Nico was walking to the cafeteria, he didn't eat as much lately, but he had promised Will that he'd try to eat more.
Then he saw the crowd.
Around the lunchroom.
"Oh no..." Nico muttered and pushed his way past the crowd.
Brandon wasn't lying, he wasn't gonna shoot up the school.
But Brandon had locked himself in there with Tattus.
Tattus was tied to a chair.
"I'm gonna kill you Brandon." Tattus said.
"Yo- shut up." Brandon smacked Tattus across the face.
"Brandon stop!" Nico yelled.
Brandon looked at Nico, then grabbed Tattus' head and slammed it on the floor.
"What's your deal psycho? What do you want?" Tattus asked, his mouth and nose bloody.
"I want you- dead." Brandon grimaced.
"Go for it baby." Tattus smiled.
Brandon grabbed Tattus' face and put it on the chair.
Nico drew his blade and slashed the door open.
Tattus looked at him Nico a second, "my knight in obsidian armor," he smiled.
"Shut up Tate." Nico said.
"How did you- open the door?"
Nico grabbed Brandon's hand and ran.
They ran out of the school.
"You're a real idiot- you know that?" Nico scolded Brandon, "what was your endgame? You were gonna kill Tattus? What then? Life in prison? What about your future?"
Brandon said something Nico didn't expect.
He laughed-
"What future?"
"What are you talking about?" Nico was lost.
"Nico, my dad split years ago, and my mom is dead. I'm in foster care. I'm 20, no one adopts a teenager. I have no job. I have crippling anxiety all of the time- which can only be quelled through doing dumb crap to feel alive, like trying to murder Tattus, or protecting people, I'm sick of the latter, and the former is illegal. Nico, I'm detrimental to society, whether I die in jail or live on the streets, either way my life ends in June."
…
"You want to take a mortal to camp?" Hazel questioned Nico.
"He's 20?" Thalia questioned further.
"I'm honestly not sure he is mortal." Nico explained.
"He was able to capture Tattus, who has proven to be something special..." Hazel analyzed the situation.
"20?" Thalia was stuck on that.