Heroes Of Olympus:The Maze of Prophecy.

A Wave Eats Us

Will

I watched as Nico read the note left on his cabin door. His face stayed completely still as he processed what he said before passing it over to me dismissively. Leo and I both scrambled to take the note but I got there first, forcing Leo to read it over my shoulder.

It read:

'Sup young one. After some persuasion (so half my dinner), dad agreed to transport you to the Philippines . Just go the beach and stand near the water and whisk you away to your deadly quest. Leo, don't give him attitude.

Your friendly neighbourhood hero, Percy.  

"Thank the Gods for Percy!" I whooped, fist pumping the air, high five-ing Leo and doing a little victory dance on the spot. 

"Me? Attitude? Oh, I'd never dream about it." Leo insisted, joining in with me.

Nico just looked at me and leaned against the wall, averting his eyes somewhere in the distance. He looked like he had a lot on his mind. In fact, now that I thought about, he looked paler than usual, his once black rings around his eyes having an unnatural reddish tint and 'I woke up like this' hair crazier than usual.

I left Leo, who was doing something he called the 'floss', and walked over to my boyfriend to find out what was bugging him.

"Hey." I smiled at him, leaning beside him on the wall. The aura of fear he usually gave out was stronger than usual, and if I wasn't his boyfriend, I'd probably had screamed like my little sister and run away. Instead, I leaned against him ever so slightly.

Nico looked up at me, his eyes darker and deep with anger. "Will, you've been at my cabin for about 15 minutes now. Now you want to say hey?" He snapped before turning away from me.

Well, that was unexpected, I thought. I could handle Nico's daily hurtful comments, since they were usually just his dark sense of humour. But there was something extra weird about what he said. It was purely bitter. Him himself was different, like something happened causing him to be in such a bad mood. Something important.

Persistant, I moved to the other side, Nico turning away so I couldn't see his face. He wasn't fooling me. There were tears in his eyes that looked like they were going to fall any moment.

I pulled him in hug, where he cried into my chest unceasingly, gripping  onto my shirt tightly. Leo must have realised what was happening and left me, rocking Nico in silence. His chest heaved heavily against mine and he was coughing and sputtering for air, but yet he continued to cry until my top was completely soaked. 

His breathing was still heavy, but now steady, by the time he stopped. He never loosened his grip so I continued to hold him in my embrace until he decided to pull away, red bloodshot eyes staring up at me.

"Nightmare?" Was all I asked. He nodded mournfully and closed his eyes. Sometimes Nico would tell me what happened, sometimes he wouldn't. I learnt that it was better if I just let him talk if he pleased.

"Dominique died this morning during a nightmare and she was in the maze. The same maze we are supposed to be going today and there was an abyss and she just fell in. Hazel and I tried to save her and we basically failed until the last moment." He paused for breath. "Will, Hazel and I literally watched Nique die. She fucking died. And then just resurrected and still went on the quest as if she didn't just fall to her fucking death a couple moments before."