Death and Shadows

Ch.10 Alone Time and Camp Half-Blood

A/N. Hey guys, hope you enjoy this chapter! A little after Lia's POV starts, I stopped writing this story the first time, so the writing style might change a bit when you get to that part. Hope you all enjoy! -Anna

~Nico's POV~

I sat alone for a long time with just my thoughts. It had been a little over a week since I summoned Bianca. I still couldn't get over her words. Lia gave me space and did her own thing. Eurytion came in a few times with his dog (dogs?) but didn't bother me. Every now and then, Lia would come to check in on me, make me eat, or would tell me something about the ranch that she found out about.

"If you ever go out to see the giant scorpions," Lia had said, "don't get too close to their field. They'll snap at you with their giant pinchers. Almost got my hand snapped off."

I would just listen to her ramble on. Her voice had become a comfort to me and gave me a little break from thinking. At some point, she gave me a burger, but it didn't taste like beef. I had asked Lia what the patty was made of.

"Oh, it's Eurytion trying out his soybean patty idea. He wanted us to try them out. Seeing as you've eaten half the burger, I'd say you liked it." Lia bit into her burger and hummed in delight. "I gotta say, even though I'm a complete meat lover, this is good."

I agreed with her. The burgers were actually really good for a meat substitute.

I'd let Lia talk, and I wouldn't say anything. She didn't seem to mind that she was the only one holding the conversation. It looked like letting her talk without anyone's response or judgement made her open up a bit more to me.

"You know," Lia said after we finished our burgers, "I've always liked horses. Practically begged my mom to get me a horse for every birthday and Christmas even though I knew we had no room for one. But those fire-breathing horses take it to a whole new level. You won't see me fawning over them too much."

I learned a lot about her in just the few hours I was silent for.

Around dusk one day, Lia had pretty much explored the whole entire ranch, and she came back to the house to sit by me again. After she finished explaining what she had done and learned, we sat in comfortable silence. Touring the ranch had taken a toll on Lia, and she was slouching forward with her eyes drooping. I was about to suggest to her to take a nap or something, when the front door of the ranch house burst open. A distraught blonde rushed into the living room looking at Lia and me frantically.

"Oh, good. You two are still here," Annabeth said.

"Uh, yeah. Why is that good?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Percy blew up."

"Wait, what?" Lia asked, suddenly awake.

"I mean, he blew up a mountain," Annabeth quickly said, realizing how bad her wording sounded. "There were monsters in Mount St. Helens, and we tried to escape. Percy made me get out while he fought them off. He did something to make the mountain blow, and now he's nowhere to be found. I'm hoping to get back to camp somehow and send out search parties. But I don't know my way through the Labyrinth well, and I was hoping either of you could help me get back to camp somehow."

Lia and I were silent for a moment, and then Lia stood.

"I'll take you to this camp," she said. I was about to protest since Lia was tired from exploring, but she quickly said, "Nico needs some time alone without me talking nonsense to him every hour."