The Forgotten Heroes || PJO

T H I R T Y - F O U R : Answers

---Nico---

I woke with a shudder.

Immediately, I felt warm and safe, and even content, and naturally, that put my guard up.

"Hello?" I called. My voice echoed into nothingness. "Where am I?" I whispered to myself. I got up as quietly as I could, but the second my feet hit the ground, I fell over. I climbed back into the bed I'd been laying in.

Since I couldn't walk, I looked around the room. At one end of the hall, there was a ginormous bookshelf, and a comfy looking chair and couch set. There were a bunch of windows along the wall I was facing. The view in the windows was amazing: a beautiful meadow with a small, crystal clear lake fed by a grey river.

Along the same wall my bed had been pushed against were a few other beds, spread out haphazardly. It seemed that the beds had been quickly pulled in for the people sleeping in them, and normally, they wouldn't be here. There were two beds to my left, towards the bookcase, and one on my right, close to the ornate double doors.

The two beds to my left were empty, but someone was sleeping in the one on my right. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was Percy. I snorted. He would sleep through anything.

I started out the windows until the doors opened.

"Nico! You're up! Thank Chaos, I thought you wouldn't make it!" Skylar rushed over and hugged me tightly.

"Yea, hi." I squeezed her back. "Where are we? Where's Zale?"

"I'm right here buddy." I looked over to the doors and found Zale and an unfamiliar tan woman in a dress made of light. "We're with Hemera. The first sun goddess. Say hello."

"Hi." I gave her a small wave.

Hemera nodded at me in greeting. "You are the last one awake. How do you feel?"

I tilted my head at her. "Percy's asleep though? And I can't walk for some reason, so I don't know what's wrong with me. I feel fine."

"Percy woke up days ago. He told me all about the last few thousand years you have lived. You have a very interesting story. I'm sorry it's come to what it is." I scrunched up my eyebrows. What was she talking about? "And you can't walk because of my protective spells." She waved her hand. "Try again."

Slowly, I got out of the bed. I could stand just fine and I walked around to the other side of the bed, closer to them. "What did you mean when you said you were sorry it had come to this?"

Zale and Skylar glanced at each other. "It's about Chaos." Skylar finally sighed.

"He's not who he said he was." Zale agreed.

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"He's been lying to us this whole time." Percy said, voice laced with sleep. "He said he was the good guy. He said he would take care of us, and we'd have a permanent home. But the gifts he's promised us are failing. We've been testing everything. MM'ing when down ages ago. We can barely remember our Warrior names, and the heightened senses and instincts and skills he gave us? They're gone. Every last one."

"Maybe he's just sick?" I asked. "Chaos couldn't have betrayed us. He wouldn't. Not after everything he's done. Right?"

"That's what we thought too." Zale sighed. "Then I had a dream."

My heart sunk. "What was it?"

"I was in Chaos's throne room. He was sitting on his throne, wearing a crown and a cape and going on about how he didn't need a successor and it wasn't nearly time, and he went on and on about finding someone named Order, and how they were so going to get it when he found them and how dare they do what they did and... the thing is.... I just had this feeling. This horrible, awful, sinking, feeling that ... well, that he was on the wrong side."