Death and Water

NICO’S POV It takes all my strength to not punch Minos in the face. To not grab Jade and run. I knew we were walking into something dangerous since the beginning. I knew I would have to sacrifice somehting to save her, and I was prepared to sacrifice anything, but only now do I realize I walked into a trap, and I wanted nothing but to grab Jade, and hold her until they came to get me. Because they would come to get me, I could sense it. I look over at Jade, her eyes were wide with anger and a smidge of fear. She didn’t belong here, she was the daughter of the sea. The most free and wide place on earth, this was the last place she should end up, and I dragged her here. I took a deep breath, I would get her out, I know I would, whatever I had to do, I would. “Athena has sent me, she has advised me to talk to my father, about what I’m not sure of, but I know it will come to me. I have also come to see Hecate at the crossroads, and to seek guidance from my father and anybody willing to offer it regarding my dear friend Annabeth who has grown terribly ill.” I say, gritting the words between my teeth. I feel Jade shuffle over to stand right behind me, and I relax a little as she slips her hand into mine, squeezes it really quickly and lets it go. Best not to show a weakness, and if they thought that they could use us against each other, it wouldn’t be helpful. “Annanbeth chase? Your brother’s girlfriend? Daughter of Athena?” Rhadamnthus asks Jade. I tense up but don’t move, Rhadamanthus was the kind one, who overlooked Elysium, if anyone would let us through it was him. “Yes” we both answer at the same time, and I tense up even more. I feel Jade stiffen and look down, and I knew she was biting her lips to keep from saying anything. I should have known better than to bring her here, she was not the kind person that you could ask to stay quiet. “Do you have any idea what is wrong with her?” Aeacus asks, and I shake my head. Minos rolls his eyes and sighs. “Very heroic of you Nico di Angelo, especially given to your past with her best friend, one of the huntresses” I tense up again, which Minos’ note, and he smiles again. I feel Jade tense up behind me, and look up past my shoulder. “Don’t tell me, my prince, that you haven’t told your girlfriend about Thalia?” he asks. “Of course he has” Jade says stepping forward, and it took me all resolve not to grab her. “Jade stop.” I threaten, and she grimaces, realizing she had forgotten her instructions, and stepping back. “He may have told you her story, but not their story.” Minos continues, looking at Jade. I knew she could take care of herself, that she could handle some threats and creepy stares, she could handle a lot more than I could. But at that point, I almost burst. “Do you know how to help her or not!” I command out through my teeth. Minos cocks his head and smiles again. “No” he answers, and I deflate. “I have something better.” He says, and takes an object out of his pocket, a small little vial, filled with milky white liquid. “Pure substance from the river of lamentation, takes centuries to process, and I have only a couple of vials left.” He says, and I instantly grow suspicious. “How the hell is that supposed to help me?” I ask. “it wont, not initially, it needs another ingredient. A drop of blood from a chosen one. Mixed with blood from a huntress, well I couldn’t imagine the miracles this could bring, including bringing your friend back to life. Of course, I believe Thalia would be more than willing to give her blood for Annabeth, but for you, that might be a little trickier.” “Why should I believe you, how do I know you are not just giving me poison?” I ask. “Bring it to Hecate herself, she well assure you that along with the blood, it will do more than what is necessary to save your friend.” He persuades us, with an indifferent air. I rake my head for a decision, a plan, I needed to help Annabeth, the last time I saw her she was so near death I could feel her soul being pulled to me. It made me run out of the room. “What do you want for it?” I ask, raising my head. “Your ring” he says. “No deal” I reply immediately. Jade tenses beside me, but she breathes out, reassuring me she agreed. He smiles again. “I don’t think you're in any way to make compromises Son of hades” he says. “Too bad, I’m not giving you the ring, what else do you want for it?” He thinks for a moment, then looks behind me, directly at Jade. “Her blood” he answers. Everything is dead silent for a while. “No way in hell!” “Deal!” We both answer at the same time. Then we look at each other. “Jade what the hell are you doing, he could kill you with your blood, he could make you into a zombie, he could do endless un-imaginable things to you.” “I’ll do anything to save Annabeth.” “I’m right here” Minos says in a sing song voice, swinging his glass of wine in his hand, the dark red liquid spilling out and dripping on the white marble floor. The other two men had grown bored and were sitting on their thrones again, looking in their cups of wine, which somehow had seemed to turn darker and thicker. I was beginning to see things. “I don’t want her blood for power or control over her. I simply want to taste it.” He states. I step back repulsed and throw an arm in front Jade as if that were enough to keep her safe. “Wine loses its flavor after a while, it loses its interest, its pique, and so, my brothers and I have been experimenting lately. Using all sorts of hero blood, mortal blood, god blood, but nothing has tasted quite right. Now I’m sure, the daughter of Poseidon would taste delicious, salty, fishy, I can almost feel the breeze on my face right now. Is she usually like that” he turns to me, “so intoxicating.” He smiles, his eyes lighting up with vulgarity, and in my mind I saw myself going up to him and clawing them out with my own fingers, laughing as the blood dripped down my hands and covered my ring while Jade screamed for me stop behind her, begging me to let him go, while his brothers tried to wrestle me off but nothing would stop me from making him pay for looking at Jade with those eyes. “Because if she is, I have no trouble understanding why you're so madly in love with her.” I ignore his comment. “It’s not happening” I answer. “Relax, your highness, I can promise you I will do nothing to control her, take advantage of her, or anything similar to those aspects, I just want to taste it. While we’re at it, I wouldn’t mind tasting yours as well, I bet it tastes musty, old, since you were born in the seventies, an aged delicacy.” He adds, turning his face as he salivates. “Swear it on the river styx.” I say, the only thing I could think that would calm me. He rolls his eys and sighs again nods. Shaking my hand and agreeing to not to absolutely anything to harm her or else he shall be bathed in the river of styx for the rest of eternity. A loud thunder clap made the agreement official, and I stepped up first. “You may have thought quick enough to get me out of tricking you, but trust me, your father will not fall for something as simple as a river styx agreement.” He says, making a small sharp knife appear out of thin air in one hand and an empty wine glass in another. “We’ll see about that” I say, holding my wrist out, watching as the blue vein popped regularly with my beating heart. He nicks me so quickly I have no time to feel pain, and collects a few tablespoons of blood before the incision healed itself leaving only a small white scar that would haunt me forever. Jade stepped forward and Minos brought forward a separate but identical empty glass. A grinning skull was ingrave in the otherwise flawless glass, it’s empty eyes mocking me at my vain attempt to bring Jade in without harming her whatsoever. I was afraid that since she wasn’t a child of Hades she would bleed for longer. But when he nicked her, she didn’t even flinch as I had when he cut her, I was surprised to see that she bled a little less than I had before healing herself. She was using her powers, and I really wish she weren’t because she couldn’t afford to lose any energy. But it was over and Minos held the glass up to inspect the red blood, the skull looked even more menacing as it protruded with her blood. It shined like rubies, and turned my stomach upside down. Minos brought both glasses towards his brothers. “Is hecate here?” I ask, wanting to leave before I watched them drink our blood. “She is everywhere and nowhere son, you know that.” Minos answers, sniffing Jade’s blood, a sleepy smile of pure pleasure washing over his face. “Yes, she will do,” he mutters to himself. “The vial” Jade says stepping up, her hand out, I could see the white scar shining brightly against her tanned skin, identical to mine, tieing us together forever. I just wished she would forgive me one day. Minos snaps out of his dream and muttered, yes yes, grabbed the vial from his pocket, and placed it in Jade’s hand, then turned back to our blood without another word. I started forward and moved out of the courthouse. “Do your jobs men!” I say before I walk outside. The warm dead deceased air surrounding me again, it was almost humid. “Jade I’m so-“ I begin pleading. “Save it!” she says, putting her hand up and cutting me off, placing the vial in her backpack and looking me in the eye. “Its ok Nico. You were brave. I have never seen anyone stick out for me like that. Thank you” she says, a small smile on her lips. “Now we just have to find thalia when we get out of here get her to give us some blood, and get you to tell me what happened with her” she says, the smile staying on her face so I knew she was joking. “Thalia is history” I say stepping forwards and holding her arms, placing my forehead on hers. “I’m going to get you out of here, I swear” I say, in my most sincere voice. She relaxes and smiles up at me, nodding her head. She trusts me, and I almost wish she didn’t. I almost wish those big black eyes weren’t my responsibility. I take a deep breath and turn around, taking in the scenery, my home, where I belong. It was a wasteland. The black land was covered in transparent milky white spirits, the ground was cracking and oozing with lava. The air was toxic and thicker than ever, and the smoke stung my eyes. Something was off, something was terribly wrong. We start the long descent back down the entrance, and when we finally get to the bottom, it takes us a second to catch our breaths. “Which way?” she asks, and I smile, because that’s exactly what I needed. There was shimmering light, and the smell of pine tree before woman appeared standing in front of us. “That is always the question child” Hecate says, nodding her head to us. Jade and I both bow respectfully, and wait for the goddess to continue. “You have been searching for me, Nico di Angelo, I find your search admirable. And I find you wise beyond your years for knowing something is happening, but there isn’t much I can tell you child” she says nodding to me. “There has to be something I can do, Hecate. The mist is getting dangerously thin. Heroes depend on the mist, it’s why my friend Kelly was killed, she was put in danger, the mortals were too terrified to move because they could see right through the mist” “You think I don’t know that!” the goddess yells, a cloud covering her face for a millisecond and left her second face. “How may we offer you our services goddess” Jade says stepping up and bowing. We were both terribly bad at bowing and showing mercy and respect, but Jade was a girl, and an innocent looking one at that. People couldn’t help but love her. “Jade Rhodes, daughter of Poseidon” Hecate says, switching to her third face, watching her with a cold distance. “If you want to know how you can help, it will be much more then a simple remedy. There are many steps if you want to restore Olympus back to its great power. Including closing the doors, traveling to Greece and Rome, restoring the mark of athena, and many lesser battles as well. The two of you have many decisions in front of you, and truthfully I believe you have one of the worse fates. “Nevermind that now” she says changing back to her first face. “I have the most hope in you two, especially since you are the only ones to have noticed something wrong, and better yet have come to try and find me. And for that, I have a reward for you” she says, and holds out a Honda Civic car key made out of ice. “if either of you get separated, and wish to find the other, just break the key, and I’ll appear to aid as much as I can” she says, and holds the key out, neither one of us takes it. “There’s only one” I say. “Yes, but you must trust your partner, or your partner must trust you, that you will use it only when you need it the most.” She says. “Take it jade” I say, looking over my shoulder at her. She seems shocked at first, then questionable. “Out of the two of us, you are definitely the most trust worthy, you know how to use your head, and you're the least liable to lose it” I say, and one side of her lips turn up in a smile, as she steps forward to take it. “But before I give you this, I need a favor” I knew this was a trick, you can never trust a god. “The cornucopia, it’s magical, once you find it, just call for me, and I will receive it, it is rightfully mine. You will also be helping your own cause by this, I have reason to believe the cornucopia will restore me enough strength to thicken the mist at least around the places that need it the most, like camp half blood for instance.” she adds. “And why should we trust you?” I ask. “You will just have to son of hades, and trust me, you want this key.” “After we close the doors, will you come to us once again?” She seems a little thrown off by the question, but blinks it out. “life is full of choices, but if the ones taken lead to it, then yes, I will show up once more, not specifically to you, but to the ones in your group, and you will need the help that I may or may not provide” she says. I think over my choices, and nod to Jade as she reaches to take the key once more. “What is a cornucopia, and where will we find it?” she asks, pocketing the key, it shimmered once before falling deep in her pocket. “It will be in the arms who you know you should not despise, and yet it is difficult.” She says before disappearing, leaving us at a crossroads. “Why do I feel like were walking right into a trap” she says, shivering. I chuckle lightly. “That’s because it[s exactly what’s happening, and we haven’t even gotten to the punch line yet” I say, running a hand through my hair. “We’re going to be ok right Nico?” she asks, her innocent look gone, she had toughed u, ready for the last step, for my father. “We’re going to be just fine. Just get ready” is all I say before taking the one to the right and walking down the slopey hill towards my fathers palace.

Notes