It was stupid. It was mortal. It was so, so human, and so ironic Nico might laugh about it if his chest was not so constricted he could hardly breathe.
He watches as the mangled body of a girl with red hair is loaded onto a stretcher. Or maybe it is not red; maybe it's only blood-soaked. At this point Nico cannot tell anymore. He thinks the people in uniforms might be working to disentangle more bodies from the wreckage. He can't think clearly. The whole world is choking black smoke and twisted metal and blood he hopes is not hers.
Ten minutes ago, he sprinted all the way there, chasing after an explanation as to why her life aura had dropped so suddenly. A prophecy, he had assumed. But prophecies never lasted more than two minutes. Prophecies were not met by sirens and screams and screeching tires. He would trade anything for a prophecy right then, he thinks.
He cannot see her. He cannot hear her. He cannot even feel her anymore, not with so many people around, not with so many other life auras dwindling along with hers. Dwindling, but not extinguished yet. She is not dying. She is not dead. She will be okay. He focuses on the thought as he twists the skull ring nervously around his finger, craning his neck to see over the crowd. His stomach is churning and his chest is tight and his head is ringing. He will not feel himself again until he finds her, until he knows she is okay.
Of all the monsters there had been in the past few years, the demigods gone wrong, the vengeful gods, none of it had hurt Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Somehow, she had made it through the years relatively unscathed. Not to say that he did not worry about her nonetheless. He worries about her constantly, that she will be hurt or cursed or gods forbid killed by some mythical being. So of course, when something did happen (as it was always going to happen) it was the one thing he had never even considered. Of all things, it had to be a car crash. Something he could not fight off. Something he could not protect her from. Something nobody could or would have anticipated.
It was just so typical.