The Truth Behind The Myths

Why Don't I Believe You?

Nico POV

I paused outside Hazel's barracks, wondering if my suspicion was correct. The kid had seemed too good at what he was doing, and even the Wolf House wouldn't have prepared him that much.

"Just get it over with." I muttered to myself before rapping my knuckles across the door.

"Hey, Nico!" Hazel opened the door, grinning. "I thought you were leaving!"

"I'd like to talk to Jack, if that's okay with him?"

"Well I can't answer for him, but he's right here if you'd like to ask." Hazel let me in. "Jack, my half-brother wants to talk to you."

The kid, who was sitting on his bed, looked up. "Uh, sure, what's your name?"

"I'm Nico." I said shortly. "I'd like to talk to you, alone..."

"Okay...I'm not in trouble, am I?"

I shook my head. "No." Unless you know something I need to know.

"Alright." He hopped to his feet. "Where should we go?"

"Follow me." I walked out of the building and headed for the quietest place I knew here.

"Are we allowed to be up here?" Jack asked curiously as I showed him how to climb up the side of the Pluto cabin. "The gods won't smite us for being disrespectful?"

"The gods don't pay as much attention to this camp. Besides, this is technically my dad's temple and even if he wasn't one of the more calm gods, you'd be fine."

"Okay. So what do you need to talk to me about?" He asked.

"How long were you at the Wolf House, kid?"

Jack looked skyward, counting on his fingers. "Uh, about three weeks."

My eyebrows shot up. Three weeks was an extremely short time, even for a kid that had been taught some technique beforehand.

"Ever been trained with a sword before?"

"When I was trying to find the Wolf House, I would have dreams. This lady came to me and taught me how to fight." Jack shrugged. "I thought that was normal."

"It's not. Can you describe the woman?"

"She never looked the same, but I always knew it was her. Her appearance changed all the time and so did her clothing."

"Aphrodite."

"You mean Venus?" Jack asked curiously.

"Yeah. I'm Greek, my mind is hardwired and it's ingrained to call them by their Greek names. Why did Aph-Ah, Venus, teach you in your dreams?"

"I don't know. She kept telling me that my eyes reminded her of my dad though. What do you think of them?" He popped his eyes wide so I could see them. "I think they're pretty good looking, and I've met quite a few girls who think the same, if you know what I mean." He winked at me.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and sigh. I was dealing with a puberty crazed son of Aphrodite. It really couldn't get worse.

"What about your father? Does he know where you are?"

"He's dead." Jack said plainly.

"Oh, my apologies. What was his name?"

"Why do you need to know?"

I sighed. This kid was being rather difficult. "Okay, fine. How come you're acting differently now than you were in the arena?"

He shrugged.

I decided to change tactics. "Was anyone else at the Wolf House with you? Possibly a man a little older than I am, with black hair?"

It was extremely faint, but I saw a glimmer of calculating, careful wariness creeping into those snowy blue eyes.

"No. Why? Is he in trouble?"

I narrowed my eyes a little, but shook my head. "No, he's not in trouble. We just need to know where he is."

Jack squinted at me, mimicking my expression from only moments ago. "Why do I not believe you?"

"I don't know. But rest assured, Timber, I don't believe you when you say that you didn't see him." I replied smoothly.

We stared at each other, ice and shadow meeting in an almost turbulent argument comprised completely of emotion.

"I should get back to the barracks." Jack said suddenly, hopping to his feet.

"Oh no you don't." I grabbed for him, but he hopped out of my reach and skimmed down the side of the temple, breaking into a run for the main city.

I dove into the nearest shadow with a growl and landed next to him as he passed a tree. He sidestepped and kept running. I followed.

"What are you two d-oh my gods!" Hazel yelped when Jack ran right up to her and hid behind her.

"Jack, what are you doing?" She asked, frowning.

"Don't let him come near me!" Jack wailed, tears running down his face. "I don't want to talk to him anymore!"

Hazel turned to me. "Nico, what happened?"

"Nothing! I just asked him a few questions!"

"You call that a few questions?" Jack asked, rubbing his eyes. "It's not your concern what happened to my dad and I don't care what you say, my mom does love me!"

That stopped me.

"Jack, why don't you go lie down." Hazel said sweetly.

"Hazel, I didn't-"

"I know, Nico. I'm sure you didn't say it the way he put it, but he's young and just found out that his mother who has never been in his life could have come back to him at any time. Dakota and I will explain what you meant."

Jack flopped down in his bed and buried his face in his pillow. Hazel walked past his bed to find Dakota. Once she passed him, he lifted his face to look at me and narrowed his eyes a fraction of an inch. Everything in his demeanor told me he knew something I needed to know.

"I'm not letting up with that." I told him.

He stuck his tongue out, then buried his face in his pillow again.

I rolled my eyes and shadow travelled out of the building.

[A/N Little Sassy Percy getting people in trouble. The reason he's not telling Nico is because he doesn't want one of the gods or someone who has it out for him to be listening]