Empty Closets

Chapter 10

Chapter 10: First Date (Nico's POV)

Tonight I'm not wearing the usual black tee shirt and jeans. Instead, I'm in a plain black sweater but I still have the jeans on. Because I'm a son of Hades, I'm used to the heat so I don't ever sweat.

I walk over to my desk and grab my wallet. Then I head out the door and head to the Poseidon cabin. I suddenly get really nervous; I want this night to be perfect.

This is the night of our first date, and I want Percy to enjoy spending time with me, especially now that we're dating. I am planning to go to a restaurant where we are outside of Camp Half Blood, but we're still very close.

When I reach the door, I knock three times. Percy stands on the other side when it opens. He's in a blue button-up flannel shirt along with blue jeans. He smiles at me as he walks out the door and we head to the back of the cabin where no one can see us.

"So, where are we going and how will we get there?" Percy asks.

"Don't worry too much," I tell him. "We will be 10 minutes away from the camp. And as far as for our transportation, I thought we could 'fade into darkness.'"

"Wait, you mean shadow travel? I thought that made you tired."

"Sometimes, but today I feel energetic so we can do that. If you want."

Percy nods. He and I walk over to the nearest shadow. Gray fog surrounds us, and there's a loud whoosh, like heavy wind, blowing in our ears. We're travelling really fast, maybe faster than Godspeed.

The next thing I see is a bundle of buildings. Each side of the street looks the same: tall buildings, concrete sidewalks with cigarettes canvasing them, and lights upon lights attached to some of the monstrous buildings. An abundance of cars and taxis travel down the long, black street. Some homk their horns at other cars.

I look over to Percy still slightly recovering from the journey. His eyes meet mine before he manages to stand up straight. We cross the street once the little white dude shows up, indicating pedestrians can cross.

"Which restaurant are we heading to?" Percy asks me.

"Well, I know you don't like fancy places, so I chose to go to pretty much the least fanciest restaurant you could come up with," I reply.

"Do NOT tell me you dragges me, to the point where I almost passed out, all the way into the city just to go to a diner!"

"NO! Of course not!" As I say this, I look to the left and see we have reached our destination. The sign reads, "JOE'S - Grill and Tackle." I open the door for Percy and then let myself in.

As we look around, we see men with beers in their hands staring at TV screens. A football player on one of the screens scores a touchdown, and the men cheer.

A woman carrying two menus comes up to us and leads us to our table. Percy sits down across from me.

"So, a sports bar," he says.

"Yup. Why, do you want to go somewhere different?" I suggest.

"Oh, no, it's just that I haven't been to one of those in years." He looks down at the menu and then closes it. "I'm not that hungry so I'm just going to get a cheesbuger with french fries. Oh, and can we split the Nacho Supreme appetizer?"

"Dam, you must have a strong stomach! That doesn't sound like a problem. I think I'll get a bacon cheeseburger with chili cheese fries."

"Don't worry, I'll pay for my food and the appetizer."

"Percy, no! I want to treat..." I stop and have my gaze shift to the right. The sight of what just came through the door shocks me to a point where I remain speechless.

"Neek," Percy says. "What is it?" He follows my gaze.

Travis and Katie just walked in.

"What are we gonna do?" Percy whispers. We both quickly look at our menus so they cover our faces.

"Hi, I'm Kaci," we hear a feminine voice say. We partially lower our menus to see who is talking. A tall girl with dirty blond hair tied in a high ponytail flashes a set of white teeth at us. She is wearing an orange mesh crop top along with jean shorts and white sneakers. Mascara on her right eyelash is a little smudged. "I'll be your server today. Can I start you guys off with something to drink?"

"I'd like a Coke, please," I request.

"And I'd like a Shirley Temple," Percy says. "Thank you."

Kaci writes down our orders and then we tell her what food we want. She collects our menus, which we soon realize makes us very vulnerable. But we see Katie and Travis on the other side of the restaurant.

"Isn't Travis supposed to be in California?" I ask Percy.

He nods. Then he says, "I think we should come up with a good cover story if either one of them sees us or if anyone back at camp finds out we're gone."

"Good idea," I agree. But what could we say that could convince people?"

"Maybe each of us can say something different. I can say I was swimming really deep in the lake if I can't think of anything else."

"I can tell them I talked to the dead."

"Oh yeah, I've been wanting to know how you've done that."

"It's actually really funny. You just can't tell anyone becuase the may think it would be a good idea to raise the dead by feeding them 'Happy Meals.'"

"'Happy Meals?'" Percy tries not to laugh too loudly.

Once our food comes, we dig in for a while, but we then see that Travis and Katie moved to the bar, which is really close to us. We ask Kaci if we can have our food to go, and she gives us boxes with our food in them. A few minutes later, we receive and pay the check. Then, we move.

Thankfully, both of them are focused on each other and the game.

"Hey Travis," I suddenly hear Katie say, "Is that-

We run. Past the repitition of lights on buildings. We reach the nearest shadow and run into it.

Next think we know, we're back at camp.

Why do I always speak too soon?