Inheritance - a sequel to Shelter

Closing Time

The big house is always quiet in the fall. Nico blends in with the long shadows stretching down the hall where Chiron and Mr. D have their rooms. The shadows feel almost thicker than usual and he can't shake the sense that he doesn't belong. It's not quite the same as it had been after he'd discovered the truth of how many years had passed while he and Bianca were at the Lotus Casino, but the sensation is similar enough to drive him to talk to the camp director about it ... or to try to.

As he approaches the open door at the end of the hall, a horrible sound fills his ears. Mr. D, singing to himself.

"Ohhh, the women tear their blouses off and the men they dance on the polka dots, and it's partner found and it's partner lost and there's hell to pay when the fiddler stops ... It's clo-o-sing time..."

He lingers, wondering if this may not be a bad time. Perhaps when Apollo comes to take over as director, he could bring it up with him instead.

"Okay. I know you're there. You might as well show yourself."

Nico cringes, coming closer, ready to step out of the shadows and through the open door when Zephyros shimmers into existence already standing in the room. "You caught, me," he says, laughing. "How's it going, Dionysus?"

Mr. D pauses in packing his suitcase. He's dressed in his usual purple leopard spotted hawaiian shirt, but has opted for purple exercise pants as well and with his belly pooching out, he screams grape. He glances at Zephyros and shrugs, then continues tossing clothes, books, wine glasses, and a number of other odds and ends into his suitcase. No matter how many items he adds, it's never full.

"Zephyr, I ought to have known you'd be by sooner or later. Eros mentioned at the Solstice he'd let you off your leash. I'm on my way out, back to Olympus. You may accompany me if you wish to talk along the way, but I don't like to keep Ariadne waiting."

Zephyros smiles, his russet-colored wings wafting grape scented air into the hall as Mr. D takes up his song again.

"Ah we're lonely, we're romantic and the cider's laced with acid and the holy spirit's crying 'where's the beef?' And the moon is swimming naked and the summer night is fragrant with a mighty expectation of relief..."

"You know what He's doing don't you?" Zephyros asks, hovering casually at the foot of the enormous bed. Nico thinks he looks as he usually does, relaxed, unconcerned, but he gets the sense Zephyros would only talk to Mr. D if he was asked to or if he was worried about something.

Dionysus raises an eyebrow and makes a face to show he doesn't give a damn.

"He's methodically reducing the power of influence of each of his sons. You are one of them."

Mr. D closes his suitcase with a snap and looks at Zephyros, annoyed. "Should I care? I don't. The facts speak for themselves. Hermes and Apollo have ceased trying to oneup each other overpopulating the world with their godling brats; Ares pretty much accepts his lot and Aphrodite keeps him stable, and as for me, Father reduced my sentence by half, and Apollo's punishment reduced it by half again. I'm free to see my wife for the off season. Mhm ... The monsters have quieted down so there's no need for nonsensical quests, even less need for heroes ... 'He who submits to fate without complaint is wise', as the saying goes and I'm not going to complain."

"Yes, I see," Zephyros says and Mr. D starts to sing again as he shuffles into his sandals.

"So we struggle and we stagger down the snakes and up the ladder to the tower where the blessed hours chime. And I swear it happened just like this: a sigh, a cry, a hungry kiss. The gates of love they budged an inch. I can't say much has happened since..."

"He wasn't always like this, you know. I remember back during his cup-bearing days, I thought for sure Zeus would claim the title of the god of theatre."

Dionysus gives Zephyros a hard glare and Zephyros raises his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Hey, not that you don't fill the role well. I'm just saying that the whole power thing changed his personality after a while. Ganymede is pretty much the only one to see that side of him now." Dionysus continues to pack, but Nico can see his ears perking up in interest. "I know because he used to come by my place in Salona whenever Hera was up in arms." Zephyros sighs. "But that's not really what I came to talk to you about, I'm sure you know that."

Mr. D harrumphs and puts his hands on his hips. "I'm not aware of any reason why you feel the need to have a little catch up chat." Nico can tell he's lying by the redness of his nose. "Honestly, my time is short and I really should be saying goodbye."

"So you don't want to talk about how odd it is that when we woke up this morning it was time for you to leave camp and the last thing I recall before going to sleep earlier was that it should have been the morning when you first arrived? Plus a couple of years."

Nico's mind boggles. So it isn't just him. He really was only fifteen when he fell asleep and two years have passed since then. He flushes, thinking back over some of the events his memory seemed to have caught up on, though the idea of not having really experienced them ... Well, the time Hazel had walked in while Will and he were playing doctor... He's sort of glad to have skipped over that.

Dionysus draws Nico's attention again as he waves off Zephyros's concerns as if shooing a fly. "So time is a little out of whack. It's not my problem, doesn't really matter in the long term. I have access to my memories of what happened, so really it's more like using a cheat code to get to the next level in a video game." He picks up his suitcase and tilts his head at Zephyros. "You're not usually concerned with these minor hiccoughs. Was there something else? Want me to put in a good word for you on Olympus, let them know you're job hunting?"

"Please don't," Zephyros says, lighting on his feet on the shag carpeting. "I have an engagement already." He tosses a look towards the door and before he has a chance to see anything, Nico dissolves the rest of the way into shadow.

XxxX

Nico steps back into the real world at the bottom of the big house's front stairs, his mind still reeling.

I'm seventeen. Two years have flown by. Hades knows what's causing it and he's confined to his kingdom. I have to help him. He said he needed to divert all his power to ...

His mind goes blank. To what? Something about time and stirring. He makes his way to the arts and crafts cabin and sinks onto the porch steps, trying to recall the details of his dream.

"Nico! Hey!" A young girl's voice.

He looks up in time to see Will descending on a beam of sunlight, but he's not alone. Nico shades his eyes with his hand as Will and his youngest sister touch down. A car engine roars and the sunbeam mellows and dissolves into normal daylight.

Will releases Liz's hand and jogs up to sit beside Nico on the porch. He wraps his arm around Nico's back, tucking his hand into Nico's back pocket. His touch is hot even through the denim. He plants a kiss on Nico's cheek and Nico finally meets his eyes. They're narrowed.

"You're freezing. Nico? Are you feeling okay?"

Liz sits on the step next to his feet.

"Yeah. I'm needed in the Underworld. I think my father is in trouble."

Why is the world getting so fuzzy, the colors all blurring together? Nico wonders, and Will's startled face seems to dissolve in a swirl of yellow, blue, and gold.

And then there is only black.