Nico has more reason than most to resent the gods.
The last four years of his life have been spent in darkness. Through learning his place as a demigod, discovering his powers, figuring out how to go on when the only person who ever loved him went and got herself killed, Nico has been alone.
He likes it better that way. The dead tend to be better company anyway for a son of Hades. Nico likes their bluntness. Since their lives are over already, ghosts have no reason to plot and scheme. They have no reason to lie to him. Well, with an exception for Minos. Gods, Nico does not miss that creep.
The point is, the Olympians made it very clear early on that Nico would not be living a happy life. And, they've certainly delivered on that promise. He's been beaten and bruised. He's been kidnapped. When he was ten, he spent six months living on the streets with nothing but a jacket and whatever got tossed into the dumpster behind the McDonalds on Broadway. And on top of everything, along with the hundreds of monsters he's had to fight off because of his parentage, Nico gets to be a freak too.
Part of him wants to blame Percy Jackson.
Maybe if the son of Poseidon had never shown up with Grover to take Nico and Bianca from that school, everything would have turned out normally. Maybe Bianca would be around. Maybe she and Nico would have met their father together, and he would have been proud to have such a strong and capable heir like her. Maybe Nico would have eventually gotten a girlfriend, and none of this sinful perversion would have ever infected his mind. Maybe he would have gotten the chance to be happy.
Or maybe Kronos would have gotten them, and Nico would be dead. Maybe that would be better.
Nico almost pinches himself. The impulse to do so surprises a tiny laugh out of him. A small one. One quiet enough that he easily passes it off as him just clearing his throat when Grace looks over in interest from the helm.
Juliette made it a habit soon after Manhattan to give him little pinches whenever Nico says things like that out loud. He never realized how much her "psychological conditioning" rubbed off on him. He'd better keep that to himself.
The thought of his friend helps to pull Nico gently out of his spiraling thoughts. If there's anything Nico could ever bring himself to thank the gods for, it's probably her. Her and Hazel. They're really the only people he's still living for. The only people he cares about anymore. The only people who have earned it.
Meeting Juliette Aster the first time was like running into someone from a past life. Never before had Nico been able to connect with someone so easily. Even when life was happier, Nico was never good at making friends. But, by the end of his first night at Camp Halfblood, they were finishing each other's sentences. By the end of his first week, they'd spent just about every minute together since his arrival, and Nico had told her things he'd never shared with anyone.
But, then Percy got back. And Bianca didn't. And Nico's world fell apart.
His second meeting with Juliette went very differently. They were both in states of panic, both searching frantically through monster infested territory to find Percy Jackson. It had been six months since Nico had spoken to someone his own age, and, if he was being honest, he hadn't even thought about Juliette since the day his life crumbled. Seeing her round that corner, watching her green eyes flip from surprise to relief to excitement even while held at the throat by his sword...It had been overwhelming. If they weren't both on the same mission, if she hadn't warned him about Minos, Nico would have left her right there in the Labyrinth.
But, he didn't. He knew he couldn't. Once upon a time, Juliette had cared about him, and Maria di Angelo raised a gentleman. Leaving the girl to die down there wasn't an option, so he chose the next best strategy to keep her at arms length. He took her to the Underworld.
And, Zeus' pants, did that backfire.
It was somewhere between her awed first expression upon entering Menoetes' ranch and watching her fall sound asleep beside him without a hint of discomfort that Nico started wondering if Juliette Aster was really all there. He thought surely bringing her through Orpheus' passage the following summer would show her how foolish she was to insist on befriending him. But, when they reached the banks of the Styx, the only anxiety she showed was that towards her brother's fate as he surveyed his path to invulnerability. Nico had a realization there that maybe, just maybe, she was serious. Maybe it would be okay for Nico to let someone in after all.
As he stands here now, fourteen and weathered beyond belief by the experiences of his last year and a half, Nico can say without doubt that Juliette is the strangest, yet most important person in his life, aside maybe from Hazel. She's the reason he fought in Manhattan - the reason he survived Manhattan. She's the reason there's a cabin at Camp Halfblood that always has fresh sheets waiting for him, even though he's never been comfortable enough to stay there. And, judging from the visions he got, she's the reason he didn't suffocate to death in that damned jar.
And, what did Nico do? He threw all of that into her face just in time to lose her twice within 48 hours.
"You're sure they're in Malta?" Piper asks from the window.
Jason turns from the electric keyboard Valdez rigged up as a navigation system. He nods. "They are. She contacted me this morning."
Nico studies the guy. Ever since Croatia, Grace has been strangely nice to him. He was always polite, especially after Juliette introduced him to Nico as her boyfriend for the first time. Since Khione's attack, though, the two of them have developed a weird sort of...truce? Comradery? Like neighboring countries that allow tentative trade at the borders for the sake of their favorite ally.
"Maybe take a risk that I'm really your friend," Grace had said.
The concept is baffling to Nico. He gets being cordial with him to make Juliette happy, but he never expected Jason to offer more than that. Nico doesn't have friends. He has a sister and a batshit crazy Heartbreak who imprinted on him like a feral cat.
The weight of said Heartbreak's absence seems to have taken a toll on the son of Jupiter. There are bruised circles under his normally piercing blue eyes. His typically neatly combed hair is a bit messy, and there are obvious wrinkles in his SPQR shirt that Nico suspects are from sleeping by the scanners all night. The sight makes a spark of begrudging respect flicker in Nico.
Friends might be a bit far, but he can handle Grace being around if he's going to take keeping Juliette safe so seriously. Gods know Nico could use the extra help keeping her out of trouble.
"There!" Hazel shouts. Nico's attention shoots in her direction. She's pressed against one of the windows of the control room, pointing out at the cityscape as they hover over shops and businesses searching out their missing crew members. "That pink cafe just north of us! The one on the hill! They're sitting outside."
Nico strides up to look at where she's indicating as their unofficial leader turns the ship to head in the right direction. He scans for any trace of them until his eyes land on a pastel pink coffee shop nestled at one of the tallest hills in the city. Outside the cafe, two figures are sitting with what looks to be six or seven empty cups of coffee spread between them. As the Argo II approaches, one of them leaps up to stand on a chair, waving her arms excitedly as the wind they flew in on blows her long strawberry blonde hair into her face.
Nico feels himself deflate at the sight of her. Hazel subtly slips her fingers in between his.
"I told you she was okay," His sister laughs, squeezing his hand.
Nico squeezes back before pulling himself away from the window and heading for the exit. The ship comes to hover over the coffee shop, and Piper drops the rope ladder. Pretty soon, the whole crew is climbing down onto the sidewalk of Malta, and Nico is letting out a breath of relief as he watches Juliette throw herself into Jason's arms.
"What took you so long?!" She whines.
Grace laughs, smiling brightly for the first time in days and lifting her from the ground with the strength of their hug. "Crazy wind gods. You know how it is."
"Tell me about it," Juliette concedes. She pulls Jason into an enthusiastic kiss as Valdez gets up from his seat too.
Frank, Piper, and Hazel let out boisterous laughs of relief and run up to greet him with a pat on the back and kisses on the cheek respectively. Looking at the tiredness of the Latino boy's eyes and the rare stillness of his hands, Nico finds himself feeling grateful he made it back as well. He offers him a hand to shake. Leo's eyebrows go up, but he accepts the gesture, and Nico backs away quickly after.
He turns to Juliette, glaring. "Are you done getting captured?"
I was worried. Are you okay?
She pouts at him. "You know, it'd be more fun if you'd get kidnapped with me."
I'm okay. I missed you.
"It's a real bonding experience. I feel closer than ever, princesa," Leo agrees through his hug with Piper. Juliette blows him a kiss in response and skips over to sling an arm around Nico's shoulders.
"So!" She cheers with a grin. "Field trip to the Doors of Death, anyone?"
Not a second after her offer, every molecule in Nico's body jerks to attention. The hair on the back of his neck stands up. A cold force yanks on the shadows around them, and Nico's eyes follow the bending of the darkness to the horizon.
Like a creature woken from the depths, the black fingers of death are clawing at the sky.
Nico feels a pull. A draw. From her sharp intake of breath, he knows that Hazel feels it too.
"Is that..." She breathes.
He shakes his head, eyes wide. "It can't be...Greece is still hundreds of miles away."
Juliette squints at them in confusion. "What? What can't be?"
"You think it's Epirus?" Jason asks.
Nico turns to look at him. The group all looks confused, but the son of Jupiter is staring, wide eyed and open mouthed, at the streaks of shadow in the distance. It seems strange that, out of everyone here, Grace would be the only non Hades-spawn capable of seeing it. He's never shown aptitude for reading their domain before. But, maybe it's a Big Three thing. Nico brushes off the strange dread it makes him feel and nods.
"Yes. The House of Hades is open for business."
Juliette sighs, arm still slung across his shoulder. "Alright. That sounds urgent, but, I'm gonna need a sandwich before we go Underworld-crawling. A sandwich and a shower."
Normally, watching her Soldier Boy order everyone around in his glittering golden armor would have Juliette intent on locating the nearest supply closet for their immediate occupation. However, as they come in to hover over the House of Hades in Epirus, Greece, Julie's a hangnail away from a complete nervous breakdown.
If she and-When she and Percy get back home, he's going to have so much to make up for. He's going to be doing all of her chores for the rest of high school just to apologize to her for the stress lines his constant disappearances have etched across her perfect complexion.
"-Piper, Hazel, get the mooring ropes. Frank go downstairs and get Hedge," Jason orders. Piper gives him a mock salute and the three of them scurry off. Running a hand through his golden hair, Jason turns to Julie and his posture softens. He approaches her with a professional nod. "Are you armed?"
Julie lifts her wrist and jangles her arrow charm at him. He nods.
"Good." A vein in his jaw pulses as he grinds his teeth. "Today's going to be a win. I know it will."
Julie wants to smile at him for encouragement, but being so scared all the time takes a lot of energy. Instead, she just closes the gap between them and leans into his shoulder. Jason rests his arms around her waist, and Julie breathes him in.
"You're a good leader," She tells him.
His chin sets down on top of her head. "I'm just trying to keep everyone together."
"You're doing a good job."
"Maybe," Jason sighs. "I'm no Annabeth, though."
He shifts a bit. Uncomfortably. Julie pulls back from their hug to study his face. "Are you okay?"
Her question makes him bite his lip. Julie pokes him in the ribs in punishment for his hesitance, and he huffs and shakes his head. "Can I ask you something?"
Juliette quirks an eyebrow. "That's a scary question."
A reluctant grin twitches at his scar. "It's not about us."
"Then, hit me."
"Okay," Jason takes a deep breath, hands running up and down Julie's upper arms as he collects his words. He seems self conscious, like he's worried about where this conversation might go next. "Do I seem...Greek to you?"
Huh?
She must look properly confused. His voice picks up speed as he starts explaining.
"It's just, while we were looking for you and Leo, we met a wind god, and he told me I 'no longer uphold Roman ideals.' And, that scepter that Nico has...It raises an army that can only be commanded by a Roman officer, and Cupid made comments like he doesn't think I'm capable of it anymore because I'm too..." Jason cringes.
"Greek." Julie finishes for him.
Distress is making his posture stiffen. Julie reaches up to collect his hands from her arms and holds them between her own. She looks him over. Her focus bounces amongst his Jupiter blue eyes, the stapler scar, the stiffness of his squared shoulders, and the uncombed waves of gold brushing his forehead. She considers her next words carefully.
"Do you care?"
Jason frowns. "Of course, I care! How could I not care?"
"Why do you care?"
He looks frustrated. He shakes his head and starts to step away from her. Julie lets him.
"Never mind. I guess we'll find out when he summons the army-"
"Jason, I promise I'm not trying to be dismissive," pleads Juliette. Jason sighs and runs a hand down his face, and she steps up to be close to him again. "I really do mean it. I want to know why it matters to you because that might give you your answer. Greek or Roman."
Tiredly, Jason pauses to consider her words. Julie lets him again. She waits patiently as he frowns in thought, and she obliges when his fingers stretch at his side like he's seeking her own. Eventually, he turns to her with hunched shoulders.
"I don't know," He says softly.
Juliette nods and gives him a smile. "That's okay."
Jason looks pained. "I'm supposed to know. I'm a praetor. It's what I was trained for."
"You're also sixteen," She reminds him. He looks at her with big blue eyes, and Julie squeezes his fingers. "None of us have to know what we want to be when we grow up. We just have to think about it."
"When we grow up, huh?" Her phrasing makes him look wistful. He reaches around her shoulders to draw her closer, kissing her on the forehead as voices raise outside on the deck. "I'll think about it, then," He promises.
Julie nods. "Good. Now, let's go get Percy and Annabeth. Should we grab some dinner while we're in town? Date night on the edge of Tartarus?"
"Sounds romantic to me," Jason grins. He slings an arm around her shoulders as the two of them head out onto the deck to face their next big challenge.
As the crew all turns around to greet them when they arrive, Julie feels her nerves steel themselves for this next push. With everybody here fighting on their side, Gaea won't know what hit her.
"Let's take out the trash, everybody," She calls. They whoop, and Piper drops the rope ladder for them all to climb down to the waiting House of Hades.
Julie doesn't have to eat the barley cakes (haha!). Actually, Nico seems to think they might literally poison her, so he forbids it. Julie's walking around feeling smug until it comes to be her turn to actually drink the poison.
"Do I have to?"
"Yes."
Julie looks down at the black liquid in disgust. It looks way too much like Nessus' toxic centaur blood for her comfort. "Does it taste bad?"
"C'mon, your majesty, we don't have all day," snips Piper.
Juliette wrinkles her nose. It smells like funky socks and squished millipedes. She glances at Jason, who's grinning at her in amusement. She glares at him. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"It's not that bad," He shrugs.
"Hurry up," Nico grunts beside him.
Julie's not sure what's going on between the two of them, but she's starting to regret encouraging a friendship to form there. They keep ganging up on her with their annoying habits of always being right. She sighs and takes a gulp from the chalice.
Her eyes widen.
Wait a minute.
This is...
Her friends all step forward, and she hears Leo choke a laugh. "Um, princesa?"
"You don't need to-"
"Julie, that's enough-"
"Oh my gods..."
"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHU-"
"Okay!" Jason laughs nervously, snatching the goblet from her hands. Julie whines in protest and tries to reach for it, but he keeps her back with a hand to her shoulder, holding the cup above his head. "I think you've had enough."
"No, no, no, just a little more!"
"I'm not giving you-"
"What the Hades?"
"It's poison, Julie," Piper says in bewilderment.
"Maybe for you guys!" Julie cries.
"Oh my gods, it's like catnip," Leo laughs. "Wyvern-nip. We found her weakness."
"That is actually disgusting."
"You put pineapple on pizza, I don't want to hear it," Julie pouts at her sister.
Piper shakes her head, still looking scandalized. Nico clears his throat, and they all look over. His arms are crossed in impatience.
"Are you done?" He asks rudely.
Julie flushes and stops trying to pry the chalice out of her boyfriend's iron grip. She tucks her hands behind her back and nods innocently. Nico rolls his eyes.
"Congratulations. Assuming the poison doesn't kill us, we've just earned passage through the Necromanteion's first level."
"First level?" Piper asks.
Nico smirks chillingly, gesturing towards the entrance and looking to Hazel. "After you, sister."
Hazel steps up to the entrance, but turns to all of them with a grim expression before entering. "We're about to journey into a home of the deceased. I don't think I need to warn you all that not everything we meet in here is going to have good intentions. Don't let yourself be led astray. No matter what you think you see."
Julie lets out a heavy breath as the group starts to move through the cobblestone archway into the temple.
They travel in tense silence at first. It's honestly strange for them. Usually, at least Leo is humming or Julie's whistling. But, in the suffocating halls of the House of Hades, every sound feels like an insult to the dead. They all just walk forward, barely even breathing.
After a while, though, Hazel comes to a stop, looking disgruntled. "My underground sense is getting...fuzzy. Something is working against me. Hiding whatever is ahead of us."
They all exchange tense looks.
"That sorceress that Hecate warned you about?" Jason guesses, voice low. "The one Leo dreamed? What was her name?"
"It would be safer not to say it," Hazel reminds him. Her face lets them know she definitely suspects the witch is the culprit. She squares her shoulders and looks back at them all sternly, and it strikes Julie just how much this girl has grown up since that winter day in the west coast hotel. "Everyone stay alert, though. One thing that I'm sure of - from this point on, the dead are stronger than the living."
There's a cold sensation trickling down the back of Julie's neck. She raises her hand to it, turning to look behind her, and the feeling disappears. Shaken, Julie speeds up to walk close beside Nico.
He glances at her. "Scared?"
"Of course not," Julie scoffs.
"There's no need to be scared-"
Juliette jumps so hard she trips, immediately pressing as close to Nico as she can and clinging to his arm as she looks around fearfully for the source of the voice in her ear. Nothing. Just the rune carved walls of dusty cobblestone. Julie swallows painfully and glances back over at her friend. He's smirking far too obviously to not be enjoying her jumpiness. She scowls and lets go of him.
"Shut up."
"I didn't say anything."
"Yes you did. Your face did."
Nico stops suddenly and snatches her camp shirt sleeve to halt her too. The tunnel starts to shake. The group all converges together in the center of the path, murmuring nervously as the tremors send bits of rubble falling from the ceiling.
Hazel gasps and pushes Leo out of the way to reach the wall. She presses her palms against it, hands glowing faintly gold, and, gradually, the shaking slows to a stop. She turns back to them, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. "That was close. These tunnels can't take much more shaking."
"What was that?" Piper asks.
"The Doors of Death just opened again," answers Nico. "Every twelve minutes."
Julie hugs herself, turning in a circle to look around the temple. The corridors are uncomfortably narrow - like the stupid tiny aisles in just about every NYC grocery store. She never expected to be wishing she was shorter, but being tall while underground is horrible. She feels like a giraffe trying to squeeze into the passenger seat of a Prius.
They continue for less than two minutes before stopping again, this time to all screech to a halt as Hazel's voice rings out clear and afraid.
"Frank, don't move!"
The demigod in question freezes mid step, face pale and eyes blinking dizzily. He'd been an inch from stepping off the path. From giving away their position and ruining Hazel's hard work cloaking them. He shakes his head, looking sick. "...lead where?" He mumbles, seemingly to himself.
Julie exchanges a nervous look with Nico.
"You okay, big guy?" calls Leo, a slight quiver to his voice. "Could you, uh, not freak out on us? Please and thank you."
Frank breathes in heavily and slaps a hand to the side of his head like he's shaking water from his ears. He nods, eyes squeezed shut. "I'm okay. Just...a voice."
Nico tenses. Julie inches towards him again. "I did warn you," The son of Hades says darkly. "It'll only get worse. We should-"
"Everyone wait here," Hazel interrupts. Her face is terrifyingly blank, arranged into the perfect mask of calm. The goosebumps it sends down Julie's back as the younger girl turns to scout on ahead makes her give in and clutch at Nico's elbow again. This time, he doesn't make fun of her.
When Hazel returns, she looks anxious. "Scary room ahead," She warns. "Don't panic."
Okay, Julie can do that. She's cool. Chill. Chill like a cucumber. She's never been scared in her whole life. Fear is afraid of her.
"Don't you want to make me proud?"
She flinches, turning sharply to her left and slamming her palm against her ear. Tears spring to her eyes as she stumbles back into Nico and hears him hiss in annoyance.
"What is the matter with you?"
"Rosa, what's wrong?"
"No, no, no, no," She mumbles, searching frantically through the corridor. Hands clamp onto her shoulders, and Nico grunts irritably.
"Juliette, calm down. If you freak out, we're going to get caught. Your energy is going crazy."
"I'm sorry," Julie mutters. She tries to blink away the green tinge to her vision and nods. "I'm sorry. You're right."
The group surveys her warily. She can't muster a smile, so she's thankful when Jason nods at Hazel to continue leading the way.
They enter the largest chamber yet. It has a high domed ceiling like a cathedral, one so tall the top of it gets lost in shadows when Julie looks up. The walls are plain stone, interrupted by dozens of archways leading into a spiderweb of corridors she can't imagine leading to anywhere pleasant. The floor is...incredible. Bones - human bones - are set into gold and bronze in intricate, spiraling patterns. Rubies gleam from the eye sockets of skulls, femurs and scapulae frame pockets of diamonds and quartz.
A dance of death and riches. A monument to the domain of Hades. Julie can't help but think that, if she were to die, her remains being a part of something so beautiful might be somewhat of a silver lining. She kneels down to run her fingers over a reconstructed skeletal hand in reverence, but Nico snatches her back to her feet.
"Touch nothing," Hazel says sternly.
Julie tucks her hands into her pockets and nods her obedience.
"Which path?" Piper asks.
Frank looks at them like they're silly. He points to one at the other end of the chamber. "That one."
Hazel eyes him strangely. "Why that one?"
The boy seems confused. "You guys don't see the ghost?"
"Ghost?" Nico asks.
"It's about time you repaid me..." That same smug, horrible voice whispers against Juliette's neck. She lets out an embarrassing cry of surprise and stumbles back into the wall.
"Don't-!" Hazel shouts.
Juliette can't hear her. All of her friends' voices sound like they're coming from underwater.
"...repaid me for that kindness."
"Go away," She whimpers. A dark presence stands inches away, not budging even as Jason comes speeding right through it. "No, no, no, you're dead."
"Juliette, you need to breathe. Your powers are getting away from you."
"What is going on?"
"You're dead," Julie repeats. Her head is swinging back and forth in frantic denial. She slides down the wall and draws her knees to her chest, hands clasped over her mouth. "You're dead. You died."
Jason kneels in front of her, Nico directly to his side. "You're okay, Rosa-"
"Whatever you're seeing isn't real," Nico tells her sternly. "It's an illusion of the mind. Ignore it."
"Just one clean swipe..."
All Julie can see is blonde hair and scarred flesh. She thrusts out her arms and is surprised by the strength at which she's able to shove Jason away from her. The floor starts to shake, a rumbling like thunder echoing through the room. Nico curses under his breath and spins around to the group.
"Hazel, go! Keep moving, and get to that exit! Now!"
The rest of them start stumbling through the chamber behind the daughter of Pluto. Julie's still sitting against the wall and trying to blink enough times that the world stops looking so green.
"You're DEAD," She insists loudly. "Go away!" The presence just smiles at her, blue eyes cold and empty, red oozing from its underarm. It flickers even closer, and Julie can no longer control her breathing. The world turns completely emerald just as a deafening roar comes screaming through the corridor nearest to them.
Nico swears again, this time in some aggressive sounding Italian, and Jason's face crumbles. Her boyfriend reclaims his spot right in front of her. "I'm sorry about this," He says quickly.
Before Julie can process his apology, she's swung over his shoulder and held in place behind her knees as Jason and Nico turn to take off after the group. As they run, Nico lifts up the scepter of Diocletian, pale face illuminated by purple light.
"Hazel, don't stop!" He orders. She doesn't look like she was planning on it.
Just as she and Leo reach their ticket to freedom, a spire of rock comes falling from the ceiling. It crashes into the ornate floor, and a jagged fissure splits across the chamber. It widens like a portal to Hell, and Julie watches Frank leap forward and tackle Hazel and Leo before it can swallow them up.
When the dust clears, a pile of rocks is blocking the tunnel, and Leo and Hazel are nowhere to be seen.
Monsters of all kind come crowding in from the open corridors. Julie feels Jason's grip tighten on her legs, hears the sound of his gladius being drawn into his nondominant hand. Shame burns in her for her uselessness. She makes eye contact with one of the earthborn as it unstraps a club from its back, and it smiles grotesquely at her.
This is not a time to be losing her mind. Gods, she needs to get it together, or people are going to get hurt.
"Hey, do you remember that day in the rain?"
Julie drops her head, burying her face upside down into Jason's back. "What?"
He's breathing heavily as Frank and Nico bicker about the scepter, sword raised and body angled protectively in front of Piper as she grips her knife as well. "That day in the rain. You told me I had to get up because Reyna was counting on me."
Juliette squeezes her eyes shut and focuses on the memory. There's not a whole lot about Jason that's the same as back then, but the scent of leather and metal and sweat and sky sends her right back to that forest. She nods, and he lets out a breath that rumbles vibrations through his back.
"You've got to get up, puella rosae. We're all counting on you."
It's then that Nico raises the scepter over his head, and all eyes turn to the beacon of black that erupts around him. All of the air in the room seems to be sucked inwards, the dust from the walls forming a spiral shape as the energy of the chamber is all dragged towards the son of Hades. Juliette finds herself stunned, frozen in awe and terror at the magnitude of her friend's raw power as he lets out a cry and slams the staff into the floor.
A shockwave pulses outwards, knocking every monster, demigod, and figment of Julie's imagination to the ground. Julie rolls out of Jason's grip, and silvery shapes start appearing everywhere, seeping from the walls like they're emerging from stretchy, wet paint. They take on physical forms, their skin clearly rotted and dead but willing to hold up their bones just long enough to serve their new master.
They're wearing the same armor as Jason, holding weapons of nearly the exact same design. Something about that sight knocks some sense into her. An urgency regrips Julie's chest, and she shoves herself to her feet.
"I'm up," She says. Quietly. To herself. She clenches her fists over and over again. "I'm up."
And, it's a good thing too. Because the instant the purple light fades and Nico sways on his feet, the army of monsters comes charging.