The Life After Tartarus

Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Reyna
"Nico! Nico wake up!" I yelled. Honestly waking up that boy was as hard as bringing the dead back. Probably makes sense since he's a son of plu-Hades. These Greek names are really annoying. At least with Roman names they are mostly all planets. "NICO!"
"Alright I'm up! Gods I miss being in the underworld. I didn't have to be near humans! Well living ones anyway." He looked at me with anger in his eyes. "You're aren't a people person are you?" I asked.
"Gee what was your first guess?" He walked away to get everything packed. I still remembered his confession about Percy a few days ago. I had nothing against him of course. I was just worried about him. He hasn't spoken to anyone since then. He's had a hard past. But he had to put that behind him. Nico was ok. I saw his true beauty when he was laughing and talking about his memories with his sister. Nico is quite handsome. He has the same messy hair as Percy. I wonder if that was just a thing between all Greeks. Nico was strong and powerful too. The times I saw him at Camp Jupiter I never really gave him much thought. His eyes that were filled with anger were so-- what am I doing. I couldn't be falling in _love_ with Nico! I walked up to him. "Are you done yet?" He looked at me and smirked. "Are all you Romans bossy? Jason picked me up and flew me across the sky. Hazel could just be stubborn some times and Frank. Well I thought he was Greek at first. He was too nice. But then he started fighting and he controlled the army in the House of Hades and it changed my mind."
"Why because Romans are so good at fighting?" I asked.
"No because you guys are vicious and bossy."
"We are not viscous and bossy!"
"Oh? And correct me if I'm wrong but it was the Romans that attacked Camp Half Blood first? That's why we are on this quest! That's why Annabeth had to go on her quest to get the statue. And that's why Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus. So yeah you aren't vicious and bossy. You guys are a real charm. You just spread happiness and sunshine everywhere."
"Well maybe if one of your friends didn't attack our camp we wouldn't be here now would we?"
Nico laughed. But not the beautiful cheerful one I loved. A cold one. "And if you Romans were understanding you would've waited until they explained that Leo was possessed. But no point in telling you now right? Romans don't really like learning new things. Now I'm going to find Coach Hedge so we can continue our quest." He walked into the woods but not before turning and saying, "oh and you got a lot of red stuff in your cheeks. You should wipe it off. It might attract monsters." He walked into the woods probably laughing silently. I went and took his tent box thing that Dia-Artemis gave him. My face was burning with embarrassment. I knew I was blushing. I didn't even know why. Was insulting Romans a blushing matter?
10 minutes later, the three of us were on our way. We were now at the shore of Rome. Now our problem was transporting across the sea.
"I only have one Pegasus."
"I can't go on a Pegasus." Nico said. Now it was my turn to make fun of him. "What are you scare of a little flying?"
Nico looked at me. "Actually no. All living creatures are scared of me. I am the ghost king after all. I can shadow travel. But I can't take the statue. It's too powerful. It'll drain me."
"So what? You want coach hedge and I to go on a Pegasus? With a statue?"
"No. I can take one person with me. Shadow travel. It'll take me an hour to recover but we can't do anything until the Pegasus comes."
"I'll go with the Pegasus. You may be a cupcake but you're a creepy cupcake." Coach Hedge said.
"Thank you. I love being a creepy cupcake. So I guess that means Reyna has to come with me."
"So what? We have to wait another week?"
"You underestimate the speed of a Pegasus."
"Still while we can get there in a few hours we would have to still wait. And who knows how many people died already Nico! Don't you care at all about these people? They are you're fellow Camp friends! Surely you can feel people dying!" Nico looked at me darkly. "You don't think I know that?! I know there are people dying Reyna. That's the worst thing about being a Son of Hades. You know exactly when people die! How do you think I felt when Bianca died? I was secretly hoping she didn't. Because at that time I didn't know I was a son of Hades! I may seem dark and seem like I don't care but I probably care way more then you do. I bet you're just hoping that the Romans win? Don't you? Now are you coming or not? It isn't going to take long for a Pegasus to fly across the sea." Nico held out his hand waiting for me to take it. When I took his hand he looked at me with those darkened eyes of his. "Now. Shadow traveling is going to be a little weird. Don't scream or anything because that will distract me and we can get lost. Ready?" I nodded. Nico looked at Coach Hedge who was getting on the Pegasus. He nodded at Coach and suddenly I was pulled into darkness.
A few seconds later we were at an apartment. "Who's there?" A voice called. A lady with brown hair with grey streaks in it walked out. "Nico? Is that you?"
"Yeah. Hi Mrs. Jackson." So this was Percy's mom. I guess he got his looks from his dad. "Who's this Nico?" Before Nico can say anything I introduced myself. "I'm Reyna. I'm from Camp Jupiter. The roman Camp. Percy was at Camp Jupiter for a while. I'm the leader there." Percy's mom looked at Nico with wide eyes. "Percy is he? Is he alright?"
"Well to be honest I'm not sure. When he and Annabeth came back from Tartarus they seemed fine. Broken emotionally but fine." Percy's mom nodded. She was used to Percy going on crazy adventures I guessed. I looked at Nico. His face was very pale. I could tell he was hiding something from her about Percy. What was it? I realized I was still holding his hand and I immediately let go. Not before I saw the blood rising to Nico's Snow White cheeks. "Mrs. Jackson. Annabeth went on a very dangerous quest that no other child of Athena has succeeded on. Of course that means Annabeth was the first to succeed. This quest was to find a statue of Athena that is believed to restore the bad blood between the Greeks and Romans. It was Reyna, Coach Hedge, and I's job to bring it back to Camp. Camp is under attack by the roman campers from Camp Jupiter. Coach Hedge is going to bring the statue back and we are hoping that it will stop the war going on at Camp. So if you don't mind, can we rest here for a while? There is no point in going to Camp without a way to stop the fighting." I don't know who was more surprised. Percy's mom or I. Percy's mom recovered first. "Sure Nico. You guys can share Percy's room." She led us to Percy's door which was covered in pictures of his favorite singers and bands and his favorite cars. I turned to look at Percy's mom. "Thank you Mrs. Jackson" she smiled. "Please just call me Sally." I nodded and she turned around walking back to her kitchen. When I turned back around the door was already open. I walked inside what felt like another world. Percy's walls were blue but not just one blue. A collage of different shades of blue. He must really love blue. There were more posters of the stuff he liked. There was a recent family picture of Percy, Sally, and another Guy. "That's Paul Blofis. His stepdad." Nico said. There were also pictures of the old Percy. Percy and his mom when he was younger at the park. A picture of Percy with band aids all over him and smiling. There were pictures of him at camp too. A picture of younger Annabeth standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial looking extremely proud as if she made the monument herself. There was a picture of Percy, Tyson the cyclops, and another man. "That's Poseidon. Percy and Tyson's dad." I stared back at the picture with surprise. "He took a picture with his dad?!" Nico nodded. "It isn't unusual for us to see our parents. In fact we aren't that far from Olympus. It's on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. It's probably why Jason wants to stay. Well one of the reasons." I turned around. "Wait. Jason isn't coming back?" Nico shrugged. "It wouldn't make sense. Piper lives at Camp. He could probably see his sister more. And he can see his dad. Plus Leo is his best friend. And I could kind of tell. He gave his praetor ship to Frank because he wasn't roman enough for the army to listen to him." I looked at Nico. He didn't seem so happy to be here. Of course he wasn't. Here he was in Percy's room. "How did you do that with Percy's mom?" I asked.
He looked at me and smiled the kind nice one. "I'm not always dark and mad. I can be nice."
"Yea like the time we were talking during dinner." I immediately regretted saying it. He came up really close. I could smell him. He smelled like grass, nature, and death. "That night never happened." He said cooly. "I never told you anything and I never talked to you." As he walked away I grabbed his hand. He seemed surprised by the contact. He turned around. "Let go."
"No. You need to stop shutting yourself out! So what if you love Percy! Nobody will think differently of you. Maybe if you tell Percy, you will feel less isolated. You can stay at camp. Get friends. Have a life Nico. Instead of always staying in the underworld and sulking about your sister." He looked at me. Instead of getting mad at me he did the most surprising and exact opposite of that. He kissed me. It was brief and short but it was passionate. Then he turned and walked out the door leaving me in shock and once again blushing madly.