Chapter 8

Grover seeks help

Snow Sabrina

I woke up at 10:00 in the morning and Nico was gone. I got dressed and left to get something to eat. On the way there I saw Caspia and Topaz, on their way to the arena, probably to practice sword fighting. "

"Hey, do you want to come with us?" Caspia asked. "Topaz said you're really good at fighting, too."

"Maybe later. I overslept, and I'm going down to the dining hall to get breakfast. I'll show you some other time."

"What does that mean?" Caspia asked.

"She slept with Di Angelo." I pretended not to hear. I waked down to the Dining Hall and had a bowl of fruit and a mimosa. Then I went to the amphitheater to see if they needed any help.

On the way there I encountered Grover, who asked "Do you want to come pick berries with Me and Juniper?"

"That wouldn't be very romantic. Don't you want to be alone?"

"I've just been really nervous around her lately. I thought you might be good for moral support. You're nicer than Annabeth. She would probably just hit me."

I laughed. "Yeah, she would."

"So will you come?" I thought Topaz could do a pretty good job teaching her on her own. Percy might help her, too. I wanted Grover to succeed with Juniper.

I patted his shoulder. "I am nice. I'll cancel my plans of teaching Caspia how to kill people to help you. That's how nice I am."

"Uh, thanks."

"I'll have to extend the lesson on torture tomorrow, though..."

"Great, let's go."

"Did you invite anyone else?"

"Yeah, Piper insisted on coming. She's really crazy sometimes. Even crazier than you, actually."

"I don't see how that's possible."

"And I invited Percy and Leo. I thought they might lighten the mood with Leo's jokes and Percy's stupidity."

"That's mean. Percy is smart, he's just uneducated." I paused.

"Juniper likes Nico, maybe you should bring him, too."

"Yeah, she does. I don't know why she likes being around him so much. He's death and she's life...It's an interesting friendship."

"I'll go get him." Grover frowned. "You know where he is?"

"Yes. We'll need to go to the woods still though. Turn around, Percy and Leo are trying to scare you." He turned, and saw them sneaking up behind him. "Damn, Snow. Did you have to ruin our fun?" Percy scowled.

"Yes. He's already nervous. The last thing he needs is you scaring him. By the way, Grover said you're stupid."

"I am not stupid! I just have F's and D's."

"I rest my case." Grover coughed.

"I gotta go." I said happy to escape their arguing. At the clearing, Nico was sitting on a rock, practicing raising mouse skeletons and precious stones.

"Hey." He said without looking up. "Want a ruby." I took it and sat next to him. This wasn't going to be easy. "Do you want to come hang out with Percy, Leo, Piper, Grover, Juniper and me?"

He looked at me like I had just turned into a Medusa. "Why would I want to do that?"

I put my arm around him. "Come, on. They're your friends. And you'll get some nice berries." He shied away from me, his eyes full of fear. "They're going berry picking? You didn't tell me that."

"It's not that bad. Please, for me. We can stay at the back of the group and avoid everyone else if you want." He perked up.

"Okay. Let's go, Snowflake. Where are we meeting them?" I smiled. "Juniper's tree." As promised, we stuck to the back of the group and didn't talk to anyone. I know I wasn't being a good friend to Grover, but he had 2 other friends to help him and one crazy love enthusiast.

"So have you been to see the Oracle yet?"

"He looked down. "I don't want to talk about it." I dropped it.

"Okay, so did you hear about what Topaz did?"

He looked up. " No, what happened?"

"Okay, do you remember Hanson and Eric, those annoying guys from Ares?"

"Hanson, the one that came over to us at the campfire and started flirting with you right in front of me and called me deathboy, causing me to make his left hand start rotting resulting in me getting kitchen duty?"

"That's the one. So his friend Eric likes Topaz, but he was hitting on the new girl we brought over from the mental hospital, Caspia Kelly, and... Making fun of Blade, and she went over to help, and he made a move on her and...made fun of Will, this seems to be becoming characteristic of them... And she punched him, full force in the nose, and broke it, there was blood EVERYWHERE, his favorite shirt was ruined, but he insists she is still his true love and they are only stronger because he likes tough girls."

"Why didn't you punch Hanson like that? Topaz is loyal."

" I AM loyal, I would have if he had been able to keep going, and if you hadn't taken matters into your own hands."

"Hey, he was asking for it."

"I know. I'm glad you did it. I love your powers. So much cooler than being able to strike someone with lightning or douse them in water."

"You have to be the only person I'll ever meet who will find my scary qualities cool."

"I don't know about that. Sapphire does, Topaz and your bestie Will, he only complains because he wants you to be safe. Literally everyone finds them useful and I'm sure you'll meet other people who do, too."

"Oh, did you hear who died?"

I smirked. Nico is the only person you could have this kind of conversation with. " No, who?"

"The guy who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies."

"You mean Alan Rickman? That's too bad, he was a good actor."

"Obbbviously." I laughed. Nico didn't make jokes very often.

"I'm going to make you watch Harry Potter with me tonight."

"Okay, which one?"

"The order of the Pheonix, that's when Bellatrix Lesteange gets out of Asksban."

"Yeah, I know how much you love her."

"Of course she's fucking awesome. Gotta love that Bellamort!"

"Yeah, Voldies my favorite. I like the Slytherins, too."

"Yeah I like Draco Malfoy too... But let's talk about something else. I feel like I'm fangirling."

"Okay, so DC killed Joker!"

"Gasp! What were they smoking?"

"Something that fucked their mind up for sure."

"I mean Joker is like the most popular, most bestest villan EVAH! What is wrong with those boneheads!"

"You're quoting Legally Blonde."

"Totally. Actually, let's watch that tonight."

"Fine by me. I weirdly like all those girly movies."

"That is so fetch of you."

"No, no, I think you used that wrong."

"Hmmmm, maybe you're right. We should invite Will to watch with us!"

"Oh, yeah, he likes chick flicks too. But it goes better with his personality."

"Aw, no, you can be fun, too, as well as brooding and gloomy. Personally, I like both aspects of you."

"That's so sweet, but no on else does."

"That's because these bitches expect you to be dark, and don't want you to have fun. But I do."

"Because you looove me."

"Yeah, I do. You're freakin amazing."

"Well you're the prettiest girl in the world."

I sighed. "Can you please give me a compliment that doesn't involve my looks? That's all I ever get."

"Why, you're really smart too. I think you're smarter than the whole Athena cabin put together."

"Don't tell Annabeth that. She'd kill you."

"She'd try."

"Yeah you could always rot her hand, but that would be mean, and I don't advise it, because an angry Annabeth AND Percy, equals a very dead Nico."

"Please get over the whole rotting hand I did to Hanson."

"There's nothing to get over. I thought it was cool. And I find jealousy and anger attractive."

"That's why you're perfect for me."

"However, my very powerful dangerous Father found out and he doesn't like you."

"Aw, well that sucks."

I nodded. "Yes, it does. He could have you killed ya know."

"Nah, he'd just use mortals."

I shook my head. "No, he wouldn't. He actually has a ton of monsters to do his bidding."

"Oh, well-"

"Hey, keep it down back there. You two are already in a happy relationship, let other people get there too!" Piper screamed.

"Piper, we are happy. I really think we just need to be alone."

"Okay, okay, let's go people." Piper dragged Percy and Leo over to where we were standing. "So, what are you guys talking about."

I thought it was best not to mention my dad not liking him in front of Piper. Nico seemed to get the message too.

"Just random flirting, camp gossip. Oh, did you hear? DC had the nerve to kill off the Joker!"

"What's DC?" Piper asked.

"Dude. DC Comics. The very place where we get Superman, and Batman and so many other great Superheros of our generation. Have you been living under a rock?" Percy asked irritably.

"Right, dude. You know Superman almost died a few weeks ago?" Leo said.

"Broh, is DC smoking?" Percy said.

"Right?" I said.

Piper ignored them as they went out of the group to talk about Comic books. "Juniper and Grover should try to be more like you two. They were hardly touching each other, exchanging meaningless conversation, and avoiding eye contact. But here you guys are, Nico had his arm around Snow, and he's stroking her hair, and you were clearly having a good conversation, minus the part about comic books."

Piper went on and on about everything that was wrong with Grover and Junipers relationship, then, before long, we were leaving the forest and it was lunchtime. I didn't eat anything, I just talked to Sapphire, Nico, and Topaz at the Hades Table.

Sapphire was telling a story about how peaches had started following her everywhere. "So yesterday I was walking to go to Pegasus riding class, right? And in the garden there's this big peach tree, and when I passed it, a peach fell off and hit my head. So naturally I glared at it, hoping it would clear off, but then it just bounced off me over and over and when I ran from it, it chased after me until I got to my cabin and I shut the door really fast. I've stayed in there all day, until I got hungry and didn't want to eat flowers so I came here. But right now it's waiting with anticipation outside."

"Can't it get in? It's an open air pavilion." Nico wondered.

"Yes, but there's an anti magic spell around the dining pavilion so that there's not as great of a chance of a fight, since literally everyone is in the same room at the same time." Snow explained.

"So back to the problem at hand, why is a peach assaulting me?"

Topaz chuckled. " I think your grandmother is playing a trick on you."

"Why would my own dear grandmother do that to me?"

"Why don't you ask Demeter to stop when you perform the sacrifice you've been neglecting to do?"

"Yeesh, snarky much Nico?"

She grabbed a juicy piece of watermelon that should have been out of season and went to the front to burn it.

Topaz turned to me. "Father called me last night."

"What did Daddy want?"

"He said he wanted me to tell you that he was sorry for his behavior when he met Nico and that he was wrong to judge him just because he has a skull tattoo and multiple piercings in his ears. He said he's willing to skype him and get to know him and overlook his 'how do you say emoness'."

"Well wasn't that nice of him." I turned to him. "Don't worry Mother likes you. She said you're a nice boy with just the right amount of attitude."

"Well tell her I said thanks."

"Okay. Did you hear about What happened to Miranda Gardner?"

"What happened to her?" Nico asked without interest.

"Travis shot her with an arrow."

He laughed. "What?"

"Miranda was chasing after this vine with a mind of its own and she wasn't looking where she was going and ran straight in front of the archery field, and everyone but Travis noticed. He shot her in the shoulder and got stable cleaning duty and no dessert for two weeks."

"Ouch. Next week is pie week. 'Course we'll miss that too, with the quest and everything."

"What about pie?" Sapphire asked when she finally returned.

"We're missing pie week because of the quest." Topaz explained.

She stared at her in horror. "But they're setting up a pie buffet and having a contest and the winner gets to lock the cleaning harpies in a cage for two nights and have no chores for a month!"

"Sorry, Sis."

"Ugh, you guys are terrible!"

"Why did you take so long getting back?" Nico asked with concern.

"Oh, I just stopped to talk to Leo. Do me a favor and don't turn into Percy."

"I would never do anything if the sort but what do you mean specifically?"

"Okay, so Topaz introduced me to that new girl you guys brought back, Caspia. She's supercool, and she's dating the other guy you all brought back, Blade. And Percy was getting super protective and doesn't like him being near her. He's like the overbearing father she never had who threatens the new guy as soon as she brings him home."

"Percy threatened him? He has always struck me as a pretty nice guy." Nico said with slight confusion.

"He said and I quote, 'If I ever see your hands on my sister we just might find your body at the bottom of the canoe lake.'" I explained with amusement.

"Hmmm... I wonder where he would end up?" Nico mused.

"If he died now, the fields of Asphodel because he hasn't done anything hero worthy yet."

"Let's hope Percy doesn't drown him," Topaz said.

Then we went to archery. It turned out that Blade was one of the worst shots at camp. He hit a passing satyr who said he was better than Percy, which wasn't really a compliment. At first people ducked simply because Caspia was Percy's sister, but she turned out to be really good, and people relaxed(at least as much as they could with Percy there).

I got a bulls eye nearly every time, but Tyson couldn't even figure out how to put the arrow on his bow, and when Percy offered to help, he ran away screaming. When we found him, cowering under a bin filled with arrows, Will Solace offered to help him. He didn't seem to find that as scary, so he allowed him to help him.

Then later, we went to Pegasus riding (or, most of us. Nico can't go there ️) I rode Cherry, my Pegasus who's named that because of her red coat and pink mane that I like to wash with strawberry shampoo and put glitter in. She seems to be the only one besides Blackjack who doesn't mind Nico. She's a sweet horse. I keep trying to get him to come here and ride Cherry or Blackjack, but he said he doesn't want to take the insults from the other horses. I got that. I didn't know why animals hated him so much. Sure, he radiated death, but it wasn't like he was planning to kill them or something. They might not have been able to tell. Before long, the day was over and it was dinnertime.