| The Rising Moon: The Awakening of a Demi-Goddess |

█▓▒­░⡷⠂ʟᴇᴛ'ꜱ ɢᴏ ᴄʀᴀꜱʜ ᴀ ᴘᴀʀᴛʏ!⠐⢾░▒▓█

Nico looked at the calendar. January 6th. 7:30 PM. In 30 minutes, he would be at a... ball, with Celestial out of all people as his date. Why did he even agree to this? He could tell that the white haired girl didn't enjoy dancing around in parties either. Oh gods, dancing. Will there be a dance?!  There probably will be- it's a ball after all! He felt himself pale. There was no way he would dance with that traitor...

Speaking of Celestial, where was she? The guys had just finished changing into their suits, and were currently waiting for all of them to change into their dresses. One of the doors creaked open, and Piper stepped out, wearing a long ruby red dress that perfectly suited her. She walked over to Jason, who was absolutely dumbstruck, while another door creaked open. 

Hazel came out, wearing a shimmering purple dress with baggy sleeves that were a lighter hue. She went up to Frank and hugged him- the poor Chinese Canadian was frozen in place. Annabeth came out next, wearing an alice blue dress with sage blue butterflies at the end. 

"Annabeth- you- " Percy was at a lost for words. The blonde girl laughed and hugged her boyfriend. A twinge of envy surged through Nico, his mind realizing that he and Celestial wouldn't have a heartfelt moment like the others did. They all started to file out, completely forgetting the white haired girl, when the final door clicked open, catching Nico's attention. He turned, and saw Celestial. He couldn't breathe.

She was in a beautiful black dress with a high waist and dip hem dress. Black roses were faintly etched as a pattern, with thin black laces at her sides. She wore black boots that made her noticeably taller, but not taller than Nico. Her pure white hair (which seemed to be longer than before) was in a textured high bun with loose curls. She uncertainly stood in the corner, not attempting to get anybody's attention. 

"You look... different," He spoke up, which startled her. She tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear and cocked her head.

"Same for you," She said quietly. Nico couldn't help but give her a worried glance. Her skin was defiantly paler than it had been before, almost matching her hair. Despite how beautiful she looked (he told himself that it was because of the dress, not because of how she herself looked), she seemed completely famished. 

"Have you eaten?" He asked, which made her flinch. She gave plastered a fake smile on her face, anxiousness creeping in her eyes. 

"Wha- of course! Why- why wouldn't I have-" He clenched her wrist, making her squeak in surprise. She was defiantly lying. That cloud of death that had been around her? It multiplied. Big time. Wordlessly, he dragged her into the kitchen and pulled out a loaf of bread. 

"Eat." He commanded, pushing it towards her. She looked at it uncertainly, as if soft, springy bread didn't look appetizing. She couldn't even put her poker face on how discontented she felt. 

"I- I'm not hungry," She mumbled, trying to push herself out of her chair. He stopped her, still clenching her wrist, and pointed one last time.

"Eat."

...

She ate. He could tell she didn't enjoy it, but each bite and swallow made the cloud faintly fade away- very faint, but still enough to calm him down a bit. Once she finished a few slices, she pushed herself out of her chair and gave him a wordless glare. She defiantly doesn't want to talk about why she isn't eating. She could have killed herself! 

He followed her out of the kitchen, the others just getting ready to leave. Leo handed each of them save Celestial a communication device to attach under their masks.

"Wear this to talk to each other in case of emergency. Annabeth, Percy, you have the devices?" He confirmed, which earned a puzzled look from Celestial. Oh crap! She doesn't know that Leo's going to hack into their system! Annabeth glared at Leo and gave a frantic nod.

"Yep! The earpiece will come in handy," She directed the conversation, trying to save his blunder. It was now 7:50. Ten minutes. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Yep,"

"Ready,"

"Perfecto!"

"Mhm!"

"Sure, I guess,"

"точно нет" Nico faintly heard Celestial mutter. Russian, probably, he thought privately. She only switched up languages if she ever felt upset, so it probably wasn't anything positive. 

"Let's go crash a party!"

I'm going to end the chapter here or else it would be extremely long- I'm planning to make the next chapter cover the WHOLE ball.