The Chloe Chronicles: The Lost Goddess

She was gone. The girl, Chloe was gone. Why would his mother, or even Hypnos decide it was so important he watch her die? Nico didn't know how to feel. He was angry at his mother, but he was also saddened at the loss. He never even met Chloe in real life and somehow, it was like he knew her.
Nico moped around the camp the rest of the afternoon. It wasn't like anyone noticed or even cared to even talk to him. After he ate dinner, Nico pulled on his armor and got ready to play capture the flag.
Maybe a little fighting will raise my spirits, he thought. It cannot bring back Chloe's soul, however.
Nico moped so much, he didn't even notice that Percy stood directly behind him, talking to him about something.
"Well?" Percy asked. When Nico didn't respond Percy continued by splashing his face with water.
"What?" Nico sputtered. He glared at Percy who shrugged.
"Why in Zeus's name would you splash me with water?"
"You weren't listening."
Nico frowned, realizing he'd been caught. The last thing he needed was Percy following him around the rest of the day with a worried look on his face.
"I'm kind of..tired today." Nico said, looking down at his shoes.
Percy scoffed. "It might just be me, but you look normal."
"Of course, that's what I would expect you to say..imbecile."
Percy rolled his eyes and started telling him about his plan again. "So the way I see it, I will be needed most in the front to help defend, plus it will allow me to spot specific people I want to take down. I want you to grab a group and rendezvous through the woods, and act as a diversion while I will lead another small team in from the middle."
Nico crossed his arms, and sighed. "You just want to fight your girlfriend don't you?"
"Hey, I haven't sparred with Annabeth in forever! Don't ruin my chances!"
Nico almost grinned. Percy had always tried to make him smile.
"Whatever." Nico said with a straight face.
Percy frowned, noticing Nico had figured him out and walked away, leaving Nico with three Apollo campers and Katie Gardener.
Katie was the counselor to the Demeter cabin, and since Demeter has an old grudge with Hades, (something about stealing/kidnapping her daughter), Katie was always cold to Nico. Nico didn't care, he disliked her just like many of the others.
Once the game started, Nico tried to go as fast as he could through the woods in order to lose the group. He never got along very well with Apollo or Demeter campers. No matter how hard he tried, they stayed right behind him. Nico huffed out angrily, after what he had seen earlier he wanted to be alone.
They started to climb over a tall hill when Katie Gardner squealed with delight. She threw her helmet off to the side and scurried over to a large tree, peering in between the branches.
"What?" Nico asked. "Are you excited we are getting closer to getting pummeled by two war god cabins?"
"No." She snapped. "I saw a field of flowers for your information, that I think we should look at."
"Oh really?" Nico said. "And why should we go skipping in the meadow today?"
"Are those Lotus flowers?" One Apollo camper asked.
Nico turned and squinted at the field. Sure enough, a large patch of lotus flowers were growing in the woods. Nico gulped. He had never noticed lotus flowers here before. No, this was a sign from a particular goddess that something important was over there.
Nico took off his helmet and handed it to an Apollo camper. He shrieked and dropped it. Nico grinned slightly, the metal was infused with water from the river Styx, so it was especially cold.
"You three stay here." Nico commanded, dryly. "Katie, you come with me just in case these flowers are rabid." Nico hopped down off the tall rock and Katie followed him, sheathing her dagger.
As they approached the field, Katie had to stop and stroke every single plant and say Hello. Nico's eye twitched as he got impatient and his ADHD had him look around the field. Right in the middle of the field, some of the flowers were droopy and crushed. Nico moved closer and he almost screamed when he saw her.
As if she was back from the dead, Chloe lay in the field, unconscious.


Nico woke up, lying on the ground with Katie standing over him holding a plant to his nose. Gods, it smelled terrible. He shoved it away and sat up.
"What happened?" Nico asked, rubbing the back of his head.
"You fainted. Do you know this girl somehow?" Katie asked. "Now that I mention it, I have never seen you show actual like feelings before besides you know..neutral."
Nico glared at her and turned back to Chloe. She had the burn on the back of her arm, just like in his dream! Nico was tempted to stroke her blonde hair, but Katie was staring at him.
"What?" He snapped.
"I've never seen you show concern for a living creature."
Nico growled with anger. "Will you just chill?" He snapped. "Katie, I get it. You don't like me. Guess what? I don't like you either! Now let it go, and go get one of those Apollo campers. She needs help."
Katie's eyes widened with fright and she hurried away. Nico smiled to himself. He was told many times that just like his father, he could frighten people away with only a different tone.
Katie came back over to him with one of the Apollo campers, who cracked his knuckles.
"Alright, let's see what we've got here."
The camper felt for a pulse and then started looking for other injuries. When the camper was about to examine what was under Chloe's shirt, Nico held a dagger to his throat.
"Save that for one of your sisters, or I swear, I will cut your throat right now."
The camper gulped, and placed the fabric of the shirt back in it's place. Nico and Katie had already noticed the bruises on her arms. The Apollo camper examined the severity but when Katie asked if that was how she was hurt, he shook his head.
"These bruises were present on her body before she wound up here. I am not entirely sure how they appeared, but it seems to me she was beaten."
Nico grimaced. At least he knew now that his dreams were real, and not fantasies cooked up by a dream god.
The Apollo camper stood up from his position. "She's alive, but she'll need to be brought back to camp to infirmary. She has some severe bruising, 4 crushed ribs, and a minor burn on the back of her right arm. It will be easy to treat and she should be back on her feet by the end of the week."
Nico's eyes widened. He had forgotten about the end of the week. The end of this week particularly was very, unlucky for demigods and he knew from experience.
Gods, I hate Halloween.
Nico shook the thought from his mind and picked up the unconscious Chloe, bridal style.
"I'll shadow travel her to the infirmary. It will be quicker than walking." He said.
The Apollo camper nodded and started walking back towards the capture the flag game. Nico took a final glance at Chloe and quickly ran into the nearest tree.


Nico never thought she would remember him. He was after all very quiet, and it was hard for people to see him in the darkness. They were in the darkness for some time. When he brought her to the infirmary, he got the exact same reaction from the medic on duty, as he got from Katie, which only annoyed Nico more.
"When should she awake?" Nico asked.
"Like my brother said. Sometime over the weekend. She needs to rest right now since her body isn't used to rough combat. Trust me, she'll be fine."
Nico nodded and walked out of the infirmary when he noticed a small silver compact lying on the floor. Curious, he walked over and picked it up. The cylinder tube was around the length of a pen and it had curly waves etched into the side. The name Chloe, was written in Greek on the side of the tube.
"Breathtaking weapon isn't it?"
Nico turned and saw Chiron, the centaur sitting peacefully in his wheelchair, sipping cocoa. The centaur patted the seat beside him and Nico's mouth curled up a tiny bit.
Nico was quite fond of Chiron. The centaur hardly ever bothered him, and he didn't mind when Nico asked to come and go as he pleased. Chiron also respected Nico for the demigod he was, which no one really did.
Nico sat down and Chiron smiled, pleased with his decision.
"Chiron." Nico said. "How much of that did you see?"
"Plenty to show that you are like everyone else here. I think it was very..heroic of you to bring that young lady here."
Nico nodded and held up the tube. "You said something about this?" He asked.
"Ah yes. A weapon, disguised as a simple tube of lipgloss. Much like other compact weapons of its kind, it has a mortal shield, to hide its real appearance."
"Like Percy's pen?"
"Yes."
"Well how do you know so much about this particular tube? There are others like it I have seen before."
Chiron smiled and sat back in his chair, and Nico focused in on the centaur's face.
"Long ago, there lived a ruler in Greece who owned a blade that could elongate into a sword, turn into a spear and shrink into a dagger. This King's palace was raided and the blade was taken. This particular king, was very powerful indeed, so he placed a curse on the blade. Whoever possessed the blade, would have to kill one person with the weapon or they would be cursed with eternal damnation and would have to wander the world forever. So, the curse was placed and the blade has traveled the world for centuries, winding up in different countries until it came over here to the United States during the revolutionary war."
"So, how come it has Chloe's name on it?"
Chiron raised an eyebrow. "Her name is Chloe?"
"Yes."
The centaur nodded and cleared his throat. "Around 86 years ago, the blade was found by a camper who was cleaning weapons. The oracle of the time, told us that 86 years from that very date, the blade would choose it's next wielder. This weapon chooses it's victims and their names appear on the hilt, or tube. The blade never chose another a person, for 86 years. I was very worried because a week ago, it went missing where I kept it in my office. It shouldn't end up in the the wrong hands."
Nico sat there and looked at Chloe's name. How was she going to handle this when she awoke?
"Chiron, who is going to explain the weapon..curse to her?"
Chiron sighed and sipped some cocoa. "I was hoping you would."
Nico looked at him, and started to think. We could be friends, both of us know each other somehow.. He bit his lip and ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. How did Nico know he wouldn't be the one to be killed with the cursed weapon in his hands?
Nico shook his head no, repeatedly. "No..I can't. I'll just leave this here, Will or Sadie can explain it to her. I don't want to talk to her." He put the weapon in Chiron's hand and got up from his chair walking towards the door.
Chiron stood up from his own chair and put his hand on Nico's shoulder. "Nico, don't leave this young lady alone."
"She'll do fine." Nico said. "There are plenty of other people around here for her to talk to besides me."
He marched out of the infirmary and ran to his cabin, not noticing an unconscious Chloe, crying in her sleep.


Just as the camper predicted, the weekend came, and Nico was antsy.
Surely she was up an hour ago, He thought.
Nico knew he would run into her eventually, but he didn't want to think about it. It was going to be tough trying to avoid her. Nico walked to the mess, ready for his morning chat with Percy and the others as the day begun. As he entered the dining hall, it silenced as he passed certain tables and a few insults were muttered, as usual.
"Good morning sleeping beauty." Percy said, smiling at Nico.
Nico sipped a cup of coffee and grunted in response.
"How did you sleep?"
"Usual night. I had a weird dream again."
"Do-"
"No." Nico said abruptly, knowing what Percy would ask. "It is something I would prefer to keep private."
Percy held up his hands and shrugged. "Okay."
Nico chuckled and drank more of his coffee.
"What?"
"It's funny how you haven't learned yet. I am a private person you know."
"Yeah, I get it." Percy said. "You don't need to give me that normal speech."
Nico rolled his eyes a drank a sip of coffee.
"I heard about that girl you brought to the infirmary."
Nico's eye twitched. It had always been a little quirk of his when he heard something he didn't particularly like.
He set his goblet down slowly and looked up at Percy. "Katie told everyone didn't she?"
Percy nodded. "I'm proud of you though. You saved someone from death, seeing as you are who, you know, you are."
Nico smiled, falsely. "Thanks."
Percy picked up his goblet and drank some juice. "I hear her condition worsened."
Nico dropped the piece of toast he was currently biting and stood up. "I am going to murder Will Solace!"
"Woah! Nico! Chill out! She's fine, I lied to see your reaction. Will mentioned to me yesterday that she is safe, and being watched over."
Nico glared at Percy and sat back down at the table. He picked a pomegranate from the bowl, and brushed it off with his sleeve. As he sliced the fruit open he glanced over at Percy, who was shining his pen with a napkin. His face wrinkled with concentration and his nose was scrunched up in a ball.
"Where have I seen that before?" Nico asked.
"What?" Percy said, looking up.
"Nothing. I'm just thinking out loud." Percy nodded and looked back down at his sword. Nico squinted again and then a flash appeared in front of his eyes as if the memory was happening in real time.
Chloe, had the same look of concentration when she was trying to pick the lock of the study when her ugly cousin shut her in.
Nico realized why Chloe looked so familiar.
Chloe looked so much like Percy. It was as if you gave Percy blonde hair, a much younger Percy though. They had the same curved chin and sparkling green eyes.
"Nico?" Percy said. "Earth to Nico!"
Nico shook his head and noticed Percy was staring at him, along with Annabeth who quietly sipped some coffee.
"What are you doing over here?" Nico grumbled.
Annabeth frowned and gave him a glare that knocked Nico out of his bad mood. One thing Nico would never admit out loud, Annabeth Chase could scare him.
"Sorry, I...uh..thought you were your brother."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "There is an obvious difference between us. Andrew would not be sitting over here."
Nico grinned. "Touché."
"I was wondering if you had noticed any weird changes lately." Percy said. "The surf has gotten rougher. It's as if Dad is impatient about something."
Nico shrugged. He didn't feel like talking.
"I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. Maybe it's just me." Annabeth said.
Their voices seemed to fade as Nico stared into his goblet of diet coke. Even he hadn't noticed anything odd, he was just to focused on having feelings for a girl he hadn't even met in person.
Nico suddenly felt a chill, as if a strong presence was nearby.
There shouldn't be any shades here, he thought.
Nico looked up from his goblet and turned towards one of the pillars close to the coffee bar. His eyes connected instantly with her bright green and a feeling of dread washed over him. Chloe was awake.

Notes