The Daughter of Death
Chapter Two
Claimed

Her world turned as she moved in and out of consciousness. Layla woke up for the first time on a cot of some sort with a starched white comforter. Layla looked at her surroundings, seeing a white sheet cut her off from the rest of the room, that was when she noticed the boy sleeping in a chair next to her. He had shaggy brown hair, pale skin, and his mouth was hanging open. He wore all black with a skull ring on his finger. If the people at camp were like him, she wouldn't mind staying there. The last thing she saw before slipping back into unconsciousness was the boy opening his eyes to look at her, as if he had sensed her being awake.

What seemed like hours later, Layla woke up for the final time. The boy was in different clothes, standing above her, so it must have been at least a day later than the last time.

"You awake this time?" He said softly, a small smirk on his lips.

She looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Obviously if my eyes are open, and I'm speaking to you, I'm awake." She really didn't like people to talk to her when she just woke up. It bugged her, well…people in general bugged her but that reason is a completely different story.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Not necessarily, you could be—"

"What day is it?" She interrupted him.

His lips turned into lines, he must not like getting interrupted but she could care less.

"June 20th." He said. "Why?" Layla's heart took a small leap. Today was the 20th of June, her birthday. It was the first birthday that she had ever spent without her father. And it was her sixteenth birthday at that, one of the most important birthdays of a girl's life.

"Today is my sixteenth birthday," she said softly.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good, it won't take too long for you to be claimed since Percy told the gods all demigods had to be claimed by their thirteenth birthday, and since you're well over thirteen, you should be claimed in no time." He spoke the words casually, but the sentence created a buzzing in her ears. "Gods? Demigods? What are you on?"

He chuckled darkly. "Hate to break it to you sweetheart, but you're a demigod. One of your parents is a god or goddess of Olympus."

Layla blinked a few times, the words trying to make sense in her mind. She was quiet for at least two minutes after he said this but all she could get out of her mouth was one word. "Seriously?"

"Yeah seriously. I'm excited to see who your parent is. I'm Nico di Angelo, by the way. Son of Hades."

Her eyes widened, no wonder she was attracted to him. His father was the Lord of the Underworld. Death and all that came with it had always fascinated Layla for some reason. She was drawn to the dead, the kind of person that spent her free time in cemeteries. "Layla Brooks, daughter of…I don't know." She bit her lip. So her godly parent must be her mother, but to who her mother was she didn't know.

"So which one of your parents was AWOL since you were a baby?" He sat down in the chair and leaned against the back.

"My…mom," she said softly, the goddesses churning in her mind, trying to see which one she had in common with. She came up with nothing.

"Don't worry. A lot of people here have mommy issues. Or daddy issues. Come on, let me show you around camp," he stood up and held out his hand. Layla took it and Nico pulled her out of the bed. She fixed her hair and walked through a small crease in the sheet. She walked into a long corridor, the walls on either side of her sheets, people behind them.

"This is the infirmary, where people who are sick come." Layla rolled her eyes. "I know what an infirmary is."

"Surprising, not many people do," he looked over at her, a smile tugging at his lips. "We're on the second story of the Big House."

"You mean that huge farmhouse? Big House isn't very original you know," she said, laughing softly.

"Yeah well sorry I wasn't here when the camp was built to tell the gods to be more creative," he rolled his eyes yet again. He seemed to do that a lot.

Nico led Layla down the sheet-walled corridor and through a door which led to stairs. They walked down them and came upon something like a rec room. There was a pool table, a foosball table, and some other tables with kids crowded around each of them. There were young kids, elementary age, mixed with much older kids who had to be around nineteen.

Nico led her out of the house and walked down a small dirt trail that cut the grassy land in half. They walked along the strawberry fields, girls mostly picking the berries and putting them into baskets. "We sell these to grocery stores and restaurants close by, they thrive with Mr. D around." Nico said, following her gaze. They walked past another Greek building, muscled teens pounding hammers against metal. "Let me guess, the forge?" Layla smirked, looking over at Nico. "Wow, alert Hermes, she's not as dumb as she looks."

Layla hit her shoulder against his, glaring up at him.

He ignored her and pointed past the forge to a large building. "Over there is the Armory where you'll get your swords and such"

"Wait? I get a sword?" She asked excitedly. That meant that she could cut things, she smiled. "Uh yeah…you do, if you can handle it," he smirked down at her.

They walked past both buildings and came to the stables. "Why do I need to see horses?" she asked curiously.

"Because they're not regular horses," he said, turning the corner into the stables. There were a bunch of beautiful girls, grooming what at first appeared to be horses, until Layla noticed the wings. "Pegasus?" her eyes widened as she walked over to one, pure black.

"His name is Blackjack," a voice said from the door of the stables. Nico and Layla turned around to see a handsome teen with black hair and sea green eyes.

"Hey, Percy. Layla, this is Percy Jackson, Percy, this is Layla Brooks."

Something about how Nico said her name, Percy looked at him, an eyebrow raised before turning back to Layla. "It's nice to meet you," he smiled and walked over to Blackjack.

"Percy is the son of Poseidon, so he can talk to horses," Nico leaned against the stable walls. "Awesome," was all Layla said, petting Blackjack, lost in his midnight mane.

"Have you gotten claimed yet?" Percy asked, looking over at Layla. She shook her head, looking up at him. "No, but today's my sixteenth birthday so Nico said something about me having to get claimed. Percy just nodded his head. "Yeah, last year, the gods got into a huge war with the Titans, we lost many demigods. But because we won, partly because of me, I asked for all demigods get claimed by their parent by their thirteenth birthday. Many of the demigods here didn't know who their godly parent was so they were holed out in the Hermes cabin. But because of that request, a cabin was built for each of the gods, major and minor, so you might find that you have brothers and sisters here by the end of the night."

Layla tried to register everything he said. Titans, gods, pegasi. They were all real. She smiled, thinking back to her father. He said that learning all of the mythology stuff would help her when she got older. So that meant that he knew who she was, who her mother was. And had never told her. For some reason, she got angry at not only her father but also her mother for not being there for her. So many things had happened; so many people had died around her.

"I know that face," Nico said, studying her. Percy looked at her closely, realization dawning on his features. "Don't be mad at the gods," he warned. "The titans rose because so many demigods cursed their parents and because of that, they died," he shook his head.

"PERCY!" A voice called from outside the stables. Percy's features lit up, standing. A very pretty girl with blond curly hair and stormy eyes walked into the stables and straight into Percy's waiting arms, kissing him softly.

"Annabeth Chase," Nico explained. "Daughter of Athena and Percy's girlfriend," he rolled his eyes.

"But…I thought Poseidon and Athena hated eachother? Because of what Poseidon and Medusa did in Athena's temple." She was so confused.

"That's very true, but just because the parents hate eachother, doesn't mean their children have to," he pointed out.

"I guess," she said, looking away from the full on make-out session in the middle of the stables. "Let's go," she said, standing up and walking out. Nico followed her and started walking down another trail. "The woods are where we play Capture The Flag on Fridays, those are the cabins over there. And where we're headed is the mess hall for dinner, where you will most likely be claimed."

Layla had a bounce in her step as he said this, hurrying over to the Mess Hall. A conch was blown, the demigods hurrying out of whatever activity they were in the middle of to go eat.

Chiron, a huge centaur, met them at the entrance. "Layla, it is good to see that you are finally awake. As it is your sixteenth birthday, you may sit with Nico at the Hades table for now but tomorrow at breakfast you will sit at your mother's table," he said and trotted off.

Layla did as she was told and sat across from Nico at the Hades table. She looked down at her plate, seeing nothing there. "Just think of what you want to eat and it'll appear," as soon as he said that, a BLT wrap appeared on Layla's plate with a side of French fries. "Yummy," she smiled at him. She looked around her, seeing other demigods pushing some of their food into the fire. "To honor the gods, they like the smell," Nico explained, standing up and scraping some of his food into the fire. He closed his eyes as he did this, whispering a soft prayer to his father.

Layla followed him and scraped some of her fries into the fire. She closed her eyes tightly whispering with her voice, and mind. "Whoever you are, my godly parent, claim me," she opened her eyes a few seconds later after nothing happened and sat down at her table. As she did, there were gasps throughout the Mess Hall, everyone looking at her, even Nico's eyes were wide.

She looked above her to see a symbol of a downturned torch in front of a wreath.

Chiron's voice spoke loudly. "All hail Layla Brooks, daughter of Thanatos, god of death!" There were voices all around her but she didn't listen to them. "God of death?" she breathed looking up at Nico. "Then who is the man that has been my father for the past sixteen years? And who is my mother?"

Authors Note: I hope you liked it! Please follow/favorite/comment, it would really mean a lot to me.