Vita Mortis

Chapter 19

~NICO~

Percy hadn't shown up to breakfast and had been missing for, like, seven hours. At this point, the campers started noticing his absence and were getting worried. Chiron called for a meeting regarding his disappearance. After the entire thing with Hera taking him away for eight months, people were on edge. All the cabin counselors made their way to the big house and sat around the table. For some reason, Annabeth was missing. I wonder why. This time there weren't cheez whiz and crackers, no playful banters. Chiron took his seat at one end of the table. The other end remained painfully empty.

"I have called this meeting to discuss Percy Jackson's absence. Did anybody hear anything? Was he planning on going somewhere? Is he doing a job for S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Everyone shook their heads. Nobody knew where he was or had any guesses. Chiron's usually calm demeanor shifted to one of worry. At that moment, the doors flew open, and in stepped Percy himself, flanked by a short, slim woman with silver hair and cerulean eyes and a tall, muscular male with red hair and brown eyes. But that wasn't even the interesting part. Percy had a freaking trident that was, like, seven feet long, and he was wearing a crown made of what seemed to be steel. Also, he was shirtless, wearing only black skinny ripped jeans with chains hanging from the belt loops and combat boots. Dang, how did nobody notice how ripped he was?

"Looking for me?" he grinned wickedly, taking a seat at the head of the table, and his companions stood behind him, hands clasped behind their backs.

Seph stared at him from beside me and nodded at him. "Where's your shirt?" Seriously? That's what she wanted to know about?

Percy looked down at himself like he was only now realizing he was shirtless. "I got in a small fight. It got torn," he grinned. His canines seemed longer, more sinister. Chiron seemed to get over his shock while everyone else stared at him, confused.

"Will you tell us where you were?" asked Chiron. "And who you have brought with you?"

"I was at my palace in Atlantis, and this is my second, Declan,' he gestured to the redhead behind him, who in turn swept his eyes over us nonchalantly, "and this is Nakoa, the general of my armies," Percy answered. Nakoa nodded her head in greeting.

"Your... palace? Does Atlantis actually exist? You told me it didn't," accused Jason.

"Yes, it does exist, and it's my palace because I am the king of Atlantis." At the end of that sentence, Percy's voice dropped to a low growl. "I lied about its existence because I am sworn by oath on the Styx to avoid revealing it at all costs. I must ask you to take that same oath."

"But what if someone didn't want to take that oath? You can't force someone to take an oath on the Styx. They have to do it of their free will," said Piper.

"If you don't want to take that oath, you can take it up with my father," Percy drawled. That shut everyone up. "Back to business; I am here to declare an alliance between the Atlanteans and the demigods, but only if you swear on the River Styx to keep our existence a secret."

Eventually, everyone had made their oaths, and Percy smiled calmly. "That's all I came here for; I'm going to get a shirt and sleep." He got up and began walking out of the room with his council members. But Chiron stopped him.

"You can't just walk away from this. Why has Atlantis kept this a secret for so long?" This had Percy whirling around to face his mentor.

"It was kept a secret because my father ordered it to be so. It's probably because of the attacks on Atlanteans many years ago. Now, if you will excuse me, I. Am. Leaving." Percy snarled. He turned around and stalked through the door, vapor traveling him and his Atlantean friends presumably to his cabin.

Chiron sighed, "Meeting adjourned." He rose from his seat warily and clip-clopped away.

People started filtering out of the room, murmuring to each other at the unusual attitude Percy just displayed. Seph and I got up, and I Shadow Traveled to Percy's cabin for answers. When we got there, I saw something I was not expecting.

Percy stood in front of his counter, probably making something to eat. Declan, Nakoa, Sera, and Azrael lounged on the sofa, laughing as they talked animatedly in a language he didn't recognize. Upon looking closer, I realized that all of them had a bottle of alcohol with them, and Percy had two vertical slits on his back.

"What's with your back?" I asked, stepping from the shadows. Immediately, everyone but Percy threw weapons at me. Luckily, I dodged them all.

"Dec, Nakoa, this is Nico and Persephone di Angelo." at Seph's name, the Atlanteans' eyes widened, and they bowed. When they rose again, Percy added, "the slits? Those are for my wings." He smirked as two enormous pitch-black wings emerged from his back, but they looked somewhat familiar.

"Why do your wings look like the ones Thanatos has?" I asked.

"These wings were a blessing from your father. I imagine he had something to model them after," Percy smirked.

"I- okay," I sighed. I should probably get used to him shocking me so much. It's probably going to be happening for a long time.

"You probably want the secrets to end, so sit down, and I'll fill you in on everything I can-" Percy was interrupted by the sounding of the horn three times. Another attack? Seriously? Percy grabbed his trident from the couch, put his wings away, and swung the door open. We sprinted to Half-Blood Hill, and I stopped dead at the sight. There were hundreds upon hundreds of monsters lined at the border, unable to get in but slamming into the forcefield that kept us safe, weakening it. Percy cursed in. Was that French? His trident disappeared, probably into the Duat, pulling out two double-edged swords instead. He took a step towards the boundaries, but Seph stopped him.

"But didn't he plan on chaining down the doors of death? Assuming he already did that, we can't kill them." Good point.

"That means someone is going to have to go down there to close them," I added, determined. I survived once on my own. I could do it again.

"Nico di fricking Angelo swear on the Styx you will not go to hell without my permission," Percy growled. He glared at me as if mad that I would even think of going there. I sighed.

"I swear on the Styx not to go to hell without Percy's permission," I groaned.

"But if we can't kill them, what are we supposed to do?" Sera interjected. "It's not like we can just leave them to weaken the borders. Eventually, they will get through."

"We will strengthen the borders with our powers. We go in rotations, adding a second layer to the border," Percy decided. He held out an arm, and a giant swirl of water appeared, forming a sphere around camp. A second layer. The monster's shouts faltered in surprise. Seph held out a hand, freezing the water that Percy had summoned.

"We'll make a new one daily," Persephone smiled warily.

"But when it comes to it, how will we kill the monsters? We can't do this forever," I protested. Percy held out a hand to stop me.

"We will worry about that when it comes to it." His tone told me that he would not tolerate any further discussions on the topic. "Right now, this is the answer."

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1280 Words

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