A Dark Cloud Over the Future Ch 14

Chapter 14: I Hate Family Reunions
“You’re not going to like it, it may involve digging up your past,” Nico said. Thalia was visibly disturbed by this as she fated looking back at the past.

“That’s how it has to start,” Nico said, and his eyes lowered away from hers. “You need your mother’s blessing to do it.”

“But my mother is dead. She died in a car crash years ago. It won’t work,” Thalia retorted.

“Hello, king of ghosts over here,” Nico said as he raised his hand, as if trying to point something obvious to Thalia.

“But will that work, maybe we should just head back to camp,” Thalia shied away. She was scared of her mother and always had been. It was something from her past that she had always tried to forget as she could never forgive her for what she had done.

“We can’t stop now,” Nico said in a stern voice. “If you don’t do this, then we might as well just lie down in front of Kronos and let him walk on top of us up to Olympus.”

“Then you do it!” Thalia yelled at Nico.

“I can’t!” he yelled back, and then turned around and started talking in a lower voice. “I’ve tried, but Hades has blocked my mother’s soul from my sight. She is beyond my power, but no protection has been placed on your mother, I can feel it.”

Thalia and Nico were quiet for several minutes until Thalia finally spoke up.

“Saving Olympus is our main objective. If that means spending a few minutes with my own mother, I think I can deal with it,” Thalia said as she mentally prepared herself for her family reunion.

Nico simply nodded his head and started digging a hole in the ground. He dropped a cheeseburger and some soda that he had taken out of his bag and into the hole. He started chanting and several ghosts seemed to appear out of nowhere as Nico called them up from the Underworld. He then rose to his feet and pulled out his sword. The ghosts backed away knowing what the black blade would do to them.

“Which one of you is Ms. Grace?” he called to the ghosts. One seemed to push its way forward past the others and eventually took form at the front of the pack. She started running her painted finger nails through her hair as if trying to make herself look pretty. As Nico watched her, he thought that this woman’s vanity could outshine Aphrodite and for a second wondered what Zeus had ever seen in her. Maybe she was the only person more self centered than he was.

“I am Ms. Grace, who wants to know?” the ghost replied, finally ready to take after her quick touch-ups.

“We need to ask a favor of you,” Nico said.

“We?” the ghost asked before looking around and seeing her daughter. “No, I won’t help her. She abandoned me in my time of need.”

“I abandoned you?!” Thalia shouted as she stepped in front of the ghost. “How dare you even say that after what you did!”

“I did it for my…I mean our own good,” Ms. Grace said showing the same angered expression as her daughter.

“Listen,” Nico said from behind them. “We don’t have a lot of time. You two can argue when you’re dead.”

This comment intrigued Ms. Grace and she looked at Thalia again.

“What does he mean by that?” she said.

“We are going to fight an army of monsters for the fate of the world, what do you care?” Thalia said back with a scowl.

“And all you need is my help and you could win?” Ms. Grace said, but Thalia and Nico wasn’t sure what she was getting at.

“Yes, there is a chance,” Nico replied.

“Fine, I’ll help,” she said and the two demigods looked stunned wondering if it would really be that easy. “But in return for my help, I want to be back on TV,” she said as she went deeper into her own fantasy.

“Fine, it’s a deal,” Nico said, not sure of how he would do it, but he would find a way even if it killed him (which it just might).

“Alright, what do I need to do exactly?” Ms. Grace asked. Nico explained about the River Styx and how they needed a mother blessing for it to work right. She seemed somewhat interested as Thalia just looked at her in silence.

“Fine; Thalia, I give you my blessing to risk your life for something that may kill you anyway so that I may be a TV star again,” Ms. Grace said. It wasn’t exactly the blessing Nico had expected to hear, but it still counted and a moment later, the image of Thalia’s mom vanished into the darkness.

“Are you ok Thalia?” Nico asked as he could tell the ordeal had taken more out of her than she would ever care to admit.

“I’ll be fine,” she said as she took in a deep breath. “So all that’s left is just taking a bath in the Styx, right?”

“That pretty much sums it up,” Nico replied. “All we need to do is find the closet portal to the Underworld.”

“Where is that?” Thalia asked. Nico grabbed her hand and the two became enveloped in shadows. A second later, they appeared at the burnt remains of Camp Half-Blood. From what she could make out, they were in the old dining hall. Nico stumbled to the ground and took in a few breaths. He looked very tired to Thalia and it didn’t surprise her. Shadow travel was very tiring as she had seen him practice before. He once got trapped in China after a failed attempt at mastering it.

“Maybe you should rest a minute, we can head to the Underworld tomorrow,” Thalia said hoping he would take her up on his offer, mostly for his own safety but partly because the realm of Hades wasn’t a place anyone wanted to go to. However, he got to his feet a pulled out his sword.

“No time. I made this door by accident when I was younger. It was right after I found out my sister died. With any luck it will still work and my father hasn’t sealed it up yet. He drove his sword into the crack in the floor and it flew open. The calls of the dead could be heard and a cold air filled the area. “Ladies first.”

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive  02:36, September 8, 2011 (UTC)