How Do You Say Gods- Titan's Curse

13: WE VISIT THE JUNKYARD OF THE GODS

"I think I do want that break now," Thalia said before she could talk herself out of this.

Will set the book aside without hesitation and Percy looked as relieved for her sake as he did anxious as ever at the spine, like he'd sleep with it under his pillow just to make sure he didn't miss a word.

Nobody pointed out they'd just taken a break thankfully, but the problem was everybody had just eaten and she didn't have a way to casually pull Nico aside without it being obvious.

The kid actually helped her out though and excused himself to the bathroom. Thalia sighed in relief and muttered the same, mentally thanking Hades and promising she owed his boy a cookie.

He came out with a look on his face like he was reconsidering whatever he'd last eaten, and not a hint of shock to see Thalia hovering.

"I know how to read a map," he wasn't looking at her so much as glaring at her shoulder. "There's not a lot of desert left going east. I was expecting it in the last one, but that toy was never mentioned so, it'll be soon."

Thalia had no idea what he was talking about with a toy, who had described that automaton to him like that? She also still had a bone to pick with him over what he did and didn't know about Jason.

He just looked so troubled right now it would be cruel to say anything else. He had Bianca's sharp brown eyes that had watched every fight between her and Zoe, biting her lip and clearly thinking about intervening. He was tapping the grip of his sword like his sister had twining that knife about despite Zoe's crazy driving on that bus.

"Thank you for how you've been handling this," she told him uneasily. "I can't imagine how you've been feeling..." She couldn't begin to guess if Jason was here by accident, let alone if she was going to have to suffer his backstory in one of those mysterious other books and how she'd react to all that. "I don't know if you and Percy are friends exactly," Annabeth had told her multiple times Nico was an entity to himself around camp, avoiding everybody the few times he was there. He could have been making this a lot worse on them all. "If there's anything I can do to help with, well not just, um, this, but, anything?"

"Thanks," he echoed with a restless shrug. "I'd rather just get this over with." The nonexistent lighting flickered in the room, and she looked anxiously at the door. Percy was probably getting impatient.

She hustled out of the room, but her mind still lingered on his perfected impassive face he'd gotten straight from his dad. She tried to tell herself even if Nico had any prior knowledge of what Jason had been up to, there was a good chance he wouldn't know why she would be connected. She'd never told anybody about her dead little brother, not even Luke, who knew of a lost sibling but no specifics. Even if Hades did have some hand in resurrecting him, he must with a soul passing in and out of his domain, it didn't explain anything about why it had been done or where he'd been all this time.

Roman's existed, her mind whispered the reminder. He's lived another life than you...but she'd lived a very different life than anybody she knew. He was still her brother, she just had to figure out how to tell him that.

One problem at a time, as she came back into the room to see Jason wielding Riptide while Percy watched on with far to much curiosity and a great lack of self-preservation as usual.

She threw herself into her seat between them, headless herself of the sharp point as she asked casually, "Nico not back yet?"

Will looked around the room fondly. This was probably as close to world peace as would ever happen, nobody in here actively hating.