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Chapter 6: Midnight Meetings

~DEANS POV~
What did this meeting mean? What was it for? Who was this kid anyway?
It was nearly midnight and I was sneaking out of the Hermes cabin to meet with that Hades kid. My mind was racing with about a billion questions as I crept off into the woods.

When I reached the clearing, I sat on the rock and waited when suddenly, the kid appeared out of nowhere. It nearly gave me a heart attack.
"Dude you've either gotta stop doing that or teach me how to because it's scaring the crap out of me." He sighed and I could almost see him roll his eyes at me even though it was pitch black out.
"Whatever. I'll teach you. I'm Nico by the way. Nico di Angelo."
"I would say cool last name but angels are dicks."
"Uh okay then. Well from what I hear they pulled your ass out of hell a few times so they can't all be that bad."
"100 out of like 110 times I was dead because they killed me. It was only fair they brought my back."
"Right. Well, as you know I'm the son of Hades and so yea. Nice to meet you officially Dean. I hope you're enjoying camp."
"Yea... camp. Right. So thrilling. 11/10." I said with a heavy layer of sarcasm. Nico sighed.
"Look, Dean, I know you feel left out cuz you're brother was claimed and stuff but honestly that doesn't matter to me. Actually I kinda hate Apollo so it kinda makes you better than him. Being mortal is better than being Apollos kid in my opinion."
"I'm not sure whether to punch you for insulting my brother or say thanks for the attempted pep talk."
"How about the second option."
"Sure. Whatever. So what did you want to talk about?"
"Nothing really. Just letting you know you have someone who can relate to being left out. I'm a demigod of the Big Three and no one talks to me cuz I'm Hades son. Apparently I scare everyone. Kinda like you did your first day here. Scared the shit out of everyone."
"Okay, well he stole from me so that was his fault. And yea I tend to naturally seem a bit outcasted and angry and bitter and dark but whatever. Don't like people anyway."
"Hey man, just let me know when you wanna talk or something. And if you still want I can teach you some tricks. What I was doing is shadow-traveling. Basically, I can use the shadows and I can kinda teleport wherever I wanna go. The farther I go, the more it drains me. Same with if I take anyone or help anyone along."
"So...you can teleport through darkness?"
"Yea essentially."
"That's pretty cool. Is that something everyone can do or just children of Hades cuz if it's just a Hades thing I probably won't be able to do it." The kid sighed and looked like he was thinking for a minute. Then he replied, "No it's an everyone thing. Even mortals can do it if they really put their minds to it. I make it look easy, but even my first time I collapsed after going from one side of camp to the other."

"Wow. Okay then. I think I'll give it a try then. So how does it work?"

"You have to think of yourself like a shadow. You have to become the shadows. You are darkness and stealth. You are nothing yet you are everywhere. You have to become the shadows. Devoid of light, devoid of warmth, just the lack of everything people want you to be. Then you have to imagine where you want to go. You have to imagine moving through the formless shadows into the shadows of where you want to go. You have to be as seamless and as smooth as the shadows themselves. Here. I'll show you. I'm just gonna go to that tree right there." He pointed to a tree about 5 meters from me. I nodded. He smiled, waved and then disappeared. Almost immediately he materialized at the tree he had pointed at.

"Okay. Now you try."
I nodded and then closed my eyes and imagined myself not just blending into the shadows, but becoming the shadows. I was formless; I was smooth; I was cold and empty and dark and devoid of everything. I imagined the tree right behind Nico. I focused on it being my destination. I imagined myself slipping into the shadows, melding into them and resurfacing at the base of the tree. Suddenly my lungs seemed to be squished and everything went completely pitch black. Blacker than the forest had been at almost 1am. And then, half a second later, I felt my head smack something extremely solid. It hurt like hell, but I was able to breathe again. I opened my eyes and felt my body become ridiculously heavy. I stumbled around and realized that I had ran right into the tree that I had been trying to shadow travel to. On the bright side (no pun intended) I made it to the tree. About thirty seconds later I passed out with Nico laughing at me in the background.

When I woke, a black-haired, brown-eyed boy was standing over me. I tried to get up to run but couldn't find the strength to. Then I felt a dull thudding in my head and the memories came flooding back to me. Shadow travel. Tree. Nico. Passing out. Right.

"Hey Dean, you alright there?"
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"Eh. About an hour or so."
"An hour? Really? Man I thought it was like ten seconds!"
"I told you shadow-traveling was taxing. And it didn't help that you literally ran head-first into a tree."
"Hey, I was aiming for the tree."
"Well next time why don't you picture yourself on your feet directly in front of the tree, not on the tree."
"Yea, yea whatever. I'm gonna try again."
"Suit yourself. Just limit yourself at four, maybe five times a day because it takes a while to get used to both physically and mentally. Took me a while to get this good at it. But once you get it, it's totally worth it. Trust me."
"Okay. I'm gonna try for the tree I started at last time."
He nodded and waited for me to try again. I took a deep breath and imagined myself becoming the shadows once more. I imagined me in front of the tree this time, on my feet. The next thing I knew my lungs felt like they collapsed again and I felt like I was lost in a whirlwind of total darkness until suddenly it all stopped. I opened my eyes and I was standing at the base of the tree. I got one look at Nico's proud smirk and promptly passed out of exhaustion again.

When I woke, the sun was shining and Nico was nowhere to be seen. I did, however, find a note on the rock that read
Hey man. Sorry to leave but sunlight doesn't agree much with me. Congrats on not running headfirst into a tree that time. Might I also mention that food and proper hydration and fitness play a big role in shadow-travel. Go fuel up when breakfast starts. (Btw that's when the horn sounds.) You'll need the nourishment. If you need to find me I'll be in my cabin or in the Arena. Cya.
Oh PS, feel free to work on slightly longer distances now that you have the basics. Just make sure you eat before trying again.
~Nico

Well then. I suppose I had better go find Sammy. Knowing him, he's already up and doing something. Especially with his new-found brothers. I rolled my eyes at the thought of that. Now's not the time for jealousy. Just find Sammy, I told myself. Just as I walked out of the clearing, a loud horn blew. Well apparently I will see Sammy at breakfast then.