Chapter 1-
Nico had only been ten when his mother died, the cancer having spread too far, too fast. His experienced the worst kind of heartbreak, the kind of hurt you shouldn't feel until you've grown up. He lost his innocence that day. And maybe he would have lived okay if that were the only time he saw Death itself, but it wasn't, and he didn't live okay.
That was the first time Nico saw Will. Nico was sitting in the back corner, his knees brought up to his chin and he tried to control his crying. His eyes landed on the boy who stood next to his father, his honey blond hair attracting everyone to him. His smile was huge, his teeth perfectly white. The sight of him fascinated Nico. The kid still had his innocence, you could tell. He hadn't been hurt yet, his heart hadn't been broken. From that point in time, it looked like he was going to grow up okay.
After the funeral, Nico forgot about the boy, his sorrow fully taking over. He didn't come out of his room for days, barely eating and always sleeping. His father and sister tried to comfort him, but it was in vain. He was a child who just lost the most important person in his life. He was not okay.
He went back to school a month later and busied himself with catching up on all of his work. This distracted him for awhile, and for the first time since his mother died, he didn't cry himself to sleep. Gradually, his life got better.
His new best friend was Percy Jackson; a boy who loved the sea from crossed the hall. He was the first one to not make fun of his accent, but instead showed him his Boston accent. They played at recess together; Percy taught him chess and Nico taught him Mythomagic. A couple weeks later, Percy introduced him to his two other friends, Thalia Grace and Annabeth Chase. They all got along, and for the first time, Nico talked about how much he loved America at the dinner table. Bianca smiled in relief, while his father nodded at him proudly. Those days, he would later say, and been the best days of his life.
