Ch40
Bianca's body shook as she sat in front of Artemis and Zoe. "I can't believe he left camp. I thought he would understand and stay until I could see him again, what if he gets hurt or something?"
It had been a few days since Percy had Iris messaged her about Nico leaving, she had tried contacting her brother but something was blocking the communication. She had been distraught ever since looking or Nico whenever she could.
"It's alright Bianca he'll show up," Artemis said looking at her with a clam gaze. "I have experiences with a rowdy sibling. We'll find him and bring him back to camp."
"But what if the other gods find out about him being a son of Hades?" She asked softly the atmosphere in the room getting tense. Zeus was already not happy about Thalia's death if he found out about Nico she didn't know how he would react.
"It won't be easy but if something were to happen I'll stand up for him so long as he doesn't do something immensely foolish," Artemis said. "These are uncertain times we must be careful."
Zoe nodded, "Did Percy mention why thine brother left camp?"
She shook her head, "No. He mentioned that he was sad that I didn't come back, but Percy said he gave him my letter" Taking a deep breath she cleaned her eyes with a tissue. "I thought Nico would understand and like camp but I didn't think he would leave."
"Well there is nothing we can do for now except hope that the enemy doesn't find him," Artemis said her expression darkening. "Just continue to train and prepare I feel that if he left because you weren't there he will follow and find you somehow."
"Indeed. He will find you or the hunt one way or another," Zoe said.
Bianca nodded, "I know. Lady Artemis if possible may I have permission to visit camp temporarily just to see if I can find any information?"
Artemis nodded, "You may. Zoe accompany her, I'll be with the hunt."
"Yes my lady," Zoe said before turning to her. "We'll leave tomorrow Bianca."
"Alright sounds good," She said as she got up and bowed to them..
The rest of the evening she tried her best to distract herself from her brother's disappearance. She focused on archery, exercises, help set up camp, and prepare the food but despite everything she kept thinking about Nico and wondered where he was.
By the time it was time to got to bed she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Her mind wandered as a figure appeared in her dreams. She saw her brother in some kind of facility.
Nico was wearing a dark leather jacket and black pants, he was wielding a sword gripping it tightly as he swung it at a practice dummy and decapitated it with one blow.
Nico. She wanted to scream and call out to him but he could not here him. Where are you? She watched as her brother turned around to the sound of the door opening and to her horror Luke and Annabeth entered the room. The son of Hermes now wore an eyepatch that covered the eye he lost while the daughter of Athena
No No. She stared in horror, unable to do anything as she watched them talk to Nico who greeted them like old friends.
"Nico come on lets practice again," Luke said as he drew his own sword.
"Sounds good. I want to get stronger for her," Nico said as he assumed a fighting stance.
"Don't worry I know Lord Kronos will reunite you both soon," Luke said as he began to spar with Nico. "You'll be our little ghost king."
Bianca let out a scream as the dream ended and she sat upright in her bed. No Nico they aren't the good guys. Her body shaking, she took a few deep breaths as she cleaned her face. Damn it I have to talk to Percy soon.
Percy gripped Riptide tightly as he stood across from his brother. Chris's golden sword glistened in the sunlight as it came at him.
He blocked his brother's attacks, Chris was fast but he was able to keep up to an extent. He is still leagues ahead of me but I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Gripping his sword he went on the counteroffensive. Swinging his sword he tried to lash at Chris but his brother effortlessly blocked the attacks but he wasn't undeterred and continued to exchange blows with Chris.
I have to get stronger. The enemy will get stronger by the day. He still did his best to return to camp at least once a week to train with Chris or go to the beach to train with Triton, he would have to be ready for the challenges in the future. I won't let Luke and Annabeth get accomplish their goals.
He exchanged a few more blows with Chris. His brother struck the armor on his shoulder causing pain to shoot throughout his arm but he pushed through it and retaliated with a thrust of his sword.
His thrust barely managed to land a hit on Chris's armor but his brother smiled at him through his dark sunglasses. "You're getting better," Chris said as he sheathed his sword.
"I still can't really land a hit on you," he said rubbing his sore arm.
Chris laughed, "Don't forget I've lived a long time. You're getting better and better, don't bet too hard on yourself."
"Thanks," he said as he put Riptide away.
Reyna who had been watching the entire thing clapped her hands. "Good job Percy." The daughter of Bellona had been a bit sad since her sister left for the Amazons but overall seemed to be in good spirits.
"Hey guys!" Said a familiar voice. They turned around to see Zoe and Bianca walk towards them. Bianca's face had bags under her eyes which were slightly red. Hope she is taking it well.
"Long time no see," Chris said. "I heard you guys would be coming."
"Yeah can we talk somewhere private?" Bianca asked her face tensing up.
"Uh sure no one will go in your cabin if you both don't mind us entering there?" He asked.
Zoe nodded, "Yeah it is for the best right now."
The inside of the Artemis cabin was neatly cleaned and orderly. The walls on the inside was gilded in silver and had various animals etched on the walls and included a large basin of water by the side of the wall held up by two silver stags.
He, Reyna, and Chris sat on one bed while Bianca and Zoe sat across from the other one. "So have you heard anything from him?" He asked.
Bianca took a deep breath, her face paled. "No I haven't but I had a dream about him." She took a deep breath, a dark look spreading across her face. "He is with Kronos's army."
His jaw nearly dropped and Reyna's posture stiffened. Great even more bad luck.
She said it so softly yet the atmosphere in the room turned tense. "Are you sure?" Chris asked.
Bianca looked at them and nodded, "I saw him in a dream, he was training with Luke."
"The enemy has tempted him somehow," Zoe said folding her arms. "In my opinion he wouldn't just go to the enemy, someone must have guided him and taken him."
Chris nodded, "That is highly probable. A child of Hades just so happens to be tempted by the enemy and joins them while his support his gone? The question is who could've have done it while here?"
He gripped his fists, who could betray the camp? The thought of a traitor in the camp was something he often heard Chiron and Chris talk about, the way the enemy sometimes had information was too convenient.
"Was he close to anyone here?" Bianca asked.
"I'm not sure I didn't know him that long," he said scratching his head. "I'll go ask around the Hermes Cabin later."
Chris nodded, "We'll do our best to seek information here. Don't worry I'm sure you'll run into your brother again, if we see him we'll try to knock some sense into him."
"Thanks. I just don't know why he would just leave like that," Bianca said shaking her head. "I thought he would be happy at camp, I really did."
"It is not your fault," Zoe said patting Bianca on the back. "You aren't his mother you can't make every decision for him."
"True he has to choose his own path in the end. Not that he is completely loss," Chris said. "I'm sure you'll see him again in the future."
"Thanks," Bianca said. "Does anyone else here know about our parentage?"
"We haven't told anyone," he said while his brother shook his head. "Outside of Reyna here and her sister no one else knows. Don't worry they are trustworthy."
Reyna nodded. "Don't worry I'll keep things in order."
"Thanks. I don't more attention drawn to this issue than necessary," Bianca said as she cleaned her eyes with a tissue. "Lady Artemis knows but I don't want the gods to get angry him, especially with all that happened with Thalia."
"True. That's the last thing Zeus would probably want to hear," Reyna aid.
"Anyway we'll find your brother and bring him back if we find him," he said firmly.
Bianca smiled at him, "Thanks Percy. I know Nico is good deep down, I hope he hasn't been fully brought over to the enemy's side yet."
"Let us know if you need anything else," Chris said.
Bianca nodded, "I will. I may stay a few days to get some clues."
"We can help if you need it," he offered.
"Thanks. I don't know the camp very well," Bianca said as they all got up.
"We'll go speak with Chiron quickly," Zoe said.
"Sounds good. We'll go interrogate the Hermes Cabin," Chris said. "Come on guys ."
He and Reyna followed his brother to the Hermes Cabin passing by various campers, "Do you think we really have a spy among us?" He asked softly.
"In war spies are a necessity," Chris said. "Luke was popular here and his ideals can be attractive to many."
"In war anything is a possibility," Reyna said with a shrug of her shoulders. "It wouldn't surprise me that there is a spy. The question is who?"
"Yeah I mean Annabeth and Thalia joined but they were already close with him," he said as they approached the Hermes Cabin. I wonder who else would betray the camp?
It was something he didn't want to think about as they entered and found Travis and Conner Stoll cleaning the Cabin. "Hey guys are you busy?" He asked causing the two twins to look up at them.
"Oh hey guys what do you need?" Travis asked.
"We wanted to ask you about that boy that ran away," Chris asked.
"You mean Nico?" Conner asked. "What about him?"
"Did you notice anything strange with him?" He asked. "We are helping his sister try and find him."
The Stoll siblings sat down on the bed, "No I can't think of anything weird," Conner said. "He would always be happy but at night he would not so discreetly cry himself to sleep."
"Yeah we know he missed his sister," Chris said. "Was he close to anyone else here?"
"There was Silena," Travis said looking up at them. "She would always talk to him in the stables but other than that I can't think of anyone else he was close to. A lot of people found him annoying."
"Yeah I can see that," he sighed as he remembered how Nico kept trying to talk to him about random stuff when they met. "Anyway thank you, lets us know if you find anything about him."
"No problem," Connor said before they left the Hermes Cabin.
"So I take it he didn't have many connections here," he said as they headed to the Aphrodite Cabin.
"True but I wonder why Silena would talk to Nico," Chris said. "Its not like they had much in common."
His brother knocked on the door to the Aphrodite Cabin and Silena answered it, "Oh hey guys what do you need?" She smiled at them as she did with everyone else.
"H-Hey Silena you knew Nico right?" He asked.
Silena's smile tenses and for a second her eyes avoided his gaze. "O-Oh yeah I did why do you ask?"
"We heard you were close to him before he left," Chris said folding his arms. "Do you know anything about why he would leave or where he would go?"
"No," she said quickly. "I don't know. I mean I just spoke to him because he liked horses."
"Really he like horses?" Chris asked. "Maybe we should ask the pegasi then?"
He swore he saw Silena's face twitch, "He did he really did. I don't know anything about him leaving though."
"Really? I saw you talking to him a few times," Reyna said folding her arms.
Silena's face tightened and for a second he saw fear in them. "I was just being kind to a new camper that's all."
He frowned. "Oh ok we will continue are investigation then."
"Thank I have to go," Silena said quickly closing the door in their faces.
"That was weird," he said scratching his head
"She isn't telling the truth," Chris said as they headed to the Big House.
"How could you tell?" He asked.
"Experience. I know very well when someone is trying to lie and she isn't a good liar," Chris said folding his arms. "She knows something but isn't saying it. We should keep an eye on her."
Reyna frowned and nodded in agreement. "She is definitely lying. I often saw them together. She is hiding something that's for sure."
"Fine the last thing we need is to have a traitor amongst us," he said looking at the Aphrodite Cabin he felt a pang in his heart. Silena is a nice person hopefully she isn't involved.
Nico took a deep breath as he gripped his sword as he charged at Ethan Nakamura. His sword met Ethan's spear as the two exchanged blows. "Not bad now show your powers son of Hades," Luke yelled from the sidelines.
He took a deep breath and concentrated on the ground and jumped back as Ethan thrusted his spear at him. He avoided the spear and slammed his sword into the ground. The Earth shook as skeletons came out and charged at Ethan.
The son of Nemesis was barely managing to hold them off. "Alright that's good enough" Luke said clapping his hands.
He smiled at the son of Hades, "I'm getting better at controlling my powers."
Luke gave him a small smile that made his heart jump, "I can see that. You're improving a lot." Luke ruffled his hair. "Continue to improve, soon you'll be strong enough to get your sister back."
"Thank you," he said looking up at Luke. "I want to be stronger for her. I want to save her from those hunters who took her."
Luke nodded. "Good, continue to train and you'll achieve that goal."
He nodded and gripped his sword tightly. I'll save you Bianca. Those hunters tricked you and took you from me. I won't let them get away with this. I'll save you at all costs. He hadn't sworn his loyalty to Kronos yet but he was grateful for his help.
AN: Hope you all enjoyed this part. It will be a while before i update this due to personal reasons and I want to do some more editing. but I'm not abandoning it. Also, apparently one of the moderators of the R/Camphalblood subreddit is going around harassing people here. She threatened me once on one of my stories. If you see her just ignore her and report her on the subreddit
