Hellfire

14: Reykjavik

FOURTEEN

Piper, Percy, and Nico washed up in Reykjavik, according to Percy's nautical senses and the GPS on Piper's phone. It was boiling hot. Percy felt as though he were a fish on dry land.

Piper pulled her sweater off and tied it around her waist. "Now what?" she said, frowning at the acres of empty land before them.

"You couldn't have washed us up in New York or something?" Nico asked, running his fingers through his hair. His skull ring glinted in the sunlight.

Percy scowled. "Sorry," he snapped. "Next time, I'll try better."

Nico held up his hands. "Hey," he said defensively. "What's your problem, Percy? Seriously."

"You would've fought us," Percy said loudly. "That's what my problem is." He could feel his face heating up. He was uncomfortably angry. He didn't know why. All he knew was that he was mad. At Nico, at the gods, at the angels, at everything.

"Percy-"

"No, you know what?" Percy seethed, balling his hands into fists. The waters behind him began to churn. Waves began slamming against the shore, soaking the sand behind them. "I thought we could trust you on this quest, di Angelo, but we really can't. I know that now. You would've killed Piper and I for some dumb blonde, when Will's sitting back at camp getting ready to fight angels that literally came from the freaking Bible!"

"Shut up!" Nico shouted, the ground under them beginning to shake. He glared at Percy, and Percy wondered if looks from a son of Hades could really kill anyone. "You don't know anything about me or about Will," Nico said angrily. "You don't even know who that girl is or how important she is to us!"

"Guys!" Piper shouted, stepping in between them and glaring at them. "What is wrong with you?" she demanded. "We're stranded in the middle of nowhere, about to go to war with the damn Bible, and you're fighting about Will and what you may or may not have done back in that death room?" Charmspeak flooded into her words. "You need some perspective right now, because you're both being total idiots."

Percy's mouth clamped shut. The water behind him continued to churn and gurgle angrily. The ground was splitting at Nico's feet. Percy could see smoke rising from it, and maybe a bony hand...

"We aren't stranded," he grumbled after a beat of silence. "I can get the waves to take us back to the others. Or we can ride hippocampi. Your choice."

"Animals don't like me very much," Nico said sullenly. The hand disappeared back into the ground. "I can't enter Poseidon's domain too much, either. The ship is just a fluke."

"I don't think domains matter a whole lot anymore," Percy said coldly. "Just like a lot else," he quipped. Nico scowled at him, but the hand did not make a reappearance.

Piper rolled her eyes up to the sky, as if wondering why she had to be the mediator between them. "Let's just take the quickest way back, okay?" she said, slightly pleadingly. "We need to tell the others that Kronos is back."

Percy flinched. He scowled again. Hearing Kronos' name stirred more anger within him. He couldn't understand what was happening to him. Why was he so angry without reason? Why didn't he feel like he could trust Nico anymore, after everything the son of Hades had done for him? Percy and Nico had become good friends over time. Being Nico's friend had even brought Percy closer to Nico's boyfriend, Will, and the rest of the Apollo cabin. Nico was the one who had helped Apollo and Meg when they came to Camp Half-Blood.