Solangelo 4

Part 37

WILL

Nico is worse than he's been for a long time. He was sleep deprived already; seeing Kelly and the other Empousai took a load of his confidence; and the fight with Percy was enough on its own to nearly kill him. They so evenly matched it's a surprise Nico managed to win with everything else he was going through.
But now he's paying the price. I don't leave his side as he writhes about in his hospital bed. I know he's back in Tartarus in his head. I know he's reliving it, and it breaks me to see.
'Will, we really need to-' Reyna starts.
'Please.' I say, 'just...not right now.'
'We need to know what happened. Percy's still out.' She says.
I clutch Nico's hand and look up to Reyna. I quickly wipe my cheeks, getting rid of stray tears.
'Okay.' I say, 'okay. I was just...Percy just changed. Like there was a switch or something that turned him and he just...I don't know, he want to kill me. You could tell. That's all he was thinking of. Even when he was fighting with Nico, he was trying to get to me.'
'So Nico was protecting you from Percy? And he managed to beat him?'
'Yeah, well. I guess that answers that question.' I say.
She smiles a little, and sits down next to me, looking to Nico.
'I knew he was stronger than people gave him credit for, but Percy's got more experience. He's been doing this way longer than Nico.' She says.
'Well, I guess Percy was a lot more physically affected by Tartarus. He was down there a lot longer and breathed a lot more of that...that toxic air. He's still recovering from that.' I say, 'and I don't know, maybe he was trying to stop himself. Maybe he was able to hold back his full strength...Or maybe Nico is just stronger than him.'
Hazel pokes her head in to check in on us. I told them that I wasn't meant to be alone with anyone.
'How is he?' She asks.
'He'll be okay.' I say, but she can see his clutched fists. There's sweat on his forehead.
'Is he always...?'
'No. No.' I reassure her, 'it's just on bad days. And this is one of the worse.'
'Okay.' She says, a quiet voice. She keeps watching him from the end of the bed.
'So I guess now we know it's not Leo, specifically.' Reyna says, 'but we also know that you are the target. For whatever reason.'
'Nico always talks about how everyone likes you.' Hazel says, 'no enemies or anything.'
'I haven't been on any quests or anything, and I've been at camp since I was about eight, so I haven't really had the chance to make enemies.' I say, shrugging.
'Nico has a lot though.' Hazel says.
'This wouldn't be the first time someone's tried to get to him through you.' Reyna agrees.
'Well he's going to love that theory.' I say.
'It's just a theory.' Reyna clarifies.
'We still don't know who's doing it, or why. If Percy tries to kill me again when Nico's out then will we actually be able to stop him?' I ask.
'It'd be hard, but I don't think he'd be able to take all of us.' She says.
'Thats comforting.' I say.
'We'll keep Percy away. At least until Nico wakes up again. We'll keep two people with you at all times, and those two people will be equal matches.' Reyna says, 'I'd say Hazel and I are on par. As are Percy and Nico.'
'Annabeth and I are similar too.' Hazel says, 'and Frank, but Frank can turn into animals, so there's nothing stopping him just...trampling...Will.' She looks to me, 'Sorry.'
'I'll figure it out.' Reyna says. She turns to me, 'I won't let any harm come to you, though. I promise. Nico is as good as a brother to me, and he cares for you. That's enough for all of us. We'll figure out what's going on. I promise.'