Stupid Cupid

~Stupid Cupid - Chapter 16

        After we had finished breakfast - I had eaten most of it and Nico had a bottle of water - I went back inside to change. I had pulled on some new clothes and opened my bag to get my IPod to check the time when my hand skimmed across a cold surface and then a whimper came. I scrunched my nose in confusion and then a small mental dog popped out of my bag and shook itself out. I looked into it's glowing aqua eyes and smiled.

"Aqua!" I said and she jumped into my palm. I zipped up my bag and walked out to see Nico dressed.

"Hiya!" I said and Nico turned first looking at me then at the metal dog. "This is Aqua. Leo made her for me before he..." My voice trailed off.

"Cool." Nico sounded apprehensive and I cocked my head at him.

"Here. Hold her." His eyes widened but I placed Aqua in his hands.

Aqua curled up in his hands and nuzzled his thumb. "She... Likes me."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Usually dogs hate me because I smell like death - unless they're a hell hound or from the underworld. Then again, most dogs of the Underworld try to kill anything that breathes unless it's Mrs. O'Leary or if you have a red rubber ball around Cerberus."

"What?" I asked him after whatever he just said.

"On Percy's first quest with Annabeth and Grover they went to the Underworld and had to get by Cerberus. Annabeth used to have a dog and conveniently had a red rubber ball with her that she used to distract and make friends with Cerberus. Ever since then, Hades or I go out whenever we can to play with him. It makes it easier for me to get to the Underworld when I don't feel like accidentally visiting China."

"Again, what?" I am officially very confused.

"Never mind, you wouldn't be able to keep track if you tried. I barely can."

Instead of arguing I grab a piece of paper from my bag and my box of one hundred - thirty Sharpies - almost all of them. I do have a slight obsession but they're awesome and I can use them for anything. I've decorated almost all my binders, folders, bag, and several other random things with my collection. Anyway, I pulled them out and began to doodle random things on the paper.

"We go on a quest and you bring Sharpies?" Nico shakes his head in disbelief but I saw a spark of interest at my collection.

"So, uh, how many of those do you have?"

"One hundred and thirty wonderful markers. All of them either different colours or tips." I plaster on a proud smile wanting to boast slightly about all my markers. 

"Bianca used to have a few when we went to Westover. Fourteen different colours that I used to decorate three of my teachers desks and then hid them in a secret compartment that Bianca carved out in the wall. Best week ever. The teachers had rainbow desks for a week until the new ones arrived!" Nico had a faint smile starting to form across his face and that made me grin like a fool.

"What are you smiling at?" he asked and I just shook my head and turned back to my Sharpies.

I didn't pay attention to what I was making until I realized what it was beginning to be. Sitting nicely on the once white paper was an image of Nico and his creepy red eyes. Okay, I admit, the red eyes are very hot. Anyway, I was a second away from crumpling the paper up but I hesitated. Instead of throwing it away, I fold it neatly and slip it into my pocket.

***

It was sometime in the afternoon and Nico and I were officially bored out of our minds. Nico had been playing with Aqua for awhile but she needed to recharge and retreated to my backpack. I continued to make random cartoons of all the people I've met with my Sharpies until I ran out of paper. My drawings now sat in my backpack smoothly stacked and placed.