The Violin That Started it Again

Part 3) Chapter Nineteen

Ugh. I keep getting my other fanfiction mixed up with this one. This sucks. Why did I ever think of writing two stories at the same time?

...

"How is the door already unlocked?"

She huffed, placing her hands upon her hips and shifting her weight upon one leg. "I don't know."

I shrugged. "Well, Nico's probably inside by now so why don't we go ask him?"

Silena nodded. "Okay!"

I allowed Silena to step inside the house before I did. I slid my shoes off and placed them next to the door along with Silena before making our way to the living room.

Of course, Nico was sprawled out on one of the couches. He was staring up at the ceiling deep in thought. He had a distant, yet sad, look in his dark brown eyes, and I had the suspicion that he was thinking of a certain green-eyed, black-haired boy.

I didn't feel like breaking Nico's train of thought. Although, it seemed as if Nico was concentrated so deeply on his thoughts that if I screamed at the top of my lungs, Nico still wouldn't have heard me.

"Nico!" Silena cried. He glanced over at her, slowly raising an eyebrow.

"Why are you yelling so loudly?" Nico asked wearily, placing his hands behind his head.

"How did you get in here?" Silena interrogated. "I thought I locked the door..."

Nico smirked, reached a hand into his pockets, and revealed a paper clip that was now shaped as a thin, straight piece of silver metal. "Thought you'd never ask. I picked your lock."

"Why do you know how to pick locks?" I sighed heavily at Nico's answer as Silena's eyes pretty much bulged out of their eye sockets.

He shrugged. "Don't know."

I frowned down at him. "I know you're lying Nico."

He glared back at me. "No I'm not."

I rolled my eyes at his stubbornness. "I can tell you're lying."

"How?" Nico challenged. "I honestly don't know why I can pick locks."

"No one would just suddenly know how to pick locks," I answered. "Someone would need a specific reason for knowing how to pick locks."

Nico sighed loudly. "What if I don't feel like telling you the reason?"

Silena pouted. "Why don't you want to tell us?"

He shrugged, staring up at the ceiling as if reliving the memory. "Maybe because my eleven year-old self was just too stupidly ignorant."

"Stupidly ignorant," I repeated slowly, my mouth forming a small, amused smile.

"Hey, when I was eleven, I was really stupid," Nico stated. "Imagine an eleven year-old without any parents or any siblings."

"Wasn't your dad still alive though?" Silena remarked, leaning against the backside of the couch.

Nico scoffed. "He was, but it wasn't like he ever took care of me or anything."

Silena nodded slowly in understanding. "Right." She grimaced slightly as if it happened to her.

"But anyway, why do you know how to pick locks?" I asked Nico again, who sighed loudly at the question.

"Do I have to tell you?" Nico huffed.

"Of course you have to tell us!" Silena exclaimed. "We're your best friends! You can tell us everything can't you?"

Nico shrugged. "I don't know. Can I?"

"Yes you can!" Silena reached over and shook Nico's shoulder violently. "Tell us okay?"

He frowned, glaring at Silena. "Haven't you heard of privacy?"

Silena waved her hand. "Oh please. Just tell me?" She pouted.

I chuckled. "You should tell Silena before she goes crazy," I suggested.

Nico rolled his eyes. "There was this guy named Minos. He was this guy who always bullied me when I was eleven."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Silena stared down at him sympathetically.

"I didn't have any friends;" Nico put bluntly. "I never did, and I thought I'd never had any. Minos pretended to be my friend at first. I never really liked him. I had suspicions of him, so I never actually trusted him. Then, he started becoming harsher on me. He yelled at me, but it happened about a year after my sister died. So, I never actually had any emotion. I threw it all away. So whenever Minos threatened me, I was completely unfazed.

"Then there came a time when he started to beat me up. For a year I suppose."

"A year?" I gasped. "That's a terribly long time Nico."

"I know." Nico shrugged. "I had to sneak into my father's room to still money from him so I could heal myself."

"That's why you know how to pick locks isn't it?" I raised an eyebrow at Nico as all the jigsaw pieces starts to fit together.

He nodded. "My father's room was locked. I snuck into there when it was night time while my dad was sleeping. I never actually saw what was in his room..." Nico trailed off sorrowfully as if he now knew what was in his dad's bedroom.

"Did he ever find out about you sneaking into there?" Silena asked, making Nico flinch visibly.

"Y-Yeah," he stuttered. "I... I don't want to talk about it."

He chewed on his bottom lip while Silrna and I exchanged glances. We both knew not to push the topic whenever it involved his dad.

"So," I started, beginning to change the subject,  "why did Minos pretend to be your friend?"

Nico shook his head, gazing up at the ceiling. "I don't really know. At one point, he started beating me up, saying how impatient he was and what a waste it was to pretend to be my friend." His eyes flicketed between the two of us. "Will you two..." He shook his head once more. "Never mind, forget it."

Silena practically jumped over the couch and landed onto Nico. "We'd never!"

"Do you--" Nico stopped to gasp for breath from Silena's football tackle. "Do you even know what I'm talking about?"

I grinned, walking over to Nico and ruffling his hair. "We'd never leave you Nico."

He smiled, but I could see in his eyes that he didn't believe us. Maybe it was because Percy said the same thing to him.

"Thanks guys," Nico said, even though u already knew that it was a lie.

A completely false truth.