Everything is Changing

The Interception

"Nico? Rhaeghan?" I asked. Rhaeghan looked surprised but Nico looked happy. He ran towards me to give me a hug.
"H-H-How?" Rhaeghan asked while Nico ran to give me a hug.
       "How what?" I asked as Nico hugged me.
       "We wiped your memory." Rhaeghan explained. "We thought you would be safer." She looked at me with an apologetic look.
        I was wondering why they were following me then.
       "I told you it won't work." Nico said with a huge smile on his face.
       "So it wasn't a dream? You are real?" I asked. He looked at me as if I was crazy.
       "Did we kiss?" I asked.
      "No. Why?" He asked.
      "So that was a dream." With a little hope I asked my next question. "Are we dating?" He looked offended
      "Of course we are. Wait...did we kiss in your dream?" He asked with curiosity.
       "Maybe." He looked happy about that.
       "Okay. Let's get back to camp." Nico said. I think he was blushing. Oh my gods Nico Di Angelo was blushing.
       "Let me call my mom." I said.
       After I called my mom and told her I was going, we went to camp. Some of my stuff was still there. I needed some sleep so Nico offered to wake me up after his training. I accepted the offer so I had two hours to rest. The AC was on high. I got in under the covers. That's when the dream came.
        It started with Rhaeghan and I talking in my room on the ship. The dream shifted to Rhaeghan and I fighting against someone. I don't know who it was but the person brought real fear into our eyes. The pictures were getting worse. The next thing was me falling down a hole yelling up to Nico. The last was darkness.
       "This is all you will see soon, puny demigod. You will soon die." Ouranos spoke.
       And like every other dream his laugh grew louder and louder. I heard several people calling my name and shaking me to try to wake me up. The dreams were becoming worse. All I wanted to do was stay there forever.
      "Maggie! MAGGIE!" Nico's voice came through.
      "What?" My voice sounded hoarse.
      "What's wrong?" Nico asked me.
      I opened my eyes. Leo, Nico, and Rhaeghan were waiting for an answer.
      "The dreams...they are getting to be too much. They're getting worse." After that I broke down.
      I had only been here a week or two and I had to deal with all of this. Nico just held me in his arms.
       "Shhh...I'm here." He said over and over again.
       Eventually, I stopped crying. The dinner bell sounded.
I sat at Nico's table, the Big Three table, because I was still scared and shaking. Even though it's technically my table too. He had his arm around my shoulders the whole time. It stopped my shaking after ten minutes.
After dinner we had free time. Two hours before the bonfire. So Nico and I grabbed a blanket and went to the willow tree on the hill behind the amphitheater. It was one of my favorite spots at camp and only Nico knew about it.
When we got there we went under the branches and laid the blanket down. Nico sat against the tree and I sat across from him. Nico pulled out a present and handed it to me. I took it.
"You really didn't have to do this." I said to him.
"I did. And besides it will make you feel better." He said blushing.
I opened it. It was a new book. It was Crystal Kingdom by Amanda Hocking.
"Thank you so much, Nico!" I said.
"You're welcome." He said.
He opened his arms for a hug so I hugged him. When we finished hugging I pulled back but he pulled me back towards him. So I laid next to him with my head on his chest and his arms around my stomach. It was nice.
We accidentally fell asleep. My bad dreams never came though. It started as a blinding white light. Then it faded to gray, then black. That was it. I woke up happy to not have any bad dreams. I turned to Nico to tell him when I saw him still asleep with tears running down his face.
"Nico?" I asked. He didn't reply. "Nico!" He still didn't reply.
I started shaking him. "Nico!" I had tears in my eyes ready to fall.
He opened his eyes. "Maggie, what's wrong?" Panic was in his eyes.
"I fell asleep without any nightmares. So I woke to tell you then turned and saw you crying in your sleep. I called your name but you didn't wake up. That's what's wrong!" I said, tears running down my face.
"I'm so sorry." Nico said hugging me.
"Why were you crying?" I said in a quiet voice. I wiped the final tear on his face away.
He pulled back, out of the hug, and looked away. I put my hand under his chin and gently turned his head so his eyes were on mine.
        "It's okay, Nico. I'm not going to judge you. I really like you. I want to know what made you cry." I said in a soft voice.
        "I intercepted your dream so you could actually sleep. Without the nightmares." He said then paused for a minute. "He didn't know it was me. I just put a shadow over your conscience so it was still you but I heard everything he said."
        "Thank you, Nico. But never do that again. I can handle the dreams.
         He looked at me our faces only inches apart. Then I did it. I kissed Nico. He kissed back after the initial shock was over. After about thirty seconds we stopped for air. We only pulled apart about four inches. He was smiling. So was I but for a son of Hades it is unusual.
         "Is that a smile I see Di Angelo?" I asked.
         "Yes it is. And all because of you." He gave me a light kiss then look at the time. It was 5:00 P.M.
        We were late for the bonfire. They had it early tonight. We gathered everything up and ran down the hill to the amphitheater. No one noticed we were missing. We stood back a moment catching our breath.
       "Nice of you to finally join us. Where have you been?" The deep voice growled.