Dead Man's Revelation (Harry Potter & Percy Jackson Crossover)

THE CAVED-IN MIRROR ON THE FOURTH FLOOR

"Rule-breakers! Rule-breakers at midnight!"

Juliette was about to sprint down the corridor and disappear via Mist when, suddenly, Nico grabbed her by the waist and threw them both into the shadows of the wall before Basil Hatchet, the new caretaker, could catch sight of them. She was too surprised at his actions – and the fact that his hand was over her mouth – to struggle against him.

Being in the shadows...it was weird. She'd tried shadow travelling a few times in her life. She knew how it is to go through the shadows to transport oneself from one place to another. She was already used to the cold, eerie wind and everything that happens whenever she'd been through it. But staying in the shadows and just manipulating it to hide you was just plain...different.

It was like she was wrapped by live, conscious fluid-y blankets that's constantly swirling around her. She would have thought she was suffocating. The air was thinner there like it could disappear in any minute. She would have been under a panic attack if Nico wasn't there and was practically steadying her mental stability.

Slowly reaching up, she eased his hand off her mouth and he looked at her.

"Sorry." He mumbled silently but didn't release his grip. "Don't say anything." He whispered and gestured to Hatchet who was pacing around the corridor and muttering about slimy students.

It was weird looking through the shadows to see what was really going on. It was like looking through a really thin black veil that had a consciousness. Juliette was starting to get paranoid that he might somehow notice them hiding there on the wall, reach out and pull out a couple of students.

"It's fine." Nico whispered to her ear as if he heard what she was thinking. "He can't see us."

Juliette shifted a bit. Although, she didn't feel like she was being suffocated anymore, she was feeling a little bit claustrophobic. It didn't help that Nico had his arms around her as if to restrain her from charging towards their caretaker and running him through a sword. He still had an arm around her waist and another resting on her shoulder. She was slightly afraid that she was actually praying out loud for Hatchet to go away so she could move away from him. It wasn't that she didn't like him, the physical contact was just uncomfortable. She wasn't used to it.

Nico glanced at her and slowly took away his arm around her waist. She glanced up quizzically at him. She was grateful, sure, but it seemed like there was a reddish tinge around his pale cheeks. He avoided her eyes.

"Don't pull away from me or the shadows might send you somewhere you don't want to go." He warned.

She nodded and went back to watching the caretaker.

It took a while but finally he left, huffing and wheezing and mumbling about wayward students. Juliette was anxious to get out of their shadowed hiding place but Nico put another hand over her mouth before she could say anything. She glared at him but he nodded over to the distance where two people materialized out of nowhere: Rose and Albus.

Juliette silently took a sharp intake of breath. "Darn it." She muttered, remembering the invisibility cloak that Albus' dad had given him on one of his birthdays. "How long had they been there?"

The question was mostly for herself but Nico answered anyway.

"They've been around by the time I came." He answered. "That cloak is one of Thanatos' and since it's basically from Death, I can sense it. I didn't know what it is at first, I've never seen anything like it but I have heard stories. It's like an armor. It protects its wearer from dying from anything."

"So that's why you walked away to get Peeves." She murmured.

He nodded. "You really shoulder tell your friends not to be so nosy." He said to her.