Hi guys :)

Sorry for not updating in a while, but I sprained my thumb and it hurt to write. So after forcing myself through five sentences I gave up. Today I returned to it because now I'm sick and can't go to school and the thumb is better. I was in a writing mood and wrote and wrote and wrote and now I'm nearly finished with chapter 23. So expect the next updates a bit earlier. Also, I don't know why, I changed the course where this is going. In the middle of this chapter my ideas just changed, so be ready for a bit of a surprise.

To the reviews:

awkward potato: Not that much longer. I plan for it not to get longer than 30 chaps, but I also originally planned for it to only have 15 chaps, then 20 and you see how that worked out... PS: I feel stupid but, what are gombles?

Awkward tomato: when I first read it I was like WHAT? but now I'm actually really happy. It's always hard to make OC likeable. Most of the time I don't like OCs and I was nervous about them because I feared they wouldn't be good but I'm so glad that you like them. Also, I'm kinda scared about the 'fic taking over your life' thing. I don't want to be responsible for anything or stuff, so be careful with that okay?

The rest: Thanks for the nice reviews :)

I hope you like this chapter

PS: I love Nico/Clovis friendship...why isn't there more of it?

Chapter 21

"So, what you are telling me is, that you hid in a closet from Coach Feroll and then some boy went up to you and kissed you?", Will asked. He looked aghast.

Nico fiddled with his fingers. "Sorry", he muttered.

"Why do you think that's your fault?", Will now sounded confused.

That was actually a really good question, so Nico shrugged in response. It was silent for a while.

"Who was it?", Will asked.

"Why do you want to know?", Nico wondered.

"So that I can beat him up. Nobody kisses my boyfriend against his will and gets away with it"

Now Will looked downright scary. He had a wild gleam in his eyes and his mouth set into a snarl.

"You want to beat someone up? You?", Nico asked.

Will nodded.

"I think I know, who it was", Gina piped up. "He had black hair and watery blue eyes, right?"

Nico was surprised. "Yeah"

Gina nodded.

"That's Cole Creepman", she told them.

Will and Nico looked at her confused. What kind of name was that? Gina obviously noticed that.

"Okay, that's not his real name. His name is Cole Lampman, but we call him that because he's a creep", she explained. "He stalked some girl two years ago and supposedly sexually assaulted someone else. They never found evidence against him, so they let him go. A mistake if you ask me. Some girls said, that he spied on them in the changing room once. One boy complained about getting stares from him. But he's some relative of the headmaster and so can't get expelled"

Will stared at her in shock.

"That's horrible! I'm definitely going to beat him up", he exclaimed.

"Calm down, Will.", Nico muttered.

"No! I'm not. This is not acceptable. That guy can't do stuff like that and not face punishment!"

Nico laid a hand on Will's knee to calm him down. He had never seen his boyfriend so furious. Gina was biting her lip, deep in thought.

"Monsieur Nico, Monsieur Will, your guest is waking up", sounded the voice of Jules-Albert and interrupted the silence.

Gina screamed and hid behind Will, her eyes darting through the room until they landed on the talking skull. She screamed again, grabbed the nearest weapon, which was a book, and threw it.

"Mademoiselle Gina, please refrain from throwing books."

"What is that?", Gina asked, looking horrified.

"That's Jules-Albert", Nico said. He waved at the skull. "How's it going, Jules?"

Jules-Albert looked annoyed again. Will cocked his head to the side.

"This is so weird", he muttered.

A groan sounded from Jonathan. Everyone turned to look at him. The boy was sitting up slowly, grabbing his head.

"Where am I?", he asked.

"Our living room", Will explained.

"But, why?"

"Because the police would have arrested you if we didn't bring you here.", Will told him. He got up and pulled Jonathan from the couch. "And now you are going"

"Wait! I have questions", Jonathan said.

Will looked at Nico, who shrugged.

"Ugh, fine"

"What is your sword made of? I have never seen one like it before"

"Definitely not wood", was all Nico gave as an answer. J

onathan blushed a bit, but looked like he waited for more. After neither of the two demigods explained further, he nodded.

"Who are you? What are your names?", he asked.

Will looked annoyed. "That's none of your concern. Now, go!"

He grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him out of the door. Jonathan stumbled, but managed to hold onto the door frame, just as Will slammed the door shut.

"OW!", could be heard and the door swung open again.

Jonathan fell to his knees and hugged his fingers to his chest. Tears trickled out of his eyes. Will's eyes widened and he crouched down in front of the other boy.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you", he said. "Can I?"

Will motioned to the injured hand and Jonathan slowly showed it to him.

"What's he doing?", asked Gina silently, making Nico jumps slightly. He scowled at her for sneaking up on him.

"It hurts!", yelled Jonathan, now definitely crying.

Will seemingly flinched and looked at the other two helplessly.

"I'm a horrible person", he told them.

Nico rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"You just caught your fingers in the door. That's not the end of the world", he snapped at Jonathan.

The boy looked a bit taken aback. "But...but..."

"Oh shut up you little cry baby", Gina yelled. "Say sorry to Will and go!"

"But...why? Why should I say sorry? He hurt me!", Jonathan countered, furiously wiping away the tears.

Will looked miserable.

"Because you make him feel bad! I hate to see him sad!", Gina yelled back. She clamped her hands over her mouth and blushed.

"Did I really just said that?", she muttered to herself.

"Yeah", Nico told her.

Gina now resembled a tomato and Nico had to suppress a laugh.

"I will...bring him to the door", she mumbled and ran off towards Jonathan. She pulled him to his feet and pushed him out the door.

"See you tomorrow", she waved awkwardly, before racing down the hallway. The door slammed shut after her.

"I feel so bad", Will said and sat down fully.

"For what? That was an accident", Nico said. He was still sitting in the same spot as before.

"But I hurt him! I'm not supposed to do that. I'm a healer, Nico, I make sure that people aren't hurting.", Will said.

Nico didn't know what to say to make him feel better. He had never been in a situation like this before. He considered going over to Will, but that would mean moving and Nico was sore all over. And the ceiling had started spinning again during Gina's and Jonathan's argument. He doubted he would get far without passing out and that wouldn't help Will at all. Maybe they could IM some of the others? That would take Will's mind off things and Nico wanted to talk to Jason anyway. He hadn't spoken to him in a few days.

"That's a good idea", Will said.

Nico's head snapped up to look at him, resulting in some dark spots dancing through his vision.

"What?", he asked.

"Your idea. With the IM?", Will answered. He was sounding concerned.

"Wait, did I say that out loud?", Nico asked. He noticed, that his voice was a bit unstable. What was going on?

"Yeah...are you feeling alright?"

Nico nodded. Bad idea. Now everything was spinning and the dark spots were back. Nico squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that it would stop soon.

"Nico!", Will's voice was coming from directly in front of him. Or was it next to him? Gods, his senses were fucked up right now.

Someone, probably Will, was touching his head.

"Too much blood loss...when did it start bleeding again?", Will muttered. "Can you stand up? We have to get you somewhere to lay down"

Nico blinked his eyes open and tried to focus on his boyfriend. Standing up didn't sound so hard. Pushing himself up with one hand, he slowly got to his feet, Will holding onto his shoulder the whole time. The room was spinning even more now and everything was either blurred or dark.

"I think I'm gonna pass out", Nico muttered.

"Oh no, you don'!", Will snapped.

Nico didn't listen to him. It was easier to let himself fall into the darkness than concentrating on staying awake.

Nico found himself in the living room of some small one story house. It was painted a light green, with a wand tattoo of some bamboos behind the white couch. There was also a fluffy white carpet, a TV and a glass table. On the couch were even fluffier green cushions. Nico wondered what he was doing there.

He had never seen that room before in his life, so how come he dreamed of it. It had to be a dream, the alternative would be an accidental shadow-travel trip. But then he wouldn't be feeling this good. Looking down at his arms, he noticed that the cuts from earlier were all gone.

A sound was coming from the doorway. Nico whirled around, just to come face-to-face with a sleepwalking Clovis. The son of Hades sighed. Clovis was at the other end of the country and he still managed to dream so hard, that he pulled Nico towards him. It was a wonder, that no-one else was here.

He reached out and snapped his fingers next to Clovis's ear. The other demigod was startled awake and blinked up at Nico.

"What a surprise", he said, clearly not surprised.

"Clovis, can't you stay awake for a few hours?", Nico asked.

"I'm awake now"

"No, you aren't. You're still sleeping."

Clovis looked around, his eyes getting fixed on the couch.

"Yeah", he sighed dreamily. "Sleeping is great"

He took two steps forwards and let himself fall on the couch, burying his face in the pillows. Nico groaned. Clovis lifted his head slightly.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Not really...how's it going?", he asked.

"The usual. Got ten detentions already for falling asleep in class. It's not my problem it is so boring", Clovis told him.

Nico nodded and an awkward silence stretched between them. Sure, they were friends, somewhat, but Nico never knew what to talk about with the son of Hypnos. Normally, Nico would just busy himself until he woke up or Clovis would show him scenes from a councilor's meeting he had missed. But there wasn't anything to do in this room. It's not like the Hypnos-Cabin, where a bunch of books were laying around. Some daughter of Athena had dragged them into there after landing there for a few times. Everyone stopping by in Clovis's dreams read them now.

Suddenly Clovis's head snapped up.

"How long do you plan on staying?", he asked.

Nico shrugged. "Dunno, I passed out."

"Monster attacks?", Clovis asked.

"Yeah. You got some, too?"

Clovis nodded and sat up. He looked more awake than in the last five years they had known each other.

"Leo called us and told us not to use our powers. But it's hard, you know? My 'powers' are sleeping and I do that all the time.", Clovis sighed. "Pollux makes every fruit tree bloom he is walking by, so that's not helping either."

"I know what you mean.", Nico said and sat down on the carpet. (It was indeed very fluffy) "My powers are in constant use, too, and with the monster attacks Will has a lot of heeling to do."

"I wonder who they tested these balls on...that person apparently didn't have a special talent", Clovis mused. "Maybe a Hermes kid?"

Nico shook his head. "They got talents, too, you know. Every demigod has them."

Clovis nodded, deep in thought.

"You wanna watch TV?", he suddenly asked, startling Nico.

The son of Hades had assumed, that Clovis was asleep again. He shrugged. Clovis grabbed a remote and switched on the TV.

"Can you even do that in your dreams?", Nico asked. Clovis gave him a look that said I'm the son of the god of sleep, I can do whatever I want while sleeping.

Nico focused on the screen, where the news were currently playing. Something about someone winning in the lottery. Nico wanted to ask Clovis to go to another channel, when something more interesting came up.

"And now a more serious matter", the newswoman said. "An attack on a mall in downtown Chicago shocked the city. Today, at four pm a group of mostly unknown teenagers entered the mall. A few minutes later the building shook and the attack started. An explosion on one of the upper floors, caused by the teenagers, according to witnesses, thankfully harmed no-one. The explosion resulted in a fight with three members of a near-by gang and their dogs. When the police arrived, the teenagers fled the scene, the three men weren't found. According to witnesses they were killed by the teenagers, though their remains aren't found yet. With that, I give to Henry Marks, who is live in Chicago"

The screen was now split, the left side showed a small man, who was fiddling with his microphone.

"Let me guess. That is the reason you passed out?", Clovis said.

Nico could only nod. This was bad. This was so so bad. If these 'witnesses' had seen them, they could get into serious trouble.

"What kind of monster was it?", Clovis asked.

"Hellhounds. Four of them actually", Nico answered.

He focused back on the TV.

"How many casualties, are there?", asked the woman.

"Only four. Apparently it was four different men, who were attacked. One of them died an explosion in a fast-food restaurant on one of the upper floors. The other three were later killed by the four teenagers. The police doesn't know yet, why only them and why in such a public space. There are, however, fifteen injured persons, but none of them heavily.", the man replied.

In the background police lights were blinking and people were running around. It was already dark.

Dread settled into Nico's stomach. Fifteen people were harmed because of them. And they thought that they killed four others. If they ever found out, who they were, Gina was in so much trouble. Will and Nico could just go back to Camp, but Gina? They should have told her to run away.

"Are there any suspects?", asked the woman.

The man nodded. Nico just felt worse.

"We are speaking of four white teenagers, about 14 to 16 years old. Three of them are male. The female is already identified"

"WHAT?", Nico burst out.

Clovis send him a concerned look.

A picture of Gina's student ID showed up. Thankfully, her hair was brown in the picture.

"Her name is Gina Spacey, a 16 year old girl from Chicago. If anybody sees her, or knows where to find her, call the police."

"Thank you, Henry", the newswoman said. "More news and updates to this topic you can find on-"

The TV went out.

"Nico? Do you know her?", Clovis asked.

Nico nodded and turned towards Clovis. "I need to wake up now!"

"You know I can't do that...I wish I could help you right now...", Clovis looked sincere.

"Then you wake up and give Will a call. Tell him what's up and to wake me up! And tell him to find Gina as fast as possible!", Nico told him. "You can do that!"

Clovis nodded and scrambled out of the room.

A few seconds later, the dream collapsed and the next thing Nico knew, he was standing in the Underworld, a cliff in front of him. The son of Hades couldn't care less about this nightmare right now, there were more serious problems.

He closed his eyes and willed himself to wake up. Only problem, it didn't work. It never did. Now the pit started to call him in, which didn't go well with Nico's concentration. Thankfully, before he could fall, someone shook his shoulder.

Nico's eyes snapped open. He was laying on the couch, Will was standing above him, a panicked expression on his face.

"Clovis told me everything and I switched on the news. That's horrible!", he explained himself.

Nico nodded. His real self didn't feel as good as his dream self, but he would have to manage.

"Did you reach Gina?", he asked.

Will shook his head. "But Hazel called and asked us if we were okay. Apparently she watched the news, too."

"And?"

"I told her everything. She's booking a train ticket to New York for us and has contacted Lou Ellen. Now we only need to find Gina and we're off and Hazel wants to make sure Gina gets off the suspect list", Will rattled off.

He pulled Nico into a sitting position and gave him a piece of Ambrosia.

"You get better now, I can't have you passing out again"

Nico shoved the Ambrosia in his mouth, ignoring the fantastic taste. Now that he knew what it was, it tasted even better.

He wanted to ask, what they were going to do next, when somebody pounded on their door. The two demigods traded a glance.

"Gina?", asked Will.

Nico shrugged. Will went over to the door and pulled it open. In front of it stood a heavily-breathing Paul.

"Paul?", Will asked confused.

"What are you doing here?"

Paul looked between the two of them.

"Please tell me you aren't some psychotic kids who go around and attack someone.", he said. "Please tell me you have never killed anyone"

Nico grimaced, while Will scratched his neck nervously.

"We...can explain?"

Paul's shoulders deflated and he now looked tired.

"You better have a good explanation as to why I have murder suspects as friends or I'm forced to call the cops on you"