VII. NICO

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

Nico blinked. He had thought it was obvious. Nico gestured at the Hades cabin. "I'm….going to check on Hazel. She's probably awake now."

"No, you're not." Will crossed his arms and stared him down, using his extra inch height to his advantage. "You're coming with me to the infirmary."

In all his life, Nico had never taken too kindly to people telling him what he could or could not do. He glared at Will. "You don't get to tell me what to do, Will. I'm going back to the cabin."

"No, you're not," Will repeated before smirking. "You promised on the Styx, remember? You have to come to the infirmary."

Nico froze, recalling something about a promise on the sacred river. Will's grin widened before Nico remembered his exact words. "No, I said I would be right back from speaking to Percy. And I did. I never promised anything of that sort on the Styx."

Will's smile disappeared. "But…you already agreed to three days."

He looked so hurt Nico had to glance away. "I never said when," he said, resisting a yawn. He didn't like being awoken this early. "I'll do it later, when the infirmary isn't so busy. Now, let me go back for a nap or breakfast. I might bring Hazel a plate, actually."

"The infirmary isn't too busy now," Will countered. "Most patients are stable now. We'll just be making quite a few house calls. And you can have breakfast there. We keep still have some of the magical plates leftover from last night. They never collected them."

Sitting in a large room with fifty other demigods in worse shape? Staring at him? No, thanks. "Will, I'm fine. I'll come by in a week, don't worry."

Nico turned to walk back when a hand grabbed his wrist, pulling him back. Pain flared, and black spots entered his vision as he let out a strangled gasp, falling to his knees. The hand released its grip, and Nico fought to blink by the tears of pain that blurred his vison. His other hand clenched into a fist, and he nearly punched Will when the demigod placed a hand on his shoulder. "Nico? Nico, are you all right? Darn it, I'm sorry."

The pain felt as if someone was trying to wrench his arm free from his body. Dang werewolves and their claws. "It's not your fault," Nico gasped. "Old injury."

Will narrowed his eyes and gently pulled up the sleeve of Nico's Camp Half-Blood shirt, sucking in a quick breath at the sight. The son of Apollo looked pained as he ran both hands through his hair before pointing accusingly at the claw marks. "How long ago?"

"Will, seriously, I'm fine. It's just taking a while to heal—" Nico began before he was quickly cut off.

"How long ago?" Will repeated, looking murderously angry.

Nico had always thought the other demigod could never even scare a fly, but….Wow. He could be threatening when he felt like it. "A week?"

Will spun on his heel, running his fingers through his blond hair again. Nico was quite sure Will wanted to strangle him, especially when Will began mumbling and cursing about 'that idiot demigod' and how Nico couldn't just 'accept the darned help' and 'swallow his stupid pride for once in his life'. Grunting, Nico got up to his feet shakily, and Will was immediately by his side.

Will wavered, as if wondering if he should offer his help, before straightening his shoulders. "Now you're definitely going to the infirmary. No buts about it. Doctor's orders." He pulled Nico's arm over his shoulders. Nico gasped and immediately drew back, closing his eyes shut tightly. Putting an injured arm on a taller demigod was definitely not good.

Will seemed to come to the same conclusion as well, muttering a curse under his breath before he bit his lip. "Think you can get there on your own?" he asked. "No, wait, or I could sort of bend down or something. Or maybe—"

"I can manage it on my own," Nico cut in, before Will could spout off any other brilliant ideas. The demigod might come up with something like putting Nico in a wheelbarrow from the Demeter cabin if Nico let him continue for much longer.

So Will lingered by his side like an unceasing mother hen, nearly tripping Nico up himself with all his fluttering. Normally, Nico would have snapped by now, chasing Will away. But there was something about that concerned look on Will's face that stopped him. And resurrected the skeletal butterflies in his stomach that he thought he had killed.

Oh, great.


"Will, there's—" Kayla stopped, blinking at Nico. "What's going on here? I thought everyone agreed to play safe for a week!"

"It's an older injury, Kayla," Will answered, positioning himself behind Nico to catch the demigod, should he fall. "And before you ask, it's one before the battle."

Kayla trailed behind them as they entered the Big House, overly curious before she remembered what her original sentence was. "Oh, Will, Austin wanted to ask you something. He's in the west wing. Said it's fairly urgent. Or at least, I think he wants an answer before September or the weather turns cold."

Will hesitated, looking towards the west wing. He ran a hand through his hair. "West wing is the less injured and ICU." He glanced at Nico. "You don't qualify for either of those."

"Who said so?" Nico resisted the urge to cross his arms. "It's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Will echoed incredulously. "They're infected! The fever could hit at any moment! Maybe I should just put you in the Intensive Care Unit. Sure, it's usually for the comas and post-surgery patients, but we don't know how bad the fever will be—"

Nico rolled his eyes, heading towards the east wing by himself. "Bye, Will. I can get there myself. Go ahead to Austin."

"N-Nico! Kayla, make sure he doesn't fall on his face. I'll get back soon."

With a few steps, the female demigod caught up to Nico, easily overtaking him as she led him down the hall. "You a friend of Will's? I haven't seen you before, and Will doesn't usually get that flustered about an injury unless it's a close friend. Or a bad injury."

Friend? Nico wasn't quite sure about Will and him being friends. "You could say we're acquaintances…" he trailed off before continuing. "Might be the injury reason, but they're just werewolf claw marks. Nothing too bad."

Kayla stopped in her tracks. "Werewolf claw marks? No wonder Will is so worried, you fool. We need to get you stable before the infection starts then." She all but pushed him into the closest room. Nico glanced around to see three other occupants on cot beds. "Uh, Kayla? I don't feel too comfortable about staying with other—"

"Oh, suck it up, you big baby." Kayla paid no attention as Nico bristled. "Now, get in here and stay while I go get some supplies."

"Wait, Kayla, I—" Nico was cut off by the door slamming shut. "Dang it." He sighed.