Solangelo 3

Part 21

NICO

I wake, the glass of water beside my bed as it always is. I smile, thanking the Gods that me and Will are back together again.
'Hey, you're awake.' Will says, looking up, 'feel better?'
'Much.' I say, downing the water in one go.
'Jason stopped by. Said something about a letter?' He asks, acting casual. He seems interested though.
'I didn't write a letter.' I say, putting the glass back down and sitting up, stretching out.
'Nico, I saw the letter.' He says, 'you don't have to lie. I don't mind. Whatever it was.'
'Will. I didn't. Write. A letter.' I say, not sure how to make it any clearer, 'you probably heard wrong.'
'No, I saw it. It was your handwriting.' He insists, putting his notes on the floor
'You don't know it was my handwriting.' I counter.
'Yeah, I do. It said his name on the front and the 'a' has the little hook thing on it.'
'What little hook thing?'
'You know, the little hook on the top that you do.' He tries to explain.
'I don't do a little hook.'
'Here, draw an 'a'.' He says, handing me some paper and his pen. I take it, roll my eyes and draw an 'a'.
'See, hook!' He says, pointing.
'That's not a hook. That's how normal people write.' I say, handing the pen back to him.
'No, they don't. Just you. Which is how I know you wrote the letter.' He says, bringing us back to the point at hand, 'go see for yourself.'
'Fine, I will. And that will be proof that you are the one who writes weird.' I say, getting up and leaving him to get on with his work, 'what time are you off?' I ask before leaving the infirmary.
'Six. I'll see you for dinner?'
'I'll meet you here.'
'Oh, and my mum said they'd be arriving at around eight ish, so I said we'd meet them just outside camp grounds, seeing as they can't enter.'
'You want me to be there?'
'Obviously.' He says, 'I'll see you at six!'
'See you at six.' I say, leaving.
I head out, just about to start thinking about where to find Jason, when I run into him. He and Reyna walk a couple steps ahead.
'Jason!' I call out, 'Hold up.' They stop and I catch up with them, 'Will said something about a letter?'
'Um, yeah?' Jason says, looking warily at Reyna, 'you want to talk about something?'
'I literally have no idea what you're talking about.' I say, confused.
'I can go?' Reyna says, looking from me to Jason.
'Yeah, maybe.' Jason says, but I don't let her.
'Don't leave, there's no reason for you to leave, let me see this letter.' I say, and Jason passes it to me hesitantly, 'I...didn't write this.'
'Yeah you did, that's your writing. Look at the 'a' it's got that weird thing you do.' He says pointing it out.
'I don't do a weird-' I sigh, stopping myself from going on a tangent, 'I didn't write this.'
'I can really go, if you guys need to talk.' Reyna says again.
'No, no.' I say, 'I mean, this is my writing. But I did. Not. Write. This.'
'You mean...?' Jason asks carefully.
'Someone wanted you here.' I say.
'Someone wanted me here without Piper.' Jason says, slowly.
'Should we be worried?' Reyna asks.
'You didn't write this?' Jason clarifies.
'I...not that I know of.' I say, 'there's the slightest chance that I did and forgot. I was on some weird drugs at one point. And I've been blacking out a bit. I can't be 100% sure. But I'm pretty sure.'
'Okay. Alright, okay.' Jason says, 'I'm going to call Piper.'
'You can't call, there's no reception where you guys where, remember? Our calls kept going to some random place in the Philippines.' I say, 'which must be why I...why someone wrote a letter.'
'I've got to go back.' Jason says, 'she could be in danger.'
'Jason calm down.' Reyna says, 'send a letter, tell her to come here. She's got a load of demigods with her, and Hazel just went up to meet her.'
'Plus,' I add on, 'Dionysus is there and Chiron said that if anyone got hurt on his watch he'd have to spend double his sentence down here with us.'
'What if something happens to her?' Jason asks, reluctant to leave Piper in harms way.
'Okay, sorry to be vulgar, but it took you almost two days to get down here by car. If something was going to happen to her, it would have been then, and not when you found out that somethings going on. You could literally get back there in less than an hour if Reyna helped you.' I say, 'nothing has happened to her, so she's probably not the one they're after.'
'What do you mean?' He asks.
'Nico thinks they were wanting to get you here without Piper, not Piper there without you.' Reyna says carefully.
'So I should be the one who's worried.' Jason clarifies, 'great.'
'It was probably just a prank.' Reyna says hopefully.
'Surely it's better if I leave then.' Jason says.
'Well, that might be playing into their hands. That's what they'd expect you to do after finding out they want you here.' Reyna says, thinking out loud in the confusing Annabeth style.
'What?' He asks, confused.
'Look, you're safe here. You've got a load of powerful demigods, you've got Chiron. This is your best bet.' Reyna says, 'send a letter to Piper, if you haven't heard back from her by this time tomorrow, we'll go check in. Okay?'
'Okay.' He says reluctantly, putting the letter back in his pocket. He turns to me, 'you sure you didn't write the letter?'
'Sorry.' I say.