YOUNGER

Prologue

Third Person

"Will! Wake up!"

Will Solace wearily blinked his eyes open at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. "Hey Neeks. I'm tryna sleep."

Another voice joined in, this one much more feminine. "Will, Holy Hephaestus wake up already!"

Nico di Angelo and Hazel Levesque stood in front of the boy. "What?" Will grumbled.

The half-siblings shared a look. "Hades wants us to go down to his palace. He has something he's got to show us, apparently," Nico answered.

"Why do I gotta go?" Will wined.

Hazel sighed. "He asked for you to come as well. Or more specifically," she smirked at Nico, who looked away embarrassed; "he said that 'the Apollo kid Nico is obsessed with' has to come too."

Will grinned as Nico glared at his sister. "You're obsessed with me?"

"Let's just go."

•••

The three shadow travelled to the Palace of the Underworld — in other words, Nico dragged his sister and boyfriend into the shadows, then proceeded to smirk as they both stumbled around Persephone's garden, disoriented. Thankfully, neither of them doubled over the pomegranite tree roots. The queen of the underworld would've been mad.

Soon the trio walked towards the large obsidian doors of Hades' throne room. The guards immediately opened the doors when they saw the two children of their lord, ushering them into a large room filled with polished obsidian and, well, more obsidian.

The king of the Underworld himself sat on a throne of — you guessed it — obsidian, which sat next to an empty wooden throne covered with vines. Hades beckoned the demi-gods closer.

"Children, I have been expecting you."

"Really? I never would've noticed. Especially since Hazel and I both got the exact same dreams from you at the same time," Nico muttered. Will stifled a laugh while Hazel addressed her father.

"Father, I apologise for Nico's behaviour." She glared at Nico before continuing. "However, I would like to know what was so urgent that, after months of no contact, you had to ask us three to come in the middle of the night."

"Well, I was preoccupied with things during the day, so I had to call during the night time."

Will laughed, the other three beings turning to look at him. "Sorry, you're just all so..." He trailed off, laughing harder.

Hades raised an eyebrow at Nico, who was trying to hide a smile. "Dad, meet my boyfriend."

"Well, what is so funny? Did I miss something?" A dainty feminine voice echoed through the room. Queen Persephone entered the room, a questioning smile on her face.

Hazel noticed a small head pop out from behind the goddess's skirts for a moment before hiding again. A quick glance to her companions confirmed they saw the movement as well.

"Lady Persephone, good eve- wait no morning? What time is it?" Hazels eyebrow scrunched up in confusion.

"It's currently... I don't know," Persephone giggled. "Oh well."

Hades growled behind her. "They didn't greet me." This time both Nico and Will started giggling. Hades, Persephone and Hazel watched fondly as they watched Nico's face light up for the first time in a while.

"Sephy, wha's happening?" A young voice drifted through the room from near Persephone, who ushered a bleary eyed child in front of her with a smile.

Nico frowned. "Dad..."

"It's not what it looks like, son. This isn't my child." Hades said quickly.

Hazel looked at her stepmother who smiled. "She isn't mine either, demigods. She is very like you, yet so unlike you in so many ways!"

Will gasped. "Is she okay? She's, she's surrounded by death!" Nico raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. "No not in the way that you are, like, she's covered in death completely!"

Nico turned his eyes to the girl, who was looking at the demigods in awe. "No, no, I can see what you mean now." He turned to his father.

Hades guestured towards his wife. Persephone whispered something to the girl, causing her to grab Persephone's arm in horror. "Sorry, she's a little shy. Her name is Helena. She's the daughter of one of your father's, collegues." Persephone winced.

"Thanatos," Hades continued gruffly. "She's the daughter of Thanatos."

The demigods looked back at the girl, Helena, who was whispering with Persephone again. Helena looked at the goddess pleading. She looked between her and the demigods, as if she was afraid of them.

"Hey, Helena," Hazel smiled as she walked towards the girl. "I'm Hazel. Can I ask, how old are you?"

Helena meekly looked at Hazel. "Uh, I'm eleven. It's nice to meet you, Hazel. Sephy told me your names before you came." She looked at the boys. "You're Nico and Will." Her eyes shone when she saw Will. "You're like me!"

"Yeah, we're all demigods, like you," Will said, confused.

"No, you can save people, like me!" Helena looked at Will in awe as he looked to his boyfriend for help.

Nico stifled a laugh. "What do you mean, Helena?" The girl looked at the son of Hades, her face immediately falling.

Helena darted towards Nico, quickly hugging him. Nico looked around, even more confused. "Wait, you both..." she said as she stood back. She turned to give another hug to the son of Apollo next to him. "I've never met anyone who-"

Helena darted back to Persephone, tears in her eyes. The goddess looked between her and the boys sadly. "We found her in Tartarus. We don't understand how she got there, but she's... we know she's special." Persephone looked at her husband.

"We were hoping you three could look out for her. We want her to go to camp. We've been noticing, things, happening around her. She's similar to you, Nico, and I hope you'll look after her. All of you, but Nico, son, she's going to need you the most."