Death's Daughter

Chapter 3

"What's wrong with Hades?" I snarled. I couldn't help but notice the thick crowd of kids accumulating around us. Maybe they noticed the glowing skull.

"No- nothing. I just- I didn't think..."

"He didn't think that a girl as pretty as you could be the offspring of Death," said a voice behind me.

I spun around to find a familiar looking boy dressed in black from head to toe. He was about my height, but I was short, so he might have been younger. The boy had dark hair and deep midnight blue eyes. He was smirking, which made me glare suspiciously at him. He chuckled.

He looked behind me and sighed. "Get off the ground, Leo." As the boy timidly stood up, I thought of how odd the situation was. Here was this older boy, probably sixteen, obeying this scrawny kid who was younger than me.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He extended his hand. "I'm your brother. My name is Nico di Angelo."

I stared at him. "You're my brother?"

"Half bother, yes." And that's where I remembered who he looked like. My dad. Our dad. Hades. In those very few picture my mom had of my dad, he looked so much like Nico.

He must have noticed my staring because he asked, "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Can we head down to the cabins? I want to see where I'm going to spend the rest of summer."

Nico smiled dryly. "I suppose."

As wee descended the hill toward the demigod summer homes, Nico explained how the cabins worked at Camp Half-Blood. "We're separated by our godly parents. Each god or goddess has his or her own cabin. Some are empty and are just a representation of the god, like Hera's. Others are filled by guests. The Hunters of Artemis stay in Cabin Eight whenever they visit. Then, there are the cabins that are virtually empty. Cabin One held a girl named Thalia until she became a Hunter, and right now my friend Jason lives there. There is also the Poseidon Cabin, Number Three, in which Percy stays during summer. And then there's our's. Just us." He smiled at me amd the people closest to us stared at him. Maybe Nico usually doesn't smile. That's sad because his smile was so pretty.

"Wait, why are the Big Three's cabins almost empty?"

"You know them as the Big Three?"

"I took a mythology class at school. That's what my teacher always called them."

"Well, you're right. The Big Three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades that is, made a pact after World War ll to not have any kids. But that didn't work that well, and they each ended up having a few kids. Eventually, they just kinda broke off the deal."

"Obviously, they aren't very good with promises, because here we are."

Nico looked at me with a seriousness in his eyes. "I was born before the pact was made."

I coughed. "What?"

"I'll explain later." He stopped at the entrance of the cluster of cabins. "Well, here we are. Home sweet home."

Nico led me to the Hades Cabin, Number Thirteen. It was all black and had a skull over the door. Other than that it was pretty plain.

We walked inside and I glanced around. My eyes fell on a black sword hanging on a hook by one of the beds. It must have been Nico's because he didn't even bother to straighten the sheets.

I went over to the wall and unsheathed the sword. It was made of polished black metal and had a dark fitted hilt. It was-

"Beautiful," I whispered.

"You think it's beautiful? Most people are terrified of it."

"Can I get one? A black one."

"That's Stygian Iron. The Cyclops in Hephaestus's forges have to specially make it. But we'll see."

I nodded and yawned. It had been a long day. "Is that my bed over there?" I said pointing to a black bed on the opposite wall of Nico's. He shrugged. I guess it didn't matter considering it was only us. "Well, I'll see you in the morning. Good night, Nico."

"Good night, Frankie."