Death God Alliance

Chapter 1

It had been awhile since Percy's dreams took his spirit elsewhere while he slept. Things had been quiet since Kronos' defeat. For the most part he'd enjoyed dreamless sleep, but the few times he did enter REM cycles, the dreams that followed weren't sinister and filled with sights of enemies plotting against him or allies in dire straits.

So it surprised him when one night, out of the blue, he found himself walking in his dreams beside Nico di Angelo in Central Park. Nico didn't seem to be in any particular hurry or trouble. Even though it was night, and Central Park was full of muggers and other shady characters, he didn't take pains to cloak himself in shadows either. Percy pitied the man who tried to mug the son of Hades.

The boy was walking casually along the path, hands in his pockets, and relaxed. He tensed suddenly and slowed slightly as he seemed to realize he had company, but relaxed when he realized who his noncorporeal visitor was. "Hello," he said. He looked right at Percy and the older teen could see that his younger friend looked a bit quizzical. "I'd ask what brings you here, but I wouldn't be able to hear your answer."

I'm actually more interested in why you're here, Percy thought, and as though he'd heard Percy telepathically, Nico continued talking.

"You might be wondering why I'm here. Or perhaps you've already guessed." He kicked at a clump of frozen ground. "My stepmother of sorts is being insufferable. Father says Persephone's always like that right before spring. She's stir crazy and can't wait to leave. Father's been sleeping on the couch since the middle of February, and last week I finally had enough."

Why not go to Camp Halfblood then? Percy wondered. And then he had to wonder if Nico really could somehow read his thoughts.

"I thought about going to Camp Halfblood, but none of the people I like are there right now. And to be honest, I'd rather be alone. Not that your company bothers me, beings that you're not really here." Nico gave Percy a crooked smile. "Though I'm really not sure what brought your spirit here. Central Park isn't very lively tonight. To be honest, I'm kinda bored - ah!"

Without warning, Nico was tackled to the frozen ground by a dark shape that catapulted out of the air, presumably from the rocky terrain above him.

"Sadie!" a voice called from the direction the other person had come from. Percy turned to see an African American teenager half sliding, half stumbling down the slope.

"I'm okay, Carter!" shouted the girl who was perched on Nico's chest. Presumably Sadie.

"Ugh. Get off," groaned Nico, wincing as the girl shifted her weight onto his stomach. "Oh! Sorry about that, mate!" Sadie stood up, but unfortunately kept one of her feet on top of Nico, making the boy yowl like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

If Percy hadn't been worried for his younger parallel-cousin, he would have thought the situation was actually kind of funny.

"Sorry!"

"Who is that?" Carter asked, finally skidding to a stop at the bottom of the slope.

"Just some random kid I landed on," Sadie said, stepping away from the downed demigod. "Again, sorry mate, but we've got to . . ." she trailed off. It was hard to tell in the moonlight, but Percy was sure that her pale face had gone even paler. He turned to see what she was looking at.

"Not good," Carter said.

Not good was right. In fact, what was slinking out of the shadows was downright bad. At first Percy thought that it was a giant wolf or coyote, but its hair was too short and it was built too lean. It took the two weird kids whipping out strange weapons with hieroglyphics engraved on them for Percy to realize what they were facing. A jackal. Like the ones in the pictures of his history book when his class studied Ancient Egypt. Not that he had learned much from those books or lessons, but the pictures stuck in his mind better than the actual facts.