I liked writing this chapter. Enjoy.
Damn, the glitch happened again. I don't know what's wrong. I hope it's better now.
Chapter 14:
Will bites his lip, suppressing a laugh, and I jab him with my elbow. "Why are you laughing?" I give him one of my death stares and he reluctantly stops.
"Come on, it's funny," he snuggles my arm. "Nothing happened, but they all imagined things. Lighten up."
The camp has settled somewhat, and gone back to what they were doing. I get some funny looks and winks, as we walk toward the Seven.
"So did we win?" Will asks Annabeth, who's telling Percy a joke in his ear. Hazel looks at us and shakes her her head.
"When you guys abandoned me, I was pretty defenseless, so once they broke out of my Mist trap, they just marched to the flag and took it." Will makes an oops face and shrugs. "What were you two doing when you left?"
Hazel smiles, as if she already knows, and the Seven turn to hear the answer. Will doesn't answer, so I take it upon myself to fill them in. "Well, while I was fighting Jason, he cut through my belt and part of my pants." I raise my tattered belt and show them the cut belt. Realization dawned on all of them and they all smile. "And Will was just messing with me and pants-ed me when we came into view."
We all share a laugh, with Will blushing and the Seven then disperse to help out the wounded. Will goes to look over the infirmary, which I don't want to do, so I stay with Hazel, catching up with her.
"How was the rest of the journey, without me? Tell me everything," I prompt her and genuinely want to know. After being with the whole crew of the Argo II, I have gotten somewhat attached to everyone, which is so unlike me.
So she starts retelling what happened from the moment I left with Reyna, up until the moment they were catapulted to camp.
By the time she's done recounting everything, it's time to sleep, so we part ways and I call it a night.
The next morning, I wake up to a soft tapping on my cabin's door. It's pushed open and Will's voice whispers through the slit he made. "Nico, wake up."
I groan and get up. "What the Hades are you doing here? It isn't even five in the morning," I check the clock on the wall and glare at him. He's all prepared for the day, in the stupid Camp Half-Blood and a bow in his hand.
"We're going to get you your sword. Now come on, we don't have a lot of time," Will walks in and rips the covers off my bed.
I panic, remembering I only sleep in underwear, and try to cover myself up. "Hey!" I yelp and grab the sheets to cover myself.
"You're still thin," he muses and pokes my exposed ribs. "Are you ever going to be comfortable around me? I'm your boyfriend, not a stranger."
I get up with a huff and drop my sheets. Quickly, I grab my clothes and put them on. I instinctively reach for my sword, but it takes me a moment to remember I don't have one anymore.
"Take this," Will pulls a sword from behind him and gives it to me. It's a typical Celestial Bronze sword, but nothing like mine.
"Why do I need this? Can't we just Shadow-."
"I don't think so, Angel Boy," Will chides. "You're still on probation. No major Underworld-ly stuff for a while."
I move to protest, but he hugs me and our lips meet. My anger dissipates as our lips grind together. Will bites my lower lip as we kiss, and I blush a dark shade of red, and keep kissing him.
We twist out of our intimate embrace, but stay leaning on his shoulders. "I love you," I whisper and listen to Will's heartbeat. "But you can be s stubborn sometimes."
"Love you too," he brings my head to his and pecks me on the mouth. "I assume you can get Jules-Albert to drive us?"
"Why can't I just Shadow Travel us there? It will take us no time to get there if I do," I complain as we walk into the morning air.
"Because I said so. No Underworld-ly stuff for a while," Will leads me to Thalia's tree, where Argus is waiting for us.
"Did you ask Chiron if we could go?" I ask, trying to keep up with his long stride.
"Yeah, don't worry. As long as we're back by nighttime, we should be good," he reassures me and thanks Argus.
We get into the black car with Jules-Albert in the front. "Hello Jules. How you doing?" I ask him in Italian since he doesn't understand English very well, and Italian is closer to French.
He responds in the clicking skeleton language and I nod. "Can you take us to the Underworld entrance in Central Park, please?"
He nods back as a response and I lean back next to Will. "So polite," he notices. I roll my eyes and lean on his shoulder.
"Well I mean his whole existence is to drive me around, so I feel kinda obliged to be nice," I respond defensively. "He's really nice."
Will rests his hand on my leg and we start talking about mindless things. I talk about being on the Argo II, and he talks about preparing for battling the Romans. I warn him of things to look out for in the Underworld like Cerberus, the skeleton guards and most of all, my dad. If I knew we were going to the Underworld, I would have prayed to my father to not run into us. I haven't talked to him in ages, and it would be even more awkward if Will is with me.
Before I know it, I say goodbye to Jules-Albert and walk into Central Park, hand in hand with Will. His bow is packed into a golf bag, and I tuck my sword into my pants.
A few early-morning joggers pass by, and a few men in suits stroll by, but besides that, Central Park is deserted. "How'd you know there was an entrance in Central Park?"
He shrugs. "I just asked Chiron." I lead him off the normal path, over a fence, and onto the dewy grass. We pass a few trees and finally make it to a secluded corner of the park.
I turn around to see if we're pursued, and my heart skips a beat. "Uh, Will?" I stop and pull him around.
It takes him a moment to realize what's chasing us, but when he does, he gasps.
"Apollo's ass, we're screwed."
One of the guys in a suit has followed us off the trail and has started morphing in front of our eyes. The suit rips as his torso and legs grow, a spiky tail grows from his back side.
The man's face stays the same, and that's when I know what it is. "Gods damned manticore." I whisper and think about the first time I saw a manticore.
It was years ago, it was actually the first monster I saw, and my sister was there. Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth were there to save us, and I mostly remember being very confused.
The manticore's purrs rip me back from that memory and I analyze the situation. Will lets loose a couple of arrows, but they bounce harmlessly off the manticore's coat. It drops onto its four legs and poises the scorpion tail to shoot. "Watch out!" I shout and prepare to jump out of the way.
The manticore hisses and lets loose a few sharp projectiles. With my sword in hand, I roll forward and sneak closer to him.
Will shoots two projectiles out of the air, and a third whizzes by, scraping his leg. I hear him take a sharp breath and almost stop to help him. But I keep going, determined to take this manticore out.
The Celestial Bronze sword in my hand feels too heavy, but it's the best I have. I feign to his legs, wanting to get a clear shot of his mouth, the only vulnerable spot on his body, since his fur is pretty much impenetrable.
The manticore falls for the bait and rears on its hind legs. I jab at the exposed mouth, but I don't take into account my heavy blade and it misses, the sword harmlessly bounces off his face.
He lets out a guttural laugh and swipes at me. I block it with my uncomfortable blade and grunt at the impact. A red dot appears on the manticore, and I know it's from Will's bow. I know he needs a clear shot at the manticore's mouth, so I keep its attention.
I slash again at its muzzle, but it's easily blocked. I lose my balance and in that split second of unbalance, the manticore pounces.
He claws at me, but I scramble backwards, feeling the whoosh of his claws centimeters from my skin. His hind legs tense and I know he's going to pounce again.
"Move!" Will warns me, and I know what happened: he found an opening.
I throw my sword at the manticore, knowing well that it won't do anything, but it distracts him for a second. That second saves me because I run backwards, away from him.
Will's red dot lines up with the manticore's mouth just as he pounces on me and he lets his arrow loose. The quarrel connects with the manticore as they're both in flight, the arrow exploding on contact.
The shockwave and heat him me a moment later, searing my arms and tearing up my eyes. I stumble and fall to the ground, seeing all that's left of the manticore is a pile of yellow dust and some scorched grass.