The House of Hades - Fanfiction

Chapter 1 - Lost?

Dedicated to percabeth5599, who was the first to know that I'm writing a fanfic - and promising to read it. :)

IMPORTANT!! I'm gonna make a GIF of the cast soon - till then, i've made a video of the cast pics. SEE IT! it's cool. i got the MOST PERFECT CAST EVER!  *hugs myself*

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Piper sat in the stables, partly hidden behind a bundle of hay. One hand gripped her knife, Katoptris, which she had gotten back from Coach Hedge. The other clasped the bead necklace around her neck. Currently, it held just one bead - for her only summer spent at Camp Half-Blood - and had a miniature Argo II carved on it. The ship was supposed to have 8 demigods on board, including Nico, the one they had rescued. But there were only 6.

About 10 hours had passed since they'd left the car park in Rome. They had stopped for a couple of hours somewhere, because Leo had to repair the ship before going any further, and although an entire night had passed, only Nico had been able to fall asleep - and that, too, only because he was incapable of keeping his eyes open any longer after his torturous week of being held hostage in a jar. Everybody else was wide awake.

Piper looked at the statue in front of her, the one which they had no choice but to lay sleeping down in the stables because it was so huge.The Athena Parthenos. Stolen centuries ago by the Romans, and now recovered - losing 2 demigods in the process.

They're not dead, Piper gritted her teeth, Remember what Nico said. They're still alive. Although where exactly they were, she refused to think about.

The reason why Piper had crept down to the lonely stables was to escape the misery and tension that had cloaked everyone. Everybody blamed themselves for Percy and Annabeth's loss. Everybody felt slightly lost without the two.

But as she had sat in her room, alone and listless, she had found another reason to visit the stables - her knife had shown a vision.

She couldn't remember now exactly what it was, but she knew that at that time, she hadn't understood it at all. The statue was definitely in it, at the center of a huge, temple-like chamber with tall pillars. It was glowing gold, the only light in the dense grey, curling mist that surrounded it. Strange shapes moved in the shadows. And there was something else - someone else - whom she couldn't place her finger on. A woman, standing next to the statue. Nothing could be distinguished about her through the mist, except that when she turned her head to look at the shadow, long hair swished to her waist.

Sometimes Pipe felt like kissing the knife and tying a blue ribbon around it - such as when she had used it to save Leo's life in California. Most of the times, though, she felt like chucking it into the ocean. This was one of those times.

Piper suddenly became aware that someone was coming down the stairs into the stable. A moment later, Hazel rushed in, her face green and hair askew, and banged the doors shut behind her, leaning against them heavily. A second later, she noticed Piper. For a long while, the two girls just stared at each other, waiting for the other to speak. Finally, Piper patted the ground next to her, inviting Hazel to sit. Hazel shot her a grateful look. 

"Sorry," Hazel explained softly, "I didn't think anybody would be here. I just...couldn't take it anymore."

Piper didn't have to ask her what she meant - she already knew. Hazel sat down. Minutes passed in silence, and neither of them uttered a word.

It was Hazel who broke the silence. "I could have saved them," she whispered, and her voice broke, "I was right there. I could've -" 

"Shut up, Hazel." Piper interrupted, more harshly than she had intended. Hazel looked at her in shock. Piper tried again, more gently, "Stop beating yourself up. There was nothing anyone could have done. It's no use thinking about what could have happened. At least it's safe to believe that they're alive."

"But for how long?" Hazel whispered, looking straight into Piper's eyes. Piper couldn't honestly answer that question when she was terrified of the answer herself.

Hazel looked away. Once more, silence fell over them, This time, it was Piper who spoke, "I miss her. And I hardly know him, but I miss him too."

"Yes," Hazel replied, in the same tone, "I've lost a lot of people in my life. I just hope I haven't lost them too."

The poor girl looked ready to cry. Piper realised that what Annabeth had meant to her, as a friend and confidant, Percy had probably meant to Hazel.

She began to say something else, but before she had uttered a word, Leo's special "disaster alarm" rang through the ship.

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So, how was it?

I know it's short, but I have a great plot, and the chapters will get longer soon.