Percy Jackson - The House of Hades

Chapter 3 - Nico

Sleep was the best medicine, right? Wrong.

After the fight against Arachne, Leo had tried to shrink the Athena Parthenos, so he can carry it up the battle ship - Argo II with ease. And surprisingly, he'd succeeded. Now, the giant statue looked more like a Mythomagic action figure. Leo had picked it up only by its head, it probably was going to blow him up if anything went wrong.

Now, the Athena Parthenos was with Leo 24/7, never leaving his sight. Nico had even caught sight of Leo going to the bathroom with the statue between his fingers, and the Archimedes Sphere at his feet like a soccer ball.

Nico, like the others, was exhausted from the fight, but he didn't want to go to sleep. Since he had nearly died from lack of oxygen in his deep sleep, while being trapped in an overly large jar by a giant, he had promised himself that he would never sleep again.

So he went to his room, sat down on his bed, and stared at the wall.

For one entire hour.

After 65 minutes had passed, there was a knock on his door. Hazel popped her head inside. Half of her curly hair was frizzed up in the air, while the other side was straight and flat. She yawned. "Hey, have you slept any?"

"Yeah," Nico lied. He hated lying to his sister, but he didn't want her to worry.

Hazel glared at him. "I know your lying."

Nico rolled his eyes and groaned. "Fine, I'll go to sleep. What time is it?"

"About eight, and everyone else is already asleep except for Leo."

"Why don't you go annoy him, then?"

"Because I care more about you, and I was getting ready to go to him right after I made sure you were asleep, which you aren't!" She left without another word.

Nico threw his hands into the air and fell back onto the bed. He rubbed his face. Sometimes a sister can be so annoying. But Nico sweared he could be just as annoying at time. He just wasn't the kind of person to show it.

Before Nico knew it, he'd fallen asleep.

That's when the dreams started. Demigod's dreams indicated the future, or mabye just some kind of signs about the future.

At first, Nico was five years old, walking down the street holding his mother's hand. Bianca, his other sister, was skipping ahead of them in a skirt. Her hair tumbled down her shoulders, and her smile was wide. Nico wanted to cry. She's dead now, but he can't stop thinking how beautiful his sister had been.

"Slow down, Bianca, my dear," Mother told her, her Italian accent was strong. Bianca stopped skipping and waited for them to catch up. Maria di Angelo, Nico and Bianca's mom walked up to her and brushed some hair off of her forehead.

"You're all sweaty now," their mother complained. Bianca huffed, clearly annoyed, and Nico stifled a laugh.

His mom eyed him. "So you think that's funny?" Nico zipped his lips, trying to think about dead puppies, to stoped the giggling,  but too late, his mother had already seen him. She bent down and started tickling him on the stomach. Nico was soon in a fit of giggles, and Bianca was laughing right alongside him.

Nico tumbled out of his mothers grasp and ran away. Bianca was next to him, shouting with pure glee. Their mother's laugh could be heard from thirty feet away.

When Nico turned around, Maria was smiling and fast walking after them. It wasn't ladylike to run down the streets. She clutched her bag in both hands and shook her head back and forth.

"Come on, Nico!" Bianca said, and he took off again.

The dream changed, and Nico was back as his thirteen almost fourteen self. This time, he was standing near an old iron gate, twenty feet tall and the deepest black imaginable.

The ceiling of the room he was in was so high that it seemed like they were under the nighttime sky. But Nico knew better. He had been here in his dreams before.

The House of Hades.

Nico knew that once he past the gates, there would be no return. Or that's what he guessed. Also written in iron at the top of the gate, the words Porta Nouita Reditum hung. It was Latin for Gate of No Return.

Somewhere beyond that Gate were the Doors of Death, and beyond that were Percy and Annabeth. Nico's hand fumbled with the lock on the gate, to which there was no key. And there was no way they could even climb over it. Maybe once they arrived, Jason could fly them over.

A deep voice chuckled throughout the cavern, a voice that Nico had never heard before. It rumbled and shook the ground so much that he was brought to his knees. It was like an earthquake underground.

Nico immediately jumped to the conclusion that it was Gaia. But the voice… sounds like a male.

It was another giant that they would have to cope with, but Nico had no clue who it was or what he could do. And this giant was inside the Gate of No Return, guarding the Doors of Death.

The ground shook again, and Nico stood wobbly. He looked around, but he was the only living soul in the room.

When he looked at the ceiling, it began to change colour. Pictures formed. Nico saw the glowing blade of Riptide, Percy's sword, the bright lights of a car, and most of all, blood.

The camera or whatever seemed to zoom in on the pools of blood on the ground. Then it moved up and showed Annabeth, white faced and terror stricken in the passenger seat of a car. She was in pain, obviously, and Nico would've bet his life that the pools of blood at come from her wounds.

But the camera didn't show any sign of Percy. Not a hint or a trace of the son of Poseidon. That wasn't good.

He heard the neigh of a horse, and then the hissing, sleepy voice of Gaia. Will die in your wake, she was saying.

The camera focused on Percy finally. He was staring down at a Pegasus in horror.

And then Nico woke up, cold sweat soaked his back. He blinked a few times and tried to clear his mind.

There was a knock on his door that scared him so much that he jumped to his feet while standing on the bed. He hit the ceiling.

Jason was staring at him, clearly tired. "Hey dude. I don't mean to wake you, but I've been guarding the ship since Leo went to sleep. Do you think you could take over for a little while?"

Nico jumped down and pretended it had never happened. "Yeah, sure. I can't sleep now anyway." He thought about telling Jason his dream. Annabeth would have been a better person to go to, since she would've known exactly what to do and who the giant was, but Jason was cool too.

But he couldn't. There was something about the way Jason looked at Nico that confused him. It was a look of distrust, like Jason thought Nico was spying the giants or Gaia. It angered him, but he didn't ask Jason why or why not. He would wait until the sky guy actually had the tell him that.

He came to the conclusion that he would tell everyone at the same time once they were awake.

Jason's shoulders fell with relief. "Oh, thank the gods. I thought you were going to say no for a minute."

"Why would you think that?" grumbled Nico defensively.

"Um, no reason," Jason shrugged, and then he left Nico by himself.

Nico shrugged on his aviator jacket and stumbled out onto the deck. Stars were still out in the sky. It was really early morning.

He walked across the deck and slumped against the mast of the gigantic ship. More than anything, Nico wanted to be back at one of the camps, on dry land in a place he knew. He wanted his sword back with him. He wanted someone that he'd known longer than Jason or Hazel.

He needed Percy and Annabeth.

Running a hand through his dark hair, he thought back to when Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover had rescued him and his sister from an evil teacher, so long ago that it seemed as if it had never even happened.

He remembered the Titan War, and how he had betrayed Percy to get information about Maria.

Nico wouldn't let down these five demigods like he had let down so many others. He just wouldn't do something like that again.