I haven't updated in two weeks, sorry about that. I'm gotten pretty lazy when winter vacation started :P
HAPPY NEW YEAR PEOPLE!! I LOVE YOU ALL <3 <3 <3
For the rest of the week, the demigods tried to convince themselves that Ethan had probably meant a different mansion.
"Maybe Midas's mansion," Leo suggested.
"The Hunters burned it down while you were sailing to Greece," Thalia said unhappily.
Jason put his face in his pillow and muttered something that sounded like Solangelo. Nobody understood what he was talking about.
"Let's look at this rationally," Annabeth would say every hour. "I mean, shadow travelling to the Mansion of Night would be a lot of work, even for Nyx. It's all the way in......it's really far down. And what's the point of constantly going from the Chamber of Secrets to that place?"
***
After explaining to Dumbledore and Chiron what had happened, Dumbledore suggested that they look around the Chamber.
Glad for something to do, they did. Hermione figured out that you had to speak Parseltongue to open Salazar's mouth. The cave was ginormous.
It had to be, since a Basilisk had been living in there for centuries.
Once they lit their wands, they got thoroughly offended.
The room was luxurious.
A fluffy navy blue carpet covered the entire floor. Bunk beds with green blankets and black pillows. The fringes were either bronze or silver.
"How did they even do this?" Piper grumbled, resentfully kicking a pillow across the room.
"Dawn," Annabeth responded. "She and Isabell probably made the room like this. See? The carpet's blue. And the blankets are green."
"I despise them even more now," Percy said. "If that's even possible."
"You know what's strange?" Annabeth asked. "There's only six beds."
Leo snickered, "Maybe they shared...?"
Annabeth gave him a level 10 exasperated look, "These beds aren't even big enough, but I guess it would make sense if some of them slept on the floor. The rug's pretty comfy. It's still weird though."
***
After that, Dumbledore had let them listen in on the meeting. The room was already crowded with teachers, so only Annabeth, Percy, Jason, Harry, and Hermione went.
Kingsley Shacklebolt told them that Dawn and Isabell had been fully interrogated.
"So...are they on house arrest now?" Percy asked.
"No," the Minister responded.
"What?" Percy was aghast. "Don't tell me they got let off with a warning."
"No, no, nothing like that, I assure you. They are now residing Azkaban."
Percy choked on a lemon drop he had taken, "But they're like...seventeen."
"Eighteen, actually. The dementors had been removed, but it's still quite a bleak place."
"Oh."
Kingsley continued to explain. Dawn and Isabell had really planned on murdering students before Nyx even began influencing them. Dawn had always wanted to be the smartest in the school, but she was fine with Hermione getting more praise because Hermione never received any from Snape. Then he began treating the Gryffindors better, and that drew her over the line. Isabell bullied Moaning Myrtle into telling her the way to open the Chamber of Secrets, and their next task was to find a way to trap Hemera. They managed to figure out that Susan Bones was her daughter. When she saw an opportunity, Isabell trapped Susan. Dawn explained that every single day, Nyx chased Hemera around the earth in an attempt to catch up to her. Then Hemera came to help Susan, but she took too long, and Nyx caught up.
"Hannah Abbott has also disappeared," Pomona Sprout put in. "Do you think...could she have been...?"
"Taken?" Shacklebolt asked. "It appears so."
"How come all the people we fought down there were so young?" Harry asked. He had Moody's eye in a jar and was swishing it around. "Wouldn't most of them be adults by now?"
"My guess is that Nyx or Gaea had preserved them. When Ethan first appeared at Hogwarts, Nyx told Dawn to heal him because he had a wound in his stomach."
"That was right before he fell into the fissure," Percy remembered. "He swung at Kronos, but his sword broke and a piece ricochetted through his armor."
"This confirms it," Snape said. "We don't know who Nyx is influencing. The only person who has even admitted hearing her to me was Wilby Blue."
"And you didn't ask Drew?" Percy accused.
"I did." Snape's face contorted into a scowl at the memory. "She refused to talk to me and attempted to pour a potion into my shoes."
"And another detail," Kingsley spoke up. He glanced briefly in Harry's direction. "Nyx had tried to influence both Harry and Ron."
Harry gaped and dropped Moody's eye. "What?!"
"Apparently they were hard to turn. So she changed her mind and switched to Dawn."
Then Kingsley stood from his chair, "I believe are discussion is finished? I must get back and talk to the Muggle prime minister. We have pressing manners to discuss, and it can't wait."
***
So that was the meeting.
Mythology class was going okay. Hermione was patient with the students, but Draco practically exploded into a supernova when Neville couldn't remember the name of the monster they had been talking about five minutes before. But Neville did improve greatly after that.
DADA class was going great. The students could now do forty situps in a minute. They learned a few moves, and most were now decent at magical combat.
Annabeth decided that it was time to start with weapons. She walked over to a blanket-covered crate, which did nothing but draw attention to it as it was bright blue.
"No!" Percy ran over. "I'll do it I'll do it."
Annabeth rolled her eyes and let him do the whip-off-the-blanket-as-dramtically-as-possible thing.
"Drum roll please..." Percy said, his hand on the blanket.
"Just do it Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.
"K." Percy flung off the blanket, which flew across the room and smacked Pansy Parkinson in the face.
"Sorry," Percy said. Then he gestured to the crate while everyone gasped in unison.
This was later known as the Great Intake of Breath by scientists.
The wooden crate was full of wooden weapons. And also plastic shields. And the sharp weapons had foam around the edges.
"What is that?" Leo gasped as Percy hefted a foam covered battle axe, which didn't look anywhere near sharp.
"It's a battle axe," Percy said. "Duh. Didn't you make a lot of those back at Camp?"
"It's...it's..." Leo searched for a word, "it's so...safe."
"That's the point," Percy said. "Although there aren't really any points on these things."
"That's right," Annabeth said. "You're going to be using these incredibly safe weapons before we move on to actual weapons."
"Can I wear a mask?" a boy asked. "I don't think I'll survive the shame of carrying a weapon covered in that foam stuff."
"Honestly," the daughter of Athena snapped, "it's not like the weapons are pink for gods sake! Would you rather have someone swing wrong and cut off your arm?!"
"Um...no," said the terrified student.
"Good. Now choose your weapons. WAIT! Line up first. No, not double file or triple file. Single file. Draco, you don't need one. You there, go to the back, no cutting. Leo, stop running through the lines like a lunatic and confusing everyone."
Once everyone had their weapons, Annabeth told them to try swinging them around or throwing them or shooting them to get used to the weight.
"We should have like, carved please don't kill anyone into the weapons," Percy said. "Then if they do, nobody can blame us."
At that moment Thalia shot an arrow at a spear, which slammed into the wall. "Drew, don't knock out your classmates like that. Hit them when their back is turned."
"Okay!"
"Thalia!" Annabeth protested.
***
When classes were over, they were back to being miserable.
They had already burned about twenty letters and twenty platefuls of food to Hermes, in case Nico ever came across the altar in Tartarus. There was still a possiblity that Nico wasn't in Tartarus but in some other mansion, but deep down, they were convinced that he was.
Night had fallen at 4 PM, which is never a good sign.
At dinner Hermione showed them a page from the mortal/Muggle newspaper. The poor scientists were trying to figure out what was wrong with the sun, and why nighttime was lasting for so long. They were unsuccessful in finding a satisfying explanation.
"Harry," Hermione said impatiently, "would you give me the front page back?"
"Hold on," he said. "Neville's toad is jumping around on the floor and I don't want to touch it." Harry suddenly lunged down, "AHA! Got it." He came up with Trevor the toad wrapped in a tight newspaper ball. "Here you go Neville," he dumped the toad into Neville's hands.
Hermione snatched the newspaper back and smoothed it out. "Oh look! The Prime Minister of Britain is getting married."
Leo spat out his Fonzie, "But he's like a hundred years old!"
Hermione sighed, "Just because he's prime minister doesn't mean he's old. He's only in his mid-forties."
"Is there a picture the person he's marrying?" Annabeth asked, only slightly interested.
"No, only of the minister." Hermione showed her the black and white image.
Percy burned some more blue cookies to Hermes.
"Hmm," Hermione said, scanning the article.
"What is it?" Ron asked.
"The article doesn't say anything about this woman. And it says here that there's a rumour that they met two months ago. The minister denied it though."
Annabeth looked more intrigued, "And what are you thinking?"
"I don't know...it just seems sort of strange. Prime ministers or presidents don't usually get married while in office. Harry, do you have the Daily Prophet with you?"
"No, I think Ron's got it."
"Yep, it's here," Ron gave it to her.
She flipped through it for a while, then stopped at page ten. " 'Low levels of Dark magic have been detected throughout the east in Westminister. Ministry officials have been sent to investigate.' "
"Where's Westminister?" Jason asked.
"It happens to be where the prime minister lives."
"Does he live at a mansion?" Percy said, looking hopeful.
"Yes."
Their hopes shot up like ten miles.
Hermione rapidly skimmed some more articles, " 'The number of people in the permanent ward at St. Mungo's has gone up 30%. All new patients were victims of a Memory Charm.' "
"I didn't know the Prophet had all that information," Ron said, sounding amazed.
"That's because you only read the first few pages and the Quidditch section," Hermione said irritably. "Too bad that awful Rita Skeeter woman still works for it."
The demigods leaned in as she read, " 'Muggles seem to be dumber than usual.' That is so rude. They're saying that because some are wandering around like they're in a daze."
"Something is definitely going on with the prime minister," Annabeth frowned. "Kingsley's going to go see him, isn't he? He'll see what's going on."
"Yes, he will," Hermione nodded confidently, still scanning both newspapers for more information. She pointed out an article in the Muggle newspaper, "There was a fire near a police station in Westminister. They say it was a gas explosion."
"They always say it's a gas explosion," Percy interjected. "That's what they said when Ares blew up the police cars at the beach."
"And when Peter Pettigrew blew up a street, Muggles said it was a gas leak," Harry added.
"So that means it's possible that the fire was magical," Piper concluded.
"But Ethan said that the mansion was a place we wouldn't want to go to," Thalia said. "Is the prime minister's mansion a torture chamber?"
"Shhh," Leo said. "Let's just assume for the moment that Nico is living the life with the minister."
"Okay," Thalia nodded. "Okay."
***
The next morning, Annabeth heard someone whispering, "Hey."
She ignored it.
"Hey," the person said more insistently. "Guys!"
Annabeth sat up and screamed.
"What what what?" Percy shrieked, falling out of his bed in a tangle of blankets.
"NICO!" Annabeth screamed.
All the demigods stumbled forward and gawked at the Iris Message in utter disbelief.
Relief flooded Nico's face, "Hi. Thank the gods it worked." He glanced behind him, and we noticed where he was.
A bathroom the size of a bedroom. There was enough room for six people to dance in. The bathroom was so big there were two doors next to each other, like the entrance to the Great Hall. The hot water in the sink was on, and steam rose into the air. A window had been boarded up, then torn down so sunlight poured in, making a rainbow.
"Where are you?" Thalia asked. "The minister's house?"
Nico blanched, "How did you...? Never mind. Yeah, I am. Guys, listen up, and don't interrupt until I'm through. Nyx has taken over 10 Downing Street, which is the minister's house. The prime minister's gone mad. He locked himself in his office and won't come out. A guy—I think maybe the Minister of Magic?—Apparated in front of the door, but Ethan knocked him out and now he's in the basement somewhere. And I'm fine, by the way. Nyx has a lot of control here, so it's still pretty scary place to live, but I'm managing. The only place I can't go into is the basement, and there's a ton of shadows there. And not normal ones, they're the kinds that were in Ravenclaw Tower. Nobody can get in, not even Ethan. I'm not really doing much. Nyx is pretty busy for some reason, and I just sit around and refuse to do anything those demigods tell me to do."
Nico continues, "Guys, they're crazy. All the demigods here believe that Nyx is their mother and they're in debt because she saved their lives. She's completely twisted them. I tried talking sense to one Athena kid who looked wise enough, but they've all been under her influence for far too long. Hannah Abbott couldn't even take this place, it still does . She's been unconscious for a while. Have you figured out why there's so many Athena kids here? And why they're all so young?"
They nodded.
"Annabeth figured it out huh," Nico said. "I knew you would."
He glanced behind him again, "It's 7 AM and everyone's still sleeping. I can't believe this IM worked. I can't get out of here because I don't want to risk shadow traveling. There's some kind of magic barrier around the entire house and the backyards and front yards and side yards all the other yards. It's a different kind of sorcery, so I don't think the wizards can detect it as well. All the shadows besides the ones in the basement are pretty much harmless, but under the control of Nyx. I don't know where I'll end up if I try shadow traveling. Hemera could be in the basement. I want to try searching there if I can, because now these people are starting to actually leave me alone for more than five minutes. Hemera's not anywhere else in this mansion, but I'm 90% sure that she's here, based on conversations I've heard and all the not-so-straight answers I've been given. And I don't know if you know this yet, but the prime minister of Britain's getting married. And the lady's not—"
BOOM! something slammed against the door. "DI ANGELO!" a voice yelled. "What are you doing in there?!"
"What do you think I'm doing?" Nico snapped, managing to sound calm and annoyed.
"You're lucky I lost my eye," Ethan snarled. "I'm sure I heard talking." A black sword appeared in the line between the doors and slid down, cutting the locks.
Nico ran over and shoved his sword behind the handles of the double doors. "You weirdo! I just happen to like giving myself pep talks while washing my hands okay? You pointing that out is very embarassing. Stop trying to get in!"
"I'm taking your word for it. But you have twenty seconds. Otherwise I'll be forced to throw you into the basement."
"Fine!" Nico yelled back. The tap blocked out his whisper, "Nyx is trying to take over Hogwarts and the mortals in Britain, because America's too complicated and big. The prime minister is being forced to marry one of Nyx's pawns."
"SEVEN SECONDS!" Ethan shouted. His black sword stabbed through the wood like cheese. He sounded like he was throwing a tantrum, which was weird, because he was usually more calm than that.
"Once she's married," Nico went on, breathless, "her powers will get stronger somehow. She's going to use her magic to help make slaves of all the mortals in Britain." He glanced at the door, "He's marrying Circe. Someone better stop the wedding. It's in a month, and she's never in the mansion."
"Circe?" Annabeth asked, horrified.
Nico ran over to the boarded up window and worked on taping it up again, "I'll IM again tomorrow if I can. Bye guys."
He stuck the board over the window, blocking the sunlight, and the Iris Message disappeared.
"Guys," Percy clapped his hands together. "I want to know...would it be hard to hide a bomb inside a wedding cake? 'Cause we've got a bride to kill."