The Fate of Olympus | Reynabeth [✓]

10. Camp Half-Blood

They made it to upstate New York without incident, which Annabeth thought almost impossible.

It was a simple matter of hailing the Gray Sisters' Taxi and heading to Camp Half-Blood. They were deposited at the base of Half-Blood Hill at eleven at night. Annabeth didn't relax until they were in the sanctuary of the magical borders of camp.

They waited under Thalia's tree for Nico to show up, hoping that the harpies wouldn't find them out after curfew.

Annabeth sat in meditation.

She focused on her breath. In. Out. Her eyes closed halfway. She was aware of the weight of her body on the grass, aware of the breeze making the trees rustle, but she didn't let her mind linger there. She focused on her breathing.

Annabeth's mind was at ease. She focused solely on her breath and the weight of her body.

Was that why she was so relaxed? Was the meditation doing it, or was she just running away from her problems?

She pulled her mind back to her breathing.

In. Out.

It felt like an eternity had passed because her center of focus had been on her breathing and body, but at some point she noticed the shadows get darker. The temperature dropped. Nico di Angelo, Annabeth thought. Without judging herself for becoming distracted, she ended her session.

She uncrossed my legs and saw Nico leaning against a tree, talking in hushed tones with Reyna.

"Hello, Annabeth," said Nico. His form faded into the shadows, then came back again. He was cloaked in darkness. He was wearing his aviator's jacket and he looked younger than Annabeth had remembered him. Perhaps Tartarus had simply aged him poorly, but he had since recovered.

"Hey, Nico," said Annabeth.

"I only have a few moments with you," said Nico. "You need to get Lou Ellen from the Hecate cabin to cast a time erase counter spell on you, Annabeth. Maybe when you go around the country to talk with spirits, Lou Ellen can come with you, so you have three for the quest."

"What's your lead?"

"The Fates are cruelest to immortal flaws. Ella told me that if you are 'rescued by a friend, the world as we know it will end.' I think that in the coming weeks, Percy will actually face his fatal flaw."

"Does he know that?"

"No," said Nico darkly. "The less he knows about his fate, the better."

"Is he going to...to make it?"

"I wouldn't have told you his fate if I didn't think you'd be the one to escape. You've saved yourself before. You can do it again. That way, Percy won't have to destroy civilization as we know it."

"I'd like that," said Reyna. "For him not to destroy everything. That'd be nice."

"What happened to you, Nico? Why aren't you tethered to a single location?"

"Uh, I started getting suspicious about other gods. Like, on my accidental trips to China, the ones where I started getting close to death, I noticed spirits that seemed different from Greek ones. That's how I discovered the ancient Chinese gods. I didn't tell anybody, but Perseph—the Greek goddess of springtime caught me communing with Chinese spirits. She was very disappointed. She told her father and the Olympians voted to punish me by sending me adrift through time and space. Luckily, darkness is eternal, so I can occasionally pop up at certain times and places where..." Nico started fading back into shadow.

Reyna and Annabeth waited, but he didn't come back. 

~~~

"This is bad," said Reyna, tapping on her sheathed knife. "The fact that the gods cursed Nico for prying around..." 

Annabeth tilted her head toward the heavens. The stars shone bright, which was something that Annabeth loved about Camp Half-Blood more than anything. In the cities, the stars were always drowned out by light pollution. At Camp Half-Blood, there were so few artificial lights that the stars could shine down with their full majesty. Seeing Jupiter and Mars in the sky reminded half-bloods how small they were. 

She and Reyna were both sitting on the crest of Half-Blood Hill, feeling disoriented from their talk with Nico. 

Annabeth picked at the grass. "It might not be the end of the world though. Like, all we have to do is not get caught." 

"Um, hello? Nico is able to shadow-travel. If there was anyone who could fool the gods, it would have been him." 

"Yeah, that was an illogical thing to say. Maybe my fatal flaw really is hubris..."

She and Reyna stared up at the sky. Annabeth wondered how they could escape getting turned into a dolphin by Mr. D or facing millions of cruel, ironic punishments. 

"I need to show the gods that our interests align," Annabeth said. "That's the only way to ensure that we are able to complete our diplomatic mission." 

"Our interests do align somehow. That's why the gods haven't stopped us. It has something to do with the sun at Camp Jupiter," Reyna put in. She pulled her knife out of its sheath and studied the weapon. "It's all connected. I can feel it." 

"But how?" asked Annabeth. "How is the sun at Camp Jupiter related to Norse gods?" 

"I don't know, but we're still alive," said Reyna. "By the grace of the gods, we're still alive somehow."

Annabeth studied the blades of grass that she had lined up on her thigh. "Now that you mention it, my mother does know what we're up to. She appeared to me before we got on the airplane."

"And you still let me get on the airplane?" Reyna said loudly. "We could've been killed!"

"Shhh," hushed Annabeth. "The harpies will eat us if we don't follow curfew."

"When the half-bloods have nothing to eat, they will eat the harpies," said Reyna. 

"What?"

"It's Rousseau." 

Annabeth giggled at that. Reyna smiled, pulling her long braid over one shoulder. She sheathed her weapon.

Annabeth pushed the bits of grass on her leg into a zig-zag pattern. "Uh, the drive to the airport was more dangerous than the flight. Heck, it's probably more dangerous to be here, inside the gods' region of influence, than anywhere else in the world right now." 

"And we're still alive." 

"We're still alive." Annabeth stood, letting the grass fall onto the ground. "Come on, I'm tired. It's time to get some sleep. We can figure out the mysteries of the universe in the morning." 

~~~

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