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Nico did his level best to resist the sly grin which spread across his features as he laid the last card upon the table. “I play Terms of Hades’ Accords, which boosts my three Knights of the Underworld,” he said, laughter creeping into his tone as he savored the look of utter disbelief on his opponent’s face. “And swing for game. I win again, Jackson.”
With a frustrated groan, Percy Jackson, the vaunted Hero of Olympus, tossed his cards onto the table and slumped back into his seat. “No freaking way,” he groused.
“Yes freaking way.” Nico mimicked, raising his brows.
Of all the things that tempted him, all the things that made him want to ignore his self-imposed promise not to confront Percy so soon after he suffered a terrible loss, the spark in those deep green eyes was the worst. Even when it came with a glare, aimed in response to a taunt.
Especially so, a private part of the younger boy admitted.
Percy narrowed his eyes as if he thought to peer straight through Nico, searching him. Whatever he sought to find, though, it was to no avail.
The son of Poseidon heaved another sigh and covered his face in his hands. “What all am I up to now?” he groaned.
Nico bit his lip, stifling a laugh. “Well,” he said as he glanced at the slip of paper he’d begun using to keep track of his winnings. “After that game, you owe me three large meals, a large shake, and a McFlurry. And don’t think you’re skimping on the M&M’s, either.”
That earned him a warning look. Percy’s “you’re on thin ice, I can be just as big a brat” look always hinted some impending scheme to get even. Usually involving a well-timed water spout when they walked by a fountain, right as Nico would forget and drop his guard.
All in good fun, though. Percy knew how to control his strength, and seemed to know better than to hit anyone with a good spray on cooler mornings or evenings. Instead, that was when Nico had to duck and dodge, laughing as he tried to avoid being caught in a headlock while the older boy mussed up his already messy hair.
This morning? Well, Nico made sure to steal a quick glance toward the water. Namely, the rising and rolling of the waves for any hint of dip and a swell, the telltale signs of Percy gathering up and readying one to jump the barrier and drench him head to toe.
None so far. Which meant Nico could afford to prod him a bit more.
And to that end, he met Percy’s glare with a grin. “I’m getting my M&M McFlurry, Jackson.”
“You hustled me,” Percy accused playfully.
“How can I have hustled you? I taught you the game!”
“Yeah, and now you’re pulling out these crazy chain combos!”
“Excuse you! I’m not the one who said—“ here, Nico mimicked Percy’s voice ”—hey, Neeks! Let’s make it a bit interesting! That was you, Percy!”
“And the instant I said ‘McDonald’s’, you went in,” Percy retorted with an air of triumph, like Nico had stepped right into some brilliant track. “Thus, my point—hustled.”
With a roll of his eyes, Nico began to gather and shuffle his deck again. “You brought french fries into the mix,” he said with an air of false piety. “Peace was never an option. Besides—“ here, Nico shot him a sly smirk ”—you can always call it quits. I can only eat so much.”
It was bait, plain and simple.
And like a hungry shark, Percy took it, hook and all.
Only this time, Nico decided he’d have a little fun with his prey. Percy had no idea just how versatile his preferred Legions of the Underworld deck could be. Most knew it for how quickly it could spawn and overwhelm the field to knock out an opponent’s life points with blinding efficiency. As for others …
Well, if one happened to have the quick play counterspell Curse of the Forlorn Legions, the deck became the one of the most effective at driving an opponent absolutely insane.
Naturally, Nico had it saved up for just this occasion. That he found it in his hand upon his first draw of the game almost seemed like the Fates telling him to use it, their weathered, wrinkled faces creased into ghastly grins.
And who was he to defy those old crones if it meant tweaking his friend?
But first, he’d need to set the appropriate bait. And Nico had just the card for that.
He started by casting Servants’ Summons, which allowed him to summon as many Underworld Servants as he had in his hand. In turn, each Servant granted him the ability to summon another Underworld Servant from his deck, unless they’d been summoned by the effect of another Underworld card.
“Those stupid things again. Great!” Percy groaned. “You suck, Neeks.”
“You can quit any time. I’m happy to claim another McFlurry.”
“In your dreams, di Angelo.”
“Then I guess you’d better figure out away around them, Jackson.” Nico dumped a mana card to return his Servants’ Summons to his hand, nodding to Percy. “Pass turn. I can taste those M&Ms already.”
Percy exhaled, his cheeks puffed in irritation as he drew a card and made a snap play to cast and summon a Knight from the Deep—his favorite card. High attack numbers, and a powerful piercing damage effect.
But the son of Poseidon wasn’t done. Rather than just bull forward full steam ahead as he’d done so often before, Percy opted to chain another spell, Tidal Fury, which would grant his Knight from the Deep the chance to attack multiple times per turn depending upon the roll of a six-sided die. A roll he’d have to take prior to every battle step.
Percy rolled, grinning as he got a four. “Looks like this is gonna hurt, Neeks. Splash four of your stupid Underworld Servants and take twelve piercing!” he crowed.
Nico bit his lip, only barely stifling a laugh. With a wicked grin, he laid down his card and said, “Cool. Bounce as many creatures as you’ve destroyed back to your hand and you take eight damage to your life points.”
The son of Poseidon blinked, staring at the card. “Wait, what?”
“Curse of the Forlorn Legions,” Nico said, tapping the card. “For each creature destroyed by an opponent’s declared attack or targeted effect, return one of your opponent’s creatures to their hand and deal two damage. You destroyed four, so I bounce your creature—you’re only one, so, I only get the one—and you take eight total damage. I’m dealing eight damage to your life points since there’s no creatures for me to hit.”
His eyes widening as realization dawned upon him, Percy hurriedly took up the card and held it close so he could examine the wording. His brows knitted together in concentration, then raised again as it all hit home. Percy set the Curse of the Forlorn Legions card back down on Nico’s side of the field and began to hurriedly check his hand for anything he could use to counter.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
Nico grinned, reveling like the Ghost King he claimed to be. “Afraid not,” he trilled mockingly. “And you’ve already declared an attack, so all that’s left is after action and then …”
Percy had already covered his face. “End phase,” he groaned.
They both knew he’d already lost. Nico just had to go through the motions of making it official.
He drew a card, his smile took on a wickedly sly edge as he looked across the table at his despairing opponent. The next turns they played almost should’ve come with a funeral procession in the background.
Nico set up his field again, summoning a new legion of his Underworld Servants and laying a trio of quick trip spells that would surely leave Percy’s head spinning. Free of any concern for more powerful creatures or quick trips from Percy’s side, he attacked his friend for nine, putting him in genuine danger of being wiped out on the next turn—and by a bunch of Underworld Servants, no less!
Never one to go down without a fight, Percy managed to chain together a quick summon of his Maiden of the Deep, locking Nico into only one attack per turn, along with the High Tides spell to force his creatures to pass their attack phase for a turn. Annoying, but ideal to stall him for a bit.
Fortunately, that gave him a bit of leeway to build up his own field a bit. Just to ensure Percy couldn’t flood the field with his Deep series monsters.
Yeah, you’re dam right the pun was intended.
He drew another quick trip spell and hid a smile. Perfect. This was exactly the one he’d been hoping to see.
Nico set it and played another spell to draw Percy’s attention away, and give him something else to think about destroying. “Rebirth of the Undead,” he announced. “I can bring back an Underworld creature or hero each turn. Each of my turns, sorry.” This, he added with a sheepish grin. “That’s actually a rule clarification that just came out. For a while, people thought it meant every turn and you can imagine how that went during games with more than two people.”
“Oh, gods!” Percy snorted. “I mean, it still sucks, but that would’ve been ridiculous!”
“It was. I’m kinda sorry I just told you, it’d have been funnier.”
“Jerk.”
“Dummy.”
Nico returned one of his Underworld Servants to the field. Then, just to make it slightly less obvious he was setting Percy up to walk into a trap, he tapped one of his Servants and attacked Percy’s Maiden of the Deep, and sent her off to the graveyard.
Percy blew a breath through his nose and muttered something under his breath. Perhaps he’d hoped to delay things another turn. In fact, he did just that as he flipped over the High Tides quick trip spell and forced Nico to end his attack phase and move onto any follow up actions and end phase.
But the damage was done and the stage was set. Nico had drawn his attention to both his Rebirth of the Undead and Curse of the Forlorn Legions cards. He likely had it in mind to deal with at least one and eat whatever cost the other incurred.
Little did he realize that Nico wouldn’t allow him to slip away.
Percy drew a card, then aimed a smirk at Nico. He selected two more cards from his hand, and laid each of them down. “I play Sorcery of the Deeps, which allows me to negate that stupid Rebirth card as long as Sorcery is on the field.”
“Nice play,” Nico admitted. “Annoying, but nice.”
The son of Poseidon actually beamed at his praise. Now, there was a reversal of roles. But rather than rest on his laurels, Percy played an Emerging Depths card, which helped bring back his Knight from the Deep and yet another Tidal Fury.
So, he wanted to see if he could just get as much damage as he possibly could, in hopes that whatever Nico had up his sleeve wouldn’t pop his Knight and leave him open for a game-ending attack. Not an entirely bad idea, given if he didn’t take out all Nico’s Servants that was exactly what another card lurking in his deck could do.
One he’d tormented Percy with several times already. So, really, he couldn’t fault the thought process there.
“And this is game, Neeks.” Percy grinned, confident he’d finally done it. “Splash—”
“You’re entering battle phase?” Nico asked.
Percy blinked. “Uh … yeah? So … this is where—”
“Before that activates,” Nico cut in, flipping his trump card over. “I activate the quick trip spell Charge of the Damned. Any creature or hero that can attack this turn must do so as many times as they can, any spell cards that would trigger as the result of a declared attack are negated and destroyed. So, that—” he pointed at Tidal Fury “—is gone and you lose your piercing damage effect.”
“You’re … oh gods, no!” Percy groaned and covered his face. “Ohhhhh, you’re joking.”
“Nope,” Nico replied, deliberately popping his lips. “I’m not. You hit all three of my Servants, Curse of the Forlorn Legions activates and bounces your Knight, and you take six damage directly.”
He couldn’t help but give a toothy grin, his shoulders shook with barely restrained laughter as he watched Percy run his hands through his hair and grumble his frustration just incoherent enough that Nico couldn’t be entirely certain what swear words he’d used. Then, as the son of Poseidon drew his hands down his face and let out a frustrated growl into his palms, Nico knew he just had to stir the pot a little.
“Annnnd, that’s game!” he sang.
Those dangerous green eyes glared at him through Percy’s fingers in silent warning not to rub it in.
Oh, but how could he not? After Percy had teased Nico while teaching him how to swim, mockingly calling “Kick, kick, kick!” until Nico shadow traveled them both under a tree so he could kick the son of Poseidon’t smug butt into next week, he definitely deserved this.
And Nico would be damned if he didn’t capitalize on the opportunity.
“So, since I now have claim to two McFlurries …”
“Shut up,” Percy grumbled into his hands.
“I think we need to talk about whether I have to get them both today or if I can bank them.” Nico rolled his eyes skyward in thought. “Cuz, I mean, like I said, this is a bit much for me to eat all at once.”
“Watch it.”
“Can I get an I.O.U. or something?”
“You’re about to get ‘or something’ in a minute, Neeks.”
“Well, wait. I’m probably gonna visit the Underworld soon, so, that’s right out. Besides, I can’t count on you to remember—you’ve got the memory of a bottomless colander.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Nico saw Percy draw his hands away from his face and set his jaw. “Who has memory of a bottomless colander?”
Waves rolled as he spoke the last word. The last little bit of warning before he either drenched Nico or gave chase.
He wouldn’t dare. Percy knew how expensive their cards were, and that Nico had only just reassembled his deck after burning the old one.
Which meant he could easily get away with pushing just a bit farther. “I’ve got it!” he said, beaming at Percy. “I’m getting a large McFlurry with M&M’s. More than fair.”
Percy’s eyes flashed. He stood, and with him, the sea rolled and waves crashed. He reached out, suddenly, as though summoning a wave.
Nico yelped and turned so he could judge its height, only to find the crest barely rising to hit the top of the seawall. His eyes widened in comprehension.
The realization hit but a second too late.
He’d been baited.
Just as he felt Percy snake an arm around his neck and trap him in a tight headlock, the older boy dropped his weight, cinching the hold in with a grin and a snarl. His free hand clenched into a fist.
And then, he pressed his knuckles into Nico’s messy black hair and began rubbing them into his head in a merciless noogie.
“Jackson!” Nico cried out in protest, the effect ruined by his own laughter. He pulled and squirmed, trying to push Percy’s elbow out from under his chin so he could slip away. But Percy was wise to that escape, and simply sat in Nico’s seat, forcing the boy to drop low with him. “Getoffame! Let go, you jerk!”
Percy simply began twisting his fist into Nico’s hair. “What’s that, you little smart mouth?” he asked in mock confusion. “No, no, let me hear all that trash you were talking. I owe you how many McFlurries now? Oh, and what was that you wanted mixed in? Oreos? Thought you didn’t care for those in a McFlurry!”
Nico didn’t. He really didn’t. Of all the things his Oreos belonged in, his McFlurry was not on the list.
But not matter how he tried to squirm and tug and jab his fingers into Percy’s sides, the older boy held him in place until he was satisfied the point had been made. Then, he let Nico stagger out of arm’s reach, smirking at the glare he sent.
“Shouldn’t have run your mouth,” Percy replied to the unspoken accusation.
“Oh, yeah! And you’re Mr. Gracious when you win a video game!”
“Yeah? Well, respect your elders.”
“I am chronologically older than you, you utter potato!”
Percy arched a brow. “You know, I can hit you with a stream of water and not hit your cards, right? You’ve stepped closer to the water.”
Nico drew in a sharp breath through his nose. “Don’t care!” he retorted, acting every bit his biological age despite his own words. “You’re a potato and you still owe me McDonald’s, Jackson. So, freaking nyeh!”
The boys stared at each other for a moment.
Then, almost in perfect synchronization, they snorted and began to laugh.
“‘Freaking nyeh?’” Percy parroted. “What are you, five?”
“No, I just hang out with you and it’s started to infect me. My father’s gonna want a word.”
Percy shivered. Dealing with an angry Hades wasn’t exactly a prospect any demigod would enjoy. Something Nico would have to use to his advantage whenever he chose to indulge in this, his more childish side.
A side he’d suppressed since his sister’s death.
Still, as much as he complained and grumped like he would reneg on their deal, Percy would make good on his promises. Lighter though they might make his wallet.
Nico justified his own amusement with the knowledge that next week would be Percy’s pick, and then it’d be something he’d get absolutely destroyed at and Percy would have his chance to crow.
Whether or not he’d be foolish enough to wager on it … well, Nico didn’t have “SUCKER” written across his forehead, thank you very much. He’d leave falling into easy traps to Percy.
A thought he kept entirely to himself as he watched Percy heave a sigh and turn so he could gather up his cards, grumbling about smug, conniving sons of Hades in such a way that Nico had to bite his lip and look down at his own cards, still laid across the table.
He couldn’t help it. His friend was cute when he got grumbly.
It almost made Nico want to squeeze his cheeks like his Nonna.
Easy, di Angelo. He only lost Annabeth a few months ago. He’s not gonna jump into the arms of a boy four years younger.
Tartarus, Percy probably didn’t like boys like that.
Nico shook himself out of those thoughts and busied himself collecting his deck, reshuffling it more to busy his own hands lest he start wringing them or twisting his skull ring as had become his habit.
After a moment of awkward silence, he said, “It wasn’t a bad strategy. You’re getting better at the game.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Nico saw Percy give a half shrug. “Card games are … hard,” he admitted. “I’m not so good at focusing on strategy or little details. I’m better at just reacting, improvising—which is probably why I got so good at Smash.” He cast a glance at Nico, adding, “You and Annabeth were always the ones who could plan things out.”
Nico ducked his head lower to hide how his cheeks reddened at the implicit praise. “Not really,” he muttered. “Mine nearly ended up resurrecting Minos.”
“You had one bad plan, I’ve had like twenty.” Percy reached over and mussed up Nico’s already messy hair, drawing an indignant squawk. “Take the compliment, brat.”
“Oh, hi, pot. I’m the kettle.”
“Are you? Cuz kettles don’t get McDonald’s.”
Nico shot Percy a look which carried promise of untold horrors the likes of which only a child of Hades could visit upon him if he dared deprive Nico of his rightly-won prize. A look which, he noted to no shortage of satisfaction, made Percy hold up his hands in surrender.
And it was with a self-satisfied smile that Nico finished shuffling his cards and stowed them in their case, then slipped it into his jacket pocket. A case which one of their friends from the new Cabin 20 for all the Hecate children, a girl about a year older than him named Lou Ellen Blackstone, had rather helpfully enchanted to be waterproof and fireproof. She was still working on one to return it to his pocket if he left it anywhere that wasn’t his own cabin.
That, Nico felt a bit much, but he rather appreciated the thoughtfulness of the idea. It was nice to make a new friend.
Barely a split second after he’d done so, a jet of water hit him in the face. Nico sputtered and flailed, trying to fend off the aquatic assault but to no avail. Only when he was thoroughly soaked from head to toe did it subside, and Nico brushed his hair back and out of his face so he might level a death glare upon the snickering son of Poseidon.
“You’re dead, Jackson,” he growled.
Percy’s grin widened. “Yeah? Gotta catch me first, di Angelo.”
His fingers twitched, and Nico had to duck another jet of water. The son of Poseidon fled, laughing as he was chased by a furious, cursing son of Hades vowing all manner of humiliation and retribution for this slight.
All in all, a perfect day spent with a friend. Even if Nico wanted to pummel said friend right about now.