The Sun Without Stars Solangelo

The Sister

Nico's POV

Dying was harder than Nico thought it would be. There were a lot more lose ends than he had thought.

Will turned out to be the least of his concerns. 

Hazel, on the other hand? He knew she understood death nearly as well as he did–it kind of came with the job of being a Hades kid, but she was going to take it hard. She tried iris messaging him repeatedly but he'd wave them away as soon as he saw them forming. She seemed to trail him just as well as everything else in the underworld did.

He'd noticed that bones tended to turn up wherever he sat for too long. He'd constantly pick up stray ones and was practically forming a collection in his cabin.

Some people collected stamps. Nico collected femurs.

He barely caught sight of Will at Camp Half-Blood, though he did catch him staring a couple times when he went out to talk to Chiron, discussing the influx of monsters and how things were looking for both camps.

"What do you think they're after? I haven't seen such organized attacks since... Gaea" Chiron asked two mornings after Nico awoke.

Although he was fond of the centaur, he really wished the man wasn't so intent on finding the cause of this particular situation. Nico couldn't very well say "They've come because mother dearest is after one of the Olympian Gods and I've accepted the role as her vessel!" That would probably send Chiron into a coma. Instead, he assured Chiron that the monsters had nothing to do with him, and had not made any effort to approach him when he'd shadow travelled to camp.

Against his wishes, Reyna dragged him to the dining hall every meal, having him sit next to her among the rest of the hunters, much to their dismay. He tried to ignore the threads of fear, abandonment, loathing, and despair among her group. Somehow they looked tastier than the food in front of him that lay untouched.

On his second dinner back, a couple of the younger hunters murmured between one another about what had happened, speculating all sorts of possible reasons why Nico had run into Reyna; ideas that Reyna shot down immediately.

"God, we may be smarter than you lot, but the younger ones have the wildest imaginations sometimes. How are you feeling?"

"Like crap. I think those harpies took some of my intestines cause I have had the worst stomach ache since I got back." Just the mention of the harpies sent shivers down his spine. 

"You got attacked by harpies?! I can't believe you got shredded by a bunch of half chickens! I thought you were a zombie when you ran into me!" She clapped him on the back and laughed heartily. Nico winced, his wound bashed by her strong arm.

Reyna had no idea about where he'd gone, and it was going to remain that way.

"Shut up and eat your food," Nico grumbled, pushing her hand off his shoulder. The hunters at her table all exchanged glances, waiting for Reyna to beat the crap out of him for his insolence.

"Take your own advice," she spat in a bantering tone, though he could hear the concern in her voice.

When Nico remained silent and didn't reach for his food, another hunter around Reyna's age asked, "Are you going to be a part of the capture the flag? If so, it might be better if you don't stay for too long so we can make plans."

"Count me out. No way am I playing that stupid game while I've been patched up like Frankenstein."

"You've seen the movie?" Reyna asked, slightly surprised. Then again, not many campers ever left for very long, and technology wasn't a demigod's best friend.