Chapter Text
The earliest thing Nico remembered was his father; at least Nico assumed it was his father; everything was kinda hazy, and he was taking them somewhere. All he said was that his niece, their cousin, would be taking care of them for a little while.
He wanted his mama, but his father(?) said she wasn't coming back. She was gone, and Nico couldn't see her again. Bianca understood, but Nico didn't. Bianca seemed just as confused as he was, but she seemed to understand what their papa was saying better than he did.
When they arrived at a small clearing, a woman in silver clothing appeared, along with a group of girls and women of various ages.
“Why have you summoned me, Uncle?” The woman spoke, eyeing her uncle and the two children with him.
“You know as well as I do that my brother keeps his eyes off your little trope, especially after what happened with The Great Bear. So, I have a request.” Hades nudged his children forward. “Watch over them. Keep them safe; they do not deserve to be put to death.”
The Woman in Silver looked at her uncle incredulously. "You are asking me to defy my father and keep children who could bring us to ruin? Are you mad?”
Hades glared at his niece but otherwise kept his temper in check. “I am asking you to keep them hidden, yes. They should not be punished for actions they might perhaps do. What do you say, Artemis? Will you abandon these children?”
Artemis looked down at the two children, scared and cowering before her, and sighed.
“You know my oath will not affect them as intended, correct? Only if they truly wish to stay will their years freeze; otherwise, they'll age at a much slower rate. Years may go by, but we can still tell how old they are becoming. If they reach sixteen, we may fall.” Artemis said grimly.
“That will not happen. I will not let that happen.” Hades spoke firmly.
Artemis nodded and waited as Hades knelt to speak to his children.
“My Loves, you are going to stay with your Cousin, Artemis, for a while. I… will not be able to see you, but I swear when the time is right, I will send for you to be brought home.” Hades kissed both his children on the forehead, ignored their tearful cries and attempts to reach out to him, and disappeared into the shadows.
“Come on, young ones, we must make shelter.” Artemis held out her hands, and Nico and Bianca hesitantly grabbed them. The group disappeared into the forest, away from society, and from the prying eyes of the gods.
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“You found two demigods? Seriously?” Thalia asked Grover.
The satyr nodded his head with a pensive look on his face. “Yeah, but I don't know, something seems weird.”
“Weird how?” Percy’s eyebrows furled as he glanced at the two siblings sitting at the bleachers, eyes staring out to the crowd. Alert and watching, like they were looking for something.
Percy didn't know what to think when Grover suddenly contacted him, Thalia, and Annabeth about something important. He figured it was a new demigod; Chiron was expanding the search hard since so many were disappearing or turning traitors. But something weird was going on. He remembered meeting up with Thalia and Annabeth at camp, and Chiron had this look on his face.
It was like something big had happened that rocked him to his core.
“I watched them for a bit, just to make sure they were demigods, and I think they noticed me, like, noticed I was a satyr. But they don't seem freaked out about anything.” Grover whispered.
“What? How is that possible?” Annabeth stared at the siblings with suspicion.
“I don't know. It's strange; they're not giving off the scent of aware demigods, but they're almost not giving off a scent at all. That's weird even for a demigod.”
“Well, whatever, let's just grab them and go.” Percy pushed, but Grover shook his head.
“No can do, the dean, Dr. Thorn, he's a monster. I don't think he knows it's them yet, but he's bound to figure it out soon. Today's the last day of term; no way he's letting them leave.”
“Then let's try not to draw suspicion towards us. Mingle, don't bring attention to yourself. We’ll find some way to get those two along.” Thalia dragged Grover away, leaving Percy and Annabeth alone. They talked for a bit, catching up on each other’s mortal lives before Thalia called out to them not to stand in the corner and to dance.
“So…” Percy balanced himself back and forth on his toes and heels.
“Are you gonna ask?” Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him.
“Ask what? Ow!” Annabeth socked him in the side. He sadly rubbed his side as she scowled at him.
“Ask me to dance, Seaweed Brain!” She scoffed at him.
Percy rolled his eyes. He wished she would stop calling him that. “Wanna dance?”
Annabeth grinned as she dragged them to the dance floor. They talked some more, Annabeth even mentioning that her family was moving to San Francisco before they noticed the di Angelos and Dr. Thorn were missing. The pair split off to both search for Thalia and Grover, as well as the two demigods.
Percy lost sight of Annabeth, but he had to go looking for Bianca and Nico. As he wandered the halls, he found the hat Bianca was wearing and cursed under his breath.
Eventually, he found the pair, cowering away in a classroom. He tried to reassure them, only to get a spike in his shoulder and be dragged away by Dr. Thorn, along with the two siblings.
“Everything’s going to be okay; my friends and I are going to get you out of here,” Percy whispered to the pair.
Bianca scoffed at him. “Yeah, you're doing a great job saving us.”
“Bia, be nice,” Nico scolded his sister as he turned to Percy with a shy smile. “Thank you. For trying to help us, I mean.”
Percy smiled back despite the pain in his shoulder. “I promise we'll make it out of this alive.”
“You bet we will, no thanks to you,” Bianca spoke under her breath. Percy’s eyebrows furrowed as he studied the older girl. She looked to be about his age, or so, if he had to guess, maybe older, and her brother looked to be about a year or more younger. Odd, most demigods learn of their nature much earlier in life. Monsters should have been on them much sooner. And, weirdly, Dr. Thorn seems so eager to capture them instead of just killing them. Why is he going through the trouble?
And as Percy stared at both of them, he came to realize something. Despite their tense posture and the trembling in their voices, their eyes were startlingly calm. They may be looking around sporadically, but not in fear, but in anticipation? Just who were these two?
He did not have to wonder long; after a lot of Thorn’s rambling about things he did not care about, and a mortal helicopter showing up, after his friends finally came to their rescue, only to get knocked away, Bianca and Nico looked at each other and nodded.
Bianca took out a small horn from her jacket pocket and blew it. Then, a silver arrow whizzed through the air before embedding itself into Dr. Thorn’s (who turned out to be a manticore) shoulder.
As arrows flew, a group of girls and some boys jumped from their cover in the forest.
“The Hunter!” Annabeth gasped.
“Oh, joy,” Thalia grumbled.
Dr. Thorn roared and tried to swipe at them again, only for him to get an arrow to fly through his hand from behind. He turned to see Bianca, smirking, with a bow in her hand. Nico giggled as well, with a crossbow mounted on his arm that had been hidden under his jacket sleeve.
“Deceivers! Cheater! Direct intervention is against ancient laws!” He snarled.
“Not true, beast,” a woman in silver and animal furs stepped forward. “The hunt of beasts falls under my domain, and you are a beast. Zoë, slay him.”
A girl about Percy’s age nodded as she ordered the group to aim and fire.
Dr. Thorn tried to charge at them, only for Annabeth to jump onto his back and stab him with her dagger. The manticore growled and raged as the two fell from the cliffside, much to the horror of Annabeth’s remaining friends.
Percy tried to jump after her, only for Nico to grab his arm and toss him over his shoulder, landing next to Thalia and Grover, who were being pinned by Hunters. He tried to get up, only for Nico and Bianca to pin him down as well, Bianca more forcefully by digging her knee into Percy’s back.
Nico winced in sympathy at Percy’s hiss in pain and smacked his sister in her side. She rolled her eyes and lessened her weight. “I'm so sorry. But she's gone, and we can't have you jumping after her.
Percy looked over his shoulder and stared at the pair of siblings incredulously. “Who are you people?”
“Calm yourself, boy,” the woman in silver stared at Percy with thinly veiled apathy. “We mean you no harm.”
Percy scoffed. “Like I'm meant to believe you when these two,” he jerked his head to Bianca and Nico, “are clearly not normal newbie demigods!”
“Hey, we saved your butt! How about a little gratitude? Not like I'd expect anything less from a boy.” Bianca hissed as she glared at Percy and added more pressure to his back.
“Bia, please.” Nico sighed before smiling apologetically at the son of Poseidon. “We’re sorry; we didn't mean to lie to you.”
The Woman in Silver walked over and placed her hand on the siblings’ shoulders. Bianca sighed as she and Nico got off Percy’s shoulder, leaving his attention on the woman.
“I understand you are distressed, but I expect a bit more understanding from you, Perseus Jackson.” Her eyes studied Percy, equal parts impressed and disappointed. “I am Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and these are my Hunters.”
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Percy sat on the cliffside, staring out onto the water, replaying the moment of Annabeth’s fall over and over again. Everyone else had set up camp, but Percy didn't feel like being around anyone. Not after he failed.
If he had just been stronger, if he had just been faster, maybe he wouldn't have lost her.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Percy looked up to see Nico standing there, offering him a bottle of water.
“Thanks,” Percy grumbled as he grabbed the water. “I don't get it, why were you guys undercover at a school?”
“Truthfully? My sister and I wanted a chance to be normal kids, at least for a little while. Well, I wanted to act like a normal kid. At least for a little while. We've been Hunters since we were little; we haven't been in society in so long. We didn't think we'd attract so much attention. I'm sorry we got you involved.” Nico sat down next to Percy with a somber expression. “And I'm sorry about your girlfriend.”
Percy jumped in place. “Annabeth wasn't- I mean, isn't my girlfriend! She's just one of my best friends!”
Nico raised an eyebrow with a mischievous smile. “Oh, is that so? Sorry for the assumption.”
Nico pointed at his shoulder. “Do you need help with that?”
“Huh?” Percy looked down and remembered that he got impaled by one of Dr. Thorn’s, uh, thorns. “You don't have to; I can just ask Grover.”
“Nonsense, let me help. It's the least I can do.” Nico smiled softly at Percy, and he had to look away; otherwise he might have made himself look like more of an idiot than he already was.
“Alright,” with no hesitation, Percy reached back as carefully as he could and lifted the back of his shirt until it was off and around his arms. He heard Nico gasp, but when he looked back, Nico was the picture of calm, though he did look a little flushed for some reason. “You okay?”
“Yep, perfect, just surprised at how forward you are,” Nico mumbled as he slowly and carefully applied ointment and bandages before passing Percy an ambrosia.
“Hey, by the way, I've been meaning to ask: who's your parent? Like, your godly parent? Grover said you guys seem really powerful, though that might just be because you're with Artemis.” Percy put his shirt back on and turned to Nico, but the younger boy just shrugged.
“No clue; all Bianca or I remember about our dad was him dropping us off with Lady Artemis. Time moves weirdly for us; time passes, but we don't change. It feels like every time we blink, years have passed; it makes remembering the finer details kinda difficult.” Nico looked sad as he twiddled his fingers.
“Whoa, what? Are you guys, like, immortal or something?” percy asked in confusion.
“Kinda. Bianca and I, we’re different from our sisters and brothers. They stay the same forever, but Bia and I grow up, slowly, but still. I can't even tell you how long we've been with the Hunters. Lady Artemis, tell us I'm about 13, and Bia’s 15.”
“Huh, that means your sister's older than me. I turned 14 a few months ago.” It was nice that Percy had something to keep his mind off his mess-ups, at least for a little bit.
“Perseus Jackson,” the pair of boys turned to see Artemis’ second hand, Zoë, standing behind them, staring at Percy with contempt. “Lady Artemis wishes to speak to you.
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It felt odd, looking at Artemis; she felt different from every other god he'd met. There was still this ethereal beauty to her that all the gods, even Mr. D, possessed. Like, they were naturally flawless.
But there was something more natural about Artemis. The tan of her skin with freckles that sparkle like the stars, hinting at her time outdoors, the lean muscles clear underneath her clothing, her braided hair with just a couple of flyaways that still looked stylish rather than messy. Even the faintest scar on her face and hands.
“And you are sure Dr. Thorn mentioned the most important monster of all time?” Artemis had asked Percy to describe everything Dr. Thorn had said and done after he captured Percy and the siblings. Nico and Bianca were there, and judging by their expressions, they knew what Artemis was worried about.
Thalia, meanwhile, was sitting in the corner, trying her best to ignore the situation, even if she and Zoë kept glaring at each other.
“This is most troubling. If I am correct, we are in grave danger. I must leave immediately to begin hunting. Zoë, you shall lead the Hunters in my stead.” Artemis ordered firmly.
“But my lady,” Zoë’s eyes widened, “we should accompany you! Whatever beast you are hunting, it would be beneficial to have all the Hunters at your disposal!”
“No, where I am going, it will be much too dangerous. I will return as quickly as I am able; in the meantime, you and the Hunters will stay at Camp Halfblood.” Artemis had a faint smile on her face as both Zoë and Thalia protested at this idea.
As the two girls argued with each other, Artemis turned to Percy. “You are a strange one, Perseus Jackson.”
“Uh, thanks?” Percy glanced at the siblings sitting next to the goddess. Bianca had a bored expression on her face while Nico smiled at Percy shyly. Percy returned that smile before turning his attention back to Artemis.
“It is clear you have some natural talent when it comes to combat, but you lack focus. I'd be willing to train you if you'd like.” Artemis smiled.
The room froze as everyone looked at either Percy or Artemis.
“Uh, what?” Percy asked, wondering why the room suddenly grew so tense.
“My lady, you can not be serious. The daughter of the God King I could forgive, but the boy?!” Zoë asked incredulously.
“Percy, I need you to think about this very carefully. Think about what you could lose.” Thalia spoke so seriously that it put Percy on edge.
“Wait, what's going on?” Percy looked around, seeing Zoë’s repulsed face, Thalia’s anger, Bianca's indifference, and Nico’s excitement.
“I am offering you a chance to join my Hunters.” Percy’s eyes went wide.
“But, I, what?” Percy looked at Artemis, expecting it to be a joke, but he found no humor in the goddess's eyes.
“You must know of the Great Prophecy? Of how a child of the Big Three should save or ruin Olympus? I have already made this same offer to young Thalia in the past, yet she refused me. The offer is still open, my dear; you are always welcome.” Artemis turned and smiled at Thalia, who scoffed and looked away.
“What does that have to do with….” Percy trailed off, his mind still racing.
“If you join my Hunters, you will become ageless. You will never reach your 16th year. The world will not come to ruin.” Artemis said softly, like a mother explaining something to her child. “However, to join my Hunters, you would need to cast away the prospects of love, and pledge your loyalty to me.”
Percy hesitated for a moment. He considered, briefly, taking her offer. A chance to get away from this prophecy looming over his head, it felt almost too good to be true.
But…
Percy glanced at the siblings and remembered what Nico had said earlier. “What about them? Nico said he and Bianca still age.”
“What? Nico! You spoke to him? Alone? When?!” Bican turned to scold her little brother, pinching his ear.
“Ow! When you left with the others to grab our stuff from the school! Relax!” Nico whined as he pulled away, rubbing his ear while sticking his tongue out at his sister.
Artemis chuckled fondly as she watched the siblings argue. “While it is true that Bianca and Nico did not become fully immortal during their time with me, that is no longer the truth. Bianca has reached full immortality; she will grow no older than 15.”
“Wait, what?” Nico asked in shock. He turned to his sister with sadness in his eyes. “Bia…”
Bianca stopped herself from rolling her eyes as she looked at her brother carefully. “Nico, he's not coming back for us. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we avoid this whole prophecy business altogether.”
Nico got smaller as he withdrew into himself; he looked ready to cry, and Percy wanted nothing more than to comfort the boy.
“Peace, my Darling Nico,” Artemis reached over and gently grasped Nico’s chin. “Your sister made the choice that felt right for her. I'm sure in time, you will make the choice that is right for you.”
Nico sniffled and nodded. “I miss my papa, Lady Artemis.”
“I know, my child, I know.” Artemis gathered up Nico and pressed a kiss on his forehead.
“I…” Percy interrupted. “Look, Lady Artemis, if it's all right with you, I'd like to decline. So not much about the never loving anyone thing, but joining you means we'd be on the move constantly, right?” Artemis nodded. “I did a lot of moving around growing up; I'm still doing it in school now, but I've found somewhere with Camp Halfblood. It's not perfect, but it's where my friends are, and it's close to my mom. I can't just leave them and her to go frolicking through the forest. Uh, no offense.”
Artemis chuckled. “Worry not, child; the offer stands, for as long as you stay pure, of course. You are never too old to join the Hunters. We welcome all so long as you respect our ways.”
They talked some more, and Artemis said she'd summon Apollo to give them a lift back to Camp Halfblood, but Percy couldn't stop thinking about Annabeth. Artemis had mentioned some magic was at play during her disappearance, which meant she had been taken somewhere, right? He hoped she was safe. He'd take her just being alive at this point.
“Hey,” Percy’s thoughts were distracted by Nico walking up to him with a deck of cards of some kind. “Wanna play a game with me while we wait?”
Nico smirked at Percy’s confusion. “It's going to take a bit of time for the sun to rise, so why don't we try killing some time?”
Percy shrugged as he followed Nico to a blanket he had set on the ground, close to where the other hunters had set up camp, but far enough away to give them some privacy.
“So what are we playing? Fair warning, I only know Go Fish.” Percy joked weakly, but Nico still laughed anyway.”
“As cute as that would be, it's not that kind of card game.” Nico passed the cards to Percy, allowing him to see the illustrations of Greek gods and monsters. “It's called Mythomagic. I've been obsessed with it for the last couple of… years, I think? Something like that! But it's a great way to refresh your knowledge on monsters when on a hunt! You sometimes forget about the more obscure monsters when all you encounter are hellhounds and cyclops, but Lady Artemis always takes us on hunts for super rare and dangerous monsters! Like, there was this one time-”
“Nico! Slow down, please!” Percy chuckled at the boy’s rambling. “Dude, your mouth was going a mile a minute; I was worried you'd run out of air or something.”
Nico chuckled with a wide grin. “Sorry, Bia always says I have a habit of running my mouth. I hope I didn't annoy you.”
“Nah, you're cool. I didn't catch much of what you said, but I get it. ADHD and all, it makes us hyper, just in different ways. I can't sit still; you run your mouth. Honestly, I think you got the better end of the deal.” Percy jokes, causing the younger boy to laugh.
“You are an interesting person, Percy Jackson. I'm glad I got the opportunity to meet you.” Nico had a playful smile on his face and a mischievous gleam in his eye. Something told Percy he needed to be on his toes around Nico, but it felt different than with Annabeth. With Annabeth, he always felt she was analyzing his every move. Talking with Nico, it felt similar yet oddly different. He felt more…dangerous? Thrilling? Percy didn't know how to describe it, but he didn't much mind the feeling.
He kinda liked it, actually.
Nico tried explaining the rules to Percy, and on paper it sounded interesting, but Percy could not for the life of him read the tiny print on the cards.
“Dude, how can you read this? I can barely even see the words, let alone read them.” Percy asked incredulously.
Nico chuckled as he sat next to Percy. “It's kinda simple actually. I don't know about you, but my dyslexia manifests as letter shuffling. Letters are swapped out for similar-looking ones all the time. So, I got good at remembering which letters look like each other. I use that to try and figure out what word I’m looking at, mostly anyway. But what helps with stuff like card games are the terms.”
“Terms?”
“Yeah, a lot of card games use simplified language to save on card space. Rather than describe the whole action on a card, they created a term to call the action. If I can figure out the terms used on a card, I can figure out what it does and how to use it.” Nico smiled widely, looking like a little kid despite sounding like a professor giving a lecture.
“Huh, that's actually really cool, but I don't think I'm gonna be playing with any time soon. Sorry.” Percy passed the cards back to Nico with an apologetic smile.
Nico pouted with a surprisingly playful look in his eyes. Percy was starting to wonder if the boy was messing with him. “Aw, too bad, I guess we can't play with my Greek-printed deck then.”
This little shit. “You little shit,” Percy grinned despite himself. “You were gonna watch me struggle playing while you had cards written in Greek this whole time?”
Nico giggled and was about to pass the cards to Percy when Bianca walked over, looking at Nico sternly. “Nico, the sun has nearly risen. Lady Artemis asked that we be ready to depart.”
Nico sighed as he got up. “Man, just when I was starting to have fun.”
Percy let out a short laugh as he got to his feet. “Hey, don't worry about it, man. We can play your game when we get to camp.”
Nico beamed at Percy’s offer. “I'll hold you to that, Jackson!” Nico scampered away; Bianca followed closely behind, throwing a glare in Percy’s direction before she left.
“Weird guy,” Percy muttered. He figured, after learning a bit about the Hunters, that they'd want to be as far from guys as they could. Yet there were men in the group, some young boys and a few young adults. Guess anyone can take a vow of celibacy. Plus, being under threat of a wrathful goddess is a good incentive to keep that vow.
But Percy, a Hunter? He could run away from everything. All the fear, the blame, the responsibility. He had to admit, it was tempting. But it also meant leaving behind his family, and he couldn't afford that.
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“What was that back there?” Bianca hissed once they were far enough away from Percy. Nico glanced back at the boy to see Thalia and Grover walking over to him.
“What was what, Bia?” Nico batted his eyelashes playfully.
“Don't try and act all innocent! What on Olympus were you thinking!? Getting close with that BOY! You made an oath!” Bianca hissed.
“Correction. YOU made an oath; I haven't pledged my allegiance yet. I'm still waiting on Papa. And for the record, I was just making a friend. Stop reading into things.” Nico huffed.
“Nico,” Bianca’s hand shot out and grabbed Nico’s arm. “Think about this carefully. If you turn your back on Lady Artemis, I'm not coming with you.” Nico tensed without looking at Bianca. “The Hunters are my family; I'm not about to abandon them just because you decide to poke the proverbial bear. I like it here, and I'm not delusional enough to accept that our father is still coming back for us after nearly a century.”
“I'm your family too,” Nico said weakly. “Why aren't I worth it? All the girls still treat me like a child, and all the guys are much older than me. If you leave, I'll be alone. I just wanted to make a friend my age.”
Bianca sighed and pulled her brother into a hug. “I know, Nico, I just don't want you getting hurt. Besides, Percy Jackson? That boy is not worth the hassle. I'm sure you'll meet a boy who'll want to be your friend. Just, not him, please. I don't like him.
Nico rolled his eyes. “Bianca, come on, give him a chance. Besides,” Nico glanced back to look at Percy. Despite being with his friends, Percy looked surprisingly lonely. “he looks like he needs a friend.”
Bianca looked at Nico, then to Percy and back to her brother and scowled. Maybe it'd be best to keep Percy Jackson as far from her little brother as possible. She didn't like the look in her brother’s eyes when he looked at Percy. She only hoped nothing came of it and she was just being paranoid.
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After getting into Apollo’s sports car turned shuttle bus, most of the Hunters kept as far away as they could from Apollo, leaving Percy, Grover, Thalia, and surprisingly Nico and Bianca up in the front. While Apollo was showing Thalia the front of the bus, Nico had sat across the aisle from Percy and Grover.
“So, what's it like being a son of Poseidon? I've heard you're good with boats; are you good with all modes of ocean transportation? What other kinds of powers do you have? Can you really talk to horses? Are you good at surfing? How long have you been training for? How-”
“Nico! Leave him alone. He doesn't want to hear your rambling.” Bianca interrupted, causing the younger boy to blush in embarrassment.
Before Nico could apologize, however, “Pretty good all things considered. I've only really tested my powers on one boat, so I'm not sure. I can control water and heal from it, talk to and command fish, yes I can talk to horses, I've never tried to surf so I'm not sure, and only about two years.”
Nico beamed at Percy’s answer while Bianca glared over his shoulder.
Honestly, Percy appreciated the distraction from his thoughts. He could tell Nico was being earnestly curious with his questions, so he didn't mind doing a little Q&A.
“What about you guys?” Grover jumped in. “What kind of powers do you guys have? Maybe that'll help us figure out who your godly parent is?”
Bianca scoffed. “We don't use our powers.”
“Bia.” Nico turned to his sister with a frown.
“Nico, you understand the importance of discretion as well as I do. We don't have to tell them anything.”
“What my sister means to say,” Nico glared at the older di Angelo sibling, “is that we've been told by Lady Artemis to keep our parentage a secret. We can't even use our power. These” Nico pointed to brooches on his and Bianca's jackets, “Lady Artemis gave these to us to help suppress our powers. It's been so long I don't even know what I can even do. Bianca does, since her powers awakening is what made Lady Artemis give us these brooches.”
Percy and Grover’s eyes furrowed as they looked at each other. “That explains why I could barely tell you are demigods, but what's so important about keeping you two a secret?
“No clue, my memory isn't great at the best of times. But even if I knew, I couldn't tell you. Sorry.” Nico smiled apologetically.
“Hey, no problem.” Percy smiled at Nico. “Doesn't matter who you were born to, all that matters is who you are. And I think you're pretty cool.”
Nico blushed at Percy’s kind words while Bianca gave Percy the death glare of the century.
“Alright everybody, listen up.” Apollo clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention. “We are ready to leave, just as soon as Dear Thalia here shakes her nerves.”
“I'm fine!” Thalia shouted, looking as stiff as a board.
“Oh, Lord Apollo! I have so many questions for you!” Nico shouted excitedly, standing up from his seat.
“Nico! Sit down!” Bianca tried to pull her brother down. The boy was practically vibrating in excitement.
Apollo chuckled. “Maybe next time, Kid.” he winked at Nico, causing the young boy to stutter and blush. Bianca looked ready to claw out Apollo’s eyes, but thankfully she had some sense not to attack a god.
“Alright, Thalia,” Apollo turned to Thalia and placed a (what was supposed to be) comforting hand on her shoulder. “Just start very slowly.”
She did not, in fact, start very slowly.