Nico and I sat on my bed wrapped in each others' arms for a couple minutes before he pulled away and gave me a peck on the cheek.
"So...does this mean we're dating now?" Nico looked at me, smiling and blushing slightly. His chocolate brown eyes sparkled a little bit.
"I guess so." I could feel my face grow hot and glanced at the mirror to see my light pink face. But I didn't care if I was blushing or not. I was dating my friend and I was completely happy with that.
Nico smiled at me and stood up. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up next to him. He turned me towards the mirror and whispered in my ear. "Look at your reflection in the mirror. What do you see?"
I looked at myself. "I see a young, slender girl with green eyes and black hair. I see a girl that's been hurt and scarred. I see a girl that wouldn't win anything, especially a beauty contest."
"Well, this is what I see. I see a young, beautiful girl that deserves a better life. I see a girl that doesn't need to win any contests, because she's already wonderful enough. I see a talented girl that makes me happy. What I see is the most beautiful girl in the world." Nico whispered in my ear, causing my face turn bright pink. He gently turned me around and lifted my chin up. "And you're all I see."
I smiled at him and gave him a hug. He kissed my forehead and was just about to kiss me again when someone knocked on the door. We immediately stepped away from each other and I hurriedly sat down on my bed.
Leo stuck his head in the door. "Hey, are we gonna leave or are we gonna stay here? Natasha's kinda antsy and I don't want another cat fight in the kitchen." His head disappeared and I could hear him go back downstairs.
I looked over at Nico. "Are you ready to go?"
He stretched out his hand towards me."I'm ready when you are." I took his hand and we went downstairs together.
When we walked into the kitchen holding hands, Natasha's jaw dropped and she looked like she was going to explode with rage. I gave her a small smile and fought the urge to say, "Ha! Sucker! You had your chance to get him, but now he's mine! Go find a different boy to fall in love with!" But I didn't, so I just smiled at her, taunting her silently.
Leo saw that we were holding hands but he didn't mention it. He probably wanted to prevent another 'cat fight.'
"So, are we gonna leave now?"
Nico and I nodded and we each grabbed a bag of food and supplies. Natasha and Leo did the same, although Natasha was more reluctant to do so.
I sighed, then smiled. "Well, let's go. I have the feeling that our journey will end soon." I walked out the door with the others in tow. I made sure that I had packed a key for the house and I locked the front door to keep burglars and monsters out. We went over to the car and climbed in. Nico and I sat in the front seat, and I had to let him drive because he had his permit and I didn't. (I mean seriously, why would I need a permit for a car if I had a perfectly good pegasus to use for transportation?) Leo and Natasha sat in the back and the bags of supplies were in the trunk.
Nico turned the key and the little Honda purred to life. Luckily, after we left the train station, Christina had filled up on gas.
I spread out a map and showed the others where we were heading. I had gotten a few ideas of where to look from a few notes that I had found in Christina's office. Most of the locations were woods and metro parks, mainly because a giant wouldn't want to be found very easily, but I wanted to look around one particular location. It was a wooded area near a busy intersection. It seemed like a good place for a giant to hide. And it would take about an hour to get there.
After studying the map for a couple minutes, Nico put the car in reverse and pulled out of the driveway and onto the road. Soon we were on the highways heading towards the location where we were going to search first.
An hour later, we arrived at the town. It seemed like a small little town with the usual amount of stores and restaurants. We drove through town once in search of a place to stop and eat, and we decided that a McDonalds would have to do.
As usual, Nico was obviously excited at the thought of McDonalds. I mad a mental note to ask him why later.
After we had some lunch, we left the city and headed out to the country. As predicted, there were lots of wooded areas large enough for a giant to hide.
We picked one ten acre square to search for the day and decided to do two ten acre squares a day until we found any sign of giants. And it's a good thing that it wasn't hunting season, or else we probably all would have been shot by some crazy mortals (no offense to mortals) that hunt forest animals. Me, having been a Hunter and all, I could understand what the mortals were doing, but the others were somewhat confused.
"Wait, so what you're saying is that mortals hunt animals, kill them, take them home, and eat them?" Natasha was just as clueless and confused as ever.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Now be quiet so no one finds us. Mortals (no offense to the mortals) may be ignorant, but they know how to shoot people. So unless you want to be found, possibly shot and killed, or arrested, then SHUT UP." I glared at Natasha over my shoulder. It was the second day of searching for signs, and I was about to shoot Natasha myself if a mortal didn't. She had been talking nonstop since lunch and she was nervous about something. I had no idea why she would be super nervous about anything but getting shot by some stupid mortal, (no offense to any mortals) but she looked like she had drunk twelve espressos and eaten lots of cake and ice cream. (Believe, I know from experience what someone would like if they did that.)
Natasha's pupils were the size of quarters and her face was flushed. She would jump at every sound and she would sometimes just stop walking and start shaking as if she had hypothermia. It was really weird.
Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I stopped dead in my tracks, almost causing a domino effect, and spun around to face Natasha.
"Ok, it's time for you to explain what is going on with you. Your pupils are the size of quarters and you're as jumpy as a frog. What is going on that's making you so nervous?" I marched over to Natasha and looked her right in the eye. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nico and Leo glance at each other uneasily. They were probably expecting another cat fight.
But the cat fight never came. Instead, we were interrupted by the sound of flapping and heavy footsteps. I spun around and about fell to my knees with shock.
An army of empousai, dracaena, harpies (bad harpies) and basilisks had appeared behind us. I heard Leo curse under his breath and Natasha dropped her sword.
The sea of monsters (like my reference?) split in half and a giant figure walked through the middle. I immediately recognized the figure of Clytius. I fell to my knees in despair.
"Well, if it isn't the pesky little demigods that sent Polybotes to Tartarus again. If you've come to do that to me, I'm afraid that won't be happening. As much as I would like to kill you now, my brethren and I have decided to torture you slowly and painfully, until you die of old age. But that doesn't mean that you have to be completely alive when I bring you back." Clytius smiled evilly and some of the dracaena and empousai snickered.
That's when I realized that they were going to beat us until we had just enough strength to breathe, and then repeat the process, healing us after each beating just enough to endure another beating.
Nico leaned down next to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders and held me tight. "Let me deal with this." He gently whispered in my ear. I felt a tear roll down my cheek and he wiped it away. Then he stood up and faced the army.
"You aren't going to take us anywhere." Nico's voice was deadly quiet and loud at the same time. The grass around him turned black and the ground cracked. The army shuffled back a few paces before drawing their weapons.
"I think you are wrong and foolish, Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, known in the Underworld as the Ghost King." Clytius smiled evilly again. "CHARGE!!!"
The entire army yelled and hissed and surged towards us. But they didn't go far.
Nico screamed and the ground around him exploded. Everything turned black and the monsters all turned into dust. Images ran through my mind. Memories. Nico's memories.
Tartarus. Losing Bianca. Camp Jupiter. The Lotus Hotel. Savanna dying. Visiting the Underworld. Saving Camp Halfblood from the Romans. Every memory passed through my head.
A shockwave came from Nico. It was so powerful that it knocked Clytius of his feet and into a huge tree. Clytius disintegrated.
Nico was starting to get scary. I had to stop him before he used too much energy and hurt himself. I looked over my shoulder and saw Leo and Natasha hiding behind some trees.
I crawled as fast as I could to Nico's side. I reached up and grabbed his hand. When he looked at me, his eyes were solid black. I choked back a cry.
"Nico..." All it took was that one word. His eyes immediately changed back to their normal color and all the black light disappeared. Nico fell to his knees beside me, his whole body shaking with sobs. I grabbed him and just sat there holding him and letting him cry on my shoulder. I rubbed his back soothingly and ran my fingers through his hair. He wrapped his arms around my waist.
After a couple of minutes, Nico stopped crying and began to talk to me. "Are you alright? Did I hurt you? Are the others alright? Did I scare you?"
But instead of answering his questions, I just wrapped my arms around his neck and put my head on his shoulder. "Please don't do that ever again. Please. Your eyes were solid black and I was so scared..." My voice trailed off. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
"Ok. I promise I won't do that again unless I have to." Nico kissed my forehead and helped me up. "Come on. Let's go back to the car. Clytius is gone." He wiped my tear away and we all went back to the car. Natasha and Leo were both super pale.