Cabin 13

39| Another Fateful Encounter

"Please let this work," Nico muttered under his breath as he stuck his hand in the hole Leo made and touched the statue.

At first, nothing happened, they all just stood there awkwardly latched on to each other.

Then a flash of light and a gust of wind whisked them away, just as Aphrodite had earlier that day.

They all hit the ground, hard, sprawled out like bowling pins all over an intricate stone floor. Percy lifted his head, they were in some sort of courtyard. There were pillars lining the edge of the circular stone floor they lay on, which had millions of complicated designs carved into it.

They all stood up and brushed off, but finding no immediate threat they quickly became suspicious.

"What happened? Where are we?" Leo said, clumsily standing.

Nico sighed, anticipating what came next, "Here we go."

"Well, well. What a sad group... " A wispy voice cut across the air, seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere.

 "A loner whose love is always unrequited."

"What the hell?" Percy clicked his pen, drawing his sword.

Nico only grimaced, hoping to get this over as fast as possible.

"A hero stripped of what made him heroic." 

"A leader who is lost, never to belong." 

"Nico, what's going on man?!" Leo asked, frantically looking for the speaker.

"A puppet master who doesn't know when to stop. 

A joker who hides behind a mask. 

A healer who can't help himself. 

And a gentle soul who cares too much."

"Eros, knock off the games! Come out!" Percy shouted.

"Yeah, come on man, level the playing field!" Leo said, trying to keep his voice even.

Nico just shook his head, "Love doesn't play fair."

A blurred figure appeared on the other side of the courtyard, "Yes, seems you've learned from your run-in with Cupid."

"Things I will never forget," Nico agreed, Eros looked similar to Cupid, same big and white wings that reminded Nico of an angel, same unsympathetic and careless tone, same alluring voice, and blood red eyes.

Jason swallowed nervously, he didn't like this- all his instincts were telling him to scoop up Nico and get him as far away as possible from Eros.

"Seems your friend will never forget either," Eros cooed.

The others, though confused, decided to leave the subject alone for the time being. But Hazel, in particular, took note to bring it up with her brother later; in private.

Percy grew impatient with the banter, "Ugh, can we just get on with it? Some of us have places to be you know."

Lifting a brow, Eros took a graceful step closer to Percy, "How interesting..." Looking to Piper he frowned, "What did you  do to this poor boy's mind?"

Piper held her breath, in shame or maybe fear. But Jason instantly moved to hold her hand, seeing the shift in her confidence, "She did what had to be done in the moment," he said, taking a defensive stance beside her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Percy glared at Eros, who was staring at him like a sample under a microscope, "Stop looking at me like that!"

"Fascinating,"  Eros drawled, stalking closer to Percy.

Who, without hesitating, swung his sword right at Eros's head, "Don't come near me!"

But Eros disappeared before the sword could touch him, reappearing farther away.

"Percy's not why we're here, Eros. We need to know about your brother Erebus," Nico growled.

Eros's eyes snapped up at his brother's name, "Erebus?"  He paled.

"Great, even this guy's scared of him, all in favor of mission abort?" Leo asked, raising his hand.

Jason shot him a glare, before looking back at Eros, "Your brother has our friend and he's keeping her in the Netherworld, we need to know how to get there."

Eros straightened, "Then let me save you some time; leave her, no matter who she is, she's not worth going to that dreadful place for,"  he said forcefully, shaking his head.