Death in the room down the hall

CHAPTER I

Regret filled the pit of my stomach, "I knew this was a bad idea" Nico grumbled before promptly passing out. "look out!" Will yelled as he crashed through the infirmary doors, a fading son of hades in his arms.

Nico had woken that morning to find his hands melting into the shadows of his coffin shaped bunk bed. Panicked, Nico had looked at the time deciding not to bother anyone at that hour. He had fallen asleep again, exhaustion rolling over him as he focused on making his hand whole again. He had slept for another six hours, right through lunch, until Will had burst into his cabin yelling about not visiting for his required three infirmary bound days. Of course, the son of Apollo had stopped dead in his tracks when he laid eyes on a semi-conscious fast fading Nico, who was gasping for air. His legs were fading faster than his arms. Will had scooped up Nico who rolled his eyes between gasping for air.

Will lay Nico on the bed in one of the rooms at the back of infirmary, expecting Nico's stay to be extended. He hastily begun ordering around his siblings. "Kayla grab the unicorn draught" Will instructed whilst strapping a oxygen mask to the unconscious form of Nico. Hastily placing an IV in Nico's flickering arm, Kayla handed will the unicorn drought. Once Will had given Nico the drought and he stopped fading Will collapsed into the chair by his bed. "what are we going to do with him?" Will asked, more to himself than to anyone else. "Fading, for who knows how long and yet he still won't accept help" Will looked with concerned sky-blue eyes as Nico's face gained its normal sickly white complexion. Nico had stopped gasping, but his breathing was still uneven. As if seeing Nico for the first time Will noticed how skinny the boy was, he could count almost every rib even through his orange camp shirt. Nico always slept in this particular shirt; it had belonged to his sister before she had ... left. Even in his sleep Will noticed how adorable Nico's frown was. After a few more minutes Will had to leave to check on his other patients, the war had left many in need of treatment. Yet even whilst Will took vitals, fetched food and checked charts his thoughts drifted back to the child of death in the room down the hall.