My Boyfriend is a Dead Roman Hero | Jason Grace

I Meet The Scary Girl Best Friend

"It's okay if you don't like it," She says nervously. Watching Nico approach Cabin 13 with an unreadable expression, Julie shifts her weight between both feet and twists her hands into the skirt of her orange sundress. "Annabeth let me take over designing it since you weren't here...They originally had you sleeping in, like, a Party City styrofoam coffin, so...Hopefully, it's at least better than that. Let me know if there's anything you want changed."

Thank gods, Julie managed to get a peek at the Athena cabin's plans before they actually started building it. She thinks she managed at least a decent job at fixing up what they had drawn.

At Juliette's demand, a structure equal in size to the massive stature of the Poseidon cabin was raised up on 13's designated plot of land. It's constructed with black marble, but mimics the jagged edges of a natural rock formation like it was just pulled right out of the ground. Two massive columns hold up the entryway, which is gilded and inlayed with polished animal bones. Flanking the burnt mahogany doors are silver Greek fire lanterns carved with images of each of the Furies (Julie paid Nyssa all of her desserts for a month to get those done). Nico approaches slowly, reaching out a hand to press his finger against a thorn on one of the blood red rose vines weaving tightly around the main columns.

"Why?" He asks.

Julie cringes. "I really don't know. For some reason, they had vampires on the brain, I guess."

Nico turns around to look at her with a bemused expression. Juliette blinks.

"Oh, you mean why design it?" She shrugs. "Well, you obviously need a place to sleep here. And, after everything Hades did for us during the war, his cabin should be something special. I wanted to make sure it didn't end up ugly. Which, if it had stayed in Malcom's hands, it would've."

He looks at her a bit longer, a sort of smirk pulling up one corner of his mouth. Then, he huffs a sound that almost sounds like a laugh and shakes his head. "It's fine."

To an unpracticed ear, that might not sound like high praise. But, there's a pleased gleam in Nico's eyes that turns the simple response into a five star review. Julie beams at him, chest swelling with pride, and runs up to snag his sleeve and pull him towards the door. "Just wait! Come look inside!"

He lets her drag him through to the interior, but stops in his tracks the moment they cross the threshold.

Once it senses the presence of a son of Hades, the cabin welcomes him home. Upon Nico's entry, smaller versions of the Greek fire lanterns light themselves on the bedposts of four sets of full sized bunk beds. Each bunk is comfortably furnished in rich jewel tones, the emeralds and sapphires inlayed into the frames...hell, into the ceiling glowing faintly to cast multicolored light across the bedclothes. Julie watches Nico with large, hopeful eyes as he steps forward to take in the celestial bronze alters to Hades and Persephone that she ordered placed in the center of the room. Atop each, she's already laid small baskets of freshly picked strawberries from her visit this morning.

"Hades sent up most of these gems for construction," She explains. "They kept just appearing in the middle of the night. We'd find them in piles the next morning ready to go, so I wanted to make sure to thank him once the alter got finished."

Nico runs a hand along the side of the bronze tribute to his father, tracing the hand drawn carvings of Hades' palace with a bewildered expression. "Did you do these?" He asks.

Julie nods sheepishly, wringing her hands. She sits herself down on one of the beds. "So..." A nod to their surroundings. "Do you like it?"

Nico snorts.