"What do you mean you don't know? How could you not know?"
"This hasn't ever happened before. It could be due to many things… Tonnes of variables to be taken into account."
"Well, is there any way that I can I stop it from happening?"
"Hm." My father pushed past me, grabbing old scrolls from the walls at random and splaying them across the dining table. He delved into one of his suit pockets and pulled out his eyeglasses. I strode up beside him, trying to follow his line of sight.
"Aha!" He pointed at an old yellowed scroll, opening it out further. On it the words were smudged and faded, and I couldn't read them to save my life.
"And that means… what?"
"He who is't endues back the deceased, shall has't control o'er whom which he hath brought back and can only control at which hour they fully cullionly t."
"Cool. And that means…"
"Since you helped in bringing Will back, you can control him, er, somewhat."
"So, like, Charmspeak. But only for Will?"
"Well, it's a much more potent, archaic and difficult-to-access ability when compared to the harmspeak, but yes." Okay. I could do this. In order to stop, all I had to do was try to not let it happen. Piece of cake.
"Thank you for that information, Father. I'll best be going."
"Nonsense. I've been a bit lonely down here, only Cerberus for company since Persephone's with her mother, and won't be back for a few months. Come, have a talk with me."
"But I really should get back to Will."
"Please. Stay, I have some important matters to discuss with you." Have you ever seen the cartoon version of Hercules? And how Hades is on fire and blue? Well, my Father did that thing where he goes red when he's angry. It's scared me since I was little, and I still flinch each time it happens. So of course I had to sit down and talk.
Hades pushed the papers and scrolls aside and put his glasses away. He clasped his hands together so that the tips of his fingers made a point.
"Now, you are aware about your time limit?"
"Time limit?" What was he talking about? Time limit for what?
"Bringing someone back, it has to have a repercussion. Otherwise the balance of the world is all eskew and that yada yada."
"So how does that have anything to do with me and Will? Didn't you say that Percy was brought back too?"
"The Fates already have a plan for them, son. His resurrection was brought on by forces that could very nearly match my own. That would be someone you wouldn't want to mess with."
"So back to this time limit. What's it for?"
"Balance of the universe. It's that old saying, 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth'. You bring someone back, you get a set amount of time to live. Then, Thanatos will come to collect the bringer-backerer. In this case, Nico, that person is you."
Woah. I shook my head. How did that seem fair? I thought about the spot I was stuck in. How long was my time? How would I tell Will? How would Katie react when I didn't come home one day?
"How long do I have, Father?"
"Well, the Fates have a plan for you too, as it would seem. You have 5 years." He slid a sandglass across the table. The sand was black, and a little bit had already fallen. The trickle, slow and steady. So slow, it barely looked like it was moving.
"Ok. I best be going now. Will might be getting worried about where I am."
"I'm afraid so." Hades pulled me into a hug, before releasing me and waving sadly as I shadow-travelled back to camp.
I pushed open the door to the apartment, woozy from the amount of shadow travelling I'd done in the past amount of days. Stepping over the threshold, I paused, waiting for someone to wake up or say hello. Instead, I only heard the soft and steady breathing of two people: Will and Katie. I creeped into the bathroom and changed into some pyjamas before hopping into bed with Will. He rolled over and pulled himself closer to me, an arm around my waist. My eyelids grew heavily as I slowly fell asleep. Unfortunately, I dreamed.
"Do you like my picture, Papa?" The picture sprung into my mind, the blobs being replaced by Will and I, Katie and one of Mrs O'Leary's pups. The picture me's hands held strings, strings that fell down and connected with Will's limbs and head. The picture form shouted gibberish, and Will moved to respond to it. Katie sat down, the puppy in her lap as she stroked its huge, floppy ears.
"You controlled him? Are you sure?" The picture blurred and rebuilt as Nisha. She had a book she was flipping through, and kept looking up at me as if to check. She looked at me skeptically. "Like, are you telling me the truth?"
"What do you mean? A time limit?" Nisha morphed into Will, his arms crossed. Katie hid behind his legs, and peeked out at me. I looked down, my hands clinging onto the sandglass. It was nearly empty, the last few grains of sand falling.
I awoke, the curtains light blaring through the window. Turning over, I squinted. A mop of golden hair was beside me, dozing peacefully. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I looked back at the window. A face full of freckles popped up, and started climbing onto the bed.
"Papa! You're back!" Will stirred beside me, turning over and gazing at me and Katie.
"Morning, sunshine."
"Good morning." I kissed his cheek, and Katie settled in between us. She was completely pink head to toe: her hair had pink ribbon in it, and she wore pink butterfly pyjamas, and pink flower socks. "Do we even have to do anything today?"
"No, we don't."
"Then why don't we just lie in bed all day? And just sleep."
"And stories," Katie piped up.
"Thanks Katie. And stories. C'mon Will, let's be lazy."
"Yeah, but I wanted to catch up with Chiron about the counsellor's meeting we missed."
"Ok," I pouted and Katie mimicked me, even crossing her little arms. We all got up, Will jumping in the shower as I helped Katie decide on today's outfit.
"So, yesterday we had overalls. What are you thinking today? A bold playsuit, a twirly dress or some sturdy shorts?" She giggled at the options.
"Playsuit, pwease." So we dressed her in a blue and pink flamingo playsuit, complete with little sneakers and a ballerina bun. Will had just come out of the bathroom when we'd finished. "Daddy, whaddya think?"
Katie stepped around in a circle so that Will could see every side of her.
"Beautiful! C'est magnifique!" He blew her a kiss and smiled, as I hurried off to get changed. When I came out, they were deep in conversation.
"Nuh-uh! Pancakes!" Their foreheads were tapping each other.
"What are you two weird things doing?" They looked up at me as I spoke.
"We're making a bet. What will breakfast be? Katie says pancakes, and I say it'll be eggs and bacon. What do you think?"
"Hm," I scrunched up my mouth, "how about some waffles? We've not had them for a while."
"Ok, so we have eggs and bacon, pancakes or waffles." We were all eager to get there and see what was for breakfast and who would win the bet with no prize. So we speedwalked down, earlier than everyone except the Apollo kids, as usual.
"Haha! I win!" We grabbed two plates and started stacking the waffles on top. Will scooped some ice cream on top of his plate, and we walked to my table. Will wasn't exactly keen to be around his siblings that much anymore.
"Ok, I guess that you win," Will sulked as he cut into the waffles, chopping them into small pieces for Katie. We ate in silence for a while, each coming up with our fun things to do.
"So what do we want to do today?"
"Draw!"
"Talk to Chiron." They weren't terrific options, so I started to think of any other fun things we could do.
"So how about this?" I waited intently for them to nod that they were listening. "We go see Chiron, and then we could go to the stables; feed the pegasi and Danny might even see if you could sit on one of the foals, Katie. How about that?"
I received two nods, which mean that that was our new plan of attack for the day. And I might even have time later to find Ciardha and inform her about last night. Will hadn't asked about it again because of Katie, but I could see the question barely contained in his eyes.
We finished the stacks of waffles, ice cream, and maple syrup. We only had the occasional question from Katie about the pegasi; why we weren't sitting at the Apollo table; and why Percy, Annabeth, or Nisha weren't sitting with us. The last one was difficult to explain, as she couldn't wrap her head around having set tables for sibling and partner groups. Leaving the dining pavilion, we headed up to the Big House. On the wrap-around verandah, Chiron sat in his wheelchair across from Mr. D. Both had cards in their hands, and poker faces.
"Mr. D." Will spluttered, dropping Katie's right hand, "when did you get back?"
"Ah, if it isn't Noah Apeggio and Wren Sodor. I only got back as you were having breakfast, and I already miss my vacation."
"Where did you go, Mr. D.?"
"I was on 'long service leave' and it was delightful, just five weeks of getting wild and roaming around with a bunch of maenads and lovely dryads on my arms."
"What can we do for you, Will?" Chiron interceded, lying his cards down so that Mr. D. couldn't peek.
"I wanted to ask what we missed when we were picking up Katie? At the councillor meeting? Can we step inside?"
Chiron nodded, wheeling his chair inside to the study as Will followed him. I stayed outside with Katie still clutching at my hand.
"So what is that?" Mr. D. popped a can of Coca-Cola open and nodded at Katie, "She looks a little too young to be a camper."
"I-I-I'm Katie," she ducked behind my legs, peeking out slightly, "And that's Papa."
Mr. D. raised an eyebrow at me questionly.
"I'm not one to judge, but aren't you a bit young to have a kid. She's what, three? And you and Warren are like 15? And where did this kid come from? I'm not trying to assume gender or whatever's between anyone's legs, but correct me if I'm mistaken. Aren't you two male?"
"Will and I adopted her."
"Oh." He seemed sad, like he was expecting a more thrilling story, before sipping his drink and setting it on the table, "That's fine. But geez, first an attack on the camp, and now campers adopting children. I should have vacations more often. Or not."
Katie giggled, "You talk a lot." She then slowly stepped out from my legs, and peeked at Chiron's cards.
"What's a bea-"
"Ah, I see we've found Dionysus a new accomplice. May I have my cards back?" Chiron wheeled back onto the verandah, taking the cards from Katie. Mr. D. looked downfallen, mad that he hadn't found out about the cards.
"Well, we have a busy day today. We're off to the stables to show Katie the pegasi. Thank you for clearing it up with me, Chiron." We waved goodbye as we headed along a dirt trail towards the stables.
