Solangelo 1

Part 46

WILL

I'm not sure why I assumed Nico would be clumsy. He's awkward a lot of the time, and isn't great at interacting with people - but he is incredibly agile. I can tell as soon as we tie our legs together for Harley's three legged death maze that he's going to be far, far better at this than me.
'Left foot.' He says, growing more and more frustrated, 'move your...no, that's your right. I said left!'
'Can't you just carry me?' I ask, half serious.
'How would that even work?' He's half distracted, trying to manoeuvre my legs to work with his.
'Yeah I guess it wouldn't. I could stand on your toes.' I say.
'Or you could just move your left leg.' He says, and then lets out a sarcastic cheer when I'm able to. We're definitely not the pair struggling the most. Looking over to Apollo and Meg I feel a little relief, knowing that we definitely will not lose.
'Alright, now when you get in the maze there are a load of eggs.' Harley starts the presentation, extremely excited. But I feel Nico tense up slightly. I look to him and see he's gone incredibly pale, his eyes wide and staring straight ahead.
'Hey, you okay?' I ask, clutching his hand and holding it tightly.
'Is he talking about the maze? Like the Minotaur... like Daedalus' maze?' His eyes turn sharply to look into mine, complete terror.
'What's wrong?' I ask, completely confused. Until I remember. When Percy and Annabeth came back from their quest. They said they saw Nico.
'I can't.' He says, simply. His eyes look manic and I feel like he's about to run off - which doesn't bode well for either of us seeing as we're tied together.
'It's okay. You're okay.' I say quickly, 'we don't have to. I get it.'
'It's...it's...I can't.' He says, unable to say any more. I remember him telling me about it briefly, paling in comparison to other things he's been through, but still enough to scare anyone. He was only thirteen or so when he went in last, and was manipulated by a ghost to hurt his friends. I wonder for a moment if the maze ever featured in his dreams.
'I know. I know, it's okay. We'll fall behind as they run off. We can hide out until it's over. It's okay.' He finally seems to hear me, nodding lightly. He grips my hand tightly and I move my hand round to hold him around the waist. He rests his head on my shoulder, exhausted by the sheer panic.
'On your marks, get set,' Harley says, hyping everyone up, 'go!' Everyone runs off, including Nico and me. But we fall behind just before the entrance, stop as the final duo jump in.
We're alone in the clearing, even Harley and Chiron moving off to where the finish point is. Nico turns to me and I hug him tightly, knowing the memories are getting to him.
'I'm sorry. I forgot.' I say, feeling responsible.
'It's okay. I'm okay. I just haven't thought about it for a long time.' He says, and I can hear the pain in his voice. It's all coming back to him. His eyes are red and I know he wants to cry, but he doesn't. He just clutches onto me until we move over to the closest building and sit on the steps.
He leans into me and stays quiet. He continues holding onto me though. As if he's scared if he lets go I'll stop existing. As if he's willing me into existence. I hold him tightly too.