Will's PoV
"A couple of things happened since Nico accidentally shadow travelled both of you to Italy" Annabeth started. The whole room fell into pin-drop silence.
"First the message from Leo. It arrived the night you guys disappeared conveying that Leo is alive and fine and on his way to the camp. Chiron elected Jason and Piper to find him, and they looked everywhere possible for the last 2 days. But their school had started by then, and Piper was facing some family issues. So they went back home this evening"
Nico nodded in understanding. Then my sister Kayla took over, "Remember when we couldn't find Cecil at the beginning of the race?"
I swept my gaze over the room to find him when Nico asked, "Wait, he's still missing?"
"Yeah" Kayla replied, "Wierd part is no one saw him leave, he left no notes or whatsoever. It's almost as like he just vanished"
Out of nowhere, a slingshot hit my head, "Ouch" I said and heard some giggles, "Connor, dude! what in Hades-"
"That's from Travis since he's in college now, for injuring his 'thiora cavity' in the game," the sneaky son of Hermes said with a grin.
"It's Thoracic Cavity!" I retorted back, "And come on the game was like two days ago!"
"Don't worry, you have to face a few other of my tricks" He high-fived the newbie Alice Miwazawa.
"Guys!" Nico called with annoyance, "Let Kyla finish please"
I huffed. whatever.
"The second missing one is Elis Wakefield" Kayla continued, "The same story, no one saw him leave"
Victor coughed to draw attention, "It could be related you know. Cecil tends to sneak around and Elis is daring, always ready for adventure. Maybe they escaped together for whatever reasons?"
"Possible romantic relationship?" Drew suggested.
"Drew!" Miranda chided, "Not everything's related to romance. It could be a hundred other reasons behind that"
"Well not everything's related to plants too you know" Drew let out a small huff.
"Children" Chiron calmly said, "It's better not to fight ourselves in this crisis. I'll have a talk with the counsellors only within an hour and we hope to figure something out by then. Malcolm, dear, meet me in the big house, will you? Apollo cabin please take Nico and Will and run a whole checkup on them. The rest of you are dismissed" He started to turn but a naiad stopped him.
"You forgot to mention about the ...er communication problems," she said.
say what now?
Chiron's face became grimmer and he sighed, "Right. Everyone is suspecting by this time I suppose but the communications aren't working. Irish messages, mortal devices, technologies, nothing"
If it had been possible, the atmosphere turned even heavier. For a second, the only thing that could be heard was the breathing of 25 people.
"Well," I broke the silence, "What are the gods saying?"
"And here is the problem" Annabeth replied, "that they aren't saying anything. The gods haven't spoken or appeared in the camp since the day you guys went missing. Not even in dreams"
Percy fiddled with riptide, "That's why I was saying that there's no way Nico just saw Mr.D. Unless, of course, it was a monster. Wise girl, what do they called the creepy shape-shifters?"
"We call them gods Jackson" Julia, another child of Hermes muttered, which earned quite a few nervous laughter.
"Because" Percy ignored and continued, "Mr.D was called to the council yesterday without any prior notice"
I turned towards Nico, who was staring keenly at the table in front, suddenly silent. He said, "Okay, we're gone for two days and a handful of things happened. You guys forgot any other details to mention?"
"Oh yeah," Sherman replied, "Clarisse and Travis are off to college, we got new invisible mines. Also, Percy, Annabeth and Grover are leaving first thing tomorrow morning"
"Anyways, dinner time guys!" Butch cheered when the horn blew and we got out one by one. I got out, feeling stressed than ever, but also smiling because at least we were within the safe borders of the camp. I spotted Percy and Annabeth under Thalia's tree, holding hands and talking.
"Hey man," he waved at me. I turned to Nico, "Will you excuse me for a second?"
He nodded absentmindedly, still thinking about the disappearance I could tell.
"Congratulations," I said, "You guys made it to college"
Annabeth smiled at me, her curly blonde hair swinging in the wind. "It still feels....surreal. Everything happened so fast. I feel like we were in the love tunnel just a week ago"
"Love tunnel?" I asked arching my eyebrow.
"Long story" Percy replied, "But you're right. Living at risk, running from trouble for all these years made me forget what it feels like to have an actual college life"
"You'll do fine Percy. The greatest heroes of all times, we'll remember you two" I said.
"Take care of Nico," He said, "You guys are perfect for each other"
"Wait, you knew?" She asked Percy.
"Of course. Jason and I talked to Nico when he was first crushing on you" he? crushing on me?
"No way! Piper and I were helping Will!"
We broke into a fit of a giggle. I remember Piper and Annabeth coming and pairing us together for the game. And the dance with Nico...gods that seems like a lifetime ago.
"Take care of our campers, Will," Annabeth said, "The camp has been our home for so long...but I just realized that it was never the camp. It was all you guys, the campers who made it a home worth protecting for"
I watched the kids sitting and chit-chatting at the dinner tables. Nico was picking an apple up in the corner. I saw Austing taking practically dragging him to the Apollo table and he wasn't even protesting. good.
I could clearly picture us together, singing in the campfire with a hundred new campers, Chiron and Dionysus at the corner, burning marshmallows in the warm, soothing fire. I could go further in my imagination, graduating, going to college like Percy and Annabeth, buying a house, adopting a bunch of half-bloods ....
...but I didn't.
Being a half-blood is hard enough, we shouldn't dream of living like a normal person because we are not normal at all. But the more I watched Nico eating dinner with my siblings, occasionally giggling at their stupid comments, the more I got convinced, maybe there was a chance of us surviving together. If Percy and Annabeth could come back from Tartarus, if we can win the two greatest wars, if Nico DiAngelo can frigging giggle, maybe we could make it to 60 together.
"Indeed" I replied, "It's a home indeed"
This is my favourite chapter so far. Don't forget to vote and comment!
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Light and Dark
Fanfiction"Where are we?" Nico asked. "You tell me." "Huh?" Then he remembered. Will...the game...the kiss. Did all of that really happen? "Absolutely," Will said as if reading his thoughts. His cheeks burned with embarrass...
