13 Years Later

V. Within the Shadows

1152 words

Nico was hiding in the shadows. Gleason Hedge had called him in for help claiming he picked up on a decently strong demigod scent of someone named Claire Johnson, but monsters had yet to attack her. Hedge also said he felt a familiar aura, but his senses were not as trustworthy as before. That's why Nico was not with his husband sipping Italian wine or lounging in the sun.

~~~

The first time Will suggested some innocent "fun in the sun", Nico shot it down immediately. He didn't like that Will's dad could basically spy on them from his chariot or sports car or whatever. But Will pointed out that he couldn't hide from the sun or a god forever. Nico didn't agree with that logic, but he understood that if he wanted to make their relationship work, he'd have to meet Will halfway. So in exchange for their "fun in the sun", Nico had Will do some wine tasting. Will didn't like what alcohol could do to a person's health, but he agreed because Nico said he could spit the wine out. Apparently, one gets a better sense of the wine's aroma if it's spit out instead of swallowed.

~~~

Nico had been observing Claire for a good week. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, but the shadows muffled his hearing a lot, so he could never discern their conversations. He didn't know if she had seen something while he wasn't lurking in the darkness or if she had noticed him by now or if she was getting suspicious of Coach Hedge. He only knew that no monsters attacked and that she had a best friend. Nico didn't know her name and neither did Coach Hedge. He said the girl wasn't in his class and was definitely mortal, so she was probably just a regular friend.

After Nico saw them enter a large, rundown house, he stepped out of his hiding spot. He knew it was a foster home and he didn't care much for the foster parents who ran the house. He often heard yelling on his night patrols since Claire's house was only three houses down. Nothing too bad was said, but it happened often enough Nico was sorry for the mortal friend. He sometimes forgot that while demigods had it bad, mortals could still have a rough time of it.
                               
Nico looked around before walking to the bench and sitting down to wait. He couldn't do anything until he saw Claire get home safely. Good thing he brought work with him.

~~~

Nico ran a private cemetery business. Hades originally owned the business, but it was gifted to Nico as a wedding present. It had multiple locations around America and was surprisingly well known by celebrities who wanted their graves decorated with precious gems. But it also had private cemeteries for fallen demigods. Nico made sure their burial rights were held properly and sometimes assisted in their transition into the underworld. He was pleased with the business's success and his efforts for honoring the dead.

Will, on the other hand, was doing everything he could to prevent people from ending up in one of Nico's cemeteries. He was training to be a trauma surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. He was top of his class and showed great promise. He was known for his calm composure when working under pressure and had a weird, sometimes unnerving knack for guessing if someone would make it or not. What his fellow interns—soon to be residents—didn't know was that his guessing abilities came from the charm he always wore. This charm was a wedding gift from Hades that told him if a soul was scheduled to meet Thanatos or if they were in the clear. Since only demigods have the infinitesimal chance of possibility escaping Thanatos's grasp, the charm correctly told who would die every time Will used it. He didn't do this often, but in high stress cases, it provided him some comfort knowing the outcome.

~~~

It was close to seven o'clock when Claire stepped out the front door. Nico shrouded himself in shadows as Claire passed and entered her own house. Nothing more happened for two hours, so Nico decided it was time to leave. But before he could, he heard movement behind him. Nico was about to draw his sword when a squirrel scurried out with a nut.

Nico groaned wishing they could just pull Claire to camp already, but no one wanted to take her last bit of normalcy from her. No one wanted to rush her into finding out about their world, but the gods also had to claim her before she turned thirteen. It was only a matter of time.

Finally, Nico got himself moving and headed towards camp. He'd come back the next day to check on Claire. For now, a certain doctor was patiently waiting for him in New Athens.

~~~

One of Percy's first acts as a god was to have a section, much like New Rome, built off of Camp Half-Blood to house adult demigods. Another place they could live in peace without fear or worry. Annabeth had already designed a layout, so he put the Athena and Hephaestus cabin to work to finish what she had started. It took a few years, but with Camp Jupiter's help, they got it done.

Another thing Percy did was help train demigods with their powers. Even though he only had the powers of the Olympian's children, he had knowledge for all possible powers. Perks of being the patron of demigods.

Percy knew how to grow plants, pickpocket, shoot a bow (much to everyone's surprise), weave tapestries, cure insanity, etc. Because Percy also had the godly stamina to keep using his powers, he was able to test various uses for each skill.

For one, Percy thought that Nico and Hazel should be able to draw power from the shadows much like how he gets an energy boost from water. After many, many, many, many, many attempts, Percy figured it out.

Creatures, like hellhounds, that used shadow travel go through the shadows. That's what took energy. But demigods had the ability to become shadows, which allowed them to gain energy. Percy was able to teach this to Nico and somewhat to Hazel. Since then, Nico was never drained after shadow traveling. He was currently working on rejuvenating his energy from the shadows. This is why the trip back to New Athens took no effort at all and, more importantly, Will wouldn't demand he stay in the infirmary.

Now he could shadow travel as much as he wanted. Unfortunately, he had to use that power the next day to keep an eye on Claire, something Nico found to be boring more than anything. People often forgot he had ADHD too. But Nico had to help get her to camp, so he went home for a good night's rest.