Bianca
Mom and I were almost out and back to the real world. The finals orders were going through. It was apparently a thing for Nico that he doesn't know we're back yet. It's a surprise. But I'm assuming he's at camp, so I don't know how this would work.
He's 16, where else would he be?
I'm just hoping he has friends now.
And that he gets along with Percy. I hope they're both over whatever happened after I died.
Anyways, we were just waiting in the Underworld for Nico to show up. I talked with Dad and Persephone for a little bit. Surprisingly, Persephone and Mom got along amazingly. And that's when Dad got a call.
Nico was on his way. Somebody was with him. We figured Camp just didn't want him to go alone for reasons of monsters.
It was like 20 minutes before Nico showed up, and I barely recognized him. I recognized Percy right away. And it took a moment to realize the guy with him was Nico.
Mom and I, excited to see my brother, ran over and hugged him before he even saw us. And he tensed up, apparently not a hugger.
"Who are you?" Nico asked. "And why are you hugging me?"
Now let me explain, Nico wasn't Percy's height. He got mom's shortness. I got dad's tallness. I'm 5'10". Nico can't be more than 5'5".
"Don't be rude to your mother, Nico," Dad reminded him to be respectful, and I don't think Nico was expecting that. "Or your older sister, for that matter."
Nico politely reminded dad that Mom died when he was like 5 and I died about 3½ years ago.
"And Thalia was dead for six years," Dad pitched in something I didn't want to know the story of. "But she's immortal now."
I'm pretty sure when Mom called Nico mi Figlio he almost had a heart attack. Mi Figlio means my son. He apparently still remembered Italian. Which surprised me, considering I doubt he speaks it at all anymore. We only did to one another every once in a while after Mom died.
Because I doubt Percy knows Italian. Or anyone else at camp. A few Aphrodite kids might. That's about it.
The three of us sat down for about an hour. A lot of it was Nico telling us that it's 2011. A lot of things are different. Percy talked with Dad. They seemed to get along. Persephone loved Percy.
Mom was introduced to Percy and they got along right away. Which, that didn't surprise me. Percy seemed like he just gets along with everyone. A likeable person.
But the surprising thing was that Percy drive and didn't kill us all. He was actually a decent driver.
They explained to us about the whole Camp situation. Or, to me, at least. Neither of them are doing it this summer. Which surprised me that Percy wasn't going to Camp. He seemed to love it from what I could always remember. Nico didn't surprise me.
But they said the Camp was still open, there's a cabin for me to stay in if I want to go. Grover and Annabeth were there. Thalia stopped by here and there. It was up to me.
And then we realized that we had nowhere to stay. Because we sort of don't have a house as of just coming back from the dead.
"We'll figure it out," Percy assured the two of us. "I imagine if you're willing to help out, get a job and what not, you could probably stay with us. We have a spare room and a pull out couch. Just a warning, though. We have a baby in the house. And I mean she's 9 days old. She doesn't sleep through the night."
Mom must've assumed that Percy was a mortal of sorts. Because we agree to at least meet his parents and talk about the living situation. Over dinner and what not.
Well, Percy had a step dad.
And he was a really nice guy. So was his mom. I get where he gets the whole nice thing from. And they both seemed to know Nico already.
Well, Nico never told them that, up until about an hour and a half ago, he was an orphan for most of his life and on his own for over 3 years.
Meaning, if he isn't at camp, he's living on the streets.
They don't know this.
Anyways, we were introduced and they introduces themselves and it was all grand and good. We had dinner together and Sally and Paul were really nice.
But they asked where we lived.
Nico wasn't in the room. He had been in the bathroom at the time.
"Where we live?" Mom repeated.
"Yeah." Sally confirmed. "I mean, if Nico isn't at camp, he has to be living with you, right?"
"Um..." Mom started. "I died when Nico was 5. I've been back for about two hours. I don't live anywhere."
They didn't know that. So they looked at Percy.
"Did you know about this?"
"Yeah," he admitted. "But I was also told that Nico hated me until earlier today. Him living here would have been a nightmare. I also didn't know where he was half the time, because it wasn't at camp."
"He ran away?" Mom questioned, knowing that wasn't like Nico. At all.
"Three times, yeah." Percy informed us. "The first time was after he found out you died, it was just a mess. Then we found him the next summer, brought him to camp. But there was a cabin for Hades and kids didn't like him and he left again. And then he didn't run away, but he was missing according to camp. Hades knew where he was. He was doing something for Hades. But yeah. He's never died. So he knows what he's doing apparently."
Did Nico get in trouble for that?
Little bit, yeah.
