Nico POV
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Merrily is so adorable when she sleeps. Her breathing is slow and even, except at times when it would speed up for a few seconds. Suddenly, Merrily jolts awake and nearly topples off of Festus. Leo and I catch her, though.
Soon, we land in an empty park. Festus flies away, knocking Chey and Abigail onto the soft grass. Ryan manages to catch Abigail, and though I feel the urge to catch Chey, I stand back and laugh as she falls on her butt. For a moment, a look of hurt crosses her face when she hears me laugh, but it is soon replaced by irritableness. And Leo, thank Aphrodite, puts a shirt on.
"Well, lead the way," Merrily tells Ryan expectantly. "What are we doing?"
"My mom and my stepdad should be at work this time of day, so we can probably get in and get out," Ryan explains.
"Let's go then," I frown, grumpily. The six of us (and the one toddler) set off down the road. Ryan and Abigail are in front, leading the group, trying to inconspicuously sneak looks back at the four of us. Merrily and Chey are too busy giggling and looking back at us to actually notice. And by us, I mean Leo and I.
Leo is walking next to me. Good gods, what is his issue? He always seems to be pissed off at me for practically no reason. I get enough of that crap from people at camp. Leo looks at me while I'm thinking this, and a pained look crosses his face and he looks away.
"What's your problem with me?" I hiss angrily. Leo's head snaps up and he looks slightly annoyed.
"I don't know what you mean," Leo frowns. "I don't have a problem with you. Why would I?"
"Yeah, you do," I insist. "Ever since Missouri you've been stone cold towards me. Is it because of Merrily?"
"We were never the best of friends at any rate," Leo scowls, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "It's got nothing to do with Merrily."
"Yeah right," I snap. "Listen, she chose me, not you, so why don't you just back off you bastard!" Next thing I know, Leo's fist is flying at my face and a sharp pain flares up my nose as I fall to the ground. Leo begins whaling on my chest with his fist unrelentlessly.
"Ohi, scendi da me, figlio di puttana!"
"No mereces hablarme así, maldito bastardo!"
Vaguely I can hear cries of 'Nico!' and Chey and Ryan chanting 'fight, fight, fight'. And is that Taylor squealing in happiness?
I'm about to black out when Leo is pulled forcefully off of me and ambrosia is shoved into my mouth. As per usual, it tastes like very sweet apple cake which is the natural taste of ambrosia, as my father tells me.
Slowly, the throbbing pain everywhere ceases and I can sit up. Merrily looks massively irritated. Abigail looks disgusted. Ryan, Chey and Taylor all look disappointed and Leo looks slightly guilty.
"What was that all about?" Merrily demands. I stay silent. It's not my fault Leo clearly has mental issues.
"It's my fault," Leo says quickly, looking ridiculously guilty. Dang, that kid will do anything to get a girl to like him.
"Why?" Merrily asks.
"Uhm..."
"Square up you ignorant salmon!" Merrily yells in frustration after a few moments. Everyone freezes, except Chey, who's giggling. That insult... we all remember the last time she brought out that one. I shudder at the thought. We all back away, even Chey who's still laughing. Leo looks terrified.
"It's... I... please don't kill me!" Leo begs, getting down on his knees. "I beg of you!"
"Can you hit him with your sword?" Merrily asks me, thoroughly exasperated.
"I believe the technical term is stab," I grin. "And murder wasn't really on today's agenda."
"It's not on anyone's," Ryan points out.
"No, it on mine," Merrily informs him. "Just not till next Thursday." She turns to glare at Leo. Yikes. I almost feel bad for him.
"Can you idiots hurry up so we can go?" Chey calls.
"Cram it Chey," I scowl. "Nobody cares." Chey looks insulted, but stays silent. And then just as quickly, everything is back to normal.
At last we reach civilization. Luckily, we mostly blend in with most of the populace. Even Ryan, who has a wailing baby strapped to his chest.
"Why'd you have to park so far?" Ryan calls back jokingly.
"Let me know when you find a place to park a giant bronze dragon," Leo snaps.
"Jeez man, I was just kidding around," Ryan frowns.
"Just shut up and keep walking." Merrily, Chey and Abigail all stop gossiping to stare back at Leo in shock. He just glares around at all of them.
"What's your issue?" I scowl. Leo glares right back at me.
"Let's just try and find Ryan's house, all right," Abigail suggests tentatively. 'Wait, do we actually know where that is?"
"You guys lost?" We all turn around towards the voice, our hands instinctively touching our weapons. A tall, dark-haired young man grins at us. He is simply dressed in a T-shirt and baggy jeans.
"Who are you?" Merrily asks, suspiciously.
"Riley Riordan," he replies, grinning. "Where are y'all trying to go?" Ryan tells him his address and Riley's grin widens.
"Great business that side of town," he says happily. "Follow me."
Chey shrugs. "I like this guy." Merrily snatches Taylor and holds her protectively. As we walk, Riley points out things of interest and people he's met. A lot of them look super dodgy, but nobody but Merrily seems to think much of it.
"So, what do you do for a living?" I ask curiously.
"I produce certain... goods people pay high prices for," Riley explains ominously. Nobody really says anything until....
"Oh gods, he's a drug dealer!" Merrily yelps, tucking Taylor inside her jacket.
"And the prize goes to the pretty young lady!" Riley exclaims, holding an invisible microphone.
"Got any crack?" Chey asks eagerly.
"Chey!" Merrily admonishes her.
"What?" She looks at Merrily innocently. "I just wanna know what kind of goods he's got."
"I have crack, weed, heroin, you know, the works." Riley ticks off the different drugs on his fingers.
"Any Xanax or aphoids?" Chey inquires.
"Nice taste," Riley says approvingly. "I can get you some of that for 300 dollars."
"Care to throw in some alcohol or percocef?" Chey narrows her eyes.
"Four fifty," Riley offers.
"Three hundred."
"Four twenty-five."
"Three forty-five."
"Four ten."
"Done."
"Where are you going to get four hundred and ten dollars?" I ask Chey incredulously.
"Give me a few minutes," Chey smiles mischievously. Sure enough, a few minutes later, chey has four hundred dollars in hard cash. She curses. "Ryan, help me out?"
"Sure!" He disappears for a minutes and returns with the other ten dollars. "You're sharing."
"Absolutely not!" Merrily yells. But her protests fall on deaf ears.
"Duh," Chey rolls her eyes. "I have stuff to do. Can't be getting high."
"Hey," Ryan turns to Riley. "If I get another hundred, could you throw in some extra weed and crack anyway?"
"Of course!" came the reply.
"You're a dad!" Merrily admonishes him.
"Where are you going to get a hundred extra dollars?" Abigail asks, putting her hands on her hips. I can tell, she's hoping that it will stop the two Hermes children in their tracks.
"Forgot to give these back." Ryan and Chey toss us back our wallets, which we hadn't even known were missing.
"What kind of example are you setting for Taylor here?" Merrily scowls.
"A good one," Ryan counters. "Fast-talking is a good skill to have."
"Anyway, give me a second and we'll be on our way," Riley smiles. He disappears and comes back later with two plastic shopping bags full of drugs and a bottle of bourbon.
Chey and Ryan are about to hand over the money, when Merrily slaps it from their hands. Ryan catches it and frowns at her.
"Aw, c'mon!"
"You will not be making drug deals," Merrily informs them sternly. "Not whilst I'm around."
"So you're not going to make the deal?" Riley says slowly.
"No they are not," Merrily says stoutly.
"Well, I can't have people running around knowing about my business here," Riley ponders. "I hate to do this, 'cause I really liked you all, but a guy's gotta survive. Quick as lightning, he pulls out a gun.
Even though I know Merrily won't let herself get hurt, it still makes me panic when Riley aims that gun at her head. But even faster, Merrily shoves Taylor into Ryan's arms and has her daggers out. Forcing the hand with the gun down, she kicks him in that sensitive spot causing him to double over in pain allowing her to pin him down with a pair of daggers at his neck.
Riley pants hard and stares up at Merrily. "What are you?" he asks.
"Your worst nightmare," Merrily growls. "Don't ever do that again." Merrily begins to get up, but with her back turned to Riley, she doesn't see him start to sit up and aim the gun at her back.
Chey manages to react faster than me and drops her sword straight through Riley's heart. Then, in slow motion, I watch the gun fall to the ground and hear a gunshot resound through th air. Luckily, it's getting late and the particular street we're on is rather deserted. I turn to smile at Merrily, but the smile slides right off my face.
Merrily's hand shakily goes to her shoulder. "Ow..." she mutters.
"Oh gods!" I cry, rushing over to her, trying to stop the bleeding with my hand.
"Listen guys, I'm perfectly fine," Merrily tries to assure us. "It's just a little blood."
"No, you are not fine," I say. "Here, eat this." I hand her a square of ambrosia.
"We've got to split up," Ryan explains as Merrily gets paler. "We'll send one person back to Festus with Merrily and the rest of us will go retrieve the item."
"Leo should go, since he's the only one Festus listens to," Abigails suggests. Leo. nor Chey have any reaction to this statement.
"This is your fault," I say, turning to Chey. "If you hadn't stabbed Riley, Merrily would be fine."
"What?" Leo asks in disbelief. "If she hadn't stabbed Riley, Merrily would be dead. It was a freak accident."
"Quit arguing and get Merrily back to Festus," Chey says sadly. And as we split up, I hear her mutter, "It was my fault."
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Um.... please don't kill me? Okay, here's the story. I spilt water on my computer, rendering it useless and I just now got back on Wattpad. I'm really sorry for the wait. Anyway, updates will be a lot slower now, so...
How did you like the chapter? I feel like it was really awkward in some parts. Also, as a disclaimer: drugs are bad kids. So is underage drinking. If Merrily does not condone drinking, you should not drink. The same goes for drugs. Never listen to Chey.
Chey: Hey!
Merrily: It is true. You have terrible morals.
David: I have terrible morals too.
Merrily: Go back to the Underworld David.
David: But it's boring!
Me: Disclaimer please....
David: CheyPaigeFanfic does not own PJO or HoO
Nico: Go AWAY
David: Nah *gives Chey a high five*
Nico: *growls*
Merrily: Please vote and comment!