Too Late

Chapter 16

~ Nico ~

Will's gentle snores filled the room, so did the son of Eros's whimpers. But Nico sat still. So still that he wasn't sure he could move. But he did, when Felix sat up in bed.

He approached the boy, "It's alright. You're safe."

His shoulders relaxed, "I'm alright." Felix repeated to himself, "I'm safe, I'm home, I'm alive."

Nico nodded, "It's been about two days."

Confusion flashed across the boy's face, then he seemed to remember. Felix winced, then shook his head, "Yeah. Okay. Is it alright to go get some air?" Nico nodded and stood up. Felix slipped off the bed and put his shoes on, Nico passed him his coat. "Is it alright if I come with you?" he asked gently.

Felix nodded, "I'm not going alone."

"Good, I don't think your sister would approve otherwise."

The boy's face fell, "Gods. Sybil... Is she alright?"

"It's Sybil, she's fine."

The two of them walked in silence until they reached the big house. Felix hoisted himself up onto the deck and Nico followed suit. Felix looked up at the stars, his eyes wandering. "Calynn always says that the stars tell her stories. It's because they have seen so much, so they know tons."

"They tell her?"

The child nodded, "Yeah." He grinned up at the constellation. "She loves them all but the one she talks most about is Cygnus."

"Swan?"

Felix nodded, "Yeah, can we play a game? You point to constellations and I'll tell you their names. It's like a quiz."

"Alright." Nico gazed up at the stars, choosing one. "That one."

"Andromeda."

"The one just to the left of that one."

"The one with those couple stars real close together?"

"Yeah, that one."

Felix laughed, "That one's actually not it's own constellation. It's called Pleiades. It's a star cluster, it's made up of seven stars, from what the average human can see, it has more but the naked eye can only see so much. Sometimes it's called the seven sisters though." He pointed up at the stars, "Pleiades is part of the constellation Taurus, the bull. Do you see the V shaped pattern, that's the bulls face. Go a bit further and you'll get to these three stars in a straight line, that's Orion's belt."

Nico shuttered.

"Oops. Sorry."

Nico shook his head, "It's fine."

"Orion was a hunter for a bit wan't he?"

"He was the first male ever to join the hunt. And it didn't end well."

"What happened?"

"After befriending Artemis he fell for her, even though she had pledged not to marry. The feelings weren't mutual however. One day he just went mad. That day he was killed by a scorpion that was sent by his mother because he was on a murder spree."

"Your sister... didn't she join the hunters?" Felix mused.

Nico nodded slowly.

"She died, didn't she?"

He nodded again, "Along with another hunter, Zoe Nightshade."

"And Zoe was put in the stars." Felix finished, "So that she could last forever."

Nico nodded, "Yes."

The son of Eros smiled up at the twinkling specks, "It's all connected. Everything is connected." he murmured.

Nico looked over at him, "You okay?"

Felix's gaze fell back to earth, "Am I okay?" He seemed to ponder the question, "I'm perfectly fine after seeing a girl, an innocent demigod, get burned to death."

"Sorry."

Felix looked close to tears, "I hate this."

"What?"

He looked over, "Being."

"What do you mean?"

"Not being able."

"Not being able to solve all the problems, not being able to save all the people, not being able to protect those who need, not being able to know."

"Sometimes knowing makes it worse."

"But knowing the problem makes it easier to solve. Ignorance isn't always bliss."

"True." Nico said, looking up at the stars, "But... are you okay? Not like-"

"I know what you mean. But the question still makes me question my sanity." He looked back up at the stars, "Am I okay? I'd like to think I am, but I can't make myself believe that."

Nico felt akward talking to someone about their problems, he wasn't used to this. Only Will ever talked to him about this sorta thing, and that was usually forced. But he was doing his best. "You look sane." Nico volunteered.

"Just because one looks sane, doesn't mean they are."

"You aren't making sense."

"Maybe that's part of going insane."

"Could you wait a while? Because if you go crazy when I'm taking care of you I'll be in trouble."

Felix laughed, a sound that usually came out of his mouth more often. "Sure." He looked over and smiled, his eyes bright once more. His feet swinging, while Nico's were flat on the ground. He resisted the urge to ask Felix how he hid his emotions like that. The boy's gaze fell on the woods, his smile crumbled and his newly found happy aura was gone. "They burnt her alive, Nico, they burnt her alive. She wouldn't help them so they took her spirit. They had no right. It was wrong. So wrong." The child shook his head, "I could have saved her. But I didn't. There were too many voices. Too many, all saying the same thing." His voice faltered.

"And what were they saying?"

"Telling me to forget." Felix whispered, "Forget the pain. Forget the hate. Forget the anger. Forget the insanity. Forget her. But I couldn't forget. No way. Not the love. Not the joy. Nothing."

The son of Eros looked so broken, so sad. And Nico could relate. "Felix, I don't know what you're talking about... but I-"

Felix cut him off, "That's because no one knows what it's like. No one else has been tortured like that. No one slowly going mad."

Nico slipped his hand into his pocket, "I think that there is one other person, at least, who can relate." He took out the piece of paper and passed Felix Charlie's letter.