Do you really love me?

Ch.20: Thana.

Will tried everything he could think of to wake Nico up. he found a celestial bronze dagger and killed the demon, he tried calling his name, he tried kissing him on the cheek (and on the lips), but nothing seemed to work. he was yelling nonsense about Percy, Annabeth and his sister Bianca. he seemed to be arguing with someone, but the demon was dead and no one else was around. then out of nowhere, this black mist surrounded them. It took form and with closer examination, Will saw it was a woman. It was Thana.

she shook Nico but obviously he didn't wake up. "I already tried that." Will called to her, but then she did something that Will could only assume was magic. she put her palm on Nico's forehead, then called out, "NICO DI ANGELO, WAKE UP!!" then Nico slumped to the side.

"W-what did you do?! Is he okay?" Will asked running to his side. the tall woman rubbed her hands together, as if they were cold, and said, "He is fine. I just saved his life. if he was in that trance any longer, he would have killed himself. trust me I've done it before. not fun."

Thana picked up Nico and said, "follow me. I've been informed that we need to talk." she melted into the shadows, but the shadow didn't disappear. "Well? are you coming or not?" Will went up to the shadow, and was immediately sucked in. 

Being in a shadow with Nico and Mrs. O'leary was ok. but not knowing where he was going was terrifying. he couldn't tell if he was screaming, but he assumed he was. when he exited, he was in a house that looked like it was built in the medieval times. it had a living room, a drawing room and the kitchen looked like it was built in the 40's. the only thing that looked like it was from present time was a cell phone that was plugged into the wall, charging.

"Do you live here?" he asked.

"Sometimes. but when it's July I go to Canada. I have a nice cabin there." she said putting Nico on the couch. It was amazing how peaceful Nico looked when he was sleeping. "By the way, next time we go somewhere could you try not screaming the whole time? you almost burst my ear drum."

"Oh. sorry." he said, his face turning red. "after you did the magic thing that helped nico, you rubbed your hands together. why?"

Thana was making brownies, but she answered, reluctantly. "that was a spell that does two things. 1) it breaks trances, 2) puts people to sleep. but every time I do it, my hands get super cold and numb. I've always found it strange."

"aren't you a goddess? shouldn't you be able to do magic without consequences?"

"I'm a MINOR goddess. and I used to be a demigod. hungry?"

she made brownies and hot coco, sat down at the dining table and offered Will a seat. the brownies smelled great, but Will still didn't trust her. she gave off bad guy vibes. reluctantly he sat down and took a brownie. like expected, the brownies were good, but not perfect. 

"Do you like them? it's a recipe Iris gave me. vegan brownies. I'm not vegan, but vegan food isn't that bad." she said taking a sip of her coco. she had a very heavy British accent, but it sounded like she was trying to cover it up, like she didn't want it. "They're pretty good. but I think they could use some...... powdered sugar---" but he stopped himself. she looked at him, then took another bite of her brownie.

"you're right! I'll have to tell Iris." and she took out a note pad, wrote a message on it, folded it into a paper airplane, and sent it flying out the window. she wasn't mad at him for correcting her? he wondered.

she sighed. "I can tell by the look on your face that you don't trust me. is this true?"

"y-yes ma'am."

"No need to call me ma'am. Lyn is fine. you want to talk about 'the day' don't you?"

"How did you know? did you listen in on my dream?" he asked.

"Your dad told me. he thought you might forget or be too scared to ask me."

"Are you ok to tell me?"

"Do you want me to?"