Son of Chaos: A Percy Jackson Fanfiction

Sally and Paul

*Nico's POV*

"Before we go to find Percy, I need to run an errand," I said in a low voice.

We were making plans for our side quest, and I knew what had to be done now.

"An errand?" Cathrine asked uncertainly. "Do you want us to go with you?"

I did want her to go with me, but I also didn't want Eli to tag along as well.

"I can only shadow-travel a maximum of two people at a time at the moment,' I lied. "I crash afterwards."

Actually, I'd done more than my share of shadow travelling, it was easy now. But I wasn't gonna say that.

"If you're gonna crash afterwards, someone should go with you to help you out," Cathrine said worriedly.

I could have hugged her. "But what about Eli?" I said. "I was planning on shadow-travelling to Percy's camp after the errand, and meting you there."

I'd planned nothing of the sort. I just wanted to find out if she truly wanted to go with me.

"Oh, Eli can start the journey, and before we shadow-travel to Percy's location, we'll Iris-message him to see how he's going. He pretty fast, and he probably won't get bothered by monsters if he's alone, rather than if he's with you, the son of Hades."

I didn't know whether or not to take that as a compliment or an insult.

I decided on compliment.

"Okay then," I said decisively, trying not to smile. "You and me will go on the errand, Eli can start to Percys location. I have a map here. Percy is the red dot."

"How did you get a map like this? It shows his exact location, even though he's moving around."

"I used to stalk him," I said creepily, trying to hide my smile.

Eli looked at me, kind of scared, trying to tell if I was lying or not.

"He's just kidding," Cathrine said in exasperation. "Don't be ridiculous, Eli."

"Am I just kidding?" I said, sounding surprised. "I thought I was - dead - serious." I laughed at my own pun.

Eli grabbed Cathrine's arm. "You shouldn't go alone with him. He's insane, he might kill you."

Cathrine sighed. "I'll be fine. You worry about yourself, travelling alone. If anyone's gonna be in danger, it's you."

That actually sounded pretty harsh, but Eli took it as a concerned statement, and gave her a hug. "I'll be fine," he said boldly. "I can look after myself."

She kissed him on the forehead. "In that case, we'll - I'll - see you soon."

He blushed, and then nodded.

"Shall we go?" I asked, holding my hand out.

She took my cold hand in her warm one, and then we were shadow-travelling to Manhattan.

When we arrived, Cathrine looked sick. "That was... not fun," she groaned.

She sat down on the tiny stretch of grass and took a few deep breaths.

Then she smiled and looked at me. "You okay, Nico?" she asked.

I remembered I was supposed to feel tired.

"Just... a bit... dizzy..." I lied, stumbling around like I was drunk.

I pretended to trip, and with lightning reflexes, she caught me. "You should really sit down," she said, her voice full of concern.