Everyone started looking around and whispering to each other.
"We will discuss this tomorrow at the councilors meeting. Your counselors will relay any information back to you after the meeting. Nala, Percy, Jason, and Nico, please stay behind. Everyone else, go back to your cabins. You are dismissed." Everyone left. I started to as well, when I heard Nico call my name.
"Will! Can you stay with me while we talk to Chiron? Please?" He asked. He looked nervous.
"Of course." I replied. We walked over to Chiron just as he began to speak.
"Nala, you need a cabin to sleep in. Even though I don't allow a girl and a boy that are not siblings to be alone in the same cabin, I know that Percy and Jason would never cheat on their girlfriends. I also would rather you not stay in a cabin with so many people, so if they don't mind, you may choose to sleep in Percy's cabin, Jason's cabin, or in Nico's cabin. Would you be okay with that boys?"
"Yeah!" Percy and Jason said at the same time.
"That's nice of you guys," Nala said, "But I'd honestly rather bunk with Nico in his cabin. Is that okay Nico?"
We all looked at Nico. We all, including him, were suprised.
"I-I guess." Nico stammered. Chiron nodded in satisfaction. Then he asked,
"Do you, Nico, swear-" Knowing what Chiron was about to say, Nico cut him off.
"Yes Chiron. I swear on the river styx that Nala and I wont do any thing inappropriate."
"Good. Now, go back to your cabins. Nala, I believe you need to get your things from the Hermes cabin. Please get them quickly. The rest of you, have a good night."
We all murmured goodnight and walked back to our cabins. I walked Nico to his cabin. On the way, we talked.
"Nico, you know, it was very generous of you to say yes to Nala. She has been hanging around you alot. Do you think she likes you. Do you like her? " For a reason that I couldn't name, when I heard myself say that, I sounded a bit disappointed.
"Oh no. I would never like her." He assured me. "I like someone else. Besides, I'm ga- er, um, I mean, uh! Never mind."
"What were you going to say?"
"Nothing. Goodnight Will." I hadn't even noticed that we were standing outside his cabin. We must have been talking the whole way. When I looked at Nico, he was trying to hide his face from me, but it was to late. I saw the faint blush that he was trying to hide.
"Yeah. Bye. Goodnight." I replied. He went through the door.
I spun around on my heel and speed-walked to my cabin before the harpies came after me, wondering about all of the different things that the stuttering could have meant.
The councilors meeting the next day was chaotic. Everyone was yelling except for Nico and me.
"HEY! EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" We all turned to the voice. It was Rev. For some reason, we all listened to him. He gave a dashing smile.
"Thank you." It actually made sense why we all listened. Rev was very popular and known by many people in camp, and apparently by even more people at his mortal school.
After another minute, Chiron came into the room.
"I apologize." He started. "I got caught up in a conversation over Iris Message. Anyway, we must discuss the problem at hand. The prophecy."
"At least it's an easy one right?" Everyone looked twards Nico's direction.
"Hey," He started holding up his hands in surrender, "I may not have that deep of a voice, but it sure as heck isn't that high."
"Hey!" Nala said. She was sitting next to him. "I don't have that high of a voice. And yes, I was the one who spoke. Besides, you would sound weird with a high pitched voice. Like," She continued in a high pitched voice, "Hi, I'm Nico di Angelo and I am sooo in love with mph-" She was cut off by Nico putting his hand over her mouth. He was bright red. I wondered what she was going to say, had Nico not covered her mouth.
"Anyway, ow!" Nico squealed in such a high pitched voice that most of us covered our ears. Nico turned to Nala.
"You bit my hand. How dare you! I am the son of Hades and I-"
"Yeah yeah. Your so scary blah, blah, blah. Well, you should learn to not put your hand over my mouth. It will end badly." We all stared at Nala shocked. She was the first and most likely the last person to speak to Nico that way without ending up in the infirmary.
"Anyway, back to the point. I wasn't kidding about what I said before. This prophecy is way easier. I even memorized it. Gone is the veil that covers the eyes. That is obviously the Mist. And-"
"Hold up!" Clarisse said. She was ths first camper to speak after watching the almost comical interaction between Nala and Nico.
"How do you know about the other prophecys?"
"Well, Clarisse, I tried a little experiment last night. I shadow traveled with Nico, healing him the best I could with my Apollo powers, although I can't do as good of a job as you Will. Anyway, I brought the books with me. We had gone to my house. They are underneath the table."
She brought out a duffle that I had not noticed before. She explained the books and we all listened intently. When she was done, I was the first to speak.
"Wow. So you know, like, all of our secrets."
"Kinda." She replied. "I do know many things about you guys. Like, how Nico was very neardy when he was ten. How he loved Mythomagic. What happened on the Argo II. What happened to Percy and Annabeth in, um," She looked at Nico carefully, who was looking down at his lap, "You know. Also, on a different note, I talked with the Apollo cabin, not including you Will. Sorry. And I talked with Chiron. We have agreed that tomorrow at the campfire will be karaoke night. Where you can sing any random song, or sing to someone special." Nico made another squeak. It sounded like he said a word. Something along the lines of 'what', but his voice was so high. When I looked at him he blushed and asked Nala,
"You actually went through with that?"
"Yes. And as a bonus, at one point in the night, Nico will be singing a song. I hope you think about what song you want to sing. The Hephaestus cabin also agreed to build a karaoke machine. Leo can build one pretty fast, can't you Leo?"
"Sure can. It'll be easy." He said back.
"Well," Chiron cut in, "I believe that we have spent enough time here. We will continue the discussion about the prophecy at the campfire tomorrow. If that is all, you are dismissed."
We all got up and left. As I was walking out, I went over to Nico and Nala.
"Hey." I said. "Want to go practice?" Nala replied before Nico could speak.
"Sorry. We need to prepare for tomorrow. Lil' Neeks is singing a song. Bye Will." With that, Nala pulled Nico out of the room.
I worked in the infirmary for the rest of the day. At the campfire, Rev was bragging that he found out that for the next capture the flag game, he would be the captin for one of the teams. Nala was running by at that time and slowed down a bit, listened what he said, and was off again. Chiron made the announcement and everyone was looking forward to tomorrow night. Especially the Aphrodite cabin.
That night, I had a nightmare.
I was chained to the wall of a blank white room. There were no windows or doors. No furniture either. A door shaped hole opened on the wall that I was facing. My mom came out. The hole closed behind her. I remembered when I came out to her. She called me names and threw me out. She disowned me. Here she was again."You don't deserve to live." She snapped at me. She slapped me across my face. I was in tears by now. "You should just kill yourself. No one will ever love you."
I shot up in bed. I could feel tears coming. I put my shoes on and ran out of the cabin. The nightmare I had was constantly reappearing. It never happened. It was only showing my fear of what could happen if I told my mom about my homosexuality.
I needed comfort. There was only one person who could cheer me up now. I ran to his cabin, not caring about the harpies. I needed to see him. I pounded on the door.
"Nico! Please let me in." My voice sounded like I was about to cry, which I was. Nico opened the door.
"Solace, I swear to all of the gods, if you woke me up for no reason- are you ok?" I gathered him in a hug and whispered one word.
"Nightmare." He let me in and we talked quietly, as to not disturb Nala who was still sleeping. He made a joke and I laughed, dispite the fact that I was about to cry.
I walked back to my cabin lster that night feeling much better.
It was karaoke night. Leo was hosting it. We were all at the campfire.
"Ladys and gentlemen," Leo announced through the karaoke machine, "Our first song of the night will be sung by," He got a look of suprise on his face when he unfolded the paper with the name of the first person, "Nico di Angelo?"