I, Nicolo di Angelo, order you to die.

Chapter Three

Nico opened his eyes and groggily looked off to the side. There was a glass of nectar on the nightstand, as well as a plate with a sandwich and some chips Nico didn't know the name of.

He slowly sat up, and was relieved to find that his muscles were screaming considerably less than they had the last time he woke up... the last time he woke up. Will. Crying. Percy is dead. Fuck.

Nico's face flushed a little with embarrassment. Had he really sobbed into this random kid's shoulder then passed out?

Speaking of that random kid, Will came into the room. "Good, you're awake. How do you feel?"

Nico paused for a second before answering. "Fine."

"We both know that's not true."

Nico glared at Will. "I said I'm fine."

Will eyed him doubtfully. "If you say so."

Nico huffed, annoyed.

Will chuckled. "You're cute when you're mad."

Nico's face flushed and he stuttered, "W-what?"

Will blushed. "It was a joke."

"Oh. Ok."

Will turned and left the room. Nico wondered why Will had come in in the first place? He must have forgotten.

Nico sat up in the bed and grabbed the tray from his nightstand, wrinkling his nose at the smell. Food was never very appealing to him after the jar. He picked up the sandwich and took a bite. Surprisingly, it wasn't half bad. He was hungry, so he ate almost half of it before putting the tray back down. He got up from his bed and walked out of the infirmary.

Chiron was outside, helping what was left of the campers fix the camp. "Ah, Nico, good to see that you're awake!" he said, turning towards him.

"Yeah." Nico said, his voice sounding hollow even to his own ears.

Chiron winced. "Are you ok?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yes. I'm fine. All of my friends just died, thanks for asking."

Chiron didn't quite know how to respond to that so he just remained silent.

Nico turned away, and just as he started to head to his cabin, Will popped up seemingly out of thin air. "Nico! What are you doing?"

"Uh... going to my cabin? What else would I be doing?"

"Nuh uh. No way. You need to stay at least three days in the infirmary! Look at you.. You look dead on your feet!"

Will grabbed Nico by the wrist and dragged him back into the infirmary, unceremoniously dumping him back on his bed. Will grabbed a weird device and moved toward Nico. Nico shied away.

"What is that? What are you going to do with it?"

"Huh? What do you mean, what is it? It's a thermometer. Don't tell me you've never seen a thermometer before?" Will said, looking confused.

Nico's face grew hot. "Uh, no. I haven't."

Will held out the "thermometer" to Nico. "I use it to take people's temperatures. It tells me if they have a fever or not."

"Oh. Ok."

Will pressed the device to Nico's face, running it across his forehead. Nico managed to keep himself from flinching. The thermometer made a beeping sound, and Will looked at the tiny screen on the back of it.

"Good. You don't seem to have a fever, though 99.3 is slightly elevated."

"What's normal?"

"Usually people have temperatures of around 97 or 98, so 99 is irregular, but not that bad. If it is over 100, then we worry."

"Oh. Ok."

"You sure say that a lot." Will giggled, putting the thermometer away.

Suddenly Chiron came in. "The gods want to see you."

"Oh. Ok."