Chapter 5: Dinner with the Ghost King
"Something just doesn't seem right out here." Reyna said. "I'm serious. Somethings really really off. It's hard to describe, but I'm feeling very uneasy. I think something bad is going to happen."
Oh great. Just as Nico was settling into Camp Half-Blood, just as Nico was starting to enjoy himself, something horrible had to happen. Sometimes, Nico really wished he wasn't a demigod.

"Is that why you called the feast? To have an excuse to tell me this in person?" Nico asked.

Reyna looked almost guilty. "Yeah, one of the reasons."

"Instead of just stopping by here or sending me an iris message or anything like that, you decided transporting a bunch of demigods, including Percy Jackson and Jason Grace, two of the strongest smelling Demigods on Earth, across country would be safer?" Nico was getting angry. He really didn't want to lose his temper, especially not at Reyna (she was, after all, one of his few friends), but there was no light way to put it; this idea was incredible dumb.

"I had many reasons to call the feast." Reyna replied with almost emotion. "You don't have to come if don't want to, but it won't be me you disappoint. All Hazel has been talking about is this feast and if you're not there for it, you'll upset her."

Nico denied the idea almost instantly. Hazel was stronger than that. "You don't know that."

"Yes, I do. I mean I am a girl after all. And so is she. And I know that you also know that I'm right, but you just don't want to admit it." Reyna was not looking very happy at all.

Nico crossed his arms. "Look, I only have about five minutes before the iris message expires and I'm pretty sure I don't have another gold drachma, so could we wrap it up?"

"Just come to the feast and I'll fill you in on everything I know." Reyna's look of anger was replaced by something else. Nico wasn't sure what. Dismay? Stress? Sincerity? Fear?
Nico wasn't sure he'd ever figure it out.
"Why can't you just tell me now?"

"Because if I tell you now, you're going to try to use your powers and die and I don't think anyone would enjoy that much, especially your healer friend, Will. His name is Will, right?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yes, his name is Will Solace."

Nico heard a horn blow in the distance. Once, twice, three times. Nico had come to learn that that meant dinner. Oh gods. Nico felt his stomach start twisting knots. Anxiety started to build up. Nico just wanted to get dinner over with, not because he hated Will or anything ridiculous like that, simply because he was afraid he was going to terrible embarrass himself. Or that Jason was going to embarrass him. Oh gods. He hadn't even thought of that. Nico was starting to feel sick.

Reyna squinted at Nico. "Are you okay?"

"I really need to get to dinner. Ill get a hold of you later to interrogate you about what you know, okay?"

Reyna's sly smile returned, breaking all seriousness between them. "Okay. Have fun on your date with Will!"

"It's not a date!" Nico yelled, swiping his hand through the misty rainbow to dissolve it. The purple and gold image of somewhere at camp Jupiter faded away, leaving Nico's room once again dark. Nico took a few deep breathes to prepare himself (his heart rate was going higher than he ever thought it could).
Somewhere he found the courage to step out the door and stride toward the dining pavilion.

...
Will was already waiting at the dining pavilion When he saw a little black mess of hair heading up the hill. Will was utterly relived. He wasn't very comfortable sitting here with Jason squinting at him, inspecting him from across the table. Will had been playing with his beaded necklace (a nervous habit of his) for what seems like 10 minutes, which probably meant it had only been 2, but whatever.
Will was beyond nervous. He was pretty much in full freak mode. What was he going to talk about? Maybe about his day in the infirmary. What if he bored Nico to death? With each new thought, the butterflies in Will's stomach seemed to grow in numbers.
It seemed like forever before Nico actually got to the dining pavilion, got a plate, burned some offerings, and sat down. That gave Will plenty of times to think about all the bad things that could happen.

Here goes nothing.
"Sooooo..." Wil began. "What'd you do after you got out of the imfirmary?"
Nico shrugged, "not much, just iris messaged Hazel, Reyna, and Frank. What'd you do?"

Will shrugged back. "Stayed in the imfirmary, treated a few emergencies. You know that rock climbing wall is a real hazard. Fun to climb, not so fun when you get lava scorches."
Nico smiled a little at Will. Will felt like he could melt into a puddle of happiness at any minute now.

Dinner passed by quick. Time flies when you're having fun. The conversation flowed easily, Jason even joining in, telling stories about Nico. Will had never been happier in his entire life. Overall, Will was relieved. He was so scared he was going to mess it up with Nico entirely.
Before Will knew it, everyone was off to the campfire for a short sing-a-long to get everyone pumped up for capture the flag.
That brought up a new question in Will's mind: Do they go their separate ways now or go to the campfire together? Will Nico even go to the campfire?

When Nico said "I guess we better get going to the sing-a-long now" Will's question was answered.
They walked down a dark, nearly abandoned path to the campfire (most people had left already).
Will's heart rate began to rise again and the butterflies returned for a second attack.
Will didn't know what the possibilities of tonight were, but he knew he couldn't wait to find out.