Black Magic // Percico

Chapter Twenty-Three: Nico di Angelo and his Inability to Understand Humans

Nico wasn't that fond of zombies, they didn't really exist in real life and Alice's obsession The Walking Dead (constantly on their and her own telly) didn't help. But he was pretty sure that Percy very strongly resembled a zombie when he lumbered out of school.

"What's up, buttercup?" Nico asks cheerily, Percy stares blankly at him until Nico shrugs with a slight blush.

"I," Percy grumbles as he drops his bag and books through the open window, "hate," he turns to Nico with tired and droopy eyes, "school!" He flails slightly before falling into Nico's arms in an exhausted heap.

"Exams?" Nico asks quietly, Percy makes a groaning noise and a muttered reply but it's lost because Percy's face is mashed into Nico's chest.

"We had our last today," Grover says, he titters slightly on his crutches and smiles a little at Nico, "thank gods."

"I'm going home right for, for sleep, chocolate and more sleep." Annabeth says, Piper in tow.

Nico never really went school, he was a street rat before he discovered his witch blood and was never educated. He's never seen the point in going to school, why learn Algebra when he could go hitch hiking around the Underworld? Bianca had, about three times and Hazel had once but Nico always mysteriously vanished during their high school and college years. It was a good thing ten or so years went by in the blink of an eye when staying with their father. Nico shivered at the thought, their annual family reunion was dawning ever closer.

"You okay, Nico?" Piper questions, Nico gives her a smile and forces his parents out of his mind- that was so a problem for later.

"I'm well thank you, since you've now finished these exams. Would you care for a celebration night for the end of your exams?" Nico asks, they giggle to themselves which is annoying, because he's seriously getting the hang on this modern slang.

"Sounds good." Annabeth agrees, Piper nods.

"I'm in."

"Me too." Grover pipes up, Percy kind of flails in Nico's arms which they all take as a yes.

Nico later discovered that calling ahead to his family and warning them of the humans, and to de-witch the place was harder then he thought. He couldn't telepathically send it to them while he was driving, that would just be dangerous but he couldn't outwardly go 'hide everything that makes us look nonhuman, oh and Alice too' without sounding completely off his rocker.

Nico also discovered that Percy thinks away to divert attention is blasting music so loudly, his bone vibrate and Nico's extra sensitive ears actually start bleeding (or something along those lines). When they finally pull up at the home, Nico has a slightly double take at the sight.

His home is normally and very small and squat cottage with think walls and a creaky door, only the inside is giant in comparison. Elegant and refined, perfectly fitting the needs. Only now, it looked the same on the outside as it did on the inside, though invisibility spells and trickery had been removed. Nico did however feel a little better when Percy appeared just as dumb struck, while everyone else was in slight awe.

"Yes, so, come in. This is where I live..." Nico awkwardly trails off as he climbs out of the Impala and leads them inside. Upon opening the door he's horrified to find that while the interior is mostly the same, everything else looks normal. Gone are the books flying around on the ceiling, the possessed objects littering the halls, the rabbit-sized spiders hiding in the corners, the smell of a bubbling potion, Fai's terrible musk is even gone. Nico stares dumbstruck as Hazel appears, her gold eyes looking a soft brown.

"Welcome, come in." She grabs Annabeth's hand and beams, "you must be Annabeth, and then we have Piper and Grover. Oh come on, tea? Percy, you too!" She drags them all away, leaving Nico in slight shock.

Piper leans into Hazel and mumbles, "is Nico alright?"

"Oh he's fine!" Hazel chirps as they vanish into the kitchen, Nico sways slightly and falls against the wall. The horror of it all, rolling over him, his home! Something cool whispers onto his cheek, before vanishing but then returning more prominent, then again and again, each time becoming harder. He peels an eye open to see Alice poking him.

"Purple." She states. Nico glares at her, she's wearing a long dress that trails out behind her and that same hat, though her wings are gone. He frowns at her, and for a second, her form shivers and she appears normal again, before seemingly human.

"There's a sort of blanket over the house," Opheliam appears behind Alice, his skin untouched and about five scarves around his neck "if you concentrate, it'll vanish." Nico focuses on Alice, her form flickers before it returns to its horrifying glory, stitches and wings and so does the house, Opheliam's scarves turning to snakes. He breathes a sigh of relief.

"Oh... should I have worked that one out, thanks." He looks awkwardly away from the strange pair and heads into the kitchen, Bianca is juggling five cups of tea with blue tentacles coming from her wrist, but when he blinks, she's holding a weird spatula.

Annabeth, Piper, Grover and Percy are in the closest living room, looking a little awkward, expect for Percy, who's chatting easily with Thalia and petting Fai, who for a second looks like a slightly large German Shepard before he's normal again. Nico settles down beside Percy, who leans his head on the witch's shoulder.

"So, is this where we watch the nemo fish?"

A sort of silence settled over the room before they all, bar Nico, burst into laughter. Nico scowls and dramatically sighs, stupid humans.

Hey my lovelies!

I want to start by on-my-knees apologising for such a long and stupid wait, I just lost all inspiration and motivation to write. I was so close to deleting my entire account, though I'm very glad I didn't because I would have regretted it immensely. So I'm so, so sorry for this wait but I hope you enjoyed this chapter all the same, even though it was total crap.

Love Percy xx