Tidalwave - A PJO fanfic (COMPLETE)

Four

*The Labrythith* 

12 yrs.  

"Twelve, seven, twenty-two, thirty!"  I yelled.  "NICO DI ANGELO, YOU'RE LATE!"  

As usual, nothing happened.  I'm pretty sure he enjoys making me go insane.  I have no way to count the passing time other than a calendar he brought me, but I can't tell whether it's day or night, so I go insane and probably haven't slept in days.  

Nico comes randomly, sometimes weeks at a time, sometimes months.  Each time he brings me back something from the outside world, usually some sort of stuffed animal, since he knows I'm a collector (it's not an addiction!) 

And whenever he visits, I get to leave for a day.  Most of the time I spend the day getting food and supplies.  I've learned not to eat much, since Nico severely underestimates how much I used to eat and thinks that four boxes of pop tarts can last me a few months.  

The shadows to my left ripple, and suddenly Nico's standing there (A/N: sorry I don't know for certain when Nico learns to shadow travel, I'm just putting it in here).  

"Finally!"  

He rolls his eyes and stalks to his mattress.  Oh, that's another thing.  One time we robbed a mattress store and a bunch of stuff to make the cave more livable.  Nico had a dark sheet and a single pillow, while I had a navy quilt, four pillows, and my whole side was flooded with stuffed animals.  

"In case you were doing an experiment,"  I tell him.  "No, I cannot live off six energy bars for three weeks.  I ran out a while ago."  

As usual, I don't get anything other than a mumbled response that I can't even make out.  I sigh and snap my fingers, and in seconds I'm standing in an alley.  Once I'm done getting food, I send it back to the cave and explore a bit.  The fresh air feels good after being in a dark, humid cave for weeks.  

A thought came to me, and I grinned, looking around for the nearest salon.  Just bear with me a second.  Once I found the salon, I spent the next few hours there.  

With what I had done, I looked almost unrecognizable.  I couldn't wait for Nico's reaction.  When I arrived back at the cave, he totally flipped out and thought I was an intruder at first and started attacking me.  That was. . . fun.  

But once he got settled down, he was unamused.  

"Everyone here has black hair,"  I told him.  "Though hers changes from time to time-"  I pointed to the still asleep goddess.  "-so I thought, why not?  I'll be broody like you."  

Nico looked me up and down again, still unamused.  "You couldn't look broody even if you tried."  

"I totally could!"  

"The day you look broody is the day I smile again."  

"DEAL!"  

He rolled his eyes and turned back to the wall.  Nico usually stayed for about a week, and in that time, he somehow ate almost all my food while still being as thin as a twig.  I brought back some McDonalds Happy Meals, in hopes he might eat that for the day and leave my supplies alone.  

While he was content with the Happy Meals, I went back to what I normally did:  stare at the goddess, throw a pebble at the wall, read (in Latin, of course, anything else was nearly impossible), etc.  

The entire time I was reading, I kept fingering at my dark hair.  I was so used to the blonde.  It kind of reminded me of Percy, which made me get homesick, which made me slap myself for thinking of the past.  

Nico looked at me weirdly for scolding myself but went back to contently eating his Happy Meals.  

A week passed and it was time for Nico to leave again.  Amazingly, he didn't burn through my food like he normally does and managed to save some for me.  

"I'll probably be gone longer this time,"  he said.  "I think I know how to get Bianca back."  

"Nico-"  

But he didn't let me finish.  He shot me a glare and disappeared into the shadows.  I sighed, hoping he didn't do anything too reckless.