Chapter 10

Alice watched Laura happily give her siblings- Katherine and Dorothy, details of her sword-fighting session with Nico di Angelo. Alice was seated with Percy at the Poseidon table. Percy followed her gaze to the Apollo table and knew that she was worried about her best friend.

"I'm worried about her, too," he said, looking back at his half- sister, before digging into his food.

Alice nodded and took a bite of her apple. Before, when she had scraped a part of her meal into the fire, as a burnt offering to the gods, she had said a silent prayer to Apollo to help her protect his daughter from harm.

Suddenly, Chiron pounded his hooves on the floor and addressed the campers, "It is with regret and a heavy heart that I announce this: Athena has sent us word that camp will be attacked tomorrow by monsters and creatures from the Underworld." A few heads turned toward the Hades table, where Nico di Angelo was seated. Sadly, he lowered his head.

Alice turned to look at Percy with her jaw dropped open. He nodded reluctantly, before popping a grape into his mouth. Alice felt as if someone had pierced her heart. Nothing was taking a happy turn. If there's going to be an attack on camp, then a drakon is sure to be present to make things worse, she realized. And if the drakon really does attack...

She tried to swat away the thought, which kept occurring in her mind and didn't seem to go away. Alice looked at Nico, who was staring blankly at something in the woods. She took another bite of her apple and glanced at Annabeth, who was telling her siblings details of her dream last night. Finnally, she turned to look at Laura, who was hit the most with the shocking news. Even in the distance, Alice could see that Laura had gone pale. Her eyes were wide open and it looked like somebody had already impaled a hot sword in her chest.

Laura felt like somebody had stabbed a burning- hot sword in her stomach. She couldn't digest what she had just heard. Her whole world came crashing down at an instant. She realized that the Fates were being cruel to her and to Camp Half- Blood as well.

Glancing around, her eyes met Nico's. For a moment, her heart stopped beating, and then continued again. His eyes reflected intense pain and helplessness, as he dropped his eyelids and looked away. Everybody was speaking in hushed tones, she noticed. Laura didn't feel like having dinner, but something at the back of her mind told her that she needed energy for the upcoming battle, if she wanted to survive the drakon, and not die an early death.

After having dinner, she ran to her cabin, grabbed her sword and bow and arrows, and ran towards the sword-fighting arena. There, she tried aiming at the tiniest of targets, and finally switched over to sword- fighting. She slashed and jabbed at invisible monsters as she practiced the moves which Nico had taught her earlier in the day.

Suddenly, a twig twitched behind her. Laura turned and searched the darkness for any sign of movement, but everything looked unmoved and dead. Sensing no sign of danger, she decided to get back to practice. She slashed at the air and turned to face the opposite direction, to kill an invisible monster.

Instantly, the figure behind her ducked and groaned, and at once, she recognized the voice. That voice...

"Relax, Laura," Nico said, coming up. "It's me."

Laura heaved a sigh of relief. He was the last person she would want to kill. If it wasn't for his quick reflexes, she would have chopped his head off!

"Oh my Gods, Nico!" she said. "I'm so damn sorry... Are you hurt?" She scanned his face for any cuts or any sign of hurts, but found nothing. His face was perfectly fine... and handsome, as usual, she thought.

"No, I'm perfectly fine," he said, sheepishly. "But, what are you doing here?" he said, looking around at the darkness, and then at her face.

"Uh... I- Nothing. I was just practicing those moves that you had taught me earlier this morning," she said, looking down at the grass.

Nico knew that she was worried about the next day's battle, but was trying to hide it, which she was very bad at doing.

Laura sank to the grass. She was dog- tired after everything that day. Nico sat down beside her, fiddling with his sword. They sat in silence for a few minutes until he said, "You're worried about tomorrow's attack, aren't you?"He knew it was a stupid question to ask when he knew what she was thinking, while he was doing the same.

There was silence before she answered, "Yes, Nico. I have a feeling that my end is near. I think it's my bad luck. Maybe, my life was meant to be short."

Nico was stunned at her words. She had already given up, and knew that she was doomed. He was surprised at what he did next. He moved closer to her and put a strong arm around her shoulder. He leaned in and put his mouth close to her ear and said, "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise." He had made up his mind to protect and fight for her, under any circumstances.

Laura was surprise when she heard those words. He was willing to do anything to protect her, she realized. Instantly, she buried her face in his chest, and silently heard his heartbeats. She chuckled at the sudden change in them. They were slow at first, gradually beating faster and faster as she pulled him closer. Her eyelids began to close, as they became heavier. Within three minutes, she fell asleep.

Nico waited for nearly fifteen minutes, with Laura's head to his chest. Finally, he tilted her face, only to find her asleep. He smiled to himself and carried her in his arms, which wasn't hard. He wished he could hold her like that throughout the night, but he, too was tired. If it wasn't for his tiredness, he would have even stayed up all night and watched her sleep. She looked like an angel- peaceful and beautiful, even in her sleep.

Nico shadow- travelled them both outside the Apollo cabin and slowly turned the doorknob and quietly stepped inside.

Tonight, the Apollo cabin didn't seem like itself. The demigods in there were all checking their armour and weapons to see if they were in good condition. Will Solace, Katherine and Kirk were seated on a bed and re- filling their First- Aid boxes.

When Apollo's kids saw Nico in the doorway, they gasped. Their eyes shifted from Nico's to the body of their sister in his arms.

Before their thoughts could take dark turn, he quickly lied, "Actually, I found her asleep in the sword- fighting arena, so..."

"Oh my Gods!" Dorothy said, getting up from the corner of the room and walking up to him. "Is she fine, Nico?" she said as she eyed him.

"Yeah, she's just tired," he replied. "Where shall I put her to sleep?" he asked.

"Right there- the third bunker bed, the lower one," she said as she pointed towards an empty bed.

"Okay, thanks," Nico said, smiling and headed towards Laura's bed.

He laid her down and placed her weapons, which she had carried with her, beside her bed. He wished he could kiss her on her cheek, but everybody in the room was still watching him in stunned silence. Of course, who would not be terrified when the Son of Hades enters your cabin in the night, with your sleeping sister in his arms? He thought.

He gave her one last loving look for the day and mentally said to her- Goodnight, my princess. Having said that, he quickly strode towards the door. Just as he was about to close the door behind him, Will Solace stood up smiling and said, "Thanks, Nico."

"No problem," he smiled back and said, closing the door behind him.

Nico entered his cabin, hit the showers and changed into his night clothes. Just as he was about to go to bed, he saw a shimmering form against the wall opposite his bed. The girl's ghost smiled at him. "Hello, brother," she said.

"Bianca," he smiled and sat up, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.

"I'm sorry to have come when you're so tired, but you were busy throughout the day. Never alone," she said, and quickly added, "Anyways, I won't take much of your time. I've come to tell you something." She came and stood near the bed, her ghost floating in the air.

"What is it?" he frowned and asked his sister.

"Nico, I see that you've fallen for this beautiful daughter of Apollo," she paused and watched as her little brother's cheeks turned pink. "If you really care about her- which I know you do, protect her and be there for her. She really feels the same for you. Don't leave her side tomorrow, as your dream would partially be coming true. You have promised to take care of her, and so should you stick to it," she said, reaching out to touch his cheek.

"What do you mean by 'partially be coming true'?" he demanded, eyeing his sister. As soon as Bianca had said that, his expression had changed to horror and fear.

"I meant, you can still change your dream," she replied. As Nico opened his mouth to speak, she quickly said, "Goodnight, Nico. Take care of your loved ones as well as yourself." Saying that, she smiled and vanished into thin air.

Nico began to have little hope, when his sister's ghost had told him that he could still change his dream. The last thing he remembered was that he put his head on his pillow and fell asleep immediately.