Nodding in agreement, the three headed back up to Percy's bedroom where the rest of their belongings were all laid out. The pair of clothes they had taken with them from home and a small amount of toiletries that they would need for tomorrow's trip, along with a few toiletries that Percy didn't bother unpacking just yet, were packed up and placed neatly on top of his bed while the others grabbed their luggage from wherever they had stashed it before leaving earlier that morning. When everything was finally packed up and put away in its place, Percy led the way out to their room where he grabbed a small duffle bag each of them, slinging one of them around his neck. Then, he grabbed the rest of the stuff that they would need while Nico took care of the kitchen and made sure they got a ride to the bus stop before grabbing their tickets and heading out, heading towards the bus stop where they would get on for a brief ride to Camp Half Blood. They boarded the bus shortly after, sitting near one of the window seats, looking at each other in silence until they heard a familiar voice call out to them.
"Hey, losers! Get over here!" The trio looked up and saw Jason waving them over from the next seat over. "I'm bored," Jason announced. The three exchanged a look then shrugged, turning their attention back to the blonde sitting in front of them.
The bus stopped at the first stop, allowing Percy, Jason and Nico to pile off and walk to their destination, which ended up being a large parking lot located behind an abandoned office building. As they began walking across the parking lot towards the warehouse entrance, Nico spoke up.
"So what exactly do you want us to find out?" He asked.
Jason glanced at Nico. "Well there's this guy called Kronos, or so the legend goes..." He said. "I want you two to take care of him." He finished.
Nico nodded in acknowledgment. "Okay... What exactly does 'take care of' entail?" The blond boy questioned.
Jason turned around. "You know how we have those little blueprints we found when we went through your dad's workshop?" He inquired. Nico shook his head in response. "Well that's because if we can't defeat Kronos ourselves, we can use those plans to get revenge on him, then we can kill him in one blow." Jason explained. "Now, I don't expect either of you two to fight him alone. But if you run into some trouble and you feel like you're going to die, come straight back to camp, okay?" The raven-haired boy ordered. The duo nodded again. "Good, now get inside!" He ordered. Nodding once more, the three teens entered the warehouse building and started wandering around, trying to find an open room where they could see whatever was in there. Unfortunately, it seemed the whole building was empty except for these two rooms.
After another ten minutes of searching through every inch of the building, the three decided to split up and search a different floor. Nico and Percy headed for the left wing of the building while Jason continued towards the right side of the building.
As Nico walked down one hallway, he came across a door that seemed to be slightly ajar, with a dim light glowing underneath. Hesitating to open the door, Nico stood still for a moment, taking deep breaths to calm himself, before reaching forward and pulling the door open, pushing it completely wide open. His eyes widened in surprise, taking in the sight before him. The walls and floors of this hallway were entirely covered in pictures, some hanging precariously from the ceiling, while others dangled precariously from the wall. In most of the photos, monsters were depicted in various poses with their claws poised to attack or slash out. There were also pictures of people fighting monsters, both real and fictional. One photo caught Nico's eye; it showed a woman with long red hair tied back into two ponytails, wearing a bright pink shirt with the words "Cinderella" written in gold script above her breasts. Next to it was a picture of a tall, muscular guy wearing black shorts and a tank top, leaning against a black car with a huge smile plastered on his face. Nico couldn't tell if the guy was smiling at the camera or the girl next to him.
Nico continued to scan the pictures, taking note of the names written above them in neat cursive writing; Gaea, Demeter, Hephaestus, Hades, Persephone, Apollo, Circe, Calypso, Athena, Hephaestus, Zeus, Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes...
He froze when he heard footsteps echoing around the hall, causing his head to snap up, his heart racing as he watched a figure walk up in front of him.
The shadow of a person stepped into view, moving their hand in front of their face to shield their eyes from the harsh overhead lighting. The person moved their arm aside and squinted at the three teens in front of them. Once the figure realized who they were talking to, they let out a gasp.
"Oh my gosh, it's you! You guys are finally awake!" A familiar voice called out. Turning around, Nico noticed Hazel standing behind him, smiling warmly at him. "Welcome back! How did it go? Any trouble?" Hazel asked excitedly. Nico gave her a weak smile.
"Yeah, but no big deal. We managed to find the warehouse, but… well..." He trailed off, gesturing with his hands to the mess of papers strewn throughout the room.
Hazel raised an eyebrow at the piles of papers littered around, confusion etched onto her features. "What happened here?" She wondered aloud.
Leo spoke up this time. "This place is a complete mess," the Latino explained. "We were looking for supplies to build our own weapons, and this place is full to the brim. We figured there must be something in the basement, so we searched for it. But there wasn't anything there, other than all these crazy paintings on the walls and drawings that were stuck to the walls as decoration. And there's nothing down here."
Hazel blinked, a confused expression on her face. "That doesn't sound too bad," she observed. "Do you think there's something else down here? Or maybe there is something."
Before anyone could respond
, a new voice sounded out behind them. "No, I doubt it," the voice stated.
The three teens turned around, coming face to face with the owner of the voice. Her dark hair was curled beautifully around her face, the tips falling gently past her shoulders. Dark green eyes stared intently into the four teenagers, a curious glint in them.
"Well, why don't you try looking in any of the other rooms? Maybe there might be some sort of clue that will lead you to answers." The girl suggested. "Maybe they're down the other end." She added.
"Thank you," Jason acknowledged the girl. After saying goodbye, the group left the area they had arrived in.
Once they reached the other end of the warehouse, Percy motioned for the group to follow him, making their way through a maze of corridors, checking each one of the doors, not finding much, until they reached a locked door with a keypad on the outside.
Percy pressed the key pad and watched as the door slid open revealing several shelves filled with books and scrolls of ancient Greek writing, but it didn't look like much could be discovered from this floor of the warehouse. He frowned slightly and turned around to address Annabeth and Jason
Svätopluk shown to be a cunning, cruel, callous, savage, remorseless, brutal, sociopathic, megalomaniacal, and highly intelligent man who is a determined survivor and a strong leader to those in his group. is extremely delusional and believes that he is almost a messiah and destined to be a leader. He is prone to fits of psychotic rage that often results in extreme physical violence against innocent bystanders.
Annabeth and Jason were quiet as Percy read the message. Finally, Percy broke the silence by asking if there was anything else hidden below. Grover shook his head, pointing towards a sign on the shelf labeled 'Medical Notes'. "There's some information about medicine and medications hidden there," He informed. "But it looks like it may be outdated." He remarked.
The son of Poseidon glanced around the warehouse briefly, noting the few items that lay scattered on the ground that hadn't been swept away by the winds that blew inside of the warehouse. He then turned to Nico. "Anything useful in the other side of the warehouse?" He questioned.
Nico shook his head. "Nothing so far," He replied. Percy nodded understandingly.
"So how about upstairs?" Piper suddenly questioned. Everyone turned to look at the daughter of Mars, who shrugged indifferently. "It seems the best bet."
Chapter 3
Svätopluk was pacing around angrily, muttering things under his breath to himself about demigods, his quest, and the prophecy. This had been happening frequently ever since he first met Annabeth Chase, the daughter of Athena. Ever since he learned of her existence, he has been obsessed with getting to Olympus, claiming his title as ruler of Olympus. He constantly thought of ways he could get there before the other gods were born and eventually, after years of scheming, he figured he would be able to do it. The fact that he had failed already had only made him even angrier.
When he arrived in Camp Half Blood, he had never imagined being challenged so easily. Not to mention being defeated by an eleven year old child of Apollo. However, that wasn't what bothered him the most about his failure to become king, though. No, what bothered him the most was the reason as to why he was still alive. If he had just died, none of this would have mattered.
If he had died before becoming king of Olympus, then he wouldn't have been cursed to roam the world as a monster. Then, he never would have met Nico di Angelo. It had taken months of planning to convince himself to go after the prophecy. It had taken years to build up enough strength to break his curse on himself and to escape the hellhole he created.