Percy Jackson: A Spark of Betrayal Complete

Chapter 2

NICO POV

It has been a couple weeks since we left camp. Monsters have been attacking us since we left. Heck, anybody with auras as powerful as Percy's and mine would have been attacked, even if they were ALONE. Now, two demigods with powerful auras COMBINED, we might as well walk around with a sign around our necks saying, TRAVELING BUFFET! COME AND GET US! I think the only reason we survived as long as we did was because we protected each other. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if we were alone. But hey, I'm a child of Hades. It's my job to be melodramatic.

"Hey Nico! You see anything?" shouted Percy. I mentally slapped myself. I was supposed to be watching for any sign of any other demigods. I did a quick check.

"Nope. Nothing. No demigods. No camp. No demigod camp." I responded. We were on a hill that was overlooking a small forest. It wasn't too populated. Just a couple of houses in the distance. And those didn't seem like much.

"Damn. I was hoping for the camps to be a BIT closer to Camp Half- Blood." Percy grumbled.

"Let's just keep walking. Before any monsters catch up."

"Right."

Too late. And I think I jinxed it. A dozen hellhounds burst through the forests in front of us. Percy and I quickly drew our swords. We dove into the hellhound's midst. Slashing, swinging, stabbing, it was all a part of a deadly dance Percy and I knew well. Very well. Through the weeks we trekked across states, we both learned our fighting styles very well. We knew each other's weak points in our defensive armor and did our best to shield it.

In a couple of minutes the pack was completely disintegrated. We bushed ourselves off. All in a day's work, I guess. Keeping our swords out, we walked through the forest. We walked through the woods cautiously looking at every possible hiding spot out of the range of our glowing swords. That was when we heard the panting. Not like a monster. A human. Mindful of the Battle of Manhattan, where demigods fought each other, we stepped toward the sound. We rounded a tree and saw a little boy, no older than ten sitting against a tree, wounded.

"Help... me..." He gasped and passed out. He had a set of bronze knuckles on one hand and what appeared to be a Celestial Bronze sword at his side. He had bite and claw marks all over his torso. All were serious. He was pressing a hand to the deepest wound, a bite directly to his side.

"Nico! Do you have any ambrosia? All I have is bandages and nectar!" Percy shouted, putting down Riptide and leaning over the kid's side and pushing his hand into the wound to staunch the bleeding. He used his other hand to uncap the canteen of nectar. Percy poured some of the godly drink down the kid's throat. His wounds partially closed up, but he needed a piece of ambrosia to speed it up. I took out a small beat up square. It was mostly a desperate gamble. Too much will burn demigods up. I gave the square to Percy. He stuck the square in the kid's mouth. We watched and waited. His wounds started to stop bleeding, but as with all things, healing takes time. The little boy's body relaxed and eased. We both let out a sigh of relief. The kid was going to be alright. We both sat down heavily on the rocks nearby.

Percy looked at me. "Wonder what he was doing out here by himself?"

I shrugged. "Too many possibilities. Parents kicked him out, left camp... CAMP!"

Percy looked at me awkwardly asking for an explanation.

"Look, the kid has weapons. Celestial Bronze no less. He could have come from a different camp!"

Percy's eyes lit up at the sudden realization. He looked about ready to burst with unanswered questions. He got up.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Waking him up. I have things to ask him."

"Dude. He's UNCONCIOUS. Not SLEEPING. Besides, he was just attacked. Let him rest."

Percy grumbled at this.

"While we're here, why don't we rest anyways? It's high time we rest anyways." I suggested

"Why not. I'll take first watch." Percy relented

"No, we're not watching." I said evenly

"Yes, one of us has to."

"Not us. Them." I said, and summoned three skeletons out of the ground. Percy grinned.

"Now that's more like it." he said and lay down.

I lay behind my rock, fell asleep, and began to drift into a dream. Now, dreams of a demigod are never just dream. They are premonitions, visions, or messages from the gods. Yep, all that. In your head. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep when you got all that mystical stuff flying in your head? Anyways, not cool. This dream was no different. It went a little like this.

I was walking down a path. A familiar one. I realized it was the path to Camp Half- Blood. I realized that all the campers were gone. I walked around. I went to the Big House. It was deserted. Everything was rotting and falling into ruin. I ran outside. There the campers were. But they weren't alive. They were dead. All of them. Flames raced from rooftop to rooftop and monsters roamed the camp freely. As soon I stepped outside, all of them turned toward me. I've seen hordes of monsters before, but these monsters were different. Instead of the black beady eyes of evil intent, these had fiery red eye. The worst was that each of them had something normal monsters lacked. Intelligence. The horde leaped towards me as one. As the lead monster's fangs tore into me, I awoke.

I awoke with a start. The sun was barely peeking over the hills in the distance. I yawned and stretched. I doubt I'm going to get any more sleep after a dream like that anyways. Just then, the kid we picked up yesterday jerked awake. He looked around with wild eyes. His eyes landed on mine. They were a vivid blue. He patted his side and he came up with a panicked look.

"Who are you and what have you done with my stuff?!" he shouted

"Calm-" I tried to say.

"Who are you?!" he shouted shoving a finger in my face.

"I'm Nico. And Percy is the guy sleeping over there." I said gesturing over to where Percy lay, snoring like a hog. "And we're demigods."

"Thank the gods. My name's Caleb. I'm a demigod too. My mom, she was mortal. She told me my dad wasn't normal. I think that she said something about my dad being Hephaestus."

"Then where's your mom now?"

Caleb closed his eyes.

"Dead."

I tried to apologize. He just waved me off.

"If anything, it's my fault. My aura was attracting them. Supposedly, Hephaestus left these weapons with her. She told me to take them. I ran until I was ambushed. I thought I was a goner until you guys showed up."

"Well, you can come with us until we find a place for you."

Just then Percy woke up.

"What's going on?" He asked a bit sleepily.

"Good news: Caleb here woke up. Bad news: He doesn't come from a camp."

"Well that sucks..." Percy mumbled and stood up and began to pack up. I realized, we had to get moving. Monsters would be coming soon. I looked over at Caleb. An orphan at barely ten years old. Life just couldn't get any worse. As I packed my things up, I wondered.

"How many other abandoned demigods are out there?"