Nico scuffed at a spot on the floor with his boot and wondered where it had come from, when was the last time someone noticed it, when this room had been stepped in last. It was a castle, after all. An old one, older than even the idea of America.

"Even if I believed you, what am I supposed to do about it?" Malfoy asked.

Nico looked up from the floor at the first sound in a good ten minutes. Malfoy had been silent, red-faced, thinking. Now he stared at Nico in acceptance.

"You have options." Nico reached into the shadows and grabbed his sword, pulling it out. "This is how I protect myself. You're going to need one and you're going to have to learn how to use it."

Malfoy jumped at the show of powers before scowling. "A wand will work perfectly fine. Swords are in the use of savages, mudbloods,-"

"Wands don't work against Greek or Roman monsters," Nico replied. "Don't you think I would if they could? They're so much easier to carry and hide. But you're going to need a sword or knife or something. Or you're going to die."

"I've been just fine-"

"Once you're aware of what you are, the monsters are going to come for you. It's just what happens."

"Well, isn't that convenient," Malfoy drawled. "It completely makes sense."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Whether you believe or not, it's just how it's going to go. But you're different that other demigods. You, me, and Dominic are the only three wizard-demigods. Well, so I think. That one girl from our first year here was a little suspicious. But all children of Hecate are."

She's one of my least favorites, Hecate defended.

Thanks for finally speaking to me.

"Hecate, that's...?"

"The goddess of magic."

Malfoy scoffed. "A goddess of magic. I'm having a serious conversation with a Weasley about a goddess of magic."

"You can stop saying my name like that now."

"You aren't even a Weasley by blood, why are you so loyal to them?" Malfoy asked.

Loyal. Nico accepted his new fatal flaw. It was something good to die for.

"They're my family, they raised me, and if it came down to it, I'd kill or die for them."

Nico laid on Will's bed and scowled down at his homework. Nothing in his brain wanted to focus on the paper or the quill in his hand. All he could think about was Malfoy and Voldemort and the tournament.

Do you know who his godly parent is? he asked.

Hecate still didn't answer. He didn't know what godly problems kept her attention away from him, but it was pretty damn infuriating since this was her quest, after all.

And he couldn't think of a damn thing to write for the damn paper.

"Whatcha doing?" Will asked, plopping down beside him and looking at the paper over his shoulder. "Ew, homework."

Nico rolled his eyes. "It's necessary. But I have more important things on my mind."

"Like Voldemort?"

Nico nodded. "And Malfoy."

Will played with the feathers on Nico's quill. "Are you ever not thinking about Voldemort?"

"Nope," he sighed. "You tend not to forget about life-threatening things."

"But Malfoy's not life threatening."

"Malfoy is..." Nico waved the quill. "I don't know how to describe it. He's...he's me."

Will raised an eyebrow.

"No, listen," Nico ordered. "He has the father everyone thinks is evil. He's being tempted to join the dark side. Remember how Kronos wanted me? It's the same thing but even worse. It's coming from his own father. I guess...I guess I want to save him."

"Do you think you can?"

Nico shrugged. "But I'm going to try. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't."

"But you also have Voldemort on your hands," Will stressed. "You have a lot on your plate. You need to delegate."

"How? You want to deal with Voldemort? Get your own mark?"

"You know that's not what I mean."

"Then what did you mean?"

Will stared into his eyes, those blue irises not melting with love but cold with a challenge. They seemed to always be challenging each other nowadays.

Where would they end up, even if everything turned out okay? Will's family and friends were in America. His school, his life was in America. And now Nico's family was in England. His first ever family. They loved him despite him being a son of Hades. They raised him.

He had a mother and father.

He'd never let that go.

"Have someone else try to help him," Will continued. "Hell, Dominic knows everything that's going on. Have him help out."

"Dominic isn't the...brightest."

"But he's a good friend."

Nico nodded. "He is."

"So have him go talk to Malfoy," Will urged. "And you focus on actually making your move against Voldemort."

Nico threw his quill aside. "I don't know how. I have no fucking idea, Will. It's Voldemort. He's got spies everywhere. He'll see anything coming."

"Well, you didn't get that mark for no reason. You have to do something with it. You...you didn't risk your life and what others think about you for nothing. That mark isn't no deal, Nico. It's...it's not nothing."

Nico looked down at his sleeveless arms, stared at the mark sitting in the open. It radiated dark energy, but so did the rest of him.

"It reminds me of my father, sometimes," Nico admitted.

Nico wore sleeves whenever he wasn't in Will's room on the Argo. Sometimes it got hot, that mark would itch around certain people, it would be uncomfortable when he knew others knew. Dominic, Will. They stared at it sometimes when they thought he wasn't looking.

But he was. He noticed. And somehow, he got more annoyed at their uncomfortableness than sharing it with them.

(He saw darkness as an aura like that when he met his father for the first time, his helm of darkness, his robes made of souls)

He went to Dominic the hour after Will mentioned it, though he'd never admit that was why.

They sat by the lake with their robes wrapped tight around them and their Hufflepuff scarves on. Nico updated him about Malfoy, his unknown godly parent, his hate for demigods, his ability to fall to the dark side.

"Malfoy, a demigod..." Dominic shook his head. "How didn't I, of all people, see it coming?"

Nico shrugged. "Maybe me finding out is going to change things. Maybe I really can save him from a dark future."

Dominic bit his lip as he thought before shrugging. "I mean, I guess it's worth a try. Does he know you're Voldemort's bitch?"

Nico shook his head. "Not yet. I don't know if I can trust him."

"Who do you think his parent is?" Dominic asked, looking up at the sky. "Zeus? Hell no. Um...Athena?"

"He's not that smart."

"True. Um...Hera?"

"Doesn't have demigod kids. But he is a bitch like her."

"Hera needs to get on the godly bandwagon," Dominic muttered. "Okay, um... Hephaestus?"

"Well, he is ugly enough."

"Um, excuse you, he's hot," Dominic retorted. "But go ahead, keep your eyes on the older medic you've got."

"Will isn't that old," Nico argued. "And I'm technically older."

"If you have to say technically, you already lost the argument."

Nico snorted. "Says you, of all people. I can see you dating a kid of Apollo and being like, 'well, we're not technically siblings'."

"Because we wouldn't be."

"You know how we all think of it." Nico sat forward and wrote a few sentences on his homework. The quill rustled in the cold breeze.

(Friendship was easier than love, being with Dominic showed him this. But he couldn't stop loving Will and he sure as hell could never forget him)

"Will you try talking to Malfoy, then?" Nico asked. "If you find him hot than this should be an easy favor."

"Easy? Talking to someone you deem as hot isn't easy."

"Fine, appreciated," Nico corrected.

Dominic nodded. "Yeah, okay, I'll talk to him. But I can't promise anything."

"You can promise not to hit on him," Nico replied. "It'll scare him away if you do. And don't pull any physic shit, either. That'll really scare him."

"I can't help if the spirit comes through-"

Nico slapped the back of his head before going back to his homework. "Ignore the spirit!"

"You can't just-"

"Ignore. The. Spirit."