Yeah, right, Sunshine

Chapter 4

Will POV

I had just found Jordan hiding in a tree, when Nico came running towards me in a panic.

"WIIIIIIIIIILLLL!" He tripped over a tree root. He was back on his feet and running within seconds. Birds flew out of the trees. Satyrs and nymphs jumped back in terror. He just kept running. Jordan escaped. (again.)

"Hold up! What is it?" I said, moving to stop him. He ran right into me, slamming against my chest. He jumped back, signaling me to wait while he caught his breath.

"I. had. A. dream," He panted, eyes wide.

"You ran pretty far," I said, sitting him down on a stump. He managed to catch his breath, and kept talking.
"I had a dream, and there was an island, and a pretty girl, and she was waiting, and then I was on a machine, but it was Festus, and I was alive? But not really alive yet, and we were flying, and-

"Okay, Okay, calm down," I interjected, putting two fingers to his neck. The kid's heartbeat was running out of control.

"No, you don't understand!" he said, jumping up and grabbing me by the face. "Leo's alive!!!" Wait, what?

"Huh?" I asked, as I tried to pull him off of me. (Not that I wasn't loving the attention.) He let go of my face, and grabbed my hand, dragging me towards the Big House.

"YEAH! We have to go get Chiron, get a move on! There's gotta be a quest or something to find him and get him back, we gotta call Hazel and Frank and Rey-"

"Hey hey hey hey, hey." I said, holding him back as well as I could. He was more excited than I'd seen him in a while. While it was amazing to watch, it couldn't have been good for his health so soon after the shadow jumps. "Calm down." He stopped trying to run, groaning.

"First Percy, and now you. You both want me to 'calm down, stop running.' We have to start looking! I've never felt a soul come back from the dead before, but wake up, Sunshine!" He grabbed my face, and threw his arms out. "It just happened!" I raised one eyebrow.

"Wait, Percy told you to calm down?"

Right on cue, an out-of-breath son of Poseidon ran up to us. As he approached, the roots that had tripped Nico went shooting back towards the tree. A blushing nymph popped out of the tree, and waved at him before ducking behind a blueberry. (The blueberry kicked her out.) Nico scowled.

"That's why the roots came out of nowhere," he muttered. Then to the nymph; "Asshole." She simply stuck her tongue out and giggled.

Percy shook his head, and said to me in a whisper. "What did you put in his ambrosia? I haven't seen him this jumpy since we told him he was a half-blood."

I stared at him. This was not normal Nico behavior by any previous standards.

"Maybe it was too much ambrosia," I whispered back. Nico rolled his eyes.

"If neither of you two idiots are gonna do anything, then I'll just have to get ahold of some Hephaestus kids. I'm sure they'd help." He turned around, and stalked back towards cabin nine.

"What just happened?" I asked Percy. He shook his head, still surprised.

"I don't really know. I was guarding the infirmary like you'd asked, and he just kinda popped out of the door? He seemed pretty freaked out, asking where you were. I tried to keep him there, but..." He shrugged, and gestured towards the trail of footprints Nico had left in the dirt. I shook my head. "We've gotta go after him. Jordan!"