Okay, let me clarify this first: This takes place after The Lost Hero, right before they sail to Camp Jupiter. Got it? So I should've just probably said that it happened after The Son of Neptune…
Anyway, enjoy!
P.S.: Woohoo! Won money for beating my cousin in dota guys! (For those who are playing, Mirana rocks! Arrow forever!) For those who aren't try it. It's addicting :D
Sadie
The first thing she thought about was running.
These people were talking about capturing her, no, kidnapping her! Jason moved on Chiron's orders, but Annabeth and Thalia seemed to be having second thoughts.
"Wait Chiron, maybe that's too drastic-"
But Jason was already ahead of her. She grabbed Sadie by the arms, and dragged her to a door on the far side of the room. His grip was seriously tight, and Sadie noticed his muscles flexing under the sleeves. His eyes had a steely look to them, as if the only thing that was important to him were the orders, nothing more.
"Let go of me!" she demanded, pulling away from Jason's grip.
Annabeth and Thalia were reasoning with Chiron, but the man was too stubborn to listen. He pointed at Sadie. "Don't let her escape!"
Escape. That word sounded good to Sadie right now. With all her might, she ripped her arm away from Jason's grip, and bolted for the doors. Annabeth and Thalia made no attempt to recapture her, but they stood firmly against the door, blocking her only exit. Sadie scanned the room, and thought of escape options. Windows? No, they seemed to be locked. Push past Annabeth and Thalia? Yeah right, and get captured again in the process.
Jason glowered at Sadie, and marched back to her. "Don't try to escape again, girl. Or I will knock you out." He threatened. Sadie gulped. From the tone of his voice, he actually meant it. He stood behind Sadie, glowering at her menacingly.
Annabeth drew her dagger. "Look Sadie, we just want to talk."
Sadie scoffed. "Unfortunately, Mr. Wheelchair man over there seems to disagree. And the knife's not making it easier on me to believe you either."
Reluctantly, Annabeth sheathed her knife. "See? No knife." She raised her hands in surrender. "Now, let's just-"
Sadie didn't know how she did it. It felt like instinct, like she had been doing it all her life. She pointed at Annabeth with her fingers in a finger gun position, only with the thumb parallel to the ground.
Thalia smirked. "Oh look, she's got a gun." she taunted. "I feel so scared."
Annabeth glared at her. "Thalia. Not helping." She turned her attention back to Sadie. But before she could say another word, Sadie yelled out one word.
"Ha-di!"
A golden picture formed in front of Annabeth and Thalia's faces. The two girls were immediately thrown to the sides with the force of the explosion. Wooden planks were hurled upwards as the glyph detonated, sending chunks of wood and concrete flying into the air. After Sadie's little stunt, all that was left of the door was a gaping hole, big enough for three people to fit side-by-side.
Sadie was stunned. How did she do that?
Even Jason and Chiron were thrown away like dolls by the explosion. Sadie took the opportunity, and leaped out of the room. The kids that she saw outside were now looking at her, their swords, spears, shields, and bows drawn. A girl with stringy red hair yelled, "What, happened in there?"
The first thing Sadie thought of was monster. "There's a monster in there! Help them!" she screamed, pointing inside the farmhouse.
The kids thundered into the farmhouse, and Sadie had to smirk at her brilliance. She ran past the kids, and straight into some house-like buildings. Now she could escape, now she could-
THUMP! Sadie smashed right into a boy, probably someone else who heard the explosion. He looked like he'd just gotten from bed, with his rumpled shirt, messy hair, and the fact the he didn't wear any pants.
"Ugh." Sadie groaned. "Watch where you're going, yes?"
"I was watching! It's you who should be watching where you're going!" the boy retorted.
Sadie glared at him, and pulled herself up. "Didn't you mother ever tell you not to yell at girls?"
The boy flinched. "My mother's dead, and- hey, you're her!"
"I'm her…what?" Sadie asked, taken aback that the boy knew her. The boy seemed distracted, like he was looking at something behind her back.
Out of nowhere, two arms grabbed her from behind. "Caught you." Thalia hissed. He nodded to the boy. "Nice distraction, death breath."
Jason also nodded. "Yeah man. Thanks a lot."
Sadie glared at the boy, who she guessed was Nico. "Yeah, Nico." she spat his name. "Thanks a lot."
Nico
He really didn't know what was going on.
He had been sleeping, and was having a wonderful dream about Mythomagic, when all of a sudden, he heard a big explosion.
That woke him up quickly. Who would be in the right mind to make something explode at…
He looked at his alarm clock, and he frowned.
…9:30 in the morning?
Yawning? Nico pulled himself out of bed, threw on a shirt he found on the floor, grabbed his sword, threw his cabin door open, and sprinted to the sound of the explosion.
He never anticipated that he would bump into the girl, literally.
The girl bounced of his chest. The impact was very hard, but thanks to his training, Nico stood firm.
"Ugh." The girl groaned. "Watch where you're going, yes?" she snapped at Nico.
Before he could apologize, the next words that came out of his mouth was, "I was watching! It's you who should be watching where you're going!"
The girl glared at him from the ground, and stood up abruptly. "Didn't you mother ever tell you not to yell at girls?" she said.
Little did she know, she just hit a soft spot. The truth was, Nico didn't know. He tried everyday to regain his memories, and had even went to the Hypnos cabin as a last resort, but he really remembered nothing. The Lethe had been thorough. Every memory of his past life had been completely erased.
"My mother's dead, and…" Nico trailed off as soon as he got a good look at the girl's face. "You're her!" Nico mentally slapped himself in the face. This wasn't how he thought his first meeting with this girl will go.
"I'm her…what?" the girl asked.
Suddenly, Nico noticed Thalia and Jason creeping up behind her. The two looked like they just went through a battlefield. Multiple scratches covered their arms. Thalia's face had a large cut from the ear to the chin. Jason had a nasty bruise the right side of his forehead.
Thalia made shushing motions with her hand, and he understood. As soon as they were close enough, Thalia and Jason made a grab for her arms. The girl was completely shocked, Nico was now even more curious.
"Caught you." Thalia hissed. Then she nodded gratefully to Nico. "Nice distraction, death breath."
"Yeah man. Thanks a lot." Jason agreed.
But apparently, the girl thought otherwise. "Yeah, Nico. Thanks a lot." Nico heard venom in her voice.
As they dragged her back to the big house, Thalia turned her head around. "Hey death breath. Mind coming with us? But first, go back to your cabin, you're a little underdressed."
Nico was confused. Underdressed? What could she possibly mean by that?
His gaze wandered downwards, and he finally understood.
He forgot his pants! His skull-patterned boxers flapped in the wind like some pirate's flag, and Nico's entire face turned every shade of red imaginable. He dashed back to his cabin as fast as he could, trying to save what little dignity he had left.
As soon as he got properly dressed, he made his way to the big house, where most, if not all, of the campers were circling the entire patio. Nico had to push his way through, just to get to the door.
His eyes widened as he noticed the hole where the door used to be.
"Um, what happened here?" he asked Jason, who was busy tying the girl to a chair. The girl struggled, but Jason only pulled on the ropes tighter. Nico heard the girl whimper in pain.
"Chiron, what's going on here? Who's she really?" Annabeth asked, pointing to the girl.
Jason had finished tying her up, and dragged her all the way to the center of the room. The girl gave him a death glare but received an even scarier one in return, courtesy of Thalia. Annabeth was sitting beside her, cleaning her wounds. Both her arms were wrapped up in bandages.
Nico noticed how the four looked like they had gone through twelve rounds with Mike Tyson. And they were all glaring at the girl.
"I don't know child." Chiron said, answering Annabeth's question. Nico grabbed a chair, and sat beside Jason.
"You have to know something!" Annabeth snapped, and she squeezed the disinfectant a little too hard. Thalia jerked her arm back. "Hey! Watch it."
Annabeth gave her an apologetic look, before turning back to Chiron. The centaur sighed.
"It's forbidden for me to ever speak of this." He stated.
"I think dad would make an exception." Jason said.
"Fine." Chiron said. He gave Sadie one more look, before taking a deep breath. "She's a magician, believe it or not. I thought they were extinct."
"Extinct? You make me sound like a dinosaur or something." Sadie said. Everybody ignored her.
"Like from the Hecate cabin?" I asked.
Chiron forced a chuckle. "No, Nico. Not even the Hecate cabin would be able to match her when it comes to magic. The door should be proof enough."
"So what then?" Jason asked beside him.
"I had hoped never to speak of this again." Chiron started. "Annabeth, you remember when I told you that all the mythologies exist, don't you?"
Annabeth gasped, and Nico could practically see the gears turning in her head. "You're kidding me." She whispered. "Are you actually saying-"
Chiron nodded. "Yes, she is from another pantheon."
"Pantheon?" Thalia interrupted. "Like, another group of gods? Why haven't we ever heard of them?"
"It was a mutual agreement between all the gods that the pantheons left each other alone." Chiron explained. "You know of the Greeks and Romans."
"Yeah, but they're the same gods, who just had different children." Annabeth protested.
"And how can she be from another pantheon?" I asked. "Lamia was chasing her!"
"Wait, hold up." The girl said all of a sudden. "What are you talking about?"
"Put her in the basement." Chiron ordered. "It's hard enough to tell you three this. I don't need to retell her everything too."
Jason nodded, and carried the girl, chair and all, to the basement. The girl kicked and screamed, but she couldn't do much, what with her hands and feet being tied up and all.
As soon as they disappeared, Chiron continued. "There are a lot of different pantheons: Greek, Roman, Norse, Hindu, Chinese, Egyptian. All of their gods and goddesses, as well as the legends that revolve around them, are real."
Gasps came from the three other occupants in the room.
"In time, most of these pantheons faded away. The most recent, I think, was the Norse, when Osama Bin Laden, the last son of Odin, was executed."
"Bin Laden's a demigod?" Thalia asked incredulously.
"You'll be surprised how many people are related to the gods." Chiron answered simply.
"But there was one pantheon that survived, mostly because their followers locked their own gods up."
"Who?" we all asked.
"The Egyptians." He answered.
Nico felt like he could be jumping in excitement. Mythomagic was true after all! He wondered if Anubis ever played that game. Maybe he could challenge him someday.
"The Egyptians." Annabeth said in disbelief.
"Yes, dear girl. During ancient times, when Greece had taken over Egypt, there was a bloody war between the gods. Horus fought Zeus, Thoth almost blasted Athena into smithereens, Aphrodite almost gutted Hathor, and so on. There were many casualties, but mostly from the demigods on our side." Chiron had a faraway look in his eyes, like he was remembering what had actually happened there. "The Egyptians had followers called the House of Life, who were masters of magic. With one word, they could raise mountains, summon the dead, make things explode," he pointed to the hole, "and many other things that Hecate herself has only dreamed off. The most powerful among them was their Chief Lector, Iskandar, who led them into battle. I fought his creations myself puppets made of clay that fought like Ares in the battlefield: brutal and merciless. Though we won eventually, thanks to their foolish mortal Queen Cleopatra, it was still a close call. The Egyptians were very powerful, and we almost lost all our forces in one strike. Their sun god alone, Ra, was so powerful that he brought the sun's wrath itself down upon us. He charred half a phalanx in one strike, and burned so many other demigods alive, even too many to count."
"If they're that powerful, why didn't you make them you allies?" Annabeth asked.
"Zeus had decreed that the House of Life be destroyed, in the event that they rise up against us. He was always paranoid." Thunder rumbled across the sky from outside though it was a very sunny day, but Chiron ignored it. "Apparently, we weren't thorough enough. I heard some rumors about the House of Life going underground, and sealing away their own gods, blaming them for the fall of their empire. Then, a few months ago, I heard very disturbing news from Hades himself. Osiris had risen again, and so did the other Egyptian gods. At first, I thought that they would fade, just like the rest of the others, but then, the House of Life survived, and Sadie Kane herself is proof."
So that's her name, Nico thought. Sadie Kane.
"The Kanes had been influential in Egyptian dealings for centuries. I even heard from our spies in Egypt that a new Pharaoh from the line of the Kanes had been crowned after hundreds of years, and so has a new Chief Lector, who is also a Kane."
"We have spies in Egypt?" Nico asked. "Cool!"
Chiron waved away the question. "Not important at the moment."
"Wait, so you're saying that we've just hogtied Egyptian Royalty?" Annabeth asked, pointing with her head towards the basement door. Chiron nodded his head gravely.
"Well technically…yes. And if my hunches are right, and they usually are, The Pharaoh and the Chief Lector would do anything to get her back, even if it means declaring war upon this camp."
"But, we're just about to go to Camp Jupiter!" Annabeth protested.
"That you will. Let's just hope that their Pharaoh is in more of a talking mood than the last one was."
Chiron turned to Nico. "You will guard her until we know what action to take course."
"Whoa, whoa. I don't do guard duty." I protested.
"You brought her here, and she is you responsibility. You will guard her with your life! Understand?"
The others cringed at his voice. They had never heard Chiron shout. Never.
"Yes sir." I muttered in defeat.
Suddenly, Leo stumbled into the room. He was sweating, but otherwise he was grinning. "It's finally finished." Annabeth's eyes widened, and her lips slowly tugged into a smile.
"Yes!" she did a fist-pump in the air. "So when can we go?" Annabeth asked Leo excitedly.
"Tomorrow at best. We still have to double-check the entire thing, just to make sure that we don't fall out of the sky, or accidentally launch one of the ballista in the Roman Camp" Leo answered.
"Sure." Annabeth sighed. "I can't wait to see Percy again. I just hope that he doesn't have a girlfriend there."
Oh great. Nico thought. If Percy sees me again, he's going to choke me for not telling him who he was. That is, if he even remembers who he is.
"On second thought, I'll stay here." Nico announced. "You guys go."
The rest of them, bar Chiron, gave him quizzical looks. "Why?"
"I have a princess to guard." Nico said plainly. "And from the looks of her, it's gonna be a full-time job."
I know, not the best ending, but seriously, I couldn't think of any other way to end this chapter.
Next chapter: Major Sadie/Nico moment, people. Read and REVIEW!