AMANTI, nico di angelo

XIV. he's not ready to be without him

0014. | HE'S NOT READY
TO BE WITHOUT HIM

Nico emerged from the shadows and he stumbled. A hand caught him and his heart raced. He looked up expecting to see a golden scar and silver eyes, but what he saw was smooth tanned skin and sea green eyes. He huffed to himself. He was pathetic trying to imagine Vela in Percy.

"I'm okay." He grumbled. He pulled away from Percy's touch. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and tried to blink away the blurring image of Vela on Percy's face. His heart clenched and he swallowed away his persistent tears at the memory of his soulmate.

"How did you do that?"

Nico set his jaw. "Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China. A thing in Guatemala. Vel, he- he made it easier."

Percy stiffened uncomfortably at the mention of his dead friend. They fell silent from pure awkwardness and mourning, and Nico looked over to the sleeping hellhound. After shadow-travelling, Mrs. O'Leary had slumped against the sidewalk and was snoring almost as loudly as Vela used to.

           "Are you going to take a nap too?" Percy asked. Nico was glad he was making an effort to be normal but he could still hear the mourning in Percy's voice. That voice of someone who had watched their friend die.

          Nico shook his head. "The first time I shadow travelled, I passed out for a week. Vela had to carry me around. Now it makes me a little drowsy, but I can't do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O'Leary won't be going anywhere for a while."

          "So we've got some quality time in Connecticut." Percy mused unamusedly. They both looked at the colonial-style white home across the street from them. "What now?"

           Nico looked at him. "We ring the doorbell."

Walking up the pathway of the house, Nico was filled with the jokes Vela had made when they first saw the Castellan household. 'If this is where monsters go when they die, I can see why everyone says Tartarus is so terrifying'. It probably wasn't that funny, but when the boy Nico had a crush on said it, it was the funniest thing in the world.

Lining the pathway up to the Castellan house were hundreds of stuffed beanbag animals that looked like monsters. There was a Medusa, a hydra, even a Kampê. And the horror didn't stop there. By the door, Ms. Castellan had decorated with wind chimes that made Nico want to tear them down with their incessant tinkling. The front door was painted an awful shade of turquoise and decorated a plaque that read Castellan on it.

Percy loitered awkwardly at the door, waiting for Nico's instruction. He wondered how the hell he had become the leader between the two when he was only thirteen. Nico looked at him cautiously. "Ready?" He asked. He knew nothing could prepare Percy for the other side of that door, same as nothing had prepared Nico and Vela for what was the other side all those weeks ago when they visited.