By Amanda Pizzolatto (alias Aurora Mandeville)

Word Count: 31845

Rating: PG for scary situations

Summary: Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades, is used to being alone, until one day a girl with auburn hair waltzes into his life…

Nico slunk back against the tree trunk, pulling out his earphones and his CD player. He plugged the earphones in, put them on, and laid his head back against the tree. He bolted into an upright position when he heard the first song. It made his blood boil. This wasn’t his CD, and he was not in the mood for Halloween music, as that only served to remind him of whose son he was and bring back a whole ton of memories that he had been trying to put aside for the time being. The next song began playing and it definitely did its job as shivers went up and down his spine and his eyes darted around the cemetery for any suspicious movement, so it was no surprise that he jumped when he heard a loud rustling somewhere to his right. Getting a little fed up with it at that point, he hit pause, took off his earphones, and set off to find who had intruded upon his solitude and his music.

He had walked a few feet away from the cemetery when he saw her, and he paused. She was wearing a pale blue, 1940’s evening dress, complete with a pearl necklace and a floral hairpin. Nico began to wonder, why blue, as even more memories threatened to rip him apart. He turned to leave when he heard her voice, clearly thick with a British accent.

“Excuse me, but can you direct me to the cemetery?”

He turned back to her. “Sure, it’s just up a ways behind me.” He paused as she drew closer, then held out his arm.

She smiled at the gesture. “Oh, it’s not necessary.”

He shrugged. “It’s what was done in the 1940’s. Besides, you shouldn’t be out here by yourself.”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” she asked him as she took his arm and let him lead her to the cemetery.

He glanced at her. “Uh, the ghosts. It is Halloween.”

She laughed. “They’re just ghosts, not like they can really do anything to us. Besides, I think they want to have some fun, just like everyone else.”

He looked at her as she let go of his arm to go farther into the cemetery. She paused over one grave in particular, and knelt down. Nico’s throat began to tighten as he realized that either a friend or family member was probably buried in the cemetery, and he had not been very kind to her loss. He took out his earphones again, wanting to give her some privacy, and finished listening to the spooky song. The next song took him by surprise, as it sounded very gentle and, in a weird way, sweet.

“What are you listening to?”

Nico jumped again; he hadn’t noticed her approach. “Oh, um, a CD I got. I think mine got mixed up with the music from a party I was just at,” he replied.

“May I hear?” she asked sweetly.

“Uh, well, just one quick one; I gotta get it back to the party.”

“Was that where you were heading when I asked you for help?”

“Yeah,” he replied, placing the earphones on her and selecting the song he had just heard.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to take up your time. Oh, this song is rather lovely, almost like a waltz,” she said as the song played.

“Yeah, I guess they wanted to have some dance music,” he stated as he took the earphones back from her.

“May I ask why you are not at the party?”

“I don’t know how to dance,” he muttered. True enough, and he couldn’t give the real reason why he didn’t want to be at the party.

“I don’t think there’ll be much dancing, and I could show you a few simple steps, if you’d like,” she offered.

“Uh, well, uh, I don’t know,” he stammered.

“Oh come on, you should have some fun. It will be easy, and quick, I promise. Could you put that song on repeat, please?”

Nico didn’t know why, but he did as she asked, set the volume on high, and placed it upon one of the tombstones. It began to play, and she showed him some basic steps. They practised the dance five times, and Nico found himself getting better and better, leading her back and forth, and twirling her.

“My, you’re quite the fast learner!” she exclaimed after their sixth time at it.

“It’s a lot more fun than I thought,” he told her, a small smile creeping onto his face. It vanished when he saw her looking at him strangely, though she was still smiling. “What?” he asked darkly.

“Oh, I was just thinking that you look better with a smile on your face,” she replied.

Nico blinked, unsure of what to think of that praise. But he didn’t get time to respond as he heard voices calling his name; one voice in particular stood out to him, though another did, too, as she used his full name in a rather commanding voice.

“Nico di Angelo is your name?” said his dance partner. “Well, it was nice to meet you and help you with your dancing, but it looks like I should be off. Your friends are here and my family is waiting for me. Hope to see you again, later!” She waved and rushed down the hill.

“Wait, what’s your name?” Nico called after her.

“Lucy Pevensie,” she called back before she disappeared through the trees.

The name struck Nico as familiar, like in a movie or a book, but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He didn’t get to think about it for long, as he was practically tackled by a bulky blonde boy.

“There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere! The Apollo camp isn’t too thrilled that you made off with the party mix,” Jason Grace told him.

“Not like I was too thrilled to find that I had grabbed it in the first place,” retorted Nico.

“We heard you talking to someone; who was it?” asked Percy Jackson as he and the others got closer.

“It was a girl named Lucy. Why, what’s it to you?” grumbled Nico.

“Just wondering if you’ve finally met the one,” replied Percy.

Nico gave him a strange look before glancing in the direction Lucy had taken.

“Come on, let’s get this back to the party; they want their music, like now,” stated Jason, as he grabbed the player and pushed Nico back towards camp.

But for whatever reason, Nico just couldn’t get her out of his mind, and in a way, hoped he would get to see her again.

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