𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐌𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐝𝐲; 𝖺𝗇𝗇𝖺𝖻𝖾𝗍𝗁 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗌𝖾

Ouija time (Thanatos' version)

That camp could be weird in some aspects, but the food was absolutely amazing.

Invisible wind spirits — aurae — waited on the campers and seemed to know exactly what everyone wanted.

Hazel got shrimp gumbo. Percy got a cheeseburger and a strange-looking soda that was bright blue. Ivy didn't understand that, but Percy tried it and grinned.

"This makes me happy," he said. "I don't know why. ..but it does."

Ivy got a big bowl of ice cream and a cup of hot chocolate, which she guessed was too much sugar and no actual food, but she didn't really care. She would never get tired of Ice cream.

The mess hall was really noisy. Laughter echoed off the walls. War banners rustled from cedar ceiling beams as aurae blew back and forth, keeping everyone's plates full.

The campers dined Roman style, sitting on couches around low tables. Kids were constantly getting up and trading places, spreading rumors about who liked whom and all the other gossip.

She had decided this was her favorite place at camp so far.

The Fifth Cohort took the place farthest from the rest, though. Their tables were at the back of the dining hall next to the kitchen, which Ivy didn't mind at all.

She was sat with Percy, Hazel, Frank, Nico and their centurion, who she was told was called Dakota, who reclined glumly on his couch, mixing sugar into his drink and chugging it.

He was a beefy guy with curly black hair and eyes that didn't quite line up straight, so Ivy felt like the world was leaning whenever she looked at him.

"So." He burped, waving his goblet. "Welcome to the Percy Ivy and, party." He frowned. "Party, Percy and Ivy. Whatever."

Ivy smiled but her and Percy's attention was focused on Nico.

"Urn, thanks," Percy said before getting to it and looking at the young boy. "I was wondering if we could talk, you know. . . about where we might have seen you before."

"And the Thanatos thing," Ivy added.

"Sure," Nico said a little too quickly. "About Thanatos, well he isn't really liked here because of being death related and all, but you're the first legacy of him I see. And Hazel said you can touch and command Lares?"

Frank's eyes widened at that. "You can do that too?"

Ivy nodded. "Yeah, one was touching me, and when I told him to stop, he literally froze even if he didn't want to"

Nico nodded. "The only one who can do that around here is me, and now you. There is also some other things you could do, but it would depend on what abilities were passed to you."

Ivy smiled. "Thanks." Then she remembered. "And what about us seeing you somewhere? Cause i'm su— I think i've also seen you before."

Nico went back to being slightly nervous. "The thing is, I spend most of my time in the Underworld. So unless I met you guys there somehow— "

Dakota belched. "Ambassador from Pluto, they call him. Reyna's never sure what to do with this guy when he visits. You should have seen her face when he showed up with Hazel, asking Reyna to take her in. Urn, no offense."

"None taken." Nico seemed relieved to change the topic. "Dakota was really helpful, standing for Hazel."

Dakota blushed. "Yeah, well... She seemed like a good kid. Turned out I was right. Last month, when she saved me from, uh, you know."

"Oh, man!" Frank looked up from his fish and chips. "Guys, you should have seen her! That's how Hazel got her stripe. The unicorns decided to stampede— "