Author's Note: (Move ahead two spaces to skip the author's note)Well, well, well. So, you've come back to read more? Whatever. It's your life. Alright, I know I haven't updated like I normally would, but I got Strep Throat. You know what that is? Let's just say it's like a sore throat, but about 50 TIMES WORSE! It also comes with a lot of excess saliva and a fever. It sucked so much! I could barely eat anything even though I was so hungry. It's kind of depressing. I even cried at one point... But it could always be worse, and I'm thankful it's not. Tat lasted five days. Then, I also went on this awesome family vacation to Sauble beach. The only downside was it was a no laptops allowed vacation. So we could, you know, spend more time together. It was awesome, but I did miss the time I could've spent writting this thing. In summery, I've been busy. But to kind of make up for it, the next fw chapters will be at least 5,000 words. This one's over 6,000. Kay, a reviewer asked about the guy Thalia was making out with. That'll actually be explained later. I mean like way later. Or maybe sooner than you think. I don't know, but it will be explained. Anyway, enjoy...
Nico di Angelo had never felt so desperate.
She's gone! She's really gone! What am I gonna do? I can't let this happen! We can't break up! We were meant to be together! Aphrodite picked us herself, I bet! This is insane! I don't know what to do! Should I run after her? Take her in my arms and remind her why she loved me? No. And loved is past-tense. She said it's temporary, but even that makes my heart feel like someone took a chainsaw to it. Gods, what am I gonna do? Nico thought.
Rose had left him standing alone in the Marble Cemetery in New York, and that's where he stood now. His eyes still in the direction where she scampered off. She's free. She had never realized she could get out, and now she did...She's gonna go farther than she thinks. Gods, why couldn't I see it? Thalia was right. I don't deserve her.
Nico sat back down on the park bench, where Rose was had sat. He surveyed the graveyard. It wasn't right. Sure, naturally since it was a cemetery, it had a sad feel to it. But even then it felt too full of life. (You know you're depressed when you think a graveyard is too full of life). The trees surrounding him, the birds chirping, even the grass growing. He thought everything should be darker. The sky should be an empty void. All rain should turn to ashes. All laughter should turn to silence. All life should be fading. His world should be a desolate place, devoid of happiness. After all, Rose wasn't in it.
Nico bowed his head, and put it in his trembling hands. He bawled for what felt like hours (It was really only like, let's say, half an hour), then Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth came looking for him.
"Where is he? We were supposed to leave for camp half an hour ago! All he said was he was going out." Annabeth said to Percy.
"I don't know, maybe he went to see Rose or something." Percy guessed
Thalia choked on the apple juice she'd been drinking, spilling it on Percy's lumpy coach. "*Cough**Cough* R-rose? Nico? No, don't you get it? He's been avoiding her all that he can, and now she's gonna break up with him. Jeez, as a daughter of Athena I thought you could figure this out, but apparently not."
Percy and Annabeth stared at her. "What? Where?" Percy asked, dumbfounded.
"Where else? A place where people wouldn't stare if he cried. A place he loves going to." Thalia hinted.
Annabeth gasped in realization. "The Marble Cemetery!"
Thalia started clapping sarcastically. "And the winner of the most obvious thing in the universe award is Annabeth Chase, give her a hand everybody!"
Annabeth glared at her. "Oh, shut up, Thalia. Let's go get Nico and head out to camp."
Nico was huddled up in a ball, lying down on the very same bench. Still bawling because he was too stupid to see it coming...or leaving.
He would've stayed there all day if he hadn't heard it. A snapof a tree branch dragged Nico out of his utter depression. He wiped his eyes, and swiftly turned his head to a tree behind him. He saw two glowing eyes staring out at him. Typical. Of coarse I can't have a moment to myself. Why did I expect any different?
As it hopped closer on the branch, Nico could see it was just a stupid bird. He figured being a powerful Demigod made him too jumpy and turned back to his solitude. He hadn't realized it, but his tears hadn't stopped the whole time. They wouldn't stop coming.
The bird on the half- broken branch took off. It circled just above Nico's head, then dove straight for him. Nico's eyes got bigger and bigger as this was happening. It tried to eat him, and that's just about when he was guessing it wasn't an ordinary bird. As it was trying to peck away a him, he felt that the beak must've been made of metal...but that didn't make sense. Then again, a lot of things in his life shouldn't make sense.
He reilized that he was so lost in thought earlier, that he had forgotten to bring his Styngian blade. This was bad. This was very bad.
It got a good chunk out of his left hand, and Nico winched, still batting it away with the other. And then it stopped trying to eat him, and hovered over his head. But... No way...It's not really trying to...OH GODS IT IS! It was trying to poop on him. He scrambled off the bench in horror. Nico bolted towards the exit of the cemetery, and the bird brought some friends, following right behind Nico.
Thalia decided that the streets of New York were way too crowded. They had been in traffic for like, a billion hours (Probably more like five minutes, but we all know how fidgety Half-bloods can get. With the ADHD and all), and the graveyard was only across town. They had brought their bags that they packed for camp in the trunk, so they could leave right away.
Thalia also decided that she hated the back seat. It was so...what's the word?... Oh yeah, redundant. WHY HAVE A BACK SEAT AT ALL? WHY NOT JUST HAVE FOUR FRONT SEATS INSTEAD? AARGH! Thalia was frustrated because Annabeth called shotgun before she could, and Thalia hated being stuck in such a external, not to mention cramped, place. The car Percy wanted made sense. It didn't have a back seat. That would've been better. Thalia would sit in between the front seats instead of this stupid little fold-out thing! He wanted a red convertible Maserati Spyder, but because he couldn't afford one yet, Percy got a cheap car. What was the name?...2005, no wait, 2004 Toyota Tundra. Thalia had nothing against the car personally, it was just the stupid BACKSEAT.
And so because she was so irritable from the traffic and the BACKSEAT, when a passing car honked at them-when they stopped at the light- Thalia rolled down the window and used some, er, colourful language. Also, she held up a certain finger, to help clarify how aggravated she was. And by the time the light turned green again, the man's face was paralyzed in bewilderment, and they left him in the dust. Well, they would've if there wasn't so much traffic!
When they finally got near the grave yard, they saw some pathetic boy playing with some stupid birds... wait, that pathetic boy was Nico. And the birds... "Stymphalian birds!" Annabeth screeched. Nico was desperately swatting at the swarm of birds, which made Annabeth think he wasn't thinking straight. If he was, Nico would be summoning dead servants to help, or manipulating some shadows, or at least using his sword. He must've been distracted about something...
Percy skidded to a stop in the middle of traffic, and the cars behind him had something to say about it. Which, of coarse, brought up some old arguments between Thalia and the town's people. They jumped into battle: Percy with Riptide, Annabeth with her knife, and Thalia, well, as the civilians will tell you her yelling was more deadly than the weapons. "**** YOU, ****-BAG! OH, AND YOU TWO ****** ******* CAN GO SHOVE IT UP YOUR ****** ******* *****! AND YOU; GET OFF THIS ****-HOLE OF A ROAD BEFORE I ****** ***** WITH A SERVING SPOON, AND ***** * ****** DAVID HASSELHOLF ***** TUNA FLAVOURED PUDDING ******** *** YOUR MOM WITH A ***** *** ******** *****, WHICH'LL MAKE YOUR *** SMELL LIKE A TROPICAL ISLAND BREEZE!"
Percy couldn't let his friend get pecked to pieces. He got mad. I mean real mad. More mad than he would normally get in this kind of situation. His heart raced the way it always would when a monster was around, but this time, for some reason, his pupils turned to slits, this time, like an animal. This had happened to him once before, but it had gotten worse than the last time. He screamed in rage. His veins showed through his skin when his heart beat, which was a lot faster than a heart should be. Percy didn't realize what he was doing, but fire hydrants and sewer gates exploded, pedestrians ran in terror, and water flowed around him in a cascade. He threw a punch into what seemed like nothing, but then the water formed into a fist and followed his action. He would've rampaged on the birds if they hadn't already dropped dead. Percy was confused at first, the water dropped to the ground instantly (Well, it disintegrated on the way down), thankfully just before it hit anything, his pupils returned to normal and his veins sunk back in to his skin. He then remembered that Stymphalian birds' were destroyed by horrible noises. Thalia's screaming. (Told you it was deadly) Percy smiled and shook his head. Thalia sure could be funny without meaning to.
Annabeth had been busy trying to convince Nico to stop panicking, and she had missed the whole thing. Thalia on the other hand, had just stood there with her mouth open. (Since the people she was screaming at ran away).
Percy had pulled Nico into his car, and they were now checking his wounds over. "I'm fine." Nico groaned. "Quit it guys, I'm fine, honest!"
He didn't look fine. Scratches and scrapes were etched every spot of skin that was exposed. (Too bad it was summer, and he was wearing a black t-shirt)The wound on his hand was worse than it felt for Nico. There was a huge chunk taken out and they could almost see bone. It was still bleeding a lot.
Annabeth kept fusing over the wounds, "Nico! Look at your arms! A-and your back, Nico! Your back!" Annabeth said quickly, promptly shoving ambrosia and nectar in his face. "And...and...y-your hand. Nico what happened to your hand?"
Nico looked perplexed at this. "What do you mean?" He said, looking down to his hand. Nico almost jumped out of his skin. It was a terrible wound, and would take months, maybe years, to recover. Is that...bone? Aw man, Rose'll be all on my case for- Rose. It all came back like a riptide of realization and grief. It swept over him, and took him under into a deep ocean of depression. Gods, I can't lose her. I can't. I can't. I can't.- Before he could descend even lower into his depression, he tried to diverge his thoughts. "Uh, Annabeth? Would there be any reason one of the birds would try to, er, poop on me?"
Annabeth's eyes widened, "That stuff's toxic."
Nico rolled his eyes, "Ha ha, okay yeah, whatever."
"No, I mean toxic, like poison. It must've wanted to get it in your wounds. It didn't, right?"
"Yeah, right. No way some bird's gonna poop on Nico di Angelo, that's for sure. But seriously, I'm fine. So stop with the Ambrosia already." Nico said annoyed.
"Well," Annabeth coaxed. "It's either this, or that stuff mortals use. The stuff that stings."
Nico's eyes widened. "Okay, okay. Just don't put any of that stuff on my cuts! It burns!"
After the ambrosia and nectar started taking it's affects, they had already wrapped Nico's hand in gauze, and he had taken way too many aspirins. Nico fell asleep in the car, a minute into their travel. He had dreams about Rose and evil pooping birds.
Percy noticed that Thalia kept looking at him funny, like she was trying to see if he had a third eye or something.
Thalia was incredibly restless. And her thoughts kept slipping back to being kicked out of the hunt, and her getting weak. She was still shocked. How could this happen? How could she mess up so badly? She told herself to just get over it already, but she couldn't. It was everything to her. It was like some one ripped out the foundation, and everything on top was coming crashing down.
Thalia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She moaned, "How much longer is this gonna take?"
"We'll be there soon, Thalia. In about five minuets. I know how you feel, trust me. I'm dying to run up half-blood hill again." Percy answered.
"Ugh. You don't know the half of it. One of my legs fell asleep and the other still hurts like Hades, the kid's drooling,"-she said jamming her thumb in Nico's direction-"And I think we've passed that same tree four times now...look, there it is again! We're going in circles."
"Thalia, it just seems like because you're bored. We'll be there soon." Percy reassured her.
"Yeah, you'll be saying that the next five times we pass the tree..." Thalia muttered quietly.
Thalia glared at the back of Percy's head. She then remembered what he did, that fist ... that look in his eye ... it was terrible. Speaking of his eyes, she remembered that the iris's weren't their usual seagreen. Well, not exactly. They were faded, almost white. Like, something took the Percy, out of ... well, Percy. They had immediately turned back when he saw what he was doing, but it was scary. She would have to confront him about it later.
Annabeth looked back in the rear view mirror to see Nico still out cold, and Thalia with her arms crossed muttering something about a tree they passed. Annabeth was worried about Thalia. Not because of the muttering or even her injuries, but because of her getting kicked out of the hunt. Annabeth had heard Thalia's sobs at night, and had seen the way Thalia stiffened whenever some one mentioned the hunters. Thalia didn't know Annabeth knew, but for now, that was fine.
Annabeth realized a little while ago that Thalia was in the first stage of the seven stages of grief. Shock/ Denial. She wouldn't even admit it yet. Annabeth had seen the reaction of some of the other stages mixed in with this first one. But she knew it was normal. Like how Thalia was going into spurts of depression from stage 4. Or like how she screamed at those innocent town's people: Anger, from stage 3.
Annabeth wondered how long it would take Thalia to get through all seven. But she knew, weather it took 3 weeks or 3 years, she'd have to be there for Thalia. After all, Thalia was like an older sister to her. Even if Annabeth was older now... that didn't matter. They were still best friends, whatever the age.
"Are we there yet?" Thalia asked sharply, still watching for that same tree.
Percy smiled. "Yep."
The hills that surrounded camp had come into view. And Thalia's pine, too. Thalia didn't like that tree. She didn't hate it because it had saved her life, but she didn't like it, either. Partly, because she still felt a sort of connection to it and she didn't want to have to get close to a stupid tree. She didn't even like getting close to most people.
They drove up to the base of Half-blood hill. (By the way, what do you think they would do with their cars? I mean, camp half-blood doesn't have a parking lot as far as I know)Percy tried to wake up Nico, but before he could Annabeth stopped him. She said it would be better to just let him sleep off the aspirins and ambrosia. So Percy had to carry him into camp. They grabbed their bags and tried to run up the hill. Of coarse Thalia's crutches stopped her from running, and Percy couldn't run very fast because he had to carry Nico.
Nico stirred in his sleep, and snuggled deeper in Percy's arms. Percy looked down to see that Nico's scratches and bruises had cleared up a bit, and his hair stuck up in weird directions, making him look a lot younger than 14. But he also had a worried expression on his face, like he was dreaming about something really bad. Then Percy remembered that Thalia said Nico and Rose broke up.
Percy couldn't believe they broke up. He still remembered how enchanted Nico was when him and Rose first met, a year and a half ago.
*Flashback*
Percy, Nico, and Annabeth were walking down the halls of Nico's middle school before class. Annabeth and Percy had the day off from Goode and they came to visit Nico before his test. They had stopped at Nico's locker so he could look over his notes. He had forgotten to study. "Nico you shouldn't leave stuff like this to the last minute. It's worth fifteen percent of your grade!" Annabeth scolded. She elbowed Percy in the gut for support.
"Uh- yeah. Annabeth's right, and she know's whatever she's talking about." Percy added. Annabeth stomped on his foot for not listening, but after that stupid bath in that stupid river, he didn't feel it.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll try harder next time. I won't procrastinate, blah blah blah, just help me remember, what's the capital of Alaska?"
"Juneau." Annabeth answered automatically.
"Cool, cool. Kay, the capital of Ohio?"
"Columbus. Nico, you really should know this stuff yourself." Annabeth said.
"Yeah, I know, I know. Now, what's the capital of-"
"Nico!"
"Fine, whatever. Go ahead. Let a poor, undeserving kid get kicked out of school." Nico said in mock self-pity.
"Okay. Sounds good to me. Come on Percy, let's go do something more fun."
"Sure." Percy said.
As they pretended to leave (they hid behind the corner), Nico called after them, "You're so cruel. I bet you're going to have a picnic in front of starving orphans!"
Nico grumbled and looked down at his empty note book. Well, it wasn't exactly empty. It was filled with crude doodles of bad things happening to his teachers. Or rather, him doing bad things to his teachers. Like putting his English teacher over a tank of sharks. Nico smirked.
Then he sighed. He wasn't going to pass. He knew it. No sense in trying now that he knew he was going fail. He closed his book, slammed his locker and leaned up against it, looking to the ceiling.
Annabeth kinda felt sorry for him. And she was gonna help him before it happened. Nico sighed and started walking to his doom, when he slammed into the school bully, who was tormenting some poor girl. (*Wink wink*) The bully and his friends were playing keep away with the girl's books. (Cliche to the max). Nico and this particular bully were arch enemies. They had a rivalry going on since Nico first started at that school. What with Nico being so "different" and the bully wanting to pick on who ever got in his way. When the bully turned to see who smashed into him, he saw Nico with his arms crossed. "Hey! Watch it, Runt. This is my territory." The bully countered.
"I don't see your name on it, Aaron" Nico retorted. He looked over to the girl and said, "Lay off. She didn't cause trouble, and if you know what's good for you, you won't either."
"Oh really, di Angelo? Prove it. Make me wish I had never done it. Then, I'll belive you." Aaron taunted.
Nico got mad. Which was never a good thing. He may have trained in the Underworld for a while, but he still sometimes had trouble keeping his powers in check. Like when he was really angry, sometimes he'd just lash out, and totally clobber the kid with his unholy army of the night. The mist helped a lotin these kind of situations. But Nico couldn't help but wonder if the kid ever saw through it...
Nico had been silent for too long, "What's the matter di Angelo? Chicken or just too stupid?"
That's it. Nico thought. He's begging for it. Nico concentrated hard on Aaron's stupidly pompous face. Nico clenched his fists. He could feel the power surging through him. His heart-rate went up and his pupils shrank. His throat tightened. Nico slowly and painfully raised his hand, prying a mountain of pointy black limestone, underneath his feet, elevating him through the ceiling and twenty meters (Sorry, I live up in Canada. I don't remember how long feet are.) above the other kids.
Aaron just laughed. "Really, di Angelo? Trying to pull that stunt on me? I can totally see the wires." The mist. Aaron must've not seen the black boulder of death Nico was standing on, but instead, Nico on wires, like a puppet.
Nico sneered and thrust his arm in the direction of the bully, unleashing a small patrol of undead soldiers from World War one. The troop members were still in their uniforms. Limbs were detaching, along with skin and their facial features, completing the horrifying image of death and decay. Most of them let out a roar of triumph, for finally getting out after all those years, then lunged after Aaron and his idiot friends.
Aaron stopped laughing.
He obviously didn't see they were dead, but he did see that they were going to attack.
Nico was going to let the soldiers rip them apart, but something kicked in. His sanity. His conscience . His morals. He couldn't let them die. It wouldn't be right. I mean, they were jerks, but they didn't deserve to die. His pupils returned to normal (By the way, the anger thing is a side affect. You weren't learn what of for a long time) and he tried to call them off. But the zombie-soldiers weren't ready to go back. They wanted to have some fun before they got dragged back down again. One of the zombies tried to bite of Aaron's head, and another went for his friend's torso.
Nico slammed his foot on the ground, opening up a trench to Hades, and sucking them back in. Aaron scrambled up and said in a stuttering voice, "I-I'll be back, di Ang-gelo! Watch o-out, 'cause you're s-so gonna get i-it!" Aaron and his friends ran off.
Nico forced the mountain back into the ground, and he sealed the floor back up. Though, the hole in the ceiling was a different story. "DI ANGELO! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Oops. His English teacher. This wasn't gonna be pretty.
"Uh, whatever do you mean Mrs. Hickory?" Nico asked innocently.
"I MEAN, WHY IS THERE A GIANT HOLE IN THE ROOF?" Mrs. Hickory shouted.
"Um, well you see, uh-" Nico started.
"I did it Mrs. Hickory." Said an unknown female voice. Nico looked back to see the girl the bullies were picking on. He had forgotten she was still there. Nico saw she had caramel coloured hair, and eyes to match. Nico's hart skipped a couple beats.
Mrs. Hickory softened a little. "Rose? Rose Charis? But, you havn't been a bother in years. What happened?"
Rose snapped her fingers, and a gust of wind swept through the halls. "It was my fault. Don't blame him. Oh, and Aaron Carsson should get detention. On second thought, Aaron did it. Go blame Aaron." Rose said. Nico was shocked. Why would she try to take the fall?
Mrs. Hickory must've been too shocked or too stupid to figure out that that was a pile of crud, because she hesitantly nodded and said, "Yes...yes he must've done it." Then she turned to Nico briskly. "Shouldn't you be in class Mr. di Angelo?"
Nico was dumbfounded that that actually worked, "Uh, yeah, sure."
Mrs. Hickory walked briskly down the hall, looking for Aaron and his friends. Nico turned to the girl-Rose, and said, "How-"
"I can manipulate the mist. From what I saw, you must be a son of Hades. I'm a daughter of Demeter. That was awful brave of you, standing up to Aaron like that." Rose said.
"Uh, yeah. Brave." Nico said, puffing out his chest playfully. Rose giggled. "Was nothing. I could take on a billion jerks like him. He didn't bother you too much, did he?"
"No. Thanks to you." Rose smiled. "They just played catch with my books." She said motioning over to the pile on the floor.
Nico realized it would be the polite thing to get them for her. "Here," Nico said handing her a book. He looked down to the label on one, "So, you're Rose Charis?"
"Yeah. And you're... uh,-"
"Nico. Nico di Angelo." They both smiled at each other and giggled.
"Nice to meet you." Rose replied sheepishly.
"Nice to be met."
Just then, the bell rang for second period. "Oh no. We missed first period." Rose said worried, looking up to the bell.
Nico thought for a moment, then said, "What do you think the punishment would be for missing second period too?"
Rose looked at him blankly, then smiled knowingly. "Can't be as bad as the punishment Aaron's gonna get for making this hole in the roof."
They giggled together again. Nico put out his hand for Rose, "Wanna egg his locker?"
Rose smiled slyly, "Definitely."
They walked off, and around the corner Percy and Annabeth were snickering and exchanging glances. "Looks like Nico's got a girlfriend." Annabeth laughed.
"Heh heh, yeah.'Wanna egg his locker?' What kind of first date is that?" Percy teased.
Of coarse, later when Mr. Charis found out Rose skipped class to go throw eggs with a delinquent, he said the same thing.
Percy sighed. They were such a cute couple. They had dreams, potential...he thought they were going to go all the way. But he could never really be too sure of anything, lately. He thought he and Annabeth would always be together, and now...he was worried things were going down the toilet, to put it lightly. He was worried that she would leave. He was worried that they fought too much. He was worried that he worried too much. He tried not to think of that then, it would be fine for now.
They reached the top of half-blood hill and gazed out into the valley. Memories came along with the familiar sights, sounds, and smells that wafted up from camp. They all smiled. Annabeth cautiously looked over to Athena cabin, then nodded in approval. "Definitely better than last time."
Thalia frowned. "Why? What happened last time?"
Annabeth scowled and Percy burst out laughing.
*Flashback* (Wow, two in one chapter. Sorry, they're useful)
Annabeth, Percy, and Grover were all heading to camp after a year of hard work. Percy and Annabeth hadn't seen Grover since the war ended, and they were catching up in the cab ride over. "...So, he opens my locker, and guess what happens." Percy laughed
"All the eggs fall on him! Bla ha ha!" Grover belted.
They laughed together and thought how awesome it was to be together again.
"It's cool to have you here G-man." Percy said after they stopped laughing.
"Definitely." Annabeth added.
Grover blushed a little and said, "Well, it's cool to be here. And-wait, what's that smell?"
"Smells like...cow manure." Percy said.
Annabeth's eyes widened. "Oh Gods, she didn't."
"What?" Grover asked, but Percy knew exactly what she was talking about. Annabeth and Queen Hera had a mutual hatred for each other before the war. Hera would send cows after her, and Annabeth had to watch where she stepped. After the war, Hera had become a little more grateful of Annabeth for helping defeat Kronos and all, so she stopped. That was then. This is now.
So when the cab stopped at the base of Half-blood hill, they jumped out as soon as possible, and ran to the top. Grover and Percy burst out laughing. Annabeth's eye twitched. She fell to her knees in shock, and then screamed in pure fury, "AARGHH! HERA!"
The Athena cabin was overflowing with cow manure.
Later when they finally went down into the valley, Annabeth found a note next to her cabin that read: Annabeth, now we're completely even.
"It stank the whole summer!" Percy laughed.
Thalia joined in with Percy and together they ignored Annabeth's death glare.
Later, after they stopped laughing, they stumbled down into camp.
They first went to drop off Nico in Hades cabin. As they entered it, they couldn't help but note how creepy it was. It even sent a chill down Annabeth's spine.
When the got inside, they saw that it looked...lived in, to be polite. Clothes draped around every corner, empty food containers crowded the floor, and what must of been personal items flopped carelessly on the ground. Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth were confused. Nico hadn't been there in a year...which meant, there must've been another resident in Hades cabin. "Uh, hello? Anybody here?" Percy called.
They heard some russeling in the cornor behind a bed, then someone called back in a strong yet confused voice, "Uh, coming! Just a sec!"
They heard something like running up stone steps, then a guy emerged from a hole behind the bed. The guy looked to be about 27, with brown- almost black hair, very light brown skin with stubble on his face, and almond eyes. He had a good build, with his muscles bulging through his shirt. He wore black clothes- black t-shirt and black jeans, which seemed to be a theme with children of Hades.
"Hey, what's up?" He said looking to the unconscious Nico in Percy's arms. "What's wrong with him? Is he okay?"
"Uh, yeah. He got attacked by Stymphalian birds, but he'll be fine." Annabeth explained. "So, you're a son of Hades?"
The guy straightened. "Yep. Been all my life, but I just found out last Christmas." At this point, the three of them exchanged glances. That meant Hades broke the oath, too. "I'm Max. And you are?" Max said holding out is had to shake.
Thalia, Percy, and Annabeth introduced themselves, "...And this is Nico di Angelo. He's your half brother." Percy explained.
Max looked humbled. "A kid brother? Whoa, that's insane! I gotta know everything about him." Max looked extremely interested by Nico at the moment, and he almost didn't notice when the ground rumbled from a small explosion coming from the hole he came from. "Ah, Hades! The entrance is blocked!"
"Entrance? To what?" Thalia asked.
Max sighed, "Well, it used to be an entrance to the underworld. I was building it so I could see my Father more often. It was almost done, too, but I guess some one didn't want me down there." Max said sadly, looking over to the cave-in.
"That's to bad. Anyway, you're a son of Hades...where were you born?" Annabeth asked.
"Uh, well, I was born in Cancun Mexico, but my mother and I moved to Cleveland Ohio a few years ago. I don't think Dad knew he got my mom pregnant, but, well, here I am." Max explained.
"Cool. Listen, Nico needs some rest, so we're gonna leave him here. We're gonna go to the mess hall for lunch, you wanna come?" Percy asked.
"I'll come in a bit. Now, that I have a room mate I have to clean up this mess." Max smiled.
So, they placed Nico in his bed, and left for the mess hall.
Done! I never knew how much I loved that word. Long chapter, I mean, it was fun to write, but I'm glad it's done. Okay, so in the next chapter I'll elaborate on Percy's problem. Finally, right? Chapter 6 and I haven't really talked about a third of my story. I just wanted to set up Nico and Thalia's problems. And sorry about creating another Oc, (Again, thanks for clearing that up guys) but I thought that Nico should have a male role-model that doesn't compare him to his sister. I think Nico deserves some sort of family. Alright, later!
P.S. Isn't summer vacation totally AWESOME? :D