sorry that wasn't laughing at your situation, but w-what you said." Pandora said nervously. "Uh I'll just go see if I can get it back."
"Please and thank you." Nico said as Pandora walked away.
"Such disrespectful behavior." Tempest said walking up to him.
"I take it you're not enjoying your time off?" Nico assumes.
"It's ridiculous. These beach games are no challenge and the company are hardly enjoyable." Tempest said.
"Well can you at least help me over to the guy who took my stick?" Nico asks.
"Sure." Tempest said helping Nico up.
As they walked past Luna she eyes them curious.
'I had my eye on that amazon because they like me don't need to rely on the help of men, so why did she choose to follow them?' Luna thought when she saw them stop in front of Helios.
"Look I know you want to have fun but that stick belongs to Nicodemus." Pandora said.
"Don't worry I'm not gonna break it." Helios said brushing it off.
"It doesn't matter you didn't even ask for it. Give it back." Nico said.
"Boo what a party pooper." Helios said as quite a few students booed him as well.
"Alright I can't stand this anymore." Luna said getting up.
Curiously, Thea watches as Luna yanks the stick out of her brother's hands.
"Hey what's the deal sis?" Helios asks.
"The deal is you just took a blind person's only way of seeing to party." Luna said in disgust.
"Wait you're blind?" Helios asks looking at Nico.
"I'm blind? Wow I had no idea." Nico said sarcastically.
"Oh geez. I must look like such an idiot right now. I wasn't even paying attention." Helios said.
"You always look like an idiot." Luna said before walking away.
"Uh hey wait." Nico said as he and Tempest went after her.
As Pandora looks over a ship came ashore.
"Hi boys." A female voice said.
Looking over, all the male students including Hercules, Icarus and Adonis saw a girl with long black hair, a red outfit and some very fancy staff in her hands.
Raising her staff the top part of it glowed and the males started to sigh.
"So boys, name's Circe. I'm looking for some nice men would like to keep me company." Circe said.
"Right here." Hercules said.
"No! No! Pick me!" Icarus said raising his hand before Adonis shoves him out of the way.
"Hardly, a girl like her deserves the best." Adonis said when other students fought to try and prove who was better man.
"What is going on? The guys are acting dumber than usual." Pandora said curiously.
As Circe strutted around the other girls were started to get jealous as the men ditched them in favor of her.
"Adonis what are you doing?" Andromeda asks.
"Yeah whatever." Adonis said brushing her off not even listening.
"You see boys I'm looking for a nice man to join me. I'm all by myself on an island and I'm so bored." Circe teases.
"I can keep you company!"
"No me!"
"Me!"
"Calm down boys one at a time." Circe giggles.
As Luna made her way back to Thea, Nico and Tempest spotted her.
"Hey!" Luna turns to see Nico and Tempest walking over.
"Is something wrong?" Luna asks.
"Nicodemus, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Thea asks.
"Oh Thea, you're here too? I just wanted to say thanks for getting my stick back uh, what's your name?" Nico asks.
"Luna." She narrows her eyes.
"Well thank you Luna. I really appreciate it." Nico said.
"What are you trying to do?" Luna asks confusing him.
"Excuse me?" Nico asks.
"What's your angle? Are you trying to get something from me?" Luna asks suspicious.
"My friend is just trying to show how much he appreciated your earlier gesture." Tempest said.
"I see, well you can go then." Luna said gesturing with her hand.
"Uh did I say something?" Nico asks confused but Thea's owl just hoots.
"It's not you, Luna is just not a fan of men." Thea said.
"I can understand that." Tempest nods.
"Well I'm sorry if you thought I was trying anything." Nico said.
"Hercules, Icarus! What are you doing?!" Pandora calls out.
"Adonis come back!" Andromeda calls out.
Turning around they saw Hercules, Adonis, Icarus and about a dozen other male students following Circe towards her island.
"What? What are we looking at?" Nico asks confused.
"I think that girl is making off with our friends and classmates." Tempest said.
As Tempest led Nico over to Pandora and Andromeda they nudged them.
"What happened?" Nico asks.
"We don't know, one look at her and the boys started acting like dumb animals." Pandora said.
"Even Adonis." Andromeda said.
"Well he wasn't much of a stretch." Nico said causing Thea to giggle.
"We can't abandon our friends. We have to get them back." Tempest said.
Running after them, Nico trips on the sand and falls.
"Uh little help." Nico said.
Turning around Thea helps him up. "Come on we gotta hurry."
"Lead the way." Nico said taking Thea's hand surprising her at first before she shook her head and they raced after them only find the men got onto a boat with Circe and went to her island.
"We missed them!" Tempest growls annoyed.
"Oh no, this is not good at all." Nico gulps.
"I'm pretty sure if half the class doesn't come back, we're all in trouble." Pandora gulps.
"I don't suppose your Amazon training included boats?" Nico asks looking to Tempest.
"Yes but to navigate a boat big enough to bring them all them back I would need extra hands and you're not exactly made for work on ship, no offense." Tempest said.
"None taken." Nico said.
"I can help, I've done a lot of sailing." Andromeda said.
"Sorry but I don't know anything about sea life." Pandora cringed.
"Uhm Thea, I know you and I don't know each other much, but we could really use some help." Nico said.
Thea paused to think. 'Normally I have to stay out of such things, on the other hand I was asked by Zeus to keep an eye on his son.'
Hooting Thea's owl nudged her. "I guess Luna and I could help you out."
"Excuse me?" Luna raised an eyebrow.
"Aw but I wanted to spend some quality time with my baby sis." Helios pouts when Luna turns to them.
"Race you all to the boat." Luna said as they went to rescue their friends.
On her island, Circe had all the men lined up as she inspected them.
"Hmm no, no, no." Circe said before she reached Icarus. "Hmm unique."
"You know it baby." Icarus smiles when Hercules lifts Icarus up with one hand.
"One do you think of that?" Hercules asks causing Circe to smirk. "Hmm strong."
"Sure if you want average, but I am far above average." Adonis said.
"Yeah…no." Circe said already annoyed with him.
Raising her staff, all the rejects fell under a strange trance and walked away.
"I guess the market for decent men is just small." Circe said when she noticed something in the distance. "Now what do we have here?"
Holding up her staff a bright light shined and saw Nico and Tempest's boat heading towards them.
"Ooh looks like I have a late arrival. Sad to say the girl has to go, but I should at least give them a proper welcome." Circe said firing a blast at the water.
"So Circe, what can I do to make your day happy?" Icarus asks.
"Perhaps a nice evening?" Hercules offers.
"Hmm I might take you boys up on that, but there's only one of me and two of you." Circe said walking away.
Hearing this Hercules and Icarus shove past each other to try and follow her.
Meanwhile on the ocean, the waves started to rock violently as Tempest was at the wheel, and Thea, Luna, Andromeda and Nico were holding on.
"Where did these waves come from?!" Andromeda asks.
"Clearly the work of Circe's magic." Thea said.
"Everyone hang on, we're almost there!" Tempest said as they neared the island when a large wave knocked the ship causing Nico to fall overboard. "Nico!"
"Help!" Nico said scrambling to stay above the water. "I can't swim!"
"Hang on Nico!" Thea said about to dive in when Luna jumped into the water first.
Struggling to stay above the water Nico slowly sinks underwater when Luna dives in and pulls him to the surface.
Coughing Nico turns to Luna and hugs her. "Oh Thea, thank you. You saved my life." Grabbing her by the cheek, Nico leans in and kisses Luna on the cheek causing her to blush in shock.
"Uh actually it's me." Luna said causing his eyes to widen.
"Oh well." Nico said beyond embarrassed. "Uhm please don't leave me to drown."
This man, this man had dared to press his lips against her skin. Part of Luna wanted to let go and leave him to drown for such a deed, but this wasn't like other men she had met.
He wasn't after her or doing things with some ulterior motive. He was a kind, grateful male who didn't show any of that.
In the end, Luna swam to the boat and they helped her and Nico back onto it.
"Are you both okay?" Thea asks concerned.
"Yeah, thanks to Luna." Nico pants.
Luna looks over at Nico's smiling face and when she looked into his cloudy white eyes, she couldn't help but smile back.
"We're here." Tempest said as they docked.
"Can you two stay here? I feel after Tempest and I find the others we'll need to leave fast." Nico said.
"Wait, I want to come too." Andromeda said. "I need to find Adonis."
"Really? Him?" Tempest asks.
"Andromeda you can do so much better than that guy. He cares more about himself and I bet he hasn't even thought about you once." Nico said.
"You guys want to save your friends and who is gonna find everyone else?" Andromeda asks.
"Okay, you find the others. Nico and I will deal with Circe." Tempest said.
"How are we gonna get her attention?" Nico asks when all the girls turned to him. "You're all looking at me, aren't you?"
In Circe's main room, she sat on a nice fancy chair while Hercules fanned her and Icarus fed her fruits.
"Aw this is the life." Circe sighs when she heard a tapping noise.
"Circe, I have come for my friends!" Circe looks to see Nico walk in.
"Oh this is cute, a little hero." Circe said sitting up and picking up her staff. "Tell me what's your name?"
"Nicodemus Stone." Nico glares walking towards her.
"Well Nicodemus, what do you think of me now?" Tempest holds up her staff and it started to glow.
Smirking Nico swings his stick and knocks Circe staff out of her hands shocking her.
"Not much." Nico said.
"How did you? That's impossible? How did you avoid seeing into my staff?" Tempest asks not noticing Andromeda sneak by her towards the cell.
"Easy." Nico waves his hand in front of his face revealing he could see.
"You're blind?" Circe gasps before turning to Hercules and Icarus. "Get him!"
Both boys were about to charge in when suddenly a spear impaled the ground in front of them.
"I wouldn't take another step if I were you." Tempest said coming out of the shadows.
"You see Circe, unfortunately for you, magic isn't gonna get you out of this one." Nico said swinging his walking stick but Circe dodges the attack and grabs her staff.
"Fine, you wanna dance? Let's dance." Circe growls.
In the jail cells of Circe's palace, Adonis and all the other rejects were laying around free from her spell since she had no use for them.
"This is humiliating. I deserve my own cell." Adonis said.
"Really Adonis? You do realize that lady tricked us and put a spell on us?" One said.
"Well at least I'm a prisoner of the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen." Adonis said.
"Is that so?" Andromeda said appearing on the other side of the bars.
"Andromeda, darling. What are you doing here?" Adonis asks as she glares at him.
"I came here to rescue you this is the thanks I get?" Andromeda asks in a huff.
"You didn't let me finish. Prisoner of the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen next to Andromeda." Adonis said but she grabbed him by the top of his robes.
"Nicodemus was right. I can do so much better than you." Andromeda glares before pushing him back.
"Uh Princess, I hate to interrupt but can you get us out?" Another boy asks.
Grabbing the cell keys, Andromeda and the men run out.
"This way, follow me to freedom!" Adonis said running ahead, but they ended up in the throne room where Nico and Circe were pushing each other back and Tempest was keeping Hercules and Icarus at bay.
"Adonis, this is the throne room." Andromeda said.
"I'm a Prince, finding a throne is second nature." Adonis scoffs.
'What did I ever see in him?' Andromeda thought.
"Hercules, Icarus! Snap out of it!" Tempest said using her spear to keep them away.
"We will protect Circe!" Hercules said throwing a punch.
Stabbing her spear into the ground Tempest swings out of the way as Hercules punched a giant hole in the wall where she was.
Icraus leaps at her but Tempest jumps up and kicks him back before doing a backflip and nailing Herc in the chest but his strong muscles took her attack head on.
"Uh oh." Tempest gulps.
Hercules slams his foot down but Tempest rolls out of the way causing Herc's foot to go through the stone floor.
Standing up Tempest uses this open to deliver a kick knocking Herc into Icarus knocking them both to the ground.
As Tempest swings her staff Nico bobs and weaves dodging the attacks before swinging his staff knocking her back a few feet.
Moving in he slams his staff down but Circe blocks him.
"You know you're not half bad. Sure I can't convince you to stay as one of my pets?" Circe asks.
"Not interested." Nico growls.
"Shame." Circe said before stomping on Nico's bare feet causing him to cringe in pain before knocking him to the ground. "Guess I'll just have to settle for your friends."
Andromeda holds out her staff and from the top a bright ball of light started to shine.
Standing up Nico waited before Circe released the attack and slid under it surprising her as he nailed her in the chest knocking her staff out of her hands.
"Tempest!" Nico grabs the staff and threw it towards her.
Drawing a dagger, Tempest slashes it in half breaking Hercules and Icarus from the spell.
"Huh? What the?" Hercules said before noticing Icarus was on top of him and his foot was through the floor. "Icarus, why are you and I like this?"
"I don't know but man my body is in pain." Icarus groans.
"Sorry about that, but in my defense she did make you act like dumb animals." Tempest said.
"Oh great. How am I supposed to handle living on this stupid island now?" Circe asks.
"My advice, stay away from men for a little bit." Tempest suggests.
"And if you do want a guy in your life. Try the nonmagic route." Nico glares.
Circe looks at him and saw he wasn't messing around. "Fine." She sighs.
"Let's get outta here." Nico said.
Getting on the boat, they left Circe's island hoping they would never return.
"Nico, Tempest, you two are the real heroes today." Hercules said.
"Guess constant training pays off." Icarus said.
"Thanks but honestly, I think after all that I wouldn't mind a day off." Tempest smiles.
"Yeah same." Nico nods.
"Boy we must've looked so desperate and stupid under that spell of hers." Hercules said.
"Speak for yourself, I looked as amazing as always. Circe would have totally fallen for me." Adonis said.
"Oh nice to know." Andromeda glares causing him to yelp.
"Uh Andromdea sweetie I uh—"
"Save it Adonis. I don't wanna hear another word out of that dumb mouth of yours." She said dumping him.
"Ouch, I'd like to see you and your dumb looks get you out of this mess." Nico smirks.
"What would you know about looks? Not like anyone will find your looks attractive." Adonis said shoving past them walking to the other side of the boat with the other men.
"This is why I hate men." Luna mumbles when Thea was about to deal with this.
"Nico don't listen to him." Hercules said.
"Yeah the only thing that guy knows is looks." Icarus said.
"It's okay, one of the great things about being blind is I don't have to waste my time worrying about appearances. I don't care what I look like. You guys all want to prove yourselves to someone but I'm not looking for approval from anyone: you, the school, or even the Olympians. I know who I am." Nico said as a tear runs down his eye.
"You see, it's stuff like that, that makes me realize you're who I need to help train me." Hercules said.
"Nicodemus you are a lot stronger and more confident than just about everyone on this boat." Tempest said putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks guys." Nico said as they docked.
As they climbed off Thea offered him a hand.
"Thanks for all the help." Nico said.
"Well I couldn't exactly let this slide." Thea said.
"Well it means a lot that you and Luna helped." Nico said.
"Hey don't listen to Adonis and… for what it's worth, I think you're very handsome." Thea said.
"Thank you. I'd return the compliment but I have no idea what you look like." Nico said causing her to giggle.
As Luna watched them, she remembered when she dived in to save Nico and he kissed her in thanks. Looking up at Thea and Nico a strange new feeling coursed through her body. For some reason she wished that it was her laughing with Nico.