Chapter 7: I see dead people.
It was around midday when the three of us were all finally well slept and ready for an adventure. We walked around Athens looking for the sort of place you could raise the dead without raising suspicion.
"Where are we-"I tried to say before Nico cut me off.
"We need some where out of the way. Normally I'd use a cemetery. But any old hole in the ground will do." A smug look on his face. I gave him a playful nudge with my shoulder. "Shove off." His regular scowl returned.
Annabeth chuckled lightly. "We should head out of town, along Parthinos." I gave her a curious look.
"How do you know everything about this place?" I asked.
She returned my gaze "I've been planning a holiday to Greece for years." She sighed happily. "And now I'm here." My wise girl grinned happily to herself. She's so cute. I thought. How did I manage to land her?
Nico pulled me out of my reverie with a punch on the shoulder. "Dude, we've got to get a move on. You can't spend all day pretending to be Clovis." Clovis was a son of Hypnos, God of sleep. When Clovis wasn't sleeping, he was day dreaming.
We ended up heading north out of the city and into the vague forest. It was far too hot and dry for my taste, it looked like it had the same affect on Nico but Annabeth seemed to be doing fine. So I didn't complain, too much. Once we'd walked around in the scorching heat Nico decided that we were in a good enough place. Annabeth and I retreated to the shade of a dry tree and left him to his thing.
He honestly looked ridiculous as he did his "son of Hades" thing, with his hands raised above his head he started chanting in Greek. "Σερβίρετε μου" Which my demigod brain automatically translated to "serve me". Nothing happened for a few minutes and I was finding it hard to stop myself from bursting out into laughter at Nico's strained expression. Last time we raised the dead it was a lot tenser. I started to notice the cracks in the dry earth getting larger. A large, ghostly hand erupted from the ground, I felt Annabeth jump next to me. The skeletal hand grabbed at the soil trying to get a handhold. A few seconds another dug its way out of the ground to assist its buddy. After a few more minutes there stood a full skeleton, his bones bleached with age, in tattered clothing holding an aged shovel with the handle broken off. The skeleton regarded Annabeth and I with a cold glare and bowed low, chattering, at the sight of Nico.
Nico yawned and thrust another shovel in my direction. "I'm beat, your turn to do some work Perce."
My sweaty hands slipped on the handle of the shovel and I stumbled out of the hole the dead guy and I just finished digging. My eyes rested on Annabeth and Nico, who were sat in the shade of a tree staring in to space, or dozing, in Nico's case. My shirt was ringing with sweat. Another liquid substance I'd found that I wasn't able to repel. An idea suddenly came to mind. I stripped off my soaked shirt, gaining a confused look from Annabeth and sneaked around the back of the tree as quietly as I could.
Nico was in a foul mood after his little sweat shower. His hair clung to his forehead as he threw the homemade sandwiches we had packed into the hole, chanting. After a few minutes, I pointed out what I realised might be a flaw in our plan. "Nic, how are we supposed to see Selena, when it's day?" He faced me with a scowl.
"You can still see her. Just not as well, doesn't even matter anyway. It's listening to what she has to say that's important." I turned to Annabeth, who casually shrugged her shoulders.
Slowly, I started to notice movements in the dead and dying trees, like there was a breeze. Annabeth drew her knife. The spirits closest to us hesitated, before dissipating. I got out my pen and looked over at Nico, who still chanting, had beads of sweat on his brow. I uncapped Riptide and more ghosts disappeared. After a few minutes of making arcs with Riptide a ghost came through the crowd that was more dignified than the others. Her features, easier to see than the others, were marred on one side, a contrast to the other which was beautiful, flawless. Selena had come to talk to us.
She knelt at the edge of the hole and dipped her cupped hands in, then brought them to her lips. Selena solidified a little, so we could see the colours of her hair and skin, her locks, the rich brown that it had once been had faded in death. Her pale, blue eyes seemed watery and the blood red battle armour that she'd died wearing, had turned a deep shade of pink. "Hello." Her sing song voice identical to the day she died.
I heard Annabeth sob behind me. "Selena, we've missed you so much." She clutched my arm as if she couldn't stand by herself.
Selena smiled. "I always knew you pair would end up together. And I see you won the war. Congratulations." She bowed her head as if she had nothing to do with our victory. I felt like I had to speak up. But the words failed me. So Selena continued. "I made Elysium. Charlie was waiting for me. He said he'd sat on the same bench until I got there. The only unhappy person in there."
Annabeth sobbed again. "Selena, we need your help." She wiped her eyes and told Selena about everything that had happened since she died. "And the prophecy sent us here."
Selena nodded, considering what to say. "Ares has always been too lazy to do his own bidding. But at least he is offering something in return this time." She winked at me, hinting at my first quest, when Ares tricked me into carrying Zeus' lightning bolt to the underworld. "You need to go to the base of Mt Olympus. There are signs leading to where you need to go, not obvious ones. But if you pay close enough attention, you'll reach your destination." She smiled at us sympathetically, like we'd have a hard journey. Then she looked to Nico. "Thank you, Nico. I needed to check in on these two. Make sure they were doing the whole, boyfriend-girlfriend thing right." She said, making a gesture with her hands like speech marks. "Seems they're doing alright though. I remember when Annabeth asked you to the fireworks earlier in the year. Gods, I knew from the day I met you Percy that you'd end up with my girl here." Her eyes teared up. "I sense I must leave, I am keeping you from your quest, and there is a banging party calling my name. Oh the perks of being dead." She turned and walked back through the trees, the remaining spirits of the dead parted as she walked through them. The three of us stood there as the rest of the dead sauntered off.
Nico ended the silence that had descended on the three of us. "Well that was, educational." He turned back to the tree where our packs sat and shouldered his. Annabeth clutched onto my hand and a warm feeling enveloped me, from embarrassment or happiness I wasn't sure. I tried reassuring her with a squeeze of the hand but I didn't get much of a response, awkwardly, she wiped the tears off her cheeks and sobbed again.
Annabeth was silent almost all the way back to the hotel. "We'll leave for Mt Olympus tomorrow." She smiled weakly. "It'll be nice. But what are we going to do for the rest of the day?"
Nico shrugged. "I could do with a nap." I was seriously starting to think that he was nocturnal.
"Well you do that," Annabeth replied. "I think Percy and I will do some sightseeing." I looked at her incredulously and instantly knew that I would be forced to go to every single historical sight in Athens, possibly at knife point.