"Is this awkward?"

"No. Stop freaking out." Will leaned in slightly. "You should go for it. Order the ribeye."

"I don't know what that is."

"You should order it. I'm getting the porterhouse."

"Your mom's been gone awhile. Shouldn't we wait for her to come back to the table?"

"She told the manager she left her card with me, so no."

Nico looked behind himself. Moonlight drifted on the waves of the Gulf. It was right there. He got out of his chair for a better look and leaned over the railing. He leaned further and dipped his fingers into the water.

"And now it's awkward." Will got up and joined him.

"It's Poseidon, Will. I can still feel him even all this way from camp."

"Okay. What do you mean?" Will leaned back against the rails, looking around the restaurant for the waiter.

"You don't feel connected to them?"

"No. I mean, back at camp in the cabin I feel connected to Apollo but it's not the same."

Water dripped from Nico's fingertips back into the sea. "He's my uncle, Will. Zeus wants me dead and my dad is Hades. So I'll take what I can find."

"I can picture Dionysus as my drunken uncle and say good riddance."

"But why would you give up working in the infirmary because of him? I thought it was everything to you."

"I didn't give anything up. I wasn't benefiting from it anymore and he made it toxic."

"You're still going for your medical license?"

"Yeah. I always wanted to come back here and open a small practice. But my priorities are changing. I know I don't want anything in the Metro but New York is becoming more appealing. Maybe Connecticut, New Hampshire. Rhode Island is also an option."

"I don't like coming here, Will. What if I hurt all these people," Nico said quietly, looking over the darkened waters.

"Why is that your go to? We can have a steak dinner without you murdering people."

"I'm dangerous, Will. I'm not supposed to leave camp."

"We've been here half an hour and nothing bad has happened. Besides, do you really think Poseidon would let that happen?"

Nico faltered. He ran his hand through the water again. "I think you're right."

"Guess what," Will said, grinning at him.

"What?"

"My mom left us here with her credit card. We can pretty much do whatever we want with it. And you don't seem too comfortable here." Will grabbed Nico's hand and pulled him from the restaurant and back into the streets.

"We can't just-"

"Don't worry about it. I spent so much time here when my mom was out on tour. She's going to take us to Corpus Christi tomorrow, but I know my way around the island. I know where we can go."

"You can let go of my hand, Solace."

"No. I don't think I will."

The two of them walked along the sidewalk. Nico was keeping pace but Will kept a tight grip on his hand anyway. He was about to say something when thunder made the windows rattle. "I don't have a jacket for you," Will told him. Or myself.

"He's trying to kill me," Nico said, trying to pull free from Will's hand. "He's going to kill you too. Let go of me."

"I'm not letting go."

"Will you have to!"

Lightning split the sky and the clouds opened up.

They stood there for a moment, getting soaked by the rain.

"It's just a thunderstorm, Nico," Will said. "Zeus doesn't want you dead."

"But-"

"This is normal."

The car that they hadn't noticed was following them, slowly pulled to the curb and came to a stop. "I love my mom," Will said, opening the door to the back seat.

He waited for Nico to get in first.

Naomi Solace didn't look very happy. "William, you know this is only a rental. How am I going to explain why the seats are wet?"

"Sorry mom. We can help you detail it in the morning."

"If I get fined, it's coming out of your allowance."

"Yeah I know mom. Nico was feeling overwhelmed and I had to get him out of there. I might have dropped your card somewhere."

"Are you being serious right now? It's too late in the evening for me to get in contact with the bank to shut it off."

"Relax, mom. Jeez, I found it. Here," Will snapped, tossing it into the front seat.

"I should wait here and make you come around and pick it up. But it's after dinner and apparently I need to go to the grocery store now!"

"Hey mom. You need to get the ribeye. Can you believe Nico's never tried one before?"

"William, that's an expensive cut. I can't just buy them all the time because your friends want to spend the night." She turned over the engine and pulled back onto the road. "Do you want A1 or Heinz?"

"Both of them."

The rain was letting up when the car rolled to a stop. "This is the beach house," Naomi explained. "It used to belong to William's grandparents and when they passed away, I couldn't bear to let go of it."

"Mom! Did you get me the PS5, like I asked?"

"I did. Why are you asking now when it's been collecting dust for months?"

Will shrugged. "I want to show Nico how to play."

"So I'm going to the store by myself, is that it?"

"Yeah mom. Just don't forget the ribeye."

"William, if you do not-" He slammed the car door. Nico glanced at Will and then back at her. Naomi smiled warmly at him and waved her hand before driving away. Will nudged Nico with his elbow. "My mom's the best, isn't she?"

He unlocked the front door and flipped on the hall light. "You lost your id card but we have the paperwork we need to get you a new one in the morning. You can thank Chiron for that.

There aren't any cathedrals on South Padre but there are several on the mainland. We can take you around to find one if you'd like."

"I'm not that Catholic, Will. Have you ever tried sitting through Mass before?"

"No. It must get pretty dull, listening to them go on and on in Latin?"

"That's one way to describe it. I like to look at the mosaics though."

"That actually sounds interesting. They have museums, we can go to. And hey! There's this huge aquarium were they even have hammerhead sharks and giant groupers. It's amazing. They even have private events that are more hands-on."

Will kicked some suitcases out of the way. "You probably have no idea what I'm talking about."

"She's okay just leaving us here by ourselves?"

"I mean, what's the worst that can happen? The storm hasn't even knocked out the power yet." Will turned on the game console and flat screen. "Do you want to play or just watch me for a little while?"

"I'll just watch," Nico said, sitting next to him on the floor.

"Oh come on, mom! .Hack, really? These games are too old for this system." Will looked through the games and best thing he could find was a copy of the Last of Us from the PS4. "Nevermind. We can get some new games tomorrow. Do you want to pick a movie?"

"There are so many," Nico said looking at the wall with rows and rows of DVDs, Blu-ray and a few VHS.

"What do you want to do?"

"My clothes are still wet."

"Right. How did I forget that? Do you want to check out the guest room and see if there's something in there you like? It has a walk-in closet."

"Umm..."

"Go check it out. It's at the end of the hall past my mom's room and mine. I'm going to change and pick out a movie."

The first thing Nico noticed was the model B-52 bomber sitting in the middle of the dresser. He looked behind him, back down the hallway but Will had already gone in his own room. He picked it up, thinking this was too perfect, too planned. Maybe he was right.

He picked out some clothes and took them to the bathroom and turned on the shower. He stayed there until the water ran cold again.

"I hope you boys don't mind but they said there was a recall on shredded cheese and I can't remember which brand they were talking about so I just got parmesan for the potatoes," Naomi was saying when Nico met them in the dining room. She stood at the counter slicing some thin onions. She smiled at Nico. "Did you enjoy yourself? It's almost ready."

"Will, what's going on," he said, sitting down next to him at the table.

"What do you mean? Nothing's going on. This is normal."

Nico didn't think so. "Can I stay here?"

"You can't. Remember? Chiron gave you an assignment. You have six months to finish it. Well, it's already been a week but that's still a long time to research."

"I didn't forget." Nico looked down at the different forks and spoons set beside his plate and vaguely remembered that they each served a purpose. "Anthony of Padua was a Son of Hades who became someone else."

"See? Everything's going to be fine," Will said. He put his hand over Nico's and intertwined their fingers.

It was still raining later that evening but Nico opened the window in the guest room anyway. The water splashed harmlessly off the awnings as he listened for the surf.

I don't want the world to see me because I don't think that they'd understand/When everything's meant to be broken I just want you to know who I am.