See My Shadows, I'll Be Your Light

Nico

I admit I had been skeptical.  I didn't believe him when he said he knew everyone.  Why should I? So I asked him to prove it.  And boy, oh boy was I unprepared.  When he started singing I was a little confused.  What was going on? And then I remembered the song from my childhood- my sister and I used to dance to it in the living room when my mom was out.  But the best part was his voice.  He sang so beautifully, so calmly that I wanted to listen forever.  He smiled while he sang and closed his eyes, so at ease.  I almost cried, except that I was in a public place watching someone on a dare.  I almost didn't notice when the song ended, I was so mesmerized by the singer.  

"Nico?" I looked at him.

"Not too bad, Solace." I gave him a small grin, which was probably the most he would get out of me today.

"Thanks." He offered me a hand up to leave and much to my surprise, I took it. 

"Uhh.. Solace?" 

"Hmm?" 

"You're glowing."  It was true.  He stood contently beside me, surrounded in a golden hue.  I shielded my eyes.

"Oh.. hehe whoops! Let's go, we have a lot to see."   We left the cafe, and I noticed him try to stop smiling.  When he finally did, his glow tuned down, but it wasn't long before his grin bounced back onto his face and he lit up like a candle.  He tried to pat it down, and ended up sighing in defeat.

"How do you keep yourself so gloomy, Nico?" He complained.

"Um.. I don't know. Just.. think, I guess." Memories upon memories crowded my mind, and I scowled, shrugged and let the wind blow my hair into my eyes.  We trudged through the snow and Will stopped me in front of a street sign.  

"Here.  This is the real campus." He beamed.  It was impressive.  Tons of people wandered around, there were restaurants, bookstores and libraries, clubs, and gods I can't even explain! It struck me how amazing it was that mortals couldn't see this.  We passed through a row of trees and by a frozen lake.  A few demigods were skating on it.  Will grinned at me.

"Pretty nice, huh?" I nodded, dumbfounded.  We found a bench by the lake and sat down.  I rested my backpack at my feet and pulled out my sketchpad.  I took it almost everywhere in case of sudden inspiration.  I quickly flipped to a blank page, aware that Will was watching me over my shoulder.  I did not want him looking at my drawings.  

"Hey." I tilted my book the other way.

"Oh, come on." He joked.  I twirled my pencil in my hand and started sketching the scene, including the messy haired, smiling boy sitting next to me.  He jumped and leaned back to see over my shoulder.  I drew him reaching out to see my sketchpad, and then I sketched the trees behind him, with the skaters on the pond, too.  I always took opportunities to capture my favorite moments, and though it was only around 1:00, Will was making this a very good day.  I closed my book and I could tell Will was itching to see.  I sighed and handed it to him, not looking at his face.  He flipped through it, and I felt my face heat as he commented on all my sketches and designs.  

"Wow, Death boy, I'm impressed."

"What's with the new nickname?" I raised an eyebrow in what I hoped to be an unfriendly way.

"It's a work in progress.  The whole 'I'm the prince of darkness' and 'skulls' thing kinda gave me the idea." He shrugged, still absorbed in my book.  

"I never said that!" I huffed defensively, the blush on my cheeks not dimming.

Will laughed and reached out, before realizing what he was doing and drawing his hand back quickly.  A red wave washed over his tanned face.  

"You, uh, had hair in your face."

I looked at him. He was kinda cute when he was embarrassed.  I scowled to keep the thoughts out of my mind and he drew back even more.  My expression softened.

"Ok." I brushed my hair from my forehead and shot a slight smile his way. 

"Oh. Here's your book." He held it out to me. "I especially like that one." He motioned, smirking and flipping to my latest sketch of Will.  It was my turn to blush.  

"Uh.. thanks." I tried to tone down the blush but it didn't really go away, so I wrapped my arms around myself and pretended to be cold.  We got up from the bench and Will grabbed my arm.  I yanked it back to my side.

"Hey, here's an idea. Let's skate!" He motioned to the pond.

"I don't skate. Besides, we don't even own any skates!"

"Where do you think these guys got theirs? There's a winter stand up the hill- I pass it every weekend on my way to the library.  I always told myself I was going to go skating sometime but I never got the chance."  He seemed so pleased I couldn't bring myself to let him down.  I'm not sure why, but I couldn't.

"Oh.... alright, Solace." I shrugged, half smiling.  He ran up and got our skates, and we slipped them on.  Mine shrunk to fit my feet and I marveled silently.  The snow was thick and went almost to our knees, but we managed to make it to the end of the lake.  The first slide was difficult.  We slid off the snow and onto the ice, having no control over our movements.  Will fell down, and I couldn't help laughing as I helped him back up.  We shifted our feet until we were almost in the middle of the pond, where my foot slipped and I used both hands to grab Wills arms and save myself from falling.  He chuckled at me and I quickly let go, looking away. 

"Nico, you're a natural!" Will laughed as I slid over to the other end of the lake.

"Not too bad yourself, Solace." I smiled sarcastically as he slipped again and landed on one knee.  I was actually enjoying myself very much, though there was no way I would let Will see, when a sound pierced the air.  Everyone froze in their tracks.

"What was that?" I looked, alarmed, at Will.  He skated closer to me and clutched my shoulder.

"I think something's found us."

HEY GUYS SORRY ANOTHER KINDA SHORT CHAPTER SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER!! TELL ME IF I SHOULD KEEP WRITING OR NAH BC IM NOT GETTING THAT MANY READS AND I NEED TO KNOW WHETHER OR NOT TO STOP!! SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER IF THERE IS ONE,

XXSAM