After we were all introduced to, like, twenty people that I definitely was not going to remember the names of, we hung up on the FaceTime and all eight of us turned to each other.
"So, there's gotta be a portal somewhere around here that leads to their camp, right?" I asked, signing along for Hearth's benefit.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Magnus replied. He ran his fingers through his golden blonde hair, reminding me that it was getting way too long again. That could be easily remedied. It was really fun watching him get mad at me for cutting his hair.
Looping my arm through his, I said, "Better start looking. There are way too many doors in this place."
"Ugh. Agreed. One time, I thought I was walking into a taco restaurant, but I ended up in a sauna. I really did not want to see all of the chest hair on a bunch of Vikings," T.J. said.
I laughed. "I really wish I could've seen your face."
T.J. shivered.
Let's go, Hearthstone signed, sliding his two hands past each other.
Ever since Hearth had really become inducted into our friend group, everyone had started learning Alf Sign Language, though they really weren't good at it. I could only understand bits and pieces of what they were saying most of the time. It's a good thing Hearth could read lips too.
We all made our way to Magnus' door, and walked out into the hallway of Floor 19. Not surprisingly, Halfborn tried to take the lead and push his way through the group of us, but was beaten back by Mallory.
"You'll get us lost," she said.
I couldn't really argue with that. But, he had been here the longest out of any of us. Still, Hotel Valhalla was so big, I don't think any amount of experience could lead to us being able to navigate it properly. We were gonna get lost either way.
Me and Magnus lingered by the back of the group, walking hand in hand. We were in a comfortable sort of silence, when we reached a door that I had never seen before, on Floor 24. The rest of the group had moved on, but something about it didn't seem right.
"Hey, guys! I think this could be the right portal," I shouted, making sure they could hear me.
"How come?" Magnus asked.
"I don't know. I can just feel it. Something weirdly magical about it. Maybe it has something to do with being a child of Loki," I replied.
Sam glanced back at the door and said, "Now that I think about it, something about it doesn't seem right. It's like an itch in the back of my head."
"See! Told you. It's a Loki thing."
Halfborn reached out to the green doorknob, and slowly started to turn it. He really has a flair for dramatics, I guess.
The door swung open, and on the other side, there was a lush forest abuzz with life. Birds flitted around, and the very trees seemed to be alive and conscious. However, there was still a foreboding feel to the air. I could tell that something was lurking just beyond our eyesight.
"Woah," T.J. breathed.
I shushed him, and I reached into my pocket for my garrote. I also still had the fire sword from Surt, but I rarely used it. It was much easier and more my style to use my garrote. Besides, it burned my hands almost every time I tried to use it.
I saw out of the corner of my eye that everyone else was also reaching for their weapon of choice. Magnus was about to pull the rune of Frey off of his necklace, Sam's hand was behind her back, grasping the ax, and Mallory was clenching her double knives in her fists. Hearth started to grab for his pouch of runes, and Blitz just tried to look taller and more intimidating (It didn't really work). T.J. started unstrapping his bayonet and prepared to shoot at a moment's notice.
I stepped out into the sunlight, squinting my eyes. I unwrapped my garrote, and readied it like a whip. I turned around and saw that the door had disappeared, leaving us standing in front of a huge pile of rocks that looked vaguely like a fist. Quicker than you can say "Oh look, a giant dog!", a huge black mass of fur bounded out into the opening.
I heard Magnus let out a little squeal of surprise. I smirked, and reminded myself to make fun of him for that later. Then my attention was brought back to the problem at hand. I had heard of these kinds of monsters before. A few Norse demigods I had talked to at Valhalla had encountered hellhounds. However, instead of pouncing at us and trying to rip me into shreds, it waddled over and wagged its tail.
"Ah?" Mallory said, not sure whether to be scared or not.
"Uh... good doggy..." Magnus said.
I was still wary, and kept a hand on my weapon. As the hound barked and approached, I started to step forward. Better to attack first, and ask questions later. But, Magnus thrust his hand out and stopped me from advancing.
"What in the Helheim, Magnus?! What are you doing? It's gonna kill us!" I hissed, trying to push past him.
"No! Just shut up for a minute. It's friendly."
"How do you know?!" I whispered loudly.
"I'm freaking Dr. Dolittle, remember?! She says that she wants to play fetch with us."
Dang it. He was right. I had forgotten that ever since consuming some of Hearthstone's father's blood (very long, very disgusting story. Just don't question it) he gained the ability to talk and understand animals.
Sighing, I put my deadly pottery wire safely away into my pocket, and turned to the others.
"Maggie says we shouldn't kill it. She's friendly."
"DANG IT!" Halfborn screamed. He tended to let out his anger through killing and or maiming other things. And, for some reason, he really enjoyed ripping his shirt off before going berserk.
Everyone stowed away their weapons. It took T.J. way too long to put away his bayonet. I don't know how he carried that thing around everywhere. I prefer portable projectiles.
Magnus approached the hellhound, and reached out to pet it. Immediately, she stuck her huge tongue out and licked every inch of his face. Magnus floundered around and tried to get her to stop, while trying to not giggle. It brought a smile to my face. I do love seeing my boyfriend being adorkable.
Finally breaking away and gasping for air with tears in his eyes, Magnus said, "Her name is Mrs. O'Leary. She can lead us to camp. We came to the right place."
"Mrs O'Leary? I really need to have a discussion with whoever decided to name her," Blitz said.
I like it, Hearth signed.
"Whatever, dude. I guess since it's a dog name, it isn't that bad... but still," I replied. I was now male. Maybe something about Mrs. O'Leary made me transition. Who knows?
Magnus started rubbing her snout. "Lead the way, girl."
"Alright! Time to officially meet these guys! Woo!" I said.
<<<<.........>>>>
We stumbled through the trees, finally coming out into a clearing. Hearthstone was riding Mrs. O'Leary. They had kinda formed a connection while we were walking along. We had somehow managed to get lost about 3 times. The hellhound had a very short attention span, and started to wander off multiple times, with Magnus having to redirect her every so often.
"Blitz? Should you even be out here right now? It's pretty bright," Magnus asked.
"I'm fine, kid. I brought precautions," he replied, and I now noticed that he was covered head to toe in jackets, hats, sunglasses - all the essentials for a vampire. Which, honestly, was kind of accurate.
When we looked up, breathing hard, we stared right into the eyes of a few dozen kids. They were all frozen, and were looking at us in confusion.
"Uh... Mrs. O'Leary?" One of the kids said.
"Who are you guys?" Another kid asked.
Magnus raised his hand and nodded at the kids. "I'm Annabeth's cousin. You know her?"
"Everyone knows Annabeth. Are you a Greek demigod too?" The kid from before asked.
"The Chase family really has it going on, I guess," I heard someone whisper. I snickered.
They do indeed, I thought to myself.
"Yes and no. I'll explain later. Where's Annabeth?"
"I think she's at the Big House! The blue villa up on that hill. Someone'll be there that'll know what to do with you," A small child said. He looked about 7 or 8, but was for some reason extremely muscular (Can I get the address to where he works out?). He had a half-flattened volleyball in his hands. I guess we interrupted their game.
"Why are you wearing a war uniform?" A kid said, while tugging on T.J.'s shirt. She looked to only be 5 or 6, and had curly blonde hair.
"'Cause I was in a war, silly," T.J. replied, crouching on one knee and booping her nose. She giggled and walked away.
T.J. straightened up, and nodded towards the house on the hill.
"Let's go, guys."
Hearthstone dismounted his newfound friend. As we walked, I took in our surroundings. It looked like your standard summer camp. Except for the fact that on their rock climbing wall, there was lava streaming down the sides, and it was violently shaking. There was also an abundance of weapons. I wasn't sure that it was the brightest idea; keeping a bunch of armed equipment around little children, but who was I to judge? I die literally every day.
The aroma of strawberries wafted through the air, filling my nostrils with its sweet scent. Satyrs frolicked around, looking up once in a while and looking at us strangely.
We made it up the hill, and I knocked loudly on the eggshell colored door.
Almost immediately, the door swung open and we saw Percy standing there.
"Woah! Where did you guys even come from?" He asked, craning his neck over our heads to get a better view of who all was here. He nodded a hello to everyone.
"There was a portal in Valhalla that lead here. It was by this huge pile of rocks," Magnus replied, waving to him.
"Zeus' Fist? Of course it was there. A few years ago, there was an entrance to the labyrinth right below it. I got trapped in it with Annabeth for a few hours, but it only felt like minutes. Place still creeps me out."
He turned his head around and yelled, "Guys! Magnus and company are here!"
He flourished his hand, and bowed as he let us into the room. "Welcome to Casa de Chiron."
"Nice," I said, staring at the decor.
"Alex, right?" Percy asked.
"Yup. I'm male right now, by the way."
"Oh. Good to know," Percy replied, a bit confused. It still ticked me off a little when people didn't understand my gender fluidity.
Annabeth turned the corner and emerged. "Excuse my boyfriend. He may be the savior of Olympus and all that jazz, but he's still clueless when it comes to social cues."
"Hey!" Percy exclaimed, punching Annabeth in the arm.
"The Kanes aren't here yet. Speaking of which, how did you guys arrive so quickly? It's only been like an hour."
"Apparently there's a portal right by Zeus' Fist that leads to Hotel Valhalla. Who knew?" Percy replied.
"Of course there is. I shouldn't be surprised anymore."
I enjoyed watching them banter. It was really cute, and reminded me of my own relationship with Magnus.
"Make yourselves at home," Annabeth said, leading us through the house. We passed by a kitchen, a living room, and a door that lead to what I assumed was the basement.
Percy and Annabeth left the room. Just then, as we were settling down on a sofa, careful to make sure our knives or various other sharp objects didn't poke holes in the couch, a small, pale boy came through the doorway that led to an unidentified room. He had wild black hair and was wearing a brown aviator jacket over a black shirt that had a skull pattern all over it. Very grunge. I approved. I even saw a ring in the shape of a skull on one of his fingers.
"Hazel woke up," The boy said, looking down at the floor and not yet seeing us. Suddenly, as if it was a sixth sense, his head whipped up and he cocked it to the side.
"You guys must be the dead Norse demigods," he said.
"Uh... do I know you? What gave us away?" I asked, fairly confused. He wasn't on the last FaceTime call.
He walked up to us and stuck out his hand. "Nico di Angelo. Son of Hades. I can sense the dead."
My first thought was Cool! I wondered if he could, like, summon zombies and stuff to do his bidding. I would love to see that.
"Ah. That explains it," Magnus said.
"Back up. Son of Hades? Can you make Magnus slap himself in the face?" I asked. Sam and Magnus groaned at the same time; Sam at the immaturity, and Maggie because he knew that Nico probably could make him slap himself.
A second later, Nico was staring at Beantown, and his palm raised up against his will. Magnus just stared daggers at it, trying desperately to get himself to stop, but his hundred-yard stare did nothing.
"Whose side are you on?" Magnus exclaimed. An "ow!" followed directly afterwards, a sure sign that my little experiment succeeded. I mentally pumped my fist, excited at the prospect of the pranks zooming through my brain.
"I'm going to kill you," my boyfriend growled at me, while simultaneously rubbing his cheek, which had turned pink.
"Not if I can kill you first. What are you thinking? Decapitation again? Slit your throat? Chop off your limbs?"
Magnus blanched. "Gods, no. Can we not discuss gory deaths right now?"
Magnus turned back to Nico and said a proper greeting, if a little begrudgingly. I suppose he wasn't too happy with the "why are you hitting yourself" thing. I gave Nico a little mock salute while smiling. T.J. reached out for a fist bump, but Nico just stared at his outstretched hand and wrinkled his nose.
Halfborn tried to give him some sort of painting, but Nico declined. How did I not notice that Gunderson brought an entire painting as a peace offering? Sometimes I really don't understand that man. Mallory and Sam waved, Sam looking friendlier than the former, and Hearth signed Hello. Blitz was scouring his pockets for something, but quickly waved before going back to his search. Probably looking for buttons or something. I don't know.
"Who's Hazel?" Mallory asked.
"My half-sister. Daughter of Pluto. She shadow traveled here, but passed out afterwards. It's really draining," Nico said, shivering a little at what I assumed was an unpleasant memory. "I don't recommend it. Especially if you don't want to get yelled at by your doctor boyfriend."
I glanced at Magnus. I also had a doctor boyfriend, if you can call him one. I'm not sure if you could count randomly healing wounds with zero medical knowledge "being a doctor". But I was curious to compare the two.
As we walked on, going through many rooms, an awkward silence fell upon the group. Nico didn't exactly seem inviting, and wasn't making any moves to start up a conversation. Finally, Magnus was getting so fidgety and uncomfortable that he said, "So... how old are you, Nico?"
Nico stopped, turned around, and raised an eyebrow. "Technically? 80 something. Biologically? 15."
"80 something?!" I exclaimed, unable to contain my thoughts.
"I was born in the 1930s. Raised in Italy. When my mother died, me and my sister, Bianca, were sent to a casino in Los Angeles where all time was slowed down to the extreme. We were there for 70 some years, but it only felt like a few months. That was about 4 or 5 years ago."
This information dump shocked me. I couldn't really imagine what it would be like to pop out of a hotel in a completely new and different era. But, I guess Halfborn, T.J., and Mallory could relate.
"Strangely enough, Hazel is also from the 30s. But she actually did die, and was in the Underworld for a long time. I came and got her, bringing her back to life."
Yet again, I was shocked. This time, less so. I mean, if I can casually roam around the physical world, then I don't see why a spirit can be brought fully back to life from the Greeks' Underworld.
I looked around, and saw that everyone else's eyes were widened.
"Well, that's an... interesting backstory," I said. "What about Bianca? Where's she?"
A dark look cast over Nico's face. I immediately understood. He didn't say anything to confirm my suspicions. I really didn't know how to comfort him, so I just stayed silent.
Nobody spoke until we reached a room that I assumed to be the infirmary. On one of the beds lay a girl with dark skin and an afro of cinnamon colored curls. She was wearing a purple shirt, with gold laurel designs on it. I guessed that this must be Hazel, Nico's sister.
Sitting on a stool by the bed sat a boy who looked about 15, with blonde curly hair. He was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt that said "Camp Medic" on it, along with a pair of blue jeans.
He jumped up when he saw us and ran over to Nico, hugging him.
"Hi Nico!" He said.
"Solace, I just saw you 5 minutes ago. Calm down," Nico replied. Breaking away from the boy's embrace, he gestured to him and said, "Guys, this is Will Solace, my boyfriend. Son of Apollo. And I already told you about Hazel Levesque. Will and Hazel, this is Magnus Chase, Alex Fierro, Halfborn Gunderson, Mallory Keen, Blitzen, Hearthstone, Samirah, and T.J."
"Just call me Sam," Sam said.
"How do you even know all of our names?" Halfborn asked.
He shrugged. "Heard it through the grapevine."
Will waved enthusiastically, and Hazel gave a smile and a small, shy wave.
"Hi everyone," Hazel said.
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