Chapter 6

Michelle and Nico were walking through the gardens and laughing although Michelle kept getting distracted by different types of flowers and strange plants. Occasionally, she would find a wilting bush and perk it up. Nico just watched her whenever she did this.

"These roses are unique," she said to Nico at one point. Nico just hummed in response. "Look at the petals, they're naturally purple and the bud is shaped like a cone. Nico, Nico are you listening?" Nico blinked. Michelle was looking at him with a playful glare.

"Sorry, I was zoned out," the son of Hades said apologetically. Michelle chuckled.

"You should know better than to take me into an otherworldly garden. I am a daughter of Demeter after all." Nico gave a small smile. "That's a total of five times that you've smiled tonight!" Michelle said cheerfully. Nico quickly blanked his face. Michelle nudged him. "Hey, it's good to smile," she told him. Nico looked at the ground. Michelle snapped her fingers and several vines came up from the dirt and arranged themselves into the shape of a throne. Flowers bloomed along the base. Michelle sat herself down on it. Nico raised an eyebrow.

"What's that for?" he asked. Michelle stroked the armrest.

"I wanted to sit down."

"Did you have to make a throne?" Michelle pressed a hand to her heart in horror.

"Are you denying a lady's seating rights? Oh, what is this world coming to!" Nico pursed his lips together to stifle a laugh. Michelle picked a purple flower from her vine throne and placed it in her brown hair. Nico approached and stood next to her. Michelle looked at him, green eyes glittering in the moonlight.

"So how's your sister?"

"Who, Hazel?"

"Yeah, Hazel. She was nice."

"Oh yeah. She's fine."

"How about you? The whole dark ghost problem you told me about. I'm going to assume its better because you were able to shadow travel earlier."

"Yeah, it's better. Still," The son of Hades held out a hand to a shadow and his fingers slowly turned to smoke. "I can't do it very much or else I might become a shadow permanently."

"And…"

"And what?"

"I can tell when something's bothering you. Spill it."

"There's nothing to spill, I'm fine." Michelle kept her eyebrow from rising and didn't press. Gods knew that Nico had been through enough. But Michelle knew Nico well enough to know that there was something important that he wasn't telling her. The daughter of Demeter rose up off of her vine throne and clapped her hands. The chair sank back into the earth.

"Come on," she said, taking his hand. "We should get back to bed. Busy day tomorrow."

…

Michelle yawned and rose from her bed. She put on a pair of bootcut jeans, a jade shirt and tied her hair back in a messy bun. She was lacing up her combat boots when Thalia burst into the room with hastily thrown on clothes and a rats nest of hair.

"Yeah?" Michelle asked.

"There's a problem," Thalia said. "Fandral may or may not have asked me out on a date. He won't take no for an answer. Do something before I strangle him to death!" Michelle sprang upright and hopped out of her room, tying her boots as she went. Thalia followed her. She opened the door of the apartment slowly and quickly slammed it again. Fandral was standing right outside and holding a bouquet of roses. Michelle thought for a moment before snapping her fingers.

"Turn on my IPod," she hissed to Thalia. "Plug it into the speaker and turn it up." Thalia did as she was told. The song. 'Can't Hold Us' came on and Michelle grinned. She began rapping along with the guy on the song and peered out the door. Fandral was coming closer, curious as to what was going on. Perfect, Michelle thought evilly. She wiggled her fingers in the air and whispered in Ancient Greek. Outside there was a yelp of surprise as Fandral got surprised by Michelle latest plant trick. Michelle opened the door and stuck her head out. She gestured for Thalia to look at the hallway. Fandral's pants were hanging from the mouth of a Venus Flytrap plant that curled around the door. When Fandral saw Thalia looking at him, he turned bright red and ran out of the hallway. Michelle and Thalia burst into laughter. Down the hall, Percy and Annabeth's door creaked open and the daughter of Athena poked her head out, blonde hair in a neat ponytail. Percy's head was above hers. His black hair was messy, as always, and his green eyes were curious.

"What happened?" he asked. Michelle was laughing so hard she couldn't answer, but Thalia pointed to the pair of pants hanging from the Flytrap's mouth. Percy raised an eyebrow with a smile, but Annabeth shook her head. Clarisse came out of her room, glaring as usual. Michelle's mirth instantly dried up and she bit her tongue.

"I'm gonna go finish getting ready," she muttered to Thalia and ducked back inside.

"Turn off that junk while you're at it!" Clarisse called. Michelle instantly turned the music all the way up and sang at the top of her lungs.

"It's going down,
I'm yelling timber!
You better move,
You better dance.
Let's make a night you won't remember,
I'll be the one you won't forget!*" Michelle continued singing as everyone else had to restrain Clarisse from killing her.

…

At breakfast, Fandral wouldn't look at Thalia for the entire time. After eating, the demigods offered their service to Odin and were given several jobs. Michelle was help the gardeners, Percy was to help fish (what?), Annabeth was instantly snapped up by the librarians and researchers, Clarisse, Thalia, and Sif headed off to train people, and Nico was sent to help in the dungeons. For Michelle, the day passed quickly. She made quick friends with the gardeners, particularly with one named Iduna. Iduna was very impressed with the variety of plants that Michelle could conjure up. While she was repairing a latticework of roses, she saw the lakes and Percy fishing. The son of Poseidon was creating giant spouts of water and fish were falling everywhere. At sunset, Annabeth came looking for Michelle.

"Michelle! Where on earth are you?"

"Up here!" Michelle called down. She was hanging upside down in a tree, creating blossoms. Annabeth squinted up at her.

"What in Asphodel…?"

"This surprises you?" Michelle asked as she shinnied down.

"Not really." Michelle brushed off her hands on her dirt covered pants.

"What's up?" she asked Annabeth.

"Well, I happened to have a vision from my mother while I was working and I need to talk to you guys about it."

"Ah. Alright." Michelle followed Annabeth to her and Percy's apartment. The others were already there. Michelle slid into a seat next to Nico. The Italian was staring at his hand with a dark and brooding expression. Michelle nudged him and he looked at her. Beware the Dark Side, she mouthed. Nico pursed his lips to hide a smile. Clarisse and Thalia were talking in an undertone. Annabeth banged a thick book on the table. She opened her mouth, but Percy beat her to it.

"The great Imperial Demigod Court will now come to order!" he announced. Thalia and Michelle snickered, Annabeth glared.

"Really Seaweed Brain?" Percy gave her an innocent smile. "You will be the death of me," Annabeth mumbled before speaking to the others. "Alright, Athena appeared to me while I was working and told me something."

"I'm assuming this isn't, 'Hey Annabeth, you're doing a terrible job so we're going to incinerate you and all of your friends' type message?" Michelle confirmed. The blonde rolled her eyes.

"No, it's not. It's more, 'Hey Annabeth, you're doing a terrible job so we're sending you Reyna, Piper, and Jason'." Everyone blinked. Michelle felt relived though. Those three were definitely calm and collected…most of the time. Reyna was scary when she was mad. Clarisse didn't look too upset and Thalia was nodding. Nico…well, Nico looked like Nico normally did.

"When are they getting here?" Thalia asked. Percy looked at his watch/shield.

"About…now."

*Timber by Pitbull feat. Ke$ha

Hope you liked that one! R&R!