Chapter Text
Part 1: Titan's Curse
Nico was convinced their new vice principal was going to eat him. No seriously. He didn't care what Bianca said, the creepy old dude was definitely prowling around the gym looking at the students as though they were delicious pastries lined up on display in a bakery window. By the way his eyes narrowed on Nico, 12 year old boys were probably his favorite flavor. Okay, almost 12 years old, his birthday was coming up next month, but even that wasn’t fast enough. He'd spent the better part of the last week begging Bianca to get him the newest Mythomagic expansion as an early birthday present but she was refusing to budge.
"Nico, it's $75 and you need a new coat more than you need more silly cards." Bianca rocked back on the bleachers, throwing her hands in the air for emphasis. Despite the cheerful atmosphere of the dance she seemed on edge. Her dark green hat hung halfway in front of her face and she kept looking around it nervously.
"They're not silly! They're cool!" Nico argued, pulling a deck of Mythomagic cards out of his pocket and shuffling them between his hands. The movement of the cardstock between his fingers was reassuring in all the commotion of the gym.
Bianca sighed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that.” She rubbed between her eyes in a gesture that made her look much older than her mere 14 years. “I just think we need to be careful how we're spending money. You just got a new set two months ago."
"But that was the Nordic set, this is the Africanus Extreme expansion! There's like a dozen new monsters! Please, please? It can be for Christmas and my birthday and I promise I won't complain about being cold once!"
"Nico..." Bianca gave him a weird expression. He wasn't really sure what it meant. Maybe it was like she was disappointed - but not with him, with something bigger that she thought he wouldn't understand. She'd been making that face a lot lately.
Nico glanced around the room as he fidgeted. “He’s gone.” He said abruptly.
“What?”
“Dr. Thorn, he’s gone.” He said again, a bit of excitement creeping into his voice.
“Not this again. Nico, the vice principal does not eat people.”
“But -”
“Just like the bus driver didn’t have horns and you did not see a mermaid at the beach last summer. Nico, I love your imagination, but sometimes you need to stay focused on what’s in front of you.”
“But Bianca, it’s like he disappeared - like poof!” Nico attempted to shuffle the cards faster but fumbled, causing a small explosion of cards in front of him. Some fell through to the floor. He giggled, “Oops”
Bianca sighed again, “Nico…”
“I’ll get them, I’ll get them” He said, waving her off. He climbed down the few bleachers and picked up the fallen cards then headed around to the back of the bleachers to collect the few underneath their feet. As he shuffled the last one into its rightful place in the deck, he stood up only to be looking up into the face of Dr. Thorn.
“Hello there” Dr. Thorn grinned, a cruel too-wide smile perfect for taking bites of little boys’ arms. Nico opened his mouth to cry out but Dr. Thorn was faster, reaching around his head to cover his mouth and hold him down. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to eat you, at least not yet. ”
“Nico?” Bianca called above them. Nico squirmed and tried to get her attention, but Dr. Thorn’s grip on his mouth was firm.
“I’ll have to thank that Jackson boy. With all his staring, he made it quite obvious you two are the demigods I was looking for.” Even as Nico struggled against the creep’s grasp, questions popped into his head, Jackson who? Demi- what? Keeping his hand over Nico’s mouth, Dr. Thorn hefted Nico under his arm and leaped up to the bleachers towards Bianca.
“Ni-!” Bianca cried. That was all she could get out before she was also in Dr. Thorn’s grasp, his other hand grabbing the back of her collar. She stumbled toward him, her hat toppling off her head. Nico shoved the deck of cards haphazardly into his pocket and tried to reach out to her, but Dr. Thorn just jerked them towards the back of the gym and out the door. Moving with unnatural speed, he dragged them down the hallway towards the entry hall.
“Hey ugly! Where are you taking us?” Nico called up to him.
“Nico!” Bianca hissed. Nico couldn’t help it, he was curious.
Dr. Thorn didn’t answer, maintaining his frightening pace down the corridor. “And what did you call us? Demigods?” Nico stumbled forward, Dr. Thorn’s tight grip on the back of his neck was the only thing keeping him from tripping over his own feet.
“Nico! Shut up!”
Dr. Thorn tossed them roughly onto the floor of the entry hall. Bianca got to her feet quickly and made to put herself between Nico and their captor. As he straightened up, Bianca hurried over and stomped on his foot. He grunted and looked up at her incredulously, “You little brat.”
He shoved them both back against the wall as he stepped back, just barely into the shadows cast by the dim moonlight filtering into the hall. As he stood to his full height, dark shapes moved behind him and Nico heard a strange scraping sound along the floor.
“Hey!” Nico started to push himself forward.
With speed Nico could barely comprehend Dr. Thorn was looming over them again, “Be quiet, you!” His face was a twisted mask of what it had been moments before, unnaturally pointy teeth bared down at them. Nico’s heart hammed against his chest. Bianca grabbed his hand and silently pulled him towards her.
Across the hall they heard the muffled sound of running footsteps and a door creaking open. Dr. Thorn threw them another threatening glance before leaping upward and crouching in the shadows, out of view of the door. Did he just fly over there??
Through the door came a boy near Bianca’s age, wearing a dark blue winter coat over an orange t-shirt. He looked around the room frantically until his eyes settled on them. In his hand was - Nico’s eyes widened - a glowing bronze sword.
“My name’s Percy” he said as he approached them slowly. Nico found he couldn’t even open his mouth to speak. Next to him, Bianca trembled. “I’m going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe.”
Percy’s eyes made the smallest of flickers towards Bianca's hands before he whirled around and was knocked backwards into the wall next to Bianca, a dark foot long spike pinning him to the wall by his coat. He thrashed his sword around trying to reach an invisible opponent. Cold dry laughter came from Dr. Thorn’s dark corner.
“Yes, Perseus Jackson. I know who you are.” Dr. Thorn approached them, looking more ghoulish than ever. He calmly closed the distance as Percy continued to struggle. “Thank you for coming out of the gym. I hate middle school dances.”
Percy swung his sword again and there was another hissing whiish . Bianca jumped, a new sharp dagger-like thorn pierced the wall near her face. Percy winced as he tried to pull himself free from the wall. Nico couldn’t keep his own hands from shaking.
“All three of you will come with me,” Dr. Thorn said, plucking the thorn pinning Percy down from the wall. He stared at each of them in turn, “Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw.”
Nico trudged quietly behind Bianca as they followed Dr. Thorn out to the school grounds and made their way to the woods. This new guy, Percy Jackson, followed behind them. He seemed to be mumbling to himself like he was trying really hard to remember something.
“What are you doing, Jackson?” Dr. Thorn asked as he started to lag behind. “Keep moving!”
“It’s my shoulder. It burns.”
With an exasperated sigh Dr. Thorn continued forward, “Bah! My poison causes pain. It will not kill you! Walk!”
Did he just say poison? Bianca could blame his imagination all she wanted, but that didn’t change the fact their vice principal had suddenly decided to kidnap them! If they made it to some spooky lair with a giant pot of broth already simmering, Nico was definitely going to tell his sister I told you so. Right before he became the main ingredient in Nico-stew.
So far that seemed the most likely outcome. Dr. Thorn had even managed to wrangle another sword wielding captive to round out his food groups. Heaven forbid he didn’t get his required daily servings of pre-teen for a balanced diet. Yet this Percy kid said he was going to take them somewhere safe, and he didn’t actually seem to be as injured as he was trying to sound.
Nico kept his eyes focused on the back of Dr. Thorn’s head. Out here, he certainly looked human, but he could have sworn he had seen the shapes of wings behind him in the entry hall.
“There is a clearing ahead” Thorn called, “We will summon your ride.”
“What ride?” Bianca demanded, “Where are you taking us?” She continued to keep Nico behind her protectively, keeping him out of Dr. Thorn’s line of sight. Nico didn’t like how small it made him feel. He should be the one protecting her.
“Silence, you insufferable girl!”
“Don’t talk to my sister that way!” Nico managed, his voice wavering. Dr. Thorn made a low growling sound that made Nico sink back behind his sister. They headed further and further into the forest, picking their way over fallen logs towards the edge of the forest where Nico knew their path would end at a cliff. Usually he loved tromping around the forest just outside the school grounds, swinging stick-swords like a mighty hero or creeping through the brush like a clever spy, but tonight was different. The surrounding area was silent, as though the creatures were holding their breath so as to not draw attention to themselves. Nico reached into his pocket for something familiar and reassuring, one of his Mythomatic figures.
As they made it to the edge of the cliff, Bianca steadied Percy as he stumbled. Nico could barely catch their low voices.
“What is he?” Bianca whispered, a tough look in her eyes, “How do we fight him?”
If Percy knew he didn’t say so. The longer they stood here in the cold with the waves crashing below them the more nervous Nico felt. He passed the figurine between his hands to simply give them something to do, “I’m scared.”
Bianca made to wrap her arm around him but stopped as Dr. Thorn yelled, “Stop talking! Face me!” They obeyed. He mumbled into a small thingamajig while Percy eyed the drop behind them. Was he going to jump? Was he crazy? No one could survive that fall.
“By all means, Son of Poseidon, Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself.” Dr. Thorn called to them as he put away the device.
“What did he call you?” Bianca asked. Nico didn’t hear the reply. He was too busy eyeing the area behind Dr. Thorn. He was sure now, Dr. Thorn couldn’t be human and there were definitely wing-like shapes looming behind him. A third shape behind him moved swiftly and flicked something toward them as another thorn whizzed past Percy’s ear. Nico stared up at him in awe as he gritted his teeth and gave Dr. Thorn a fierce glare.
Vaguely, he was aware of his sister still talking to their captor, trying to stall. “Who wants us?” she demanded, “Because if you think you’ll get a ransom, you’re wrong. We don’t have any family. Nico and I … We’ve got no one but each other.”
Nico tore his gaze from Percy to stare at his sister in wide eyed surprise. She was right. Ever since they’d been dropped off at that hotel, it had just been the two of them. When they had been taken to Westover a month later Nico had begun to guess, but the thought had been too upsetting to say out loud. This was the first time he’d heard either of them admit it.
They were alone. They’d not seen or heard from their parents in months, only lawyers and school officials who looked at them with bored blank expressions. Now that he tried, Nico realized he couldn’t even picture what their parents looked like.
The loud repetitive thudding over the cliff brought Nico’s attention back to the clearing. It was coming from a strange contraption hovering in midair. Nico vaguely remembered hearing about machines that were like planes but could just take off straight up from the ground - a helicopter? Was this one those? He suspected it must be the ride Dr. Thorn had been talking about. “Where are you taking us?”
“You should be honored my boy. You have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls.”
Nico stomped his foot, “They’re not dolls!” They’re figurines! And you can take your great army and -”
“Now, now.” Dr. Thorn interrupted before Nico could use some of those words he’d heard the older boys use. “You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well … there are other uses for half-bloods.” His teeth glinted in the moonlight as he smiled, “We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway.”
“The Great what?” Percy asked. At least Nico wasn’t the only one who had no idea what he was talking about. Had Dr. Thorn just called him a half-blood? Half what? They could tell him he was half monkey and he wouldn’t be sure if they were lying. He couldn’t remember.
Nico had a hard time keeping track of what happened next. He remembered being shoved into the snow, the shuffling of more feet, and the swiping of sword blades. At one point he thought someone yelled, “For Zeus!” for some strange reason. All the while the steady thump of helicopter blades thundered in the distance. By the time he pulled himself up there were three new people in the clearing with them and Dr. Thorn, at least Nico assumed it was Dr. Thorn, had grown into the form of a huge lion, wings sprouting from his back and a long thorned tail swishing behind him. One of the newcomers, a blonde girl, was yelling, “A manticore!”
Nico couldn’t believe his ears, “A manticore?” he gasped, a real life manticore?! “He’s got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!” That was all he managed before he felt himself being pushed back into a snowbank.
Once Nico figured out which way was up yet again he was forced to stay on the outskirts, out of the way of the ongoing battle. Another one of the newcomers, a girl with short spiky black hair wearing a grungy army jacket caught the manticore’s tail in the chest and flew into a pile of snow at the base of a nearby tree. Nico made to get up to see if she was alright but Bianca held him back. As Percy charged in her direction, Nico was amazed by how intensely protective he was. Who was this boy?
Percy was trapped now, stuck between the manticore and the approaching helicopter. Nico couldn’t see a way out of this. At least that was until the clear resonant tone of a horn rang through the woods. Dr. Thorn seemed to panic, he stammered out a few words but was abruptly interrupted by the glinting silver arrow now embedded in his shoulder.
“Curse you!” He cried, throwing spike upon spike from his tail into the woods in the direction the arrow had come from. Percy bravely attempted to take advantage of his weakened state with another slash of his sword but he was knocked aside.
Next to him, Bianca gasped and Nico turned to see girls approaching them through the woods, nimbly climbing over logs and leaping down from branches. All of them carried bows, half of them with arrows nocked, their aim focused on the manticore.
“Permission to kill, my lady?” one of these girls asked. The others appeared to look to her for a signal. Nico supposed the silvery headband she was wearing marked her as a leader. The monster wailed and groveled something about Ancient Laws as a final girl made her way into the clearing. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a graceful ponytail with sections weaved together in intricate braids. Nico heard his sister murmur, “She’s beautiful.”
“The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast.” With a nod to the first girl, “Zoe, permission granted.”
The manticore’s eyes flicked to Percy and the dark haired girl, “If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead!” He lunged.
From the other side of the clearing the blonde girl yelled “No!” and ran towards the monster. The girl with the headband called out a warning but it was too late, she managed to climb onto his back and wedge her knife into his neck. A call rang across the clearing, “Fire!”
Arrows flew from all around them, each hitting their mark. One to the neck. A second to the chest. All the while the girl clung to the manticore’s back as he staggered towards the edge of the cliff, “This is not the end, Huntress! You shall pay!”
With a final burst of energy the monster leaped over the cliff, taking the blonde haired girl with him. Nico stared at the place they had fallen. Jjust like that, she was gone.
“Annabeth!” Percy yelled, starting to run towards the edge of the cliff only to be held back by gunfire from the helicopter. Nico ducked back into the snow with the others as the snow around them erupted into a series of tiny geysers of powder where the bullets landed. The only one undeterred was the girl with the ponytail. She stared at the helicopter with a dangerous expression as she called, “Mortals are not allowed to witness my hunt.”
The helicopter exploded, not in a ball of fire but into a flock of dark birds, wings rustling as they fluttered into the night. Nico blinked his eyes repeatedly, not believing what he was seeing. The next thing he knew they were being herded into the center of clearing by several of the girls with bows, Hunters? Percy was frantic, arguing with the auburn haired girl to save his friend Annabeth. A couple of the hunters held him back as a few others helped Bianca and the spiky haired girl to their feet. Other than a quick glance to check that he wasn’t injured, they ignored Nico.
“You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs” The girl was saying to Percy.
“Let me go!” Percy demanded, struggling against the girls’ grasps, “Who do you think you are?”
Zoe stepped forward threateningly but the other girl stopped her, “No. I sense no disrespect Zoe. He is simply distraught. He does not understand.” She looked around the clearing at each of them before settling a cold stare on Percy. “I am Artemis. Goddess of the Hunt.”