Devour

Chapter 1

Getting used to camp was honestly easier said than done.

Nico realized this fairly quickly when he was assigned to the Hermes Cabin. He had mixed feelings about the cabin and its residents; it housed many demigods, so many that the cabin's floor was almost entirely covered in sleeping bags and blankets. It was crowded where he had laid down his bags in the corner across from the cabin's front door, allowing him to keep an eye on who came in and out. It was always best to monitor the entrances and exits.

The kids at camp were mischievous, acting less like the hardened warriors he had expected and more like the children they were. It felt strange to be in a place where there were people younger than him. The demigods came from various backgrounds, heritages, and appearances, and it seemed that issues like racism and homophobia didn’t matter within the camp.

Everyone appeared comfortable sharing spaces with those who were different from them, as if appearance and language held no significance.

It was nice to have a place where everyone seemed welcome.

Despite this, the demigods around him always seemed to give him space, maintaining a wide separation, as if they were skittish or nervous about being near him.

It was like they knew he was different—dangerous to them.

They could see his sharpened teeth, the inhuman glow of his eyes, and how he growled at anyone who tried to approach him.

Only a select few didn’t seem to hide from him.

One of them was Will Solace, a son of Apollo. Will radiated warmth, glowing like the sun whenever he smiled, his tan skin reflecting sunlight in waves.

Every time Nico saw him, he winced, feeling his shadows weaken under Will's bright presence. Despite the discomfort from the never-ending light, he would almost admit he enjoyed the company of the healer in training.

Will could match Nico's darker humor effortlessly, returning witty remarks without hesitation and affectionately comparing him to a cat, much to Nico's annoyance.

Still, It made him feel, at the very least, a little more normal— a little more human.

Another person Nico interacted with was Annabeth Chase, a daughter of Athena. She was calculating and just as quick-witted as Will, keeping up with his niche references and faster-than-average combat.

She often tried to get him to spar with Luke, and Nico always deflected, only ever dueling with Luke should he be required to during sword fighting blocks.

Luke seemed to like him, attempting to appear friendly and always appearing randomly to speak with or check on him. But Nico was fine.

He didn't need to be watched or checked on, and Luke felt wrong. He smelled of blood and ichor; his life seemed to be thinning, his soul losing more and more pieces of itself as if he had something leeching it out of his body.

Nico wasn't sure if he should inform him, given the tickling dread in the back of his mind whenever he met the teen's eyes. He could feel it in his bone, recognize the sharp gaze and calculated planning of a predator, someone like him, who was hiding in plain sight with an ease that he was jealous of.

Generally, Nico liked his activities, not all of them of course, but most of them. In the mornings, he had breakfast, then First aid and quest preparation were taught back to back on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and then he had an hour's break before sword fighting and self-defense. After that, it was lunch, before he had ancient Greek and later monster lore, which lasted the remaining hours until dinner, before the nightly campfire and finally curfew.

It was loud within the Hermes cabin, always crowded due to the overpopulation of unclaimed demigods and children of Hermes, the god of travelers. The cabin housed all who visited the camp, making it the cabin that had the most additional sections and rooms added to it, creating a DIY-like mashup of colors, types of materials, and architectural design.

In the simplest terms, it was the ugliest cabin within Camp Half-blood.

He felt like a stranger in the camp, an outcast. He'd never felt like that before, and it was something he wasn't used to. It was lonely, it made him miss home.

Every day felt monotonous, far too similar to the last. Even with different activities, like the class structures on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the weeks seemed to blur together. Nico still hadn’t been claimed, and he wasn’t sure he ever would be. He didn’t expect to be, at least.

Being inconspicuous was harder than Nico had anticipated, especially after being raised in an environment that normalized the darker side of his nature.

Eating was a challenge as well, given his previous diet of human meat and souls. He kept his stash hidden in a cooler box, buried near the border of the woods where they played capture the flag.

Capturing the flag was exhilarating; it was violent and bloody, and Nico loved it. It allowed him to satisfy his bloodlust, channeling his violent urges in a safer setting, similar to sparring.

Despite this, he was certain that Mx.D and  Chiron were onto him; they could tell that he was different, wrong, and damned in some way.

Perhaps he should talk to Mx. D. As the god of madness, they might understand him better than Chiron or the other campers ever could.

He just hoped Luke didn't catch onto him.