A Tale of Gods and Magic

Percy: Invisible Beasts and Unaccepted Chocolate

A/N Hey, hey, look over here! It's a corpse! Risen from her grave! Yes, that would be me. I seem to have been resurrected. I hope this chapter is ok-I'm focusing more on making lots of chapters than writing long ones. If you're reading this, thank you SO much for sticking with me even through this, um, rocky summer. ;) Enjoy.

"Locomotor Mortis!" A line of light shot from Harry's wand and Nico collapsed to the ground, writhing.

"Hi, Percy," said Harry. He grinned at Percy, and Percy smiled back, although he felt more like screaming.

"What exactly did you just do?" Percy asked. Nico's arms were flailing on the ground.

"I locked his legs together. Simple spell. You'll probably learn it soon."

"Somehow I doubt it's going to keep him locked up for long."

Jason grunted.

"Then we should probably get going. Your friend's hurt, and we can't fight anything dragging around this dead weight." Harry gestured at Jason.

"But we can't leave Nico!"

"I thought we were fighting him." Harry stowed his wand in his cloak pocket. "Well, I guess if Nico is unable to move and nobody's bothering to tell me what's going on, I can just put my wand away until someone explains."

Percy really needed an aspirin and a bottle of Cherry Coke. Also, possible a muzzle for everyone in the world.

"Okay, okay. Like you're the one in the dark." Percy, talking faster than he ever had before, detailed the events of the night peppered with facts about half-bloods and the war to help Harry get on the same track. He wished he'd brought Annabeth.

Harry was quite a good listener, actually. Although they were possibly in life-or-being-forever-tortured-in-Tartarus moment, the boy with the lightning scar nodded at all the right points, "hmmed" whenever he agrees, and offered Percy a square of chocolate at the end.

"I don't need chocolate now, man. And, by the way, you owe me an explanation of... you when we get back to Hogwarts." Harry nodded and popped the chocolate in his own mouth.

"So the jacket bumped into the-"

Nico was on his feet and dark coils of mist were encircling the boys in looping shapes. Percy tried to grab for his wand or sword, but the mist had handcuffed his hands. Jason was yelling and Nico pointed a palm at him. Jason's head flopped to the ground and his eyes closed.

Percy struggled against the magical mist. His eyes burned from the clouds of it that were filling the air. It felt like metal against his hands.

"Follow me," said Nico in that un-Nico-like tone. Then Percy's legs were walking. Well, they usually did but this time it wasn't of his own accord. Percy could only see Nico's hunched silhouette through the fog and hear Harry muttering spells under his breath that didn't seem to be doing anything without the aid of his wand.

"Nico, listen to me. This isn't you! Let us go, and we can bring you back to your sister-"

Nico coughed. It shut Percy up. He couldn't reckon with the thing that had taken over Nico. There was no way to understand an invisible beast unless you were invisible.

Percy's feet were walking by themselves again, and he, Harry, and Nico were in a straight line. There was a loud thunk and then Nico crammed them all into a small space. Another thunk mirrored the first as they were pitched into ultimate blackness. Percy stiffened. Where were they? Was Jason okay out there? Was there any way to call for help?

Percy felt helplessness make every muscle in his body dull. There was nothing he could do.

Then Harry was talking.

"Nico di Angelo. I've heard enough about you from my friends. Now, I want you to focus. Focus on... your sister. Think of her and how worried she is. Under this influence, you could kill her without a second thought. Nico, think! I know you can resist! You're stronger than the curse. You're strong. You need to return to your sister."

Nico and the two boys blinked as light flooded a large room. Harry's pep-talk obviously wasn't working.

"It's worked before," hissed Harry.

A guttural scream filled the room and the mist dissolved. Nico collapsed to the ground, shrieking.

Percy rushed forwards, bonds no longer holding him, and wrapped his arms around Nico. The screams echoed in Percy's ears and he didn't care if he went deaf as long as he could comfort Nico.

"I'm going to investigate," said Harry.

Percy raised an eyebrow, which meant "by yourself?"

"I'll be fine," Harry responded. "I've dealt with worse."

Harry left the room.

Nico quieted after a minute, but tears were still streaming down his face.

"I'm... sorry." Nico could barely get the words out. "Get away from me, Percy. I could still hurt you." He pushed Percy back and stood up, facing away from the discarded demigod.

Nico was battered and bruised and bloodied, but he was still so strong, just like Harry had said. Percy gulped down a lump of guilt in his throat. It was his fault.

"Nico-"

"Don't focus on me right now, Perc. We have to save Hecate and defeat Eurydice. I don't matter."

"Wait... Eurydice? What? I thought she was... "

"I guess I've got a lot of explaining to do, Percy."