YOUNGER

Chapter 2

Third Person

The forest was a bad place to be at night time. It was usually against camp rules, as well as being outside of your respective cabin in the first place, but rules had already been broken tonight.

Demigods scoured the forest, four more worried than most.

Nico couldn't loose another sister.

Will couldn't loose another friend.

Annabeth couldn't loose the girl she'd looked after for three years.

Percy couldn't loose the chance to figure out what happened.

Never in the 8 years Percy had been at Camp Half-Blood had monsters just dropped dead like that. There were demigods who could kill them quickly, but none instantly.

And you didn't have to be a child of Athena to know that the young daughter of Thanatos had something to do with it.

•••

First Person: Nico

I knelt over my knees and retched. I'd been shadow travelling for almost an hour to find Helena, yet I couldn't find her. I couldn't loose another sister.

I sat back for a moment, wiping my arm across my mouth before I stood. The nausea would have to wait.

I circled the area, alternating between calling for Helena and trying to find her life signitature.

Maybe she's gone, I thought.

"No! She can't be!" I whispered. "She can't! She-"

A sob broke through me. I fell to the ground, tears welling up in my eyes.

I looked up past the tree canopy to the stars. Helena loved — no, loves the stars.

I roared at the sky before crumpling on the dirt, grieving. One of the cursed 'gifts' I'd been given was to know when someone had died. I couldn't feel Helena's presence anymore.

She was gone.

•••

"Nico, wake up. Come on, wake up," someone cried. I blinked my eyes open and the person sighed in relief, pulling me into their embrace. "Nico! I thought I'd lost you!"

The person sat back, revealing themself as my boyfriend, Will. He checked me for any injuries. "What are you doing, curled up in the middle of the forest for?"

"I was looking for..." I gasped. "Have you found her? Did someone find Lena?"

It was then that I noticed the sorrow in Will's eyes. They hadn't found her. Tears filled his blue eyes as he hugged me again, my heart falling. I had already cried. I had no tears left.

•••

First Person: Helena

I watched sadly from a concealed branch from a nearby tree. I'd come to find them after I woke up, hoping to apologise before I... left. A small tear slip down my cheek as I saw the blank look on Nico's face, heard the sobs from Will. They didn't deserve this.

A small rustle in a tree across the small clearing caught my attention. "No, no, no," I whispered in vain. Nico and Will couldn't hear me. "Get inside the border, please."

The rustle was louder this time — neither of the boys had heard the noise.

I saw the small glint of a fang between the leaves. My eyes widened. The monster flew towards my friends.

"Duck!" I jumped off the branch, clicking my fingers to stop the creature as the boys turned towards me in shock. The scaled monster fell limp as it flew through the area, crumpling to mearly bump into Will's head.

"Lena?" The blonde hesitated. Nico soon had wrapped me in his arms, sobbing.

I hesitantly wrapped my arms around Nico's waist. "Hi Neeks. I'm sorry."

"Helena Warner!" Nico pushed me back by my shoulders for a moment. "What were you thinking?"

My face fell. "I thought I could help, I knew I wouldn't get hurt!"

"Not that!" Nico wrapped me in his arms again. "I thought I'd lost you! Why did you run away?"

"I'm a monster."

"Okay, how can the little girl who hugged three strange demigods when she first saw them just because she saw they'd been to Tartarus be a monster? How can the little girl who saved camp be a monster? How can Helena Dies Warner be a monster?" Will had walked over through his speech, finishing by pulling me away from Nico into his own arms.

"We thought we'd lost you," he sobbed quietly.

I pulled away. "I'm sorry. I have to leave."

The couple looked at me. Since I joined the camp three years ago, they'd grown to be my brothers. I could see the disbelief and pain on each of their faces.

"I don't belong at camp. I can defend myself against monsters, but I could hurt someone else just as easily. Even if I was able to make sure I didn't, I still wouldn't belong. The daughter of Death among the living..." I shrugged. "I doesn't work. I'm sorry." I stuffed my hands into my soiled jeans, turning away.

"Lena..."

"Don't call me that." Silence.

"I don't belong here. Goodbye." I started to walk again, but I felt a cold hand on my arm. "Did you not just..."

Before I could finish, I felt the familiar coldness of the shadows racing through me. Curse Nico's ability to shadow travel.

I stumbled as we fell out of the shadows outside of the Hades cabin. "Nico I told you I-"

"Don't belong, I know," Nico finished, exasperated. "That's what I said when my sister died."

I felt the glare on my face soften. "Your... you had a sister?"

Nico's cold eyes met mine. "I had a sister. Now I have two. You and Hazel. I won't loose either of you again. And, on the 'I don't belong' nonsense, I believed the same thing." Nico chuckled. "Gods, I still don't belong. But you don't belong in a place. You never will. No, you belong with the people, with us." He guestured towards himself and Will, who nodded.

I broke, tears flowing down my face. I felt two pairs of arms wrap around me. "I'm sorry," I whispered through sobs. "I'm so sorry."

"Nico, Will! Did you..." The owner of the voice stopped herself with a gasp. "Helena!"

Annabeth ran towards me, stealing me out of the boys' embrace to hold me herself. "Lena, where were you? I was so scared." I looked over her shoulder to see her boyfriend walking towards us as well, a mixture of emotions on his face. I broke away from Annabeth.

"Just in the forest. No big deal," I mumbled.

Annabeth looked ready to judo-flip me, but Percy placed his hand on her shoulder before she could. Her gaze softened as Percy turned his gaze to mine. I could see the confusion in his sea green eyes.

"What was that, before?" His words held power. Of course, Percy Jackson was the most powerful demigod I'd ever met, but this was a different 'power'. He was scared, angry and confused at the same time.

'I'm dead,' I thought.