Chapter 3: Nico

She was odd; I had to admit that, even to myself. I couldn't believe that she had fought in the Titan War either. It seemed so nuts. But she knew about it. Almost the whole story. Without ever coming to camp or talking to another demigod that had been. I didn't really know what to make of her. She was shy, yes. When we were together though, she seemed to come out a little. Guaranteed, I probably had embarrassed her by gaping when she mentioned that bit about the war. Still, I felt hopeful. I really liked Kenzie and I hoped she would stick around for a while. Maybe she would be the one from the prophecy. I banished that thought at once however. No one could be as unfortunate as the subject of a prophecy like that.

After I left her at her cabin I wandered off into the woods. I poked around for something to fight for a bit. However, I found nothing. After a halfhearted hour, I gave up. The sun had long since set below the horizon. The dryads were quiet, and remained within their trees. Light at this time was almost nonexistent. Once in a while, the moon glowed brightly through its veil of clouds. It was well past curfew by this time. Carefully, I crept back to my cabin.

The hinges squeaked slightly when I opened the door. I froze. Larissa muttered something about boars and rolled over. Nobody else moved. Relieved, I was about to get ready for bed when I heard voices. Loud and angry. Curiosity aroused, I paused. Should I go to bed or eavesdrop? It wasn't a hard choice. I slipped back out into the night without a backward glance.

I couldn't distinguish who it was however. I carefully stepped around the back of the cabin, listening hard. As they rose in volume once more, I recognized them. It was Percy and Grover. I only caught a few snippets of conversation though. But what I did hear was enough to make my heart beat faster. "We don't know for sure yet…" "…shall need a sign…" "…tomorrow…"

They passed so close by that I could have reached out and touched them if I had wanted to. Grover was nervously chewing on a tin can. His horns were hidden under a red rasta cap. Percy was looking worried. His green eyes were cast downwards in a look of troubled contemplation and he was talking fast. They didn't see me. When they were gone I let out the breath that I hadn't realized I had been holding until then. What was going on? Where they talking about Kenzie? I had only introduced her to a few campers. Certainly not Percy or Grover. Had they been talking to Chiron? That was likely. They always knew things that the rest of us didn't anyway. I could have followed them, but while I had been thinking, they had gone. With a horrible foreboding, I wondered what they had meant by "tomorrow". If it did involve Kenzie though… I shook my head. I was thinking too much now, I was sure.

I went back to the cabin. No one stirred as I crawled into bed this time. Not even Kris, who was the lightest sleeper I had ever met. I was asleep within minutes. Fortunately, I was spared the nighttime dreams that always seem to find us at night. Thank Zeus for that. I didn't need to be asked any odd questions.

The next morning I was the last to wake. I would have missed breakfast, in fact, if Larissa hadn't woken me up for it. I pulled on my black jeans and a T-shirt and grabbed my leather jacket. Thrusting my feet into my sneakers, I sprinted out after the others before they could leave me behind again. I made it just as we were lining up. Mr. D did the roll call before we all sat down. I barely touched the food. An apple and a piece of toast worked well enough. I took a swig of cherry coke from my goblet and headed off to archery, which I had first. Chiron was teaching the class as usual. And, as usual, I sucked. After missing the target for what must have been the thirtieth time in a row, I stalked off to find something else worth my while.

I found the sword fighting arena empty save for Kenzie. I was about to go over and talk to her. Something kept me back for a moment however. Why was she alone? She looked lost and forlorn standing there by herself. I wondered were the rest of the class was. It was usually headed by Percy. He wasn't to be seen either though. Maybe they weren't talking about it last night after all. She put the practice sword she had been holding on the rack and sat down in front of one of the straw dummies. Her hair hung loose today. It fell down her back like a waterfall, shimmering as it caught the light. Head bowed, she remained utterly motionless. The conch horn blew to signal first period activities to end. At last she got slowly to her feet. With slow uncertain steps, she made her way out. I backtracked silently until I was on the trail that wound its way to the arena. She didn't come 'round the corner though, so I guessed that she had gone in the other direction. I hurried to catch up to her.

"Nico?" Kenzie asked. I stumbled to a halt and saw her emerge from the shadow of a tall elm tree. She brushed her hair back from her face and looked at me in bewilderment.

"Hi," I said, blushing and hating myself for it.

She cocked her head to one side, as if trying very hard to understand. "I've got canoeing next," she said vaguely. "But I can't remember how to get down to the lake from here."

My heart soared. Canoeing was next on my schedule too. "I've got it next too," I informed her. "Come on, we can go together."

"Thanks," she said with a grin.

We walked together down to the pier where most of the rest of the class was already waiting. There were some snickers from the campers, but not many. Travis arrived late and last again. He arrived at a full sprint and skidded to a stop. Panting, he put up a great show. He would have made a great actor, but he had other plans for the future. As the naiad instructor thought he was cute, he didn't get into trouble like he would ordinarily have. With a fifteen minute delay facing us, Travis was congratulated like a hero. We split off into pairs and got into our canoes. Kenzie and I were together as if by an unspoken agreement. She was good, but I was better. I took it easy on her since I didn't want her to get frustrated or upset. She got the hang of it fairly quickly however and soon had paddled fairly far out. Far too soon we had to turn around and head back.

"So," she asked me after a while, "this is the only safe place on earth for kids like us?"

"Yeah," I nodded to her. "It's one of a kind. Those who are here are really lucky."

Kenzie nodded. Her dark blue eyes flickered to mine and stayed there. I smiled at her. Was I out of my mind? I had never had a girlfriend before, and had no idea how to even start a relationship. Maybe I ought to hand out with the Aphrodite guys more often. Maybe. Probably not. Only if I got really desperate. "The summer session is almost over," she said suddenly. "Are you year round or do you go to school during the year?"

I shook my head. "I'm here year round. Children of Hades generally don't do too well in society. Plus, my dad's one of the Big Three, so I have an extra strong aura.

"Uh huh. You like it here?"

"Totally," I reassured her. "You should see some of the stuff we can do in the winter. It's amazing."

"You go on missions to collect potential campers often?" she asked, sounding interested.

For a moment I wondered where this conversation would end up. Then I answered her carefully. "You were my first."

She nodded, looking like she had expected as much. "What did ya think of it?" she asked.

I shrugged. "You were a tough demigod. In all my days, I've never seen anyone run so fast."

She laughed. It was a good sound to hear. Its bright clarity didn't seem to suit her appearance though. Her skin was still dead white, even in the sunlight and her hair was incredibly dark in contrast. I It matched her eyes though. Dark and mysterious, but they could be merry too. I loved her eyes. I felt like I could stare into them forever and not get tired of it. However, just as I was about to say something which would probably have come out really, stupid or awkward, or both, we landed. Kenzie hopped out and helped me put the canoe back up. Her eyes sparkled like sapphires as we walked up to lunch together. I almost sat next to her, but then I remembered that we sat according to our godly parent. I could feel her grinning as I walked back to my table. I wished that the rule was different, seeing as it didn't make much sense to me to begin with. But rules were made to be broken.