Chapter 9 "All I Want For Christmas Is YOUUUU!"
Nico pulled out his sword as the statues circled the group. Today had just been absolutely fantastic. First he'd been transformed into a guinea pig, now he was being attacked by blocks of marble. Just the kind of thing he'd wanted to do. He mentally flipped off Apollo for making them go on this stupid quest.
"You could have stayed in my resort as peaceful guinea pigs!" Circe swooned, "It's too bad, really, that I have to kill you all. It could have been fun."
"Not a chance, lady!" Leo said, "Death isn't really on my bucket list, so I'm gonna have to decline your offer."
"Goodbye, heroes!" She said sweetly.
The statues began to attack. One swung at Nico with a bronze sword. It appeared to be a statue of some Greek hero. Where the sword had come from Nico had no idea, given it most definitely hadn't been there before. Either way, he ducked and stabbed the thing in its stomach. Without warning, the statue crumbled to marble dust.
Thank the gods that Olympian metals sliced through minerals.
An arrow whizzed past Nico's ear. Nico turned to see one of the tiny cherub statues from the fountain nocking a second one. Before the cherub could send it flying, a blast of fire fried it. The statue was unharmed, but the fire had distracted it. Nico watched as Jason decapitated it with his sword.
"Nice one, Grace!" Nico heard Leo shout.
The moment of joy was over quickly. Nico watched as both the statue he'd stabbed and the cherub reanimated themselves. Circe laughed, "Did you really think it would be that easy?"
The courtyard quickly spiraled into chaos. Nico and the others worked their way through the statues, but each time they destroyed one, another would appear in its place.
When he wasn't sparring with an animated piece of marble, Nico checked to see how the others were doing. Each of his friends seemed to be holding their ground just fine. He had expected that; it wasn't like these statues were difficult opponents or anything, just extremely annoying.
One thing that did stand out, however, was Pietro. The guy had become a blur, slicing through marble with a Celestial Bronze sword (where had that come from?) almost faster than Circe could reanimate it.
It still wasn't enough. Every time Nico thought they were getting closer to destroying the horde, he turned and found half a dozen more marble statues behind him. There was no way there'd been this many lining the pathway.
Of course, the fact that they wouldn't stay dead didn't help.
Nico tried to reach out with his powers, searching for any skeletons buried underneath him. Maybe they could help. He couldn't find any. But something was off about it. It wasn't that there weren't any skeletons beneath, it was like…
Like he couldn't sense them.
He'd noticed how weak Leo's fire had been in the resort. Jason hadn't even been able to use his powers. Was everyone losing them? Apollo had warned them it would happen as they neared the heart of the Sea of Monsters.
Nico looked around the best he could. Frank was almost entirely using his bow and arrow. That was unusual. Normally when fighting he'd be switching in and out of animal forms faster than you could blink. Jason tried to summon a lighting bolt but realized he couldn't and quickly ducked as a statue tried to take his head off.
Of course. They actually get into a fight on the quest and none of their abilities work.
Typical.
"This isn't working!" Nico yelled as he sliced through the torso of a half-naked Greek woman. Honestly, what was it with old sculptures always flashing everybody?
Nico figured he'd ponder that later. Right now he had to focus on not dying. "We need to run!" He said, taking off toward the Argo II.
He hoped the others had heard him and were following. He didn't look back as he barreled past two statues. He was almost there, almost off this stupid island-
"Nico look out!" He heard someone yell.
Nico turned and watched as Pietro caught an arrow out of the air.
An arrow that had been heading straight for his heart.
Nico blinked. He should've been able to feel the arrow coming toward him. If he was close to death at any point, he usually would know.
Right. Nobody's powers were working properly.
Wait, Nico thought absently, If everyone's powers were fading, then how did Pietro still know exactly where Wadlisle was?
Whatever. He could figure that out later. That wasn't exactly his top priority right now. Regardless, Pietro had just caught an arrow in motion.
Seriously, who was this guy?
Funnily enough, Pietro seemed almost as shocked, as if he hadn't been expecting to catch it. He shook it off quickly and continued following Nico to the ship as a swarm of marble statues marched toward them. Nico looked ahead to see everyone else already at the dock.
"You cannot escape!" Circe cried, having suddenly appeared in front of Pietro and Nico. The footsteps of the marble army grew louder behind them. Circe raised her hands to start a new spell.
"Yeah, how about no," Pietro said, then in a flash of motion too quick to comprehend took his sword and stabbed Circe. Her eyes snapped open and she cried out briefly before vaporizing. The statues collapsed behind them.
Nico looked at Pietro. The guy had quite possibly saved his life. If he was a spy or enemy, would he have done that?
Nico wasn't sure.
He was still wary, however, so instead of getting all sappy about it he raised an eyebrow, "So where'd the loner son of a minor god learn to fight like that?"
"Come on," Pietro said, completely jumping over the question and walking toward the Argo II, "We need to get out of here before she comes back."
Nico frowned, but even as Pietro said it Nico knew he was right. His powers weren't working to their full extent, but he could still feel Circe's soul looming on the island. She had disappeared briefly, but it wouldn't be for long, and they definitely did not want to be around when she returned.
"Yeah," Nico said.
Then the two of them ran back to the dock and boarded the Argo II again, which set sail within seconds of them setting their feet on the deck.
Oooooooo
A few hours later, the crew of the Argo ll was back at it on the open sea. Hazel was probably back in one of the bathrooms again. Poor girl; Percy had never been seasick, but that brief feeling when the ship had been in the sky after leaving Wadelisle was enough to give him a glimpse.
Percy, meanwhile, decided to spend the afternoon playing Smash Bros. Annabeth's advice from the night before seemed to be helping; he wasn't losing to all of the CPU's.
"Hey, you're not doing too bad," Percy heard a voice from over his shoulder. He looked up briefly to see Jason watching the screen from behind the couch. Percy turned back and continued fighting Bowser.
"Thanks," he said as he whacked Bowser with Kirby's hammer, "Annabeth was teaching me how to play last night."
"Did she teach you anything else?" Percy heard Leo snicker as he also came over to watch. Jason hit him upside the head.
"Ow!" Leo rubbed the spot where Jason had hit him, "What was that for?"
Jason didn't respond. Instead he turned back and continued watching the screen. Percy sighed as he got flung off, losing his final life.
"So you and Annabeth are getting along pretty well?" Jason asked.
"Real well if you ask me," Leo muttered. Percy turned and watched as Jason threatened to smack Leo again. Leo flinched away and stopped talking.
Percy's brain short-circuited. They were getting along pretty well, but that didn't mean that-
"Well," Jason continued, sensing how uncomfortable Percy was, "I was just wondering because she didn't know how to feel about you at first. But she seems to be warming up to you."
It doesn't mean anything, Percy thought, she's just being nice.
"It's not just Annabeth, either," Jason said. He paused, then looked at Percy, "I know I'm just making assumptions here, and feel free to not answer if it's too personal, but why did you live alone on Wadelise?"
"I didn't really think about that," Leo jumped in, "But Jason has a good point. Why were you there alone? And why did most of the people on the island seem to hate you?"
That's a good question, Percy thought. Maybe Pietro could answer it for you.
Well, he could tell them a sort-of truth. It wasn't like he hadn't been alone in Atlantis anyway.
"I guess," Percy hesitated, trying to spin his thoughts in a way so he didn't reveal something by accident, "I guess I just felt like an outcast. You know, being the only demigod around and all. I didn't really fit in with anyone else."
Jason nodded, "You know, I've talked to Leo about it, and I might bring it up with some of the others. You don't have to; if you want to go back to Wadelisle we totally understand, but-"
"You should come back with us to Long Island!" Leo finished.
"What?" Percy asked, not really sure he was hearing what he thought he was hearing.
"What Leo said," Jason added, "There's always room for someone else in the friend group."
"And, I'm gonna be honest," Leo said, "You kinda seem like the missing link."
"Of course," Jason jumped in, "if you don't want to, you don't have to, or if you just want to come back temporarily to check things out and like, go back and forth, or whatever. We just thought we'd throw it out there."
Percy looked at the two of them. They were offering…what? For him to join their friend group?
"But you guys seem like such a close knit group." Percy said, "I couldn't invade on that."
"You wouldn't be invading." Jason said.
"Yeah," Leo smiled, "We want you to be a part of it." He gave him a crooked smile, "You're our friend, bro. Wouldn't want to leave you behind."
Percy blinked. He was pretty sure no one had ever called him "bro" before.
"Especially if you have no one to go back to." Jason said, "No offense or anything."
"So?" Leo asked.
So…gods of Olympus, what did he say? Jason and Leo were offering the one thing he'd wanted for years. They were saying, yeah we're a family. And we want you to be a part of it.
But at the same time, he was on a mission. On direct orders from his father. He couldn't just tell them, sorry, I can't join you because I'm going to betray you for my power-hungry father.
Did he have to obey his dad? It wasn't the first time Percy had thought about that. He could waltz up to him and say, "Screw you, dad, I'm following these guys who actually care about me."
But if he did that, would it even matter? They didn't even know his real name. Would Jason and Leo still offer this if they knew who he was?
Percy shook that away. It could be something to think about another time.
The list of things to think about later was getting kinda long.
"Sure," Percy said, despite the voices screaming in his head, "I do wanna see this Camp Half-Blood you guys keep talking about." He nearly said more, but was afraid of what might spill out if he didn't shut up.
"Awesome!" Leo yelled.
Percy, dying to change the subject, held up the controller, "You guys wanna play?"
Jason agreed to play, but Leo told him he needed to start getting dinner ready. When Percy questioned him, since the plates in the cupboards magically gave each of them whatever they wanted, Leo explained that he was making tofu tacos.
"Tofu tacos?" Percy asked.
"Yeah," Leo said, "I started making them because Piper's a vegetarian, but then everyone liked them so it's become tradition."
"Tofu tacos." Percy dead-panned.
"Hey," Leo pointed at him, "You're gonna regret doubting the Valdezinator and his tofu tacos."
"They are really good," Jason mentioned offhandedly as he flipped through characters on the screen.
Percy trusted both of them, but wasn't so sure about that.
Ooooooooooooo
Percy did, in fact, regret doubting the Valdezinator and his tofu tacos.
He'd never had anything like it. How did something so fake taste so good?
As he took the first bite, Leo gave him a smug look, "What did I tell you?"
"You were right," Percy said through a mouthful of food, then pointed at the taco in his hand, "These are amazing. How did you do it?"
"The magician never tells his secrets," Leo grinned.
Percy wolfed down the taco in a few bites and reached for another. Then another. And maybe another. He wasn't actually sure how many he ate; Leo had made a lot and they were just so good. In fact, he was so consumed in eating that he didn't notice Nico staring at him from across the table until after the tacos were all gone.
The son of Hades had done this a few times before, so Percy wasn't surprised, but this one felt different. Most of the time, the kid would be glaring at him; now, he looked more lost in thought. Percy wondered why that was.
Before he could think too long on it, though, Leo stood up.
"Guys, I think we should do something." He said, "Like as a group."
"Like what?" Frank asked.
"Karaoke night!" Piper yelled suddenly, "It's been forever since we've done one of those."
Percy mentally screamed. He'd always been made fun of in Atlantis during things like that because he couldn't sing. He didn't exactly want to relive it.
"No!" Nico said.
"Why not, Nico?" Hazel turned to him.
"You two only want to do it because you always win." Nico told her, "Honestly, how did you two end up on a team last time?"
"Like you aren't the best singer here," Hazel countered.
"That wasn't part of my question!" Nico yelled.
"How would we even do that here?" Frank added, "I mean, we don't exactly have Wi-Fi or anything."
"Leo's got it," Piper said a little too quickly.
All eyes spun to Leo. He rubbed the back of his neck, "I may or may not have hacked my dad's TV network and the Olympian wifi."
"Well I guess that's one way to do it," Jason mumbled.
Leo ran into the kitchen. After a lot of random clanging sounds and a few strings of cussing, he returned with a bowl, a pad of paper, and some pens.
"How does this work?" Percy asked, still unsure of what he was getting forced into, "Because if I try to sing I might cause an avalanche."
"Don't worry," Jason reassured him, "Piper and Hazel are really the only ones who can actually sing. And Nico, but only when he wants to. Frank's not bad though, if he would just get the confidence to speak out."
"Hey!" Frank protested.
That made Percy feel a little better. If all of them sounded bad, then it would just be fun. Back in Atlantis, all the sirens would often compete to see who was the best singer.
Percy always got last place.
"Basically, Pietro, we assign partners randomly," Leo said, "We'll make a list of songs and put them in a bowl like this," he gestured to the bowl, "You and your partner then have to perform it in front of everyone else. So," he paused, "We doing this?"
Everyone else, excluding Nico, nodded their heads. They all wrote their names on pieces of paper and placed them in the bowl. Percy had to cross out the "e" as realized he'd started writing "Percy" instead of "Pietro". That would've been bad.
"Alright," Leo said, shaking the bowl to mix up the names, "The first duo will be…" He picked out two pieces of paper and opened them, "Hazel and Nico!"
Hazel smiled at Nico. Nico tried his best not to, but Percy swore he saw a hint of a smile on the guy's face.
"The next pair will be," Leo paused for dramatic effect as he grabbed two new slips out of the bowl, "Me and Piper!" Piper, who sat right next to where Leo was standing, gave him a high-five.
Leo continued mixing the remaining four pieces of paper around. Percy noticed him looking down in the bowl, as if he was checking to see who's name was where. Suspicious, "The third group will be…" He grabbed two more, "Jason and Frank!"
"We got this!" Jason said, moving over by Frank. Frank nodded in agreement.
Percy noticed that his name had not yet been called. Who was still left? Then Leo gave him a devilish grin. Percy realized who it was.
"And that leaves Pietro and Annabeth," Leo said, a little too cheerfully. Oh, he had definitely planned that.
Annabeth looked over at him. Her face was bright red. Percy didn't know how to interpret that.
"Now," Leo clapped his hands together, "Let's make a list of songs!"
After everyone put in two or three song suggestions, they moved over to the TV. Percy didn't know a lot of songs from on land, so he went with two Disney songs he remembered from his childhood; Under the Sea and Part of Your World.
He might have had an obsession with The Little Mermaid as a kid.
Somehow, Leo had connected the TV to Wi-Fi, and now they were able to access YouTube. He opened it and clicked on the search bar using a wii remote. How any of that worked Percy had no clue.
"Alright!" Leo said as everyone except him sat down, "Who wants to go first? Piper? You wanna go?"
"Duh," she said, getting up, "What song are we doing?"
Leo rummaged through the papers for a moment and drew one out. He showed Piper and the two whispered back and forth briefly, deciding who was going to sing what.
"Alright." Leo said, "Ladies and gentleman, we are glad you came out to see the show. Piper and I will now be performing the lovely ballad "Part of Your World" for your enjoyment.
Percy smiled. They'd gotten one of his suggestions.
Leo typed in "Part of Your World Karaoke" and clicked the first one. The song started playing.
Leo came in on the first verse. And gods it was bad. Percy may have been almost completely tone-deaf, but he'd spent enough time with other sirens to distinguish between voices. And Leo definitely could not sing. But he was so over-the-top with the acting that it almost made up for it.
Everyone laughed as Leo continued. But they weren't laughing at him. They were laughing with him. It wasn't a fighting tooth-and-nail competition; it was just a group of friends having fun.
Then Piper came in. Her voice was completely opposite to Leo's. Hers was clear, strong, and actually in tune. The two continued through the end of the song; Piper sounding like a professional singer, Leo sounding like a dying duck. But he made up for it with enthusiasm.
"Thank you, thank you," Leo said, bowing at the end as everyone clapped.
Jason and Frank went next. They got All-Star. Percy vaguely remembered the song from Shrek. The two conversed on how they were gonna do it and the song started.
Jason sang the first part. He was sort of on- not nearly as bad as Leo but nowhere close to as good as Piper. Then it got to the faster part. Out of nowhere Frank started spitting bars like Eminem. Everyone started cheering him on. The two came together for the chorus. Frank didn't shy away from it. He didn't always hit the notes, but he was genuinely having a good time with it.
"I thought Frank was the shy one." Percy whispered to Annabeth.
"He is, but that's one of his favorite songs." Annabeth told him.
That makes more sense, Percy thought, but All Star?
Percy raised an eyebrow, "Really? All Star is one of his favorite songs?"
Annabeth nodded, "Yeah."
Eh. There were worse choices.
Hazel and Nico went next. They got "Since You've Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson. Percy didn't recognize the name. Nico groaned as he read the slip. Hazel elbowed him. He rolled his eyes.
Hazel started with the first verse. Percy immediately recognized the song from all those years ago. Hazel's singing voice was probably better than Piper's. She stopped as the second verse hit and looked at Nico. He started mumbling the lyrics. Hazel took over at the "and all you'd ever hear me say" part and really started getting into it. She looked at Nico and nodded as she sang. Percy wondered what that was about.
Then the "Since you've been gone" part hit and Nico belted it out at the top of his lungs. Percy's jaw dropped. He hit the high notes perfectly. He sounded like an angel of some sort.
That's what a siren should sound like, he thought absently.
Hazel jumped in and joined Nico. Percy looked around. The others were cheering but didn't seem surprised. Percy hadn't thought that such a quiet kid like Nico would be able to do that. He smiled briefly as the song ended, before quickly returning to a frown.
"See, I told you you'd enjoy it," Hazel said.
Nico shrugged, "Whatever."
"I guess that means it's our turn, Pietro," Annabeth said.
Oh right. They still had to go. Percy immediately got nervous. He knew they didn't care if he sounded bad, but it still scared him to put himself out there like that.
Percy followed Annabeth as she stood up. Then she whispered to him, "It's so not fair that those two got put together."
"Honestly," Percy agreed. Just standing next to her made him feel better.
Annabeth reached into the bowl and pulled out a song. The slip read "All I Want For Christmas Is You". Percy frowned. It had been so long; what song was that again?
"Okay," Annabeth held up the slip, "Who put this in here? It's literally the middle of freaking July."
Leo snickered. Annabeth rolled her eyes and turned to Percy.
"Alright, you know this song, right?"
Uhhhh…. Percy waved his hand back and forth in a kinda motion.
"Seriously?" Ananbeth said, then shook her head, "Whatever. Just follow my lead."
The song started.
Oh.
It was this song.
Annabeth began singing very dramatically. Well, singing was a stretch. She was pretty off-key. But she did it with so much confidence it was hard to notice.
She looks so pretty when she's confident, Percy's brain said. He realized he was staring at her as she sang. He forced himself to look at the floor.
Focus on the song, he told himself.
The song picked up, and Percy had to look at the lyrics on the screen. He tried to follow best he could, but he didn't remember the song well enough to fully get into it.
The others cheered them on regardless. They laughed with Percy and Annabeth as they failed to hit every single note. Annabeth looked at him and smiled. He smiled back. For those few minutes, Percy truly felt like part of the group. Like this was where he was meant to be.
The song finished and Annabeth took a bow before breaking into laughter. Percy laughed as well. Then he looked over and saw Nico looking at him with that same inquisitive look again. His happy mood suddenly faded. What was up with him?
"Good job, Pietro, for your first karaoke night," Leo stood up and patted him on the back.
First, Percy thought, As if this won't be the only time.
"Alright guys," Leo said, distracting Percy again, "Who do we think won?"
They ended up agreeing that, vocally, Hazel and Nico destroyed them all, but Leo and Piper got an honorary mention for Leo's acting.
After, Jason yawned as said he was heading off to bed. The others followed.
All except Nico. As Percy stood up to leave, he remained on the couch and looked at him. Great. He was not in the mood to argue with this kid again.
Percy sighed, "Dude, what is your problem? You've been looking at me weird since we left Circe's island."
Nico blinked, "Oh…I…well…" He sighed, "I guess I'm just trying to figure out why, if you're truly my enemy, you saved my life back there."
Oh. So that's what this was about, "Well," Percy said, trying to think of a good way to explain without actually explaining. He had to stick with his past stories, "I didn't want anyone to get hurt."
"But you said you'd do what it takes to get what you want," Nico said, "I feel like letting someone take out a powerful opponent would be an easy way to do that."
That was actually a really good point. Percy cursed his lies from before. He'd dug himself into a hole, "I guess it just felt like the right thing to do."
Nico hummed but said nothing. When the kid said nothing more, Percy left the mess hall to go to his cabin.
Had he just made Nico less suspicious of him? On accident? Sure, he'd meant to save Nico from that arrow but he hadn't really thought about what that could mean.
But did his cover still matter? He'd told Jason and Leo he'd go back to New York with the Argo II. He knew, deep down, that that was what he really wanted. But how could he go against his father? He talked shit about the gods all the time, but to actually go against one? Could he do it without getting smited?
And besides, it would only take so long before the others found out who he was. Would they still want him then?
Percy didn't know. And at that point, he was too tired to care. He shut the door to his cabin and collapsed on his bed.
Unfortunately, he was plagued by the typical sucky demigod dreams.
