Chapter 26
Five minute later Nico and I ran out of the woodland path and onto the camp beach. When we had started running I don't know. "The beach?" I asked Nico slowing down to a walk since running on sand is pretty hard. Anyone who has ever tried it will know that.
"I figured you hadn't been since you got back and it's usually empty at around this time so..." Nico trailed off.
"Fair enough." I shrugged slipping my slip on shoes off and hanging them loosely in my hand as I headed down to nearer the sea. I sat down a few metres away from the sea and a few seconds later Nico sat down beside me.
I missed this while I was gone. The perfect blue sea that glimmers under the light of the sun. Sometimes I used to just sit on the beach and watch the waves for hours. It wasn't like I had much else to do. I still remember the first time I ever went to a beach when I was three.
FLASHBACK
"Where are we going?" Three year old me asked Deimos and Phobos.
"You'll see." Phobos answered as we continued walking. It was early in the morning and still fairly dark since the sun hadn't come up yet. I snuck out of the house but I don't think mommy would mind, I fact she'd probably be quite happy about it. I'd met Deimos and Phobos outside my house and we'd taken a train to a few streets away from where we were now. I kept glancing around hoping to see something.
"We're not there yet little strawberry." Deimos told me and I frowned slightly.
"When will we be there? Where is there?" I asked and Deimos just smirked in reply causing me to frown again but in annoyance this time. Why won't they tell me?
"Look over there little strawberry." Phobos told me a few minutes later. I looked over in the direction he was pointing at and gasped.
"What is it?" I asked the brothers in amazement.
"It's the sea." Deimos replied. Well, at least I think it was Deimos but I wasn't looking at who was talking so it could have been Phobos.
"It's pretty." I commented mainly to myself.
"Wait until the sun start to rise."
"Is it prettier then now?"
"Yes little strawberry it's prettier than now." Phobos told me.
"Let's go, let's go, let's go." I said running in the direction of the beach knowing that Deimos and Phobos would follow me.
END OF FLASHBACK
I was jolted out of the flashback when I felt cold water being splashed on me. I looked over at an amused looking Nico in disbelief. "You did not just do that." I said in disbelief as I stood up. Quickly, I ducked down and scooped up some water before throwing it at Nico.
"You did not just do that." Nico said mocking me. I narrowed my eyes at him and splashed him again. Nico returned the favour as I tried to run deeper into the sea to get away. Perhaps my plan at getting away wasn't such a good one since Nico just followed.
The two of us were almost waist deep in the water by the time I stopped. It's hard to run in water you know. I spun around and splashed Nico with water again. The two of us continued to try and throw water at each other, neither of us gaining an upper hand but neither of us willing to give up.
After a few minutes of the two of us throwing water at each other I used light to shove Nico backwards which would have worked had Nico not dragged me down with him. I closed my eyes as I went down and immediately pushed myself back out through the surface of the sea wiping the water out of my eyes. A second later Nico resurfaced shaking his hair out of his eyes.
I turned and ran back out of the sea with Nico following close behind. How did this even start? Once we hit the beach I probably would have got away had a skeleton dog not appeared in front of me out of the ground. "Try and get rid of it." Nico told me surprisingly not launching some form of attack. I turned and gave him a look remembering the whole Canada business. "How about if you don't get rid of it you have to tell me something about yourself and if you do get rid of it I'll tell you something about myself." Nico suggested and I sighed but nodded. This probably won't end well but I am going to get rid of this dog.
I crouched down and placed my hand on top of the sand tuning out (at least attempting to) everything but the dog. I frowned slightly and focused on an image of the ground opening underneath the dog and almost swallowing it before closing my eyes. It's easier to concentrate that way.
The ground began to shake ever so slightly near me and I could feel the ground I front of me begin to split slightly but nowhere near enough to get rid of the dog. My energy was draining rapidly since it still wasn't back to normal from healing the almost dead hunter. I probably should have stopped but I was determined and focused my energy into opening up the ground. It was almost like stretching a stubborn elastic band. All they want to do is snap back into place.
The ground began to get further and further apart until eventually the ground opened wide enough and the skeleton dog vanished. I sighed in relief as the ground snapped back and lay down on my back staring up at the sky, not having the energy to stand back up. I really need to stop using up so much energy. It's probably not good for my health. Does your health even change if your a vampire? For some reason I doubt it.
"Well you got rid of it." Nico said in a voice which made me wonder where I sent it.
"Where did it go?"
"It maybe went to England." Nico replied shrugging.
"England?" I asked slightly disbelieving but then again I sent myself to Canada with shadow travel.
"Yeah England." Nico started. "But on the plus side the first time I tried I somehow sent a skeleton to a base in the North Pole. After a while they will just go back into the ground."
"I guess England isn't so bad then." I commented as Nico lay down around half a metre away from me. The two of us fell silent for a moment.
"I'm over seventy years old." Nico then said and I frowned in confusion but then remembered he'd tell me something about himself.
"What ageing cream do you use for your skin? The Aphrodite cabin would probably love to know." I commented after a second sensing the tenseness of his voice and trying to lighten the mood slightly. It worked since I sensed him smile faintly.
"It's a secret brand sorry." Nico replied and I laughed. I didn't really expect Nico to play along.
"That's a shame the Aphrodite cabin will be so disappointed."
"Are you sure it's not Mr D that's looking for the cream?" Nico asked me quietly and this time I burst out laughing. Imagine Mr D in a pink fluffy dressing gown putting ageing cream on before going to sleep though. I paused my laughter though when I felt Nico's eyes on me.
"What?" I asked turning my head to meet his gaze.
"Your laugh." Nico answered confusing me.
"What's wrong with my laugh?" I asked concerned.
"Absolutely nothing." Nico told me honestly but didn't extend his answer. I frowned but turned my head back so I was looking up at the sky.
"My mother was killed by Zeus and he would have killed both my sister, Bianca and I as well but Hades managed to protect the two of us in time. We were taken to the River Lethe in the underworld and bathed so that we forgot all our memories before being taken to the Lotus Casino. In the Casino you can be there for years and only think that you've been there for a few days. It almost keeps you prisoner there. Around seventy years later a man came in and brought Bianca and I out, taking us to a boarding school.
Perhaps a month later there was a dance which Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Thalia managed to sneak into. They were trying to get us to Camp. There were complications due to a manticore and Annabeth ended up falling off a cliff and the manticore was finally taken out when the hunters of Artemis arrived. Bianca ended up joining the hunters. Artemis left and got captured, not that we knew that then, but Apollo had to give us a ride.
Of course a quest was issued not long after and Bianca ended up going. They were at Hephaestus' junk yard when Bianca picked something up for me. She would be alive if it wasn't for that.
Since she tried to leave the junk yard with it an automaton came to life and started trying to kill the five people. Bianca gave the figure to Percy and went inside the automaton to shut it down before if could kill them all." Nico told me quietly and slowly while fiddling with something in his hands. He hesitated for a split second before gently passing it over to me. I rolled over onto my front and looked at the almost delicate feeling object in my hands.
It was a figure. Only about two to three inches high and was obviously meant to be Hades. Carefully I passed it back to Nico who put it in his aviator jacket pocket.
"Nico, Arabelle." Someone shouted from the tree line. I sighed and looked up to see Percy. "Artemis has arrived and she wants to talk to the two of you."
I sighed and let my head flop back down before sitting up. Nico had already stood up and he offered his hand to me to help me up. I took it and helped myself up and pulled him down at the same time. "You are so dead Arabelle." Nico shouted to me as I began running.
"Only if you can catch me." I shouted back before continuing to run in the direction of the Big House.