Gone Girl.¹

𝟬𝟭𝟰. family dinner

Nico got down on her level, maintaining a distance between them. "I know it's a lot and I- I tried asking more, I did! He wants to talk to you."

"Does he? Fuck him," she spat out. The ground under them rumbled, like a gentle reminder that she needed to watch her language when she talked about the gods. Amaryllis was too caught up on her feelings to give a shit. She hated him and the rest of that stupid motherfucking immortal pieces of shit gods, she felt like she hated everyone around her at that moment. "Είσαι μαλάκας! Yeah, what are you going to do about it?" she screamed and punched the ground, hoping Hades heard her or at least felt something.

Under normal circumstances, any demigod would be relieved to find out their godly parent. That discovery explained so many things about their lives and felt like finally putting together a puzzle that you thought you'd never be able to make. Amaryllis felt so many emotions at once and none of them were good.

Because if she was being honest, it made sense for her to be a child of Apollo. Not just appearance-wise, but also personality-wise. She might not have had the powers her other siblings had, but she felt like she belonged. Now her entire reality had shifted. She was a completely different person and she didn't even know it until then – she was tricked by her own father.

She couldn't understand. She looked at Nico and saw that they were nothing alike, at least not on least surface. She remembered his words back when they were in the Labyrinth. He never felt like he belonged at Camp with the rest of the half-bloods, just because of his godly parent. Hades was an outcast himself and now it seemed like Amaryllis was one as well. If people found out about the truth, about her real father, she wouldn't be accepted, but feared.

She had already lost one family and one home. She couldn't lose another one.

Nico stopped her. "He told me he'd explain everything. He wants to have dinner, all of us together."

"When?"

"Now."

"So that's why you're here," she scoffed. "All this time you knew but didn't tell me until Daddy said it's fine, huh?"

Nico lowered his head. "I'm sorry. I only wanted to help, I swear."

Despite her anger, her urge to yell at the boy in front of her until he felt exactly how she did, Amaryllis couldn't stay mad at him. He was just a eleven year old boy and she could see it in his eyes that he was being genuine. Amaryllis knew his story – Percy had told her about the casino and Bianca. Now Nico had found out he had another sister and Amaryllis couldn't stand the idea of even pretending to hate him. If they truly were siblings, she was determined to act like one.

She took a minute to relax, practising all those breathing exercises Annabeth had taught her. When she finally calmed herself down, she turned to see Nico.

"We don't need to do this today," he said. "If you need to take some time to process everything, I'm sure-"

"No. We're going right now."

They both got up and dusted themselves off. Amaryllis hadn't realised it but her nose was still broken and bleeding, her white t-shirt having a red stain on it. "Want me to heal it?" Nico asked.

"Does it make me look badass?"

He shrugged. "I guess."