What about MY feelings?

Worst Homecoming Ever

Yay, second chapter! Hope you like what you read!

"Percy Jackson. Welcome back."

I stare at the gleaming sword, an inch away from my beating heart.

"Hi," I look up and meet the attacker's eyes. "Could you be so kind as to point that somewhere else?"

They slowly lower their sword and take off their helmet, letting curly blond hair tumble out.

"Chase?"

"Jackson." Her intense gray eyes bore into mine with such hatred that I thought could only be achieved by Hades himself.

Wow, I didn't realize how far we traveled. We must be close to camp.

"Percy!" I look over and see Mac laying on the ground. There are leaves in her hair and dirt smeared across her face. A strong rope is binding her wrist and ankles together.

"Mac! Are you okay?" I run to her side to see if she's hurt. Believe it or not, but Mackenzie and I have grown quite fond of each other over these last couple of week. And no, not in a romantic way. Gross. More like an I-would-trust-her-with-my-life sort of way. She is the closest thing I have to a friend.

"You know this monster?" Annabeth raises her eyebrow at me as if saying 'Really? An empusa?'

"Yes. She's my friend. Now if you could let her go, that would be great." I try my best to smile at her but fail miserably. My hatred for her and her stupid boyfriend is too much.

Her boyfriend. Nico di Angelo.

He was basically all Mac and I talked about. His gorgeous dark eyes and velvety black hair.

Gods above he was beautiful.

"-ong with you?" I hear Annabeth finish.

"What? Sorry, I zoned out." I stare at her, my cheeks slightly warm from the thought of him.

Percy! Come on! His girlfriend is standing right in front of you!

"I said 'I can't believe that you are friends with a monster. What is wrong with you?'" her deep stare seems to be looking into my very mind, reading all of my private thoughts.

Ugh, gross. Don't think about that. If you were to look in my mind you would see Nico's name written all over it. Yeah, I don't want to talk about it.

"Nothing is wrong with me Annie," I say sharply. "She saved my life. She's the only friend I have. Not that you care."

Annabeth glares daggers at me. "Don't call me 'Annie'. And yes, you're right. I don't care."

She roughly grabs my arm and starts dragging me behind her.

"What are you doing!?" I try to pull free but she's stronger than me.

"I'm taking you back to camp, what does it look like I'm doing?" She pulls me up and adjusts her grip on my arm. "Come on. Nico said that if we find you, to bring you to him immediately."

Nico?! No no no. I cannot see him.

"Why?" My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion.

"Because he's worried about you for some weird reason. I can't see why though." She leads the why towards the border.

"Wait!"

She turns to look at me. "What?"

"What about Mac?" I start to turn away from her but she spins me back to face her.

"What about her? She's a monster. You can't seriously trust her."

I glare back at her. "Well, I do. And I'm going back to help her."

"No your not."

"Yes, I am!"

She grabs my shoulders and pushes me the rest of the way through the border, sealing us away where Mac can't get to us.

"Percy!" Mac's sweet voice rings through the forest.

I turn to yell at her and-

Thwack!

***

Opening my eyes slowly I see the all too familiar white lights of the infirmary.
"He's awake." I hear Annabeth's harsh voice cut through the silence.

Footsteps rush to my side as I close my eyes again.

They really need to switch to less bright lights.

"Percy?" My eyes fly open to see the son of Hades.

" Nico?" My voice is scratchy and dry.

"Here, drink this." He hands me a glass of nectar, the drink of the gods, and helps me sit up in the stiff bed.

"Thanks," I say quietly, not able to meet his dark eyes again. I sip at the nectar and instantly feel better. It runs down my throat tasting like my mom's warm homemade cookies. In no time the glass is empty.

I softly place it back on the bedside table and look around.

"Can I leave?" I ask quietly.

Nico looks at me with wide eyes. "No!"

I winch from the volume.

" I-I mean, no." He looks down at his shoes. "Sorry."

"Can't I just go to my cabin?" I finally look up at him, our eyes meeting, and I instantly feel insecure, the butterflies in my stomach going crazy.

Geez, you look at him once and you're a blushing mess.

A strange look covers his face. "Percy..." he looks back down. "Percy your cabin burned down last week. We had an attack. I'm sorry."

No no no. The only picture I have of my mother was in there! No no no

I feel the tears well up in my eyes but squeeze my eyes shut in the attempt to block them out.

"But-"
I look up quickly.

But? But what?

Nico slowly pulls a folded scrap from his pocket.

"I managed to save this before it came down completely." He holds it out to me.

I quickly snatch it out of his hand and unfold it.

Oh, thank the gods. He saved it.

I look at the smiling face of my mother in the picture. Her long brown hair pulled up in a ponytail and her arms wrapped around a four-year-old me.
Slowly I look up and meet his gaze. I quickly grab his shoulders and pull him towards me and hug him tightly.

"Thank you," I whisper softly into his ear. I feel him shiver under my arms and start to pull back. "Sorry."

He quickly pulls me back and grips me tightly. "I was so worried about you."

Nico di Angelo? Worried about me? Ha. He's just saying that. He doesn't care about me.

He slowly pulls back and looks at me with those beautiful dark eyes of his.
"I'm sorry."