The Boy of Shadows and Sin

Chapter 14

"Idiots!" Reyna exclaimed over the Iris-message. She ran a hand through her long dark hair. "I can't believe them. They just disappeared, you say? Gods. And here I was thinking that Solace had half a brain in his head." Her scowl deepened and Jason tried not to flinch.

"We had no idea that they were leaving," Jason told her. His wonderful friends, gods bless their souls, voted him to deliver the bad news to Reyna, figuring that she was less likely to kill him than, say, Percy. That wasn't to say that she terrified Jason any less. "We would've stopped them if we had."

"Have you tried contacting them?" she asked.

Jason was perplexed. "How? Neither of them carry cell phones, and I doubt they're checking email daily."

The praetor looked like she momentarily prone to strangling him. She took a deep meditative breath in. "How are you talking to me right now?"

Needless to say, Jason felt like an idiot. "Oh! That's—Reyna, I love you big time."

Reyna nodded. "Damn straight you do. Call them."

She thrust her spear into the Iris-message and Jason had a moment where he forgot that she was only an image. Once he got over the realization that he hadn't been impaled, he fished another drachma out of his pocket and threw it into the rainbow. When the Iris cabin was built, the occupants decided to make Iris-messaging a lot more convenient for people, so they put up the demigod equivalent of phone booths—but with lights and crystals.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Will Solace and Nico di Angelo."

An image flickered in the glowing rainbow. "Will?" Jason asked, feeling his throat constrict. "Where's Nico?"

There was a glow in the room, a faint blue light. Will was shaken awake by Ace. "Hey. Will. I think someone's making a call for you."

Groggily, Will rolled over and climbed out of the bed in which he had been enjoying a dreamless sleep. "What?" he muttered. "It's two in the morning," he said, looking at the clock on the wall.

Ace looked at the glow and spoke to it. "Do I really look like Will? I mean, come on, I'm not blonde. And I'm a lot better looking."

When he realized that it was an Iris-message from Jason, Will was instantly alert. "Jason!" he exclaimed. "It's the middle of the..." He trailed off. It was the middle of the day back in America.

Jason shrugged apologetically. "Sorry man. You both have long hair, and as Señor Doctor over here so brilliantly pointed out, it's the middle of the night where you are, which makes it rather hard to see you guys."

Ace looked at Will. "I'll be off." He turned on his heel and walked of the half of the room he was sharing with Nathan, a beaded curtain being the only divider.

Once he was gone, Jason's face became less cordial. "Solace, you godsdamned idiot," he snarled. What in Hades's name were you thinking? Where the hell is Nico? For that matter, where the hell are you?"

"Calm, Jason," Will said. "Mind your blood pressure. Can't have you passing out now, can we? I'm in France, so I'd hardly be any help."

"France?" Zeus's boy exploded. "What were you thinking? What about Nico? He only just decided to stay, and now you've left on some wild goose chase unauthorized quest with him. The boy's only fifteen! Don't you get it? Look at what he's been through, and now this? Where is he? I need to talk to him."