Chapter Twenty
Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan, nor do I own Star Holder Commander's character Walker. I do own all of the other OCs mentioned.
Nico's POV
I didn't sleep well that night. Strange shadows kept creeping across the window, behind the curtains. I had grown accustomed to the dark silence in the Department, with the occasional drip of water or a creak of a pipe. Not that that had been comforting, but at least I had been familiar with it and knew nothing was going to smash through a window or something and eat me.
This was different though. Everything was different here, but not different at the same time. It looked the same as our dimension, for the most part, but it didn't feel the same, and that's what was so unsettling about it.
After tossing and turning for at least an hour, I finally get up. I swing my legs out of bed, careful not to wake Kyra. She needed her rest and was actually sleeping peacefully for the first time since gods knew when.
I sigh and rub my face, trying to shake off the slight sleepiness that had settled over me. I sit there on the edge of the bed for a minute, trying to think of a way out of all this. There didn't seem to be one.
All we could hope for was that Jamie truly did want to help us, and wasn't some deranged demon toying with us. I guess everything would unfold in the morning and we'd find out then, but it was so damn hard waiting until then.
I wanted to go outside, I felt trapped in this little cottage, like I was being buried alive in a coffin much too small for me. I stand up and make sure Kyra was still asleep and covered up with the blanket before leaving the room.
I stumble out into the kitchen. It was dark, but not dark enough to where I couldn't see anything. I go over to the cabinet, and rummage through it as quietly as possible. When Jamie had been getting tea out for us earlier, a jar that looked like it was filled with coffee grounds had caught my eye.
"Ah-ha!" I whisper, pulling out a rather larger Mason-jar.
It was filled with the dark brown grounds. I didn't even care what it tasted like, I had been without coffee for far too long.
I quickly scoop out the proper amount and start making it. Thankfully, Kyra had shown me a while ago how to make coffee without a machine, just in case the power ever went out and I wanted some.
I had to rummage around the small kitchen for a couple of minutes before finding the tea kettle. It was in one of the most illogical places ever, with the plates and bowls.
While I wait for the coffee to steep, I sit at the island on one of the stools, looking out the window. It was mostly pitch-black outside, with the exception for the silvery moonlight.
A shadow passes across one of the trees in the front. I perk up, because it looked like the figure of a person. I grab a coffee mug and pour my coffee, making sure to strain out the grounds. I go over to the window and look out, sipping the hot liquid. I see it again, this time more clearly. It was definitely in the shape of a human. I see it again, this time closer to the cottage.
A couple of minutes later, I hear the doorknob jingle, as if someone was trying to pick the lock. I quickly look for a weapon, and end up swiping a butter knife out of the drawer. The door swings open silently, revealing the silhouette of a girl. I creep closer, out of her range of vision. She had short, choppy hair that appeared to be pretty dark. There was a silver circlet around her head. She turns her head and I see a flash of electric blue.
I didn't dare believe my eyes, but what was in front of me couldn't be denied. It was Thalia.
"Nico?"
"Wha—how are you..?" I couldn't form a complete sentence.
"That's what I was just about to ask you," she whispers, silently walking into the house and closing the door.
"I—Kyra and I got transported here and—how did you get here?"
"On a mission for Lady Artemis. Tracking someone,"
"Someone? Not something?" I lean against the little island and watch her. She hadn't changed one bit since the last time I saw her, so long ago.
"Yes, but that's all I'm permitted to say. Now, why are you and Kyra here again?"
I explain our situation, and what all we had been through. When I was finished, a thought occurred to me.
"Thals?"
"Don't call me that,"
"Sorry, old habits. Uh, what day is it?"
"Friday, why?"
"No, I mean, like what month and all,"
"The fifth of July,"
"Shit,"
A look of understanding comes to her face. "How long have you guys been gone?"
"Since the second week of June,"
"Gods, and that bastard had you holed up in that dungeon the whole time?"
I nod. "Pretty much, yea. All except for about two weeks, when we were in that locked room in his private quarters,"
We're silent for a minute, just thinking. "You were doing pretty much the exact same thing as you are now when we last met up,"
"What?"
"Brooding, over thinking everything and freaking out about Kyra. The only difference this time is that you're older and you have kids now, and you're not hungover,"
"Refresh my memory, when was this?"
"It was the summer after Kyra's dad left, and she was really down. And remember you and her had had a fight about you looking for Bianca?"
Everything came back to my head in that instant, everything I had done wrong that summer. Going to that damn Black Market in Minnesota and tracking down Jessamine, then Walker stopping me right before I came out from behind those bushes and approached her and her family.
But one thing stuck out most of all, one awful, terrible, thing. That one night in the Underworld.
"You do remember, don't you?"
I groan and nod, slumping down and avoiding her icy blue gaze. "Gods, I was drunk that night,"
"Damn right you were, you could barely stand on your feet and you kept going on and on about Kyra and how were 'unworthy' of her. You were lucky Artemis had me tracking a monster and it just so happened to stumble down there. Otherwise you might have fallen into the Lithe and not known who you were,"
"I was in such a bad place that summer, I don't know how I made it out alive,"
"You had Kyra,"
"Yea, I did,"
"I think you've always had her, and she you. It was always meant to be for you two, I knew that the second I saw you two together for the first time, that there was something special there," She pauses and looks down for a second, as if deciding whether she should say what she was thinking, "Now that I think about it, I was in just as bad of a place that summer as you were,"
"What do you mean? How could you have possibly been, after everything I did, what I tried to do to you?"
The memory was so vivid now, us in my room and her trying to get me to my bed so I could sleep. Then me pulling her down on top of me, trying to get her to kiss me. I wanted to erase that out of my mind for forever. I had wanted to do that since I woke up that next morning, totally hungover and remembering everything from the night before. I had almost done it, because I hadn't thought of it in years, until now that is.
"When I brought you back to the palace and took you to your room, when you tried to kiss me, I—" She hesitates before continuing, "I wanted you to kiss me, I wanted it so badly,"
"What?" I ask, the shock practically dripping from my voice.
"I was having second thoughts about being one of Artemis's maidens. I—I missed Luke, and I know it sounds awful, after everything he did, but I couldn't help it,"
"So then why did you stop me?"
"You were obviously upset, because you were bawling like a baby, and you kept saying Kyra's name over and over again. I think you thought I was her. The little voice in the back of my mind told me it was a really bad idea. That and the fact that I knew it would hurt Kyra if she ever found out; I didn't want to do that,"
I didn't remember any of that, but I took Thalia's word for it. "I'm glad you stopped me,"
"I'm glad I did too,"
Thalia and I talked for about another hour, the sun starting to rise outside. It was bathing everything in its rosy light.
"Nico, are you up already?" A voice says from the hall.
A second later and Jamie emerges. She was wearing a light pink shirt and a pair of dark blue jean shorts. Her hair was combed and braided over her shoulder, and her eyes were bright and awake.
She stops short when she sees Thalia sitting on one of the bar stools. A look of terror flooded onto her face and Thalia had frozen in place.
Before I knew what was happening, Thalia had launched herself at Jamie and landed on top of her. Jamie was screaming for me to help her and Thalia was struggling to stand up while holding onto her. A minute later Kyra comes running out, her bow drawn and an arrow waiting to be let loose. Her hair was disheveled and she had a confused yet alert look on her face as she gazed at the scene in puzzlement.
"What's going on?!" she says.
I shrug and go over to Thalia. She had finally gotten to her feet, but she was still struggling with Jamie.
"Thalia, care to explain?" I ask.
She grunts and shoves Jamie against the island, holding her down. "This is who I've been looking for,"
"What do you mean?"
"Jamie here is one of our maidens, and she got lost when we were tracking a demon a few months ago through Baxter State Park,"
"Get it off me! It's going to kill us all! Nico you idiot, why did you let it in the house?!" Jamie shrieks.
"Why is she screaming? Doesn't she know its you?" Kyra asks.
Thalia shakes her head. "I assume she told you about the things that lurk in this dimension?"
Kyra and I both nod. "She probably thinks I'm one of them. They're very similar to demons and shapeshifters, but we're not really sure what the are. We don't have them on Earth, thank the gods,"
"Sounds like this isn't your first time here?" I ask.
Her eyes darken. "No, it's not,"
She didn't say anymore about that, and I wasn't about to force her to. She obviously didn't want to talk about it. She did tell us a little more about when they lost Jamie, and how they've done nothing but search the state park's land since.
Jamie had finally calmed down a little when Thalia had finished telling us. Kyra had gone to change before we left and I gathered up some water bottles and filled them with cold water. She came out dressed in worn looking jeans and a black tee shirt. She looked to Thalia and I, her expression saying she was ready to leave this place behind and get back to our world.
We walked for what felt like forever, draining the four water bottles in the process. When Thalia and Jamie finally stopped walking, Kyra and I nearly fell over on them.
"Is this it?" Kyra asks.
Thalia nods. We were standing in front of two giant trees. They looked like exact replicas of each other, except one looked how a tree was supposed to, and the others colors were inverted. It's bark and most of its leaves were white, the tips of them a light purple.
"We just have to step between the two of these trees, then we should be back,"
"Should?" I ask.
"Technically, yes. There's really no way of knowing,"
I sigh and grab Kyra's hand, there was no way I was going to be separated from her. Thalia and Jamie step through first, completely disappearing. I look to Kyra and she gives and encouraging nod.
We step through and into a dizzying heat wave. It was like the total opposite of shadow traveling, and it made me feel sick from the heat. When I opened my eyes, I found myself five feet away from the Frost-Tipped Drakon, and this time, it was really there.
A/N:
Loooong chapter. I bet you guys were pretty damn surprised when Thalia showed up, huh? And what did you think about that little flashback story of Nico's? He was pretty drunk, since he had been confusing Thalia with Kyra, they look absolutely nothing alike.
And I know, I know. The whole thing of Thalia missing Luke and regretting joining Artemis has been used sooo many times, but I wanted something in there that would make Thalia hesitate just a little before pushing drunk-Nico away, knowing that it was beyond wrong to kiss him.
Well, I gotta say, this past week has been pretty decent for the most part. I've been out and about, and tomorrow I go back to work after my week off. I'm a bit nervous because I'll be managing the studio all by myself tomorrow and Friday, my boss has had a bit of a family emergency and has to leave town for the week. I mean, I managed the studio last Thursday, but I was only by myself for about an hour because one of our other artists was there for most of the day with me. But tomorrow we have about four or five people coming in to pick up commissions and I have to ring all of that up on the cash register and this will be my first time ever using it. I guess I'll just have to explain to them that I'm new to it and to please be patient with me.
And when I went in today so my boss could show me how to work the cash register, she told me she was putting me back in the fucking teen class when classes start back up again next week. Apparently she's starting this thing called "Potters Club." I'm not entirely clear as to what it is, but we're apparently going to be doing group sales and stuff like that. When I told my dad today when he got back from work, he said it was probably because she thinks this group needs some level-headedness and maturity. Which I can see.
Needless to say though, I've been listening to my "Calm the fuck down" playlist and various other music that calms me a lot today.
M/A:
"'I think they found another cure
For broken hearts and feeling insecure
You'd be surprised what I endure
What makes you feel so self-assured'"
Restless Heart Syndrome by Green Day
(and yes, this is one of the songs that calms me down)
XOXO,
Mrs-diAngleo25
