Young and Old, Back and Bold

Chapter 9

After the dream evaporated, all Nico could hear was that voice. It was feminine, it was ancient. It complained about things happening too fast, about how the plan was about to fall apart. It complained that Nico knew too much.

Hades won't allow anything else. Was he supposed to hear this? No more mind wiping, no more Mist. Nothing.

Mind wiping... Was this voice responsible for what had happened to him? Was she something to do with reincarnation?

Before he could hear any more, he woke up in a cold sweat. Thursday was coming.

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"Mindwiped..." Dominic tapped the pencil against the library table. "That doesn't make sense."

Nico looked up from his piles of homework. "Why not?"

Dominic looked down at his pencil, cursed himself for not having brought a sharpener also. "Know any sharpening spells?"

"They told you to bring quills for a reason." Nico pulled one from his bag. "Here. Now, why doesn't it make sense?"

"You don't get your mind wiped when you get reborn." Dominic took the quill and looked it over. "You just come back as a baby that wouldn't remember anything. How do I use this?"

Nico moved his ink to the center of the table. "Dip. Then why would she say mind wiped? If I was just mind wiped then I wouldn't remember anything."

"That's true." Dominic started to experiment with the quill. "But... Tell me the part of the dream with Percy again."

Nico told him all that had happened. "What about it?"

The blond haired boy threw the quill aside in frustration. "If you had known him before the Weasley's found you and your mind had been wiped, he would know you as a kid, right?"

Nico frowned. "He wasn't talking like he would if it was to a kid."

"Exactly." Dominic took his pencil and tried to sharpen it with his fingernails. "So...so you couldn't have just been memory wiped. But if you were reborn, he wouldn't still be that age."

Nico threw his hands up in surrender. "Then what happened?"

"I don't know, I'm not a Ravenclaw." Dominic defended. "We're Hufflepuffs, remember? We weren't good enough for the other houses."

Nico rolled his eyes. "It's something about loyalty."

"Loyalty to self-destruction," Dominic muttered. His mouth opened to say something else but no words came out, his eyes on the girl that had sat beside Nico. Her blue tie claimed she was in Ravenclaw, and by her looks, Nico knew for sure it was the girl that Dominic had been crushing on. "Al...Allyson... Hi!"

"...Hi..." she sat her bag at her feet. "I heard your conversation. You talk really loud, you know."

Nico glared at Dominic. "You did it on purpose."

Dominic kicked Nico's foot beneath the table, keeping his eyes on the red-headed girl sitting before him. "You heard the whole thing? What, were you eavesdropping on me?"

"Er, no." she pushed Nico's homework aside so she could lean her elbows on the table. "I was actually curious what you two whisper about so much. There are already rumors going around about Mr. Vampire here." She pointed at Nico. "So I wanted to see. And this is interesting."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Do you know anything we're not putting together? You're the Ravenclaw."

"Yes, actually." she held her hand out. "You gonna pay me for it?" She let it sit for a minute before grinning. "I'm joking, I'm rich. And I know more about the Greek gods."

Nico scowled. "Must be great to be able to make poor jokes, huh?"

Allyson turned to look at him. "You're a Weasley, aren't you?"

He nodded. "As far as I know."

Her green eyes flashed with distress. "Sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"The Ravenclaw wasn't thinking?" Nico turned back to his homework. "Just say what you came over here to say before Dominic has a stroke."

"You said it's calling you a son of Hades." she started. "Hades is the Greek god of the Underworld. And in the Underworld-" She pulled a book out of her bag. "I got this in the Restricted Section. It tells about the rivers of the Underworld."

Nico eyed the writing on front, his heart sinking when he could actually read it. "Why were you taking books about the Underworld from the Restricted Section?"

"Why aren't you?" she flipped it open, the cover disappearing from sight. Over the course of pages, he didn't see any more writing that he could read. "One river wipes your memory. The River-"

"Lethe." Nico finished. As all eyes turned to him, he felt his heart start to race as he thought about what he said. Putting his head in his hands, he let out a soft groan. "What does this mean?"

Dominic and Allyson exchanged a look. "Um..." Allyson closed the book as she broke the eye contact. "Don't get too worked up, Nico. Just because it might all be real isn't a bad thing."

"And why is that?" Nico hissed.

"You don't have to feel crazy anymore." Dominic guessed, glancing at Allyson. "Right?"

She nodded. "Now we can work on figuring out why someone would wash your memories away. I have a theory already."

Nico picked his head up to stare at the two teenagers. Why had they wanted to be his friends? Why were they still being so nice to him? "You two promise not to tell anyone?"

They both nodded, though Allyson gestured around them. "Though I can't say if anyone heard or not. You two are loud."

"You already said that," Nico grumbled. "Fine, let's go somewhere else to talk."

"And where are you thinking?" Dominic asked. "We have to get up early tomorrow and there's gonna be people in our common room."

"And I'm not in your house." Allyson agreed. "I can't just waltz into your common room, even if it is Hufflepuff."

Nico rolled his eyes as he rose to his feet. "We're in a castle. I'm sure we can find an empty room or two. Or bathroom, like one we've all been told not to use."

"Moaning Myrtle." Allyson looked up at him. "She'll be listening in to the whole conversation."

"Ghosts like me," Nico stated simply. "Now let's go before we're caught."