scared? | a nico di angelo fanfic

chapter 30: damn we suck at escaping

"Move, you assholes!"

The empousa, who they found out was named Kelli, yelled at them while poking a spear at their backs.

Hoa whipped her head around. "Are you serious? During all those breaks we were forced to stand while all of you got to sit?"

"Serves you right for siding with the gods!"

Nico growled, wiggling his arms in the ropes they were in. "We haven't even done anything? Her father is sided with you guys and my dad is just being a dick. Hello?"

"You're special, and you know it."

"Ouch," Nico and Hoa muttered.

Finally, they stopped walking. They weren't allowed to sit, but they did manage to lean against a wall this time.

"Nico," Hoa asked. "You got a game plan?"

"Nope."

Hoa studied the way that the monsters positioned themselves in. "There's an opening, four o'clock."

Nico perked up and looked to their right. "Bet. Count of three?"

"Nah. Just go when I say go."

"'Kay."

Hoa waited for the correct timing, for when the monsters were shifting around and were more disorganized. She waited for when Kelli had her back turned, and then—

"Now."

They bolted, pushing their way past a dracaena and ducking past a giant. Nobody noticed.

Well that was anticlimactic.

They were long gone by the time they decided to rest and cut their bonds. They sat for the first time in a while, just taking a breather.

"Nico," she muttered, a realization hitting her suddenly. She was about to check their inventory until she realized there was nothing to check. "We need to go to the surface."

"Why?"

"Our backpacks are gone, meaning supplies are out. Water, food, everything. We need to go to the surface and find stuff."

"Meaning..."

Hoa groaned, hating the next sentence that came out of her mouth. "We need Minos right now."

~•~•~

The blue ghost was surprisingly helpful today, not commenting on Hoa's existence and instead taking the demigods to the surface like they asked. Once there, the demigods sighed in relief before checking their inventory.

Nico rummaged through his pockets. "One dollar... Six dollars here."

Hoa sighed, looking up at the sky. She tapped her ring for (hopefully) good luck before she searched her pockets.

Twenty dollars... And an one hundred dollar bill.

Deimos, thank you so much.

Hoa grinned, holding up the money. "We can eat tonight."

~•~•~

"Okay, so here's the game plan."

Hoa clapped, the two of them sitting at some cafe that they found. "We demigods have to stick together because we need to fight the monsters together. Yes there are monsters in the mortal realm, I know, it sucks. Too bad."

This was Nico's first time in the mortal realm among humans in a while, so Hoa had to educate him as much as possible.

"The average quest number is three, but since you decided to run away and I decided to follow, it means we only have two. That means less monsters, but less people to fight them. Honestly though, I think you count as one and a half, maybe two people in terms of being a monster-magnet."