The Sword of Justice

005

The sunset was beautiful. It almost looked fake.

But, that wasn't the thing that bothered Nico. What bothered him, was the fact that he was in Rome. It wasn't uncommon for demigods to see visions in their dreams, but to get an exact location, that was. At least, Nico got an exact location because he actually remembered the place he was in.

But from what?

The fountain In front of Nico shined in all her glory. It was the Piazza Navona.  

Satisfied with the information, Nico looked around. The place wasn't really crowded, but it wasn't unoccupied either. 

Before Nico could take in any other information, he woke up.

Will was still sitting next to him. He had a blanket around his shoulders and his bow in his hands. He didn't really look peaceful. Probably because he was tired as hell. 

"Oh, you're awake." 

Nico nodded and pushed himself up. 

"Now is your turn to sleep. After that, we can leave." he said.

Will nodded and laid his bow down next to him. He grabbed Nico's blanket-pillow and drifted off to sleep. 

Nico thought about the prophecy. Now they knew to which fountain they had to go, but what did they have to do dare? Just wait? That couldn't be it. He should ask Will about it when he woke up. 

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Will woke a few hours later. He got out of his blanket and stretched. 

"Will," Nico called him.

Will reacted with a sound that could have been a muffled animal sound if Nico didn't know him better.

"I had a dream."

Now Will was fully awake. He cleaned the blankets up and sat down next to Nico.

"I saw the fountain we have to go to. It's the Piazza Navona in Rome,"

Will nodded, now they finally knew which fountain they had to go to. Will and Nico already had the idea that it would be a fountain in Rome, but it was still a huge guess with more than fifteen hundred fountains in the city.

"But what do we have to do there?" Nico finished his earlier sentence.

"I'm not sure, but I do have an idea." Will told the other boy.

"And that is?" 

"Scrying. You might not know what that is, but it is a form of seeing the future. You can use water for it. You just ask the water for a reading and if you have luck it shows you something." Will stated.

"Seriously, we go to a fountain in Rome for a reading? Can't we just fill a bowl with water?" 

Will rolled his eyes, but deep down he knew Nico was serious.

"It is in the prophecy for a reason. We just try it, and if that's not the thing we have to do, we will see it there. No need to worry." 

Nico wasn't so sure if there was no need to worry, but he grabbed Will's arm and shadow-traveled away.

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They appeared in the middle of Rome. Fortunately, the streets were so crowded that nobody paid attention to the two boys. 

"Finally there, Neeks."

"Don't call me that."

"You never said that when I called you Death boy." Will teased.

"That's different. Now, we need to find this stupid fountain." 

"Don't you think it's weird that we're not attacked yet? I only had to shoot one harpy in the tree house and he didn't even see me. It looks like the monsters don't even notice us being here. And I mean, with you here, it's weird." Will said.

"Don't tempt them." Nico shrugged it off.

They walked through the city until they both got hungry. And with all the restaurants in the city, it wasn't difficult to find some. They changed some money at the bank and went to a simple pizzeria. Will had to say that the pepperoni pizza was the best pizza he ever had. 

"Remember when you said you wanted to go to Italy?" Will asked Nico.

"Yes, that's why you have to be careful with words, Will. One second you say something, and the next second it's true." Nico said darkly. 

Will just laughed, clearly not taking Nico serious.

"Where do you want to go next, then? Australia? Japan?" he teased and Nico glared at him. 

"Honestly, I just want to get this sword and go home." Nico said.

"So you do admit camp is your home, huh?" 

Nico nodded absently and continued eating his pizza. It almost looked like the two boys were on a date. Almost.

If only the manticore didn't interrupt. 

Will was glad they had decided to eat outside. 

"Well, if it isn't Nico di Angelo and his blond friend, nice to see you back!" the manticore said.

Will shot a confused look to Nico before grabbing his bow and arrow. Nico grabbed his sword and the boys both looked for an option to attack the manticore. Nico decided he had to distract the monster so that Will could shoot him.

"Mr. Thorn, Nice to see you back. How was it in Tartarus?" 

Nico tried to slash the manticore, but it jumped aside just in time.

Unfortunately, Will shot an arrow at the same time, too. 

Will's eyes widened when he saw what he had done. The arrow was stuck in Nico's arm and he fell to the ground on his knees. 

Will wanted to help Nico, but if he did that, the manticore would kill them both.

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And... Cliffhanger. 

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I hope next one will be a little longer.

Don't forget to vote/comment/follow/share me or/and this story if you enjoyed it!

~Veronique