Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own the PJ or HoO series by Rick Riodan.

I sit up in the bed, a little sweaty and my back aching. I look around the Hades cabin. It was pitch black with an exception of the small sliver of moonlight peeking through the gap in the curtains. Nico was beside me, sleeping like a baby. His black hair was tousled and he had a peaceful look on his face.

I glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand and see that it's three o'clock in the morning. I lay back down, burrowing inside the blankets and close to Nico's warm body. It was cold in the cabin, but that wasn't out of the ordinary. It was usually a bit chilly in here.

He turns over and wraps an arm around me, mumbling something about pancakes and daisies. Gods knew what he was dreaming about.

I think about the dreams I had just had. Callie had obviously meant business when she was talking to herself in the first dream.

The second one was just unsettling. I hadn't seen my mom like she was in those memories in a long time. I always wondered how in the world she was able to take care of a nine year old boy and a newborn at the same time. Great talent and strength, I guess.

And I wish I would stop having the damn burning house dream. I'm getting so sick of being forced to watch my mom burn to death. I find it weird that almost every time I have the dream, a little more gets added to the end of it, almost as if it's not quite finished each time I have it.

I sigh, trying to clear my head of it's million thoughts, and bury my face into Nico's bare chest and lay there. I think about going back to sleep but I don't want to if I'm just going to be awoken again by a nightmare. So, I just lay there, in the protection of his arms and the blankets.

The first rays of sunlight were filtering through the crack in the black-out curtains. I could hear the early morning sounds of camp. The pegasi fluttering their wings and neighing, the slight splashing sound as various fish popped up from beneath the lake.

Nico stirs but doesn't wake. Instead of the peaceful look he had had on his face earlier this morning, it was now looking a bit worried. There were creases etched in his forehead and beads of sweat were glistening on his body.

He tossed and turned a few times, mumbling words I couldn't understand. Finally though, I made out "must save" and "her". I had no idea whether "her" was me or Bianca or someone else.

After watching him feverishly toss and turn for a few minutes, I decide to wake him up. I start shaking his shoulder. He gasps and his eyes fly open. He lays on his back, stiff, as if he's paralyzed. His eyes dart around the room and they finally land on me.

He makes a choked sound in the back of his throat and sits up, facing me. He leans forward and wraps his arms around me, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

Now wasn't the time to ask about his dream so I just wrap my arms around him and sit there for a few minutes. He was breathing hard, like he had just run a long distance, and I could feel his heart racing.

"You're okay. You're okay." he breathes.

I ran my fingers through his disheveled hair and said, "I'm okay, Nico. It was just a dream."

"I-I had thought I had lost you." he chokes out.

"You want to tell me about it?" I ask, softly.

He pulls away and looks at me. He was still sweaty and looking a bit worried. His hands were visibly shaking. It made me wonder what horrible thing happened in his dream that had him this torn up. Usually even when the worst possible thing happens, he covers up his emotions because he doesn't want even me to see how freaked out he actually is.

He takes a deep breath, steadying himself a little.

"I was in your house and it was on fire." he says.

My heart skips a beat but I remain calm on the outside. I patiently wait for him to continue.

"I was walking down the hall, trying to find you. I heard screaming from your mom's room. So I started running towards it. When I walked in, you were on your knees, sobbing, and staring at the bed. It was consumed in flames. I tried to run over to you but it was like I was running in place." he says. He looked mournful.

"It was just like the dream you've been having." he says.

"It sounds like it. What's weird is, I had the dream again last night." I say.

"You did?" he asks, a curious glint in his dark eyes.

I nod and he goes on, picking up where he left off.

"Well, just as I was starting to be able to move towards you, Callie came out of nowhere. I tried to scream at you, telling you to run. But I had gone mute." he says, looking as if he hated himself for saying the next part.

"She had a dagger in her hand, your dagger. I don't know how she got it. She came up behind you and plunged it into your back. You were screaming so loudly. I wanted to do something. Help you, kill Callie. But I couldn't do anything. It was almost like I was watching a movie, helpless as my favorite character died right before my eyes." he says quietly, looking down at his hands.

I felt lightheaded now. Did this mean that this was actually going to happen or did the dream symbolize something else?

"She just kept on stabbing you in the back. She had this maniac grin on her face, like she was enjoying every damned minute of it. Her body was covered in ashes and your blood." he whispers.

"Nico." I breathe.

"I know." he groans, resting his forehead in his hands.

"Let's just look at it as a bad dream for right now. You said yourself that sometimes dreams are just dreams." I say, trying to calm, not only myself but, Nico.

"But what if it's not?" he asks, getting off the bed.

"I'm saying that that's all it is right now. Nothing has actually happened yet." I say.

He sighs, obviously not sold on the idea. He looks at me, his dark eyes looking right into mine. Whenever he looked at me like this, I felt like he was reading my every thought and emotion.

"C'mon. You need to get ready and out of here before everyone else wakes up." he says, tossing me my clothes from yesterday.

I sigh. "Alright, alright." I moan, sliding off the bed and heading towards the bathroom.

A/N:

Yes, yes. I know. Nico was a tad OOC in the beginning, but after having a dream like that, who wouldn't be? The way I see it, we've never really seen a side like this to Nico. A lot of people see him as this tough, badass guy who shows no feelings to anyone. But if you think about it, he can't keep all those feelings just locked up inside forever. That would drive a person insane. So if you don't like the slightly emotional Nico I showed in this chapter, you can kiss my ass. On the other hand, if you did like this chapter, I'm overjoyed!

Okay, that little rant is over.

On another note, if you're a guest on this site and you leave a review in a story, asking a question, know that the author CAN'T answer guest reviews. Authors can only answer reviews if it's left by a person with an account. I encourage all you guests to get an account, that way we authors can answer all your burning questions about the story or simply thank you guys for reviewing our stories. It's free and doesn't take that long. So if you've left a review as a guest, don't get all offended if it isn't answered. The author is not personally ignoring you or being an asshole. They just can't reply to it.

Oh yea. I forgot.. SURPRISE UPDATE! I bet you guys just love me for all these updates! I actually finished writing this story last night and I was soooooooo happy! 40 chapters in all! It's the longest story I've ever written and I am so proud of myself! I can start working on the next part to this little series. I went ahead and wrote the first chapter of it last night and I have a couple of pieces of chapters that I don't know where to put yet... In case you're wondering (and I'm sure you are) the next one is called "Salvation".

Back to this chapter though, what do you guys think it means that Nico had the burning house dream?

I'll talk to you guys again tomorrow!

XOXO,

Mrs-diAngelo25