Chapter 11 - We Ride a Very Big Dog
"Hey Jason!" It was Percy. He and Annabeth were across the square, enjoying a coffee near the world's biggest dog. I smiled and waved to them. Percy and Annabeth had come here the night before for date night - then we met up afterwards to play games with Frank, Hazel and Reyna. I hefted the cardboard box I was carrying and headed over to them.
"Ready to go to Camp?" Annabeth asked with a yawn. We were all up very early - it was time for our first monthly reunion of the crew of the Argo II. We wanted to get back to New York to spend as much time together as we could. I was so excited. The fall air was just beginning to blow through.
"Hey guys!" Frank and Hazel approached us from the side, holding hands and sipping coffee.
Percy helped us all climb aboard the dog. I handed the box to Annabeth before Percy boosted me up.
"What's in the box?" Annabeth asked me as I secured myself to the harness system. It was a strange combination of a dog harness and a horse saddle, with handles to try to hold onto and a lap seat belt.
"Some games to play." I explained, taking back the box from her and trying to steady it. Apparently, there were not luggage areas on board a hellhound. Go figure. Piper wrapped her arms tightly around me. Neither of us are big fans of shadow travel.
"Here we go guys." Percy called back to me as he swung onto the hellhound's back - clearly, he was used to the routine. Suddenly, the dog bounded through the shadows, into the dark, cold and wet. When I could see again I blinked hard in the sunlight. Shadow travel is still a strange, not entirely fun experience. Imagine running through a very dark freezer and you'll get a good idea of how it feels. We were in the shadows of Thalia's pine tree. I never liked being near that tree - it reminded me too much of my sister dying, which was something I never, ever wanted to think about.
I slid off the dog, and Hazel helped steady me. Percy started unharnessing the hellhound, who was yawning as Reyna and Annabeth scratched her chin and fed her what looked like an entire log of sausage. Hazel yawned next to me.
"Did you help the dog shadow travel?" I asked her as she shook her head.
"Yeah, there's too many of us for her to take us alone." She explained.
Frank handed her a thermos and explained to me, "Triple espresso mocha. Nico says chocolate helps with post-shadow travel."
We trooped towards the Big House where Percy had reserved the game room for us. We spent the afternoon just playing games, enjoying each other's company and retelling some of our favorite stories from the quest. Now that we weren't in mortal danger, a lot of the stories were a good bit funny. Percy and Frank at the aquarium got a lot of laughs, as did Annabeth's story about defeating a bunch of old, dead ghosts in Rome.
After we had spent a while together, I decided it was time to visit someone who hadn't shown up. I grabbed the box I had brought with me and headed to Nico's cabin. I knocked. His dark hair poked out of the doorway.
"Hey Nico!" I grinned at him. He was wearing the shirt Hazel had designed with the skeleton pegasus.
"Hi, Jason." He seemed quiet and maybe a bit nervous.
"You didn't want to join us for the reunion? You're welcome to, you know."
He nodded. "I just wasn't sure…. Anyway, what's up?"
I held up the box. "I got the new Mythomagic virtual game. Want to play?"
Nico looked behind me. I glanced behind me and saw there were some campers on the green.
Nico announced, "I don't play that game anymore. It's for kids. But you can come in."
I felt bad for Nico. It seemed like nothing made him more comfortable around people. I was hoping the video game would help - maybe, if he liked it, he could play with other people here at Camp too. I had to admit, I felt bad about leaving him here and going to California. I knew he wasn't comfortable with making friends yet.
I stepped into the room. "Look, Nico -"
He grabbed the box from me. "No way. I can't believe you got the game." He rushed to put it in. I grinned. Seemed like maybe he was just keeping up appearances as the brooding son of Hades. I grabbed the second controller.
"I gotta be back to the reunion by dinner." I explained quickly as we selected our players. "Reyna's making dinner, so I promised."
Nico nodded, already absorbed by the game.