Half Gone

Nico waited patiently for the coffee shop to close, he looked around the freezing city of Seattle. Street lights started flickering to life above his head, he had to get to her soon. A chill hit the air, a slight stench of the monsters he had so carefully been avoiding wafted around him. He could feel eyes on him, he whirled around to be face to face with the Manticore. This particular creature had the irritating ability to climb out of Tartarus quickly, he grinned wickedly at the teen and Nico pulled his iron sword from his belt. He heard a female voice scream, he looked past the monster and saw the girl he had been waiting for staring at him in terror.
"For the love of Hades!" He cried out in irritation the moment he would be able to take her, this had to happen.
"Don't move, Son of the Dead." the Manticore snarled in his thickly accented voice. Nico watched the scorpion-esque tail wave threateningly, the girl was frozen with fear. Nico took a step forward, suddenly the tail struck out at him. He jumped back and sliced it off with his blade, there was a terrible scream and the monster evaporated into a puff of yellow sulfur-like dust. The girl, Kray, watched in horror as Nico moved towards her.
"I'm Nico Di Angelo, I'm here to protect you. You're a powerful person, you need to come with me." As he spoke he reached a hand out to touch her shoulder.
"Don't fucking touch me!" She screamed, her bright blue eyes wide in terror. Her hands were shaking and she stumbled away from him backwards.

Nico groaned as he ran after the terrified girl, he knew this would happen. The Manticore wasn't expected but now she had a preconceived though of what he was there to do. Finally he caught up with her and grabbed her wrist from behind. She swung around and tried to slap him, he grabbed her other wrist to stop it.
"Let go of me!" She screamed in horror. Her face was screwed up in sheer terror, he looked at her steadily and then said "What did you see there?"
"I watched you kill someone! That's not fucking normal!"
"What was it that I killed?"
"I-I don't know." She faltered.
"That thing would have whipped it's tail around and killed you on the spot; you aren't armed, trained, or prepared for anything like that. Let me take you to a place where you can learn to protect yourself from what you are and who all wants to kill you. First we need to go to your mother."

Ella Alence sat down at the table across from Nico, he could tell that she greatly resembled her daughter. Her long slightly wavy brown hair and pale skin dotted with freckles were almost identical to Kray. He pushed his hair off his forehead for a brief moment then said "Okay, Miss. Alence; I'm sure you know what your daughter is. I'm sure you understand what I am, correct?"
The older woman looked at him evenly and said "Yes I understand all of this, I don't agree with were she has to go. She isn't a threat, her father told me himself. He's far more minor than some of the others, it shouldn't cause a problem. Why are you taking her from me?"
Nico bit back his irritation and said "You know who her father is?"
"Yes."
"Who is it? Mom? What's going on? I don't understand any of this, who's my father? What do you mean minor?"
"Please elaborate." Nico agreed.
"I can't. She has to find out herself, she is to learn what she is in time. I'm sure now that you've picked her up she'll be claimed soon, I can't disclose who he is." Ella said firmly.

"No! What am I?" Kray yelled out.
"You're a half-blood, just like him. Your father was that of a Greek god. I'll be honest, he was very good looking for several thousand years old. You carry the blood of deity in you, you are half of a magical entity. I never though they would take you to this camp, but I was wrong. I though he was weak enough not for it to be required. He's going to help you along the way, I promise. You need to wait for him to claim you, I love you Kray. Remember that you will always be my baby girl, be good and learn a lot." Her mother rose from the table, Kray stared at her blankly as she walked to her room and shut the door. Kray rose from her seat and asked "What do you want me to pack?"

Kray watched Nico Di Angelo out of the corner of her eye as she packed, he was tall and thin; like a skeleton. He had pale olive skin, and long jet black hair, he wore a black bombers jacket over a black tee-shirt and a pair of ripped up black skinny jeans. He sat on the edge of her bed, his heavy looking combat boots were on her messy carpet which was scattered with papers and notebooks filled with doodles and song lyrics. She continued to pack up her things and she called over "What all do I need?"
"It's in New York but we have boundaries that protect us from the elements. They allow snow as well though, just bring what you'd wear here."
She looked at him again, he was good looking. He had a sever beauty to his face, sharp angular features, dark eyes that could have been a genius or madman. Those beautiful dark brown eyes that seemed to hold a timeless sadness, like his favorite thing had been destroyed before him. She looked away and back to her backpack she was mindlessly stuffing with clothes. She packed her Vans into the front and tossed some of her extra belongings into the front pockets.

Nico looked at her from the corner of his eye, she had a sharp nose with a small upturned end. Her eyes where large and slightly mischievous, she had a high arch to her brows. Her slim fingers fidgeted at an almost constant rate, she looked over at him as they stood at a payphone. He dialed camp and as soon as Annabeth answered he said "I have Kray, Manticore attacked me. Her mother knows who her father is but won't disclose to us. I'm going to LA next, the other one who's a model."
"Okay I'll let Chiron know."
He put the phone on the hook and looked at the brunette and said "We're going to ride the Amtrak, come on."
"Uh, why LA? You said the place is in New York."
"You're not the only one I have to get."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm on a 'quest' to retrieve four other demi-gods. We need to go."

Kray dozed off and waited for the train to get to their next stop, she leaned her head against the cold frosted window of the train. She ran her fingers over the oversized fur collar of her parka she wore, her thin pale fingertips were left uncovered by her fingerless wool gloves. She sat up and looked at Nico who was sleeping across from her, his face was relaxed and calm. She could see a doll clutched in his hands, she was trying to make heads and tails of what her mother had said to her. 'You are half a magical entity', what the heck did that mean? She shrugged and rested her head on the window again and tried to sleep.

As she fell asleep she saw a THING staring at her, she felt its slit pupils watching her. It was a woman with two snake legs, her yellow eyes watched her closely. Kray felt paralyzed, the snake woman advanced on her brandishing a long javelin with a bronze tip on it. The tip struck at her, she tried to scream but the blow was blocked by a black blade. Kray looked up and saw the tall frame of Nico Di Angelo protecting her from the snake thing that had just tried to kill her. He struck with the black iron blade and the vanished, the scene shifted and she was in a place filled with kids. She could see herself standing in the middle of the what seemed like arena, teenagers and children looked over her in awe. She couldn't seem to find Nico anywhere; a flash of light blinded her.

Nico sat up and when he heard Kray gasp loudly, he looked over at her; she was asleep and looked to be having a nightmare. He nudged her, her eyes flew open and she looked terrified.
"What's wrong?" He asked feeling sorry for her, he knew she had just experienced the nightmares that come when the mist is lifted from a demigods eyes.
"There was this snake chick that tried to kill me, but she-she didn't."
"What kind of 'snake chick'? Like snake hair?"
"No, she had snake legs. It was really weird and these yellow eyes with slits."
"That was a dracaenae, then." Nico said looking out the window to see what all was happening in the night. They were in Northern California now, only a few more hours until they were in LA. Nico could feel her eyes on him, she seemed very interested in what he was holding. His fingers uncurled from the figuriene to reveal the Myth-O-Magic Hades figure.
"I love that game." She said thoughtfully then turned away from him.

Notes