A Reason to Stay
Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

"Hey! I've been looking all over for you." I say, sitting down next to Nico.

"Oh, hey, Ky." he says, looking down at his feet.

We were in the sword arena. He must of just finished training because there were at least five dummies worth of straw on the floor and he was soaked in sweat.

"What's the matter?" I ask, bumping his arm, playfully.

"Nothing. Why do you ask?" he asks, turning his dark gaze onto me.

I could tell he was lying. That was one of the things I was best at; telling when someone was lying. There was something in his dark eyes that just told me something was up.

I cross my arms and give him a pointed look. "No, something's wrong. I can tell." I say.

He sighs and sets his jaw in that way that obviously states that he's going to be difficult.

"Fine. You don't wanna tell me, that's fine. I'll find out eventually." I say, throwing my hands up as I stand up from the bench.

I walk out of the arena, just waiting for him to call me back or rush after me and pour all his problems out to me. He didn't though.

I pause for a second when I reach the exit, waiting for just this. I could sense him watching me. I give an inaudible sigh and walk out into the bright sunshine.

As I was walking to the dock, I bumped into Keegan.

"Hey." I say.

"Oh, hey Kyra." he says, seeming to grow extremely nervous all of a sudden.

"Where you headed?" I ask.

"Oh, just about to go to the sword arena and shoot some arrows at the dummies." he says, rather quickly.

I smirk. "Well, you'll probably have to sew 'em back up or make new ones." I say.

"Why?" he asks.

"Nico was just practicing. At least five of them are shredded and scattered all over the floor." I say.

"Is he still down there? Nico, I mean." he says.

"He was there when I left a couple of a minutes ago. I'd say he is." I say.

"Oh, okay. Well, I need to go. See you later, Kyra." he says, then hurries past me and in the direction of the arena.

I watch as he practically sprints over. I look to the path leading to the dock, and then back at Keegan's disappearing figure. I debate about it for a couple of seconds, then turn back and head to the arena again. Something was up, and I had a feeling it involved Keegan and Nico.

A/N:

First chapter out of the four. This is that story I was talking about that I wrote when I read a certain part in HoH and I got so angry I wanted to throw the book out the window but instead I started writing. Whatcha guys think so far? I'm gonna warn you, when you read the next chapter you'll probably want to murder me.

Again, DO NOT READ THIS STORY UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE HOUSE OF HADES!

XOXO,

Mrs-diAngelo25