Chatterbox: Inkwell

Albania Fanfiction

So, this will contain spoilers. The first thing I say, this will contain spoilers. Anyway, Rick Riordan never explained what happened in Albania. So I'll explain it myself. If you don't know what these places are, they're real, and I actually did a lot of research on Albania.

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Chapter 1

Nico staggered, and hit a wall, leaning against it for support. “Where are we?”

“It seems we’re in Albania,” Coach Hedge glowered.

“Uh, Albania? I thought we were supposed to go to Italy?”

“Yes, but it seems something pulled us off course.” Reyna said.

Nico felt like he was back in the large bronze jar that the giant twins had trapped him in. Not a happy experience. His energy was dripping out of him slowly and - “Whoah, Nico, you better sit down,” Reyna said, catching him before he hit the ground.

“Sorry, it’s just, Albania? Nothing remotely interesting happened here, as far as I can tell. There is a lingering sense of death, but the Greeks and Romans didn’t even live here,” Nico muttered.

“Um, well, there was a great Roman victory here in 200 b.c., where they razed the city,” Reyna suggested.

“Romans musta been like mad ninjas, destroying everything around them,” Coach Hedge commented.

“Yes well - oh gods Nico, you should stop trying to stand up.”

Nico had slid up the wall, but promptly collapsed.

“Okay, can you find a place where we can camp, and preferably find out what this place is?”

Reyna walked over to an empty tourist stand, and took a brochure. “Looks like we’re in the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae,” she read.

Reyna folded up the brochure, and helped Nico to his feet. Nico was half-carried by Reyna all the way over to a closed outdoor cafe right outside the church walls. Nico hated being so helpless, propped up against a closed umbrella while the others set up camp. He wasn’t able to do anything in case monsters attacked, and even more helpless to shadow-travel. It reminded him of restraints, which he wasn’t fond of.

Things started to go bad when Nico heard a hissing. He glanced over at Reyna and Coach Hedge, but none of them seemed to notice anything different. Nico looked around for the source of the noise, but couldn’t find it. That’s when he realized it was coming from the sewage grate right next to him. He tried to scoot away, but he was unbalanced, and if by magic, the grate opened for him right as he tumbled down into the dark depths of the gutter.

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