artemis ; pjo

Old Buddies

"We've searched everywhere! I guess he's not here" Eric mumbled.

"Come on let's kee-" Dan started, but was cut off.

"No! We've been to every single room twice! He's not here. We'll just have to find another way to save the world" Eric yelled. He glumly walked over to the set of doors that led out to the garden, and we followed.

They trudged through the winding dark path that curved in between the pomegranate plants. I jogged to the front of them and turned around. Walking backwards I was trying to be positive.

"Guys, it's fine. We'll do this." I motivated.

They mumbled among themselves and keep glancing at each other while I was saying optimistic things that nobody seemed to want to hear. I continued to walk backwards down the path.

"Ugh, I have no clue what we're going to do" MK complained.

A few of them shrugged. I was about to say something when my foot got caught on something hard. I faltered and fell backwards.

"Ow" I groaned. My back hurt from falling on it, and it didn't help that I had that ginormous wound from the hellhound. In my daze, my vision went blurred for a moment

Some blonde guy rushed over to me. At first I thought it was Dan, but this guy's hair was way too blonde.

"Hold still" he whispered.

A dark haired boy stood over the blonde one. I was starting to see things.
The blonde guy laid his hand on my neck and my back immediately felt better. My vision cleared and I saw that this guy looked about 30, like Percy and Annabeth. The dark haired boy looked a year or two younger, but overall about the same age as the blonde dude.

"Who the heck are you?" I asked as James came over to me and helped me up.

"Someone who just healed a life-threatening wound" the blonde guy spat,"Oh, and you're welcome"

The dark haired boy nudged him with an elbow and gave him a look. The blonde guy sighed.

"I'm Will, Son of Apollo" the blonde guy said.

We all looked at the dark haired boy.

"Nico, Son of Hades" he said quietly.

I bit back a gasp. He was Eric's brother. He had the Flame!

"Now" Nico barked, suddenly more comfortable, "Tell us who you are and what you're doing down here, or you're dead faster than you can say 'Holy Hades'"

One by one we introduced ourselves. When I said who my mother was, Nico raised an eyebrow, but otherwise stayed quiet. Will on the other hand launched a volley of questions. He would have kept going if Nico hadn't told him to shut up. Nico already knew James, but when Eric introduced himself things went downhill pretty fast.

"What?" Nico said, cupping his ear as if he hadn't heard Eric correctly.

"Yeah, yeah, let's skip the whole 'long lost brother' thing and get to the point. You have the First Flame, right? We kinda need it to save the world" Eric said awkwardly.

"I, well, I don't necessarily have the Flame" Nico confessed.

"You have got to be kidding me" I cried, throwing my hands in the air.

"I know where it is, though! But, before I tell you, I need a favor" Nico said.

"Oh. My. Gods. What is with you?!" I nearly yelled.

James leaned in and whispered to me, "Calm down. You need to cool off"
Then he gently placed a hand on my shoulder.

   I nodded, but didn't say anything. I was afraid that I'd start shouting if I opened my mouth.

Nico continued, "I need one of you to make a rainbow. We don't get many down here, and I need to make an Iris Message. You, Son of Iris, can you make one?" he pointed to Dan.

Dan pointed to himself as if to say
Me?

"Yes" Nico said.

Dan waved his hand in an arch and a rainbow appeared. It was really weird. Nico tossed in a drachma and moaned "Oh goddess, accept my offering"

"I gotta go, um, do something" Will said before running off into the castle. Our eyes followed him until the rainbow shimmered.

   Percy appeared and as soon as he saw Nico he went into a fake coughing fit mumbling things under his breath.

Nico sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Hello Percy"

Percy acted surprised, but it wasn't very good.
"Oh, hey Nico. Sorry about that cough, I have a fever, but don't worry I highly doubt you'll get it, because it's not your type"

"Let it go before I jump through this rainbow and pound your face in" Nico threatened.

Percy put his hands up in surrender.
"Okay, okay. When are you and Will coming back to camp?"

"When we're finished helping my dad. Look I need to talk to you," Nico said while waving us off. He continued talking as we walked across the garden where we couldn't hear him very well.

*************************************

"Sorry about how long that took, I had some business to attend to" Nico said about two hours later, "Now about the Flame-"

Oh my gods guys, I'm sorry beyond belief for not updating in a week. This is the first time I have ever waited so long to update. I'm really sorry, and I'll update like crazy in the next few days. I hope you guys enjoyed the little cameo appearances of Nico and Will. That's all I have to say for now, so bye!