𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋

꧁𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐎 𝐜𝐡𝟓𝟐꧂

Nico

"I recognise that."
"Huh?"
"That blade. I've seen it before."

Rachel's eyes widened. "Where!? Whose is it?!"
"I- I can't remember." I said disappointedly. And it was true. The name was on the tip of my tongue. I ran a hand through my hair and growled in frustration.
"Dammit! Stupid memory!" I cursed.
"Hey!" Rachel said, placing a hand on my shoulder,"It's okay! Chiron will be able to identify it! Hopefully! Probably! Maybe? Reyna will be OK." she said.
"Yeah. You're right, I guess." She was actually very wrong.

Suddenly, black mist erupted in front of us. In the flesh was my father.

Rachel jumped out of her skin, grabbing my arm as an impulse. "Er! Hades! I thank you for- um- death!"
My father raised an eyebrow. He's good at that. "Is this the oracle?" he said to me.
I nodded. "This is Rachel."
"A pleasure. Now leave. I must discuss pressing matters with my son."
Rachel quickly stuffed her sketch back into the bag, gave me an awkward half-hug, and sprinted down the path. Leaving me alone with my father.

He got straight to it, face hardening immediately. "Underworld CCTV-" (I didn't even question CCTV being in the land of the dead). "-from those years ago has caught a blackout from just before your sister's drink from the Lethe. When the cameras came back online, she was gone, and her soul was not transferred into new life. Tell me something Nico, what do you know of your sister?"

So Kronos was telling the truth. So Bianca was snatched and dragged to Tartarus. I pushed my fury down.

"Nothing... We have to find her. " I said, balling my fists. I knew exactly where she is.
"Nothing? Nothing!? Where has this come from? You must know something, I must find my daughter and you know something. I have 3 million of the most elite teams in the underworld on the search for your sister. This is too sudden of you to mention."
"I had a feeling, okay!? I need to- I need to go." I said as sincerely as I could. I didn't like lying. I hated it.
"A feeling? A feeling?? Nico di Angelo, you had a feeling of your sister's disappearance, four years after it happened?"
"Yes. And I must leave. Thank you father. I will-"
"Where are you going?" he said, eyes narrowing.
"Back to my cabin." I said. I was getting tired of lying. I just wanted my dad to let me handle it. I just wished my stupid grandfather never existed. I just wished I was a normal kid. I wished Bianca was still here. I wished I didn't have to deal with all this. I wish I didn't have the right to be so angry.
"Why?" he interrogated.
"Thanks for telling me father, but some of us have to sleep." I said bluntly. I pulled up my hood and walked away in silence. I felt my father's fury behind me, before I sensed him melt into the night.

____________

I opened the door to my cabin to see it empty. A swirl of angry emotions bubbling inside, I got dressed into combat gear and started to search for the dagger I lost last week. A slip of paper was on my bedside table.

ℐ 𝓌𝓃ℯ𝓉 𝒷𝒶𝒸 𝓉ℴ 𝓂𝓎 𝒸𝒶𝒷𝓃  𝓉ℴ 𝓈𝓁ℯ𝓅．ℐ 𝒽ℴ𝓅ℯℯ 𝓎𝓊 𝒻ℯℯ𝓁 𝒷ℯ𝓉𝓇 － 𝒸ℴ𝓂 𝓈ℯℯ 𝓂ℯ 𝒾𝓃 𝓉ℯ 𝓂ℴℴ𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔 ．𝒟ℴ𝓃 𝒹ℴ 𝒶𝓃𝒽𝑔𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝓉ℴℴ𝓅𝒾𝒹𝒹． －𝒲𝒾𝓁𝓁

After taking a couple of minutes to decipher it, I smiled and slipped it in my pocket. I would be back in the morning. Fiddling with a stygian iron dagger in my hand, I took a deep breath, closing my eyes.