Lost Hero

Dinner

"Percy, are you okay? I-" With this he glanced over at the others in the room.

"I'm fine Neeks, my apartment burnt down so Bruce offered to let me stay here," Percy says, her voice sounding deliberate.

"Was it, um, them?" Nico asks, looking at us again.

"No, it was just a mor-" At this Percy seems to catch herself, "-moron who didn't turn off their stove," She finishes.

"How did you get in here? What are you doing here?" Bruce asks, on edge. The only thing keeping him from attacking the boy was the fact that Percy seemed fine with him.

"I'm here checking in on my cousin. I'm sorry Perce, I would have gotten here earlier but accidentally took a little detour," Nico says, seeming frustrated.

"Did you go too far this time?" Percy asks, as if this was common.

"Nah. I brought you some stuff from camp though. I figured yours got destroyed? I'll just hand it off and get going," Nico asks, handing over the backpack that was slung over his shoulder.

"Oh, you're a lifesaver, Nico. But you know you've done too much traveling for the day, if you go back to camp today, Will will kill you," Percy says, seeming thoughtful.

"If he needs somewhere to stay, he can stay here. I've got plenty of rooms and I don't think he looks up to traveling," Bruce says, looking at the sickly looking kid.

Percy looks at Nico as if pleading with and he sighs.

"Fine, just let me go IM Will that I won't be back," he says, looking over at the two older men.

"I'll take you to my room," Percy says, looking to Bruce as if to ask permission and he nods.

Alfred and Bruce watch as Percy leads Nico out of the kitchen, both puzzled.

"I have no clue how he got in here," Alfred says, seeming puzzled.

"I don't think you could have stopped him if you wanted to," Bruce mutters, feeling the chills. Something about the Nico kid made him uneasy.

********************

"Nico, why did you come? I was fine, you would have felt that," Percy asks, herding Nico into her room.

"I came to warn you. Don't come back to camp. There's nothing wrong! But it's changed, it isn't the camp it used to be. Will and I are leaving for New York in a week, I thought you should get a heads up first,"

Percy nods, thoughtful.

****************************

When Bruce sat in the kitchen the next morning, he was surprised to see Percy come in alone.

"Percy, is your friend coming down?" Bruce asks, looking around for the boy.

"No, he ended up leaving already," Percy says, raising her eyebrows in surprise as Alfred sets down a plate of food in front of her.

"Oh?" Bruce says, frowning in confusion. He had spent the whole night awake, watching all the sensor alarms and watching all the doors through the hidden cameras. Nothing was opened last night, not a window and certainly not a door.

"Yeah, his boyfriend was peeved he had exhausted himself so he went back to camp to try and appease him," Percy says, starting to eat her breakfast.

"Coffee or tea?" Alfred asks, preparing both in the kitchen, he knew Bruce would have coffee but wanted to be considerate of Percy, although he had a feeling that she would have coffee as well.