𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 [Jason Grace]

5

𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐳𝐞𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 two nuclear bombs. Now he was waiting to see which one exploded first.

Until that morning, Jason had been the most powerful demigod he knew. Nico was fine and all, he seemed mostly like a traveling oddball, about as harmless as the fauns. But there was a way he held himself, the way he talked slowly as if considering his words and their impact. He was much smarter than he first let on.

And an excellent liar at that.

Then Dante met Percy.

He had the good looks of a Roman god, with sea-green eyes and wind blown black hair.

Percy and Nico shook hands. They studied each other warily.

Nico didn't appear scary. He was skinny and sloppy in his rumpled black clothes. His hair, as always, looked like he'd just rolled out of bed.

Dante remembered when he'd met him. The first time he'd seen him draw that black sword of his, he'd almost laughed. The way he called it "Stygian iron," all serious-like— he'd looked ridiculous. This scrawny boy was no fighter.

Dante had changed his mind about that quick enough.

Percy scowled. "I—I know you."

Nico raised his eyebrows. "Do you?" He looked at Hazel for explanation. Dante noticed how Nico avoided him entirely.

He was lying, even Hazel could tell, the way she hesitated.

Being a child of Mercury, Dante could spot the cracks in Nico's innocent act. He was trying hard to act casual, but when he had first seen Percy, everyone had noticed his momentary look of panic. Nico already knew Percy. Dante was sure of it. So why was he pretending otherwise?

Hazel forced herself to speak. "Um... Percy's lost his memory." She told her brother what had happened since Percy had arrived at the gates.

"So, Nico..." she continued carefully, "I thought... you know, you travel all over. Maybe you've met demigods like Percy before, or..."

Nico's expression turned as dark as Tartarus.

"This story about Gaea's army," He said instead. "You warned Reyna?"

Percy nodded. "Who is Gaea, anyway?"

"She's the earth goddess." Nico glanced at the ground as if it might be listening. "The oldest goddess of all. She's in a deep sleep most of the time, but she hates the gods and their children."

"Mother Earth... is evil?" Percy asked.

"Very," Nico said gravely. "She convinced her son, the Titan Kronos— um, I mean, Saturn— to kill his dad, Uranus, and take over the world. The Titans ruled for a long time. Then the Titans' children, the Olympian gods, overthrew them."

"That story seems familiar," Percy sounded surprised, like an old memory had partially surfaced. "But I don't think I ever heard the part about Gaea."

Nico shrugged. "She got mad when the gods took over. She took a new husband— Tartarus, the spirit of the abyss— and gave birth to a race of giants. They tried to destroy Mount Olympus, but the gods finally beat them. At least... the first time."

"The first time?" Percy repeated.

"Last summer," Dante explained, "Saturn tried to make a comeback. There was a second Titan war. We stormed his headquarters on Mount Othrys, across the bay, and destroyed his throne. Saturn disappeared, Lupa told us we'd done enough."

"Um, anyway," Nico continued, "Saturn probably faded back to the abyss. We all thought the war was over. Now it looks like the Titans' defeat stirred up Gaea. She's starting to wake. I've heard reports of giants being reborn. If they mean to challenge the gods again, they'll probably start by destroying the demigods...."

"You've told Reyna this?" Percy asked.

"Of course." Nico's jaw tensed. "The Romans don't trust me. That's why I was hoping she'd listen to you. Children of Pluto... well, no offense, but they think we're even worse than children of Neptune. We're bad luck."

"They let Hazel stay here," Percy noted.

"That's different," Nico said.

"Why?"

Hiding, always hiding something.

Nico finally looked up at Dante. There was a flash of... something in his eyes, then his skin flushed pink and he cleared his throat before looking away. Dante tried to hide his grin.

"Percy," Hazel cut in, "look, the giants aren't the worst problem. Even... even Gaea isn't the worst problem. The thing you noticed about the gorgons, how they wouldn't die, that's our biggest worry." She looked at Nico. "Nico and I," she said carefully, "we think that what's happening is... Death isn't—"

Before she could finish, a shout came from down the hill.

Frank jogged toward them, wearing his jeans, purple camp shirt, and denim jacket. His hands were covered with grease from cleaning weapons.

He reached the shrine. "Hey, Nico..."

"Frank." Nico smiled. He seemed to find Frank amusing, maybe because Frank was the only one at camp who wasn't uneasy around the children of Pluto, other than Dante.

"Reyna sent me to get Percy," Frank said. "Did Octavian accept you?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "He slaughtered my panda."

"He... Oh. The augury? Yeah, teddy bears must have nightmares about that guy. But you're in! We need to get you cleaned up before evening muster."

Dante realized the sun was getting low over the hills. How had the day gone so fast? "You're right," he said. "We'd better—"

"Frank, Dante" Nico interrupted, "why don't you take Percy down? Hazel and I will be along soon."

"So you do know my name," Dante tried to hide his pleased smile. Nico got that panicked look he always did, like he would be slaughtered any moment just for looking at Dante. "Are you okay? You look positively flushed."

Nico grit his teeth, "I need to talk to my sister."

Dante could just as easily solve Nico's problem with internalized homophobia if the guy let him talk through it. But no, Nico di Angelo was one stubborn son of a bitch.

From the first time they had met when Nico caught Dante kissing a guy behind the dorms, he flushed everytime he saw Dante as if just the two of them talking was like conspiring to bomb New Rome.

It didn't take long to figure out his secret about liking boys.

"Go ahead, guys. We'll catch up." Hazel assured them.

Percy looked at Nico one more time, as though he was still trying to place a memory. "I'd like to talk with you some more. I can't shake the feeling—"

"Sure," Nico agreed. "Later. I'll be staying overnight."

"You will?" Hazel blurted. The campers were going to love that— the son of Neptune and the son of Pluto arriving on the same day. Now all they needed was some black cats and broken mirrors.

"Go on, Percy," Nico said. "Settle in." He turned to Hazel. "My sister and I need to talk."

Dante's such a little shit with Nico I love them 😭😭