Goddess Of Idiots: That was probably my favorite quote of the week. God, House of Hades came out a week ago, we own it, and I still haven't read it! It's killing me.
Mrs-diAngelo25: I know, I'm really sad, but it has to end. I personally really like the way I wrap this story up. Yeah, the dance was pretty awful. But the Dairy Queen totally made up for it. I got a peanut butter blast or something like that, it's a sundae with hot fudge and peanut butter and pieces of chocolate, and it was soooooo good. I'm sorry yours closed.
SummerSpirit18: Yeah, I don't think I could ever wear giraffe PJs. I own a zebra-striped onesie, though. Quality angst is what I aim for. Dude, your government knows what you Google, too. You think ours is the only one? They all do. They can see your phone records, too. People you call, people you text, what you text. Don't worry, they only do it if they really need to, like if they think you killed someone or something.
coralie14: Thank you, I try. Sorry it's late, the library was closed yesterday.
dont get too close: I will never be able to read any of your reviews again without imagining it in an Australian accent. I have a tendency to assume that everyone on here is from America, it always surprises me when I find out that someone isn't. But I'm sorry you don't have Homecoming in Australia. It's sort of a pointless dance, but then again all dances are pretty pointless. Wait, why do you have school holiday?
infinity heart star lightning: Yeah, Hades not bringing Persephone to the hospital comes in this chapter. It was more that she was standing there and he couldn't really just leave. I've never read Maximum Ride. Thalia wasn't calm so much as she was in shock. You should go to your Homecoming. It'll probably suck, but if something happens and you aren't there to know about it then you'll have a terrible time trying to get caught up.
Lost Daughter of Poseidon: I was going to write the part when Hades first sees Nico in the hospital, but I decided not to, sorry. Maybe I will later.
nicoXthalia: Don't worry.
I don't own Percy Jackson. I do own Lily Springs Youth Care Facility.
Chapter 9 – Eleventh Grade Part Three
The room was white. The bed was white. The table next to the bed was white. Nico was glad that they'd let him wear his own clothes, because if they'd made him stay in that stupid white dress thing they'd put him in before he thought he might go crazy.
Well, crazier than he already was. He was in a loony bin. A "residential treatment center for troubled teens" was what the nice lady with too much lipstick on and a too-wide smile had called it, but of course that was just a nice term for loony bin. He'd seen the other kids here. Some of them were like him, at least that's what the doctors said, but Nico knew that there was no one like him. They might do the same things as him, drink and cut and do drugs, but they weren't like him.
He leaned back and rested against the (white) wall and stared up at the (white) ceiling. He'd asked one of the doctors if he could paint something on the walls and ceiling, just to make them more interesting, but he'd been informed that they couldn't give patients paint, just like they couldn't give patients knives, even plastic ones. Of course that was stupid, because the paper towel dispensers in the bathrooms had serrated edges, but he'd decided not argue. It didn't really matter what color the walls were anyway. He'd be getting out of there soon enough. He hoped.
It was three weeks into his stay, and he hated it just as much as he had when he'd arrived. Maybe he was getting better, but he wasn't sure what that meant anymore. Had there ever been anything wrong with him in the first place? Or was it everything around him?
His father and Persephone had visited a few times. Persephone was trying to play nice with him, bringing him chocolates and a different bouquet of flowers every week. She insisted they made the room look nicer. He always poured the chocolates down the toilet and pulled the flowers apart, and he never talked to them.
He secretly hoped that Thalia would come. As much as he hated to admit it, he missed her. He missed her bad jokes and her snarky comments about their teachers. And he missed the Cheez-Its that she would bring sometimes, because the food at Lily Springs Youth Care Facility (which wasn't located anywhere near any sort of spring) sucked. He knew she'd called 911 for him, but maybe she was scared of him now, just like she should have been from the beginning. Had the kiss even been real? He couldn't be sure.
The door opened, but Nico didn't lift his head from the wall. It was probably just another doctor here to talk to him. Some shrink who would ask him nosy questions that he didn't want to answer, and that he probably wouldn't answer.
He did look up when the person sat on his bed and said, "Nico."
It was his father. He looked around for Persephone, but she wasn't there.
As if reading his mind Hades said, "She's still at home. I'm on my lunch break, I wanted to know if maybe you'd talk to me if she wasn't here. I know…" he sighed. "I know you don't like her."
Nico blinked.
"I'm sorry, Nico."
He looked down at his hands.
"I don't know where we went wrong, but I know it was my fault, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Nico didn't look up.
Hades sighed. He hadn't really expected Nico to talk to him, but it was worth a try. And it was nice to be able to talk to his son without Persephone there. As much as he loved her, she could be a bit overwhelming. He stood up to leave.
His hand was on the doorknob when Nico said, "Don't be sorry."
He turned around. Nico was still staring at his hands.
Nico swallowed. "Don't be sorry," he said again. "It wasn't your fault." Hades took a few steps forward. "I'm sorry. I didn't try. I'm…I'm…a terrible son."
Hades sat down on the bed again. Nico pulled his knees up to his chest. There were tears streaming down his face, and his lip trembled. It was the first time in a long time Hades had seen Nico cry. In fact, it was the first time since Bianca's death that Nico had dropped his walls, taken off his mask, and shown his father what he really felt.
Hades moved up to sit next to Nico and wrapped his arms around his son. Nico froze for a moment, but finally he let the dam break and leaned against his father's chest, sobbing.
"You're not a terrible son, Nico," Hades said. "You're just a kid."
Just a kid. The words echoed through Nico's head, and he knew that Hades hadn't meant them in a derogatory way. He was just a kid, and he hadn't been able to believe it for a long time. Because kids didn't open the door to find out that their sister was dead. Kids didn't pass out in the cafeteria. Kids didn't spend their nights sitting on an abandoned dock drinking and cutting themselves. Kids didn't almost kill themselves.
But he was just a kid, and for the first time in over six years, he let himself believe it.
Thalia lay on her stomach on her bed, staring at her phone. She cursed herself for not asking for Nico's number. She knew he was okay (or at least alive) but she didn't know where he was. She didn't even know where his apartment was, so she couldn't go to see if he was home, although she doubted that he was. And now that she thought about it, he probably didn't have his phone with him anyway. He would have been taken to some sort of mental hospital or something, and it wasn't likely that they would have let him keep his phone.
But still, it would have made her feel better if she'd had his number or his address. Something so that she wasn't just sitting here, waiting to see him again. It was agony.
As she was staring at it, her phone lit up and began playing her ringtone. She grimaced. She really had to change that.
Annabeth's picture was displayed on the screen. Thalia debated ignoring the call, but she knew that Annabeth wouldn't leave her alone until she answered.
She cleared her throat, hoping to sound normal, and answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Thalia! Oh, good, I thought you weren't going to answer."
Thalia forced a laugh. "Why wouldn't I answer?"
"Well you've been kinda MIA for a while," Annabeth said. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." But her voice was strained, and Annabeth could tell.
"Seriously, Thalia, what's wrong?"
Thalia gritted her teeth. She didn't want to talk right now unless it was to Nico. "I'm fine, Annabeth."
Annabeth snorted. "Yeah, no you're not. I'm coming over."
She hung up before Thalia could protest.
Thalia sighed and threw the phone down onto her bed. She put her face into her pillow and lifted her hands over her head.
That was the way Annabeth found her forty minutes later when she strode into Thalia's room.
"Thalia," she said softly. She sat down on the floor next to Thalia's head. Thalia turned her face to look at Annabeth. "What's going on?"
Thalia bit her lip for a second. "You know Nico?"
"Not personally, but you know that. Why?"
"I…" she bit her lip again, trying to think of what to say.
Annabeth put a hand on Thalia's shoulder. "Did he hurt you?"
"No!" Thalia cried and rolled over onto her back. "No. I started hanging out with him on the abandoned dock in November."
"Wait," Annabeth interrupted. "You were hanging out with Nico di Angelo? Thalia what the hell were you thinking? That kid is dangerous!"
Thalia sat up. "He's not! He's…he's just…he has trouble. But he's actually really nice when you get to know him. Well, not nice. He's nice the way I'm nice, you know?"
Annabeth stood up and sat back down on the edge of Thalia's bed. "So what happened?"
Thalia crossed her legs and looked down at her hands. "I found him," she whispered.
"What do you mean you found him?"
"He…he cuts himself…or he used to. And he was…cutting, and he…he tried to kill himself." Thalia's lip trembled.
"God," Annabeth breathed. "And you found him?"
Thalia nodded and took a deep breath, brushing away tears. "He was on the dock and he was bleeding and I tried to help him and…"
"Thalia." Annabeth put her hands on Thalia's shoulders. "Did Nico…did he…"
She shook her head. "No, the ambulance got there in time. But…his blood was all over my hands, Annie."
Annabeth wrapped her arms around Thalia, and Thalia sobbed into her shoulder. "And now I can't talk to him. I don't know where he is, I don't have his number, I don't have his address, I can't find out if he's okay."
Annabeth rubbed her back. "It'll be okay, Thalia," she promised.
Thalia leaned back, sniffling. "You can't tell anyone," she said.
"I won't." Annabeth tucked a strand of Thalia's hair behind her ear and smiled. She didn't like the idea of Thalia spending time with Nico, she cared about her friend and she knew that Nico was…troubled, but Thalia cared about Nico. "He'll be okay."
Thalia nodded and wiped her face. "I know. I just wish I could talk to him. Not knowing anything is worse than knowing that he's never coming back or something."
As she wrapped her friend in another hug, Annabeth tried not to think that maybe it would be good if Nico didn't come back.
Only one chapter left! I'm sorry I didn't upload yesterday, the library was closed because it was a holiday.
By the way, I got my Trig tests back today, I got a 99 on one of them and a 92 on another. And I got a 98 on one of my assessments for American Lit. I'm very excited.
I'm uploading a new one-shot today, it's called Dance and it's a Thalico high-school AU. It was inspired by the Homecoming dance.
VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: A girl went missing from my school last Wednesday. I'm not saying that any of you might see her or anything, but the police have been talking to people in Texas, and we live in New Hampshire, so it's a possibility. Her name is Abigail Hernandez, she's about 5'4" and weighs 118 pounds, she's Hispanic with light olive skin and brown hair and eyes, and she was last seen wearing black leggings or yoga pants, a gray striped, multicolored sweater, and black leather boots. Her birthday was on Saturday, she's now fifteen. If you know anything call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
I'm sorry to anyone who reads Along the Way, I wasn't able to write a new chapter for today.
This morning my alarm went off at 5:00 like always, but I turned it off and fell asleep again. I woke up fifteen minutes later and started getting ready for school. While I was sitting downstairs eating breakfast I looked at the clock and realized that it was an hour later than I thought it was and I had missed the bus. My mom couldn't drive me to school on time because she had to stay at home to make sure the twins were ready on time, so I got to school an hour late.
Quote of the Day: "You can't talk about scary, you're naked except for a spider web cape and you bright red boxers." My mother talking to my ten year old brother. At the dinner table. It's a good thing my dad wasn't there.
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