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After Will's shift in the infirmary, Will headed towards Nico's cabin to join the Halloween party that Jason and Percy had planned, and Nico had to go along with. Will didn't bother dropping off his medic bag since he would probably return to the infirmary in the morning, so he had packed some toiletries and clothes for the night.
As he walked, he looked around at the people dressing in their scary costumes, visiting some cabins that promoted a scary experience (the Hephestus cabin is currently a fan favorite due to their animatronics). Will looked towards the screaming at the Ares cabin, watching Clarisse and her siblings scaring some poor kids.
Those who didn't want to experience haunted attractions were at the campfire sharing scary stories and roasting marshmallows or eating candy that Chiron was passing around (Dionysus offered grapes and his kids Diet Coke. He was still upset he could get drunk tonight). Later, they were going to judge who had the scariest cabin with a reward of immunity at the next Capture the Flag.
Needless to say, the cabins were scary as hell tonight. Even Will's siblings did a good job by doing zombie-themed decorations to emphasize that Apollo was also the god of disease and plagues. They probably won't win, but Will wanted to reward them for their hard efforts.
As for Nico's cabin, Nico kept it simple with fake graves in front with live skeletons sticking out and grabbing anyone's feet who came close, with Mrs. O'Leary playing the role of a "scary" hell hound. (The only ones scared of her were the newcomers or anyone who didn't know about her.) She was at least getting spoiled with plenty of chew toys, occasional treats, and pets, so she was having a grand time, too.
Will maneuvered around the skeletons and gave the pooch some love before knocking on Nico's door, hearing faint music coming from the other side of the door. Nico, who was probably the only one waiting for Will, quickly opened the door and pulled him in. The inside was pretty chill since there wasn't much space, but the real party was behind the cabin, somewhat away from prying eyes (and after plenty of begging and Annabeth's harsh negotiation skills, Chiron was turning a blind eye so long it wasn't exposed what they were doing; might as well let them act like normal, reckless teenagers for once).
"Finally! What took you so long?" Nico asked, clearly a bit uncomfortable. He wasn't used to parties... or had never really been at one to know how to enjoy them. Dancing with anyone felt a little weird, so he was mostly a wallflower and eating snacks while waiting for Will.
"One of the animatronics exploded earlier, so I got held up by that. Nothing too bad. Sorry for being late." Will said before kissing Nico's cheek. Nico blushed at the affection but said nothing about it as his heart beat faster.
Sometimes, he gets happy when he reminds himself that Will was his boyfriend.
His first boyfriend.
He was still learning and trying to accept that being gay is fine now, so Will had been nothing but gentle and patient with him. He couldn't ask for a better boyfriend.
"Is everyone out back?" Will asked, deciding to change his shirt. Nico watched Will move away to dig in his bag and change.
"Yes, no alcohol, though. Travis couldn't sneak any without his siblings knowing." Nico told him. When Will turned around, Nico couldn't help but admire Will's black Halloween shirt. Will hardly wore black, so seeing this, Nico liked it on Will.
It wasn't like Will, but the cute black cat outline in orange was.
"You got the shirt because of the cat?" Nico asked. Will smiled.
"You know me so well." Nico chuckled. Will liked cute things, and Nico was still trying to figure out how Nico, in his dark and gloomy nature, was cute to Will. If Nico was cute, Will was pretty.
Not that he was going to tell Will that.
Will reached for his hand, and they headed out to go to the back of the cabin, just catching Mrs. O'Leary scaring some poor kids. Nico called her a good girl before they walked passed her to the back. Behind the cabin, there was food, Halloween decorations, and cool music that most were dancing to.
Will dragged Nico to the small crowd, wanting to dance, but Nico wasn't a dancer by any means and didn't want to embarrass himself. "You just move your feet and swing your hips," Will told him. Not exactly comfortable, Will took him by the hips and showed him, which was just swaying, not matching the music.
Nico mimicked him, and it seemed to be enough to make Will smile. Will even made Nico twirl a bit, and Nico could admit he was starting to like it. Once Nico was smiling and more loose, Will then made his way towards the snacks to eat pretzels and cupcakes, and smeared a bit of icing on Nico's cheek. Nico got him back by putting a big glob of icing on his nose, but his laugh made it worth it.
As the night went on, they slowly had to quiet the party but decided to crowd their small fire, Nico enjoying the warmth and comfort of sitting between Will's legs on the ground. They weren't too intimate since they hadn't gone past kissing, but feeling Will lean on his shoulder and his breaths tickling his neck felt almost too nice.
He wanted to stay like this forever.
"Alright, time to tell scary stories!" Travis declared.
"Our lives are scary enough," Percy commented, and Annabeth shared the same sentiment. Nico couldn't blame him. Percy hardly caught a break as far as he knew.
"There's nothing wrong with a few good ghost stories," Will suggested.
"I can summon some ghost," Nico offered, only for Will to flick him on the head. The rules were no powers unless it was to go to the underworld for his father or in case of an emergency. Any other time, he had to be supervised until he could stop fainting at the very least.
So far, about five small jumps and a few skeletons were his limit.
"Not hearing stories from ghosts. If you want that, you can look into history textbooks. I can share a few I know." Will suggested, and a few people laughed.
"You know a good ghost story, Will?" Leo asked.
"Of course I do. Why? Does it look like I don't?" Will asked, looking around.
"It's not that you don't look like you don't, but you're a pretty nice guy," Percy explained with a shrug.
Nico had to agree. Any sane person would've found Nico pretty scary, but Will's first thought is cute. More than once, when it came out that Will was dating Nico, people didn't see how it could work. Nico felt the same, even though he was the one who asked Will out. It was cute as a trope in books, but a little weird in real life.
"I kinda have to agree," Nico voiced, moving away to properly look at Will. "I think your version of a scary story is dismemberment." Will pouted.
Dismemberment is scary!
Well, probably to normal people.
Demigods live in a constant horror story, and dismemberment was more or less common, but not out of the norm.
"I can make a good horror story! The best! And dismemberment and infections are scary!" Will argued, kinda proving their point. It was scary in the field, but hearing it in a story...
It would probably be relatable rather than scary.
Will looked around, seeing everyone coming to the same conclusion except those who had been around Will year-round. But Will never really participated in Halloween other than roasting s'mores and listening to Michael or Lee tell the story.
And it was pretty scary, well, for Apollo kids. When Will was younger and used to tell his friends, it was decent at best or not scary at all. Bleeding out and getting stabbed wasn't scary when you nearly go through that every day.
"If I scare y'all, will it prove that I can be scary?" Will asked. Will watched some people nod, so Will excused himself. A few people asked him to come back with drinks. Nico watched him go, hoping Will wasn't offended. When it came to the battlefield, Will definitely had his fair share of trauma from trying to save but losing a patient. He has seen many wounds, many accidents, enough to scare the newcomers and those who haven't seen the harsh realities of being a demigod.
But the people here came in close contact with death repeatedly, and, in Percy and Annabeth's case, have been on many quests enough times not to be frightened by spooky stories.
Tartarus was scary.
Ghost stories aren't scary.
When Will came back, he was holding cards. He plopped down next to Nico and handed Annabeth, Conner, and Kayla their punch for placing the stack of cards in front of him. The cards looked weird; the writings on the back weren't Greek, English, or Latin.
I̸̢̩̞̭̓͗̊̓͐͗͊͂̊̅̈́̂̚͘͜t̴̢̨̛̛͍̺̞̘̗͓̹̘̭́̽͒͑̈́̆̇͐͛̎̓̆́ ̵̣̟̯̯̬͔̤̭͙̯̱̆̓̃͛̂̂̕s̸̨͉͈̮̫̲͎̺̬͔̜͖̪̿͌̓̈́̄̀̊̊̑̊̚͝h̵̡̗͓͉͉̙͈̫̪̖͎͓̰̪̳̎͑̆͛̇̔̽̕͝à̶͉̠͋̾̑̐l̴̢̛̩̪̰̜͔̊̇̽̋͊͑̕͠͝ͅl̷̼̽ ̶̛̰̞͙̒͌͛̌̄̿͑̄̾͠b̷͙̂̃̓̉̅̅̚̚ȅ̸͙͉͉̻̬̹̒̿̅́̈̒͜ͅ ̷̢̡͓̠̜̣̣̯̭̱̯̂̿̈̀̇̿̏́̈̏̂̓̈́̅̃
"What does that say?" Percy asked, his dyslexia acting up.
"It Shall Be. These cards were used a long time ago to grant wishes, but whoever is granting the wishes takes something in return. It could be a measly five bucks, or it would take something a lot more personal like your soul." Will explain as he separated the cards into stacks of three. Nico didn't sense an evil presence attached to the cards, so maybe Will was trying to fool them into being scared.
"What's the cards for if we have to ask?" Jason asked, looking around to see if anyone was uneasy. So far, it looked like no one was taking the cards seriously.
"One stack is blank. You asked, and it writes down your wish. The middle stack is the wishes that were already granted. You can take a look at those if you want. Shouldn't be harmful. The smaller stack," Will separated the smaller stack, placing ten down individually on the ground. Everyone moved closer to look at the cards, the ten cards showed a picture of a dead body. "is those that died playing this game."
Again, Nico couldn't sense any souls being trapped in the cards, so maybe those were pictures of fake people.
It was still pretty graphic. Nico shrugged at Jason, who was growing concerned. Will's siblings, Kayla and Austin, did look nervous. Even Katie looked shaken up.
"What's the story?" Nico asked. Will smiled at Nico. Nico wasn't sure if to take that as everything was fine, or if Will was just happy Nico asked.
"The generic story. Someone was once greedy and asked for more and more until it cost him his life." Will lifted the card with a man seemingly getting his soul sucked out of him. "The next four people, the cards found them by chance. Early nineteen hundreds. It was a massacre. One buried in cement, one beheaded, one disappeared, and one died by suicide." Will looked around at the curious faces. "And the last five were recent. They were friends of an older Apollo kid, about thirty years ago. You see how they turned out. Now, every head counselor of Apollo must bless the cards once a year to keep the evil locked away." Will told.
Nico frowned.
"Will, these are fake cards, aren't they?" Nico asked.
"If this were recent and happened to demigods, surely my cabin would have known about this." Annabeth stated.
Just like that, Everyone calmed down.
"No, it's real! I'll show you!" Will argued, then reached for a blank card. Without thinking, Nico grabbed Will's wrist. He didn't want Will to take the chance, even if the cards were fake.
"Nico, you okay?" Will asked, looking worried. Nico slowly removed his hand and nodded. "Think about it, if it's real, I don't have much for the evil to take. If it's fake, then it would prove that I suck at trying to scare y'all." Will said. Nico wanted to say that Will had him, but Nico still couldn't sense an evil to worry about. Nico nodded.
Will lifted the card, and everyone watched quietly. "Great One, grant my wish. I wish to be scary." Will demanded. The card glowed Orange and wrote down Will's wish just as a quiet, creepy voice whispered:
I̸̢̩̞̭̓͗̊̓͐͗͊͂̊̅̈́̂̚͘͜t̴̢̨̛̛͍̺̞̘̗͓̹̘̭́̽͒͑̈́̆̇͐͛̎̓̆́ ̵̣̟̯̯̬͔̤̭͙̯̱̆̓̃͛̂̂̕s̸̨͉͈̮̫̲͎̺̬͔̜͖̪̿͌̓̈́̄̀̊̊̑̊̚͝h̵̡̗͓͉͉̙͈̫̪̖͎͓̰̪̳̎͑̆͛̇̔̽̕͝à̶͉̠͋̾̑̐l̴̢̛̩̪̰̜͔̊̇̽̋͊͑̕͠͝ͅl̷̼̽ ̶̛̰̞͙̒͌͛̌̄̿͑̄̾͠b̷͙̂̃̓̉̅̅̚̚ȅ̸͙͉͉̻̬̹̒̿̅́̈̒͜ͅ ̷̢̡͓̠̜̣̣̯̭̱̯̂̿̈̀̇̿̏́̈̏̂̓̈́̅̃
Nico was going to be honest, it spooked him. He wasn't expecting the voice or the glowing. Nico quickly took Will's card away and made Will look at him. He looked normal, so Nico wondered if this was a trick from Will.
But Will didn't have those powers.
"Are you feeling alright?" Piper asked. Will frowned.
"I don't feel any different. Maybe because I'm already scary." Will said, wiggling his eyebrows. Nico rolled his eyes, but was glad that Will was fine. "Gonna try again," Will announced. Before Nico could stop him, Will snatched another card. "Great One, grant my wish. I wish for five hundred dollars."
Again, the orange light wrote down the wish, and the creepy voice announced, "It shall be done." Everyone waited for the light to die down as Will looked around. Will frowned, then looked surprised and pulled out money from his pocket.
"Wait, is that five hundred?" Leo asked. Will counted out loud, confirming it was real. Nico took a dollar and felt it. It looked and felt too real for it to be fake. Will passed around the twenty-dollar bills, not caring if they decided to keep them or not. Nico looked back at Will, who was smiling, but Will's roots started turning black, stripping Will of his golden hair until only the tips of his hair were left blonde.
Nico stared, horrified.
"Will, your hair!" Percy pointed out. Will looked at Nico, who looked scared. If asking for five hundred dollars took away his blonde hair, what did the first wish take away?
"Wow, I have black hair now! Cool. Let's do another! Maybe read one of the old wishes!" Will said excitedly.
"Will, I don't think you should do another," Jason said carefully.
"Are you scared?" Will asked with a creepy smile and laughed. "C'mon, it's just hair! Hair grows back! You know what? You're right! Travis, it's your turn!" Will chose and quickly gave Travis a used card with an old wish. Katie told Travis quietly that he didn't have to do it, but it seemed like an innocent wish.
"Great One, grant my wish. I wish to be accepted to my first-choice college."
I̸̢̩̞̭̓͗̊̓͐͗͊͂̊̅̈́̂̚͘͜t̴̢̨̛̛͍̺̞̘̗͓̹̘̭́̽͒͑̈́̆̇͐͛̎̓̆́ ̵̣̟̯̯̬͔̤̭͙̯̱̆̓̃͛̂̂̕s̸̨͉͈̮̫̲͎̺̬͔̜͖̪̿͌̓̈́̄̀̊̊̑̊̚͝h̵̡̗͓͉͉̙͈̫̪̖͎͓̰̪̳̎͑̆͛̇̔̽̕͝à̶͉̠͋̾̑̐l̴̢̛̩̪̰̜͔̊̇̽̋͊͑̕͠͝ͅl̷̼̽ ̶̛̰̞͙̒͌͛̌̄̿͑̄̾͠b̷͙̂̃̓̉̅̅̚̚ȅ̸͙͉͉̻̬̹̒̿̅́̈̒͜ͅ ̷̢̡͓̠̜̣̣̯̭̱̯̂̿̈̀̇̿̏́̈̏̂̓̈́̅̃
The card glowed, and then a piece of paper appeared on Travis's lap. Travis lifted it and smiled. "I got accepted! It's a real letter! I got accepted!" Travis cheered, but Connor started swaying side to side.
"I don't feel so good," Conner mumbled before falling harshly on his back. Nico jumped to his feet as Katie gasped. Percy took out his weapon and jumped to his feet, but there was no one to fight. Piper covered her mouth to keep in a shout while Leo looked nervous. Kayla and Austin checked on Conner, noting he was breathing, but told everyone his heartbeat was slower.
"Travis! Your brother-"
"Who cares! I got accepted! Will, hand me another card!" Travis said excitedly. Will grabbed the cards before Nico could kick them into the fire. He tossed Travis a blank card, then looked towards Annabeth.
"You can always wake him up. All you have to do is ask." Will told Annabeth suggestively. Percy watched Annabeth think about it and stood in front of her.
"No! She's not doing it!" Percy shouted, but then they all got distracted by the orange light that came from Travis's card, unaware of what he had asked. Travis laughed like a maniac while big roots shot from the ground and wrapped around Katie, who was panicking. Jason and Leo tried to help her, but Katie was soon wrapped in a tight cocoon; no one was sure if she could breathe.
"Great One, grant my wish!" Will shouted, getting Nico's attention. "I wished to be the best at archery!" After the orange glow and creepy voice, Kayla clenched her chest and panicked that she couldn't breathe. She begged for Will's help, but Will only smiled until Kayla passed out.
"Will, snap out of it!" Nico pleaded, getting on his knees, but Will started crying happy tears.
"Aren't you happy, Nico? I can fight next to you now, and you won't have to worry about me or fight for me ever again! Are you happy? I'm strong now!" Will cheered, but Nico grabbed his head and shook him one good time.
"Will, stop! Something happened to Kayla! How do we stop this?" Nico asked. Will blinked and looked confused as to why Nico was panicking. "Well," Will said slowly, "Someone who's levelheaded could probably ask for everything to be right again," Will suggested.
"I'll do it," Annabeth volunteered. Percy shook his head, but everyone else was panicking or close to crying, and she was the only one still sitting down and taking all of this in. "I'll be fine, Percy," Annabeth reassured. She took a blank card.
"Great One, grant my wish. I wish for everything to return to normal." Annabeth said sternly. Everyone looked at Travis, who was going mad now, complaining about voices in his head. Austin was trying his best to soothe him, but Travis was close to pulling out his hair. Conner still laid next to him, going pale, and Katie's cocoon seemed to tighten around her. The worst was that Kayla's breathing was starting to slow. Austin turned his attention to his sister and started crying.
"Why didn't it go back to normal?" Jason mumbled.
Then Annabeth fainted, making Percy panic.
Will laughed like he told the world's funniest joke. "I can't believe you fell for that! Humans are so gullible!"
Nico backed up. "Will?"
Will shook his head slowly. "Will's not here. He's mine now." Will- er, not Will growled out. Nico backed up to Percy's legs, who was still standing with Riptide out, but no one to combat. Will looked insane, his eyes glowing with mad glee, his smile just as crazy.
"Piper-"
"Don't bother. Charmspeak won't work on me, girl, nor those pitiful demigod powers. You should ask the last person who tried. Oh yeah, they're dead!" Will snickered, then sighed. "Oh, and this boy wanted to be scary. I granted it. Is he scary now?"
Austin wiped his eyes and moved away from Kayla, bumping into Travis, who seemed to be staring into oblivion while gripping his hair.
"The tailisman. Will has one in the infirmary, in the back room. That would get rid of you, right?" Austin voiced. Will frowned and glared at Austin.
"You wouldn't dare."
Austin yelled at them to run, just as a root shot out of the ground towards Austin. Nico got up with Jason, Leo, and Piper and followed Percy, who was already running. Nico wanted to shadow jump there, but also didn't want to accidentally faint either, so he was stuck with running. They were getting close to the infirmary, and a wall of spikes blocked the entrance, making them stop.
They turned around, thinking maybe they could find Chiron, but froze when they saw Will walk towards them with a zombie-like Kayla, sleepwalking Conner, possessed Travis, cut-up Katie, and pale Annabeth following behind him.
Okay, Nico was scared and admitted to clinging onto Percy, but he couldn't sense any evil around, so this entity must be powerful enough to cover it or something. Nico didn't know where to start to get his Will back.
"Are you ready to be the next group of demigods to go missing?" Will asked, holding up a blank card. No one wanted to hurt them, but feared being trapped in a card. So they screamed.
Yes, screamed.
"That's enough, Will. You're just as bad as Lee was." Chiron said, sounding amused. Nico opened his eyes to see their friends laughing while slightly looking guilty. Percy looked towards Chiron, then at Annabeth, who was clearly alive. Percy didn't care about the how and why as he ran to hug her.
"Wait, was all this a prank?" Leo asked, honestly impressed. Piper was starting to laugh while Jason was considering just staying in Camp Jupiter from now on as he felt embarrassed.
"Yeah, an old prank at that," Travis said. Conner and Kayla yawned as Austin ran up and high-fived Will. Nico didn't understand.
"But the cards?"
"Fake Halloween cards made years ago," Will answered.
"But the glowing and the voice?"
"Lou Ellen and Cecil. I ran to get them to help with the prank."
"But Conner and Kayla and Annabeth-"
"Melatonin. Conner and Kayla took the chance to take a short nap. Annabeth asked for one earlier since we were staying up late, and it helps her sleep. So it just made it look believable when it came to her. Katie is a child of Demeter; she did it to herself and was the one who attacked Austin, and Travis can just act very well."
"But you were possessed!"
"Acting. None of it was real, Nico. You called it from the beginning." Will explained, the mist revealing that Will's hair had been blonde the whole time.
Nico blushed, pouted, and turned away. Leo and Piper went up to talk to Lou Ellen and Cecil about how they did it while Percy teased Jason about screaming. Will walked up and hugged Nico from behind with a smile.
"So, am I scary now?" Will whispered. Nico rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Nico mumbled, but accepted the kiss to the cheek. "You're pretty scary." Nico turned around in time to see Will beam like a happy puppy. Nico wasn't going to tell him, but he loves this side of Will more.