Demigod in Gotham

38) the Shadow Man Cometh

Nico wandered the compound, admiring the tunnels carved into the mountain. He knew that it would be a little while before he could travel to their location, but he was hoping he could avoid any run ins with the other team members up until that point. He began to hear the sounds of voices coming down the hall and immediately switched directions to evade them, but he apparently wasn't fast enough as Bart and Jamie tuned the corner, spotting him instantly.

"Hey, ghost guy," Bart called out. Nico knew he probably didn't mean to be rude, but he couldn't help but roll his eyes as he turned to look at them. "Weren't you supposed to go with Alpha squad? Your ride left like 20 minutes ago."

Nico stared at them for a moment, silently cursing himself for not just hiding in Tim's room while he waited. "It's Ghost King, and I have my own means of transportation. I'm meeting them there."

The two shared a look, apparently deciding not to question it, before looking back at Nico with a smile. "Great, so you have some time. Come with us."

The two boys began walking off. Nico was tempted to just shadow travel away, but he was a curious being. After letting out an annoyed sigh he followed them through the tunnels of the cave. Finally they reached their destination in the library where most of the team was already gathered.

"You can help us solve an argument," Jamie said as he gestured towards a book on the table that the others were circled around. "We found this book ages ago on a mission and half of us want to open it, the others don't."

Garf scoffed. "It's obviously cursed or something. Just look at it."

The demigod stepped forwards to better examine the book and he had to say, he got why they said that. It was an ancient looking book made of dark, almost black leather. It had carvings all over it in weird shapes and was held closed by a thick cord wrapped around it. He noticed writing on it and nearly laughed.

"It's not cursed."

All of them stopped their bickering with each other and started at him. "How can you possibly know that," La'gaan said while crossing his arms.

Nico picked up the book, studying the craftsmanship of it as he said, "I would be able to tell if it was cursed. Also because the inscription says it's a book of poetry."

"You can read it?" Jaime stared at him for a a second.

Nico just unwrapped the leather cord and opened the book, flipping through the pages as everyone looked on with horror. "Yes, I can read it. It's in Ancient Greek."

"How do you just casually know Ancient Greek?"

Nico shrugged. "I'm Greek."

Jamie just stared at him before mumbling, "¿Qué está pasando?" (What's going on?)

Nico smirked, immediately glad he spent a lot of time with Leo after the war. "Pensaste que un libro estaba maldito. Te equivocaste." (You thought the book was cursed. You were wrong.)

Everyone just stared at him. La'gaan tried to trip him up by speaking Atlantean. Nico really had no business knowing the language, but it was very similar sounding to Greek and Latin, and Percy had taught him the basics when they were bored one day.

Nico just smirk and said, "I know a little Atlantean too."

It was silent for a moment before Garf bursted out laughing and turned to the others. "I like this dude."

Nico smirked at his statement as he set the book down. He gave them a short nod before turning and going back to his wandering.

He had been wandering for a while when his phone rang. He debated just letting it ring since he didn't want anyone to overheard him, but when he saw it was Hazel, he let out a sigh.