-Will-

I knocked on the shiny black door. As I expected, no one answered.

I turned the door open and crept to Neek's room. He was sleeping, but he didn't look exactly peaceful. His shoulders were slightly tensed and he was frowning slightly. I decided to wake him up in the simplest way possible: by shaking him. If that didn't work, I could always improvise.

"Nico?" I shook him. He muttered something I couldn't catch. "Nico, it's okay.

It's just a bad dream. Don't worry."

I touched his arm. It was cold and pale as the moon. I heard whispering voices, like when Nico shadow-travels with me. I hated shadow travel.

Thankfully, they faded and a bit later, I found myself looking at a person, no a creature. No person can be this dark, nor can anyone look like this. It wasn't even a creature. It was a monster.

The last word I heard before that happened was "Legilimens." And I didn't even recognize that voice. (So don't make me spell it for you.)

"-You are brave, di Angelo. I respect that," he stated.

"You can join me. You can save your friends from their doom. The only thing you have to do is find Harry Potter."

Slender Man watched him with that terribly annoying mildly amused expression. The way he looked at him reminded Nico of Minos, Eros, Nero, and everyone else he hated. He didn't want another random person to be killed. But if he could get some answers...maybe he could find a way around it. He didn't want to murder anyone he didn't know yet.

Nico turned to look at him in the eye.

"Yes. As long as Will is safe."

Mr. Evil answered, "Good. And as for an extra precaution..."

Somewhere in my non-dream self, I could hear myself saying something. I couldn't watch my boyfriend trapped in a find-this-guy-and-your-friends-won't-die-next-Thursday situation. I had to wake him up or Neeks might never have a chance to be sane.

Saying he'd been through a lot was like saying healing was a useful skill or centaurs' blood was bad. And nightmares about some strange guy that wanted Nico to kill someone...well, I didn't like to think about that. I just hoped he was telling the truth.

'In a dream?' a thought dropped into my head. 'How can you lie in a dream?'

After I woke Nico up, we went back to the lake.

When the naiads saw us again, they began giggling and shoving each other again. Nico scowled at them and drew closer to me. Let's just say girls are weird and leave it at that.

"It's Alex Fierro, isn't it? And I think...Magnus?" Nico questioned.

Magnus looked unsure. "Yes? How did you know?"

"My dad told me."

It was my turn to be surprised. "Hold up a second. Your dad told you? He knows about-"

"The Norse gods? Valhalla and Folkvanger? The reason why I will never live a happy life? Well, yes."

"I thought you said you were happy with life," I noted. Nico raised his eyebrows. "Did I?"

"Guys, let's circle back to the point," Magnus said in an attempt to end the Solace/di Angelo show. Too bad he didn't know it lasted for all eternity. "where's Annabeth?"

"Probably at Percy's apartment," Nico offered. "Great to see you. I also need a report on how things are going in Vahalla for my dad."

Alex shrugged. "Just say that things are perfectly fine." There was an edge to his voice. Magnus was behind her, mouthing something like 'don't push it.' Or perhaps 'no tomatoes.' Given my life, it could've been either.

I checked my watch and saw that it was nearly six. Chiron wanted us exactly at 6:08. I didn't know why.

"Nico, we gotta run," was I told him as I dragged him to the Big House. I took one last look over my shoulder and saw Alex and Magnus staring at me, wondering if I really was a real person. Even though I said to Nico that he was real, I was starting to doubt that I was real myself.

A/N: Do not mind if Will is OOC, no one is perfect.