Chapter 15: (takes place before/during the events of the last chapter)
The 2 hour trip back to camp was probably the most awkward few hours of Sadie's life. She had fallen asleep only to be woken to Nico kissing her. She had pretended to be asleep for the remainder of the trip but the whole time she was panicking. She shouldn't have enjoyed the kiss, and she shouldn't have had sparks flying in her head. That's not what girls with boyfriends do when another guy kisses them.
They reached their stop and they walked the remainder of the way to Camp Half-Blood. Sadie was wondering what she was going to tell AJ. She wanted to lie and tell him it was nothing but in actuality it wasn't. She had really enjoyed spending the day with Nico. He had been funny, sweet and the most talkative he had ever been since Sadie had got to know him.
They reached the top of Half Blood Hill and Sadie saw a group of people gathered in the camp. It was her recruits! She raced down and hugged some of the familiar faces that she had spent parts of the last two years training and exploring the world with.
She saw her good friends Hannah and Laurie, two girls who Sadie thought were probably some of the coolest people on earth. Everyone was stoked to see her, and she was happy to see them.
Then Sadie saw AJ at the front of the group. He looked pretty displeased at first, but then he slowly gave her a small smile. Sadie ran up to him and gave him a big hug, she was glad he didn't look like he was too mad at her.
They broke apart and AJ looked worriedly at her, "Where've you been? I was worried sick, I searched all through the forest and was about to send everyone out to look for you."
Perhaps she wasn't going to get off easy after all, "I'm sorry AJ, I was about to go to breakfast when Nico told me some urgent news about his friends. So we rushed off to find Chiron at Olympus. And-"
"Wait, you went to Olympus? Actually inside?" AJ asked surprised.
"Yeah, it was pretty cool too. You have to see it sometime. But anyways, we were looking for Chiron but he had already left and then the gods wanted to see us, and anyways they agreed to send everyone to Greece to help fight the monsters. So I guess we're going to Greece," Sadie said enthusiastically.
The others were listening and a few of them seemed excited, the others were clearly wary.
James, a 12-year old boy Sadie and Carter had finished training a month ago spoke up, "It took a lot of effort to get to even be able to come here. My parents weren't very excited at me leaving again, I doubt they'd let me go to Greece." A few others nodded at James's argument.
Sadie hadn't thought of the fact that most of them were young and had parents. "The Egyptian and Greek monsters are teaming up; if we don't fight them they will destroy the earth. The Greeks can't do it by themselves and we can't either. The House of Life thinks we shouldn't be trained and that the gods should disappear, they don't realize we need them. This fight will determine the future of the world. I think we can disobey our parents for this."
There was silence and then someone cheered. Then everyone erupted into applause, Sadie thought it was cheesy but smiled anyways.
"Well when are we going?" AJ asked her.
Nico stepped forward, Sadie didn't even know he had followed her, "We have to leave soon. I'll tell the campers the news, but we're going to need some way to get there."
"We can use a portal," Hannah spoke up.
"Does it work with Greeks?" someone else in the crowd asked.
"It will," AJ said addressing them, "I've seen common mortals use it."
"Well it's settled then," Sadie said smiling at everyone, "After I get into contact with my brother and the others we will leave for Greece."
Before dinner time Sadie helped all of the children of the magicians set up tents in the field next to the pavilion.
After everyone finished eating dinner Sadie and AJ were called into the Rec-room for a meeting with the head of the cabins.
"We heard from Nico about the situation with the others in Greece and how y'all want to help us," Will Solace said to Sadie and AJ as they were sitting with the others.
Sadie nodded and explained how they planned on getting everyone to Greece with the portals. A few of the campers seemed wary of using Egyptian magic and generally distrustful.
"I for one am not using that Egyptian voodoo. There's no telling what it might do to us. It could be a trap for all we know," Clarisse said angrily as she glared at Sadie and AJ.
AJ sighed as if arguing with Clarisse was the last thing he wanted to do, "Well how do you expect to get to Greece then?"
Clarisse gave him a challenging look, "We'll find some other way that doesn't involve your help."
"There isn't another way. We don't have time to build another ship," said Jake Mason who was filling in as cabin leader for the Hephaestus cabin.
"Well forget about the Ares kids helping then," Clarisse said crossing her arms around her buff chest and glaring at them.
Sadie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Their own friends were in serious trouble and they weren't going to help just because they needed help from outsiders? It was ridiculous and made Sadie furious at their selfishness.
"Are you kidding?" Sadie said harshly to Clarisse, "Can't you forget your stupid pride for a few seconds and just help?"
Clarisse stood up from her seat and looked at Sadie with a murderous expression, "Are you trying to start a fight punk? Cause I will beat you down if I have to. I'm not injured anymore and I'll take you on if you want.
Sadie was already upset and stood up and glared at her, "Fine! A fight it is! It'll be fun turning you into a turtle." She tried to look as menacing as Clarisse but knew she probably looked ridiculous considering Clarisse was about three times her size.
AJ grabbed her arm and pulled her back into her seat, "No need to fight right now," AJ said to her gently.
Sadie glared at him and couldn't believe that he wasn't going to help. AJ sighed and confronted Clarisse, "Fine Clarisse, do you really want a fight?"
Clarisse nodded and the other cabin leaders groaned, "You have all your recruits now, so it'll be fairer. Us against you guys in a battle of Capture the flag. If you guys win, I'll follow you, if not you won't have the support of the Ares Cabin.
Sadie and AJ left after the others agreed to start the game in an hour.
"Do you think this is a good idea?" Sadie asked AJ as they were walking. Her anger was gone and she was starting to realize what she had just gotten them into.
AJ held her hand and smiled at her, his blue eyes slightly illuminated by the setting sun. "It's fine. I'll make sure we win," he said in an arrogant tone.
"Wait up!" Sadie heard someone scream. She turned around to see Nico running after them. Sadie hadn't really talked to him since the train ride and flushed a little upon seeing him.
"That was crazy back there. You standing up to Clarisse like that, she's ready to murder you," Nico said laughing. Sadie glared at him. At least someone was enjoying her troubles.
"It's not funny. She's probably going to single me out and hang me by my ankles as she beats me with her electric spear thing," Sadie grumbled.
"I won't let that happen," Nico said. Sadie caught AJ glaring at Nico.
"No need, I'll watch after her," AJ said putting an arm around her shoulder.
"It's okay gentlemen, I'm perfectly capable of defending myself," She said as she tore away from AJ's arm. She stopped and looked at them glaring at each other, the last thing she needed was the two of them fighting over her.
"I'm going to tell the others about the game and explain the rules," Sadie said before rushing away from the two towards where the others were set up in their tents.
Surprisingly, took the news well. A few girls were hesitant about fighting, while others were thrilled to show off their skills.
After discussing battle plans it was time for the game to begin. Everyone met outside of the forest. Will Solace assumed Chrion's role in his absence and was reminding everyone of the rules.
"Remember everyone behave, that means no killing!" A few people laughed as he said that and Will continued, "I guess there isn't anything else that needs to be said, so begin!"
Everyone raced out into the forest. Sadie took her time with AJ by her side; she didn't want him to watch over her the whole time. She was strong enough to look after herself. And she knew he could probably be doing other things to help them win if he didn't stick with her.
"You can go ahead without me AJ, I'm not as weak as I look," Sadie told him.
AJ looked like he wanted to protest but instead he nodded in understanding, "Be safe okay? Stay away from that crazy Clarisse." He smiled at her and quickly disappeared into the dark forest.
Sadie walked around cautiously in the forest. The sun had just finished setting leaving the forest dark, only some of the light from the moon made its way to the forest floor.
Sadie was surprised at how silent the dark forest was. It was seriously giving her the creeps. The crickets singing, frogs croaking, leaves rustling, trees whispering… Sadie tensed when she realized the trees were talking.
She couldn't understand them but she definitely knew they were saying something, she felt like she wasn't alone. Like someone was watching her, she looked around frantically but saw nothing. She knew it was probably foolish to create attention to herself but she was starting to become very unnerved by the darkness.
She said a spell to produce some fire and followed a path. She could hear water flowing in the distance and decided to follow the stream. Once she reached the river she was pushed to the ground.
"I've got a prisoner!" Yelled out some guy Sadie didn't recognize.
Sade's fire extinguished making it hard to see her attacker. She scrambled on the ground to try and move away from the dark figure but the person grabbed her by the leg and started pulling her.
"Ah! Clarisse is going to love seeing you," Her attacker said as he pulled her up from the ground.
Sadie struggled unsuccessfully; she knew she wouldn't win a physical battle against the guy. She would have to use some spells.
"Ha-ti!" Sadie yelled out. Her assailant fell to the ground hard as she used a spell that worked as a force field.
Her attacker didn't seem to be hurt much to Sadie's disappointment. Instead he looked even more pleased and smiled wickedly as if attacking him only increased his desire to fight.
Sadie held back her fear and said another spell, "Ha-mun shi!" This spell worked as a sort of cyclone, it created strong wind currents. The wind knocked the guy into a tree. Sadie had a feeling that this time he wouldn't be getting back up soon.
Not wanting to be caught by people who might've heard their battle, Sadie quickly ran along the river following the current. Because of the darkness she didn't see the huge log sticking out in the middle of the ground and ended up flying into the air. Sadie groaned as she saw a tree in her path that she was unable to avoid hitting. She was knocked out cold upon impact.
Nico was wondering if having a huge battle against the magicians was actually a good idea. He was currently teaming up with Chris Rodriguez and the Stoll brothers after a group of magicians cornered him and turned him into a turtle. If Chris and the Stolls hadn't arrived he was sure he would still be resisting the urge to munch on tons of veggies and avoid getting trampled.
"The flag is about 2 miles ahead of us," Connor being the son of Hermes had a skill for knowing where things were.
"They probably have a ton of people guarding it, we should get closer to see before rushing in for an attack," Chris said.
"Fine by me," he said.
They walked as quietly as they could, which wasn't very quiet, through the dark forest. Due to the leaves still covering the trees very little moonlight was able to come through. Nico didn't mind the darkness though, the others looked nervous but he felt in the zone. There wasn't any way someone could overwhelm him again.
"I think I see something up ahead," Chris whispered in the darkness. He had his sword held out at the ready for anyone who would try and pop out.
"I think someone died," he heard Travis or Connor say in the darkness; "Look there's a body."
Nico would've felt the familiar tone of death had a person actually died but he stepped closer to see the body of person next to a tree.
"I can't see who it is."
"I have some Greek fire," Chris rummaged around in his pocket and then the forest around them lit up.
"Sadie!" Nico crouched beside her as he shook the unmoving body of his friend.
"Is she dead?" Travis asked him.
Nico could feel her breathing but there was a gash on her head, he wondered if one of the other campers had knocked her out. Being the kid of Hades meant he was more experienced with handling the dead than actually trying to keep a person living, so he was a bit clueless of what to do.
"We have to get her out of here," Nico said to the others who nodded.
Nico was too small to lift her the whole way back so he let Chris lift her on his back. They made their way back through the forest when Nico saw a shape in the darkness.
"What did you do to her?" AJ came into focus. He looked murderous as he looked at Sadie who was still on Chris's back.
"Nothing, we found her that way," Nico stepped in front of AJ.
AJ glared at him before shoving him to the ground, "I don't believe you. Give her to me, I'll take her to help."
Nico broke a fuse, there was no way he was going to let an arrogant jerk like AJ have her, "No, Chris will take her to help."
Chris looked at the two of them nervously.
"Go!" Nico yelled at him.
Chris nodded and started jogging towards the medic room with Travis and Connor following behind.
AJ didn't look like he was about to give up easily, and Nico tripped him as he tried to stop them.
"You're really starting to piss me off," AJ muttered as he got up to his feet.
"You've accomplished that weeks ago," Nico retorted, standing up to face him.
AJ swung first, luckily Nico was shorter because he was able to duck the first punch. But he wasn't so lucky for the second punch that landed on his stomach. Nico winced but retaliated and managed to land his fist on AJ's shoulder
Then AJ took out his daggers and advanced. Nico quickly took out his own Stygian Iron sword and blocked one of the blades, the other cut his wrist.
Nico tried to defend himself but AJ was a tough competitor. However, he had learned some new tricks over the years too. He grasped the shadow and captured AJ with it. Nico had learned to manipulate the shadow to act as a constraint. AJ didn't move and Nico took this as his chance to finally end the battle. He didn't want to do serious harm like AJ had seemed to be trying to do but he knew he would have to make his point that he wasn't weak.
He raised his sword and approached AJ who was still frozen. AJ was glaring viciously at him but couldn't move as Nico began to swing it down.
"Stop!" Nico turned around to see Chiron red faced and out of his wheelchair.
"I wasn't really going to kill him. It's not what it looks like!" Nico pleaded, hoping he wasn't about to be expelled.
"It's not that, the gods have news they want to share with us. Lord Hermes will be here shortly."
Chiron then trotted off before Nico could question him some more in the direction of the other campers who were still fighting.
Nico was about to run off into the pavilion when he remembered AJ was still tied up in a shadow. Nico turned around to see AJ still glaring at him. Nico wasn't stupid and he knew if he released him AJ would attack him.
"You have to promise not to attack me if I set you free," Nico told him.
AJ couldn't say anything but he was still glaring.
"If you try I'll only freeze you again but next time I'll leave you here in the forest. So are you going to attack me if I let you go?"
AJ glared at him for a few moments before he finally relaxed. Nico took that as a sign of submission and eased the shadows away from him. AJ glared at him again but walked briskly towards the pavilion. Nico trudged along after him, he was wondering what the gods wanted.
Nico entered the Pavilion to see a handful of other campers and Egyptians chatting amongst themselves. To his surprise he also saw Artemis's hunters sitting away from all the guys. The gods weren't there yet and he could hear others speculating what they were going to hear about.
"What happened between you two?" Chris asked once Nico sat down behind their row.
"Not much, Chiron came and told us to come here," he left out the part about him winning.
"Where's Sadie?"
"I gave her to one of the magician healers."
The others must've thought that him not getting his butt kicked was boring because they returned to talking about something else and ignored him. It took 20 minutes for everyone to arrive. After a few minutes Hermes teleported into the room. He was wearing a business suit and was talking on his phone as he entered.
Hermes didn't look happy at all. Nico tensed at whatever he was going to say, it probably wasn't good.
"Now that everyone is here I bring the news from the other Olympians," Hermes spoke to them, "The 7 who were chosen by the prophecy have been kidnapped by one of the Egyptian gods. We are treating this as an act of war."
The room erupted into chatter.
"Normally in this situation we'd immediately have everyone imprisoned, however we are willing to give you magicians a chance to redeem yourselves."
"But we didn't do anything!" a magician girl shouted out, but Hermes ignored her.
"That is why we are being generous. You Egyptians have three days to find the kidnapped demigods, or else your fates will not be so fortunate."
All the magicians began to panic and talk amongst themselves. Nico felt bad for them. If he hadn't gotten Sadie and the others involved they wouldn't be in this mess. Not to mention, Percy and Annabeth and the others were in trouble. It looked like they had been too late anyways.
"That is all," Hermes said.
"Wait!" Nico screamed out suddenly. He was also responsible for the magician's safety, "I promised them our help for their help. Does that mean us campers can still go to help find them?"
Hermes shrugged, "Whoever still wishes to make the journey can still do so. The threat of Gaia is still imminent."
Then Hermes teleported away.
AN:/ Sorry again for the long delay.
Thanks for the reviews. I'm reading every one and I especially am taking into account the criticism. I was actually thinking as I was writing this chapter that Nico was out of character. I haven't read the PJO books in a while now, so I'm still thinking of 12-year old Nico's personality as I write. I keep forgetting how much he matured. So I'll try and fix that, but I can't have him do a complete personality change in the middle of the story so it won't be by too much (sorry about that).