In Shadowed Eyes
Even the Gods can show sympathy, however unwelcome their blessings may be. When Aphrodite, a goddess born of sea and foam, grants a blessing to another child of the ocean, she irrevocably alters the prophecy. Because when Percy Jackson looks across the Lotus Hotel and Casino and meets the wide, dark eyes of a Son of Death, everything changes. Percy x Nico
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"Nico di Angelo," the boy replied automatically, but then his eyes widened even more. He looked like a small, scruffy owl. "But I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."
"Can you play card games with them?" Percy asked, gesturing to the colorful figures littering the table. One symbol in particular caught his eye. "Is that a trident?"
"I don't think I'm su- oh! Yeah, this is Poseidon!" The easily distracted boy pushed an image of a muscular, tanned man with a long white beard in his direction. "He's the God of the Ocean. He has 1400 attack points, which is the smaller than Hades and Zeus, but his defense points double when you activate a water-based area card. And he gets an extra critical hit point for every nereid in the field."
"I like him," Percy said, studying the figurine that accompanied the card. There was something more relaxed about this image than the one beside it, of a grim man wielding a lightning bolt. "Did you know that he's also the father of horses? Does he get any extra points for that?"
"Mythomagic didn't mention that," Nico complained, looking almost personally offended by the game's lack. "Er, do you want to play with me?"
The Son of Poseidon studied the younger boy silently. He was still feeling hungry and tired but there was something about the hopeful look in those eyes that tugged at his heartstrings. "Sure," he found himself saying, "Teach me how to play."
Nico was promptly off telling him about a fairly complex card game that apparently involved every Olympian ("But you need to sacrifice double the divine points to call them"), monster ("You can't have them fight together so I mostly use them for ritual sacrifices"), and artifact ("My favorite is the Golden Fleece because it gives you back one-fifth of your health every round"). There was a lot of battleground positioning too, since certain cards could only move in certain positions, like Poseidon being limited to seven square spaces around any ocean-area card. It involved more critical-thinking than Percy liked when he was relaxing but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be either.
'This kid's a complete geek,' Percy thought, not unkindly as the scruffy-haired boy jumped from one quick explanation of an obscure deity to another. He was the demigod here but Nico had just taught him five new things about Greek mythology. "So can I attack you with my Hellhound card now?"
"Nope!" Nico grinned at him, turning one over, "I have the Shield of Aegis, which scares all monster Level 10 and weaker away."
At Percy's clear confusion, he elaborated, "The Shield of Aegis was a gift from Athena to the hero Perseus to defeat Medusa. She was a freaky monster with snake hair that could turn anyone that looked at her into stone, so he used the shield as a mirror to reflect her powers back to her. Later Athena asked for Medusa's head and attached it to the shield to make an even scarier weapon."
'So my namesake beat Medusa too then.'
Since Percy had never played the game before (and was more interested in listening to Nico's impromptu lectures instead), he was soundly defeated by the younger boy. Within a few rounds, the Son of Poseidon's forces were being slaughtered from every direction as General Nico mercilessly chirped his way to victory. The dark-eyed boy even rubbed his hands together evilly a few times, to which his opponent kindly ducked his head and did not laugh.
Finally Percy's sole remaining soldier- the lonely Hellhound from before- was swallowed up by a power-boosted Dionysus and the Son of Poseidon was rethinking his antagonistic attitude to Mr. D.
"Want to play another round?" Nico was almost bouncing on his seat at this point, and Percy, still operating on the owl resemblance, almost thought he would start flying up into the ceiling.
"I'm actually kind of hungry now," Percy's stomach grumbled its agreement. Seeing the boy's face fall, he added. "Do you know any good places to eat here?"
It immediately brightened again. "There's a good Italian restaurant on the third floor. My sister and I eat there all the time."
"You have a sister?" Percy asked, helping him gather the cards.
"Yeah, Bianca's older than me by two years," Nico had apparently gotten over his wariness of strangers. "She wanted to stay in the room and watch some silly telenovela today."
Percy was about to ask about his parents when the boy grabbed his hand and the thought flitted away. There was the momentary hint of static again but Nico's enthusiasm overshadowed it as he tugged the older boy out of his seat. The deck of cards and box of figurines were tucked into the boy's oversized sweatshirt pockets- Go Washington Wizards!- before they started walking.
Nico's hand was icy cold and Percy found himself wrapping his fingers more tightly around them to warm them. The younger boy moved through the hotel like he had lived here his entire life, which probably meant that his parents were loaded. He wasn't much like the other rich kids that Percy had met though; he couldn't imagine Nancy Bobofit going out of her way to help anyone after all.
"This is the restaurant," Nico declared quite unnecessarily, looking over for a response. Unsure, Percy smiled awkwardly back and received a wide grin. "Do you like pasta? It's my favorite."
"I like blue waffles." The waiters were scarily efficient here, immediately sweeping them off to their tables. Percy didn't bother to pick up the menu when he asked for whatever the other boy ordered.
"Oh?" Nico considered that and responded definitively. "That's weird."
"Blue's my favorite color. I try to eat as many blue foods as I can," Percy explained, taking a bite of the spiced ravioli. "Other people think it's weird too."
"Weird's not a bad thing," the other boy said earnestly, "I think your weirdness is cool."
"Thanks, I think," Percy replied, laughing. It suddenly occurred to him that this was the first time in the week that he could relax and just chat with someone. Sure, Grover was his best friend and Annabeth was definitely cool, but they had the stress of the quest hanging over them too.
'The quest. I have to finish the quest,' Percy remembered, attention drifting from Nico's stories of his other Mythomagic strategies, 'I can stay here for a little longer, can't I? A small break? It's not like I'll get to talk to Nico again when I have to leave.' He stabbed his fork a little harder into the next piece. Great, now he could count his friends off of one hand again.
"Percy, you're not listening to me," Nico whined, drawing him out of thoughts.
"Sorry. Just distracted by stuff," he tried to smile, "Are you sure that you should be sharing all of your strategies with me?"
"I can always make new ones," the boy responded, happy to have his attention again, "Want to meet my sister?"
"Why not?" He paid attention to the rest of the conversation. Nico shared information about himself freely and Percy soon learned that he loved naps, spoke Italian fluently, wore black clothes since he used to be a messy eater as a kid, and wanted to be a diplomat when he grew up. The older boy noticed a brief pause when Nico was going to say 'like my…' and looked confused instead.
Nico was also a curious kid and peppered questions about him in-between his own words. Between the good food, surprisingly nice company, and an odd feeling of peace, Percy answered. He shared that he loved to swim, couldn't speak any foreign languages ("But I guess I can be a horse whisperer"), wore blue often, and didn't have any career goals.
"I'm here with my friends. Maybe after I meet your sister, you can meet them?"
Grover would like him. Nico thought Pan's nature affinity made him one of the most underrated cards in the game. Annabeth would like him too. They could lecture Percy about Greek myths together.
The younger boy was eager enough to meet his friends that he insisted they leave immediately after eating, not even bothering to try their dessert. It was some type of ice cream with pink lotus flowers dotting it and while it looked appetizing, Percy fell victim to the wide, owlish begging stare again. With some regret, he followed the other boy out of the restaurant.
Nico's apartment suite was on the seventh floor and the exact same setup as the one in his except for one minor detail. There was a surprised twelve-year-old girl curled up in front of a TV where one woman in a cocktail dress just threw a glass of wine at another woman. The resemblance between Bianca and her brother was obvious- pale olive skin, ash-toned eyes, high cheekbones, dark hair- but she didn't have the same perpetually surprised owlish look Nico sported. She was also dressed in an old-fashioned beige skirt and brown coat, a dark green cap the only spot of color present.
"Nico, who's this?" Bianca kept her eyes trained on him as she walked towards her brother.
"This is Percy. We played Mythomagic together," Nico responded, not bothering to release his hand as he brought him into the apartment. "Percy, this is my older sister, Bianca."
"Nice to meet you," Percy used his left hand to wave.
"Er, you too," Bianca said uncertainly, still looking upset, "Nico, you know that you shouldn't talk to-"
"Percy's not a stranger! He introduced himself first and then we had dinner at the Italian place. It was in public, so everything was safe."
"Still, I don't want you do it again," his older sister scolded. "But I'm glad you found someone to play your card game with. Thanks for playing with my brother, Percy."
"You don't have to thank me. I had fun," Percy told her. "Hey, my room has an aquarium too. But it doesn't have any fish in it."
"You're supposed to fill it with fish that you win at some of the games," Nico explained. He led them to have a closer look and started pointing out the different fishes present there. One of his demigod powers made itself present then as the names popped into his head.
"Dwarf angelfish, damselfish, triggerfish," Percy murmured, pointing to one thin, colorful reed-thin fish, "Pipefish. That one's pretty rare."
"You know a lot about them," Bianca commented.
"I guess," he shrugged. The fish seemed to be drawn to his presence as over a dozen brightly coloured aquatic life swam over to their tiny corner of the room. Pressing against the glass, it was almost like they were whispering to him.
"They really like you, Percy," Nico enthused.
"King Poseidon's son! King Poseidon's son!" No, they actually were whispering to him.
'Well if I can do it with horses, then why should fish be any different?' Percy wondered. He really didn't want to use his demigod abilities in front of Nico or his sister, so he tried to beg with his eyes for the fish to stop acting so weird.
'You must flee from here, my Lord,' a pufferfish implored.
'A trap! This hotel is a trap,' the pipefish warned.
'Flee from the Lotus Eaters, my Lord, before your memories are taken from you!' the damselfish cried.
'Flee! Flee!' the fish chanted, 'Flee the Lotus Hotel, young Lord!'
"Why are they hitting the glass?" Bianca worried, "Won't that hurt them?"
The Son of Poseidon couldn't respond, the fishes' warning suddenly reverberating in his head. This hotel had seemed better than their wildest dreams and apparently was. Dammit, they should have been wary of this when they got free cards for no reason!
"Nico, do you know any Greek myths about the Lotus Eaters?"
"Sure. They tried to distract Odysseus from his sea trip by giving him lotus blossoms to make him forget about his home. Why?"
"Just had a thought," Percy said, a sudden urgency filling him. Thank Poseidon that Nico had distracted him from those lotus blossoms. "I want you and Bianca to meet my friends now. Are you staying with anyone else here?"
'Should I really bring two normal kids with me on a quest?' Percy fleetingly wondered. He didn't even bother to think about it. He knew they might be a hindrance but he couldn't leave Nico or his sister inside a trap!
"No, Bianca and I live alone," Nico responded. "Why are you moving so quickly?"
It was the younger boy's chance to be dragged out now as Percy refused to let go of his hand until they were out of immediate danger. (How else could he protect Nico?)
"Don't want to miss them before they hit the arcade," he spouted off the first thing that came to his head. 'The Mist disguises any demigod weapons to mortal eyes, right?'
The Son of Poseidon withdrew Riptide for additional protection and uncapped it with one fluid motion. He really hoped that Nico and Bianca didn't suddenly see a shotgun or something in his hand.
"Whoa! Your pen just turned into a sword!" Nico's excited shout almost sent Percy (and him, by linked hands) tumbling to the floor. "That's so cool!"
"Where did you get that from?" Bianca practically shrieked, stumbling back from him, "Nico, move!"
His brother looked between Percy standing open-mouthed with a bronze sword on his hand, his terrified sister, and the hand that still gripped his own. "I don't think he's going to hurt us Bianca."
"He has a sword!" Bianca looked utterly disbelieving.
"You can see it?" His expression probably mirrored hers.
"Yes, of course I can see it," she pointed at Riptide, "It's a sharp, pointed, metal sword. I'm not blind!"
'I should tell them about being a demigod,' the soft breath of the whisper chimed back in his head. It had mostly left him alone once he started talking to Nico but Percy grasped at the support now.
"Do either of you have trouble reading or concentrating?" Percy questioned. Annabeth had mentioned that every demigod had trouble with ADHD and dyslexia.
Bianca's demand of why he wanted to know was undercut by Nico's immediate nod. The older girl shot his brother a warning look, which he further ignored by asking to hold Percy's pen/sword.
"Okay, this is going to sound weird, but I need to know when you guys entered this hotel," Percy said, quickly scanning the floor. The hallways were clear but too narrow for him to wield Riptide properly. Ignoring Bianca's worried demands to let her little brother go, he urged them towards the stairs.
"Er, just a few weeks ago, I think," Nico let himself be tugged along, "You're not going to hurt us, are you Percy?" He didn't sound like he believed it but the Son of Poseidon still swiftly answered 'no'. Nico looked at Bianca then, as if to say 'told you so'.
"What was the year?" Scanning the stairway showed more maneuverability and a better way to get downstairs without being trapped in an elevator.
"1937," Nico answered, matter-of-fact.
At this point, Bianca put her foot down. "That's it! We're not going any further with you until you tell us what's going on!"
"Here. Take the weapon and I'll be unarmed," Percy said, holding Riptide out to her. "I promise I'm not going to hurt you or Nico. My name is Percy Jackson and all I want is to get you out of this hotel. It's staffed by the Lotus Eaters."
"From the Greek myths?" Bianca scoffed but warily accepted the weapon. She looked pointedly at Percy and Nico's entwined hands and the latter guiltily tried to hide it behind his sweatshirt. "None of that is real. You're insane."
"Turn the handle of my sword." She did so and gaped as a pen suddenly appeared in her hand. "The Greek myths exist. You just used one of the magical properties of Riptide."
"That must have been a trick," her voice trembled. He could see the doubt in her eyes.
"Can you remember anything before you came to this hotel?" Percy pressed.
"I- No," she admitted, her face twisting in pain. Bianca raised one hand to her forehead, as though suddenly struck by a headache. This moved Nico to release Percy's hand, rushing to his sister's side, and caused the Son of Poseidon to feel a brief surge of irritation. "I can't remember anything."
"The lotus flowers took it from you," Percy said swiftly, "Please, my friends are still trapped up there. We have to get them and get out of this place."
"We should go with him, Bianca," Nico urged, excitement filling his eyes, "Percy's like an honest-to-life hero! He has a magic sword!"
"This isn't like one of your Mythomagic games, Nico," his sister retorted, "This sounds dangerous."
"It is," the Son of Poseidon felt some remorse over destroying Nico's naive view of the Greek world, "I'm sorry Bianca, but I don't have any time to argue now. I need to find my friends."
With one last, lingering look at the dark eyes of Nico di Angelo, Percy turned and started to jog down the stairs. He took them two at a time, ignoring the fact that Riptide was still in Bianca's slack grip. It would return to his pocket soon. He needed to get to his friends before Grover moves from potato chips to pink blossoms.
'I'll be back for them when the quest is over,' he promised fiercely, 'I need to stop this war but I won't leave Nico behind.' Percy couldn't hold back his relief when he heard two sets of footsteps behind him.
"Wait for us!" Nico called. Bianca passed the pen over when they reached the fourth floor and then the three demigods (one anxious, one terrified, and one looking at Percy like he was the greatest thing since Mythomagic) headed towards the first suite. The Son of Poseidon swiped the door open and entered the room, half-expecting an enemy.
"Hey Percy," Grover waved from the kitchen counter. There was a box of take-out next to it. "Annabeth and I ordered dinner without you. Hope you don't mind."
"Seaweed Brain? Who are they?" Annabeth blinked, running a towel through her sodden curls.
"Don't eat anything," the dark-haired boy ordered, pushing the two other demigods in and closing the door, "This is Bianca and Nico di Angelo. They're two demigods that I found here. The fish in their apartment told me that we're in the Lotus Eaters traps. We need to leave immediately."
"The fish told you," Bianca bemoaned, shoving her face in her hands.
"You can talk to fish?" Nico said at the same time, with an entirely different tone.
"The Lotus Eaters?" Annabeth paled and scrambled to get their backpack. "Right. We need to go. Grover, have you got your reed pipes?"
"Yeah," his friend said through a shocked bleat, "Just need to find my shoes!"
"He has hooves!" Nico noted with evident delight. His sister groaned even louder.
It didn't take very long for them to pack up after that and Percy led the charge down the stairs. They had reached the ground floor and were almost to the golden doors when the receptionist appeared. He skidded to a stop in front of the eerily smiling man.
"Leaving so soon?" Percy wondered how he didn't notice the subtle threat behind that cheerful tone before. "I hope not! We've upgraded you to platinum membership now."
The Son of Poseidon uncapped Riptide again. "Get out of our way!"
The man stumbled back in fear, dropping the platinum cards. Nico crouched down to swipe three of them before his sister grabbed the sleeve of his sweatshirt and dragged him up. The group of four demigods and one satyr stumbled out of the door, the harsh sunlight of the morning at total odds with the time of day from a few hours past.
'How long have we been in there for?' Percy looked over at Nico, who was staring at the glittering lights and gaudy displays of Los Angeles with surprise. 'How long have they been in there for?'
"Okay, we followed you out," Bianca stated, folding her arms and staring at Percy with determined, "Now my brother and I deserve some answers!"
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