The moon and sun (A solangelo fanfic)

Chapter 18: Nico

It's been a week since Will had died. A non stressful week of playing Uno and practiced sword fighting. 

Then, something came in. Chiron had summoned Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and me to the big house.

I brought Will along with me. 

Once we were all assembled in the big house, Chiron pulled out a thick parchment scroll. On it, there was a picture of Leo. 

"Hey guys! Sorry to leave you like that. Bad news: I died. Good news: I got better! I had to rescue Calypso. We're both fine now. We're taking Festus to-" the wind cut out Leo's voice. "Back as soon as-" more wind. "Cook tacos when-" even more wind. "Vaya con queso! Love ya"

"Is that all?" Jason asked.

"I'm afraid so," Chiron said. "We do not know when he will come back, or how he came back to life. Nico, are you sure he died?"

"I felt his death, but there was something strange about it. I have a hunch he took the Physician's cure, but I'm not sure."

Jason started to yell at me. "You could have told us!"

"I didn't want to get false hopes up," I explained. 

Jason whispered something to Piper, then turned to Chiron. "Is it okay if Piper and I go to look for Leo?" He asked.

"Fine. Don't take too long though," Chiron said. 

Jason and Piper ran to pack their belongings. 

"You can go train," Chiron told us.

Will and I went to my cabin, where we have been spending a lot of time together. 

"Can you believe that Leo is still alive?" Will asked me. "It's a miracle."

We played some more Uno, then I heard a knock at the door. I got up to open it. It was Kayla.

"William Andrew Solace, what are you doing in the Hades cabin?! Your shift in the infirmary started 20 minutes ago!"

Will checked his watch. "Oh, crap! Bye Nico! See you later!"

Will quickly gave me a kiss on the cheek, then ran off with Kayla.

 I was alone in my cabin, with nothing to do. I decided to go on a walk.

Out in the woods, it was peaceful. No noises of the camp. The only thing that could make it better was Will.

After walking for about an hour, I heard something in the bushes. I thought it was a monster, so I shadow traveled. But at the last second, I saw it was a rabbit. 

After my shadow travel, I felt like I was going to pass out. I needed to get back to camp. There were actual monsters out here, and not just rabbits. 

I walked toward what I thought was camp, but it just was a clearing. After walking some more, I realized I was lost. I noticed the sun was setting, and there would only be light for about another half an hour. Not enough time to get back to camp. I would have to make a shelter for the night.

I found a tree, and put some sticks around a branch, so it could form a little hut up in the tree. 

I looked at what I had. My sword, some ambrosia and nectar, a few granola bars that I always have on me, a few matches that I also always have on my, and the set of Uno cards.

I grabbed some more sticks and made a fire. Hopefully the fire would keep some of the monsters away, and provide warmth for me.

I fell asleep, surprised I had not fallen asleep before. That shadow travel had really tired me out.

I woke up, in the middle of the night to growling. A hellhound. It had smelled me, but not seen me. The fire had gone out. I didn't know if hellhounds could climb or not, but I hopped they couldn't.

The hellhound eventually gave up, so I let out a sigh of relief. Bad decision. The hellhound whipped it's head around, staring right at me. It tried to jump at me, but I was too high up. 

I found out it couldn't climb. I was safe. 

It kept trying, but it never got me. I just couldn't get down. I sat there until the afternoon, not going to sleep, just in case the hellhound somehow get's up there with me. 

Eventually, I gave up hope that the hellhound was going to leave. It's been about 12 hours of just standing there. I knew I was too tired to attack it. 

So I prayed to my father to take his dog back. "Hey dad. I hope you can hear me. Your dog is here trying to attack me, and I'm too tired from shadow travel. Can you please take him back."

A few minutes after the prayer, the hellhound left. "Thanks dad," I called out. I would sacrifice something good to him back at camp.

I walked on for a few hours, trying to find camp. I was exhausted. It has probably been a day since I left camp.

Oh, Will. He doesn't know that I'm okay. He's probably worried so much about me. I need to get back to camp. 

I still couldn't find camp when night came. I was completely lost.

I made another hut in the tree. Not monsters attacked me, so I got tons of rest. When I woke up, I tried to shadow travel back to camp. 

I couldn't! I tried to shadow travel right in front of me. I couldn't!

I would have to do this by foot. 

After walking for another half an hour, I decided to try to find a town. 

Walking even more, I finally found one. I looked at the town hall, and realized this place was called Louisville. I was in Kentucky! 

That's why I couldn't find camp. I wasn't even close to it.

I groaned. How was I supposed to get back now I can't shadow travel?