Sabrina
"They say it'll take three days for your wound to fully heal," Zagreus sat on my cot. "That Solace kid is trying to prepare a concoction for you to drink, but he said you should take in more nectar and ambrosia"
I barely listened to him talk. The hyacinths glowed in the sunlight on the windowsill. The sun was starting to set in the horizon.
"Why did you lie to them?"
"Hmm…" Zagreus replied. He was breaking up pieces of ambrosia on a plate. His forehead was beaded with sweat that his hair started to stick on it.
"You're no son of Hecate yet you let them bite your lie. Why?" I faced him. That was the question I was itching to ask him as I listened to his conversation with Nico di Angelo. There was something needed to be uncovered and his identity continues to be a mystery.
He sighed and placed down the ambrosia on the bedside table. He looked into my eyes as well. "You want me to be sincere from here on, so I will be sincere. But I can only tell you information that has become evident to me since I woke up in that rooftop. He made sure the door to the room was shut and no one was around.
Go on, I motioned.
"It would be strange for demigods like you to encounter someone with the same abilities and power as those in your world. I can see what you see and feel what you feel. No man is able to do that, at least, to my knowledge about the Mist relayed to me by the Hecate kids. You won't see me as a god either because I lack the aura and power to be one. I know you heard about the restraints that bind me now. For that, I can no longer execute my powers and rely mostly on the tools given to me by Hecate when I encountered her."
"I haven't encountered a god before so it's no use finding out about the aura you're talking about. But I guess that is a reasonable excuse. How come no one knows about your absence then? Especially Chiron, he's old enough to know a lot, I assume."
"You see, my existence has always been argued. For them, I'm a myth, I know, how ironic, a myth inside a myth. My nature has always been debated before. Am I the son of Hades or just another "side" of him? Some even say that Dionysus is my reincarnation and I'm the son of Zeus and Persephone," Sabrina grimaced and shuddered. "But the truth is I've always existed, it's just that I remained in the realm of my father for all eternity had to offer. And there I guarded something… which I still cannot remember"
"So when you arrived here only that core memory of your identity remained with you, huh?
"Exactly, that I'm the son of Hades."
"Why don't you go to him so you can resolve all this? Isn't there some sort of portal to the Underworld you can follow or a secret code?"
He slightly laughed. "It's not as easy as you think, Sabrina"
"Well, I wasn't implying that."
"I may have been evicted from the Underworld, as far as I know. Why else will I be teleported here instead of there?"
"Fair point. So, you still plan to go there even though there's a chance your father and possibly the entire Underworld hates you for what you did in the past?"
"It's worth trying. I have to know what I did for me to defend my actions and take my place again in the Underworld. Or else, I'm a homeless, powerless god forever."
I sat up, "being homeless isn't exactly bad."
"Says the kid who likes to run away"
She rolled her eyes, "I would spare you the insults since you can't remember most of your life. Also –" I began to remember what happened the other night.
"What?"
"Why were you in the Hades cabin the other day, holding those strange knick-knacks?"
"Well, I saw someone there. An old friend from the Underworld. You'll meet him soon enough if you don't stop with the questions," he said sternly.
I started to fold "Fine. But you have to spill sooner or later."
Zagreus grunted. "I'll leave now. I have to check on Nico."
"Wait!" I reached for his arm. He lifted his eyebrow, "What?"
"I-I'll help you with that prophecy thing you told your brother. I may know a trick or two on how to sneak around here."
"You seem to be willing to help"
"Just promise me… just promise me Celine wouldn't be involved"
As if sensing the sincerity in my voice, he held my gaze. "I promise"
"Let's meet again later then"
"I'll wait then," he smiled then left the room.
What have I gotten myself into?
- page break -
Nico
"Are you absolutely sure we can trust her?" I sat on the base of the Hades statue. The light from the torches illuminated the obsidian walls, creating ghastly glows on every corner of the room. Zagreus was across from me, he sat cross-legged, finding interest on the runes he laid out.
"Can you actually read those?" I asked.
"No, but I like to pretend I can. I may have known to read them at some point. And to answer your first question, yes, I do trust her."
"Not to prod but uhhmm… do you like her?"
"You're clearly prodding"
"Well.. sorry, it's just that… well, you know. You're only been here for a couple of weeks and you seemed to be inclined to trust her with a bunch of secrets."
"Relations don't need to be romantic"
"I meant like as in you're comfortable with each other, not like you're going to date her or anything."
I noticed his eyes became wide. He blushed, "Maybe" he simply said. The conversation seemed to meet its end. I tried to keep myself busy. My gaze shifted towards the credenza at the end of the room.
As I opened the drawers to look for the figure, Zagreus suddenly said, "Are you looking for this?" from his pocket, he fished out the Mythomagic Hades figure my sister gave to me.
"How did you find that?" I asked as I hurriedly grabbed it from him. I hid it inside my backpack.
"It's seems to be important to you. How come?" he raised his eyebrows. "Is it because it represents your – our father?" he said hesitantly.
"No… it's- it's a gift from Bianca"
Zagreus fell silent. He stopped looking at his runes and stared at me for a second. I avoided his eyes, I did not want to dwell into the feeling of losing her again.
"I understand," he said and the room fell silent again. After a moment he asked, "What's she like?"
I laughed a little, "Bianca? She's as headstrong as anyone can be. A bit selfish if you ask me."
"How come?"
"Well, after Percy and the other demigods discovered us, she decided to accept the offer of being a huntress of Artemis. Which you know, grants you endless youth in exchange for your maidenhood. That meant her leaving me alone. I've been with her for almost all of my life and her doing that just seemed so selfish of her to me," I said, fidgeting the zipper of my jacket. The black water around the statue of Hades seems more alluring now.
"But you've understood why she wanted that?"
"A little bit. I had a talk about it with Annabeth once that sometimes, older sisters just get tired of the whole responsibility entrusted to them. Bianca served as the adult for most of my life. When we find out that there was a camp that could protect us, I think she took the opportunity to join something new and entrust me to the care of someone else."
"That isn't as selfish as one may think it is. Though, I understand where you're coming from. I had this dream you know, a fleeting memory of a sister of mine"
"An older sister?"
He smiled, "I guess so. Her name is Makaria and she's bright as a goddess can be. Too bright for the Underworld if you ask me."
"What happened to her? How come I no longer see her in the Underworld?"
"Her disappearance might be link to my slumber as well. The details to me are still a blur. All I can remember is the bond that we shared before."
"Were you too close as well?"
"Yeah, she was protective of me and I was very protective of her. I'm pretty sure I tried to shield her from Thanatos's advances," Zagreus said with a frown.
"Old, serious Thanatos knows how to be infatuated then"
"Trust me, he does," he said with a knowing smile. "And I'm sure he is also concerned with Makaria's whereabouts. I don't know what force is keeping us apart but I want to find my sister as well once I return to the Underworld."
"Maybe… just maybe – you can meet Bianca too" I said shyly.
"Yes, I definitely will. Regardless of what happens, I'll make it a point to meet my half-sister," he looked into my eyes. It the deep hazel of his gaze, I feel warmth sprouting forth, quite different from the fear instilled to me in our earlier meeting.
Maybe he isn't as bad as I thought him to be, I internally said to myself.
"What's with the look?" Zagreus asked.
"Nothing. This is nice," I smiled, "You're really cool after all"
"So, you thought I wasn't?!" he gave me an incredulous look.
"No," I laughed, "It's just that you were quite intimidating with I first met you"
"You're the one to talk, my ribs still hurt from you pinning me to the ground," he rubbed the bottom of his rib area. "You've got fire, kid"
A sharp knock echoed across the room.
"And here's another fire as well," Zagreus twisted the knob. Sabrina was waiting outside the cabin.
"Sorry I'm late, I had trouble standing up and well, sneaking out," she gave Zagreus an 'I blame you look.'
"Hi, Nico," she said cordially.
I awkwardly waved my hand, "Hey."
"Wow, you're nice to my brother but an ass to me."
Sabrina stepped on Zagreus's food. He winced and lifted his leg. "Where did you learn such words, Oh Mighty One?"
"For someone who can't stand properly, that really hurt"
"Good," she smirked and walked towards me. Zagreus cursed under his breath. I'm pretty sure he was planning to turn Sabrina into something nasty once he get his powers back.
"The area around the Big House is now empty, save a couple of Dionysus kids on sugar high. I think they're playing a twisted Kool-Aid drinking game or something, but the Hypnos kids are on damage control. In half an hour tops, we might have our coast really clear, enough for us and the godhead to make our move to the attic."
"You got that immediately planned out?" Zagreus asked as he rubbed his foot.
"What did you think I was doing when you left me at the cabin?"
"I don't know, being less of an as-" he earned another step on the other foot.
"Nico, can you help me with something?"
I nodded immediately, primarily because I didn't want to lose a limb.
"Helped me tie these together," she slipped the backpack off her shoulders and opened it. She pulled out a bundle of rope. "Do this," she demonstrated forming a knot, then linking the other rope by interlocking it into the loop. I followed her and soon enough, we had five ropes connected to each other.
"That's a lot of rope," Zagreus commented. He was still looking at his runes.
"Courtesy of the Hermes cabin, they use this for tripping campers. They won't notice it's gone since they're busy with other tricks."
"Maybe you're one of the Hermes kids after all," Zagreus commented. Sabrina frowned and rolled her eyes.
What's with these two, I said in exasperation.
"Are you game to climb some walls?" Sabrina said, as she wrapped the ropes into one huge bundle then slinged it onto her left shoulder.
With one swoop, Zagreus collected his runes then placed it into the pouch attached to his belt.
"You're the one to talk. Your leg might fall off," he took the bundle of rope from Sabrina and placed it on his own shoulders. Wrapping an arm around me, he said, "You're coming with us, Nics"
And just like that, we found ourselves climbing the left side of the Big House, without a hoot an owl to be heard… sort of.
