The Half-Blood Magician, ch.16:My Mummy comes to Visit

I traveled with Nico for a couple weeks. And one night, I had another nightmare.

I was standing over Nico and I's sleeping forms, which was sort of disconcerting. I remembered Carter and Sadie describing 'ba' trips on their recording, and looked down in panic.

I sighed in relief-I wasn't half chicken.

"Being mainly Greek at this point, you don't abide by the Egyptian dividing of the soul anymore." Said a familiar voice from behind me.

I turned to see a 19-year-old girl in jeans and a t-shirt. "Mom. What are you doing here?"

She smiled warmly at me. "Are you aware that there is a war going on, my dear?"

"Yes. The war with the Titans." Nico had told me about the war.

"The war with Olympus." She corrected.

"What do you mean?"

Hebe pursed her lips. "Are you also aware of the Great Prophecy?"

I frowned. "No."

"Well, it says that the next child of the Eldest three gods, Zeus, Posiedon, or Hades, to reach the age of 16 will make a decision that either saves or destroys Olympus. That means either Nico, Thalia Grace,or Percy Jackson. It is unlikely that Thalia will be the chosen of the prophecy, considering she has taken the place of Zoe Nightshade as First Lieutenant of Artemis, and we cannot let it be Percy. He will surely save Olympus. "

"But isn't that a good thing?"

"Stella, Olympus has never appreciated the minor gods. I was there cupbearer a few millenia for goodness sakes. Kronos will give us equality. Even shares in the world. And all he asks of you-" she leaned towards me. "Convince Nico to join us. I sent you into the maze. I brought you here. Because I knew you could get close to him. Help us, my daughter," her mystical, godly tone faltered for a moment into something more befitting an actual nineteen year old. "And, maybe use your powers over the Olympians to disable them in battle."

"What?" I blinked, reeling from information overload. I finally settled on: "Why did you think I would be able to get close to him?"

"You are more similar than you realize. He opens up to you in ways he does not open up to anyone else for a reason. Bring him to our side, and you will both be honored as heroes in the New Age."

I frowned at her first comments. Similar in what ways? I guess we were both loner kids, we both came from different times, we both found the more subversive magic came to us more naturally....

Maybe she had a point. But she talked like there was some deeper meaning I was missing.

Then the rest of what she said sank in.

I'll admit. For a moment, I actually considered it. I'd seen everything the Olympians had ever done, and they'd done some pretty terrible things.

But Kronos had done worse. I'd seen that in the gods' memories, too.

"I can't." I said. "It's not right. And Nico would never join Kronos, no matter what I did."

"Are you sure? His father is given even less recognition then us." Hebe retorted.

"Ya, well Nico's not his father. And I'm not you. And how dare you manipulate us!"

My mother's expression darkened. "You ungrateful little-"

Her eyes flashed and she probably would have turned me into a flower or something, but I flicked my wrist and prayed this would still work in a dream. I threw the contents of my open palm at Hebe. The orange Ribbons wrapped around my mother until she looked like a neon mummy. I heard muffled protests from behind the ribbons covering her face. Light shined through the cracks in the ribbons, and I knew she was revealing her true godly form, but it was useless.

"Sorry, mom. Shouldn't have chose the wrong side."

The Half-Blood Magician, ch. 17: We Meet the Dopelganger God

[AN: Since I don't know if I'm ever gonna finish this and get to the reveal, I'll go ahead and say: what Hebe was talking about is that Stella and Nico are both gay, even if she hasn't realized it and he hasn't come to terms with it.]