Nico's Quest

Chapter 11

They attacked the roof again an hour after midnight, in greater numbers than before.

"I guess they got tired of pounding against the east wall," said Alyssa as they watched their enemies come.

"Good. I was getting bored." Julian stood and stretched, a violent smirk on his face.

"The night is a little more than half over," said Walt. "We just have to hold out for five more hours."

"Just a warning," Nico told them, "I doubt I'll be able to keep the flying snakes away after dawn. They're day creatures, so I'm using the power of the night to drive them back, but after it gets light . . ."

"Just do what you can," Alyssa told him.

Nico glanced sideways at Zia, expecting her to say something, but she held her tongue. For that, Nico was grateful. Being around her was extremely awkward. He wondered how long it would take her to realize that the feelings Nephthys forced her to have about him were maternal in nature. From there it wasn't a very big jump to realize that Nico was hosting Anubis.

There was always the chance that she could misinterpret what she was feeling, but Nico didn't want that to happen either. If she started thinking of him as her little brother . . . well he would have a really big problem with that. No one could replace Bianca, and Nico knew he would end up hating anyone who tried. And if Zia started thinking that she cared for him in some kind of romantic way, Nico just might have to kill himself. He had no desire to get caught up in some twisted modern-day retelling Oedipus Rex. Carter would not be happy about that either.

Nope. The best thing for him to do was just avoid her.

Despite that, Nico found himself keeping an eye on Zia as the battle began again, more so than any of his other friends. Ironically, she was the one who probably needed watching over the least.

She's a good magician, Nico commented to Anubis, who was watching the battle through his eyes.

She is. But then, she has to be in order to have hosted my mother. Though what my mother would want with a hostess who specialized in fire magic, I'll never know. I suppose she is looking for a new host now that she has moved on from Zia.

If you see her, you better warn her to stay away from Percy,Nico told him I don't mean just not considering him, I mean keeping her distance from him. I don't even want her in the same room as him, because if she touches him and what happened to us happens to them...

That would be bad.

You have no idea. Wait, you're in my head, so yeah you do. But there's no way Percy will be able to keep what happened from other people. Poseidon's more understanding than Hades or Zeus, so he might not start a war like my dad would, but if Zeus finds out that both Hades and Poseidon have children who are demigodlings . . .

I will keep my mother away from your cousin, Anubis promised.

Right as they finished talking, a demon broke past the four defending magicians and charged Nico.

Nico's reflexes weren't up to par, since he'd been putting himself through nonstop abuse since he and Anubis left for the Duat however long ago that was, but he was still the son of Hades. He brought his sword up and deflected a blow that would have skewered him like shish-kabob. Then he calmly sliced his Stygian blade through the demon's neck. And then he was nearly roasted alive as a stream of fire shot toward him. He dove to the side with a cry of pain, and was alarmed to see that his sleeve had caught on fire.

Stop, drop, and roll! ordered Anubis.

What! Nico tried to bat the fire out but only succeeded in burning his hand.