Sunny Shadows

Night in the Infirmary

Nico's POV

I woke up with a serious headache at about 1:00 in the morning. 

Will was asleep on the chair next to my bed. His head was leaned back so that it was facing the ceiling, and his hair was curling in every direction. He was positioned so that if I tried to leave, he would wake up as well. It was smart, really. He must have known I would try to escape.

I tried to push myself off the bed, but I couldn't. My arm wouldn't move. I thought that the arrow just grazed my bicep, but I guess it did more. I would have to ask Will in the morning.

I was thinking about seeing Will in the morning when I heard footsteps in the hallway. They were getting closer and closer to my room.

"Will," I whispered, "Will, wake up."

I shook his arm, but no such luck. The footsteps were getting closer to me, and I could feel my heart pound in my chest.

"Will, there's something in the hallway..." I whispered, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear me, but trying anyway. "Please wake up, Will..."

I was trying to shake him awake, when I noticed the footsteps had gone. I turned my head slowly to the door frame.

A veiled figure was standing, just outside of the shadows. It was wearing a black dress and black veil so that I could not see its face.

"Nico Di Angelo," it said in a rough voice, "I bear a message for Nico Di Angelo."

I pulled myself up using the muscles in my stomach. "That's me," I whispered.

"Oh, well then, there's no need to whisper. That child isn't waking up anytime soon," It said, "Would you like to here the message now?"

"I suppose," I said sarcastically. Obviously I wanted to hear the message now. 

"You will come to the Underworld next week. I need you to help fix something, Nico. From: your father."

Why would my father want to see me? What could he need my help 'fixing'?

"Thank you for the message," I growled, "Now leave."

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Will's POV

Nico was already awake when I woke up that morning.

"What are you doing up?" I groaned.

"There was... someone came...my father..." Nico whispered like he didn't want anyone to hear.

I could tell that he didn't really want to elaborate, so I tried to busy myself with changing bandages and checking his vitals.

"You're doing better this morning, Nico, but your vitals are still a little bit off. I want to keep you here until they balance out," I said quickly, "Now lets check that arm."

As he stuck out his arm, it became obvious that the bandage had not caught blood in about an hour. His shirt was cover in a large red spot. There was red on the bed sheets.

The cut should not have been bleeding that much. It shouldn't really have been bleeding at all. I started to remove the bandages.

"This might hurt a little," I said. I managed to pull off the top layers of bandages, but the last layer was melded to the skin underneath. "Okay, Nico. I'm going to have to cut this off. Did you notice it getting stuck at all?"

"Maybe a little," he whimpered, "But I didn't really think that it was that bad.."

"Well, it is... Just, hold on..."

I ran to the supply closet and grabbed a scalpel. I was going to have to cut the bandage off.

Nico was going to have to take off his shirt.