TERRIFIED . . . annabeth chase

one.

VALENTINA ROSALES DID NOT expect to be standing next to Nico di Angelo during dinner after the battle of the Labyrinth.

He'd pulled her aside to a dark spot at the edge of the Dining Pavilion, and Val felt the power coursing through her veins. It felt too good, but when did anything she did not?

"You're like me," he said to her as soon as she leaned against a column. "Child of the Underworld. I saw what you did in the battle."

"I am," Val fiddled with her necklace, one given to her by Cupid. "Thanatos. And Eros by default, but I always called him Cupid when he trained me."

Nico frowned. "Trained?"

"When children of Thanatos or Eros come along, they are immediately favored by the other god because death and love are very entwined." Out of the corner of her eye, Val saw Percy Jackson staring suspiciously at them. "That's why there aren't many of them, as you can see. So Cupid trained me for a year, brought me to France from Mexico. Helped with my powers from Thanatos and from him."

"Must be nice to be favored by another god," Nico said, though he didn't sound bitter about it. Val didn't know if it was because she was like him, or if it was because it wasn't an Olympian.

"I stopped seeing him after I was ten or eleven," Val continued to fiddle with her necklace. "Zeus caught him. Told him to just bring me to camp already. Cupid did, and Zeus backed off his case and mine. He's scared of Cupid."

Nico snorted. "He should be," he amended, and thunder boomed on the distance, but Val found that she didn't really care much.

"Look," Val said. "As children of the Underworld, the Olympians are going to be cruel to us. I've learned to let it go and embrace life the way that I want to. You've just gotta find out which gods are good to be in favor to, because the twelve aren't going to be much help to us. I'm sure that you have my dads as your good ones. Even if Cupid is cruel sometimes. He's a softie. But love isn't."

Nico nodded, looking bitter. "Love is cruel."

"I think the Underworld children feel it a lot more than the Overworld children do." Val cocked her head over to everyone in the Dining Pavilion. "There are always exceptions. But for the most part, they don't feel emotions like we do. They don't fight like we do. We have to work harder to even be heard, and even then we get backlash."

He sneered. "That's why I hate it here," he said, venom laced in his voice. "They're always talking about us being our backs. Then step away when we go near. It's irritating."

She sent him a small smile. "It is," she said softly. "I know. I don't get it much now, because I've kissed half the people in this camp. Even though some might not have been . . . acceptable, because of laws."

"You mean girls?" Nico asked her, pain clear in his voice.

"No, I can love whoever I want, the laws are stupid, you should be able to love whoever you want. Some people don't get that, though." Val laughed, fiddling with her rings and her necklace. "No, I, uh, mean . . . people too old. Questionable age differences."

"Ah."

"Now I kiss people my own age," Val sighed. "A little younger, a little older doesn't hurt. As long as government officials don't come knocking at my door. I hope not. Considering I never got citizenship here."

Nico snorted, before lapsing into a comfortable silence. Then he asked, "what else did Cupid give you?"

Val smiled wistfully. "Lots of money, just in case," she twisted her rings. "When I was younger, I'd spent a lot of it, but now I don't really. Not anymore." She tried to think. So much of her stuff was from him. "Oh, my pride and joys." She flipped her butterfly knives into the air. One black and pink, the other white and gold. She almost didn't catch the latter, almost hitting Nico's face, and as she caught it a person was right next to her.