The Ghosts Among Us: A Percy Jackson Halloween Special

7 | In Which the Lights Go Out

Percy and Annabeth began to walk to the amphitheater where the party was being held. Though one of Percy's hands was interlocked with Annabeth's, he still had one free hand to make a fool of himself.

He waved his wand around while yelling, "Bippity boppity boo!" And "Hocus pocus!" All with a giant, dopey smile on his face. Annabeth just begged him to stop, as he was embarrassing herself as well. But that was just one of the disadvantages of dating Perseus Jackson. She still wouldn't trade him for the world though.

"Gods Percy, will you ever shut up?" Annabeth shook her head, though the corner's of her mouth were twitching as they tried to rise into a smile.

"If you know me at all you know I never will, Wise Girl," Percy winked at his girlfriend, then proceeded to wave his 'magical' wand around.

"Percy! Annabeth!" Percy heard a gleeful voice say behind him. He and his girlfriend spun around to face Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang. They wore interesting costumes as well. Hazel was dressed in a Dalmatian dog onesie while Frank wore a yellow firefighter costume. Their hands were interlocked and swaying back and forth. And it wasn't like some sexy revealing costume that college students or whatever wear. No, more like what toddlers wear. Hazel even had a little black dog nose painted on her nose.

"Haze! Frank!" Percy said happily, rushing forward to give them both a hug. "Gods, I haven't seen you in ages! I love your costumes!"

"You guys look great too," Frank beamed.

"Um, what are you?" Hazel frowned.

"Oh! Right! You were born in the 1920s... um, we're characters from a wizard movie," Percy said.

"That's one way to put it," Annabeth smirked.

"Oh," Hazel blinked, "Nice."

Frank suddenly sighed with relief. "Gods, I'm glad we get a break from Camp Jupiter. Jason has been acting so weird the past week. He's dressed as Robin Hood but has these super creepy red contacts in for some reason. Not to mention he's talking really weird," He said, "I mean, Jason did come with us here, but at least we're in a whole new environment."

"Yeah, a ton of campers here have been acting really weird too," Annabeth said, pursing her lips.

"Well whatever. We'll figure it out," Percy shrugged. Hazel let out a small laugh at that.

"Hey guys," A dull sounding Nico di Angelo said, popping out of the shadows. He wore a pair of black sweatpants and a black hoodie, his hands stuffed in his pockets. So not that different from his usual attire.

Percy yelped, scared by the little Italian popping out of nowhere. Hazel grinned. "Nico!" She said, pulling him into a tight hug. Lots of hugs in Camp Half-Blood. A few moments later she let go. "Um, what are you supposed to be?" She asked, studying his black outfit.

He just shrugged. "Eh, I don't know. A black crayon, a black hole, a bat, whatever. Use your 'imagination,'" He said sarcastically, using air quotes on the word 'imagination.'

"Very creative," Percy laughed.

"It's not like yours is that original or creative, Harry," Nico rolled his eyes.

"Harry?" Hazel asked with confusion. No one answered her.

"Uh, sure," Percy laughed nervously. "Let's get going."

The five of them finished their trek to the amphitheater, walking inside. The entire amphitheater was all decked out in Halloween decorations set up by the Iris, Dionysus, and Apollo campers, along with Chiron and some other campers that volunteered. Orange and purple streamers were hung everywhere, along with tons of Halloween themed balloons. Dozens of strobe lights made the amphitheater flash orange, purple, and white.

To the side, a huge table was set up, full of all kinds of halloween themed treats and drinks. The fire was gleaming in the middle, huge and rising at least 30 feet tall. Halloween music was blasting from a DJ booth with huge speakers being run by an Apollo kid. Demigods danced and laughed around the fire.

"This is amazing," Hazel grinned. She had never been to a Camp Half-Blood Halloween party before.

Percy grinned back at her. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Haze," He said.

"Thank you, um, Henry?" Hazel said, tilting her head to the side.

"Harry," Percy corrected her, "Harry Potter! And this is my girlfriend, Ginny!" He pulled Annabeth close to his side.

"You're so weird," Nico muttered, shaking his head from second hand embarrassment.

Hazel raised her eyebrow. "Let's just get going to the party," She said.

"That would probably be for the best," Annabeth said, taking a step away from Percy and smirking at her boyfriend. Percy just made a mock pouty face at her.

"Oh, I see Leo! I'm going to go say hi!" Hazel said, grabbing onto Frank's hand and dragging him over to their Latino friend.

"Should we tell them Leo has been acting weird lately?" Annabeth frowned.

"They'll figure it out on their own," Nico shrugged.

"Oh! There's Thals! Let's go say hi!" Percy said. Percy, Annabeth, and Nico walked over to their Huntress friend who was hesitantly sipping on some orange punch by the snack table.

The daughter of Zeus wore a pair of dirty, olive green cargo pants, a dirty gray tank top, she had a brown leather belt slung around her waist with a real dagger hanging from it, and black combat boots. Her skin was dirty and had a few realistic, bloody scratches on it. To top it all off, she had a cloth bandage wrapping on her right arm and had her bow and quiver full of arrows slung on her back.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Nico raised his eyebrow as the three of them reached Thalia.

"Lara Croft!" Percy said happily. "So you're a Tomb Raider fan? I can't blame you, Lara is amazing!"

"Um, I guess?" Thalia frowned at her sea green eyed cousin. "I didn't know what else to be, and Lara seemed like the most badass, bow and arrow using person I could think of. Well, along with Katniss Everdeen but the Aphrodite campers said they didn't have enough time to make her jacket or something."

"Well you look great," Annabeth complimented Thalia.

"Thanks," Thalia said, "You too... Ginny?"

"Yup," Annabeth nodded, clarifying her costume.

"Percy on the other hand though..." Thalia said, wrinkling her nose.

"Hey!" Percy yelled, causing Annabeth and Thalia to burst out laughing.

"And what are you supposed to be, Neeks?" Thalia asked.

Nico shrugged. "Use your imagination," He said.

"He's too lazy to use his own," Percy grinned.

"Funny," Nico deadpanned, rolling his eyes at Percy. Taking a deep breath, he stiffened from his slouching posture a bit and walked away saying something about finding Will.

"Ooh, angsty teen," Thalia smirked, watching Nico walk away.

"You realize you're both fifteen, right?" Annabeth said, pointing her wand at Thalia.

"Well technically I'm, like, nineteen or something. If you don't count me being immortal and forever stuck as fifteen. At least I don't have to go through puberty anymore," Thalia smirked.

No one had a chance to reply to Thalia. Why? Because all at once, every source of light in the amphitheater went out, leaving everyone in total darkness.