Lovely

Nico di Angelo

This photo is literally of Leo, Percy, and Jason at Camp Greenlake and no one can tell me otherwise.

I know . . . I haven't updated in eight months . . . Sorry?

Nico immediately shut the doors of his dresser. "You can't just look through my stuff!" he yelled at Piper. Then, in a colder tone, he said, "You better not tell anyone what you saw."

Piper nodded warily. "I-I promise."

"Now get out of here."

Piper quickly left, leaving Nico alone with his thoughts. Did she really just find out his biggest secret? How did she even know he didn't have a crush on Annabeth? Well, she was the daughter of Aphrodite. Did that mean that she knew basically everything about his nonexistent love life?

He sighed and stared at his dresser. She wasn't going to tell anyone what she saw, right? She promised him she wouldn't. Piper wouldn't lie to him. He was just paranoid.

Nico laid down on his bed and closed his eyes, hoping to have another long sleep with zero nightmares for once. He sighed and opened his eyes after a few minutes. He looked back at his dresser. Why couldn't he sleep? 

He slowly got up and walked out of his room, heading to the deck. He leaned against the rails and watched the waves lap up against the walls of the ship. On a normal day, this would've been relaxing, but all the water did was remind him of Percy. Nico sighed sadly. 

"He's fine," Nico told himself. "He'll make it out."

"Still thinking of him, huh?"

Nico jumped and turned around and sighed in relief when he saw that it was just Leo. "You scared me," he muttered.

"Oops. Sorry, Neeks."

"Don't call me that."

"Right." Leo glanced at Nico's face and noticed his eye bags. "Haven't been sleeping much, huh?"

"I'm fine."

"You sure about that?" Leo asked, looking concerned. "You don't really sound fine—"

"I said I'm fine," Nico said firmly. 

"Okay, okay."

Nico calmed down a little. "Why are you awake?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Answer my question, Valdez."

"Someone has to steer the boat."

"Aren't you always steering it?"

"Yeah. And?"

Nico shrugged. "Just thought that maybe you should take a break once in a while."

Leo nodded. "It's not that bad."

They stayed silent for a moment. Nico soon broke the silence. "I should go back to sleep before Coach Hedge finds out that I'm awake."

Leo chuckled. "Yeah. Goodnight."

"Night." Nico headed back downstairs and walked down the long hallway quietly, making sure not to wake anybody up. Once he got back to his room, he closed the door and went to sleep.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Percy and the girl came to a stop at the entrance of the castle. They looked back at whatever was chasing them. Nico tried to yell at them to run. They would die if they didn't, but Nico wasn't able to speak. Suddenly, the monster lunged at them and the demigods fell off of a cliff.

"No, no, no," Nico murmured. "NO!"

"Neeks? Get up. We're here."

Is this way too short for you? Idc. I'm too lazy to write a longer chapter—

Nico's eyes suddenly opened. "What?" he groaned. "Where?"

"Where do you think? Erebus," Jason said

"Already?" he muttered.

"Yeah. Get your lazy butt up and let's go."

Nico sighed and got up, following Jason to the deck of the ship. He saw the land of Erebus and memories started flowing into his head. He closer his eyes for a moment, then opened them. 

Jason seemed to notice. "What's wrong, Nico? Are you okay?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You sure? You look . . . I don't know, I can't read your face."

"Yes, I'm sure!" Nico snapped, then immediately softened his expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

"Did you just apologize?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Never mind."

The rest of the seven and Nico got off the ship, leaving Coach Hedge to stay as a 'guard'. (Sorry, it's been a while since I've read HoH, I don't really know what's going on rn and it's like 1:30 am sooooooo.) They walked through the crowds of people on the streets, almost losing each other many times. Nico was in the front of the group, leading them towards the House of Hades.

Only 720 words? Ughhhh. I'm not gonna finish this by the morning.

Nico stopped near a large crowd. "Why are there so many people here?" he asked, confused.

Hazel shrugged. "I don't know. What's today?"

"Tuesday."

They continued walking towards the building (yes, I'm skipping everything that happened because in this book, it's not very important). Nico led them to a small entrance.

"In here," he whispered.

"Why are you whispering—"

"Hello there."

785 words. Worse than last time. Ughhhh. Idc. Here's another cliff hanger to enjoy. I'm pretty evil.

-The Weird and Mean Daughter of Hades