Through the Ice ― Nico di Angelo & Will Solace

―viii. a not-date in the desert

THEY TOOK IT EASY THE NEXT MORNING. Nico (to Will's mild protests) shadow-traveled to the nearest Taco Bell to get them breakfast burritos. Isaac was pleasantly surprised by the vegetarian options, though with the amount of eggs and dairy, he figured it was a good thing he gave up on full veganism when he was thirteen. 

After they ate, they made a round of check-in calls—first to Chiron at Camp Half-Blood, then to Reyna and Frank, and lastly to Isaac's family, where his mother proceeded to mother all three of them.

"Have you all been eating well?" she asked through the IM, leaning forward to get a good look at them. 

"We got Taco Bell for breakfast," Isaac offered. 

Naomi snorted somewhere out of sight. "So that's a 'no'?"

Isaac's mother sighed. "It's better than a bag of chips for breakfast," she mumbled, mostly to herself. "And you've been sleeping well enough? Fatigue can be deadly in battle. I remember there was a war game back when I was in the legion. I'd pulled an all-nighter the night before to cram for a history test—nearly toppled off the wall because I couldn't keep my eyes open."

Naomi finally appeared in the IM view with a tall glass of orange juice. "It happens."

"It shouldn't!" another voice protested, and Hazel Levesque leaned into view, pointing menacingly at the IM. "Get some sleep!"

Isaac tilted his head, confused. "Since when do you three hang out?"

"Five!" There was audible shuffling, and Delaney and Juliet appeared behind Isaac's mom with matching champagne flutes full of what looked like orange juice. "We're getting brunch!"

"...Congratulations?" 

"What's brunch?" Nico whispered. 

Isaac gave him an I'll explain later look and returned his attention to the IM. "We should get going," he said. "We've still got to reach Arizona and deal with the flower there. Everything's still okay at camp?"

"Not a snowflake in sight," Naomi confirmed. "Thank gods, because I did not want to spend Christmas break chugging cough syrup and huddling under blankets to keep warm."

"Baby," Nico teased. 

Naomi pointed menacingly at Nico. "I have way too much ammunition on you for you to be teasing me, Neeks."

"Ammunition?" Isaac asked. 

"'Neeks'?" Will laughed. 

"Oh, whoops, got to go!" Nico said quickly. "Monsters to kill, quest to survive! Bye!"

He smacked his hand through the mist, dispelling the image of a laughing Naomi and Isaac's amused mother. 

"Dude, you just hung up on my mom," Isaac said. 

"I hung up on my sister," Nico said. "Your mom was collateral damage."

Will snorted. "You're right, though, we should pack up and get going," he said, gathering wrappers from their fast food breakfast. "I'm sure the pegasi are ready to fly again." 

"That makes some of us," Nico muttered as he pushed himself to his feet. 

Isaac sighed. "Let's get to Arizona and beat this stupid snow monster already." 

❆

Snow monster: 1.5

Isaac, Will, and Nico: 0.5

"I think that went well," Will decided, brushing magical snowdrop dust off his hands. 

Isaac shook his head and released an avalanche of snow and ice from his hair. "I beg to differ."