Darkness's Flower: Pulling It Together

Chapter 9: The Ring

~Lilly~

I woke up to a loud beeping sound. I lifted my head and looked over. Jason was still sitting beside me. He moaned and turned the clock off. He came back over and kept me close.

"Another hour?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"I won't set another alarm. It'll be fine. As long as no one finds out you were over here, we'll be alright."

I sat up straight. "Someone might find out? Jason, you said nobody would!"

He put his arm around me, placing his hand on my hip. "Nobody will! I'm saying, if we sleep longer than an hour, someone might end up to know something. Crap. Piper comes over here every morning before breakfast."

"I either go over to Nico's cabin or he comes over to mine. I'll wake up. I promise. I won't get you up though. I'll just leave whenever."

"Lilly, you can wake me up. It's fine. I don't mind."

"No, it's fine. I'll just go whenever and I won't wake you up."

"Alright. Well since I won't be awake for when you leave, I need one thing."

I giggled. "Let me guess: a kiss."

"You know me so well!"

I giggled again as his lips touched mine. It was just a nice, simple kiss. We broke apart and he smiled as I placed my head against his shoulder. His head leaned against mine and I drifted back to sleep.

I woke up again and used my Demeter magic, as Annabeth calls it, to make the clock move so I could see it. It was almost seven. I looked at Jason. He was still sleeping. I kissed him on the cheek lightly.

"I'll see you later, Jason," I whispered.

I disappeared in snow and landed in my own bed. I took a quick shower and got dressed in plain cutoff shorts and a camp shirt. I blow dried my hair and put it up in a high ponytail. I went over to the Hades cabin and walked in. Nico walked out of the bathroom with jeans on and no shirt.

"Don't tell me we're gonna have this problem again, Nico," I said, closing the door.

He laughed. "No. I'm actually wearing these pants today, so I won't be coming out in my boxers."

I stared at him with my eyebrows arched and a hand on my hip. "I can still see them, ya know."

"Yeah. I don't care."

I rolled my eyes. "Get a shirt on so we can go to breakfast. I'm hungry."

"Give me a minute, Lillian! Let me pick something out!"

I sighed and sat down on his bed. I sat on something, making me jump right back up.

"What the Hades do you have on your bed? Gods!" I said.

I pulled the covers away and revealed a sliver skull ring. I picked it up and examined it.

"Nico, where did you get this?" I asked.

He came over to me, still shirtless. He took the ring from me and closed his hand around it. "Bianca gave it to me."

He walked away with slight anger and sadness. He put a shirt on and came back over to me.

"Oh, Nico-"

"No! I'm ok. Let's go," he growled.

He started for the door, but I twisted vines around his legs so he couldn't move. I walked in front of him.

"You didn't let me finish. I didn't mean to make you upset. I was just wondering," I told him.

He sighed. "I'm fine. I promise. Now get these things off of me.

"No!"

"What did you just say?"

"I said no. Nico, you are clearly mad and I want to know what's up right now. I'm not letting you go until you do. And if it's not the truth, I'm leaving you here."

His eyes became sad. "It was the last thing Bianca had given me. I used to wear it all the time, but I haven't since I met you. I didn't think you would like it and I was slightly embarrassed to tell you. There. There's the truth."

"Nico, I don't care. It's pretty cool, actually. And you don't need to be embarrassed to tell me anything. I tell you everything."

Well, not everything. Not now, at least. My little thing with Jason is only for our knowledge. Most of that was true.

A tear sparkled in his eye. "I-I'm sorry, Lilly."

I put my hand on his chest. "Nico, it's fine. I know you miss her. It's ok to miss someone."

"It's not that. I know I can. I don't know, Lilly. I do miss her and this is all I have left."

I stood on my tiptoes and let my lips touch his. I put my fingers through his hair and pulled away slowly.

"It's ok, Nico," I whispered.

He smiled and kissed me on the forehead. "Thank you."

I looked down and realized he was still tangled in vines. I giggled and made a closing gesture with my fist. The vines disappeared and Nico picked me up.

"Thank you, hottie," he said.

I kissed him on the cheek and he carried me out of his cabin and up to breakfast. I sat down and ate my breakfast. Nico came over to me.

"Hey, I'm just gonna sit down by the water and think for a while. I'll see you later," I said.

I kissed him softly and ran down to my cabin. I grabbed one of blue raspberry Dum-Dum suckers. I ran down to the beach and sat in the sand, taking my shoes off. I just wanted to think.