Percy Jackson: Time Travel

The Recruitment (Hazel)

Chapter 23: Annabeth POV

While Percy was off being irresponsible as usual, messing with the fabric of time and such, I was off doing much more important things. Things such as messing with the fabric of time, and then resurrecting a dead girl. But to do that, I first had to find Nico, who just so happened to be in a certain hotel that held some pretty bad memories.

The fates had arranged for me to be transported to Lotus Casino at approximately 1:36, and currently it was 1:35. One more minute to go, and I could finally get on with my mission, and then I could...

*Poof*

Suddenly I was right in front of the Lotus Casino, the lights blaring in my face. I walked inside, and had the usual greeting. They asked if I wanted a card - of course I declined, but they still tried to pressure it onto me. I wandered around the casino for a bit, hopelessly looking for a certain DiAngelo whilst trying to deter from being offered a flower.

Eventually I stumbled upon a sight that I never hoped to see, Nico in all pink. Gods, my eyes! Now I know why he chooses black all the time, his skin tone. Well that and the fact that his dad is Hades and Nico is a depressing person in general. But now he was acting like any other kid, annoying adults and eating a crap ton of food.

I began to make my way through the crowd, weaving my way through the museum of the eras. I took approximately 10 minutes just to get out of the crowd and to Nico, until I realized that he was with someone else, Bianca. Now I love her, but I would get nowhere near Neeks with her protection. I thoroughly scanned the room and saw how I could separate the siblings.

Food. And more specifically... cookies.

I took a stash of the flower cookies off the platter, and proceeded to walk towards Bianca. On the way, I took some sleeping powder mixture that Katie gave to me a while back, and sprinkled it on the deserts.

"Hey do you want a cookie!" I yelled over the blaring music. She smiled and nodded as we began to chat, or in our case yell about some random crap. After she finally took a bite, Bianca collapsed into my arms as I dragged her away from the main area of the casino, yet no one seemed to notice.

"Hey Nico, how are you?" I smiled at the kid as I walked towards him.

"Who are you lady?" He frowned crossing his arms.

"I'm a friend of Bianca, she told me all about you and your Mythomagic collection!" I said, trying to seem as genuine as possible.

Nico visibly relaxed, and we started up a basic conversation. I slowly started to walk with him to a more private area, where I hoped to drop the parent bomb. It took a few minutes to get him to warm up to me, but I could tell that he was still a bit suspicious.

"So Nico, I need to tell you something very important, and I need you to really listen to me." I coaxed.

Nico nodded his tiny little head obediently, "What is it Annabeth?"

I gave him the entire "you are a demigod, get over it" speech, and he took it surprisingly well compared to the first time that he got it, which I guess I have to owe to Percy not being here. When I told him who his father was, his mind seemed to click as his attention seemed to snap into place in a second.

"So you need me to get Hazel for the dream team to be united once again." Nico said.

I nodded, not exactly sure at how he got these memories back, but I don't question the Fates and their weird antics. Nico and I snuck out by shadow traveling, and we ended up you know where... a graveyard.

"I just need some gumbo or something for her comfort food, do you happen to have any?" Nico asked, looking up at my with his startling young eyes.

"And why do you assume that I have gumbo?" I questioned, laughing a bit.

"Shut up!" Nico mumbled, shadowing out, most likely to get the gumbo. I sat down to wait for the treat as I started fiddling with my dagger. I took so much advantage over it, and once I lost it in there, I really seemed to miss it.

"I'm back!" Nico shouted, knocking me to my feet.

"What took you so long?" I asked.

"Lines." He said as if that explained everything including the large gash running across his face. I gave him a disapproving glare as he mumbled, "Drakon."

"So are you gonna summon Hazel or not?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"I am, stop breaking my concentration." Nico whisper-yelled.

I backed off as he began his ritual, which I couldn't even begin to explain with its complexity. He make some strange noises as he seemingly danced around Hazel's tombstone.

"Done." He said after a good thirty minutes of monkey dancing. He even had to take a water break after he sacrificed the gumbo all over the grave.

"Wooooo!" I heard a voice scream out behind us. I turned around to see Hazel, her memories obviously not restored yet.

"Hey Hazel, we are going to get you back home." I told the girl, trying to coax her near Nico.

"I'm not a baby you know, and I know who Nico is. Father told me about him a few times." Hazel said dreamily.

"Good for you." I groaned as I grabbed ahold of  Nico's arm along with the newly resurrected Hazel. He shadow travelled us back to Camp Jupiter where we saw Percy and Frank just arriving. They were meeting up with the other three of the seven, so I took Hazel's arm and ran with her.

"Avengers Assemble!" I yelled, crashing into my friends... no my family.