Daughter of Hades

Chapter 8

Ch. 8

I had just remembered that Nico was going to meet up with Percy at the pier. So, I found a way to get there before any of them did. I kinda knew it was bad to eavesdrop, but my curiosity had won over. I also wanted to know why Nico hated Percy so much. So I figured that they were meeting up to talk about that.

   After a few minutes of hiding behind a tree, I heard leaves crunching up. The crunching grew closer and closer, but eventually faded a bit. I  looked over my shoulder. 'Perfect view from here!' I thought to myself.

   "You actually came." Percy tells Nico, I hit a double bullseye. I could hear and see perfectly from my hiding spot.

   I saw Nico nodding from where I was standing.

  "Do you know why I called you here?" Percy crossed his arms. He didn't look angry or anything. He just seemed to have a really curious body tone. Something I probably looked like too.

   Nico shrugged in a seemingly playful way. "I don't know." At first I thought he was playing around. But then his tone had grown darker. "Maybe because you are a jerk?" That completely made the tone from friendly to anger.

  Percy stood there a bit dumbfounded. "A jerk?!" Percy finally shouted back in reply. His tone matched Nico's. Which made this little conversation into an argument. "You're the one crushing on my own girlfriend!"

  "And you're the moron that believes that!" Nico growled right back at him. I realized that this conversation involved something more. Percy uncrossed his arms a bit sadly. He was in complete shock of what my brother had just said. "Yeah! You heard me! You are a seaweed brain!" Nico cried out. I noticed that he was starting to cry a bit.

  "Hey.. Don't cry." Percy got closer to Nico, he patted his back. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout." Percy closes in on Nico for a hug, and Nico actually accepted it. "Don't worry.. I'm sure Annabeth has a sibling that's just like her." Percy says calmly and comforting.

  He was actually really trying to make my brother happy. I couldn't see why Nico hated him.

  "You are clueless." Nico finally spoke up. "You don't even realize the truth."

  Percy's head tilted in confusion and wonder. Percy pulled back a bit, breaking the hug. "What are you saying?" Percy bit his lip and scowled. "You don't have a crush on Annabeth?"

  Nico shakes his head.

  "Piper?"

  Nico shook his head once again.

  "Clarri-"

  Percy's sentence was cut short. Nico interrupted Percy by pressing his lips on the other boy's lips. Percy's eyes grew wide from shock and amazement. Nico pushed back. He was embarrassed, but then the most unexpected thing happened next. Percy pulled him back in and kissed him right back.

  I gasped real loudly which stopped the two from kissing.

 "Whose there?!" Percy turned and shouted in my direction. He was completely embarrassed since his voice cracked midsentence.

  I was temporary stunned. Once I recovered, I sprinted like my life depended on it. I didn't care where I was going or where I ended up. I just knew that I had to get far from there.

  My feet were starting to ache from all the  directionless running. I stop shortly just to catch my breath, but once I heard the crunching and cracking of leaves behind me. I would sprint away again, trying to avoid the branches ahead of me. I didn't look back at all. In fear of tripping if I did.

  'I can't believe I just witnessed that!' I shout to myself in my mind. Light suddenly appeared ahead of me. 'The cabins.' I followed the light as it got brighter and brighter. Soon I was standing in between two cabins. I scanned the area to find my cabin, cabin 13.

  I panicked a bit but once I found it, I ran inside and slammed the door behind me. My breathing grew heavy, my feet were sore, and my heart waas pumping fast. Now that I realized it, I had a cut on my cheek and it was bleeding. I wipe the blood off with my sleeve.

  I then walked towards the bathroom to clean up. I stood over the sink and stared at my reflection. My hair was a mess and had little leaves in it. My face was sweaty and my clothes were dirty.

  'What was that about?' I thought to myself. 'Percy and Nico. Are the?' I shook my head to that thought. 'They can't be lovers. Besides, Percy has a girl-' Shock suddenly hits me when I remembered one key point in the conversation. Percy has a girlfriend! Percy has Annabeth, yet he kissed Nico!

 Outside of the bathroom I heard the cabin door open and close. I tried to stay extremely quiet. I made sure I had locked the bathroom door before the visitor came into it without knocking. Which I hope never happens when I am doing my business in here.

   "Is everything ok?" I heard Nico's voice ask from the other side of the door.

  "Huh? Oh yeah. I'm fine." I try to slow down my breathing and play the part of an innocent person. I couldn't let him know that I was outside spying on him. I faked a yawn just to help me with my innocence.  

 "Ok, just making sure." I heard him sigh and figured that he bought the yawn. "Were you in here all this time?"

  I panicked a bit. "Yeah." I reply with unease. I washed my face and tried to take off the leaves out of my hair slowly. "Ok." He sounded relieved.

  "If you need me, Iris message me. I'll be back soon."

  "Where are you going?" I ask with false concern.

  "To get some McDonald's with a friend. Want any?"

  I tilted my head in confusion. 'Mcdonalds?'

 "What is that?" I ask with actual wonderment. "And what friend?"

 "It's a place to get food at a late hour." Nico's voice panicked and he avoided my question. I got the hint that the friend was Percy. "I'll bring you some so you can try it out."

  I hear his footsteps get farther away from the bathroom until I heard the cabin door open and close. I sighed in complete relief. 'He didn't suspect me. But I have to talk to him about what I saw.' . I changed into some pajamas that Nico got me a while ago and I went to bed.

  The noises outside soothed me. The growling of monsters in the forest, the crunching leaves, the wind. It actually made me feel secure and calm. Like soft music would for an infant. The soft noises mixing in with other noises to reassure the audience that there are more noises out there in the world.

   I instantly fell asleep once I closed my eyes.