Prisoner

Guard

One thing Nico was absolutely sure of: he flat-out hated the newest addition to the jail.

He disliked how Will gave him a sunny smile every time he passed by.

He despised how his heart leaped whenever he talked to the blond boy.

And he absolutely abhorred Will's habits, like the way he paced, blue eyes sad, around his cell, and how he ran his hands through his shaggy blond hair when he was nervous or excited or in between.

    Nico turned a corner and walked down yet another gray hallway with black-uniformed guards every ten feet on both sides. He nodded to each as he passed and they nodded back.

Nico turned left, mentally running through the route to the conference room, then took a sharp right and typed in a combination onto a hidden fingerprint-recognition pad in the uniformly gray cement wall.

He was getting tired of this grayness. Would a little bright green or a nice azure have killed Hades when he was decorating? Maybe a nice, subtly patterned wallpaper or some carpeting in a few hallways? And...

Oh no.

Will was starting to get to him. This was very, very bad.

Nico groaned as hidden doors whooshed open in a rush of cool air, blowing back his dark bangs that he had absolutely refused to get cut in a military fashion. Nico didn't care that everyone else had military haircuts. There had to be some advantages to being in his position, right?

Nico shook his hair back into his face and walked into the Restricted Access Area, only for the highest-ranked members of Hades' Guard.

    Yes, Will got on Nico's nerves. He got on his nerves big-time. And Nico let him know about it. He let him know about it big-time.

    But that darned kid just kept grinning at him. And making conversation. Hades, could Will talk! On and on about

    his friends at home

and his medical kit with all its supplies

and his shirt that said 'MEDIC' on it

and how much he missed being a doctor

and could Nico please give him some antiseptic and an Ace bandage because he was pretty sure that the cut on his arm was infected

or just a Band-Aid would do he supposed did Nico happen to have one anywhere on his person

and of course Nico didn't just have a Band-Aid because who besides Will carries Band-Aids around randomly

and for Hera's sake could Will get a glass of water

And...

    No. Nico refused to think about the boy any more. He had an important meeting to attend, and by golly, he was going to get through it without thinking about Will!

    Nico nodded his head decisively to himself, then walked forward for an iris scan. The blue light read his eye, blinked once, and then the heavy double doors ahead of him opened, and he stepped into Hades' Official Situation Room.

    Nine people sat at a long, ebony-wood table in front of him. Every one of them was at least three decades older than he was. Every one was a highly qualified king or queen or Crown Prince or Princess from some section of Hades' realm. And every one of them was staring at him.

    Then the largest chair, a mishmash of cushy red velvet and polished black wood, turned to face him. Its occupant, a tall, thin man with sallow skin and greasy black hair, pursed his lips and steepled his fingers, elbows seemingly making the table groan with their weight.