I wrote this one pretty quickly. No clue why. I just felt like it. And I stand firmly behind the statement that this chapter was necessary and not just a way for me to relive my 8th grade trip to Philly without having to deal with the horrifying memory of my disgusting shitty class. Anyway, enjoy!

"Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Columbus is the capital of O-hi-o!" Will was singing again, this time it was a song from an old cartoon. This was his third time through. Nico did need to be particularly focused on this book he was reading, it was a shitty romance novel he'd stolen from the school library out of spite for the bitchy librarian, but Will's voice made him uncomfortably comfortable. It made him angry.

"There's Mongomery, Alabama. South of Helena, Montana." Lou and his sister joined in now. "Then there's-"

"Shut up!" Nico shouted

"Denver, Colorado, and Boise, Idaho." They sang the last part pointedly at Nico, who rolled his eyes.

"Philadelphia, here we come." Jason said, staring out of the window at the Philadelphia sky line. "Why did Chiron say we were going again."

"The Philadelphia zoo, the Eastern State Penitentiary, and then we all get dinner." Hazel said.

"Wonderful." Nico said sarcastically.

"Trenton's in New Jersey, north of Jefferson, Missouri. You've got Richmond in Virgina. South Dakota has Pierre!-"

"Thalia would have a panic attack, just looking at that thing." Jason said as they waited in line for the Philadelphia zoo balloon ride.

"Yep..." Nico trailed off. He watched the previous group coming down and shuffled nervously.

"Oh, are you scared Nico?" Jason teased.

"No..."

"Aw, is Mr. Ghost King scared of heights?"

"No, I just... don't like the idea of falling." Nico said. Jason laughed and hugged him, picking him up off of his feet.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you. I promised Bianca." He said.

"Put me down Jason." Nico hissed. Jason laughed and swung him a bit before putting him back down. Will looked annoyed. Nico watch a pair of little kids bound out of the balloons and felt a bit silly for being so terrified, but didn't feel and less scared. They filed into the balloon and grabbed onto the bars on either side of them. Unlike the balloons they were imagining, the "basket" part was a sort of ring shape with metal half walls, a sort of plastic/canvas type floor, and a weave of plastic rope that went up above all of their heads. The balloon was huge and connected to the ground by a sort of wire or something that went up through the middle of the ring shape and into a sort of hole in the ground. There was a prerecorded telling them that there would be a bump at the bottom and at the top and stuff of the like. Nico moved his hand back a bit, and it fell atop someone else's hand. He turned to look behind him and was met with bright blue eyes. Nico froze for a short moment.

"Oh, um, sorry." Nico muttered, and moved to take his hand back, but then the balloon bumped, and Nico's hand immediately clamped back down on Will's out of both surprise and honest to god fear. This time, however, their fingers sort of laced, and it was obvious that Will was holding onto Nico just as much Nico was holding onto him. Hazel, who was a few steps in front of them, looked over her shoulder and giggled at Nico's predicament. Nico felt his cheeks burn and narrowed his eyes at her. The balloon continued to rise and Nico's grip didn't loosen. At the top they stopped, swaying a bit.

"You are now 500 feet up." The recorded voice said.

"Why'd you say now?" Nico hissed a bit louder than he wanted. Everyone else laughed. Nico could feel Will's laughter, and it took all of his willpower not to turn around and kiss him right then and there. Well, we are 500 feet up. Nico thought We're probably going to die anyway. Might as well kiss him be for a gust of winds picks us up and flys us of to Oz.

"So hello to Snapchat!" Jason said, ducking down next to Nico and snapping a picture.

"Oh, fuck off!" Nico shouted. "Jason I swear if you used the dog filter on that i will throw you off of this thing."

"What do you have against the dog filter?" Jason said. "It makes you look so much less terrified."

"Go to hell." Nico looked over his shoulder at the city below them, and moved his left hand, the one not linked to Will's, to the opposite bar, next to his right hand. He stared at the beautiful scenery, trying to take it all in. He pointed things out to Jason and Hazel, and laughed when Jason nearly tripped when he decided to be 'funny' and throw his hands up and spin in a circle. The balloon bumped again, and Nico's grip on both the bar and Will's hand tightened. The descent was much less terrifying than the ascent, and Nico's grip loosened. He had to shake his right hand and crack his knuckles after getting off the balloon.

They wandered around making faces at the animals and buying funnel cake. The entire time Nico kept glancing at Will, which was not uncommon, but he also kept catching Will steaing glances at him. He had no clue what just happened. They hated each other, right?

"Eastern State Penitentiary. They say this place is haunted." Will said. When they entered.

"Boo!" Nico and Hazel shouted, shoving Jason's shoulders (which was a difficult task, considering Nico was 5'1", Hazel was 4'11", and Jason was a whopping 6')

"Ffff-" Jason yelped. "I hate you two."

"Don't worry, this place is at least 83% ghost free." Hazel said.

"And how would you know?" Lou asked incredulously.

"Oh this schtick." Jason rolled his eyes. "Ever since we were younger, these two have insisted they can sense ghosts. They know that ghost and stuff creep me out so..."

"We don't just sense them," Hazel said.

"We can summon them too." Nico deadpanned. "I've got a zombie chauffeur named Jules Albert."

"Nico, we both know Jules Albert is just an old guy with an iron deficiency." Jason said. Nico shook his head.

"Nope, he's a zombie. We also can tell if some is dead or dying." Nico said.

"It's a genetic thing." Hazel said. "We got it from our dad."

"Why else would people call me Ghost King?" Nico crossed his arms.

"No one calls you Ghost King. That came from a card game you were obsessed with as a kid. You thought you looked like the faceless character called 'the Ghost King'." Jason said.

"Shhhhh." Nico hushed. "Just trust us."

"Yep. We're not even supposed to be alive right now. We were born in the 1920s." Hazel said.

"Yeah, I lived in a time warp hotel for a few months, and turns out decades had passed."

"And I died. Then Nico brought me back from the dead." Hazel said

"We are basically like 80 years old."

"What you are is a pair of freaks." Jason said.

"Hey," Nico started.

"Respect your elders." Hazel finished. Lou looked confused but amused, Kayla looked slightly worried, and Will was flat out cackling. Nico made him laugh again, and this time he could actually see.

They took the audio tour around the penetiary, and not long after entering did they abandon the tour and just started wandering and looking at shit. They entered tiny cells and gawked at Al Capone's. They were brought down into a short and narrow underground hall with pipes and a low ceiling. At the end was a solitary confinement room. Nico and Hazel laughed at Will, Jason, and Chiron, who all had to duck to fit in the hall. Lou could walk but her head was nearly touching the ceiling and Kayla's hair skimmed it. Meanwhile Hazel and Nico walked freely. No one went to the gift shop, and everyone just loaded back onto the bus when Argus came to pick them up.

None of them felt particularly keen on going to the restaurant Chiron suggested, and they all just decided to go to a McDonalds and get back on the road. Hazel, Jason, and Nico all sat at one of the tables, and Will, Lou, and Kayla were at the other.

"Ugh, pickles." Nico said. "Do either of you-"

"No." Hazel and Jason chorused, knowing Nico would end up asking. He rolled his eyes and turned around in his seat.

"Do any of you want pickles? I hate them." Nico said.

"Will." Kayla and Lou said simultaneously.

"The freak loves pickles." Lou laughed.

"Weirdo." Kayla agreed. Nico chuckled.

"Do you want them or not?" He asked Will.

"Of fuckin' course!" Will laughed.

"Language." Chiron shouted from where he was reading in the back on the bus. Nico put his pickles in a piece of the paper that his hamburger was wrapped in and ripped the piece off. He folded it and handed it over to the blonde. Nico sat back down and looked at his burger. He turned around again a moment later.

"By any chance do you like tomatoes?"

"Hand 'em over"

I hope you enjoyed! BTW that song Will was singing is and actual song. Our teacher taught us it in 4th grade. We'd sing it all of the time. We also learn one about all of the counties in New Jersey. She was the best teacher... anyway, I'm currently working on the next chapter, which may or may not be in Will's POV ;). They're also visiting one of the best places on earth. La-dee-da you have to wait haha. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Goodbye!