Imperfect Perfection

Chapter Eighteen: Food Room

Nico's P.O.V.

I look down at the weak, shaking body in my arms. Her body is trembling from both the cold and the shock of this. I can feel her heart start to slowly break, longing for her brother. I bring her closer to me, trying to warm her, do anything to help.

"No." I look behind me to see Leo, the one guy who always make everything better, with tears streaming down his face. He continues to say no, while shaking his head. He starts to sink to the ground, breaking apart inside.

I look up at Percy and see his broken face. He watched his best friend die. Then my heart drops even more. Andy knew something happened. She was screaming in her sleep. Oh gods, please don't tell me she watched him get killed!

On the screen, Thalia walks up behind Percy. Seeing us, her eyes start to water. She quickly wipes away her tears and looks at me. "Get them out of there for a sec, will ya?"

I nod, then pick up Andy bridal style and grab Leo's hand, pulling him along. I take them back to her bedroom and set them both down on the bed. Automatically, Leo's arms go around Andy's body as they cry together.

I can't help but feel a tad angry that it is him holding her and not me.

I go back to the Iris message to see just Thalia. I assume that she got Percy and Annabeth out of that room also. She looks up and sees me. "Hey, Nico."

I take in her appearance. She has bags under her red-tear stained eyes, her hair is greasy, and I can see the dirt on her face. She looks stressed overall, but also like she's witnessed death. Which, she has.

I nod to her and shove my hands in my pockets. "What exactly happened?"

She sighs and runs her hand across her mouth. "Well, the kidnapper was an old camper. Jessica Luna." I rack my brain for a minute, then shake my head. "Don't recall that name."

"Yeah, I figured." She says, "Well, she is a child of Ares. Something happened to her that made her change and.....she blames Annie. I don't know why. But yeah, so we fought and stuff, she got knocked out, so we went to get Annie out of the grave she had been put in."

"Well, Jessica woke up while we had our backs turned. She got up and went to stab Annie, but-" her voice wavers. "Um, Dan got them out of the way. He just didn't have enough time to get out of the way himself."

Tears start to fall from her face as she squeezes her eyes shut, like she's trying to push out the memory. I hang my head as it all sinks in. He was right. That darn guy was right. For once, I wish he wasn't.

A thought enters my mind so I look back up at Thalia. "What happened to Jessica? Where is she?"

Her eyes turn angry and I can see her jaw clench. "When she was on our side, she got blessed by your father, Hades." She says in the most disgusted type of tone, "She can shadow travel."

"Oh styx." I run my hand through my hair, trying to think of something. "Can Hades take the gift back?" She shakes her head, "Don't think so. Let's talk more when we get back, so we can have everybody's input."

I nod, "Yeah, okay. Be safe."

She nods, then swipes her hand through the mist, breaking the connection.

Thalia's P.O.V.

I break the connection with my hand and Nico's image goes away. I take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds. Then, I slowly let it out, which releases some of the tension on my neck. Some.

I look behind me and see the two love birds laying on the bed fast asleep, in each others arms. I really feel bad for them. Annabeth has now been taken twice. Not to mention the months Percy went missing. Everything that could have gone wrong basically has.