Bewitched || P. Jackson

𝕄ount Othrys

"Hey, Castellan!" Nicki stepped out of the shadows of the forest, the darkness swirling around her feet.

Just under 5 months since Nicki's quest, she had changed quite a lot. Her hair was longer and fell loose around her shoulders, while the rest of the hair that framed the sides of her face was pulled back into a half ponytail. Her grey streak fell down behind her left ear.

She wore more jewellery than before. In her lobes, she had two sets matching silver earrings with drawn bows and arrows, and lightning bolts. In her left ear, she had two silver helix piercings, with the letters B and N displayed.

She wore a thick leather necklace around her neck, with a charm that looked like a breaking wave.

Her hands were stuffed inside her new, pristine-looking fur-lined aviator jacket. She wore a white hoodie with M.I.T. plastered across it in black lettering. Her black athletic leggings were cut off by black and white converse.

She still wore the same style of eyeliner that Bianca loved.

Luke glanced up at his name. He looked more ill than the last time Nicki had seen him, but he has supposedly died since then so maybe that was it.

He was, surprisingly, alone as he strolled through the forested paths leading up to the Titan palace of Mount Othrys.

"You're uh... Nicki? Right? Thalia's little new friend?"

Nicki shrugged, moving closer to Luke. "I guess you could say that... but didn't you hear the news?"

Luke shook his head, a flash of something crossing his eyes. "What news?"

"Thalia's the new lieutenant of the Hunt."

Nicki's voice was strained and laced with resentment as she spoke. Luke's lip curled.

"Pity. She could've done so well for us."

"Y'know, I was sent here. New camper of the 'minor gods', went on a quest where my best friend died, my close friend died, and my close friend left me. Grew up around the gods, have resentment for my mother."

Luke raised an eyebrow but said nothing as Nicki continued. "The perfect characteristics to spin the story of my betrayal to camp, don't you think? But secretly, I feed information back to camp and where you are and what you do. So I propose a deal, of sorts."

"I don't make deals with demigods." Luke laughed patronisingly. He tried to shove past Nicki. "You're wasting my time and in my way."

Nicki flicked her wrist lazily and Luke shot backwards. His arms and legs were stuck and his body glowed a faint purple.

Nicki smiled and readjusted her black snake ring that curled around her finger. "I wasn't finished."

Luke opened his mouth to say something but found himself unable to make any sound come out.

"I'm getting better at nonverbal spells, as you can see." She gestured vaguely to Luke's predicament. "As I was saying, I propose a deal. I feed camp false information on you and feed you real information on them. In return, I get your lovely company and a nice bedroom."

Luke opened his mouth again, before shutting it. It blinked at Nicki. She waved her hand again, and the glow around Luke's mouth faded.

"You're Hecate's kid, aren't you?" Nicki bowed sarcastically. "She talks a lot about you. Only one of you. That's quite impressive."

"I'm not here to talk about my mommy issues, but just to put it on record, your father? Yeah, he's my great grandfather."

The blonde boy blinked at Nicki, trying to process her words. "So we're related?"