Disclaimer- Rick Riordan owns all! *Bows*
Rick: NOT GOOD ENOUGH! *Percy stabs me in the neck*
Chapter 5 Today, chapter 6 tomorrow, chapter 7 on Friday. I hope we can reach 100 reviews by chapter 10! :)
Ok in the last chapter's A/N I realized I contradicted my own statement. I said "2 UPDATES ON TUESDAY IF WE HIT 55 REVIEWS!" and then a sentence later, "expect update on Monday!" Lol I was so stupid sorry for that. Anyways,
V
Nico
Everybody gathered around the ping-pong table. The Roman centurions (including Octavian; Nico was upset that he wasn't killed) and Reyna still looked ashamed about the invasion and were shifting their feet uncomfortably, but Nico could tell the Greeks were interested in more pressing matters- like Percy and Annabeth. And the brownie payment.
Chiron called the meeting to order. "Miranda, sit down. Romans, you are welcome to find somewhere to sit and help yourself to Diet Coke and crackers and sheese. Malcolm, take a break from the laptop. Lou Ellen, please return Butch's finger. Conner and Travis, give Nico back his wallet." Nico instinctively felt his back pocket. It was empty. Conner snickered and handed Nico back his wallet. He glared at Conner, who smiled mischievously and sat back down. The smile reminded Nico of Percy, and his heart ached at the thought.
Chiron opened his mouth to speak, but just then, the door burst open and Thalia came in, obviously tired from running recently but uninjured. "Hey, guys," she waved to the gathered table. A few people smiled forcefully back. "I tried to make it in time, but Gaea held us up with some stupid exploding pigs."
"It's OK, I managed to stop the Greeks from destroying Camp Jupiter," Jason flashed a smile at Thalia.
Thalia smiled back, then frowned. "Where's… Where's Percy? And Annabeth?"
Silence at the table. The Roman centurions started checking their armor for non-existent loose parts, and the counselors from Camp Half Blood developed a sudden interest in the crackers.
Nico knew someone had to speak. So he did. "They're um…. In the Underworld," he mumbled, almost to himself.
To everyone's surprise, Thalia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god, for a second I thought they were dead."
Jason frowned. "You're not surprised?" He asked.
Thalia waved him away. "Nah, they've been to the Underworld tons of times. Piece of cake, getting through it for Percy," she said. But before Thalia could get out of the door, Nico told her the rest. "Well, Thalia, the difference…. Well… um… this time they….." Nico took a deep breath.
"Arachnesortofcaughttheminspi dersilkanddraggedthemdowntot ataruswithher." He let out a breath. "What?" Thalia frowned. "I didn't hear that clearly."
Nico felt himself starting to choke from the pressure and quickly repeated his statement. Thalia's face paled instantly, even more than when she was driving Apollo's Sun Chariot (Long story). Her bow appeared out of nowhere and dropped to the floor in a clatter. "Seriously? You're sure this is not a joke?"
The silence answered for Thalia. "Gods of Olympus… after disappearing for 6 months, I thought…" She blinked, hesitated for a second more, then stumbled out, leaving a few tears on the floor.
Everybody watched her go, stumbling away like she was drunk.
Chiron sighed and started talking. "So, as you all know, Percy and Annabeth are gone. According the remaining 5 demigods and Nico, they are going to close the Doors of Death on Tartarus's side, while the prophecy demigods close it from the mortal. Correct?" Everyone nodded. Chiron motioned for Jason, who was sitting right next to Nico to continue.
Jason launched into explanation about what happened. Nico drowned it all out, thinking about Bianca and Percy, until he heard Jason say "prophecy" in the back of his mind. His head snapped up. "….. has been fulfilled. Ummmm, let's see. Wisdom's Daughter walks alone- that's Annabeth going to find Athena Parthenos by herself. The Mark of Athena burns through Rome- The signs were popping up. Don't worry, Rome didn't burn down. We only created a huge sinkhole in a parking lot. Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death." Nico clenched his teeth at that line. His mouth got a bitter taste. He seriously wanted payback on the twin giants.
Jason continued, "'Angelo' is Italian for angel, and the twin giants Ephialtes and Otis locked Nico in a jar with pomegranate seeds from Persephone's garden. Giants' bane stands gold and pale, won through pain from a woven jail. Giants' Bane would be the Athena Parthenos, right Malcolm?"
Malcolm was typing furiously on his laptop. He held up one finger, signifying give me a minute. Then he went back to Annabeth's laptop. Jason frowned, but finished up his explanation. "Won through pain from a woven jail. Annabeth went through a lot of pain and tricked Arachne to weave a Chinese Handcuff and get stuck in it." Everyone muttered in amazement and awe.
Hazel spoke up, "So we have to get to Epirus, which is like in Albania, right?"
Without looking up, Malcolm answered, "It's a northwestern region of Greece that borders Albania to the north."
"The Doors of Death are located there, in a place called the House of Hades. Supossedly, It was the original entrance to the Underworld, until the gods moved to Rome. The mortal Doors of Death are located there, guarded by some of Gaea's fiercest monsters."
Piper asked, "So can we just drop a nuke on the place then stroll in?" Everybody snickered. Nico shook his head.. "Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus. If the blast gets through the Doors, then the explosion will amplify 1000 times and instantly incinerate anything within several thousand kilometers. If we positioned the blast so it stops right outside the Doors, a couple of mortal cities would be in the blast radius. Besides, the place is a preserved ruins. If we blow it up, the mortals will be on us." A few people groaned.
Nico hesitated before going onto the next reason. "One more thing. I was there. The Doors are guarded by Porphiyon. And, as you know, he's a giant. "
Hazel frowned. "Why couldn't we just kill him?"
"Because first, he's in his homeland, Greece, which will make things quite complicated for us. Second, he's immortal to anything, even gods and demigods working together, except for one weapon."
"Which is?" Hazel prompted.
"The uh… The Bow of Hercules." He muttered.
"What's that?" a few people asked.
Nico face palmed himself. Some people here need to brighten up a little. So he tried to connect with mortal entertainment. "You guys all saw that movie Immortals a couple months back?"
The people who were confused nodded.
"Well, the movie creators confused the Epirus Bow with the Bow of Hercules. Of course, Hercules used it. It had immense power. IN the first Giant War, Athena called on Hercules to help the gods beat the Giants. He used the Bow of Hercules to kill.. what? 5 or 6 giants? I forget." Nico explained. How could these people not know about the famous Hercules Bow, even if they were Roman? He inwardly sighed to himself. Nico had tried convincing Reyna to start giving mythology lessons, but she refused, saying, "If it doesn't help you win a war, it's no good."
Nico smiled evilly at Reyna, who caught his eye and developed a sudden interest in her jeans. "Guess it DOES help you win a war," he muttered to himself.
"So where is it?" Frank asked.
Nico shrugged. "At the end of the war, the bow was smashed into 4 pieces and thrown from Olympus by a giant. Nobody except Gaea knows where they are, and she has a giant protecting the pieces."
Just at that moment, Malcolm stopped typing on Daedalus's laptop and looked up. His eyes had a glint to it. Nico recognized it. Annabeth got that glint sometimes whenever she finally figured something out or came up with a brilliant idea. Smiling victoriously, he said, "That's why Athena gave us a clue in the statue."
Everyone started asking questions at once. Nico had figured as much. Maybe the statue was valuable and well-crafted, but the children of Athena wouldn't hate Rome just because it was stolen. A lot of other statues as good as Athena Parthenos were carted off as well. Obviously, there was something valuable INSIDE the statue.
Malcolm waved for everybody to follow him. The counselors and centurions wrestled to get to the door first. Outside, the Athena Parthenos glittered in all her glory, Nike standing proud in her palm. Malcolm climbed the statue and pressed Nike's nose. At the bottom, a slot popped out. Nico raced over and picked it up, shoving other people away. It read, Find the first piece where a brave hero died, where warriors of Greece stood and cried. Where the founder of Rome escaped with his life, where the king of Greece reclaimed his wife. Where thousands of warriors joined the fray, to end the city's glorious days.
Nico read the hint to the crowd. He locked eyes with Malcolm. Malcolm's face was dark. Nico could tell that they both knew where they had to go. He nodded to Malcolm. Malcolm nodded back. It was time to get this party started.
A/N So what do you think is the city? I gave a lot of clues, it shouldn't be too hard. I hope you like the wording, it took me almost half an hour to think up (I spent most of Social Studies writing it out while my teacher babbled on about the Colombian Exchange). Next chapter will be war games and the prophecy of this story. Then they're off to find the first piece and after that, Percy meets an old friend. R&R. Peace out and See you in the next chapter.
Yeah I'm sorry this chapter sucked, but I was half asleep when I wrote it.
First person to get the city right will get a shoutout in the next chapter
Song of the chapter- Protectors of the Earth by Two Steps from Hell
Book of the chapter- Mark of Athena
Quote of the chapter- Don't tell me the sky is the limit if there are footprints on the moon.
DONUTS TO EVERYONE YAY!
Ok so I got a hate comment from an anonymous named Joy. Here's my reply to you:
You done? I've got other things to do.