The Lotus Hotel I
“Look mamma!” Bianca shrieked excitedly, tugging at Maria's arm, “My bedroom has a bathroom and a walk-in closet with all my clothes already in it attached to it!”
Although the man whose name Regulus did not care about said they would all have suites, it really was more of a really spacious apartment in which they all had suite-like rooms. He honestly preferred this, as having to use the hallway every time he wanted to see his family wasn't very practical.
Bianca showed them all pointedly her walk in closet, before staring with palpable wonder at the many, many new clothes her size. “Oh my Papà! There are even new clothes and shoes! This is awesome!”
Nico snickered. “Did you just say ‘Oh my Papà’?!”
Bianca grinned. “I so did! As he is the-”
Maria cleared her throat pointedly, cutting through what she was saying. “Although this hotel seems to be really nice at face value, we must not forget about the seen dangers and definitely not about the unseen ones.”
Regulus paled. “You think there are listening and watching devices?”
She nodded sharply. “That would make sense, wouldn't it? Especially with the war outside, we cannot risk anything, my little flowers. Like we were warned, this hotel is a treacherous place. Time barely moves while we are inside, while it might as well fly on the outside.”
Nico's eyes grew wide. “We will never see Andrea alive again.”
Bianca looked sad for a second, before she grinned. “We could see him when he's a ghost, though!”
Maria shook her head. “Perhaps we could. Perhaps not. Either way, we will indeed most likely never see him alive again. He was already old before we went to this hotel and we might stay in here for decades or even longer.”
Instead of looking sad or even like they were in shock or grieving already, Nico and Bianca looked accepting at the mentioned death of Andrea and the implication that practically every mortal they cared about would be gone when they'd exit the hotel again. Regulus couldn't help but feel the same way. It probably had to do with who and what they were.
There was a saying that went ‘Funerals are for the living’, and although especially in their Greek culture, that was not entirely true, as departed souls they cared about deserved to go to his father's realm with a golden drachma for Charon at the very least, he could see the point of the phrase. Death was inevitable and especially someone like Andrea, who had lived a relatively peaceful life and was more than comfortable with his own mortality, being a man of God himself, would not want them to mourn him too much but would rather want them to remember the fond memories they had together.
In a way, it was peaceful.
Nico broke the silence, by tugging at their mother's arm, not unlike how Bianca had but moments earlier. “Can we go see my room now?”
Maria chuckled. “Of course, my little ghost.”
Nico walked towards a shadow, undoubtedly to use it to transport to his room, but Maria held his arm tighter, causing him to look at her with furrowed brows.
“Remember to not use your powers or to do or say anything that could give your parentage away.” She warned.
Nico looked longingly at the shadow he wanted to use to travel, before nodding seriously at their mother. “Okay, mamma. I won't use them or say anything about it.”
Bianca and Regulus shared a look, before nodding seriously at their mother too. “We won't either.”
Maria exhaled relieved. “Good. I wouldn't know what I would do if I were to lose you.” Her eyes twinkled mischievously, yet she spoke entirely seriously. “I would probably become a mortal witch and practice necromancy to get you back.”
Regulus nodded. That made sense, he'd probably do the same, but use his Godly powers instead to get his family back. There was nothing he wouldn't do to keep his loved ones with him. “I could see you being a witch.”
Instead of taking it like the compliment it was, his mother chuckled. “Oh, Regulus.” She mused out loud. “I know that I raised you better than to call a woman a witch.”
Bianca tilted her head questionably. “What is wrong with being a witch? Reggie gave Nico and me these wands all those years ago and told us that we're honorable magicians.” She showed her the wooden wand Regulus had given her that she always kept in her pocket.
When Nico nodded and showed her his’ too, Regulus couldn't help but feel touched. Of course, he always brought his ‘wand’ with him too and knew his siblings did, but to see it again like this was just different.
Maria stood still in the hallway and turned around to look at their wands. She smiled warmly. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a witch.” She said.
“Then why is there something wrong with calling a woman a witch?” Bianca asked.
Regulus paled. “Because of the witch burnings.”. This was not a subject they'd been taught in school, so he didn't know it was something that happened in this universe too, thinking it to be a macabre part of his universe's past solely.
His mother nodded grimly. “Yes. To call a woman a witch is to accuse her of being evil, according to society. Magic in itself just is. Look at your powers, for example. Those who would call a woman a witch and mean it in a negative way, most likely would think that the three of you are abominations of nature and all that is holy.”
Nico scowled. “That is so stupid.” He stated it as if it were a fact.
She nodded. “It is, yet many things are stupid. All we can do is adapt our way of living to not be seen as stupid. There are many monsters - and not only the dusty kind - that would want to use that stupidity as an excuse to get rid of everyone they do not like. It is something that happens in the world right now, especially.”
Nico scowled further, clearly deep in thought as he resembled Giallo after waking up from a too short nap, before he suddenly grinned widely. “Reggie, Nero, Bi and I will slay all the stupid monsters together!” His coal black eyes shone with adventures untold and his voice was so gleeful that if Regulus didn't know better - he did - he'd almost assume that his little brother would have lived all those adventures already.
Bianca narrowed her eyes into slits. “Why did you mention Nero's name before me?!” She hissed.
Nico stuck out his tongue. “Because he's more important!” He replied, putting his nose in the air. By doing so, he missed Bianca's tickle attack that lasted until he took his words back in between desperate gasps for air.
Bianca nodded vigorously as if nothing had happened. It might as well have been the case, as this was a common activity amongst them. “SÌ! We'll even sing the monster killing song every time we can!”
Maria shook her head fondly at their antics. “Just be careful out there, my little flowers. I know you are very powerful because of your heritage, and because of your teachings, but hubris and complacency has killed so many children like you before.”
Regulus nodded determinedly, putting a protective hand on both his siblings' still-so-tiny shoulders. “I will always protect Nico and Bianca and be there for them.”
Maria smiled. “I know you will.”
Nico and Bianca shared a silent look.“And we will always protect Reggie!” They replied in tandem, before sharing a silent look with him. Regulus would never stop to wonder how good this family was in communicating without using any words.
“We will always at least try to come home to you again, mamma. We promise.” All three siblings spoke at the same time.
Maria smiled. “I know, my little flowers. I know.” She kissed them all on the head, before opening the door to Nico's room.
The suite was just as big as Bianca's, but instead of the walls being painted green, her favourite colour, they were painted yellow, Nico's favourite colour. Just like in Bianca's room, there were bookcases on every wall, but instead of being mostly filled with books about nature and philosophy (especially Greek philosophy), they were filled to the brim with mythomagic books, comics and even figures.
Nico, too, had a walk-in closet filled to the brim with clothes. Most clothes were either bright yellow or black.
“Mamma, look! There is a suit with mini Giallo's and Nero's on it!” said suit was the most eye-hurting bright yellow suit with black hellhounds on it. The hellhounds moved like a picture did in his old life. The longer he looked at it, the more his head started to hurt.
“Best not to wear that.” She said, looking slightly nauseated. “We do not know what kind of magic makes the hounds move. Besides, it would be a little bit on the nose if you'd wear clothes like that.”
Nico pouted, bit nodded nevertheless. “Can I wear the not moving clothes, though?” He gestured at a random shirt, before grabbing it.
“This is the most ugly shirt I've ever seen!” His nose scrunched up, when he looked at the Camp Half-Blood shirt he held in his hands. “It's so… orange.”
Bianca nodded along. “I hope we won't have to wear this, should we go to the place Violetta came from.”
Regulus nodded, too. The shirt was indeed extremely hideous. Why they would let the children of Gods wear this, he had no idea. Perhaps these shirts were simply cheap? Did the children of the Gods not deserve better, though?
“I wonder where they got it from?” He wondered out loud. “It would be weird for these shirts to be just laying around, gathering dust, wouldn't it?”
Nico hummed thoughtfully, before looking more closely at it. “It feels weird.”
Maria's eyes immediately sharpened. “Weird, how?”
Nico leaned further towards the shirt and scrutinized it before whispering so softly no possible recording device around them could pick it up “Someone has died in this.”
When he heard it, Regulus suddenly felt it too. The shirt had a feel to it, not unlike how he would imagine the sound of an echo to feel like. Except, in this case, the echo was not the voice of someone - as echos could continue to exist in a cave for centuries after their owner's voice had died - but it was the life of someone, specially their dying moment.
“They suffered greatly.” Bianca whispered just as softly, looking carefully at the shirt.
Nico put it down again and wiped his hands off on his trouser, as if that could clean the nasty feeling the shirt had given him. “I don't want to be here anymore.” He spoke softly.
Bianca nodded along. “Me neither.”
Regulus looked down at the shirt once more. How could something as ugly, yet bright and innocent looking have such a dark story behind it? The eerie thing was that in his experience, cursed and dark objects were meant to look that way. Not look like that Camp Half-Blood shirt.
If they had not been children of Hades, Nico probably would have worn the shirt without knowing any better and might have suffered because of it, as for all he knew, the reason for its former wearer's demise could have been a very nasty and painful curse. Having heard the stories and met Violetta, Regulus knew better than to expect Gods to be better than to do something like that.
Not to mention that it could have been very well cursed by a monster. The Arai his father dealt with what now felt like a whole lifetime ago, had proven monsters to be cunning and powerful enough to do something like that too.
Maria's lips curled downwards when they had exited Nico's walk-in closet. “It would be for the best to not touch any unknown objects, no matter how inviting they may look from the outside.”
Shooting a glare at the mythomagic collection of his dreams around him, Nico nodded miserably. The room became much darker and colder. “I don't want to be here anymore.” He whispered again.
Maria nodded. “I know, my little ghost. You do not have to stay in this room any longer.” She looked over them. “In fact, why don't we all sleep in my bedroom? There aren't any… unique things in there.”
Bianca's lips curled downwards. “Your room isn't designed like ours?”
She shook her head. “No, I assume that only Demigods get that special treatment. It's for the best now, too, as that means there probably won't be any possible cursed objects. Besides, if we're all together, we can watch over each other.”
Regulus nodded. “Of course. Artemis warned us about madness, and with each other as company, we might not lose our minds.”
“Or get lost in this maze.” Bianca muttered darkly.
“Maze?”, Maria asked.
She nodded. “I can feel it. The hotel is much, much bigger than it looks. It feels hungry, almost…”
“Almost alive.” Regulus finished. It must feed on the souls of the ones inside to keep living and expanding to keep as many souls inside as possible. Much like a Dementor, indeed.