Death God Alliance

Chapter 8

"What did you do!" Percy had Riptide out and was ready to see if Celestial Bronze worked on Egyptian gods.

"I assure you, he's perfectly fine," said Thoth. "I merely slipped a little something extra into his lemonade to help assist him in spirit walking."

"What?" demanded Percy. "What did you drug him with?"

"Merely a bit of lysergic acid diethylamide," said Thoth. "More commonly known by its acronym, LSD."

Percy's jaw dropped. He looked down at Nico, who appeared to be in a deep sleep, then back at Thoth and thought about testing out the Celestial Bronze again. "You gave my cousin acid? What in Hades is wrong with you? He's twelve-years-old for the gods' sake!"

"Exactly. The mental acuity needed to consciously will your spirit out of your body is far beyond his grasp. The LSD will aid him with that. He has probably already made it to the Duat, even as we speak, so if you'll excuse me . . ." Then Thoth disappeared. One second he was there, the next he wasn't. There was no fade out or flickering like in the movies and no time for Percy to react and cut off the stupid hippie's head.

"Damn it!" Percy shouted and kicked a desk. It fell over with a monumental crash, but Nico didn't even stir. He returned to his cousin's side and knelt down beside him, checking to make sure he was still breathing and that he still had a pulse.

"Well," said Sadie.

"Shut up," Percy told her.

"Sorry."

"I don't want to hear it." Percy shifted so that he sat beside Nico and crossed his arms, trying to think. The harder he tried to fix things the more messed up they seemed to get. It was hard to believe that only a week ago his biggest worry was passing English. Now he had to figure out a way to help his cousin cheat a prophecy in which he was supposed to destroy the world. We're really in a mess this time, Nico, he thought at his cousin, But I'll get you through it. I promise. And again he had to wonder if his cousin had some sort of telepathy, because at that moment Nico leaned against him in his sleep, his head coming to rest on Percy's shoulder.

Sadie snickered and Percy glared at her. "What?" he asked sharply.

"I was just thinking that from this angle, you two look like brothers," said Sadie. "You've both got dark hair and Caucasian features. But because of that Greek god DNA-less thing, you say you're really not related. While Carter and I don't look a thing alike, even though we're related by blood and have the exact same parents."

Percy shrugged the shoulder that Nico wasn't resting his head against. "Family is family." The words were out of his mouth before he even had time to consider them, but once he did he realized that he really did believe them. Even though family was such a sketchy concept to demigods, Percy wanted to protect what little he had. Or what little he could claim. His mother, of course, and Tyson, the only one of his hundreds of half brothers who he really acknowledged, or in return acknowledged him. His father too, though Poseidon didn't really need his protection. And his stepfather, Paul Blofis, who was becoming the father he always wished he had growing up. And now, Nico . . . The only one of his thousands of cousins and extended relatives who he acknowledged, and in return acknowledged him. He'd still be protecting the kid if they were just friends, and not invoking the family bond that pretty much made it his gods given right to stand beside Nico and help him however he needed it in the normal world. Loyalty was still his fatal flaw, after all. But somehow invoking that family bond made things different in a way Percy couldn't really explain. It made him and Nico closer than mere friends, even if they were best friends, like Percy and Grover were. It made Percy wonder if this was what it was like to have a normal family, with normal cousins.