Ghost King Meets Batman

Where's Percy?

 [Edited April 18, 2023]

Nico went to bed late that night with the Imperial March song stuck in his head. It was catchy.  He decided that he liked Star Wars. He didn't think that it made all that much sense, but he figured that didn't matter in order for him to enjoy it. Maybe that was even part of the point.

once he had gone to bed, he dreamed. It had been a while since he'd had a demigod dream so it took him longer than it should have to realize that the dream was significant. In his dream, he was walking around the camp-- which was in chaos. The camp counselors were running everywhere-- seemingly looking for someone. 

He walked through the chaos, picking up bits of conversations but nothing that made much sense. The Aphrodite kids were gossiping about the loss of a 'power couple', the Ares cabin seemed to be having a good laugh, a son of Iris was trying to get the pegasi to calm down, and the Stolls were trying to drag Clovis from the Hypnos cabin into the lake. The last one was probably unrelated.

 With so much going on Nico had no idea what was or wasn't important to pay attention to. When he couldn't make sense of it, he decided to go to the big house to find some answers. He floated through the camp, unable to rush the scene. Sometimes he had full control over his dream walking and other times he was bound to the whims of the dream. The Stolls finally did get Clovis in the lake and the boy didn't seem to wake up. When Nico got to the Big House, Chiron was on the phone with someone and he was trying to sound calm.

"It's ok Mrs. Jackson. I'm sure he'll turn up. Yes, if I hear anything I'll let you know." Chiron hung up the phone with Sally Jackson and rubbed his palms down his face.

"Oh Percy, where are you?" Chiron murmured to himself. The son of Hades felt his heart drop. Percy was missing. That explained at least some of the chaos from before. He heard footsteps on the porch and moments later Annabeth came into the parlor. She looked remarkably frazzled. Usually, the daughter of Athena was pretty in control of her emotions but her face was full of worry. It took a lot to get her riled so this didn't bode well for Nico.

"Has she seen him Chiron?" Annabeth sounded on the verge of tears and he hated to see her so distraught. There were bags under her eyes. It was painfully obvious that she hadn't slept well recently. What was going on? Clearly, something massive had happened and it had to do with Percy. As usual.

"No, child. I'm sure he'll turn up, he's a strong hero. Go and get some sleep. You need it." Chiron tried to soothe the girl he saw as a daughter. Annabeth didn't even seem to hear him.

"What about the gods? Have we heard anything from Olympus yet?" She waved his concern away. She was hyper-focused and there was little that could distract or dissuade her now. When Annabeth set her sights on something, she didn't stop until it was done. It was a quality that was both admirable and inconvenient. Without Percy there to remind her to eat, Nico was pretty worried she'd go off the deep end.

"No, the gods are remaining silent." Annabeth huffed and stormed out of the room. Chiron seemed to age 300 years in a matter of minutes.

"Oh, Perseus, where are you?" Nico woke up in a cold sweat-- a lingering feeling of dread building up in the pit of his stomach. He lay still on his mattress, letting his soul settle back into his body. Well, he was pretty sure his soul didn't actually leave him, but it was the closest he could get to describing the feeling of waking up after this dream. Maybe it was just dread that was settling in.

"You better not be dead," Nico said to thin air as if the son of Poseidon could hear him through the ether. This could not be happening. He threw the covers off and raced out of the room without even bothering to change. Where is Percy? He must have been kind of loud because he soon heard several sets of feet shuffling around as he raced down the stairs. Nico was about to head out to the greenhouse when someone called out to him.