Solangelo 4

Part 31

PERCY

We've moved into a classroom now. Kelly's friends wait outside, blocking the entrance.
'Why are you here, Kelly?' I ask.
'Just wanted to catch up. It's been so long. How are you?' She asks, 'I haven't seen you since...since Tartarus I suppose. Where this lovely little girl stabbed me in the back.' She says, turning to Annabeth.
'My bad.' She says, sarcastically. Nico sits in the corner of the room, his sword on the table, staring at Kelly. He hasn't been quite himself since he saw them all.
'Kelly, why are you here?' I ask again.
'Fine. Fine, you're no fun. We're working for Apollo.' She says.
'You're what?' I ask.
'Working for Apollo. Weedy guy. Curly hair?' She offers.
'Yeah, I've heard of him.' I say, 'why are you...? What?'
'He swore on the river Styx that if I helped him out he'd owe me and my girls a favour when he gets his powers back. Now I might be an evil bitch, but I like the idea of a god owing me a favour.' She says, sitting back.
'What's the job?' Annabeth asks.
'Tell him where to go next.' She says.
'What does that mean?' I ask.
'All I know is that Apollo, Leo and that stupid pretty girl where here and they really needed me to help out. They said that Leo would be back here and he wouldn't remember anything and I needed to tell him where to go next.' She explains, 'he said to tell him to go that Roman camp.'
'They knew he was going to forget?' I ask.
'I suppose so.' She shrugs. We all sit in silence for a moment before Annabeth looks up at Kelly.
'Why are we here then?' She asks, 'why threaten us and tell us that? Why not just go and tell Leo?'
'Well...' Kelly starts, 'That's not a lot of fun and besides, I wanted to see you all again. Relive the good old days. Right Nico?'
Nico is still staring at her, but I can tell he's surprised at his name.
'What are you talking about?' He asks.
'I knew it. I knew you wouldn't remember me. You were so young and so...gay. You never took much notice of me.' She says. Nico's eyes flick briefly to Annabeth and me. I can see him starting to get self conscious again. He hates when the attentions on him.
'I don't know what you're talking about.' He says, in a low voice.
'The labyrinth? No? When you were the bad guy?' She asks. Nico's eyes widen and his face goes white.
'Nico?' I ask. I've never seen him like this before.
'Oh, so you do remember.' Kelly says.
'You were there.' He says.
'I sure was.' She says, 'dammit you guys! I so wish I could kill you all!'
'Sorry about that.' I say, 'but we're going to head off now.'
'I don't know.' She says, 'he was pretty certain I couldn't hurt Leo. But he didn't say anything about the rest of you.'
'I thought we all knew that if you tried it wouldn't end well for you.' I say, slowly, preparing for another fight.
'Ah, but what a way to go.' She let's out a harsh scream and throws herself at me, clawing and scratching. The others girls come in from outside and join in the attack.
I throw Kelly to the floor, and Annabeth takes over. She stabs her over and over, but I can't keep track on how she's handling Kelly as two more girl start attacking me. The other two are on Nico.
I swing riptide and cut off one of the girl's donkey leg, and thrust my sword into the chest of the other. They're down in an instant.
'You okay?' I ask, Annabeth, helping her up from the floor where she's just taken down Kelly.
'Fine.' She insists.
'Nico?' I call over, hurrying over to him. He's hunched over on the floor, breathing heavily, 'Nico what's wrong?'
'Percy, I think he's having a panic attack.' Annabeth says, 'go find Will.'
'What?' I ask, looking from her to Nico.
'Go find Will. He'll know how to help.' She says, pushing me out the door, 'hurry.'