Nico's Quest

Chapter 12

"You did what you had to," Percy told them. "And you're right, if you hadn't done that, you would probably all be dead now."

Zia's grip on Nico tightened. Nico muttered something in his sleep but didn't wake. Percy watched warily as Zia pulled him tighter against her chest. He almost warned her that Nico was extremely averse to physical contact and wouldn't appreciate it if he woke up and found himself being smothered by her bosom, but saying something like that would have been too awkward.

"How long is it going to take Nico to recover from using his powers, Percy?" asked Julian. "I don't mean to sound insensitive, but we need him if they attack again."

"What exactly is he recovering from?" asked Percy. "Tell me everything you saw him do."

And so they told him about Nico using shadows to drive the uraei away from the roof, how he got set on fire twice (once by Zia by accident), how he used shadow travel to save Zia when Kwai turned himself into living water and tried to drown her inside of him, then how Nico had used his geo-kinetic powers to turn the stone sphinx statue and stone roof tiles into dust, that was used to turn Kwai into a mud-slide, so that Zia could roast him like a prize turkey.

By the end of it, Percy was very impressed. And more than a little worried. Nico really had been overdoing it, and from what he knew about Nico, this wasn't something he could bounce back from so easily.

Percy was hesitant to give him anymore nectar or ambrosia, since Nico had been pretty much living on that stuff for the past two weeks, and had to be close to his limit. The last thing Percy wanted was for him to burst into flames. Besides, they didn't have much left, and if Nico was injured they'd need to use it then.

"It's going to take awhile for him to recover from this," said Percy after considering it for a few moments. "I don't know if he's going to be able to control shadows again when he wakes up to keep the uraei at bay or not, but if he is capable of that, you need to do whatever you can to keep everything else away from him. But he's going to need a couple hours to recover, at the very least. I think . . . I think we should take him inside to let him get some uninterrupted rest. We'll send you a replacement for him –"

"One magician alone can't replace him," said Julian. "I'm not saying he doesn't need time to recover, but he's a very important part of our defense. We need at least two more people to hold the roof if he's out. Probably more like three."

"I'll see what I can do," Percy promised. He moved to take Nico from Zia.

Zia jerked Nico away from him and glared at him, leaning over Nico protectively. Percy blinked at her then raised an eyebrow. Zia didn't back down.

"Zia," he said, as politely as he could, "I would like to take my cousin inside. Please give him to me."

It was Zia's turn to blink. She looked surprised at herself as she realized what she was doing, then embarrassed. She started to hold him out toward Percy, but changed her mind at the last minute, right as Percy was about to lift him, and pulled Nico backwards roughly away from Percy. Amazingly, Nico remained asleep. His head actually flopped like a doll's and he groaned, but didn't wake.

Percy was starting to get annoyed. "Look, what is your problem?" he demanded. "Why do you keep staring at me like I'm some kind of monster, and what exactly do you think I'm going to do to Nico that he needs to be protected from? You think I'm going to eat him or something?"

Zia's face turned red and this time when Percy reached for Nico, she didn't yank him away. Which was good, because Percy would have grabbed Nico anyway, and a tug of war match might have ensued. Yeah, that would have been pretty bad.