fandomhigh | BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning

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!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning | August 28

In most instances, no one would bat an eye at seeing a boy and his dog. In this instance, some people might actually run away screaming at the sight of this boy and this dog. Percy Jackson didn’t look all that intimidating on his own. He was average height, dark haired and carried a ball point pen in the pocket of his jeans.

Of course, the huge hellhound sitting behind Percy might have turned a few heads if not for the Mist. Thankfully, most mortals didn’t see Mrs. O’ Leary, Percy’s inherited hellhound sitting lazily in the BWI airport lounge (how the hellhound had fit, Percy didn’t know).

Percy himself didn’t look as relaxed as his dog. His eyes were jumping left to right, almost as if he expected something to attack him or for Luke to emerge from the crowd with that more smirk than smile look on his face.

This was about the fourteenth school Percy had been to since age twelve. He didn’t expect it to last. He wanted to be at Camp Half Blood. Instead, he was waiting in an airport lounge for a shuttle to cart him and his hellhound to a place called Fandom.

Percy frowned. He didn’t think this day could get worse.

[Open shuttle bus! Mrs. O’ Leary is a big ole hellhound that most mortals probably would not see because of something called the Mist. If you’re not exactly all the way mortal, you’d see her though. She’s not going to attack anyone, I promise.]

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"Could be worse," Nico pointed out. "We could be in the Underworld." Getting cereal stuffed down their throats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

And yes, he was insanely curious about why she wasn't in the underworld. She felt like a different sort of dead than he knew.

"We ... could be," George allowed. So this guy also was off his meds. Fun. "Or on the moon, with Santa Claus. Lots of places we could be. Most of 'em suck."

Most places did. Even the moon, with Santa Claus.

She was really weird.

Nico had a difficult time categorizing her because of it. "So why are you here. Don't you have...Things to Do? Or did someone summon you?"

He didn't know about her being a reaper, did he? There was something in the way he said Things to Do ...

"I'm ... just a student," she said, nicely sidestepping the fact that she hadn't even applied here.

Oh, shit, what if that was a Summon? Rube just said this came from the higher-ups ...

"Do you think people generally get summoned to go to highschool?" she asked. Trying to sound completely casual. Sort of succeeding.

"In my experience," Nico replied matter-of-factly, "the dead only show up when they're summoned. Or raised." He was very accomplished at both, being the king of ghosts. "Or put to work."

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit. Well, that was one question answered.

George got up, hurriedly, and switched to the seat nearest to him. That way, they could have this conversation at a much lower volume.

"How did you ... ?"

That was...different. A girl trying not to get noticed as dead sitting by Nico. It just wasn't that common for him, unless it was Percy or Annabeth.

"...know?" Nico supplied with a shrug. "When you're the son of Hades, you get pretty good at figuring out the differences between the living and the dead." And seem to be big into the black ensembles.

"Hades?" she asked. "Like, the Hades?"

She figured most of those were just myths. Of course, she'd been an atheist right up until she died and started escorting people to the afterlife, so.

"He's ... in charge of the dead, right?" she said. It wasn't like she'd paid attention, in school, so it couldn't hurt to check. "Is that why I'm here?"

And if so, could she meet Hades and kick him in the nuts or something?

"Uh, yeah?" She was dead, she should know this. "Only, I'd have heard if he sent you." Just like he would've known if that was his Percy. "This is weird. Though, kinda cool. How long have you been dead?"

Not much point to denying it.

"Since June," she said. "Are you ... dead, too?"

It'd be reassuring to not be the only one here.

"I don't know why I'm here," she added. "Someone higher up sent me. Rube said he fought it but ... them's the breaks."

"Oh no! I just have the vibe," Nico explained. "So you're not here to graduate? I'd call that lucky. Lot less stress on you...even the dead should relax a little if they're topside."

"I did graduate," George huffed. "Three months ago. Then I ... died, and now I have a job to do, and it sucks."

She glanced over at him, curious. And bitter. "Why can't Hades do his own work, anyway?" she asked. "Recruiting dead people is kind of tacky."

"Uh, usually people cut a deal for your gig," Nico told her. "But hey, if you need a hand with anyone trying to cheat Death, I'm good to send 'em down where they belong."

"You can do that?" she asked. That might totally be helpful. Also, she wondered if he could slap Gravelings around. Those little shits.

"No ... deals here. Just, 'hey, you're dead. And you don't get to move on, either. Have fun being a --'"

She stopped herself short of saying the word.

"You ... know what I am, right?" she said. "Not just that I'm dead."

"You're not one of Charon's people, are you? Here to help ferry the dead on down the river?" Nico inquired. "Because I think that's a different portal."

"No," she said quickly, then frowned. "Wait. Literal river, or metaphorical? It's usually lights."

"Literal," Nico said, eyebrow lifting. "The Styx, you know?"

"I've ... never been," she admitted. "I just take people to go see the lights. When it's their time."

"That doesn't sound anything like what happens." And still...he didn't feel like this girl would lie to him. "Zeus would get crabby if my father started using lights to call people down to the Underworld."

"I've been there," George insisted. "Little girl on a train, old lady hit by a car, guy impaled by his own Waffle Haus sign. They die, they see lights, and they go into the lights. I don't know what's after that. Maybe then they get on the river with that Charon guy."

Nico frowned, thinking about this and that Percy and the portal thing and Chiron. "Oh gods," he said. "Please tell me your from some other dimension. Like the one with no fish or something."

"We have fish," George said, missing his point for a minute. "I don't .... know ... about dimensions but none of this shit sounds familiar, to me. Are you ... does that mean you don't know where Seattle is?"

So lost.

Oh Hades. This girl should just talk to Percy. It'd be easier on everyone. "Um, no? But maybe we're not both working for the same guy?"

"I'd agree with that," George said, because it sounded simpler, and trying to figure out where the river came in was making her head hurt. "But you are working for him, then? Hades, or Death, or ... whoever?"

"No, but yes? He's my father and the god of the Underworld. So my powers are similar to his, and I pray to him before battle in hopes of having his godly support, but I'm not an employee. I'm a demigod." There just had to be a difference in that. Right?

BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning | August 28

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