The Fates were being unfair, Nico decided. Give them a reasonably good guess as to where Hazel might be, then put a child they couldn’t possibly take into battle in their way? Yes, unfair. Just like it was unfair how Hestia had urged him to seek a home when he had two, in theory. Like it was unfair that Hazel, one of the few people Nico actually cared about, and also one of the few that seemed to care about him, was the one who’d been kidnapped. Like it was unfair how Percy and Annabeth were happily and peacefully together at Camp Jupiter and he was here, never having felt more alone.
Being a child of Hades, god of death, it was pretty normal to have ‘life sucks’ as a motto. And the universe appeared to be all too eager to make him stick with that motto.
The girl started crying and Frank knelt down by her side. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re here, you’re not alone.”
Leo un-froze, blinked a few times and joined Frank. “Yes, Little A-, I mean Joy.” He was a little shaken, Nico reckoned. And he didn’t blame him. What were the odds of finding a mini Annabeth lookalike with Leo’s past, after all?
“Will you stay with me?” the girl asked.
“Yes,” Leo said immediately, and Joy managed a smile.
Nico and Frank exchanged a look. “Er– Well…”
“Oh, right,” Leo admitted. “Actually we were sort of busy. Looking for diamonds, walking deserted streets, fighting Dr. Uglies…”
“Joy, if we gave you a hotel room for now and promised you we’d come back for you, would you believe us?” Frank asked. He was a good praetor, Nico thought, and not for the first time. He took care of everyone, or at least tried to, and looked for solutions instead of problems.
Little Joy, however, didn’t listen to him. “Diamonds?” she asked. “Are you looking for the peek-a-boo diamonds?”
Leo blinked again, but Nico quickly squatted down to face her. “You’ve seen the diamonds?”
“Yes!” The girl became enthusiastic – not a good thing. “I could show you! They pop up every now and then and they’re very pretty!”
“How about you tell us?” Leo tried.
Joy shook her head resolutely. “No, I want to come.”
“We can’t do that, little one,” Frank put in.
She crossed her arms pigheadedly, the tears forgotten on her cheeks. “I’ll follow you otherwise. Or I’ll scream so people will think you kidnapped me.”
“You little…” Leo grinned and looked at the others. “See? My Little Annabeth nickname was quite accurate! Can we keep her?” Nico didn’t agree. Apart from blonde curls, there wasn’t much of a resemblance between the two. Joy’s eyes weren’t gray, but green. Her posture wasn’t as confident as Annabeth’s – not even close. Plus, she didn’t have a mini-Percy hanging around her.
Nico was disgusted by his own bitterness. He needed to find Hazel. He had gotten over Percy a long time ago, and Annabeth was an amazing person.
“She’s not a pet,” Frank said in an angry tone. “But, sure, let’s take her to the possible lair of the possible beast. We could start our own daycare there, ‘Demigods Daycare; Keeping Your Youngsters Safe from Harm (Mostly) For About Five Minutes’.”
Leo did a slow clap. “Nice, Zhang! That was an actual joke! You learnt from the best, of course.”
“We’re short on time. We should move.” It was already extraordinary that they’d gone so long without having been attacked.
