Hades POV
I can't believe I, Hades, the god of the underworld, was stuck. IN THE HOSPITAL!
Why? Well it started a few minutes prior to my meeting for Zeus' little misadventures. I had Italian, and Nico and I were invited by George, Percy's friend, to go skateboarding since Percy was apparently too busy, probably with Annabeth.
Anyway I told them that I didn't know how to skate.
"Its okay" George said "I can teach you guys I have an extra board"
"Sure, I'll come but I am going on roller skates if its fine with you" Nico said "I'm more comfortable with something tied to my feet when I travelled in wheels."
"Its fine," George said "but they have a half-pipe. You sure you don't want to just borrow Percy's board."
"Don’t worry" Nico said "I've done this before"
I looked at him with disbelief. I never knew my son did these dangerous stuff. That he even knew how to skateboard.
"How about you Matt?" George asked "you game?"
I thought for a moment. Do I want to be at home, where Zeus is most probably gonna get scolded by our sisters, or hang out with my son and a friend... I think the friend wins this round.
"Yeah, sure" I said shrugging "great!" George said "met you at the lobby of Percy's apartment building." he said as the bell rang and he went to his next class.
It wasn't a lie that I had to go do a project with Nico. It's called operation skateboard. I had to sort through a mountain of stuff.
We found a lot of stuff, old socks, notes passed in class, a Spanish book half burned. No I'm not kidding the book was burned until only half was left. And that part was still charred pretty badly.
"I found it!" Nico exclaimed his feet coming out from under the bed. "The skateboard?"
"No, my ring" Nico said "it was under here the whole time? Man, I thought I lost that thing I had been searching for it everywhere did would kill me if I lost this." he wiped the ring on his shirt then put it back on.
I smacked him at the back of his head.
"We’re supposed to be looking for Percy's skateboard not a small metallic ring."
"Well actually I also found the skateboard from under the bed" Nico stated "so, ha!"
I rolled my eyes at Nico's childish attitude.
"Where is it?"
"It’s under the pile of unread books" Nico stated plainly. I glanced at the pile. It nearly reached the ceiling!
"Yeah, Percy said it's his collection" Nico said "probably never occurred to him that there was a skateboard somewhere near the bottom. Ah same old, Percy"
"How the heck are we going to get that from down there?"
"Alright I wanna try something" Nico said I wonder how Percy had so many books.
I held them back while Nico pulls the board out from the bottom. "Ready?" Nico said then he gave the skateboard a mighty tug. The mountain of books shook. I felt the whole thing shake under me. Then... Nico was smiling holding the skateboard.
"Success, my friend" he said in a think European accent. Then a book fell from the top of the pile.
"Ouch?" I said rubbing the back of my head. Nico just laughed.
"Well my fellow partner in crime, let us go to and cause more havoc. To the park!"
It took me a while to realize that Nico was under caffeine. Well actually I didn't realize it he told me. Apparently he and Percy had a dare and Percy dared Nico to drink two whole cups of coffee and see how long he can stay awake. And I have a feeling it's going to be quite a long time.
I joined George and Nico as we walked into the park. Like George said there was a rather large half pipe along with other skating obstacles. There were two other kids just skating around.
“So come on get on” George said laying the board down on the ground. “It’s easy. You just have to learn to balance.”
After a few more minutes of attempting to ride the skateboard, I had managed to get the hang of it. It was actually kind of fun. And after a few more tries, we went to the half pipe.
“Are you sure you can ride with roller-skates?” George asked “I tried that before. I couldn’t get up the ramp.”
“That’s cause you have to get up before you put on your skates” Nico said then proceeded to climb the ramp. We were right behind him as he started to tie in his skates.
“Are you sure about this dude?” George asked
“Have you ever heard of extreme skating?” Nico asked George nodded while I looked at him puzzled.
“What?”
“It’s like a game in the tablet.” George said “And this has to do with skating in real life, how?”
Nico smiled “let’s just say I did a couple of tricks back home”
My eyes widened. He did this in the Underworld? And I did not know?
“Where were your parents at the time?”
“Well,” Nico said “my mom’s dead, my dad’s busy, my aunt and stepmom keeps telling me to eat and the only adult that really watches me doesn’t really care if I just suddenly lie dead in the middle of the floor. He lets me do whatever I want”
I may need to have some words with Charon… I thought as George looked at Nico with jealously
“Wow” he said “you’re so lucky”
“If you consider getting ignored half the time lucky then I’d switch with you any day” Nico said standing up. “Anyway… let’s do this!” he then skated down the ramp. Moving like a pro as he skated through cones. I just stared at my son. I never expected him to be able to do something like that. I was snapped out of my thoughts when …
“Hey Matt let’s get a move on” George sad already on his skateboard going down the ramp. I followed after. Just happy to be here all the same.
The fun lasted no more than two hours, and then we had a bit of an accident. We were all skating around just having fun. At some point they started teaching each other tricks and such. At some point I wasn’t looking where I was going… and neither was Nico. we suddenly collided.
I felt a rather sharp pain by my leg. I gasped in pain. When I looked at Nico, he too was struggling in pain. He was cradling his arm.
The next few moments were a blur. I remember arriving in the hospital with the help of Nico and George. Nico seemed to have broken his arm, and I broke my leg. I remember a doctor mending my leg with Nico in the next bed. Then Poseidon passed by the room. And let’s just say that when he saw me, he was livid.
“Matthew?” he asked “What in the endless void happened to you?”
“Well” I said “I think I have a broken leg. And my ankle feels like it’s also been twisted in a rather abnormal angle.”
“What did you do?” he asked his voice filled with worry “And is that Nico?”
“Yep” Nico said waving “Hey Mark what are you doing here?”
“Yeah” I said when it suddenly occurred to me “What are you doing here?”
“Well, our dear brother” he said his voice heavy in sarcasm “decided to prank a friend of mine, I needed to get her here. She’s better now. Actually, she seems like about to jump off the walls. So, yeah she’s fine.”
Then he looks at me. “You do know that I have to call our sister about this right?”
“Yes” I said “I think she’s at home though, she came to …take care of things.”
We simultaneously shuddered. We’ve been at the wrong ends of those situations before. Not a pretty experience. And none that we would want to happen, I might add.
“alright” he said then proceeded to call at their house.”Hello?”
“Sis…? Uh which sis? Ah… well, Matthew seemed to have a little of an accident. He broke his leg” Poseidon said on the phone. “okay”
“Whose that?” I asked as he handed me the phone.
“Demeter” he mouthed
My eyes widened. Oh gods I am dead.
“Hello?” I asked cautiously
“You stupid little boy.” She practically shouted through the line “I can’t believe you would do some stupid stunts. And break your leg? You’re lucky that you’re injured or else you’d have it worse than your brother right now for doing something so stupid.”
“It was an accident” I said “Anyways the doctor said I have to keep still for a while. Plus it’s not like I meant for this to happen.”
“I’ll deal with you later” she said “hand your brother back the phone”
“For you” I said holding out the phone to Poseidon.
“Hello... yeah well we just have one last problem, we have no way home….” Then Alison came into the room, she still had her whole upbeat personality.
“Hey Nico, Matt” she said smiling Nico waved with his unbroken arm. I just nodded “What happened” her expression changed to worry.
“skateboarding accident” I said plainly
“Well it looks like you may need a ride home” she noted slightly listening to the heated conversation with Poseidon and Demeter then her expression brightened when a woman in her thirties entered “Hi mom!”
“Hey Ally.” She said “Feeling better?”
“yeah.” She said “Hey Mom, this is Matt, Mark and Nico.”
“Sup” Nico said
“Hi” I said
“Hello” her mom said. She was wearing a lab coat of the hospital. She had a stethoscope around her neck. She had black hair, unlike her daughter who has blonde and bright brown eyes.
“Mom, they need a ride home, can we at least help them?”
“Sure, my shift is nearly done” she said “I have to go on my last round on patients see you later” she kissed her daughter at the top of her head. “It’s was nice meeting you three”
“Hey Mark, mom said we can bring you home later”
“Really? Thanks” he said then returned to his conversation with Demeter “hey Allison said her mom can bring us back to the apartment… okay… okay… see you later sis”
“Well?”
“One thing’s for sure” Poseidon said “She’s pissed
I looked at Nico and shrugged “It was an accident.”