Shoot an Arrow Through His Heart

Look, a Hot Blond Boy

CHAPTER SUMMARY

The first day of school.

BEGINNING NOTES

Word Count: 2750
Content Warning: None

Guess who's coming in this chapter?????

For those of you who are following my other fic, the Ghosts of Millennia, I know I didn't post the standard two chapters this week. I've just been super, super, super swamped. I'm going to post extra next week to make up for it.

And all the characters are owned by Rick Riordan.

Credits at the end.

I met Piper at our usual spot. Like most New York suburbs, our town is completely covered with trees. If you cut through the woods behind our houses, there's a narrow, overgrown trail that leads to a small creek in the middle of nowhere. Or, at least, it feels like the middle of nowhere. In reality, it's like half a mile from the road.

I think the trail used to be for horses because it's too big to be a foot trail but not big enough for off-road jeeps. I doubt anyone knows about it but my friends and I. Percy, Grover, Thalia, Zoë and I found it a few years ago while we were searching for Annabeth. There was an... incident with Nico, mythomagic, a giant boar, some skeletons from science class, and Coach Artemis. It's too long of a tangent to get into now, even for me.

The trail doesn't lead to anywhere in particular, but I know those woods like the back of my hand after all the years I've spent exploring them. Piper and I know how to cut through the woods to get to school; we usually walk together if it's a nice day and we have a bit of extra time on our hands. Some of our best conversations come when we're alone. And I was happy we had this morning because I had a lot on my plate.

"Morning, Bianca!" Piper greeted me.

"Morning!" I chirped.

Piper looked at me skeptically. "Okay, what's wrong?" she asked.

I groaned. Piper was too good with people for her own good. "Is it that obvious?" I asked.

"To me," she said. "Now, spill."

I kept my eyes on my feet as I explained about Persephone, Papà, and Nico. My excuse was that I had to keep myself from tripping over the stray branches, but Piper didn't buy it. The truth is, sometimes, like Nico, I need to hide from the world. When I put my head down and my hair falls in my face, it's like a little protective cage around me. It makes hard stuff easier to take.

Is that weird? It sounds a little weird.

Are you actually asking me a question?

Yes, Nico, I'm actually asking you a question.

But I thought I'm supposed to sit here and shut up?

You are a sarcastic little shit and I hate you. Now did that sound weird or not?

Bianca, we're recording an exposé that mostly consists of your high school social interactions and, spoiler alert, my love life. So, no, I don't think the fact that you put your hair in front of your face sometimes is the weirdest thing they're going to hear.

There's a lot more to the story than that, but solid point.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Piper asked.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I don't want Nico to spiral even more than he already has. Junior year's so important, you know? And I'm afraid about next year when I'm in college, and he's by himself. If he keeps going like this... well, I don't want him to end up on the side of a road somewhere."