Now or Never

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Reyna's POV

One day passed, and Nico's condition neither improved or worsened.

I refused to move from his bedside.

But Nico was in bad shape. The battle with Order had weakened him, and healing Sunny had pushed him to the brink of death. He was so bad, we risked giving him an IV full of nectar and force-fed him ambrosia on an hourly basis.

Since Order had died, or her consciousness was scattered so thin she would never be able to rise again, Chaos had been able to come back. He visited Nico's room on a near hourly basis.

Sunny woke up, and she was moved into Nico's room in the barracks so she could watch over him, too.

It gave me some comfort to recall the looks on Chiron and the campers faces when we showed them the hidden portal at the back of the Big House. We assured him it was only temporary, but it was easier than just opening a portal every single time we needed to back to our barracks.

Our barracks...

The barracks on Utopia had been our home for so long. We each had our own room, and they all looked relatively simple.

I had insisted Nico be brought back to his room, instead of those uncomfortable, stiff, white cots in the medical wing. He would be more comfortable here.

His room was fairly plain. The floor was a dark oak, the walls a pale grey. There was an oaken desk and one of those office chairs in the corner, and a dresser and bedside table. There were no posters or pictures, but I knew that underneath his bed in a small black chest were pictures and other keepsakes from over the years. My personal favorite was one of Nico and I, when we had taken a day off to go to a little planet that was very much like earth, except prettier. The people were friendly, and the planet was beautiful. It was a vacation, of sorts. In the picture, we were both on the beach. Our cloaks were off, and we were both laughing.

It was pretty late, and the sun had long set. It had been thirty two hours since Nico had collapsed. Thirteen hours left.

Sunny was asleep at the foot of Nico's bed, curled up in a ball on top of the comforter. I draped a blanket over her before sitting back in the chair by his bedside.

I was restless. I was on my fourth cup of coffee–straight black coffee, too. Not those frappachinos or lattes that sissies drink. Real woman drink black coffee–and I couldn't sit straight. Caffeine combined with ADHD was a bad idea.

But it helped me stay awake, so I summoned another cup. Handy trick, that. Hard to do, summoning items. But with practice, it gets easier.

The door swung open and Sanator walked in. So scratch that. Twelve hours left.

He frowned at the coffee in my hands.

"Dilexisti, as your friend, I'm asking you to put the coffee down. Please. This isn't good for you. And if you don't put the cup down, you might drop it,your hands are shaking so badly."

I waved his concerns away.

"Don't worry about me. Don't you remeber our mission on planet #39997? The one where we were so busy we didn't sleep for almost a week straight? I mean, it didn't help that the planet had three suns, but that's besides the point."

Sanator's frown deepened as he checked the steady IV drip, though the frown was directed at me.

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. I've made Shadow, Siren, and Spark rest, but technically speaking since Archangel is currently out of commission you outrank me, so I can't order you to rest."

I shook the already-empty mug with frustration before waving my hand and a new cup steamed into existence. The empty mug joined the other four on the nightstand.

"I'll be fine. I can sleep once Nico wakes up." I said, and at his look I added firmly, "He will wake up."

Sanator left the room, and the room was silent except for me conjuring a new cup of coffee every seven minutes or so.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

There was about an hour left when I saw the unicorns.

The other Angels had rested, kind of, and were anxiously waiting with me in Nico's room. It was a somber, silent affair, and the only noise were quiet sniffles and the anxious ruffle of feathers. Our wings were a part of us. We were so attached to them now, it seemed impossible to live without them. But there was that pesky fact that they were so dang expressive.

Ever heard the saying that the person could lie, but the eyes couldn't? Or how about the eyes were the window to the soul?

Well, I want to say to whoever came up with those needs to take a look at our wings. The eyes this and the eyes that. Bah. Talk to the wings, buddy!

Back to the unicorns.

I had yet another cup of coffee in my hands, which were starting to have no taste. Should I be worried?

So I went over to the window and opened it to let in some fresh air.

Our windows were a little bit different than regular windows. They slidup, sure, but they were gigantic. Big enough for us to slip through them easily. We didn't like confined spaces. So we often used the windows as doors.

Maybe I should mention that our rooms are in those big, creepy looking spiral towers. At the top. On floor one hundred and sixty.

I sat on the windowsill and let the cool wind run through my feathers and calm my nerves.

I looked down, at the ground far below me.

And saw a flock of unicorns grazing.

I blinked.

"Um, Sunny? Will you come here for a second?" I called.

The little girl had been drawing quietly on Nico's bed with crayons, but at my request she hurried over.

"Dilexisti?" She asked, pronouncing my name carefully. I had told her she could call me Reyna, but she told me that Dilexisti was prettier and that it ment loved, so she would call me that.

I lifted her onto my lap and pointed at the flock of unicorns.

"Do you see those unicorns?" I asked.

Sunny gazed down before shaking her head glumly.

"No."

I sighed before glaring accusingly at the coffee in my hand.

"Great. I'm hallucinating." I muttered.

Shadow had walked over, hearing our conversation, and he put a comforting hand on my shoulder in brother-like concern.

"Reyna, I think she means she can't see anything. Her senses aren't like ours. And yes, I see the unicorns too. I think they're Sanators. Sanator keeps them for the powder in their horns to make unicorn draught, remember?" He asked.

I nodded. My thoughts were slightly foggy and slow.

At least I wasn't hallucinating. Yet.

Sunny had brightened at the mention of unicorns.

"Can I see the unicorns sometime?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Sure. I'll take you sometime, kay?" I said quietly.

Suddenly the clock chimed. I counted the tolls in my head.

Ten...eleven...twelve...one.

One in the afternoon.

The entire room seemed to hold its breath.

Nico was going to wake up now. Or he wasn't going to wake up at all.

Nico di Angelo; Angel of ChaosWhere stories live. Discover now