Finding Light in the Shadow (Solangelo)

Chapter 1

Nico

After just confessing my previous crush on Percy to him and Annabeth, I started walking back across the lawn to the infirmary. I could still hear him asking Annabeth if he was her type in the distance. I started to smile, but it quickly went away when I looked at who was waiting for me outside of the infirmary. Before I went over to confess my old crush to Percy, he told me that I needed to spend three days in the infirmary. I wasn't used to having somebody that was actually worried about me and seemed to care about my well-being.

He was about twenty and filling out nicely into his 'man' body. Plus, he was really good looking, like just fell from the sun hot. Deep in the back of my mind, I knew that there was no way that I could end up with him. However, being around him for three days might not be that bad. Besides, I had made him a promise on the Styx. As I got closer to mister tall, blonde, and handsome, I could feel the skeletal butterflies turning in my stomach. He was still standing where I left him wearing his green surgeon's top, jeans, and flip-flops. His arms were crossed above his stomach as I approached him. Will Solace wanted to help me get better, even though I didn't think that there was anything wrong with me.

Once I was finally back in front of him, he said, "are you ready for your three days in the infirmary? From the looks of you, that is the minimum that you need. There will be no more Underworld-ly stuff until you have a full clearance from your doctor. Which happens to be me."

"I suppose that I could use the rest. I just spend two days sleeping in that coffin bed of mine and I'm still tired." I tried to let out the best exasperated yawn that I could, but I think that I failed.

Will put his big hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Normally, I would have flipped out if someone touched me, but his touch was calm and soothing. I could actually feel the heat from his touch warming up my shoulder. He led me inside the infirmary, not removing his hand from my shoulder the entire time.

I expected the inside of the infirmary to look like a hospital, but it really didn't. It did have a white tile floor which looked like they cleaned it often. There were rows of beds going across the room, some with curtains around them. There was nothing fancy about the beds, they were just regular ones like in a bedroom. After the battle that just took place a few days ago, I was expecting the infirmary to be full. However, half the beds were empty and the few patients that were there seemed to be resting. I could still sense that there were some deaths in this room in the past two days though. The walls were all brown with cabinets lining the back of the room. They must have been full of their medical supplies. Will led me across the room and through a doorway in the back.

"Since the ICU is now empty, you can sleep there and get all of the rest that you need. It'll be nice and quiet, so you can rest and get your energy back. I don't want to see you turn into a puddle of goo after all of your shadow-traveling."

Will's hand still hadn't left my shoulder. I was actually starting to like having the feel of his touch. As he led me through the door and into the empty ICU, I was kind of hoping that he would put me in a bed by a window. At least then I would be able to look outside while I was stuck in here. He led me to a bed at the end that had a curtain attached to the ceiling, but was pulled back at the moment. Thankfully, it did have a window with a view of the woods. When we got to the bed, I took my shoes off and sat on the edge of it. I was just about to crawl under the covers when Will stopped me.

"Oh, no you don't, you need a routine check-up before you go to sleep."

I was going to protest, but I figured that it would be pointless. "Well, if you insist."