The next day Mr. D told him what he already knew.
"She said you can go back when you've learned your lesson and I told her good luck. Trying to teach a demi-god anything is something even Chiron has trouble with."
He bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from speaking. He was not in a very good mood and hearing a god trash talking demi-gods –like he doesn't have demi-god children of his own—just made him angrier. Still, it was no excuse to make the same mistake with a different god. After that he practically ran to cabin nine. Silena looked at him with more interest this time and when he told her his plan she looked impressed.
"Helping two lovers find one another would be a very nice gesture!" she said happily.
He grunted and kept looking at cabins as they walked.
"You don't seem happy to help," she said.
"It's…it's fine," he mumbled and shoved his hands into his pockets.
"How did you offend my mother?" she asked. He glanced at her but looked away quickly.
"Oh come on, I don't think telling me will make it worse. I'm trying to help, Nico."
"I yelled at her. Told her that her plan was stupid," he said without looking at her.
"Her plan for your love life?"
"Not really, it's complicated. The plan was for someone else's love life but involved me."
"Ah…did she make you love someone who didn't love you back?"
He nodded and stopped when he heard Silena sigh heavily.
"I'm sorry. She does that a lot. I don't really understand it either, but I guess even the pain from love is beautiful to a love goddess."
Silena stood there looking pretty and perfect in nothing but jeans and a camp T-shirt. Her long brown hair cascaded down in a loose curls and her make-up was nearly unnoticeable. She should have been the last person in the world to care about breaking hearts but right now she was looking at him with so much sadness and it made him want to tell her.
"I don't know if I can do it," he said painfully. "Make them fall in love." Her eyes widened with understanding.
"One of them is the one you love. Can you tell me who?"
It was burning him up inside and he wanted to tell –to talk to someone! Only Jason knew but he still didn't feel comfortable around him and he knew Jason felt the same way.
"I…"
"I won't tell. I promise," she said gently.
After everything else that had happened, maybe it was the time travel that pushed him over the edge. He'd probably never know for sure, but he did know one thing, that he was so tired of carrying this weight.
"Percy," he whispered and trained his eyes on the ground again. It felt he'd seared his mouth on his own confession.
For a few seconds the world was still and then he was enveloped in a warm hug that was as shocking as ice water. Silena hugged him tightly and he could feel his face burning. No one hugged him like this but Hazel. She didn't let go and he relaxed and hugged her back lightly. She smelled like honeysuckle and for reason it made him homesick, even though he had no home.
They let go and kept walking. She kept talking about nothing in particular: her father, how Drew was always making trouble in the cabin, how everyone was upset over Luke. She didn't ask him how he knew Percy. She didn't mention it at all and he was grateful because he already felt exposed and raw from telling her about his feelings. But thankfully she kept the subjects unimportant as they walked.