"There's really no need for weapons," Nico said. His calm attitude didn't do much to shake her. Maybe she thought he was bluffing, but…well, if it came to blows, three children of Hades could easily overpower Kayla and Lou Ellen. Not that he hoped for a fight. "How did you find me?"

"The goddess of hunters is my aunt. Take a guess."

Nico stared at her in disbelief, but he shrugged. "Fine. So why come here and threaten me?"

"You lied to me. My father told me how ghosts operated. If Will had gone to the other side, you'd know."

"I could just want to spare your feelings."

"I don't think so. Now let me talk to my brother." She pulled on her bowstring a little—not enough to fire, and she didn't aim it at Nico, either, which he took as a good sign.

Nico took a deep breath. "Just—hang on a moment, okay?" Before she could reply, he slammed the door shut.

He wasn't surprised to find Bianca and Hazel gathered within earshot, but he didn't pay attention to them, and turned to Will instead. Judging by his sudden pallor, he'd heard as well, but Nico told him anyway. "Your sister's here. Kayla. She wants to talk to you."

Will remained frozen for a moment, his breathing erratic, before he nodded sharply. "Well, you can let her in. Right?"

"Are you sure?" If Will's moment of panic had been any indication, this was not a good idea. "It won't be easy."

"Other people have been able to see me. Why not her?"

Hazel was the one who answered him. "When mortals see you, it's a manifestation of the Mist. Making sure that nothing looks out of place. It's not an accurate representation of you, not exactly, and it's only meant to fool passersby. With your sister, though, it's much more complicated. If you have even a shred of doubt about seeing her, she won't be able to see you at all, and one of us will have to be your mouthpiece."

"Of course I want to see her! Why wouldn't I—"

"For the same reason you couldn't type that message to her," Nico said. Will looked like he was unraveling—emotionally, but also physically, as if he was losing in solidity. Nico walked the few paces that separated them, carefully reaching out to take Will's hands, and nearly going through him. He didn't move, his hands hovering over Will's. "Will, if you don't think you can handle it, it's fine."

"She's my sister, Nico." Will's voice was soft, his gaze pleading—for understanding and support, or for Nico to convince him to give up? "I can't just turn her away."

Nico understood that, and Will knew it. But his relationship with Bianca or Hazel had been different from Will and Kayla's, from what he'd seen. "You can, if you want to. If you need to."

Will closed his eyes, remaining immobile for a moment, then shook his head. "No, I have to do this. I can't hide from my own sister." He took Nico's hand, the cold, almost liquid sensation of his barely solid touch bringing bittersweet relief to Nico. "We can do this. Together."

Nico nodded. "All right." He didn't let go of Will as he walked back to the door.

When he opened it, Kayla dove straight at him, tackling him inside the apartment. Taken by surprise, Nico fell, letting go of Will, and Kayla landed on top of him, pressing her bow to Nico's throat and a dagger against his side. "Did you really think you could just close the door to make me go?"

She froze and looked up when Hazel's nudged her spatha against her ribs. "I really thought closing the door would send a clear 'hang on, I need to talk about this' message," Nico said, deadpan. "If you don't mind, I don't think we need the Mexican standoff. Can't we talk like civilized adults?"

Kayla huffed, but she put her hands up slowly, dropping her weapons as she stood away from Nico. Lou Ellen was still immobile in the hallway, her gaze fixed on the spot where Will stood. She wasn't looking at him—her eyes were too unfocused for that—but she had to sense him, somehow. If ghosts interacted with the Mist as Hazel had said, Nico guessed a daughter of Hecate could feel it.

"He's here, isn't he?"

Kayla turned to her friend. "Are you sure?"

Will stood right next to Kayla, and at his sister's words, he took in a sharp intake of air, sounding almost like he had just been struck and couldn't contain the pain. His eyes looked like they were tearing up, but he couldn't actually cry.

Nico scrambled to his feet, and walked to stand right behind Will, placing his hands on Will's shoulders. Will tensed up briefly at the contact, but not for long. "He's right here, in front of me. If you want to talk to him."

Kayla didn't say anything, though. She remained still, but she looked at Nico, not at Will. She also looked about to tear up, and Nico wasn't the only one who noticed: Lou Ellen came to stand by her, wrapping an arm around her, and Will reached out, cupping his sister's face. Kayla visibly shuddered at the touch. "I—felt something."

"He just touched you," Bianca said. "People can feel it, sometimes."

She nodded, and wiped the tears from her eyes before looking up again. "Hey, bro."

"Hey, Kay."

There was a moment of awkward silence, then Will turned to Nico. "Can you—?"

Nico started. "Sorry. Of course." He moved to Will's side—it was awkward, standing there with Will between him and the newcomers. "He said 'Hey, Kay'."

Kayla chuckled. "I told you you shouldn't rhyme every time you greet me."

"Can't help the music in me." Will said the words, and Nico repeated, trying to match the sarcasm in his voice.

"You sound just like dad. Please tell me you're not still wearing that awful shirt."

"It's a mark of honor!"

Nico repeated the protest, but he added, "For your information, he's not wearing it. Not anymore, anyway. I forced him to change into something else."

"So you saw him wearing that 'Daddy's favorite haiku' monstrosity? Way to make a good first impression, Will."

"To his defense, I didn't make that good a first impression myself," Nico said.

"I object to that," Will said, and Nico rolled his eyes at him.

Kayla frowned. "What did he say?"

"He objected."

"You have to tell her, Nico."

Nico glared at him, but obeying a ghost's requests was his job—almost automatic. "Fine. I was coming out of the shower. He was taking a peek."

Kayla burst out laughing. "Sorry. But it sounds just like the sort of things Will would do if he was invisible."

"Does it, now?"

"I object to that, too."

"You don't get to object to that," Nico said.

"Yeah, you don't," Kayla said. She then looked at Nico once again, examining him with a different glint in her eyes. "So…my brother saw you naked. And—" her voice trailed off, as if she couldn't find the right words.

"Real subtle, Kay," Will said. "You can tell her about us, you know, Nico."

Nico chuckled, and turned to Kayla. "Will and I are dating."

She gasped, and nodded. "Okay. Well, thanks for avoiding me an embarrassing question. And—how do you—I mean, I guess it's normal for you guys."

"It's definitely not," Bianca said.

"Oh. Okay. Is this—am I causing trouble for you?"

Nico shook his head. "We're good. We're just figuring it out as we go along."

"And you're teaching me everything you know," Will added, inching closer to him—close enough that Nico could feel his warmth, back to normal levels now that his initial emotions had faded. The proximity, and Will's implications, made him blush.

"Ahem. Anyway. We should probably sit down. You guys have some catching up to do."

Nico's couches weren't large enough for all of them, so he had to bring a few chairs from the table to seat everyone at once—which was somewhat awkward, with Will taking a spot in the couch, which looked unoccupied to Kayla and Lou Ellen.

To Nico, the strangest thing was how relaxed they all were. These were the first, live demigods Nico met to whom he wasn't related, and it had to be the same for his sisters. Even to Kayla and Lou Ellen, who at least knew each other already, this didn't seem like usual circumstances. And yet, with Will and Kayla's conversation framing the whole encounter, they acted more familiarly to each other than Nico would ever have felt comfortable doing otherwise.

Will told Kayla—through Nico—how he had died, even though she already knew it. He also told her what had happened to him since he had become a ghost, which included an overly enthusiastic—though thankfully not too graphic—description of having sex with Nico. Nico had to censor some of that, but Bianca and Hazel could still hear it, and he doubted they would let that go, possibly forever.

Kayla, meanwhile, explained how she had originally met Lou Ellen by chance, when she was sneaking away from their camp. Neither of them had known that other gods than their parents existed, but they had immediately recognized each other as demigods, and had soon made the easy deductions. When she had gotten Nico's message and left to find him, asking Lou Ellen to come along had felt like the right decision—they both wanted to see more of the world, to meet other demigods.

Their proximity as she spoke, the way Lou Ellen held her hand, made Nico wonder if there was another reason they had come together all the way form California, but he didn't ask. Kayla obviously had her secrets, and it wasn't Nico's business to out her if she didn't want to.

From there, the conversation moved on more randomly. None of them really wanted to talk about training, any more than Nico and Will had before; it felt too private, too big a secret to tell a stranger about it. But they did trade more anecdotal information—the most recurring of which were about poking fun of their godly parents. That, it seemed, was something they all shared: a respect tinged with disappointment. Nico guessed that none of the Olympians were particularly good at their job as parents, which made sense, considering all the myths about them.

Neither of them could help explain the sudden influx of demigods and monsters in New Orleans. They had come because of Nico's message; for all they knew, they might not even be related to the attraction demigods had with the city at the moment. Whatever was happening, Nico doubted they were solving the mystery today.

When, finally, Nico's guests decided to leave, well into the night, it was only with the promise of meeting again some other time—something that exhausted him in advance. Talking for two people was tiring, especially with Will's lack of a filter towards Kayla—Nico was torn between embarrassment and fidelity to Will's exact words.

"That was an eventful night," Will said.

Nico sighed. "Yeah. It was." All Nico wanted now was to sleep it off.

Will's voice stopped him halfway to the bedroom. "You don't want to talk about it?"

Nico turned to him. "Talk about what?"

Will shrugged. "I don't know. My sister. Your sisters. Us. Anything. There's so much going on, and it's all happening so fast. Sometimes I don't understand how I still keep up."

"I'm not even sure I still do," Nico said, smirking. "Look, it all went well, right? My sisters love you, Bianca said she'd support us and I have no doubt Hazel will too. Kayla got around once she got to talk to you. We're good, aren't we?"

Will paused for a moment, then smiled. "Yeah…I guess we are." His grin widened, as if he hadn't realized it yet, and he pulled Nico closer to kiss him.