Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝕃ike a Phoenix

Thalia let out a chilling laugh. "She's dead, Nico."

"No... No, Nicki can't be dead."

"I held her dead body. She died to try and save someone else. She burned herself alive with her own magic, fulfilling her fate."

"No!" Nico's face screwed up as he began to sob.

Percy waited for Nico to scream like he had when Bianca died. He waited for the young boy to lose his cool, but instead, Nico just cried.

The boy was so defeated that he sank to his knees in the middle of the Olympian council. Somehow, Nico's empty sadness was so much worse to Percy than his anger from two years prior.

"Can't you feel it?" Thalia asked, her own tears thick in her words. "She's gone."

"There's nothing to feel." Tears streamed down Nico's cheeks. "She can't be dead. Dad, please... Please do something."

Apollo shifted awkwardly in his seat. Hades glared at the god and shook his head stiffly.

Percy nudged Annabeth. "Did you see that?" The blonde nodded cautiously. "What's it about?"

"I think we're about to find out." Annabeth pointed to the door. A slim boy limped into the room. His glossy black hair stuck out in random places and brushed against his eyes —his eye—, a black eye patch covered his left eye.

"Holy shit." Percy breathed. "She saved his life."

Ethan glanced around the throne room awkwardly. "Um, hi. I'm Ethan?"

The image dissolved in front of Nicki's eyes. She stared blankly at the now empty air. A single tear was all she could force out of her ghostly eye.

Bianca squeezed the girl's shoulder gently. "I know."

"Neeks." Nicki breathed. She rounded on the judges. "Please, please let me go back. Please, I have to. I can't leave him. I can't leave him!"

Jefferson smiled down at the girl. "The laws state that only Hades himself can take a soul from the underworld and revive them."

"Then get Hades down here!" Nicki cried. Her ghostly figure flickered purple for a second.

Minos cracked a taunting smile. He seemed to be enjoying Nicki's devastation, it was like a tv show for his own entertainment. "Lord Hades is otherwise occupied. Yet, even if he wasn't, the injuries you sustained in life are too much for you to survive being revived."

"I believe," A new voice startled Nicki. If her friends weren't holding her up, she would've collapsed on the floor. "That is my area of expertise."

"Oh, my gods!"

Nicki threw her friends off of her and took off running. Stretching her arm out for a hug, the demigod braced herself for impact. Instead, she ran right through the figure.

The girl stared at her body in a panic, she only wanted to hug him.

"You're a ghost, Phoenix. You cannot touch those who are living." Jefferson's tone seemed almost apologetic.

Apollo stretched his back and cleared his throat. A golden parchment appeared in his grasp. "By decree of Hades, Lord of the Dead, Phoenix Kate Driscoll has been incorrectly summoned before the three judges and should therefore be treated by all means necessary to return her to her rightful position. This exchange is made possible by the forfeiting of rebirth by Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, Bianca di Angelo, and Thomas Asher."

The ghosts smiled sincerely at Nicki.

"Surprise!" Thomas whispered, his grin wider than Nicki had ever seen.