Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Kane Chronicles

Chapter Two: The First Meeting

Anubis appeared in his usual place on top of a tomb in the graveyard. He scanned his surroundings carefully and noticed a pitch black shadow appear out of nowhere and a boy in dark clothes stepping out of it. The boy walked towards him without really noticing him and flopped down next to the tomb were he stood.

Anubis looked down at him curiously. The boy looked quite similar to him with messy black hair and dark eyes. He even dressed similarly except he had no gold chain and he had a silver ring shaped like a skull on his right hand.

"Stupid campers." Anubis heard him mutter bitterly, "You turn up with an army of the dead to help them and they still don't respect you. It's not my fault that I'm a son of Hades!"

Anubis suddenly jumped down next to him and said "What do you mean, you're a son of Hades?"

Nico jumped so violently that he nearly impaled himself on his Stygian iron sword which as always was hanging at his side. He stared at the other boy in astonishment. He had thought that the graveyard would be empty and now he had exposed his secret to a mortal.

The boy was still staring at him as though he was waiting for him to answer. Nico swallowed and decided that he better tell the boy that his dad was called Hades and leave it at that, or he could just shadowtravel out of danger but that would be quite cowardly of him and he wasn't a coward.

"That's my father's name," he said at last "Not that it's any of your business." he added coldly.

"You're right. It's not. I was curious, that's all." said the boy.

Anubis frowned at the other boy before he decided to ask another question which he was sure that the boy couldn't just wave off like the first one.

"What about when you said something about the army of the dead?"

The boy paled even more if that was possible since his complexion was already very pale. He looked around like he was planning an escape route but then he apparently changed his mind.

This time, Nico knew that he would just have to try to lie his way out of danger. He looked back at the boy and said calmly

"The army of the dead is an um... summer camp."

The boy frowned at him for a moment and then said, "You're lying."

Nico scowled. He prided himself on being a good liar (not that he lied often or anything), but this boy was clearly good at detecting lies. He supposed that he had hesitated before telling the boy that the army of the dead was a summer camp so the boy must've had quite an easy time figuring it out.

"Why should you care anyway?" He asked finally. "You're nothing to do with this and anyway, what gives you the right to listen to anything that I say?"

"Well," said the boy calmly "You aren't very nice, are you?"

Nico glared at him and then just as quickly he turned his back on the other boy and started to walk away.

Anubis stared after the boy and thought about what to do next. The boy clearly had secrets and while Anubis knew that it was none of his business he felt that the other boy needed a friend to talk to right now as much as he had for thousands of years.

The truth was that Anubis wanted to help the boy get through his loneliness. He knew better than anyone after all what it was like to feel alone. His mother had said that she didn't want him to know his father because he was evil but he'd always thought that that was just an excuse to get rid of him.

His cousin, Horus had always been loud and arrogant and acted as though he was better than him. Isis and Osiris had raised him but Horus was their son and he had always been second best after him.

As he thought all of this through the other boy was still moving further away. He decided to call out to him and try for a truce.

"Hey," he called "Come back so that we can talk."

"Why should I?" the boy asked bitterly "I don't know you."

"I know about the gods." said Anubis because he was sure that Nico had something to do with the gods as well.

Nico stared at Anubis in shock. How could he know about the gods? He decided that he would sit down and talk things through with him to find out.

"Ok then," he sighed "Let's talk."

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for reading this chapter. I would be very greatful if you would tell me what you thought in a review, thanks.