Chapter 27
I'm sure Nico, Reyna and Coach Hedge have told you all about the ensuing adventures as we shadow travelled. I don't remember much, I spent most of it completely exhausted, and apparently, at one point, a shadow myself. That had spooked me, when Reyna told us that she'd tried to place a pillow under Nico's head and her hand had passed straight through him. I'd only just found my idiot twin brother, and by some miracle he was still alive and my age. If he got himself killed, I would be so annoyed with him. Mind you, I couldn't talk. Apparently I'd missed an entire adventure with this group of girls who called themselves the Amazon's, and the hunters of Artemis. Reyna told me it was because I severely malnourished, and had even less energy than Nico. I'd managed to help in the fight with Orion that followed their meeting, but I did hardly anything. Everything's a bit jumbled after that. I think my mind sort of opted out of the situation. I've been told now that it was because of the stress on my mind and my body.
The next thing I remember was arriving at Camp Half-Blood. It was a warzone. People in orange t-shirts fighting people in purple togas and armour. I pulled out my dagger and tried to defend myself. I scanned the sea of fighters, desperately searching for Nico or Reyna or Percy or Annabeth or Leo or Hazel, or just any face that I recognized. I spotted Nico running with a tall blonde guy, and two slightly smaller people, one a girl and one a boy. I also spotted the soldiers in purple who were sneaking up behind them, brandishing swords. I ran over and stood between them and my brother. I sliced with my dagger, trying not to kill anyone because I was pretty sure they were human and they wouldn't just regenerate. I had three on the floor unconscious, when I heard Nico yell "Issy, duck!" I did as he said, and flinched as a throwing knife whistled passed me, inches from my face.
"That was rude." I said plainly, then took a deep breath and slammed my fist into the ground. Four skeletons emerged from the spot I'd punched and began advancing on the remaining warriors. I heard a surprised grunt from behind me.
"Nico, is she-" the voice let loose a guttural yell, and then there was a thud. "I'm good." The voice said. The skeletons had done their job, and in front of me lay seven unconscious soldiers. I turned to look at Nico, panting hard. My vision went swimmy. Come on! I thought to myself. Why do I keep fainting at everything? I didn't survive 71 years in Tartarus to pass out every five minutes back on Earth. I heard a sharp intake of breath, and realised it came from the tall blonde boy. "Oh my gods, she is not well." I grunted in agreement, and felt my legs give way. I noticed the unconscious body of a Roman soldier behind the group of people as I fell. The blonde one caught me, and I faded into darkness.
There are some blurry things. A liquid being poured down my throat that tasted like my mama's cooking. Nico sitting next to me, holding my hand, whispering words that I couldn't quite make out. The blonde boy and some other people leaning over me with worried looks on their faces. For the first time ever, as I slept I had no nightmares. Instead I dreamed of a beach of white sand. A girl was there. She had caramel coloured hair. Running towards her came a small, impish looking boy. As he got closer, I realised it was Leo. He ran to her and wrapped her in a hug.
"Calypso." He breathed into her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder.
"You came back. You actually came back." She cried.
"Of course I did. I'm a man of my word, I wouldn't just leave you here!" He exclaimed. The girl, Calypso, gave Leo a final squeeze as she pulled away from the hug.
"How are we going to get out of here?" She asked. Leo grinned his cheeky smile and grabbed her hand.
"Follow me." He said, and led her down the sand. His dragon, Festus, came into view. Calypso let out a breathy laugh.
"Leo." She murmured under her breath. She turned suddenly and went to kiss him, but Leo turned his face away. Calypso blushed deeply. "I am sorry. I didn't-"
"No, don't, it's... it's OK." He pushed his hair out of his face and gave Calypso a jokey smouldering look. "I'd want to kiss me too." Calypso laughed again, a sweet sound. She pushed him on the chest playfully.
"Come on then." She gestured to Festus. "Help me up."
The next thing I remember was blinking awake. "Issy?" Nico's face appeared in my vision.
"Hmm... yeah?" I asked, blinking the sleep out of my eyes.
"You're awake! Will, she's awake!" He called to a person behind him. The tall blonde guy I recognised from the battle came running over.
"Hey," he grinned, "She's looking much better! And her energy levels are closer to normal." I blinked hard and shook my head.
"What's going on?" I sat up and looked around. I was lying in a bed in a room filled with more beds. "Fratello, where am I?" (A/N- 'Fratello' means brother in Italian.)
"This is the hospital ward Issy." He explained, then hastily added "But don't worry, everything's alright."
"Fratello?" Will asked, his brow furrowed. "Nico, she's your sister?"
"Uh-huh." Nico grunted in response.
"Is she like Hazel? Did you-"
"No." Nico said bluntly. "It's a long story." He turned to me. "You can finally introduce yourself." He told me.
"Um, okay. Hi. My name's Isabella." I told Will.
"Will." he replied, giving me a smile. "So how are you related?" He asked.
"Nico's my brother." I explained. Will rolled his eyes in an 'I guessed that' way.
"Yeah, but I'm guessing you're not from the same time period." He said.
"Oh, no, we are." I said.
"Issy's my twin sister." Nico said. Will's eyebrows shot up.
"No way!" He exclaimed. "Wait, but how come you didn't come with Nico and Bianca?" He asked, lowering his voice slightly as he said Bianca's name. I winced at hearing it, her death still too painful for me to think about properly.
"I wasn't sent to the Lotus Casino. Hades sent me on errands for him instead. He said that some prophecy said... uh... 'a double-blooded daughter of the underworld, will save two existences and peace will unfurl.' He said he couldn't let me out of his sight, that I was too important. I guess he thought I was the child of the prophecy. But I fell into Tartarus. That's where I've been. I only got out when Percy and Annabeth found me." As I mentioned Percy's name, he came running in, Annabeth close behind me.
"I heard Isabella was awake." He called, and his eyes fell on me. "Isabella!" He ran over. "How you feeling?"
"Percy, you can call me Issy. Isabella's a mouth full."
"Thank the gods. I was wondering that." He laughed.
"I'm OK. I've been better, but what can you do?" I shrugged, and Percy smiled. "How long have I been here? How many days have I missed?" I asked.
"Three weeks." Annabeth grimaced.
"Three weeks?" I repeated incredulously. "What? How? I wasn't that ill!"
"Issy, you were in Tartarus for seventy years. You were ill." Nico said. I felt my shoulders slump. "So what happened? What about Gaia?" I inquired.
"We managed to defeat her." Percy said proudly. "But, um, well... Leo didn't make it." My eyes widened.
"What? Oh no, he actually did the fireball thing?"
"You knew?" Annabeth almost yelled, and I flinched. Whoops.
"Yeah. Yeah, I knew. I saw it in a dream. But he asked me not to tell anyone, said he had a plan, that he would survive, and I... well, I believed him." Nico put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me towards him.
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault. You weren't the only one that knew." He comforted me.
"That's true." Percy quietly agreed. I shut my eyes, looking for a way to access the power. I could do this. Will must have noticed me close my eyes, because he cleared his throat.
"Alright, this is all well and good," he said, "But my patient needs to rest, so you guys can clear off now." They did as they were told, and I heard them all leave one by one. Nico stayed sat by my bed side. I moved my eyes beneath my eyelids, searching, looking for Leo's life force. I didn't know how I could do that, I guess it was being a daughter of Hades. I could feel the tug in my gut as I extended the power, widening the radius of my search. It was sort of like a radar, scanning for Leo. I focused on my breathing, slowing it down, concentrating. I widened the radius again, and put a hand to my temple. I was getting a splitting headache. I widened the radius again, no luck. I was about to give up when a small blip appeared on my radar. I focused in on it, making sure it was real. It was. I felt a grin forming on my face.
"Issy, what is it?" Nico asked, curious.
"Leo's not dead." I said, opening my eyes. Nico frowned at me.
"Issy, he is. I checked, I couldn't see his life force."
"You didn't look hard enough. He's in some place called, um, Ogygia." I saw Nico's eyebrows raise in an expression of surprise.
"Ogygia?" Nico's mouth fell open. "You managed to see Ogygia? That place is kept hidden by the Gods. No one who isn't immortal can see it."
"I could." I said, feeling a bit weirded out. Couldn't Nico do that too?
"We have to tell Chiron. And Piper and Jason. They're losing their minds with worry."
"Who's Chiron?" I asked.
"I'll take you to meet him. Will?" Nico called. Will held up a hand, it looked like he was busy disinfecting medical gear. Once he was done, he came over.
"What's up?" He asked.
"Can Issy leave? I was going to take her to meet Chiron."
"That can wait." Will said bluntly. "She's still really weak, Neeks." He turned to me. "You need rest. Your body needs to adjust to being up here. Gods, I can't believe you were in Tartarus. Let alone being down there for seventy years."
"We need to talk to him." Nico interrupted. "She thinks Leo's still alive." Will looked shocked.
"OK. You can go. But drink this first." He handed me a cup filled with a strange looking liquid. "It's nectar." He explained. "Mortals can't drink it, but you're a demigod, so it'll help heal you." I looked at Nico, and he nodded. Will must have caught the glance. "It's safe to drink, I promise. I swear on the River Styx that it won't hurt you." Something in my brain clicked. A memory. 'A promise on the River Styx is a promise that can't be broken.' I couldn't remember who told me that, but I knew to trust Will. I took the cup and took a sip. It tasted like the things my mama used to cook for us before... before everything happened. I gulped down the rest greedily.
"What did it taste like?" Nico asked me.
"Mama's cooking." I replied. Nico laughed slightly.
"It used to taste like that for me, too. Until I discovered McDonalds." Will rolled his eyes.
"You know that stuff's really bad for you." He chastised.
"I am the Ghost King. I am bad for it." Will elbowed Nico in the ribs playfully. I watched the scene play out with a confused look on my face.
"What's a McDonald?" I asked. Nico pulled a mock horrified face, then laughed, properly this time. Will look stunned.
"What?" Nico said, suddenly sounding gruff and closed off again.
"Nothing." Will said. "I've just never really seen you laugh properly."
"And it won't happen again." Nico said, though a smile played on his lips. I climbed out of bed and he grabbed my hand. "Come on sorellina. I've got a lot to show you." (A/N- 'Sorellina' = little sister in Italian.)
A/N- Hi guys! Don't forget to review! Thanks to and Waterfirewitch for the recent reviews! In answer to your question waterfirewitch, my friends think I'm either a child of Hades or Apollo (I know, two very different gods but hey), but the Rick Riordan quiz says Apollo is my godly parent. Buzzfeed thinks it's Poseidon though. I can't decide! They'd all be cool to have as parents