Lili reeled back in shock. A black river? This was getting too weird. First Nico shows up and does that teleporting thingy, and now black water! Lili just wanted to get out of this nightmare.
The rustle from nearby trees, and Lili whipped around to find the source of it.
Lili followed the sound of the rustle, to find a hawk, laying at the base of a tree. Carefully, Lili reached out to touch the bird. Its beak was curved elegantly , with a sharp tip. Its feathers were a beautiful melody of gold, brown, and black, swirled around to make an intricate pattern. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that one of the hawk's wing was bent at an unnatural angle.
Now, Lili was no vet, but she tried to help anyways.
She grasped the wing of the bird gently, and pulled it a little. The hawk squacked slightly, and Lili rested his wing back.
"Oh you poor thing. Let 's get that wing fixed up," Lili cooed.
She reached up, and plucked a long, sturdy branch from the tree. She found another one, roughly the same size.
Lili searched for a thing piece of rope, or string. She then remembered that she had a spool of yarn that she had bought for her mother in her back pocket.
Lili unraveled the spool, until she had a nice, long piece of yarn.
Looking around, Lili made sure nobody was watching her. She then placed her hands gently on the bird's broken wing. Her eyes closed in concentration, Lili put all her focus into healing the hawk's wing. She felt an immense surge of power, rushing through her hands. Lili peeked her eyes open, and was mesmerized by the beautiful golden light erupting from her palms.
As soon as it came, the light show was over. The hawk chirped merrily and hopped around.
Lili knew that his wing was probably still sore, so without thinking, she had created a splint around the hawk's wing with the sticks and yarn.
The hawk hopped next to Lili's lap, and pecked at her affectionately. She chuckled," You're welcome."
Lili then remembered where she was. "I have to find Nico," she told the bird. He chirped, and hopped towards the left.
"Where are you going?" Lili asked, scooping up the hawk in her arms.
He pointed his head forward, and kept chirping. "Is the where Nico is?" Lili asked hesitantly.
"The hawk started chirping wildly, as if to say, Yes! That's what I'm saying!
Following the bird's directions, Lili was led back to the black waterfall, where she saw a figure there, crouching down. "Nico!" she cried, running towards the boy. Immediately, he whipped around and swung a black sword at Lili, holding it at her throat. She held up her hands, as if to surrender, and said," Whoa, it's just me."
Nico lowered the sword and muttered something under his breath. "We need to go," he said hurriedly, glancing around the forest.
He looked towards Lili and gave her a weird look. "Why do you have a bird on your shoulder?" he asked. "Oh, his name is Oreo," Lili said. "I found him injured, then I healed him, and in turn, he led me to you!" Nico sighed. "You named a hawk Oreo?" he said incredulously. Lli rolled her eyes. "Yes. Is that all you got out of my story?"
"Yes," Nico replied. "Now come on, we need to get out of here," he said urgently, grabbing Lili's arm.
She wrenched her arm away from Nico's surprisingly strong grip. "No. First, tell me what the heck is going on!" Lili crossed her arms and glared at Nico.
He rubbed his face and said tiredly," Okay, I know I'm gonna sound crazy, but hear me out." Nico took Lili's silence as a sign to continue. "So, I'm guessing you have ADHD and dyslexia. I do too. That's because – and don't freak out – we're demigods."
Lili's jaw dropped. She did not believe one word coming out of this boy's mouth. "I swear, if you're lying to me-"she growled. "I'm not," Nico cut her off. "Everything about Greek mythology is real," he said. "No way," Lili said, shocked. Nico didn't seem like the type of person to play a prank. "The gods and stuff – they're all REAL?"
Nico nodded. "We're both demigods. That means we have one mortal parent and one godly parent." Lili's jaw dropped even more. "Are you saying that my dad is a….god?" "Yes," Nico said.
"Wow. Your breath smells like death," Lili said. Nico reeled back. "What?" "I mean, have you ever heard of toothpaste? Or a tooth brush?" "Ugh! We're getting off track!" Nico growled.
"Come on," he said, pulling on her arm. "Where are we going?" "To the only safe place for demigods. Camp Half-Blood."