"I do believe you selected the leader for our quest."
Nico stood stock still, staring wordlessly at Chiron's wise face. The rest of the room turned their gaze to him, waiting for him to speak. Painfully slow, he turned on his heels to face them, swallowed dryly, the ghost of a triumphant smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"All right then," he murmured, finally breaking the still spell Chiron had cast over them with his last sentence. Percy stepped away from Rachel, an odd mixture of jealousy and pride in his face.
"Well, looks like you landed yourself your first legit quest from camp," he mused, slapping Nico's shoulder affectionately. The younger boy flashed him a quick grin of thanks, before Chiron raised his voice again.
"All right, campers, since this mission just turned into a claimed quest, I'm going to have to lay down the law and ask that only those concerned stay."
His words were met with disappointed and loud protests. Chiron shook his head stubbornly.
"Nope, I mean it, off you all go. Except Nico and Rachel, and Percy and Annabeth can stay and help us sort this out. Oh, and of course you, Mr. D."
Still groaning and grumbling at being kicked out, the room slowly cleared. A few shouted their congratulations to Nico at receiving the quest. He nodded politely back, feeling a bit bad that Chiron had forced them to go after just dragging them in.
With delicate steps, Erin slipped into the Big House, just barely catching a glimpse of the last cabin counselor stepping into their meeting room, and shutting the door.
She'd excused herself from following the Hermes kids back to their cabin, coming up with the split second excuse of declaring she had left her belongings in the sick bay (when, really, she had nothing). They'd bought her easy lie entirely, and skipped merrily off to whatever activities they were occupied with. Probably some sort of elaborate prank, if she paused to wonder.
But she had more pressing matters on her hands. Her survival, for one. Information was the most powerful weapon one could possess, greater than any magic or sword or even godly blessing, information could be the difference between waking up in the morning…or arriving to Hades's earlier than anticipated.
Besides, living on her own very rarely offered the opportunity now presented, and if she was anything, Erin was an opportunist.
Seasoned with years of stealth, Erin soundlessly slithered up to the door. She pressed her ear against the wood, only to hear the chaotic murmuring of many voices. Unable to distinguish what they were saying, she abandoned that plan and crept away, peeking around the doorframe of the adjacent room.
She was greeted by an abandoned space, bare of decorations, and inhabited by only a few lonely foldable chairs, scattered about as if quickly abandoned.
An indoor tutoring room? she pondered as she tiptoed in. Disregarding the seating available, she went directly to the back corner, where her eye was caught by a pair of discreet white doors she had not previously noticed. Lightly, she fingered the little metal handle, before tugging them open. If luck was on her surprise…perhaps?
Not surprisingly, it was small, dark closet, which held more collapsible metal chairs, a broom, and mop, a rusty bucket, and a tattered white rag. Cautiously she slipped inside, and grinned with delight to discover a second set of door on the opposite wall. Quickly shutting the doors behind her, Erin enveloped herself in darkness, and slowly, ever so slowly, she stepped over the dirty bucket, holding her breath and feeling with her hands first before she put her foot down, determined not to make a noise. She settled herself against the set of doors leading to the meeting room, knees tucked to her chest, arms twisted oddly to make herself flatter in the small space, ear pressed firmly against the wooden barrier.
She allowed herself a small smile of pleasure, pleased with her ability to sneak into their private councils completely undetected, before dedicating her focus to the babblings in the next room.
The voice speaking was deep, very male, and carried the sort of weight that hid countless years of experience – Chiron. He was saying:
"…a message with Percy, about a sudden series of attacks and disappearances spreading eastward. Exact details on the attackers are vague, but all reports have a few details in common – a large, canine beast with amazing agility and strength. Clearly a monster, but surprisingly, the victims are not limited to demigods."
There was a pause where no one spoke. Erin's sudden euphoria at finding a listening spot crumbled. She'd overlooked an important detail – she couldn't see.
Chiron continued speaking after a second, however.
"Olympus is concerned, and as am I and Mr. D."
A scrape of stools ground against the concrete floor, followed by a grouchy voice, also male.
"Yeah, yeah, very concerned, mortals dying, blah blah," he snapped. Must be Dionysus, who'd she'd spotted at lunch with the centaur teacher.
"Yes," said Chiron dryly, "So, we've decided to send a group to follow the beasts' tracks."
Erin could almost hear the sudden jump in spirits, and for a second she thought everything was going to descend into jabbers of excitement.
Pathetic! If you really want to go so badly, don't wait around here like an obedient dog!
"Wait, wait! Yes, you all want to go running off on an adventure, and I'm proud of your bravery," Chiron's sentence however was interrupted by an ear piercing wail. Erin jumped against the bucket, causing a clatter that would have signaled her presence, had everyone not been paying attention to the screech, or more specifically, the screecher, whom Erin could not see.
Stumbling steps collided against the floor, and a sickly green mist curled under the edge of her door. Erin held her breath, panicking in the thought that it was poisonous, fanning it away from her mouth and nose the best she could from her cramped position.
Again, scrapes of chairs and stools filled their air and Erin's best guess was that campers were fleeing, until she realized there were no screams of panic. Could this be normal for them? Again, Erin cursed her lack of thought for not finding a hiding spot with a peep hole.
Her ADHD wanderings were brought back into focus when a thin, raspy voice – neither male nor female – ripped and shredded beyond definition, began to recite an odd chant that made the delicate hairs on the nape of Erin's neck stand erect.
"Three shall voyage west, to the base of the throne.
You shall discover the beasts, to fail hopelessly alone.
The Broken Oath no longer outcast, you shall rely upon her past.
Maidens of the moon hold the silver key, a dance with death to end in tragedy."
With a last shuddering gasp, the voice died, and Erin heard the sound of something heavy being caught at the last second. The green mist dissolved and Erin took a deep breath, grateful but still wildly curious.
The silence in the next room over hung like heavy fog. Teeth clenched, Erin waited, very tempted to bash open the thin doors and make sure the weird voice hadn't killed them all.
"Ah…what am I doing down here?" asked a new person with a dazed feminine voice, "Did I say something? What?" she asked.
What kind of question is that?
"Uh, yeah," muttered yet another new voice. Masculine, not nearly as deep as Chiron's, and choked full of shock. Erin's face contorted in confusion as the voice rang an odd bell for her…had she met him at lunch?
"Somebody hurry and do something, she's fading!"
Erin struggled to grasp at the memory, but it too faded, leaving her feeling empty and annoyed. Maybe he had been one of the people who rushed to her aid last night? Reasonable, and logical, although still frustrating (and perhaps a tiche worrisome) that she couldn't put a face to the voice.
"Erm, sorry, I don't know what I did but you don't look so great," apologized the girl, whose tone was slowly edging into clarity, "But really, what's going on?"
Chiron spoke up again, his melodic voice rippling powerfully through the conversation, practically demanding respect.
"I do believe you selected the leader for our quest."
Erin would have paid quite dearly by now to be able to see the room she was eavesdropping on. What for the gods' sakes were they talking about already? Who was the leader? Why was no one worried about the green mist and the horrible voice?
"All right then," the boy murmured, the first to break the silence Chiron had created with his dramatic sentence. A footstep echoed against the ground and someone slapped or patted someone else with the solid sound of flesh against flesh.
"Well, looks like you landed yourself your first legit quest from camp," yet another male voice mused. This young man however, Erin could place. He'd been the young adult to make a grand entrance at lunch, Annabeth's boyfriend by the looks of it…Percy they had called him?
Chiron raised his voice again.
"All right, campers, since this mission just turned into a claimed quest, I'm going to have to lay down the law and ask that only those concerned stay."
As expected, the campers were not pleased. Their shouts and groans of disapproval, however, did not affect the hard-hearted Chiron.
"Nope, I mean it, off you all go. Except Nico and Rachel, and Percy and Annabeth can stay and help us sort this out. Oh, and of course you, Mr. D."
And Erin, she sniggered to herself.
Many footsteps clattered away, although the complaints didn't die down until they all had left and shut the door behind them. Erin held her breath at several points, squeezing her eyes shut tight as many kids trampled inches within her hiding spot. Fortunately, no one was weird enough to want to leave the room through the double sided closet, and Erin remained tucked away.
"'Three shall voyage west, to the base of the throne,'" Chiron repeated in a thoughtful manner, "Clearly, this means you will have two companions."
"Going west," Percy added.
"Way to state the obvious, Percy," Annabeth's voice rang out for the first time, and Erin had no trouble recognizing her.
"What about the throne?" her boyfriend asked.
"Hard to say. From the use of the word, 'base,' I get the impression of a mountain, or it really could be a throne. There are plenty of landmarks and historical places in the west that one could loosely attribute the word 'throne' to, and you can never know with prophecies being so obscure," Chiron explained wordily. That's what you get for being a millennia old smarty pants horse.
Erin shifted the slightest bit in her cramped position. She was slowly losing feeling in her legs, and her ankles were screaming in protest at being held so awkwardly for so long.
"You shall find the beasts, to fail hopelessly alone," Annabeth carried on.
"That line, I don't like," grumbled the first teenaged boy voice, the one who must have helped her. Erin thought back to the list of names Chiron had stated could stay, and realized he must be called Nico, being the only male name left.
"Any prophecy with the word 'fail' and 'hopelessly' sounds like trouble, especially when they are right next to each other," Nico complained.
"Not to mention the third word in that sequence, 'alone,'" Percy said offhandedly, "And let's not forget that this hopeless fail happens you find the beasts."
Erin rolled her eyes. Percy was awfully cheerful about dangerous sounding stuff. Did he have no common sense?
Erin's back ached and she longed to stretch it, but hearing the end of this was far more important to her than being comfortable. Besides, any movement would probably cost too much noise.
"The Broken Oath no longer outcast, you shall rely upon her past," said the dazed female voice from before, sounding a lot more awake now. Rachel, Erin guessed.
"Sounds like the Broken Oath is a person – a she."
"How can a person be a broken oath?" asked Nico, puzzlement in his voice.
"I can think of many ways," snapped Mr. D, "Especially when you call her an outcast."
"Hm."
Erin's throat tightened, as she realized she could relate to the lonely story Mr. D was hinting at...An outcast from society, a leftover from a broken oath…all painfully familiar story for Erin to hear.
"Maidens of the moon hold the silver key, a dance with death to end in tragedy," Annabeth quoted.
"Maidens of the moon. I'm going to go ahead and call hunters," Percy said.
Hunters. Erin's upper lip curled bitterly.
"Again, going for the obvious, but I can't help but agree with Seaweed Brain over here," agreed Annabeth. Percy made no audible retort to the hidden insult, and Erin internally facepalmed at their lovey-dovey teasing. Nauseating.
"Aaand, silver stuff is their thing," Rachel added.
Erin tried to crack her neck to relive the tension in her spine, but couldn't twitch her neck at the right angle. By now, her knees, ankles, hips, and shoulders were tingling with pain from being twisted this long.
"'A dance with death to end in tragedy'? What sort of mumbo jumbo stuff is that?" Mr. D grouched, "That's just rhyming nonsense, I bet the oracle just ran out of things to say that made sense."
"The oracle most certainly does NOT just say stuff because it rhymes! It makes sense somehow, we'll just have wait and see," Rachel's voice was extraordinarily defensive, and Erin wondered how she was so connected to the - OH. Oh yes. Of course it all made sense. How could she have not seen it before? Rachel must be the oracle's embodiment. The Oracle of Apollo, she'd heard great legends and passing mention in her rare talks with her mother.
"Another great word to hear, 'tragedy,'" moaned Nico softly, but Erin heard it nonetheless. He's a bit of a whiner.
No one responded, obviously knowing there was no comfort to be had in the face of such stark words.
Suddenly, someone jumped to their feet, stool bashing violently around with the motion.
"Oh!" came Annabeth's high pitched quip of excitement. No one moved or said anything for a long moment, and the sound of sneakers swiveling on concrete met her ears.
"Erin!" she exclaimed, voice high with excitement.
Erin could have sworn her heart stopped beating. Had she been caught? How did they know? She hadn't moved! What would she say, what would be her far fetched excuse for curling up in their janitor closet?
The sound of quick footsteps made her blood run cold, but after a second, she realized with a rush of relief that they were actually headed in the opposite direction.
"You remember what she said? She was attacked by a big monster and barely got away with her life! Maybe it was one of the monsters we are talking about?" Annabeth said. Erin's eyes widened, wondering if she had a point. But her attention was swiftly diverted by a truly terrifying fact:
Oh Styx…STYX, I'M GOING TO SNEEZE
"You could have a point there. Although, the monsters we speak of don't leave survivors…although there is the slim chance that Erin was the first. Where is she now?" Chiron rumbled.
Erin held her breath, willing the sneeze to move on, to pass by. The twitchy, itchy sensation however only grew worse, and she couldn't even get a hand around to rub it away.
"I suppose with the Hermes Cabin; she ate lunch with them," deduced Annabeth.
Erin tensed, squeezing her eyes shut, face scrunched in an effort to keep it back. Just as she thought she had a chance to keep it in, she sneezed, but kept her mouth closed, sending the force through her body. Her back collided against the rusty bucket while her hands thumped loudly against the door.
AH, HYDRA SHIT!
Erin sucked up another breath and held it in terror, slowly opening her eyes. Her heart sank and she knew that her commotion had been far too noisy for the other not to hear. She was proved woefully correct when she heard a light tread approaching the closet. The person stopped right in front of the doors, and Erin could see the shadow of feet against the light seeping through the crack under the door.
With a smooth jerk, the doors creaked open outward. Erin was flooded in the electric light illuminating the windowless room. She almost winced, but instead threw her head up defiantly to face her discoverer.
She locked glares with a teenage boy dressed all in black, about her age, with dark olive skin, a mop of shaggy black hair, sharp, dark eyes full of bewilderment. Agile, willowy body, and the stance of a close combat fighter.
Her attention was drawn back up to his glittering black eyes as they narrowed into slits.
"…Erin?" said Annabeth's voice from behind the dark boy, who stepped out of the way to reveal her into the full light of the room.
Inhaling a deep breath, Erin pushed herself out of a crouch. She took a stiff step past the boy, making no eye contact. He was the least of her concerns.
Dionysius lounged in the corner nearest her and the boy, an ugly, contemptful snarl twisting his face.
Annabeth and Percy were across a ping pong table, both with their mouths slightly agape. Annabeth looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't form the correct words in her mouth.
A goofy looking chick with frizzy red hair and tattered, color stained jeans was seated nearby, eyes were wide and curious. Rachel, Erin realized.
But Chiron was the worst. His expression was surprised, and tinged with a disappointment that irked her. Really – if you let a total stranger wander freely throughout your home, you deserve what's coming to you. They had no way of knowing if she was an enemy spy, or even worse! Just because the Titan War had been won didn't mean there weren't still plenty of people, and even things, who would love to see the end of Demigod Daycare. Their negligence and over-confidence would be their downfall, and Erin wouldn't think twice to say, "I told you so."
She pursed her lips and looked away from the self-righteous pony, and took a second look at the dark boy, who must be Nico. He, as they all were, was still staring. When he saw her finally glance his way, he crossed his arms across his chest, frown lines deepening.
"Erin?" said Chiron quite simply, and quite calmly.
They didn't want to hear her opinion, and they most certainly didn't deserve it. She would gain nothing through helping them, and therefore it would be a waste of effort. None of which she had to spare.
"Yeeess?" she quipped back.
"You low-life, filthy little spy," began Mr. D, but Chiron spliced through the beginning of what most assuredly would have been a foul-mouthed rant that probably would have ended in Erin's transformation into a dolphin.
"Surely, you must have realized this was a private conversation?" the centaur asked.
No, duh.
"…yes."
"I must insist that eavesdropping is very much frowned upon at Camp Half-Blood. And…your actions will not go without consequences," Chiron said slowly.
This – this stole her attention. She straightened immediately and drew her brows together in question.
"Uh…come again?"
Chiron shook his heavy head.
"I'm afraid so. You've been welcomed into camp, your injuries cared for, and treated as one of us. As such, it is only fair you be treated as one of the campers."
Erin's jaw clenched. What was that saying the humans used again? "No such thing as a free lunch"? If the situation hadn't been so in the present, she might have been able to find the irony amusing.
As it was, she could barely contain herself when Nico lightly snorted from behind. This time, it was her turn to narrow her eyes as he shrugged ever so slightly, a pretend wince of sympathy crossing his features. Immature, little brat.
"What that punishment will be…" Chiron continued, dragging her attention back to him, "…we can yet discuss. At a later time."
There were a million things Erin could have said – all of which would have been censored on public television. Her best plan of action was to say nothing and dip her head to hide the grimace.
Humiliating...
Finally, praised by Zeus, someone else spoke.
"Well, what's done is done…" began Percy cautiously.
"But…the monster? Monsters?" Rachel finished.
Erin looked up again, carefully neutral, trying to gauge if now was a good time to appease them, or run. Annabeth met her eyes encouragingly.
"Could you describe the attack, if you don't mind."
Well…whatever. She was on no one's side and, hey: maybe they would even be able to get their act together and destroy the monster for her. So, she obligingly nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate, ignoring Dionysius' grumblings about stupid demigods and their whiny lives.
"Let's see…I was about three miles west of here two nights ago. I was just minding my own business, passing through, when I hear these really heavy paw steps. I'm pretty good at tracking and reading animals, so I managed to dodge it for a while, but eventually, it caught up to me. It was big. REALLY big, like…"
She paused, opening her eyes, and waving her arms around to illustrate her point.
"You couldn't fit more than one in this room. I couldn't see much, because it was night, but it was hairy, and dirty, and smelled like a wet dog," she crinkled her nose at the thought.
"It got me with its claw – that's how I got ripped up so bad. Sliced right down my shoulder and across my torso," Erin said, mimicking the downward sweep of the claws across her body.
Percy, Rachel, and Annabeth made the appropriate noises of sympathy pain, while Nico remained stoic. Or apathetic. Probably both. Erin continued, not bothered by the hostile boy behind her.
"I should probably be dead, but the adrenaline kept me going. Even so - I don't think I killed it. Or at least it wasn't dead when I left it, just injured enough I could get away. I stumbled along the next day, getting…well, really lost and trying to find something I could bandage myself with. Barely made it to you guys, before I passed out," she ended, flourishing both hands as her finale.
"I see," said Chiron, "Could very well be one of the monsters we need to end."
"Ok, how did it fight? Could it talk?" Percy pipped up again, head cocked in interest like a puppy.
Erin hesitated, one finger drifting to her lips in thought.
"Mmmm, no. It growled and roared, and…sometimes it sounded almost like English – but it didn't talk. It just attacked with brute strength. And, man, it was really strong. It could leap a pine tree, easy."
"All right…very interesting indeed," mused Chiron.
Nico airily brushed past Erin to get back into the circle of conversation.
"Yeah, yeah, great and all, but knowing they are big and ugly doesn't change much. I still have a problem on my hands – who am I taking with me and when can we leave?" he asked, flicking his long bangs out of his eyes, like some sort of obnoxious boy band member.
Erin's lips twitched in anger at his abrasive attitude. Oh ho, watch out everyone, bad ass straight from Demigod Daycare coming through.
"Excuuuuse yourself," she said icily, nudging him out of her line of vision again. Nico gave her a look, as if she was some sort of buzzing insect.
"I know you are," he muttered darkly, falling back a step to avoid maintain his snooty little personal bubble. Erin glowered up at him a second longer, but unfortunately, he didn't break before Chiron interrupted them.
"Nico, Erin, enough."
Erin's self discipline was put to the test not roll her eyes and they stepped apart. He's not worth it, she assured herself. Besides, why dig myself a deeper grave? Be the mature one, don't let your temper get the best of you…
"Thank you," Chiron continued, as if they had had a choice, "An in answer to your question, Nico, I suppose you should leave as soon as possible. We'll discuss who you decide to ask in private." he said decidedly.
Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel took this as their polite cue to leave. Erin followed en suite, sidling around the stools to scamper out the doors with the older teens. Dionysius grunted something about not wanting to hear anymore and disappeared in purple poof that smelled strongly of sun-soaked grapes.
The four stopped just outside the door, arranged in a misshapen circle.
"Well, I'm off. I was sorting through letters from home when I woke up down here," Rachel moaned exasperatedly. Percy offered a sympathetic look. Erin didn't ask.
As the redhead bounced off, the young couple's attention was undividedly on Erin.
"So, I'd say you should get back to the Hermes' cabin," Annabeth said in a tone that was clearly more of a warning than a suggestion.
Erin sucked a deep breath through her nostrils, determined not to let her anger with Chiron or any other dim-witted demigod win over her senses. She was better then that, she was so better than that...
"Where are they?" she asked cooly.
"I'll show ya," offered Percy, who already turned to stride confidently out of the Big House. Erin tossed the blonde Athenian a little wave of goodbye before hurrying to catch up with Percy's long steps.
It was a quick walk from the Big House to Hermes' cabin. As the duo entered their doors, it was sorely obvious that the campers had quickly whisked something under the beds. Percy raised an eyebrow suspiciously, but turned around quickly, waving his hands in front of his eyes in protest.
"Ignorance is bliss!" he called after as he jogged away, probably to meet back up with Annabeth.
The kids snickered but didn't take out their unknown project again. Instead, they remained in their poses of innocence, blinking up at Erin. She tensed awkwardly, sensing how uncomfortable and awkward her intrusion was.
"Hey," she managed. Nobody really responded for quite a few seconds, abandoning her to the spotlight. 15 years old and unclaimed? Unheard of. She was a spectacle, a circus attraction, an anomaly – but most importantly – an outsider. Whatever bond of comradery she had felt during lunch had vanished…or maybe she had only imagined it in a fit of loneliness.
A desperate glance around the room didn't reveal Connor or Travis, her jester guardian angels, so she settled for sliding herself into a seat on the floor on the edge of the group of kids lolling around their living space. A few smiled in her direction, but whether the gestures were out of pity, politeness, or even curiosity, Erin couldn't tell.
But, if she was going to be quite frank with herself: it was probably her fault. Her lifestyle had made her who she was - strong, independent, and capable…and proud, and abrasive, and short tempered. Unconsciously she was probably pushing them away and didn't even realize it.
Kids came and left, off to meet various friends and do activities, but Erin stayed in the cabin, quietly observing the shenanigans on the side lines.
Tonight, she promised herself, I'll get away. Screw Chiron and whatever punishment he thinks I'm going to be dished. Maybe I'll be able to snag some of that ambrosia and nectar. When they wake up tomorrow the morning, I'll be gone and out of their hair. And I can get on with…surviving. Running.
She ignored the lonesome tug in her chest as she watched the kids interact and tease each other.
I'm strong, I don't need people in my life, especially not these pampered babies. They would only get in my way,she told herself firmly.
Finally, her ADHD had had enough, and she needed to do something. She stood up to stretch her cramped legs and wandered out into the warm afternoon sun to have a look around.
She was in a large cluster of uniquely decorated cabins all obviously belonging to particular gods. Campers mingled around here, and not feeling particularly chatty, Erin hurried away, taking a random looking path, which took her to a flaming climbing wall. She watched in bewildered awe as demigods scampered up and down, dodging the pools of molten lava oozing all around them.
…intense.
She continued on her way, admittedly getting kind of lost, and ending up back in front of the Big House. Erin wavered, wondering if she could go in and see if her clothes were clean yet. She didn't want to leave in this ridiculously bright orange shirt and these girly little shorts.
Deciding to seize the moment, she charged right on in, relishing in the cool air as she stepped through. She paused, looking both ways down the hallway.
Which way would she find her clothes?
Aimlessly, she meandered into the recesses of the house, peering at every open doorway, still with no sign of a living soul. Almost instinctually, her feet carried her back to the Sick Bay where she had woken up hours ago. She stepped in, to find her bed had already been made back up to perfection, indistinguishable from the many other cots.
Erin finally stopped, absently biting on her bottom lip, wondering where to look next, when a set of footsteps suddenly began to approach. She took a few light steps back to the doorway and stuck her head around the frame.
A lowered head rounded the corner, followed by its lanky owner. Irritatingly familiar. Erin considered retreating back into the Sick Bay to pretend she hadn't seen Nico coming, but that option of escape was smashed to pieces as said boy lifted his head, dark eyes immediately focusing on Erin's half-revealed figure leaning around the doorway.
A flicker of annoyance crossed over his otherwise neutral features.
"There you are. Where you shouldn't be. Again," he snapped dryly, coming to a stop a few feet away.
With a lazy air, Erin propped her shoulder against the wall, throwing him a challenging look.
"Not your problem, now is it?"
"Good gods, I wish it wasn't," Nico growled, breaking eye contact and shoving his hands deep into his pockets. Erin raised her eyebrows in confusion. His body language was entirely changed since she'd last seen him. An hour ago, he'd literally not spared her a glance, and now suddenly she was worth the effort to speak to?
"What?" she asked, forgetting their spat in her genuine curiosity.
With a muffled sigh, Nico lifted his head again.
"I've got some unfortunate news."