Ancient Reicarnation: The First Daughter

XVIII. Nico

Nico, like almost everyday since he decided to stay, was walking around the camp, kind of regretting his decision on staying. Being around people, well, he didn't like that still. Even with Athalia.

Athalia...

She was something. But since they had first kissed, both of them have been keeping their distance. Nico didn't want to think about it, but he really wanted to replay last night. Maybe he was starting to change a bit.

"Nico!" he heard a familiar voice say.

Nico turned around and saw Thalia running towards him. "I'm looking for Annie right now," she said.

"On a quest," Nico muttered.

"What?"

"On a quest."

"Oh."

They sat down on the dock without uttering a single word. Thalia sighed. "Artemis told me something."

"What?" Nico asked. Artemis usually never hung out with the Hunters unless it's important.

"She said that the Hunt isn't my true destiny. Apparently someone who is alive, well, she thinks that I might be better off leaving the Hunt." Thalia took a stone and skipped it. "Who is alive that might cause me to break my vow? Why would she tell me the Hunt isn't my fate?

"We also had to stop hunting since all the monsters seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Most of us are bored out of our minds. Well, at least the Hunters are..."

"Time out," Nico said. "You're telling me Artemis kicked you out of the Hunt? Who's lieutenant?"

"Some really old one. Diana. Funny, if you know what I mean." Nico nodded. Diana was Artemis's Roman counterpart. It was kinda funny. "She's been in the Hunt forever. She hunted with Zoë. As a matter of fact, she's older than Zoë by a hundred years. Anyways, tell me about the quest."

Nico gave her a brief explanation of what the quest was about. When he finished, he included, "Bianca is alive."

Thalia looked at him funny. "How do you know that? She might've-"

"Hades gave her a second chance at her previous life, along with a couple of other people. She didn't say-"

An Iris message appeared in front of them. Nico was quite used to them. He and Bianca would often message each other to catch up on stuff when it was night there.

This one was different. In front of them wasn't Bianca. He looked oddly familiar...

"Thalia? Nico?" he said. The image became clearer.

Standing in front of them was Luke Castellan.

"Luke!" Thalia said, astonished. "What... How?"

"Bianca is a nice person. Nice sis you've got Nico. She told Hades that she didn't want to continue her life as Bianca di Angelo if certain friends didn't have the second chance at their original life as well. That included me, Silena, and Beckendorf."

"Silena and Beckendorf are alive?" Nico gasped. How many other spirits did Bianca ask for?

"Yeah, just us three and Bianca." Nico heard some bickering come from the other side of the IM. "Okay! Well, I've gotta go. By the way, Artemis told me about the, um, leaving the Hunt thing."

"Why would she-" Thalia began.

"Bye!" The mist dissolved.

Nico looked up at Thalia. Her face was pale, and she looked like she had seen a ghost. "Luke..." she whispered.