The first thing they noticed when touching down in Madrid was the architecture. The buildings and bridges and streets had so much Romanesque influence, it felt like they'd never even left Rome after making their getaway with the Athena Parthenos.
Reyna was probably more impressed than she should have been by all of the buildings and statues. She kept staring and pointing and rambling about the difference between Tuscan and Composite columns. All Nico could think about was how much harder it was going to be to find Augustus' temple among all of the thousands of similar-looking buildings.
Nico dismounted from Scipio's back first, grateful to be back on solid ground. Flying made him anxious, and a five-hour flight on horseback with nothing but is negative thoughts to keep him company was quite possibly the worst way to travel.
Reyna hopped to the ground and scratched Scipio behind the ears. "We're going to be a while, buddy. Why don't you go find somewhere to stay where you won't draw too much attention to yourself? I'll whistle for you if I need you."
Scipio whinnied in protest, but Reyna shook her head. "I know, but you can't come with. We'll be okay, it'll only take a couple of hours, I promise."
Nico stared blankly at the pair. He highly doubted the pegasus could actually understand a word of what Reyna was saying, but he decided not to question it. He'd seen her do stranger things before.
She gave Scipio one last scratch behind the ears, then he took off and disappeared into the sky.
"So," Reyna began. "Where to first?"
"First," Nico said, "we need some kind of transportation."
Twenty minutes later he immensely regretted that suggestion.
"You know, this isn't exactly the kind of transportation I had in mind," Nico said, having extreme difficulty keeping his feet on the pedals of his rental bike.
Meanwhile, Reyna was riding in circles around him, trying her hardest not to laugh.
"I cannot believe you never learned how to ride a bike," she said. "I mean, really Nico? What sixteen-year-old doesn't know how to ride a bike?"
They had just paid for a six-hour rental at a small kiosk a little ways away from a large plaza. There were roads branching off in all directions and men in bright yellow and orange tee-shirts leading groups of bikers on guided tours. Reyna and Nico had opted for the free-roaming package, which allowed them to take the bikes anywhere within the city without a tour guide as long as they were returned on time. At this rate, they'd have difficulty getting more than ten feet away without Nico losing his balance and falling over.
"This isn't as easy as it looks," he muttered. "It's not my fault the gods made me spend majority of my childhood running and fearing for my life. I didn't exactly have time to learn how to work one of these things."
The girl working the bike rentals walked over to Reyna and handed her a ticket slip and maps of the city. She gestured to Nico and asked Reyna something he couldn't understand, probably something along the lines of "Are you sure he isn't going to kill himself on that thing?" Reyna nodded in response and pedaled over to Nico.
"You two better not have been talking about me," he said.
"Oh, we were," said Reyna sarcastically. "We were just discussing how ridiculously tourist-y you look. I should have told her about your zebra hat. What happened to that by the way?"
Nico hadn't even given it a second thought. It must have fallen off into the trees or sank somewhere in the water after he had to rescue Will and his pegasus from certain death. And now Will was in trouble again.
"It doesn't matter," he snapped. "We're wasting time, let's go."
"Hey," Reyna said, reaching over and taking Nico's hand, her tone suddenly much softer. "I'm sorry, alright? Look, I have the maps right here." She opened one up and spread it out in front of them, pointing at locations. "We'll check here and here, then head North into the more isolated parts of town. We'll find him. It'll be okay."
"I hope you're right," Nico whispered.
Claire had given up asking questions six hours into her interrogation when Will had started giving her the silent treatment. She'd threatened him countless times, but her words no longer seemed to faze him. He wasn't stupid. He knew she wouldn't do anything unless Octavian told her to, and he hadn't spoken to either of them since they'd first kidnapped Will.
Instead, she had begun pacing around the room, trying to figure out some other way to get some information out of him. She had to get this job done, lest she risk making Octavian angry. She'd seen what he does to the people who disappoint him, and she didn't want to become one of them.
Will, on the other hand, was completely content with staying silent. Sure, his legs were nearly numb from sitting in the same position on the floor for so long and he was slowly growing irritated of the sound of Claire's pacing around the room, but he had no doubt that by now his friends would be coming to rescue him any minute now.
Or maybe that was just the hope talking.
Maybe no one was coming and he'd be a prisoner again after his few days of freedom. Maybe Octavian would sell him out to some kind of Underworld demon or minor god seeking revenge and use him as a weapon.
The constant click, click, click of Claire's boots was so distracting he couldn't even concentrate on imagining his possible future imprisonment.
"Aren't you tired of standing?" Will broke the silence. Really, he just wanted the clicking to stop. Thankfully his plan worked.
She stopped in her tracks. "A little," she admitted.
Will gestured to the spot next to him as well as he could with both hands tied behind his back. "Sit down."
She looked him over suspiciously, but then shrugged and sat on the ground next to him with her legs crossed.
"So..." Will began, but Claire cut him off.
"If you think I'm okay with this, I'm not," she said. "I'm actually tired and very bored and very, very annoyed with you right now. But I have nothing better to do right now since you won't tell me anything."
Will shrugged. "Fair enough. Since you're bored, how about I ask you something instead?"
"Or how about you shut up and just cooperate so we can be done here?"
"What's your last name?" he ignored her.
"Hathaway. Claire Christine Hathaway," she said. "Why do you care?"
"I'm just curious. And you don't seem to be having much fun creating your own little rut in the ground by walking back and forth, so let's talk," he said. "How old are you?"
"Fifteen," she muttered. "I know, I'm young and stupid and involving myself with all the wrong people, I don't need to hear it."
"I wasn't going to say that," Will said. "So have you always worked under Octavian? Ever since you first went to Camp Jupiter?"
She wasn't quite sure why she was even answering his questions, but it was the first conversation she'd had in months that didn't involve torture tactics, war strategy, or how much they hated the Greeks. Her comrades weren't the most interesting people. She was grateful for a change in topic for once. "I was twelve when I got there," she said. "It was a couple months before Reyna left and Octavian took over. Once she was gone, he was the leader. We all obeyed mostly because we actually thought he was doing the right thing but..." She sighed.
"But what?" Will asked.
"But now a lot of people are disagreeing with his ways. More people are changing sides and rebelling against him. I can't say I blame them. There are some people who are brave enough to stand up against him and leave. And the rest of us, well, the rest of us are still here, doing things like this."
The door opened with a crash. Octavian stood in the doorway, glaring down at Claire. She immediately jumped away from Will and dropped to one knee, bowing to Octavian.
"Stop that," Octavian snapped. "What is going on in here? Were you doing what I told you to do?" he questioned her.
"Of course," she replied obediently. "I was interrogating him as you asked."
"Get up!" he ordered her. She slowly stood, refusing to look him in the eye. "Why are you lying to me, Claire?"
A bead of sweat dripped down her temple. She trembled slightly as she took a shaky breath. "I was interrogating him, it's just that-"
He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her forward. "I don't like being lied to," he hissed.
"I'm sorry, Pontifex Maximus, it won't happen again," she whimpered.
"It better not," Octavian shoved her away and turned toward the exit. "Make yourself more useful and go on guard duty at the south doors. I'll get someone else to take care of this." With that, he left the room, slamming the door behind him.
Silence fell over them, only interrupted by Claire's occasional cough. She reached and touched the red mark showing up on her neck.
"Now do you want to tell me how stupid I am for staying here?" she said, her voice scratchy.
"Why would I call you stupid? You don't have a choice on whether or not you have to deal with his abuse," Will said. "That's pretty much been my entire life up until now, remember?"
Claire slowly turned and stared at him, as if she were just realizing something. "Gaea. Of course," she said. "I'm sorry, I never even thought about it that way. This whole war is going on between her and the gods and you're right at the center of it."
Will nodded. "And I know what it's like to be trapped somewhere with no way out. I lived that way for seventeen years. I hate to see you doing the same thing."
She didn't reply. Instead, she unsheathed the dagger at her hip and cut the ties around Will's hands.
"Keep your hands behind your back and pretend they're still tied up," she said. "Play along with whoever takes over for me. Stall as long as you can. I'm going to look for a way to get you out of here."
She counted the seconds ticking by in her head. Exactly twelve minutes after Octavian left, the two male campers who had accompanied her earlier on the mission to kidnap Will walked in the room.
Like most of the guys at Camp Jupiter, these two were nothing special; just two angry and tough-looking thugs who obeyed commands without a second thought and got sick pleasure from hurting people. She hadn't even bothered to learn their names before.
Claire glanced over at Will, who kept his hands hidden behind his back. He looked up and slowly nodded at her, as if to say 'Everything's okay,' even though she knew it wasn't. The taller one firmly held a knife in his hand, the same one he'd threatened Will with that morning, and she had a good feeling the other had a weapon hidden somewhere too. She hated to leave Will alone with them, but she had no other choice. It was his only chance of escaping.
"You've been relieved of your duties, miss," the taller one taunted her. "You're needed elsewhere. Guard duty, south doors."
"I know," she said. "Unlike you, I don't need to hear things repeated to me twelve times before I understand them."
He lunged forward, but the shorter boy held him back. "Stop it, both of you," he said. "Claire, I know Caleb's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed-"
"Shut it, Noah," the taller one - Caleb - growled.
"But there's no need to be rude about it," Noah finished, ignoring him. "All of us need to do what we're told, because you don't want Octavian to come back here and see that you're disobeying him again. He won't be so lenient about it next time."
Not only was she about to disobey Octavian, but she was about to completely betray him and all of Camp Jupiter by attempting to set their highest priority prisoner free.
No doubt she'd face much worse than Octavian's regular punishments if she was caught. But she played along, gulping loudly for effect, and began walking out of the room. As she reached the door, she turned around one last time. "Do your jobs right and I'll do mine. You've been ordered not to kill him."
"Don't worry, we'll take care of him, promise," Caleb said, tauntingly waving his knife in Will's face. Will stayed stoic and unblinking.
With that, she turned and exited, shutting the door behind her. She tried to shake off the fear, both for her own life and for Will's. Being afraid wasn't going to help anyone.
She glanced down the long corridors to either side of her. The halls were mostly deserted, save for two campers on the far right coming in through the west doors. They were more than likely changing shifts like Claire was. Being hidden inside a huge abandoned mansion, Octavian had assigned guards at every possible entrance as a precaution. He could be warned of anyone entering through any of the six different doorways.
As she walked down the hallway, she internally laughed at Octavian's arrogance. Even when he was illegally holding teenagers hostage and running a dictatorship-like rule over a group of underage demigods, he still managed to be picky about his living quarters. He'd scoped out the mansion months ago and eventually made it into his own personal castle. From the outside, it looked completely vacant, but inside it was almost as if no time had passed since it was originally built. The floors were covered in plush carpet and there was even an air conditioning system installed, though she had no idea how he managed to get away with that. Even the room Will was being held in used to be a private chapel. The pews had been removed, leaving the floors bare, but during the day the sun shone through the elaborate stained glass windows. It wasn't exactly a prison cell.
Claire walked down the stairs and across the building, finally reaching the south doors. A tired-looking boy stood slumped against the wall, falling asleep. Claire cleared her throat loudly, catching his attention. He panicked and snapped into a salute before realizing it was just her, then he relaxed and rolled his eyes.
"You've been relieved of your duties," Claire told him.
"I wasn't asleep," he said stupidly.
"Uh-huh. And next time you're 'not asleep' the person who catches you won't be so nice about it. But you owe me."
He nodded and left, making a left at the end of the hall and disappearing out of sight. Claire was alone, and would be for at least three hours. The sun was setting, shrouding the entire estate in darkness. It was perfect.
She double-checked that her dagger was still strapped to her hip, then she opened the door, closing it silently behind her as she set out into the night with a clear goal in mind: to find Will's companions and return him to them.
Nico was slowly but surely losing what small amount of patience he had left. His feet hurt from pedaling for hours. They'd searched all over the city at every temple and church and building that had any remote chance of being Octavian's hiding place. At three locations, Reyna had actually gotten so distracted by the urge to go an explore the ancient buildings Nico was tempted to leave her behind and continue the mission on his own. He was hot and tired and hungry and, worst of all, they were no closer to finding Will than they'd been that morning. He didn't think the day could be going worse, but after he crashed into a horse on his bike, he was proven wrong.
He'd noticed the girl on horseback a fraction of a second before the collision happened and slammed on the brakes trying to stop himself, but he was too late. He was thrown from the bike and landed hard on the ground.
"Sorry about that-" he began, but when his eyes focused, he noticed that it wasn't any horse. It was Scipio, with a stranger riding on his back. Nico unsheathed his sword and jabbed it in the girl's direction, but she pulled of Scipio's reins and he backed out of the way.
"I know this looks bad," the girl said, "but I can explain."
"Nico stop," Reyna pedaled up next to him and dismounted her bike. She glanced up at the stranger, taking her in. A hint of recognition showed through the confusion on her face.
"Praetor Reyna," the girl bowed her head. "I don't know if you remember me, but-"
"Claire Hathaway," Reyna nodded to her. "Pleasure to see you alive."
Claire smiled. "You as well. Now, if you'd let me explain myself, I'd be extremely grateful."
"I'd be glad to hear it," Reyna said.
Claire dismounted Scipio and handed the reins to Reyna. Nico looked back and forth between the girls. "Wait, what's going on here? She stole your pegasus and now you're just going to have casual conversation with her?"
"Scipio here is a real fighter," Claire ignored him. "I saw him out in the middle of Plaza Mayor harassing tourists and was confused before I recognized him as yours and thought I'd find you nearby. Thinking back on it, I probably should have realized that was too easy. He recognized the Camp robes and nearly ran me over before I managed to calm him down. I had to use the Mist to disorient him a bit, but he'll be fine, promise."
"You were one of the most talented campers in the third cohort," Reyna remembered. "Your Mist-manipulating strategies during war games helped your cohort beat first twice in one month, which is pretty much unheard of-"
"She's from Camp Jupiter?" Nico asked. "And you're trusting her why?"
"The only people who still call me Praetor are people who have strayed from Octavian's rule," Reyna said. "He made them swear allegiance to him. Plus, I remember Claire. You were the one that stole all of his stuffed animals and tied them to the flagpoles that one time, weren't you? That was hilarious! I don't think I've ever seen his face so red."
"Oh, that was nothing," Claire said, her face flushing at the compliment.
Nico groaned and rubbed at his temple. "You know, I'd love to keep reminiscing on your old Camp Jupiter days, but we have a bigger problem here."
"Right," Claire said, finally acknowledging Nico. "Your friend, Will Solace-"
Nico's eyes widened. "You know where he is?"
Claire nodded. "And I know how to get him out. It won't be easy though. He's kind of locked up in a room on the highest floor of a heavily guarded secluded building."
"Ironic," Reyna muttered.
"We can handle it," Nico said. "We've made it through worse."
"You do realize you're now the top two people on Octavian's hit list and if we get caught we're all dead, right?" Claire pointed out.
"We have to try at least."
"Nico's right," Reyna said. "It's our fault Octavian even had a chance to find him. It's only right that we get him back. Plus, Nico would hate it if we-"
"Let's just go," Nico glared at her. "Before it's too late."
Reyna handed Scipio's reins back to Claire and hopped back onto her bike. "Lead the way, miss Hathaway."
Half an hour later, the three demigods approached the mansion's south doors. The huge building hauntingly loomed over them in the darkness.
"So," Nico whispered, "Will is somewhere inside there."
"Yep." Claire said.
"Among at least 50, if not more, armed and powerful demigods."
"Yep."
"And a homicidal tyrant who's been after my blood for three years."
"Uh-huh."
"Alright. This should be fun," he gulped.
Luckily, no one had noticed Claire's absence in the short time she'd been gone. The south doors still stood unlocked and unguarded. Claire approached the door and turned the handle. It swung silently into a completely dark hallway.
She gestured for Nico and Reyna to follow close behind, then walked inside. She pulled out her dagger and the celestial bronze glowed slightly, illuminating the way.
"There's three staircases we have to take to the top floor," she whispered. "When I left it was pretty abandoned and shift changes usually happen every two hours so we should be fine until-" Claire tripped over something and swore loudly as she hit the ground. "What the... oh."
The same boy who she'd caught asleep on the job earlier now stared wide-eyed at her. The dots seemed to connect slowly in his head as he took in the sight of Reyna and Nico.
"They're... and you're..." he stammered.
"You owe me," Claire blurted out. "Not a word of this to anyone, got it?"
He glanced down at the dagger in her hand and nodded quickly. "Got it."
Reyna watched the boy's back as he fled the scene, nervously glancing behind him, probably afraid that Claire would put her dagger to good use at any second. "So much for the place being deserted."
"He was the least of our worries," Claire groaned. "We'll have worse company waiting for us upstairs. Come on."
Reyna and Nico shared a concerned glance, but followed Claire upstairs silently. They scaled the three staircases to the top floor and walked down a seemingly endless hallway before Claire stopped abruptly.
"He's in there," she said, pointing to a set a double-doors about ten feet down the hall. "But I have to warn you, there are two guys in there that aren't exactly the friendliest people. One's a sarcastic asshole and the other is a knife-happy masochist."
"Should be fun, then," Nico said sarcastically. "So what's the plan? We can't just charge in there, grab Will and go. We need some kind of strategy. I say, if there's two guys, two of us take on whoever's tougher. We knock them out, get Will and make a run for it before anyone notices what's wrong."
"You forgot the part where you're all publicly executed for treason."
They all froze. A bead of sweat trickled down Claire's back. Reyna's hand flew to her side and she tightly gripped the handle of her Imperial gold gladius.
Nico, however, completely ignored his weapons and charged at Octavian, grabbing the taller boy by the neck and slamming him against the doors before anyone could register what was happening. The doors flew open and Octavian fell to his back with Nico on top of him.
Will sat in the corner of the room, Caleb taunting him with a knife at his throat. "Nico!" he yelped.
Caleb and Noah jumped away from Will. Caleb brandished his knife in front of him while Noah stepped back, trying to avoid an unfair fight considering he didn't have a weapon.
"Guess we're abandoning that whole 'plan' thing," Reyna rolled her eyes, then charged into the fight side-by-side with Claire. It should have been an easy fight, two small girls against one tough guy, but Claire and Reyna gave him a run for his money.
Meanwhile, Nico and Octavian were grappling with one another, and despite his height and weight disadvantage, Nico seemed to actually be winning. He managed to push Octavian against the wall, one hand restraining his wrists and the other holding his sword to Octavian's neck.
"How did you know where we were, you little rat?" Nico growled. "How did you find him?"
"Oh," Claire said, still sparring with Caleb, "that was kind of my fault. I kind of saw you and ratted you out. Didn't know you'd turn out to be the good guys."
"WHAT?"
"I made up for it though, right?"
Nico let himself get distracted for a second too long. Octavian freed his hand and grabbed something from his belt. Nico yelled out in pain. His sword fell to the ground and clattered loudly as he crumpled to the ground, clutching his shoulder. Octavian stood over him triumphant, clutching a knife in his hand.
"NO!" Will cried out.
Will grabbed Nico's sword and dashed at Octavian, his only thought being that he wanted to inflict as much pain as possible, but Claire beat him there. She tackled Octavian to the ground - an impressive feat considering he outweighed her by at least fifty pounds. His knife slid across the floor and Reyna snatched it up. Without missing a beat, she slashed in Caleb's direction, both weapons raised.
"Not so tough now, are you?" she taunted.
With that, Noah fled the room. Caleb, however, crept even closer. Rather than going in for the attack, Reyna tossed Octavian's sword to the side, raised her hand to her mouth, and let out a high-pitched whistle. Not a second later, Scipio crashed through the large stained glass window landed a solid kick to the boy's head. He collapsed, a large bump already showing on his forehead.
"Good boy, Scipio!" Reyna hopped on his back and patted his muzzle. She stared down Noah, who took off running.
Will had been so distracted watching Reyna he'd forgotten about the rest of the fight going on around him for a moment. He turned around to see Octavian throw Claire off of him. She crashed violently into a solid marble bust, knocking it to the ground and smashing it to pieces. She hit the ground and cried out.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nico crawling away, clutching at his shoulder trying to stop the blood flow. He locked eyes with Will, then looked over at Octavian and Claire, and Will understood exactly what he meant. Take care of them first.
Octavian jumped to his feet and started to rush at Reyna, but Will was one step ahead of him. He noticed the way Octavian's cape dragged on the ground and suddenly idea came to him that was either really brave or really, really stupid. He leaped forward and stabbed Nico's sword into the ground, spearing Octavian's cape in the process. Octavian was snatched backwards and fell on his back. Scipio galloped forward and pinned Octavian to the ground with one of his front hooves.
"Way to go, Will!" Reyna called.
"I didn't think that was even going to work, but thanks!" Will grinned. He pulled Nico's sword out of the floorboards and dashed back over to his two injured friends.
He reached Nico first and helped him to his feet. Nico accepted his support gratefully, but protested when Will offered to heal him. "I'll be fine, help her first," He gestured over to Claire again, who hadn't moved since she hit the ground. Will grudgingly left his side and sprinted over to Claire.
"Is anything broken?" he asked, kneeling next to her and helping her sit up. She groaned at his touch.
"Everything hurts," she muttered. "Literally every single inch of my body. I feel like a punching bag with nerve endings."
Will couldn't help but laugh as he gently checked her arms and legs. "Nothing seems to be broken or sprained. Maybe some internal bruising or bleeding. Can you breathe okay?"
"Will, I'll be okay," she said.
"Get off of me you disgusting creature," Octavian groaned under the weight of pegasus hoof on his chest. "I never liked you."
"Shut up, blondie," Reyna said. "Hey, guys, what do you think we should do with him?"
"How about we tie him up? Maybe slap him around a little? Give him a taste of his own medicine?" Claire said.
"Claire?" Octavian feigned sadness. "And to think, I was about to appoint you to be my right-hand lieutenant."
"Save it, Octavian," she sneered. "I can't believe I used to think I liked you."
"Whatever we do, we better do it quick before that other kid comes back with reinforcements," Nico pointed out.
Claire stood shakily and stared down at Octavian. "You all go. I'll take care of things here."
Reyna frowned. "Are you sure, Claire? I'm sure if we took two trips we could take you with us."
"I'll hunt you down," Octavian groaned. "You'll never get away from me for long. I'll-" he was cut off by a pegasus hoof to the face.
"I'm sure," Claire said. "Maybe I can try to fix things with some of the other campers. But as long as there are still so many loyal to him, it's not safe for any of you to be anywhere near here. You don't need me dragging you down. Get as far away as possible."
"You are incredibly brave Claire," Reyna bowed her head to her. "Thank you."
Claire blushed and gave Reyna a small curtsy. "Anything for the true Praetor of New Rome. Hopefully one day you'll be back where you belong?"
"Hopefully," Reyna smiled. "But for now, Will, Nico, we've got to get going. Hazel and Frank are probably worried sick about us. I'm sure Scipio can handle the weight of all three of us for a while, can't you boy?"
"You sure about that, Reyna?" Nico asked. "It's a long trip back. I'm sure I could just shadow jump us there."
"You can barely move your own arm more than an inch. It's not happening. Besides, you and Will are both scrawny, I'm sure Scipio won't have a problem."
Will climbed onto Scipio's back and helped Nico up, making sure to be careful of his left shoulder.
"You all be careful out there," Claire said. "I'll be rooting for you."
Reyna nodded to her, and with that, Scipio set off into the sky, soaring through the broken glass window and out of sight.
Seeing a giant flying horse with three passengers on its back zip through the sky at four in the morning wasn't the oddest thing Hazel had ever seen, but it came very close.
"What on earth happened to you?" Hazel gasped. Scipio landed roughly on the ground, kicking up dirt and leaves all around him. Will immediately hopped off with Nico in his arms. "Oh gods, is he okay?" Hazel asked. "Nico?"
"I'm fine," Nico muttered. "You can put me down now."
Will shook his head. "Not happening. You're lost so much blood from that stab wound you can barely stand up."
"Stab wound?" Frank cried. "What happened out there?"
"Octavian happened," Reyna said, dismounting from Scipio. He laid down and whinnied quietly, as if he were exhaling. Reyna knelt down next to him and ran a hand through his mane. "You did such a good job out there buddy. It's alright, you can rest now," she cooed in his ear.
Will put Nico down by the fire and sat down next to him. "Try not to move around so much," Will told him. Nico obeyed and sat still while Will looked him over. "Okay, you're going to have to take your shirt off."
"Why?" Nico hoped it didn't sound as squeaky and panicked as he thought it did. Suddenly Reyna's scrawny comment from earlier was bothering him.
"I need to be able to actually touch the wound to heal it. Plus, your shirt's almost completely soaked through anyway." Will said simply.
Nico glanced over and looked for any hint of embarrassment or nervousness on Will's face, but saw nothing. Will was completely calm, as if it were the most normal situation they could possibly be in. Which meant Nico was the one overthinking it and making himself nervous. Fantastic.
Reyna glanced over at the pair and raised an eyebrow at them, then pretended not to be oblivious. "Hey, Hazel, Frank, do you mind maybe getting some food and water for Scipio. I'd do it myself, but I think he wants me to stay here with him."
"Sure," Hazel said, taking Frank's hand. "We can get clean water and some apples from one of the shops nearby."
"But..." Frank glanced back and forth, confused, "shouldn't we maybe not leave them alone here?"
"They'll be fine," Hazel insisted. "Come on, let's go."
As they walked off, Reyna turned back to Nico and mouthed the words 'You're welcome' to him. Nico didn't know whether he wanted to hug her or strangle her. Maybe he'd do both at the same time.
Will didn't even blink as Nico hesitantly tugged his ripped, blood-stained shirt over his head, careful not to move his left arm. He flinched at the cold touch of the other boys' hands on his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a faint golden glow surround Will's entire body, growing brighter as he began singing.
"Flos nitoris fulgore et lumen. Ostende Virtutem Tuam. Convertimini Tempus. Adducere reportat quod nostra fuit," Will sang out quietly. "Sanabant laesus. Fates tentabis. Salvabo quod amissum est. Adducere reportat quod nostra fuit..."
"You sang it differently this time," Nico noticed.
Will nodded. "Sometimes it's stronger when I change the words. Like my dad can hear my prayer louder and he tries to help." Will carefully traced a cautious finger across the scar that was left. Nico winced slightly but tried to hide it. Will pulled away and sighed. "I'm sorry, it doesn't work as well when I'm scared or stressed. Usually changing certain words makes it stronger, I guess but it doesn't always work. It still hurts, doesn't it?"
"No," Nico lied, tugging his shirt back on.
Will pulled his knees to his chest and buried his head in his arms. "I knew this was going to happen. I knew you were going to get hurt because of me."
"You couldn't have known that," Nico told him. He got that nagging urge in the back of his head to reach out and comfort him again, which he immediately pushed away.
"Yes, I could have. It's in the prophecy. There's a line about a horrible loss and it's all coming true now because I didn't just stay at home like I should have."
"The prophecy you told me about being the Child of the Sun? You never told me about that part. You only said something about 'the Child of the Sun to be freed at last'. That sounds like the final line of the prophecy, and that already came true when me and Reyna took you away from Gaea."
"That is the last line. But the prophecy can't have come true yet, because the line before that is 'A selfless act shall correct the past.' Maybe you and Reyna and your friends protecting me is the selfless act, but the past hasn't been corrected. Gaea is still after us; the Romans and Greeks are still at war. Nothing has changed."
Nico didn't know what to say. Part of him wanted to pry for information, to get Will to talk more about it, but he knew that'd only cause Will to get more upset. He was already near tears, sitting curled up in the fetal position with his face hidden buried in his arms. So small and vulnerable.
"I guess we'll have to be leaving soon," Will changed the subject. "We wasted this whole day, so we have to get back on schedule, right?"
"We'll probably leave once Hazel and Frank get back," Nico said. "The sooner we get to Camp Half-Blood with the statue the better."
Good, Will thought. The sooner I stop being a burden to them, the better.
