Solangelo 3

Part 1

NICO

The beauty of being the only member of the Hades cabin is that I can reserve rooms and be certain that no one else will come in. Though I now it gets on the other campers' nerves, I still do it. And it's not like anyone would ever confront me about it.
'Are you trying to make enemies?' Will asks, opening the door and interrupting my peace and quiet, 'you know how annoyed my siblings get when they can't use the music room.' 
'I was practicing.' I say, unfazed by his brash entrance.
'For the entire day?' He asks, raising his eyebrows.
'Well not the entire day.' I reply, standing up from the piano seat and moving over to him, 'hi.' I say, and kiss him.
'Hey.' He replies, his tone instantly far calmer, more casual.
'How was the infirmary?' I ask, taking his hand and walking over with him to the piano.
'Messy.' He says, 'there was this one kid-'
'On second thoughts, I don't want to know.' I say quickly, I move his hands to the piano, and rest his fingers on the keys, 'play.'
He rolls his eyes, but plays. I love how good he is with people, how caring he is, how he takes control when he's in the infirmary; but the way he plays piano is my favourite.
I rest my head on his shoulder, close my eyes. Relax.
'Nico?' I jolt awake, 'were you asleep?'
'What? No. No I wasn't.' I say, quickly, 'why'd you stop?'
'Because you fell asleep?' He replies, 'come on, let them come in. We can go on a boat, take food out with us. It'll be nice.'
'Can't you let me be sad for a day?' I ask, exasperated.
'You're sad? Why are you sad?' He asks, suddenly alert.
'No, I'm not sad. That's the point.' I say, 'you make me too-' I kiss him lightly, 'damn-' I kiss him again, 'happy.' And one last time. He drags it out.
'Well, I'm so sorry.' He says, 'I'll try be more depressing in the future.'
'Thank you.' I say.
'But for now, you're going on a boat with me, and letting my siblings play whatever their little hearts desire.' He says, already dragging me out.
'Ughhhhh.' I leave reluctantly, Will moving round and giving me a piggyback, as he carries me over to his cabin and gives the all clear to his siblings.
'Thank you Nico!' Kayla shouts out.
'Love you man!' Reve calls as he runs to the music block.
'See, they like you now.' Will says, continuing on down to the lake.
'You realise we can't even properly go out?' I say as he puts me down by the canoes, 'Percy in camp Jupiter and all? The fact I can't swim? And you can't really either?'
'Hey, I've been practicing.' He says, defending himself.
'Okay, well I still can't. And I don't plan on changing that.' I say, so what're we going to do? Just sit here?'
'Exactly. Float in the boat. The water's fine. We'll be fine.' He says, 'and look, I prepared food already!'
'Goody.' I say, as we both sit in the canoe, facing each other, the food between us.
'Hey! A little appreciation please.'
'Sorry. Weird mood.' I explain.
'I noticed.' He replies, 'you okay?'
'Yeah. Yeah.' He looks at me, and I can tell he doesn't believe me, 'honestly I am. It's just weird being here.'
'Weird how?'
'I've just never stayed in one place so long.' I say. I sigh and look out across the water, 'I keep dreaming of my mother.'
'You didn't say.'
'Yeah, I don't know. It's just weird. It's not a good dream, or a bad dream. Just weird.'
'So you're dreaming of Tartarus less?' He asks, hopeful.
'Yeah. I guess, yeah.' I reply, 'anyway.' I say, eager to change the subject. I can tell he knows I don't want to talk about it any longer, and he drops it with ease.
'You talked with Hazel much recently?' Will asks, and we move on swiftly, talking about our days, our friends. Easy stuff.
It's only when it starts to get dark that we think about heading in. We've finished the food, and curfew is coming up. We decide to head in.
Will steps out first, and the boat rocks a bit. I suddenly get uneasy. My automatic fear of water taking over. I'm very aware that Percy's not here to help me.
'You're okay.' Will says, holding out his hand, I go to take it as I step out, when an overwhelming noise hits me. I drop, seeing black, feel my head hit the side of the boat, and fall into the water.