The Ghosts Among Us: A Percy Jackson Halloween Special

14 | In Which Nico is Dragged Away

Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth snuck out a window in the bathroom, Hazel following behind grudgingly. They couldn't go out the front door since they still heard banging on the front door, the possessed demigods trying to get in.

They jumped out the window, trying to be stealthy as possible. Hazel then closed the window behind them, locking it shut. The window was blurred since it was a bathroom window and no one could see inside, and it was dark out, but Percy knew Hazel was still standing behind the window.

He looked up at the window, smiling and trying to seem comforting as possible. Percy just hoped Hazel could see him in the dark. Or maybe she couldn't. As long as she was safe, Percy was okay.

"So where do we look for them?" Percy whispered, turning to Annabeth and Thalia.

"Annabeth?" Thalia asked, turning to the blonde.

"Honestly, I have no clue. I'm still very confused. Um, let's just walk around... I guess?" Annabeth said, then groaned. "Gods, I hate not having a clue."

"It's fine, you're trying your best," Percy smiled, pecking Annabeth on the lips.

"Thanks, Seaweed Brain. I just feel very useless. But anyways, let's get going," Annabeth said.

"Um, okay," Percy said.

They all began walking, but stayed against the wall of buildings, trying not to be seen. They began crossing from the wall of the Hephaestus cabin to the Hermes cabin, exposed in the open, even if it was just for that short period of time.

Suddenly, something small but somewhat soft crashed into Percy. Percy freaked out, uncapping Riptide in it's pen form which he already held in his hand. The pen expanded into it's sword form, and he got ready in a fighting stance.

But Percy immediately lowered his sword when he saw what had run into him. Well, more like who. Nico di Angelo. And thank the gods, his eyes weren't pure black, which there was just enough light from the moon to tell. He wasn't dead, possessed. But he did look horribly terrified, his hair a tangled mess and a look of utter fear in his eyes.

Percy opened his mouth to talk, but Nico beat him to it. "They're coming," Nico said, his voice sending chills down Percy's spine at how horrified he sounded, maybe even insane, "Run, run. They're coming!"

Okay, definitely insane, Percy decided. And definitely horrified for his life. I've never seen him this scared in my entire time knowing him. I've never seen anyone this scared. Then again, he did just lose Will.

"Nico, are you okay?" Percy asked, leaning down, even though he knew the clear answer. He was just trying to play therapist, something he wasn't that good at.

"They're coming!" Nico screamed. Percy was a tiny bit confused on why he stayed on the ground, frozen, instead of getting up, but he decided not to question it.

"Nico, why don't you just get up and we can talk about this," Annabeth suggested, her tone sounding like she was talking to preschoolers. Percy looked at her and immediately grew concerned about how scared she looked. But he soon realized that he was scared of Nico.

Before Nico or anyone could respond, the sound of several feet padding on the ground made everyone freeze. That's when they stepped into view. The possessed. There had to be at least fifty of them, definitely more, surrounding the four demigods on all sides.

Percy scanned the crowd of demigods quickly, making out a few faces like Grover, Jason, Travis, Katie, little Harley, and much more. His heart broke at seeing all his friends like this. Dead but still being used. The amount of evil and disrespect was unbelievable to Percy. Then again, this is bloodlusting, revenge seeking, Greek deities we're talking about.

"Hello, Perseus Jackson. Hello, other puny demigods," The possessed demigods said all at once, their voices loud and echoing among each other.

"Oh, so you can call stupid Percy by name, but I'm just a nameless, puny, demigod?" Thalia snorted. "What the hell is wrong with the world?!"

"You," They all said, "And yes, that's exactly what we said. Perseus is the only true threat here."Percy was flattered for 0.000001 seconds, before he remembered that they were evil and offending his friends. Now he was just angry.

"Let's skip the smalltalk. You already know our motives," They all said.

Before they could even blink, a group of possessed demigods, Piper, Will, Leo, Clarisse, Malcom, and Sherman, to be precise, lunged forward, grabbing onto Nico and dragging him into the crowd of possessed demigods.

Nico thrashed, trying to escape, clawing at the ground in a futile attempt, the last words he said echoing in Percy's head. "Help... me..." Nico gasped, before being swallowed into the crowd of now evil demigods and letting out a scream of pain. He had been pulled into the crowd of people so deep, Thalia, Annabeth, and Percy couldn't even see him anymore.

"Nico!" Percy screamed. He tried to reach out for him, but it was too late. He was petrified by the scene he had just witnessed. The Ghost King had met his end, and in the most brutal way possible.

"How is it possible for a being to be so evil!?" Annabeth screamed, her eyes watery.

"Oh, Annie," They said in a mocking tone, "It's not like it's completely our fault. After all, you're the fools that couldn't save the pathetic Italian. You're just at fault as us, maybe even more."