Percy Jackson and the Kane Chronicles: The Beginning

Chapter 8

Carter Kane

I ran around my room, putting on after shave, nice-ish clothes and fixing my curly hair. I looked in the mirror, satisfied.  

As I headed downstairs, I caught sight of Zia. I took a deep breath. She was stunning. She was wearing a beautiful strapless beige dress like the colour of sand with a black faux leather jacket, along with black leather flats (again, not real leather), and her vulture necklace. She caught sight of me and smiled. 

I grabbed our magicians bag and stored them in the Duat. We linked arms and left. We were taking Freak, my flying Griffin, to this amazing little Italian place that just opened. We landed him on the roof of a neighbouring building and gave him some frozen turkeys. Zia and I then proceeded to the restaurant. 

"Reservation for Kane." I said

"Right this way, sir." A man responded, leading us to the table.

Our table had a beautiful view of the Williamsburg Bridge. I only knew it was called that because last year, it said on the news that it had cracked in half because someone put to many statues on it. That was the theory as for how all the statues in New York went missing, and how the bridge broke. 

Anyways, the best view was Zia. We talked for a few minutes before the waiter came to take our orders. We ordered and went back to talking about nothing in particular. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nico walk in with a tall blond guy. They talked to the host and he led them to their table. I was looking at him and I realized just how much Nico looks like Anubis.

"Zia, Nico just walked in. Gods of Egypt, he is like a mini version of Anubis." I exclaimed quietly.

"You're right Carter, I see it now. That must be why Sadie refers to him as Anubis 2.0. I think Walt is jealous of how much he looks like Anubis, mainly because Sadie might be attracted to him."

"I'm not sure if Walt has to worry about him liking Sadie. I mean, look. I'm not sure if they're just friends or if they're on a date." I said.

Zia was about to respond when I looked over my shoulder and saw some weird monster over Nico's shoulder. The guy he was with must be in the bathroom, I thought. I didn't want Nico to realize I was here, but it was that or let him die. I reached into the Duat, pulled out the magic kits and shouted,

"Nico! Look behind you!"

Nico looked around, and finally located Zia and me. When he did, a light blush grew on his cheeks. But he saw I wasn't staring at him, I was staring behind him. He turned around and was face to face with the creature. He didn't scream, he probably couldn't even see it. I was about to jump into battle when Nico looked at me oddly. He looked me up and down, something bothering him. Then he realized the thing was still at his back and he turned.

"Hello. Are you here to kill me, or were you sent to deliver a message?" Why was he talking to it, and how could he see it?

In response, the creature growled.

"Kill me then. Fine, have it your way." Nico said.

He drew something from the shadows and stood up. When he did, I saw the thing in his hand was a sword, black as night. The thing growled again, and leapt at Nico. He seemed unfazed, as if this were an everyday occurrence. He brought up his sword and started advancing. Every time the thing attacked, he lunged, ducked or rolled away. I could see  both of their energy was weakening, but Nico looked like he was about done. As the monster took another leap at him, he raised his sword, killing the monster, but not before its claws sunk into Nico's skin.

He let out a shriek of pain as the blond dude walked out of the bathroom.

"Nico!"  The blond shouted.

He grabbed Nico, apologized to the waiter, who was just bringing them water, and ran outside.

"I guess we should be going to." I said with a sigh.

I gave our waiter a tip as an apology for not ordering anything, and walked outside with Zia. I saw the blond guy in his truck and knocked on his window. He rolled it down and asked me what I needed. I told him we had met Nico today at school and became friends with him. Now, since Sadie did all the talking and questions (plus she was odd and not easy to forget), I mentioned I was Sadie Kane's brother. That cleared his face up a bit.

"Oh. Nico mentioned meeting someone named Sadie and her friends."

"Will he be ok?" I asked.

"He should be fine, but thank you for your concern. Now I really need to get going, so goodbye." He said.

I nodded and left with Zia, but not without looking back. I saw Will kiss Nico and look up at me. He mouthed 'DO NOT tell anyone.' I nodded.

Zia and I got back on Freak and flew home.