Shattered

Jason

"Come on Leo! Let Clovis have some! Hey! I saw that Malcolm!"

It was Wednesday morning, just mere hours before he started his first day of school, and he was floating above the pigpen making sure that each pig got some of leftovers from the night before. He had decided to name the pigs a few nights prior when he got tired of just calling them all pig. Each pig had a different personality so he tried to name them accordingly. Clovis was the biggest and spent most of his time sleeping. Leo had to have been the runt of the litter, as he was the smallest and he was always sticking his snout where it didn't belong. Malcolm was perhaps the most well-mannered pig, but he kind of blended into the background. Then there was Jake, Travis, Connor, Drew, and Clarisse.

"No, no, no!" he yelled as he swooped down to stop Leo from sticking his head through a small hole in the barn's siding. He grabbed the pig and set it down at the opposite end of the enclosure. "You better not do that today or you're going to be waiting a long time to get unstuck!" he warned the pig.

"He only does that because he knows you'll give him attention," Demeter's voice called out from behind him. "Pigs are as smart as dogs and even make great pets."

He floated down to the ground and gave the goddess a slight bow. "Lady Demeter, what are you doing here?" he asked. Is she upset about how I treat the animals? Or am I doing something wrong?

Her lips curved up into a soft smile. "I'm just taking a small break from my search for Artemis. So I thought I should make sure my number one farm hand is ready for his first day of high school. So are you?"

Well it's not my first day of high school, he thought with a frown. "I think so ma'am. Lord Hades bought us school supplies and new clothes last night," he said as he gestured to the new blue jeans and purple T-shirt he was wearing underneath the old denim jacket he had found in one of the barns.

"Oh I've heard all about yesterday," the goddess groaned.

After they had learned that Nico was some kind of genius, the lord of the dead had been just a little bit... excited. Hades' outburst had made everyone's in the office jaw drop, and the god was literally shaking with excitement. Mr. Z had thankfully not questioned the situation and instead gave the three of them a blank class schedule and then a timesheet for each class that also included what each required class was for each year. The vice principal then ushered the raving god out of the small office so the three of them could fill their schedules in private (well mostly so Nico could have privacy, his dad was already talking about colleges and acceptable majors). When they were sure Hades was out of ear shot, Nico told them that they shouldn't take all the same classes, which really meant: do not leave Percy alone. So for the next ten minutes, Percy would write down a class and Nico would copy him. Thankfully, there was only one class Nico couldn't be with Percy: Physical Education. Jason was pretty dang sure there wasn't a conflict there. There was no way Neeks even knew what Java Programming was let alone that he was required to take it. After they had handed in copies of their individual schedules to Mr. Z., Hades had taken them out to dinner (Nico's choice) and shopping for school supplied and clothes at the nearest mall; a forty minute trip that would have taken longer if the god of the underworld had obeyed the posted speed limits.

"I take it Lord Hades is pretty happy with Nico," Jason chuckled.

The harvest goddess crossed her arms. "It's all he's been talking about for the last twelve hours. Poor Persephone can't have a single conversation with the man without it turning into how great Nico is," she said. "Not that it isn't great," she quickly added. "He is a nice young man and he deserves so much after what we've put him through." She paused. "You all do."