Ancient Reicarnation: The First Daughter

VII. Nico

"Get back!" Nico yelled. He was trying to protect a girl about his age from a Cyclops. "I'm warning you!" The Cyclops laughed.

"I-I thought my scent wouldn't be potent!" the girl said. She was obviously terrified.

Nico shouted, "Okay, on the count of three, I want you to run over to that big house over there. You see it?" She nodded. The Cyclops came charging. "Three!" The girl sprinted faster than any being should.

"Okay..." Nico said, looking at the monstrous figure.

The Cyclops roared. Nico didn't know if it was mute or just didn't know how to speak, but that didn't matter. A eleven-foot Cyclops was charging at him. He tried dodging, but it grabbed him. It grinned and raised its club. "Goodbye, son of Hades!" So it could talk.

"Heads up!" a voice called. Nico turned his head to see one of the Apollo kids, Meg, shoot an arrow into the Cyclops's face. It must have been poisoned, because it fell instantly, releasing Nico.

Nico groaned and shifted into a sitting position. He felt like his ribs had been shattered. He sure hoped they weren't.

"Close call," Meg said. "The girl made it to the Big House."

"Good, 'cause I almost died at the hands of a Cyclops saving her. She should've gotten there safely..."

He ran to the Big House, and Nico got his first concentrated glimpse of her. She had extremely light brown hair that matched the freckles dotting her pale-ish face. She had perfect composure, perfect face, perfect everything, except her clothes, which looked like she'd run across the country. They were tattered, dirty, and damp. Her pale green grape eyes stood out. Bianca would've liked her. "What's your name?" Pandora asked.

"Athalia James, fourteen, daughter of Harmonia," she responded confidently. Her voice sounded like music with a light Irish accent, and it helped Nico relax a bit.

"Harmonia?" Percy questioned.

"Goddess of harmony and concord," Annabeth explained.

"Nice to meet you Athalia, I'm Nico di Angelo," Nico managed to get out.

"Hi," Athalia said, sending him a shy smile. He managed to smile back, though it made his face muscles hurt.

The others introduced themselves. "Mar sin, cad é an áit seo?" Athalia asked.

"Wha-" Percy began, but Pandora cut him off.

"Is é seo Camp Leath-Fola. Ní dhéanann na daoine eile a fhios do theanga," Pandora responded. Nico wondered what they'd just said.

Athalia's cheeks reddened. "Oh, gods," she said. "I'm so used to my native language. How do you know Irish?"

"I travel with Mom a lot, and I have to learn the language of that specific country so that we don't annoy any translators. At least, that's what Mom said. We've been to a lot of countries."

"Really?" Nico said. "Si può parlare Italiano?"

"Sì, posso," Pandora responded.

"Wow," Piper said.

"Well, my first language was Tagalog, then English... yeah..."

"You'll be helpful when we get to Egypt," Annabeth said. "Have you been there?"

" نعم، لدي," Pandora responded. "That means, Yes, I have. I know about twenty other languages, more or less."

"Well," Athalia said. "I come from Nevada." So Nico was partially right about her running across the country. "Daddy, well, he had drinking problemas, so Harmonia led me here."

"How'd you get here by yourself?" Percy questioned. "I mean, with all the monsters."

"I thought my scent wouldn't be strong enough to attract monsters. Harmonia is about harmony, balance. Somewhat important, but not enough to attract a Cyclops or any monster of any kind. Apparently someone told them Kill whatever demigod you see. I don't care. I got to New York City when the Cyclops found me."

Pandora cursed in Italian and turned to Nico. "Sorry about that," she said. "Needed to get it out. But this basically means this person might mean business. After you left to save Athalia, Reyna sent a message that Frank and Hazel will be bringing us some eagles to get us to Africa. They'll be able to get to Egypt, but we'll have to find Leo on our own."

"What'd she say? In Italian, of course." Percy asked.

Nico snickered. "She said F-"

"Never mind!" Pandora interrupted. "We still need to figure this prophecy out..."

"I might be able to help," Athalia said. "I'm an accurate guesser. Did you write it?"

"Yeah," Pandora said. Nico didn't remember that. "I wrote it down a couple of minutes ago, before we IM'ed Leo."

She took out a piece of paper written in Greek. "The second line..." Athalia said. "Blank is trapped by snow's own claim... You guys leave in the morning, right?" They nodded. "Who are you saving?"

"Aphrodite," Piper said.

"Your mom... An bandia an ghrá, " Athalia muttered.

"Love," Jason said. They turned to him. "Aphrodite is the goddess of love, right? And love sounds better than Aphrodite. Love is trapped by snow's own claim."

"And we only know one particular person related to snow," Piper said. "Khione." Jason groaned. "What?"

"She's the one who blasted Leo to Ogygia and nearly froze us to keep us in a meat locker in her Boreas's palace! What else would I be groaning for? That lady is a psychopath. She's almost as bad as Hera."

"Almost," Percy said.

"Well," Nico said, causing everyone to jump. "At least we know another line of the prophecy."

"Children?" They turned theirs heads and saw Chiron at the doorway. "It is almost the curfew. I need you all to your cabins right away. Piper, that Athalia to her cabin."

"Yes Chiron," Piper replied. She motioned for Athalia to follow her and they headed to their cabins, kissing Jason on the cheek as she left. Athalia looked shyly at Nico and smiled. Percy kissed Annabeth on the nose and went back to his cabin, as well as Annabeth and Jason.

"Goodnight, Pandora," Nico said.

"G'Night."

Nico walked back to Cabin 13. There had been some improvements, like the beds for instance. He laid down and fell asleep almost instantly.

If you want the translation of all of the foreign languages, here they are:

Mar sin, cad é an áit seo?
So, what is this place?

Is é seo Camp Leath-Fola. Ní dhéanann na daoine eile a fhios do theanga.
This is Camp Half-Blood. Other people do not know your language.

Si può parlare Italiano?
Do you know Italian?

Sì, posso.
Yes, I do.

نعم، لدي
Yes, I have.

An bandia an ghrá.
The goddess of love.

Thanks!

~Erica