A/N Warning: Contains two curse words. It's really not that bad, so I don't think it will offend anyone. I rated this story T, after all.
After Curfew
I went to my cabin and sat on my bed. I stared at the wall and hoped nobody would talk to me. No such luck. Austin sat next to me.
"Are you ok?" he asked.
"Go away," I said.
"I get that you're upset that Courtney broke up with you, but wasn't your relationship dying anyway?"
"That's not what I'm upset about," I said. "Go away."
"Is it about the bi thing?" Austin asked. "Cause dad and half the cabin are bi."
"No," I said. I didn't bother telling him to go away for the third time. He wasn't going to listen.
"I'm not an Aphrodite kid," Austin complained. "You have to actually tell me what's wrong."
I didn't answer. I didn't want to talk about Nico. I didn't know what had happened, how was I supposed to tell someone else?
"It's Nico, isn't it," Kayla said.
I nodded miserably.
"Nico?" Austin asked. "That guy Will had a crush on?"
"Yes," I said. "That guy I had a crush on." I burst into tears and ran out of the cabin.
"Wait!" Kayla called. "It's past curfew. The harpies-" I was to far away to hear what she said after that.
The harpies were a problem. It was just bad luck; I ran right into three of them between Cabins 11 and 13. I was starting to realize how stupid it was to leave the cabin.
"A camper out of bed!" a harpy yelled enthusiastically. "A free snack."
Why had I overreacted to Austin's comment? It hadn't been that bad. I tried to run and tripped heroically on my own feet. I had to be the most pathetic demigod ever. The harpies bore down on me with their claws extended.
Suddenly Nico was there. He knocked all three harpies unconscious easily.
"Oh," I gasped. I sounded ridiculous. "Hi. Thanks."
He stared down at me. "Are you trying to get yourself killed, Solace? What are you doing out at this time of day?"
"I just- Austin was teasing me, and I couldn't stay there."
"You can't be outside after curfew," Nico said sternly.
"Like you can talk," I complained.
"I know what I'm doing, and I'm prepared to defend myself," he said. "You're not."
"I'm not going back to the Apollo Cabin," I insisted. I knew I sounded like a pouty child, which was not how I wanted to sound in front of my crush. I was too tired and stressed out to care.
Nico studied me with a thoughtful expression. His eyes seemed softer than normal. "You can stay in Cabin 13, if you want."
I wasn't quite sure what to make of that offer, but I accepted. "Thanks," I said.
He shrugged, looking awkward. "It's not that big of a deal."
I didn't know of any safe ways to respond to that, at least none I could think of with my brain scrambled by Nico's presence. I always had a hard time thinking coherently around him. Anyway, I settled for silence.
Nico was comfortable in silence. He led me to Cabin 13 and held the door open for me. The green torches flashed ominously when I stepped over the threshold. Inside the Hades Cabin it was hard to see. The only light seemed to be from the green flames outside the door, and they didn't illuminate anything besides the vague outline of shapes. Bunks? An Altar? It was hard to guess in the dark.
Nico stepped in behind me and closed the door. The sound seemed ominous in the now pitch black. I heard footsteps, but they were soft and it was hard to tell where they were coming from.
"I know it looks a bit- vampiric in here," Nico said. "I was planning to remodel, but I got used to this decor before I had the time."
"I can't see anything," I explained. "There's no light."
"Oh," Nico said. He sounded surprised. "I'd forgotten about that. Hades' children can see properly. Hazel made a lamp for when Frank visits, it should be around here somewhere."
I tried not to feel insulted that Nico had said I couldn't see properly. Frank couldn't see properly, either, and Nico probably hadn't meant it as an insult.
I heard a thump and a cry of pain. "Damn it!" Nico yelled.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I dropped Hazel's lamp on my foot," Nico complained. "Shit. Why does it have to weigh so much?"
"What's it made of?" I asked. That seemed like the most logical reason for something to be heavy.
"Diamond."
"Why do you have a lamp made of diamond?" I asked. "Wouldn't that be ghastly expensive and useless?"
"It was the fast, cheap option," Nico countered. "Hazel summoned it, Lou Ellen enchanted it to glow, and I shadow jumped it to the cabin because it was too heavy to carry far."
He apparently turned the lamp on, because the room lit up a bit. He'd been right; the décor strongly suggested vampires. All the cabins I'd been inside of had at least mostly normal bunks, except for the Hephaestus Cabin. Even the Hephaestus Cabin hadn't been this weird. The beds in the Hades Cabin looked like coffins. They were bronze and mahogany, and they looked quite elegant. Unfortunately, they also looked like coffins. The sheets and pillows were even crimson, bloody red.
I tried to make myself feel like it was funny, not creepy. "I get what you said about the vampires," I commented. I noticed an altar at the back of the cabin. It was covered in jewels and bones. Some of the bones looked human. I tried not to focus on that fact.
"Pick any bunk except this one," Nico said, indicating the one at the right of the altar. I picked the one to the left of the altar.
We got ready for bed without talking. He didn't have any pajamas in my size, so I slept in my clothes. I couldn't fall asleep that night. Maybe it was because of the unfamiliarity of the room, or the strange brass railings on the sides of my bunk. It might've been because Nico's even breathing was bizarrely distracting, or because the altar radiated a darkness that went far beyond lack of physical light. Whatever the reason, it was very hard to fall asleep in Cabin 13.
