Okay, sorry, it's been a while since I updated, but yeah. I'm ready to try again now! My computer's been really weird, like the internet's been up and down, so yeah.
After breakfast, Annabeth took Percy to her cabin to get ready for sword fighting, and Evangeline took Nico straight to Ancient Greek. After debating with Chiron whether she should get some peace, or whether she should go watch one of them, Thalia stormed out of the pavilion over to the sword fighting arena.
She figured she would go check on Percy first, to see if the Athena Cabin needed rescuing from him, then check if Nico had sacked some undead zombies on Evangeline yet. She kind of hoped he had.
"Mama!" Percy yelled out when he saw her. She looked around. Only Annabeth was still dueling with Percy. Everybody else was sitting around, holding some part of their body that was either bleeding, or a deep wound. Two healers were running around, and Malcolm was feeding a bit of ambrosia to an unconscious Leslie.
Annabeth was just as battered and bruised as her siblings, but she still seemed to have the never-ending energy to battle an ADHD three year old who just had sugar blueberry pancakes.
"Percy, come on, actually, you and I have to go do something really important." Thalia lied. The Athena kids looked at her gratefully.
"What is it?" Percy threw down Riptide and raced after Thalia.
"It's so important, that only you, Nico, and I are allowed to do it." Thalia put a finger on her lips. "So you can't tell anyone about it."
Percy nodded seriously. Then, he turned and ran over to Annabeth.
"Shh, don't tell, Annabeth. Nico, Thalia, and I are going to do something that nobody else is allowed to. It's so important! Don't tell, Annabeth."
With that, he dashed back to Thalia.
"If I tell you something, it will end up a public secret, won't it?" Thalia mumbled, waving goodbye to Annabeth.
"No!" Percy sounded cross. "I would never give away secrets!"
Thalia decided not to point out that he had just given away a secret to Annabeth.
Instead, she said, "Okay, kiddo, whatever you say."
The Ancient Greek class came into view, and Thalia could hear screaming. She resolved not to get her hopes up until she actually saw the undead squirting lasers from their skull eye pockets.
When she threw open the door, Thalia almost screamed. Nico was wearing a pink dress, with little laces around the top, it was so obviously meant for a girl. He had white Mary-Jane's on his feet, and butterfly accessories in his hair. The worst part? The Barbie doll he was holding had the exact same outfit on.
"Nico!" Thalia shrieked. "What did you do?"
"Mama, Barbie. Evangeline." Nico pointed to the doll, indicating that he had named it after his latest heroine.
"Oh, hi, Thalia." Evangeline calmly stood up. "Come on, Nico, let's quit playing dress up."
Nico quickly agreed, and Evangeline changed him back into his pink "princess" shirt, and butterfly jeans.
"Evangeline, I appreciate you taking care of Nico, but I really think turning him into a girl is not the best way to get on the good side of Lord Hades." Thalia took a deep breath to calm her rage down.
"I guess that's true, but I really don't think that Nico deserves to live his life as an emo, either. Besides, he likes it. I think he's absolutely adorable." Evangeline bent down so that she was the same height as Nico.
"And tough guys wear pink, don't they, Nico-Wico?"
"Tub guys wear pink." Nico approved.
"Come on, Nico, let's go. You can come back later." Thalia snatched him up in her arms. She felt a surge of protectiveness enclose her heart. Just thinking about a Nico who would want to be a Pink Princess made her want to puke. Besides, who was Evangeline to say what Nico was and what he wasn't?
"Wait a second." Thalia said aloud as she walked away. "Am I thinking motherly thoughts?"
"Mama, I'm hungry again." Percy begged.
"I'm not surprised, considering you spent this morning beating up every Athena kid. Gods, Percy, you don't even have a scratch on you!" Thalia ranted.
"So, can we eat?" Percy got back to the main subject at hand.
"I suppose so." Thalia changed course and made a beeline for the Big House. "I'll just stop by and ask Chiron if it's okay if we eat earlier then everybody else."
"Okay." Percy clung to Thalia's hand, since she was walking faster than usual.
Thalia wasn't sure why she was feeling an odd sensation in the air, but she didn't want to wait around to find out. Quickly, she shifted Nico into one arm and picked Percy up with the other. Neither of the kids complained or protested, and Thalia took that as a sign that they felt the mysterious activity in the air, too.
"Thalia, I'm scared." Percy whispered in her ear.
"I know." Thalia took off running. If anybody could help, Chiron could. She directed her path to the Big House, once again.
"Stop!" Somebody shouted. Thalia knew that it was a bad idea, but she felt like she was running through molasses. She whirled around and waited.
A man was right in front of her. He had albino white skin, intense black eyes that were of a genius, and shoulder length, ebony black hair.
"Lord Hades." Thalia sank to her knees.
Immediately, the mysterious feeling disappeared.
"Hello, Thalia." The god began gently. "May I see my son?"
Thalia put Percy down and handed Nico over to his father.
"Hello, Nico. What's this? A doll?" Hades looked over, shocked, at Thalia. She simply pointed over to the Aphrodite girls, who were giggling and flirting on their way down to the dining pavilion.
Lord Hades sighed.
"This is Evangeline." Nico waved his Barbie in the air, and then held it close by his heart, wrapping his fingers around it tightly.
"I have come to tell you something, Thalia. When Artemis came by to tell you of your quest, she was terribly distraught, and she gave you the incorrect ages. Percy is truly four years old, and Nico is three, not the way Artemis told you." Lord Hades waited for Thalia's reaction.
"Thank you, Lord Hades." Thalia smiled, quivering slightly.
"Nico like pink. Nico is a girly girl." Nico informed his father.
"Oh." Lord Hades squeaked. He gently handed Nico back to Thalia, than disappeared. Thalia heard him scream out loud a good ten miles away.
"AHHH! MY SON- THE SON OF HADES! HE LIKES PINK! HE HAS A BARBIE DOLL! APOLLO! YOU WIN TWENTY DRACHMAS THIS TIME, BUT I WILL GET YOU BACK!"
Thalia shook her head. Gods. You had to love them.
What do you think so far? Actually their age differences and the way they acted were brought to my attention by Soozin Hevincarr. Thanks, Soozin! I fixed it, just for you!