The Earths Plea

||4|| Cereal srikes again

A/N: Before I start, I want to say that in this book, all the parts written in this slanted writing is a memory or something that happened in the past. Ok, that's all! Enjoy...

Nico POV

I sat in the infirmary in the big house while my best friend Will Solace an Apollo camper, shone a small flashlight in my eyes.
Will turned the flashlight off. "No permanent damage, of course. It'll just sting for a while."

I stood up and stretched. A couple of hours had already passed since I got back to Camp Half Blood from my little mission.
"So what were they like? Will asked. "The new demigods Demeter wants us to bring to camp, I mean."
Demeter.
"Well, I only met one of them," I said.
"And..."
I huffed. "She's a pain."
Will laughed. "She can't be that bad."
I gestured to my face. "She sprayed me with pepperspray!"
Will held up his hands in surrender. "Ok! Are you sure Demeter didn't tell you anything else in your dream?"
"Yes, I'm sure," I replied for what felt like the hundredth time. I felt bad lying to Will, but I had to. Chiron had sworn me to secrecy until we knew more.

"Ok, I've gotta go now," Will said, checking his watch. "I've got archery practice in five."
"I should be going too, " I said moving toward the doorway. "I have combat practice in the sword fighting arena soon."
"See you at dinner," he called back to me as he jogged toward the archery range.

I turned and headed in the opposite direction, letting my mind wander back to a couple of nights ago...

                                                                                     ---------------

I walked past the archery range with Will and Cecil Markowitz after a Friday night game of capture the flag.
"Did you see how I totally creamed that dude while Nico shadow-travelled the flag across the creek?" Cecil exclaimed.
Will laughed."If by creaming him, you mean spraying him in the face with silly string and the kicking him in the shins.
"Hey, it got the job done, didn't it?"
"Whatever you need to tell yourself, Markowitz," Will said, clapping Cecil on the back.
"Hey! Never underestimate the power of a Hermes kid with a bottle of silly string," Cecil said with a serious look on his face.
"Ha!" I said, joining the conversation. "Was that a threat, Markowitz?"
Cecil branched off towards the Hermes cabin. "You bet it was, diAngelo," he said, walking backwards to face them. "I know where you live," he whispered, pointing two fingers at his eyes and then one finger at me in an 'I'm watching you' gesture. Then he promptly tripped over a rock, and fell on his butt in the grass.

Will and I burst out laughing. "I live five cabins down from you, Cecil," I reminded him, gasping for air.
"Oh, right," Cecil said, picking himself up off the ground. "Well, see you guys later!"

With that, he jogged off across the central green, towards the Hermes cabin, pulling Sherman Yang's wallet out of Sherman's back pocket on his way.
"'Night, Cecil!" Will called after him.

I veered off towards the Hades cabin, calling 'good night' to Will over my shoulder.
I brushed my teeth, went outside to the shower building to wash up, and changed into an old t-shirt and a pair of  ratty shorts.

I was pretty exhausted after capture the flag and had expended lots of energy while shadow-traveling so I fell straight into bed. I hoped for a dreamless sleep, though it probably wouldn't happen, and closed my eyes.