Flowergirl, Percy Jackson

018. Our Lady of the Underground

Lila expects a thousand ghosts to flood from the shadows, Ancient Greek villains and heroes alike. Thankfully, Minos is nowhere to be seen. Only Bianca flickers to life, her spectral form weak at first, slowly gaining strength. Lila forces herself not to retreat, as that would be a little embarrassing. She never knew Bianca di Angelo well; she only stayed at Camp for a night, and that was spent with the Hunters of Artemis. Still, standing beside Nico without the distraction of a thousand ghosts, Lila can see the clear resemblance. Not only to each other, but to Hades, their father. There's a haunted, dark look in their eyes, hellbent on something terrible. A child of Hades is not a person to have as an enemy. 

"Bianca," Nico intones, his voice tinged with something close to sorrow. Lila hopes he's not going to cry. She's an empathetic crier, and that may set her off. 

"Nico," Bianca answers, reaching out to stroke his cheek. "I'm so proud of you." 

Nico actually blushes. Lila's so going to tease him about this. 

Bianca turns to Lila. "It's nice to meet you properly," she says politely, if a little amused. "We are stepsisters, after all." 

Lila smiles. It comes easily; Bianca is one of those people who exudes calm. Nico kind of absorbs all the calm and transforms it into nervous energy. They were perfectly matched. "I'll take care of your brother for you," she notes. 

Nico scoffs. Bianca swats him, her hand going through his arm. "Don't roll your eyes." 

Lila can't help laughing. "I sense I should leave you two to talk." 

The ghost turns away from her - their brother. "Thank you. I don't think I will be summoned for a long time, thankfully." Nico mutters under his breath. "Just know, I wouldn't be so okay with death if I didn't know you and Percy were looking after Nico," she adds. "You make good co-parents." 

"Co-parents?" Nico splutters. 

They both ignore him. "To be fair," Lila admits, "Nico is pretty self-sufficient. I think he survives on Happy Meals. Do you keep the toys?" Her last question is directed at Nico, who scowls and mutters something about 'trash'. 

Bianca nods. "He is. He doesn't have to be."

Nico and Lila share a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just ... Maybe it would be good for you to not be alone," she says to Nico. "And Lila seems like she might want to leave the Camp soon anyway. "

Does she? Lila chews her bottom lip. Well, Bianca's certainly insightful, if nothing else. 

And she's not entirely wrong. Lila hadn't really considered it, but now it's out in the open, she knows it's the path she has to take. Annabeth has a key ring with a quote from Robert Frost, and Lila knows it describes this exact sentiment. Basically all her life, she's been in the camp, helping out. Her life has become some kind of annual monotony, everyday training, gardening, sleeping, praying. The last weeks have been terrible, soul-crushing, and freeing.

She always imagined that being claimed would come hand in hand with some spiritual revelation, a balm to calm her confused soul. Instead, it's left her empty. When you build something up so high in your mind, waiting for something to comfort you, you are bound to be left short. There's a hole in her soul that she thought would be fixed when her mother blessed her, but it hasn't been. It's still there, rotting away. 

There's no cabin to Persephone. No table for her. She has nowhere to sleep. But she does have a brother. 

She turns to Nico. "Would it be so bad? For me to come with you?"