There's not much of a difference between magical and physical, as far as I can tell. When Will Solace magically heals a demigod, they're physically patched up. When Nico magically summons the undead, they physically break through the ground. And when Hazel magically ripped the Mist off my eyeballs, it physically hurt like hell. Or... It hurt like Hades? Pluto?
You know what? Screw it, I'm not going to bother with their half-ancient cuss supplements. It's a pain in the ass, not a pain in the podex. When I'm yelling at people, I'm going to say "go die in a hole, you bastard," not "erre es korakas." What's the point of doing that? Is it some kind of cultural thing? Well, I'm not a part of their culture! I'm not one of them!
Ugh. If I'm going to write this down clearly, I'll need to start at the beginning. So, first off, I'm mortal. One hundred percent human. That should stop any devious immortals from reading any further. Because, obviously, I'm a puny, powerless, very uninteresting ant in comparison. Damn, it's been hard to wrap my head around all this. At least my hours of experience playing Mythomagic Online have finally paid off. I can tell Chiron from Charon and Hera from Hades. In fact, I was playing Mythomagic Online and battling mythological beasts only one hour before I was at risk of being eaten by those same mythological beasts. What sucks is that I could've avoided all that deadly peril. I blame it on Nico. One of these days, he's going to be acting all sexy and I'm just going to get distracted and walk into a freakin' manticore.
The first time I saw Nico di Angelo, I was near a balcony in the Caesar's Palace Forum Shops, Las Vegas. Pictures do a better job of describing the Forum Shops, but they're something of a cross between a mall and a golden godly palace. There's Rome-inspired artwork all around, from the intricate frescoes on the ceiling to the giant statues and columns. I'd been on my stone bench for the better part of an hour, just seeing how long it would take before the Caesar's Palace tech geeks noticed that I'd hacked into the company's Wi-Fi. This part of the Forum was quiet, had a great view of the Roman-style wall art and giant statues, and was close to a store for 1940's and 50's style dresses. Every so often, I'd look up from my game to see people going into the store. An old lady and her daughter... A trio of fashionistas... A cute teenaged couple... Holy crap. That was a very good-looking couple. I tore my attention away from my laptop.
The girl had a perfect dark complexion, a far cry from my acne-sprinkled paleness, accompanied by a fluff of curly hair and - did I see that right? - golden eyes. It was the boy that really caught my attention. He was dressed in all black, from his shoes to his tight black t-shirt, which revealed a form that was muscled and fit without being bulging or hulk-like. His hair was black and his skin was almost inhumanly pale. His mouth wore a slight playful grin as the girl excitedly led him into the store.
Before that moment, I wasn't sure if pale, shaggy-haired guys dressed in black were my type. Apparently they were; I'd reflexively pulled out my phone and was about to embarrass myself by fangirlishly taking his picture. Before that could happen, they'd already disappeared into the 40's shop.
What. The. Hell.
What just happened? I don't usually freak out over people, even if they're some mind-shatteringly gorgeous guy. And yet, there I was, nearly falling off the stone bench in a fluff of snack bags and crumbs. I craned my neck, trying to see something more than the tops of their heads through the storefront's wide windows. No luck. I glanced back down at my laptop, wondering whether I should keep trying to beat the Mythomagic Online's highest scorer (ExplodeyAwesomepants30) when my mind was made up for me. I was kicked off of the Wi-Fi. Well, I thought. They probably won't notice if I follow them for a little while.
Yes, that was a stupid, slightly stalker-y thing to think. No, it didn't stop me from getting up and walking into a forest of classy dresses.
Nico's POV
"We should probably get going soon, Hazel," I said. We'd been wandering the Forum Shops for almost two hours, since our meeting with the Sphinx wasn't until noon. Will had separated from us a while ago to see if he could find the shrine to Apollo that was supposed to be in these Shops. Just now, he sent us an Iris-message and said to meet him outside of the Bettie Page store, a place that sold 1940's and 50's style dresses. He wasn't there when we showed up, so Hazel decided to poke around inside the shop, just to see how the modern era was remembering the decade she'd died in.
"All right," said Hazel. "Do you see him yet?"
I looked back at the store's entrance. An old lady was asking a store employee about prices. An pale brunette stood in a corner with a weird look on her face. No sign of Will. "Nope," I told Hazel. "But if he doesn't get here soon, I'm going after him."
Hazel glanced up at me, smiling. "You're worried about him," she said.
"I want my jacket back," I said, but I was smiling too.
"Ha," she said. Hazel looked like she was going to say more, but she caught sight of a screen displaying a scantily-clad girl from the the 50's. She quickly looked away, scandalized.
"That's still pretty mild, compared to the stuff outside," I reminded her.
"Yeah, I know," said Hazel. "Has Las Vegas always been this bad?"
My face settled into a frown as I bit back a sharp comment. I don't remember that, Hazel. I was imprisoned for seventy years in this town. I wasn't exactly a sightseer. Hazel, realizing what she'd done, had "sorry" written all over her face. I managed to stop frowning, because I wasn't angry at Hazel, not really. I was angry at having to be here in the first place. I was pissed off at the possibility that the Sphinx might've brought us to Vegas for absolutely nothing. But, for the Sphinx's sake, I hoped that wasn't the case.
After all, the monster that lies to me about having found and kidnapped Bianca's soul - even if it technically wasn't Bianca anymore - is a monster with a painful trip to Tartarus in their future.