"There's more to it than that," Will explained.
"What do you mean?" Nico sat the model F16 down on the window ledge. In front of it was the model of a WW2 bomber. He spun the working propeller.
"The other demigods noticed that you moved into our cabin."
"Of course they have." Nico pulled something from his pocket and placed a rosary beside the airplanes. He looked at the one in his hands. It was woven with agates. He looked sideways at Will as he continued to reminisce. He put it back in his pocket and kept going.
Next was a copy of Dante's Inferno. He quickly set it down with the other items and looked at Will.
They left the Hades cabin. Nico put a board in the doorway preventing it from closing.
No one would live here again. He was the first and only one who had, even though Hades had many sons before. Maybe someone else would go in there and look at things he left behind.
"You broke the rules and did something that no one would understand because you were recovering from something horrific," Will reminded him.
Nico looked wistfully at his father's cabin. He thought of smashing out the windows but after trying to destroy the altar, he knew it wouldn't make a difference. "I don't owe him anything." He started walking towards the main campgrounds.
He got past the Dionysus cabin when he realized Will was not with him anymore. He looked back and was relieved to see him standing only a few feet away. "What are you-"
"Let's grab lunch outside of camp."
Nico didn't answer immediately. Was Will Solace asking him on a date? They had been to Tartarus together…
Not only that, the last time he left camp it was to help Apollo destroy Nero's tower and rescue the demigods inside. He thought of Bronte and wondered if there were any out there like her.
Or he could go to lunch with Will Solace.
"I can just call my mom and have her wire me some cash to the 7-11."
"What are you talking about?"
Will shrugged. "It's a convenience store. It's only about ten blocks away from here. We can still walk. If we take the beach trail, we can avoid the dark forest."
Nico fumbled with the rosary in his pocket as he followed Will along the shoreline. Even though the sky was overcast and the waters turned grey, time slowed to a crawl.
He stopped and looked across the ocean to the horizon. The sea was calm despite everything. He might not be able to walk across it but…
He untied his shoes and set them aside with his socks. He slid his feet into the wet sand and watched as Will ran back to him. Nico backed away and kicked water at him.
"Oh it's like that," Will said, laughing. He scooped up a handful of sand and threw it at Nico. He started laughing too and wiped the mud off his face with his sleeve.
He closed his eyes and listened to the wind, breathing the salty air. He sighed with relief and said, "I'm so glad he's not trying to kill me anymore."
"Kill you? Who would be trying to kill you?" Will's tone was one of amusement more than anything.
"Zeus. He killed my mother because he was trying to kill me. And it was for stupid reasons." He opened his eyes and looked at Will, who seemed to be seeing Nico for the first time again.
Later Will told him, "I want to show you something." He closed the microwave door and set the timer. He opened a bag of chips and handed it to Nico. "My mom had a lot of gigs going on when I was younger. She was trying to make a name for herself but I kind of grew up in these places." He took the bag back and poured chili into it from the dispenser. He added the cheese and handed it back to Nico.
"Do you know that it takes fourteen years to get a medical license," Will told him. "I feel like I've been doing it forever but I'm just in high school. All that is still ahead of me."
"Are you going to New Rome for college?"
"Maybe," he admitted. "But I've been working on a practical application of long term palliative care with Chiron for awhile now and I'm not giving up on that yet either."
"How's that project going?"
"You need a fork for that," Will said, handing it to him. "It's going great. Really amazing, actually." The timer went off beside him and he added the hot water to a cup of noodles.
"Are you ready to go back," Will asked him, throwing away the empty cup.
"I think so," Nico said."I didn't know we could just do something like this."
"Sure! The best part is that you know how to get here now. If I'm too busy studying or something. Not that I won't come too if you ask."
They left the store and started across the parking lot. "Will, what if I make a mistake during my driving test and panic and kill the instructor?"
"What! How is that a possible outcome of a driving lesson?"
"Well see-"
"Don't answer that question. If that something you're actually worried about then you need to talk to Chiron, not me."
Will stopped walking again a few minutes later. "Has something like that actually happened?"
"He threatened Reyna. Since he was asking for it, I did him a favor." Nico kicked a stone across the pavement. It came to stop under a sign with a faded Mos Def poster from 2006. Next to the rock a small rose bush was somehow thriving in the midst of concrete and asphalt.
Will stopped to give it some water and Nico listened for what it had to say.