Disclaimer: I do not own anything besides the basic plot.

Pairing: Nico/Percy

Summary: AU: Percy likes comic books so when one shows him how to summon a demon he tries it. It was supposed to be a fake ritual but when it works and not only summons a real demon but the prince of demons dubbed the Ghost Kind he's not sure whether to cry or check himself into the looney bin. Little does he know of the full consequences of summoning this demon and it's way more than he bargained for.

Chapter 18: The Messenger's Already Dead

NICO

Nico woke with a start, for the first time in his long life he had a nightmare. Nightmares were from his realm and thus demons never suffered from them while sleeping or otherwise. Perhaps, Nico thought, because of his connection with Percy that he now had one.

His dream had been about his mate, not being able to save him from a gruesome death while scared green eyes watched and pleaded with him. WHY?! Dream Percy had yelled at him. There was a knot in his stomach, and it wasn't going to untwist any time soon.

Now that he was fully awake the details on the nightmare had left it. Only the unsettling feeling was there. Humans have dealt with this for centuries and one bad dream had him scared, he hated it.

Today they'd fix up the house, magically of course. First, they'd start with the garage as per Hazel's request. The demoness wanted her mate to come home with nothing amiss. More so, Nico thought, to remind him of the things that had happened.

The demon prince stretched, a few bones popping as he got up from his spot on the floor. Hazel was still asleep besides him so, he made sure to be as quiet as possible. He didn't want to wake her up, hell knows that she needed rest.

He made his way to the kitchen. During the night wind had torn some of the tape away from the broken windows and the tarp was making noise with the morning wind. A simple flick of his wrist and the windows were fixed, and tarps gone.

Coffee, he needed coffee. Nico turned toward the cabinets and to the beautiful coffee machine right by the refrigerator. A dark roast sounded good. The demon made an entire pot. He knew the others in the house would also like a cup, no tea this morning.

A thought popped in his head as the smell of coffee began to permeate the room and thus wake him up. Perhaps they could still get some magic to Frank. No doubt his mother, Persephone, would agree to help them. After all, it was all to help the cute little humans survive. He'd have to check with Hazel first.

With the coffee made and the pot nearly done brewing Nico decided to at least cook breakfast for Annabeth. Out of all of them the half-human girl was the only one who actually needed nourishment to survive. Bacon and eggs, it was then.

SUMMON

All of them were up now and Nico had made them all at least eat a morsel of food before heading out to the garage. It was still difficult to navigate the pock marked yard. They avoided the crater as they stood in front of Leo's favourite building.

Hazel bent and touched the ground, "looks like the foundation is still sound." Just to be sure she made is stronger, hardening the ground around the building.

"That's good Haze," Nico said while staring at the gaping hole in one of the garage doors, the other one blown off its hinges.

The building had two industrial sized garage doors that were large enough to fit whatever projects Leo wanted. The top of the garage resembled the house with wide windows and shutters to make it look a little cozier. If it weren't for the huge garage doors it'd look like another house on the property.

Inside was even better according to his sister's mate. Large worktables at the back of the shop and on the walls were every tool known to man. When Leo had first got his hands on it the place had been too clean, unworked in and now it was broken in with grease stains and motor oil smell.

There were wide swinging doors in the middle that led to all kinds of scraps and shelves from floor to ceiling with screws, nails, and zip ties. Then, there was the mud room to the right, next to the stairs and the side door. In there was where Leo cleaned up before he went back to the house for the night or to eat.

Inside there was also a loft. The stairs by the side door. Up there was where Frank and Hazel would sit and watch mindless tv on the big screen on cozy overstuffed couches. There was also a small kitchenette filled with all kinds of snacks.

In order to rebuild it they had to think about the thing they'd be reconstructing. In this case it was the garage in front of them. Annabeth had also brought the blueprints with them as an extra measure.

"Are we ready to start?" Nico turned to Hazel, she'd be the one giving the ok.

"Yes," she nodded, and the three demons began their magic.

Annabeth watched them trying to learn exactly what it was they were doing. Her shared memories made it easier to learn and she wanted to help too. Is she wasn't all human then perhaps she also had the ability to use magic, she'd find out.

Before the three demons had any chance to use their magic Annabeth lifted her own hand. She focused her mind on her task, rebuilding the garage.

"Annabeth…" Reyna began, she knew the human knew that magic took years of practice and Annabeth had exactly none.

Be quiet, please.

Reyna closed her mouth. Hazel gave her a look and Nico was just as confused, "humour her," Reyna gave them both an apologetic look. Annabeth was very stubborn.

Before Annabeth's eyes she saw exactly how everything should look as if she could see the architects plans in 3D. First it was lines and then it morphed into actual material and she knew exactly what each was called.

No words left her mouth and to the shock of the three demons beside her Annabeth used her first bit of magic and completely rebuild the garage. It happened all at once, within a blink of an eye. The building in front of her was whole again and then she was swaying, her vision darkening.

SUMMON

Reyna had put Annabeth to rest in their room. Everyone was still in shock over her display of magic and not just that, but Annabeth's magic was different from theirs. It wasn't like heavens magic either.

The three demons were now sitting in the kitchen drinking the rest of the coffee. Hazel had been beside herself thinking Annabeth had seriously hurt herself over a building that the three demons could have reconstructed. Not only that but she was Leo's friend, practically her sister.

It was a huge relief to everyone when they found that her first use of magic had just tired her, and she needed the rest. Nico had been more than impressed. Percy had always bragged on her for her brains and she didn't disappoint.

"It took me years before I could do that kind of magic," Nico complimented while he stirred in more sugar into his coffee. "Truly remarkable." If she was capable of that then there was a chance that Percy could unlock his own powers. The knot in his stomach eased a little.

"The only one who took to magic like existing was Hazel," Reyna agreed while she drank her black coffee. Apparently, it's way better that way.

"Even I've got to admit that's amazing." Hazel had been steadily stirring in more and more cream into her coffee and at this point it was probably more cream than actual coffee.

"She learned from my memories, while we were thinking of the garage and how it was made. Annabeth knew she had to have at least the most basic understand of building design. Her memories of that time are incredible, it was like her brain was already putting the pieces together before she even realized it." The demoness still couldn't believe her half-human mate had done such a feat.

SUMMON

Nico excused himself to his and Percy's room. He slowly walked the halls, in them were still scorch marks. The physical evidence that Percy wasn't with him.

He'd like to say that he had no emotions, but that just wasn't true. Especially now when he and Percy had first truly shared memories. There were things that brought up emotions that he never knew he had. Most of all was fondness and that was for his half-human mate. No matter what he'd get him back.

Now inside their room and alone the demon prince let his tears fall. He hated feeling like this, so useless while he waited for the ok from Frank. If he made the wrong move it could mean the end for Percy and for Leo. There was nothing he hated more than not being able to do anything.

He hoped and prayed that Percy was doing ok. It didn't seem right to him that he was here in comfort while Percy was facing any number of cruel punishments.

Nico grit his teeth and just as he was about to destroy all the feather pillows a black figure came bounding out of the shadows.

"Mrs. O'Leary!"

PERCY

Leo and Percy had been playing another game of catch, and this time with a pineapple because apparently normal fruit was 'boring' and 'dumb'. Bianca defected to the other side to join in their silly games.

Percy had been trying to follow Leo's erratic movements and had sorely miscalculated. The pineapple become a deadly projectile and knocks a bunch of vases off a shelf on the wall. Fancy looking porcelain with little gold leaf details all crashed to the floor.

The trio stood stock still as three heads turned toward Thalia. Her temper was something none of them liked to deal with because she made it rain and little tiny lighting bolts would crack from the rain cloud and shock you. Not fun.

She rolled her eyes and shut her book, bookmark in place, "I'm going to go to that end of the room now, where is quiet." Thalia icily walked by the three of them as they each gulped. Little sparks of electricity crackled off her skin as she went to a quieter part of the room.

"Maybe the pineapple was a bit much?" Percy grinned sheepishly as I headed over to help clear the broken vases.

"We're bored!" Leo loudly complained mostly so Thalia could hear him. He did NOT have the patients to read like she did. Every three seconds he was fidgeting and there wasn't much in this room to use to build anything. Right now, his project of making a distraction was at a stand still.

Bianca looked guilty for joining in, but she'd been having so much fun interacting with others. Don't get her wrong, she loved her girlfriend, but they'd been stuck in here together for years. A change of pace was welcome.

The three resigned themselves to cleaning up the mess they'd made. "Uh," Percy looked dumbly at the broken porcelain. Mixed in the mess was little bones scattered on the floor and even more unsettling there was a cat skull.

"Why would that be in there?" Leo frowned as he toes one of the bones with his shoe.

Bianca bent down to inspect the bones further. Her brother was the Ghost King and this kind of stuff was more his forte, but she had at least a modicum of power over the dead.

"It's a cat," Percy finally said as he bent down next to Bianca to look at it. The ghost of his shared memories of Nico going over bones helped in this case.

Leo stayed a good foot or two away, he'd seen plenty of horror movies to know it must be cursed bones or something. He just knew it'd somehow come to life and devour them all. That's why he screamed when the bones started to rattle.

"I've seen this movie and it doesn't end well!" Leo gripped the back of Percy's shirt and was threatening to cut off his airflow.

Then the bones jumped into place creating the skeletal structure of a cat and then like magic, because it was, there was a small calico kitten in front of them. As if nothing had happened to the tiny kitten it began to groom itself only noticing the three watchful gazes after a long stretch.

"Huh," Percy really wanted to pick it up. It took all of his self control not to.

Soon the kitten had finished grooming itself and seemingly realized that there were others watching it. The tiny thing meowed and made its way directly to Percy. He held his breath not wanting to scare it.

"Is it harmless?" Leo asked Bianca while the three of them still stared.

Bianca had a piece of the vase it was kept in and was turning it over in her hand, "according to this, yes unless it doesn't like you."

"Now you tell me," Percy whined as the small kitten sniffed at his shoe and then a rumbling filled the room and it seemed to originate from the cat. It was purring.

"Good news, looks like it likes you." Bianca said while smiling fondly. "So, you don't have to worry."

Percy hummed as he slowly bent down to pet the kitten and as it purred and moved around, he could see its entire skeletal structure shimmer underneath. A smile made its way to Percy's face. The kitten was extremely soft.

"It needs a name!" Leo was dancing on the spot. He really wanted his turn to pet the kitten. It really did look terribly soft.

The kitten had laid itself down and exposed its belly for Percy to rub and the shaking continued as if the cat was larger than this tiny form. Percy motioned for Leo to come over and the imp was terribly excited, so excited in fact that his hair started to smoke.

"It's so small," Leo gasped as he held out a friendly hand for the kitten to inspect. It only gave a small meow before it allowed Leo to pet its little head.

The three were huddled in one spot for so long playing with the kitten it attracted Thalia.

"What are you three doing now?" She questioned as she approached from the other side of the room, she had been trying to read but the cute little laughs from her girlfriend were distracting.

"Cat," was the simple answer from the trio.

Thalia raised a brow and leaned in closer and low and behold there was in fact a cat. She saw the shimmer every now and then and knew it was some sort of underworld creature. In heaven all the animals had a sort of iridescent shimmer to them. She couldn't deny how cute it was though.

Soon she had joined in with playing with the kitten. Percy had removed his hoodie string and the four of them were having a really good time watching the little kitten go after it like crazy. It's little paws with it's sharp clawed out and little pink toe beans.

They had decided on a name finally, Small Bob. As it turns out Small Bob can turn into a giant sabre-tooth tiger and that's the reason why the room seems to shake when he purrs. The four of them are hoping their new little friend cane help them.

As it turns out he can because he can get through the wards set up to keep them inside the room. Thalia had a dangerous gleam in her eye. Percy knew it was because the two of them, her and Bianca, hadn't been out in years and maybe even decades.

The only thing they had to do now was see if the little guy would take instruction and it seemed he really favoured the two half-humans over the other occupants in the room. Bianca had said it was because they were similar, small and cute and maybe a little bit deadly.

Now Small Bob was doing little tricks for the two half-humans. It seemed the magical creature had a good understanding of the English language.

Right now, the kitten was being taught go from one person to the next and even better Small Bob could walk though solid objects. Which was how the figured out he could get though the walls. Leo had thrown a tassel they'd cut off from one of the tapestries and the kitten had gone after it and couldn't stop in time and then had just phased through the wall.

They had a sort of rough plan now.

SUMMON

He was being held by Luke again. Since going into that room where the Being's tomb was the angel hadn't let go of the fake rat. Which wasn't good for him, his time was running out.

Clarisse entered Luke's office where the angel had been since the night before. Her eyes were red rimmed and puffy, she was carrying a jar with her. The symbols on it told Frank that it held something from either an angel or a demon in order to control them.

"I can't," she began but Luke shushed her.

The angel shook his head and glared hard at the jar in her hands. Frank felt the tension between the two of them.

"Luke," Clarisse seemed to plead.

"You know we can't." he replied.

Clarisse's angered flared and her grip tightened on the jar making her knuckles turn white. Frank felt his heart stop when the girl glanced at him for a moment before looking back up at Luke. With a growl she turned on her heal and left the room with the jar.

A shuddering sigh left Luke's mouth and it nearly sounded like a stifled sob. Luke put Frank on the ground instead of in his little rat enclosure that he figured out how to get out of ages ago.

"Go," Luke mumbled and rested his head on his desk before the angel shut his eyes and his breathing evened out.

Luke's behaviour had gotten stranger and stranger since Frank had been here. One thing stayed the same and that was how Luke and Clarisse communicated with each other. It was always clipped, half sentences that left him grasping at straws as to their meaning.

Frank always made sure to play the part of rat before he slipped into the hallways from the cracked door. This time though as he crept into the hallway, he hadn't expected for Clarisse to be there or for her to catch him by the tail.

"You're coming with me, now." She carried him off.

His heart was beating a mile a minute. Had she figured out what, or more like who, he was?

"This," She used her free hand to hold up another dead rodent. The jar she had previously was no where to be seen, "came for you."

Frank's heart leapt into his throat. This was the same mole he had used to send Hazel and the others a message. He'd been found out and most likely had put Leo and Percy in danger.

"I can't read it though; seems the magic has been woven in such a way that no one but you can now what it's carrying." Clarisse spoke with a sense of awe in her voice. As if she was impressed at the magic skill involved in this.

Frank didn't know how to react. On one hand he could shift and fight her and never make it out or on the other hand be taken prisoner and put Leo and Percy in more danger.

His brain was turning over his options when Clarisse spoke again.

"Help us, please."

….

A/N: I struggled with this chapter, feels good to actually write again.