Chapter One
Nico di Angelo walked out of the shadows of Cabin 13, into Camp Half-Blood as he had just shadow traveled away from the underworld after a meeting with Thanatos and father. Recently due to his new job of being Thanatos' grim reaper, Nico had been quite busy, and it had been a while since he had last visited Camp Half-Blood.
Exhausted from finally sentencing a malicious runaway soul back to its place in the Fields of Punishment, Nico was planning on heading to the mess hall for an early dinner. As he passed by the busy demigods still excited by the start of summer, Nico smiled wearily, glad for the current peace of Camp Half-Blood.
"Nico!" a voice suddenly called from behind him as the mess hall came into view. Recognizing the voice, he turned around.
"Percy!" Nico smiled as he saw the older boy foolishly smiling, covered in muck from his day's fun teaching the younger campers as per usual.
"Where've you been? Haven't seen you in a while!" Percy said in his loud voice, causing other campers to turn their heads.
"I've been running errands for father, but I just finished so I should be able to stay for a few days before leaving again," Nico responded, feeling at ease with the first casual conversation he had in a while.
"That's great! You'll be able to join us in capture the flag tomorrow! Make sure to come to our team, since we'll definitely win!" Percy smiled, before saying, "Are you heading to dinner? I'm hungry so I'll join you!"
"Thanks," Nico said, before the two started to head towards the food, where many had already begun their meal.
As the two sat down, demigods started to notice Nico had come back.
"Nico!" Annabeth said as she sat herself down next to Percy. "How have you been?"
"Good," Nico responded, turning his head slightly away from Annabeth as he saw Leo and Piper rushing towards them.
"Nico you're back! Also, guys, you ready for capture the flag tomorrow!" Piper said giddily, as Leo rummaged through his pouch for a few leaves of paper which seemed to contain plans for the well-loved game at camp half-blood.
"YESSSSS!!!" Percy responded hyperly, before starting on rants about previous events and hilarious episodes which had happened at camp, while Nico was most likely reaping souls on his new job hidden from the rest of the demigods.
Nico smiled slightly at the usual scene but felt a small tug near the back of his chest. He felt as if he didn't belong here, with the rest of his friends. While they were able to leisurely have fun again after the wars, and enjoy their lives, Nico had neither the time nor mindset for that. He could only remember all the deaths he had felt throughout the wars, haunting him, in his wake, in his sleep, and his only escape from them seemed like the distraction of reaping souls.
After quickly wrapping up his meal, Nico quietly stood up, before saying, "Well, I'm tired so I'm heading off to sleep now. Good night guys!" to the company he was sitting with.
"Awwwwww! That's too bad. Hope you get some rest!" Annabeth said through the midst of all the chaos which had spawned while the demigods had food fights discussing all the upcoming camp activities.
"Bye Nico!" Leo said, head popping up from under a piece of junk metal, one of many already littering the dining table.
Waving, Nico took his leave, slowing to a relaxed amble as the sounds of the mess hall became distant. Sighing, Nico glanced towards the setting sun, seeing light slowly starting to fade from the sky.
Suddenly, Nico stopped. He no longer felt tired. He just wanted to get away from this place, from anywhere he knew. All the worn teenager wanted in this moment was a change of scenery.
"You know what? Fuck it." Nico said out loud to himself, before changing course from his previous destination of his cabin. Taking a sharp turn, Nico headed to the closest shadows enshrouding the ground behind one of the nearby trees. This'll do, Nico thought to himself before leaning into the darkness.
"Take me anywhere, just away from here, away from home, away..." Nico whispered to the shadows, before he felt his body being whisked away from Camp Half-Blood.
Let me rest for a while, was the final thought that ran through Nico's mind.
.
.
.
After a few long moments of being hurtled around inside the routes of shadow travel, being surrounded by whispering evils and lost souls within the murky path, Nico found himself being plopped out onto the damp, dark stone roads of an alleyway.
"Where am I...?" Nico mumbled, feeling a small part of himself start regretting his decision of leaving his sleep behind. Nico felt drained from slight over usage of his powers. I must have gone far, Nico thought to himself.
Stumbling out of the alleyway, Nico found himself wandering on an equally dark and damp main street, which was full of shady looking people.
Catching a woman coming out of the shop beside the alleyway, Nico asked her: "Where am I?" In a voice lathered with the mist so that the woman would not question him afterwards.
However, the enchantment didn't seem to affect the lady much at all. She just responded in an unbothered manner, "Why, you're in Knockturn Alley, in London, my dear. Did you mess up on your destination for apparition?" to the disheveled, malnourished looking boy. "Well, excuse me but I am currently in a rush. I hope you find your way around," and disappeared in a flash after a wave of the strange looking stick she had been gripping in her fingers.
What is apparition? How did she teleport? Was it magic? She didn't seem to be a demigod though! Thought Nico disbelievingly.
Whipping his head around, Nico turned to see if anyone else around him were questioning what they saw. But all the peculiar looking people around him continued walking by, unfazed by the show of this unordinary skill. Maybe it was a form of the mist... Nico concluded his thoughts, before starting to amble along the streets.
While walking in the plentiful shadows of knockturn alley, Nico merged with his surroundings and viewed all the strange stores. He felt the presence of death within many foreign objects in a multitude of stores, he saw quite the odd-looking restaurants selling suspicious food items, and even obscure libraries full of cursed, bound novels as well as many more dark trinkets littering the area.
At a certain point, Nico even stumbled upon a circus at the center of this fascinating, gloomy, town. Among the unlit paths and dim stores, this circus seemed to be the only bright place throughout everything else visible to Nico within knockturn alley.
"Circus tickets for 15 Knuts to see the daily show, starting in 10 minutes!" Shouted an old man nearby, presumably the ringmaster. The prideful looking, short, stout, man was nothing impressive. However, what surprised Nico the most was how this elderly guy was standing right next to a small creature with a droopy nose, droopy eyes, huge ears, and shabby clothing.
Even though this man looks so prideful, why is he keeping this creature for company? I can tell it's not dangerous, is it part of the show...? pondered Nico. But then, he saw the man hit the small creature on the head.
"Come here, you little..." the man said, before dragging the pointy eared, raggedy fellow to a slightly collapsed area of the circus tent.
"See this? It's not supposed to be dented. Fix it." The man said in a stern tone, with an expecting face.
How could this man expect this tiny creature to accomplish such a task? Thought Nico. This also seems sort of like slavery...
All of a sudden, the dent in the tent disappeared, and the pegs to support it magically started unfurling from a suitcase atop a circus car which Nico now noticed standing beside the shadows of the tent. The small creature beside the ring master seemed to be controlling this magical event, moving his arms with his little face scrunched in focus. It was unlike anything Nico had ever seen.
"That's amazing..." Nico whispered in awe under his breath.
Fascinated, the teenager continued watching the magical set up of the circus tent the strange creature seemed to be conducting. His eyes followed the unpredictable movements of these solid objects, and by the time he realized it, the circus tickets seemed to be sold out and the show was starting. Quickly, Nico ducked into the shadows of the tent and emerged on the other side, in order to watch the show.
Lurking in the dark quietly so he wouldn't get caught, Nico observed his surroundings. The set up inside the tent was typical for a circus, with seats surrounding a lowered stage and lights centered on the starting point of the show. However, two things seemed off. The first was the metal barred cage surrounding the stage, as if to keep something from getting out from the stage into the audience. The second was the blatant lack of sound from the audience. The only noises Nico could hear within the tent were the sounds of hushed whispers and the rustling of the antique-ish clothing the people of the place Nico came to all seemed to wear.
However, before Nico could ponder too deeply, the show started. And all Nico could think was that this was like no other circus he had seen or even heard about before, with spectacular beasts that were not monsters like Nico usually fought, but all had unique traits displayed to their full potential by the ringmaster. The people were also amazing, and had tricks on another level, almost like a display of magic.
Nico saw two men blow fire into and out of each other's mouths, beautiful women turning into lethal predators, animals not like any other he had seen in the world before, and much, much more. By the time Nico had processed all the circus had presented, the show had ended, and Nico had to get rid of his mesmerized state in order to shadow travel away before he got caught. While leaving as swiftly as he could, Nico caught a last glimpse of the previous creature who was beside the ringmaster once again packing up the tent, making it fold into unimaginable sizes midair and stuffing it into a singular suitcase.
When Nico had finally felt he had walked away far enough, he ducked into another alleyway and leaned on the side of a building, sighing in remembrance. That was spectacular, the most fun I've had in a while... Nico thought, and his mind started to replay some of the best parts of the show.
"I wish I could've seen it again!" Nico suddenly said out loud, sighing at the small tragedy of how the circus had already packed up, ready to move on.
"Seen what?" a high-pitched voice suddenly said from his side, surprising Nico.
How come I couldn't feel their presence? Nico thought, before turning to face the owner of the voice.
Quite shockingly, the person speaking had been a young girl, wearing a well-worn dress that looked as if it had been popular a few decades ago. She had perfect blonde curls cascading across her shoulders, deep blue eyes that seemed to pierce Nico, and wore delicate silk gloves on petite hands. Her skin was pale, almost too pale.
After what felt like an eternity, but was merely a second, Nico said, "Just a circus show." As a response to the small girl's question.
"Oh, so nothing interesting then..." the girl concluded, expression shifting to disinterest. Then she sniffed the air around Nico a few times, before crinkling her nose and grimacing. In that moment the girl bared her teeth slightly, showing off the huge fangs she had hidden within her mouth. Nico recoiled at the sight, wondering if the girl was some sort of new monster chasing after demigods. But the only response from the girl to Nico's strong reaction was a small sentence.
"I won't eat you, don't worry, you smell bad, like death."
And before Nico should say anything else, the young girl walked off with the clack clack of her posh heels against the stone streets.
Sighing in small relief over this girl not being a monster after him, Nico ducked into the shadows of the alleyways, blending in, and vowed to be more aware of his surroundings from that point on.
But as his curiosity kept luring him, Nico decided to wander around further in this strange new place he discovered by accident. He had a couple more run ins with people he could not feel the presences of, or could feel their presences too heavily, which made him wonder what was so different and special about those people, as they had seemed pretty normal through only appearance.
After looking into quite a few more shops, Nico finally turned into an alleyway which had stairs leading upward, into a much brighter location. Intrigued, Nico climbed the steps, and discovered a whole new part of the town. And it. Was. Brilliant.
The new part of town was like an entirely different country. It was sunny and the streets were bustling with energy and full of people. Although Nico felt out of place, he was eager to discover what more existed in this new world he seemed to have discovered. Ducking into the shadows once again, Nico traveled slowly as he saw all the amazing things in this place.
The objects sold were no longer dark, and Nico witnessed candies that defied the laws of the world, just like gods did. He saw normal children buying enchanted brooms, wearing odd robes but looking so very happy, which was a huge contrast to the small 'children' Nico had seen in Knockturn Alley.
There was an enormous bank called Gringotts run by goblins, books shops full of old parchment filled novels on magic, and even a wand shop, where kids he presumed to be 12-year-olds browsed and tested how these enchanted sticks seemed to react to them.
He saw so many people teleport in the way he had initially seen the woman do, and soon enough learned that the world he had come to was a wizarding world, where people who could use magic lived. At first Nico wondered if all these people were blessed by Hecate, but soon enough he realized that the type of magic they were using was quite different from anything he had seen before, and this was an entirely new group of 'special' people, quite unlike demigods.
After a few more hours of looking around Nico decided this wasn't enough. "I need to get things for myself," He stated, before stepping out of the shadows and starting on his journey for wizarding money. After lingering slightly in the bank, Nico had learned that wizarding money came in three different coins: bronze Knuts, silver Sickles, and golden Galleons. 29 Knuts in a Sickle, and 17 Sickles make up a Galleon. Nico was shocked by how easy it was to pickpocket these people's pockets, even though they could use magic. They were all way too unguarded, especially the children freely roaming the streets, much unlike all the people in Knockturn Alley. After gathering enough, Nico embarked on his journey to get himself food.
First Nico tried a pub called The Three Broomsticks. Walking in, almost all the people within seemed to have the same drink, which they called butterbeer. So, Nico walked up to the counter and ordered some, trying to stand out as little as possible. And it seemed to work. As soon as he got the drink, Nico went to the darkest corner of the pub, pushing himself into newly formed cobwebs and bringing the huge mug to his lips. And melted. As soon as he tried some of the butterbeer, Nico fell in love. He felt that he couldn't live without this amazing drink anymore and decided that he would stay in the wizarding world longer.
Why not? I don't have any specific attachments to anywhere else and don't have jobs from my father currently anyways. Nico thought, and then quietly left the pub.
Soon he started going into candy shops, bookstores, and even a pet store, buying whatever he desired on his whims. He even went back to Knockturn Alley to buy a book on the ancient usage of hellfire which had caught his eye before.
At this point, Nico's shadow storage (which was a new form of using shadows Nico had recently learned) had almost been filled entirely. Content, Nico found a small abandoned building near the outskirts of Knockturn Alley and settled in one of its rooms.
"Way better than being homeless in the middle of New York," Nico muttered, before taking out a book he bought on the history and details of the wizarding world, 'recommended for muggle-born wizards and witches', whatever that meant. It was quite thick and hefty and was one of the main reasons why Nico's storage had been filled. But the book had been in Greek, and Nico felt he needed it if he was going to stay in this world. He opened the book, and the first thing he learned was that the book was enchanted to be in the language most native to the reader of the book.
Then Nico dived in, absorbing all the history of the wizarding world. He was shocked by the sheer number of wizarding schools having existed across the country, all of whom Nico had never encountered. He was intrigued by Hogwarts and its headmaster Dumbledore and wished he could visit it one day. Nico read about a lot of the creatures existing in the wizarding world and learned that the short creature he had seen at the circus was called a house elf, whom were beings in slavery, who for the most part enjoyed household chores. He studied about many basic spells and what they did, and Nico also learned that apparition was the spell for teleportation that wizards and witches used, and finally felt at ease knowing the meaning of the phrase the woman who he had first met in the wizarding world had said to him. Nico especially enjoyed reading about the history on downworlders within the book though. It explained so much to him about Knockturn Alley.
Downworlders were magical existences like werewolf, vampires, faeries, and other less common beings. Vampires were known to never age once turned, and have long fangs and pale skin, thirsting for blood to quench their appetite.
Huh, so the girl earlier was a vampire then... Nico realized
Werewolves were a little less interesting to Nico, since he knew of similar existences in the Greek world, only they were a lot more dangerous. In the wizarding world werewolves were mostly harmless being able to control themselves in daily life other than for days of full moons. Nico quickly concluded that he could easily handle one himself, unlike the Greek werewolf that hand wounded him badly in the past.
Fae were a more obscure being. Little was known about them, except for the fact that they could never lie but were evil tricksters that could be very, very, cruel. After reading a few stories on them, Nico already knew he never wanted to be involved with one of them. He would avoid pointed ears and nature-smelling people lurking around the wizarding world.
Finally, Nico finished the book. It was already the afternoon of the next day, and Nico's whole body was stiff and tired. He put the book and his flashlight away into his shadow storage and yawned. He badly wanted to take out and stretch his wings, even if it was for a moment, but Nico had concluded that there were no beings in the wizarding world which had wings quite like he did, so Nico knew he should be very cautious and never take them out. Sighing, he walked over to a creaky, dust covered armchair in the center of that room he was in. Nico pulled a blanket out of the shadows; the swooshing almost lulled him to sleep right there and then. Nico was a little hungry, so he took out a corner of ambrosia and placed it in his mouth, savoring its new flavor of butterbeer.
Then Nico curled up in the armchair, wrapped a blanket around himself, and drifted off to sleep.