Raph and I had stayed in the little forest clearing for the rest of the afternoon. He wrote words he wanted to learn and I would teach him the sign. He said Mr D fixed him and Chris. He said it was an easy thing. He had asked me what happened after we danced at the party. His memory was spotty, and memories felt altered, he wrote.

I can remember some pieces. I can hear whispers of her voice.

He visibly shuddered as he wrote. And I felt a surge of anger and possible jealousy.

I was aware of what I was doing, but it was like a waking nightmare and I couldn't control what I was doing.

It took me a long time to write my questions, the words kept getting jumbled together. But I eventually managed: When you woke up in the hospital bed. And saw me ..what happened?

He glared at the paper, his jaw muscle clenched and then he looked at me, again his dark broody eyes softened as he regarded me. He took the pen and notebook back.

I woke up to a glowing fire angel. She was beautiful and dangerous and I remembered that she had slowly taken my heart hostage. But a sinister hissing voice stabbed my mind.

I struggled reading it but when I did my cheeks flamed red and I knew I was glowing in embarrassment. When I finally got to the end I looked up slowly. He smirked and leaned forward, grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me roughly closer. Stopping with just enough room to sign the words: you beautiful dangerous sunshine.

He kept staring me down and smirking. My heart kept fluttering. I could feel his wild heartbeat despite how calm and collected he was, the pulse I could see raced. He was just as nervous and flustered as he was making me. I smirked and leaned in kissing him quickly. Just a quick kiss and pulled back laughing silently at him as he sputtered.

"Nora?"

"Nico? You okay?"

"Can...can I come find you?"

"Absolutely! What's wrong?"

I must have shifted my face because Raph frowned and pulled his eyebrows together. I signed the sign name for Nico. Before I could explain, Nico appeared from the shadow like he was part of it, forming from the shadow and mist into a human. Raph immediately stiffened. But I smiled widely. Raph glanced at me and relaxed, the change in his body language was night and day and leaned back against the tree his hands locked behind his head, showing off his huge tattooed arms. He indicated his head at the boy.

"Sit. Pull up some grass. Why did you sound so upset and urgent?"

"Nothing."

"Lier."

He shook his head and gave me a harsh look. I raised an eyebrow but left it for now. He looked back at Raph and was eyeing him up, like he was waiting for the guy to attack.

I saw Raph's mouth moving and every once in a while he signed a word he knew. Nico nodded and answered, his eyes still narrowed.

"This is the guy who you cussed a god out for?"

I nodded. Nico looked him up and down. I knew Nico would never hurt him, but even Raph looked slightly unnerved, but he kept Nico's eye contact and a smug smirk.

Nico was talking and as he did, he placed a hand on the ground a small little skeleton critter appeared and a skeletal hand appeared trying to claw its way free from the ground. I pressed my lips together trying hard not to laugh. All Raph did was raise an eyebrow. He said something else.

"Dam. I forgot." Nico muttered.

"Forgot what?"

"Ares kids can control anyone who has lost in battle. So this doesn't scare him!"

I looked back and forth between Raph and Nico. Raph looked ammused. Nico looked angry.

"Are you giving him a brother to boy friend talk?"

"I dunno. Is he a boyfriend?"

I opened and closed my mouth. I looked at Raph and raised an eyebrow. Nico also narrowed his eyes. Raph cocked an eyebrow and regarded Nico for a second and then looked at me. His dark broody eyes looked so far into my soul I swear he read all my secrets- even the ones I didn't know I had.

He signed "what?" His cocky smirk and intense eyes never disappeared. He kept talking to Nico. Nico nodded and then with his head he indicated to me. Raph looked at me and then his face hardened and became intense. He kept my gaze and then he smirked and his eyes softened. He signed one word, that I didn't teach him. So he had obviously asked someone before coming to find me. Like he already knew beautiful and sunshine. (You know. The important words.)

Girlfriend.

I'm pretty sure I fainted.

Okay I didn't actually, but my world spun and if I could talk I would have squealed. Instead I smirked back and signed.

Boyfriend.

"You know I'm still here....right?"

"Death boy you killed the vibe!"

"Ha. Ha. You're so funny." He rolled his eyes. Nico was glaring at Raph. "He hurts you I end him."

"Aww Nico! You do care! But I'm offended you  think I wouldn't end him myself."

Nico smirked and gave Raph a twisted smile. "Fine, we end him together."

"Deal."

🔆

The rest of the summer seemed strange because it was so...normal, it felt uncomfortable sometimes, but completely normal at other times. As normal as a summer at Camp Half Blood anyway, Michael became Apollo cabin leader. The daily activities continued: archery, sword fighting, (that was my favorite, Raph was teaching me different moves and had come up with some cool tricks and ways to fight if I was alone. How to fight in a battle deaf and still make sure my back was covered.)

Rock climbing, and Pegasus riding, (Glitter had insisted on staying and moved into the stable and seemed to be fitting in. She could turn her fire off, and just the gold shimmery sparkles were left. Her and Blackjack seemed to get along.) We played capture the flag (though we all avoided Zeus’s Fist).

We sang and had full camp games at the campfire (Will and Nico and I became the champions of Charades- we failed to mention that Will and I played life and death charades with Apollo at a party. And we also failed to tell people Nico and I could communicate telepathically, though some campers figured it out eventually and protested; but because they couldn't prove it, we whooped 'em each time.) And raced chariots (Glitter and I were banned, we kept burning other chariots accidentally. Much to the annoyance of Percy who had to put them out constantly.) And played practical jokes on the other cabins, (Nico and I mastered the sneak attack. He had learned to shadow travel and we had our mind link. We were unstoppable).

I spent a lot of time with Percy and Tyson. Tyson tried to learn sign language, he tried, he picked up a few basic words and names. But I ended up having to just draw pictures for him. Or talk through someone else. Percy picked it up quickly, and became fluent, which was super sweet, his favorite sign for my name was sister. And it made my heart feel lighter. Same with Raph and Grover and Selina.

Annabeth learned begrudgingly, it was something new and she couldn't help but want to know it all. She still was extremely suspicious of me and I still had no idea what her problem was. And she seemed to steer clear of me and for some reason she was avoiding Percy, which I could tell bothered him.

Most campers were considerate and learned at least a few words. But still gave me a wide berth. Talking only when necessary and most still refused my healing help, despite me with the healing hands. I handed the title off to Will. hey was the better healer, especially now that he had the book of remedies from Asclepius. It was mostly the Ares cabin that was okay with me helping and my own cabin and a few of the other individuals. Though I think Raph had something to do with making his cabin accept my help. When I asked him about it he denies it, but when I asked Clarisse she nodded, "threatened eternal toilet duty and to be used as a test dummy for the Hephaestus cabin inventions.

I stormed up to Raph, and shoved his chest with a scowl. He caught my wrists. He pulled me closer and slid his strong arm around my back so I was stuck to his chest. He just raised an eyebrow.

"Clarisse said you threatened them. Don't lie to me again." I signed fast and furious, a few sparks flew when I signed with such anger.

He smirked and signed back, letting go of my back. "You couldn't tell?"

"I did. I just wanted proof."

He smirked and went to lean in and kiss me, but I spun around and stomped away, my fire hair flying.

When I was working in the infirmary or was busy I had asked Raph to keep an eye of Nico. He didn't really make an effort to talk to anyone. But he seemed alright with Raph, Percy tried. But I had a feeling Nico felt...flustered...with Percy around.

🔆

It was the last day of camp, and  weapons training had gone a little over board, and a little too intense... and I asked Raph to keep an eye on him at supper while I patched wounded campers with Will and Kayla.

It had taken us a lot longer then we thought and by the time we trudged into the dinning pavilion to grab food, supper was almost over. I grabbed food and trudged towards the shadows of the tree line just outside the Dinning pavilion. I saw Chiron and Mr D watching, but they didn't say anything. Raph and Nico were having an argument about something, and even without me there, they were so used to talking and signing by now, I could understand their argument, there hand gestures were sharp and aggressive. Both their faces were scowls.

"Nico sit down and eat some food, boy! Your waisting away!"

"No! You can't tell me what to do! I'm the Ghost King! No body tells me what to do."

I sat down and with one hand signed, "Nico. Sit your emo ass down and eat."

He glared at me but plunked down and pouted, he snatched the peanut butter sandwiche off his plate and took a small bite.

"I hate you!" Nico glared at me.

I smiled, "Love you too."

He was silent for a few minutes, then he announced, "I'm leaving."

"Like Hades you are!" I rolled my eyes and kept eating. He had said things like this before and it was more just to get a reaction.

"I am! We've talked about this! You said yourself it was a good idea!"

"I didn't mean like now! What about school and training?"

"Nora! I'm leave end of discussion. I don't belong here!"

"And I do? I have to have my boyfriend threaten eternal toilet duty just so I can put a damn bandaid on them!"

"Then come with me!"

"Nico I want to go to school. I want to at least try!"

"Fine! Abandon me like everyone else!"

I leapt to my feet my hand flickering and I knew my eyes flashed with fire. I could feel the heat flickering in my veins. Nico and I had talked about him going to figure out who he was and talked at length about Kronos and Luke sharing a body and how my arrows kept glancing off. But this was low. I wasn't abandoning him!

"Don't you dare say I'm abandoning you when your the one who wants to leave."

"You won't come with me. You're leaving me."

"And I've told you why I want to stay. I said I would come but I can't leave for long stretches of time! Not yet anyways!"

"Ya. You found someone else!"

"I'm not replacing you Nico. I'm choosing to go to school tomorrow."

I could see his body shaking his hands balled into fists and the ground rumbled. Cracks appeared in the ground, the grass around us turned yellow and died. The air around me turned hot and dry. From the ground a skelitel hand appeared. It pushed it's way up and stood in front of me.

"Really? Your gonna do this again? Avoid talking about this and attack me with your minions?"

Nico didn't say anything but the skeleton staggered forwards. I set my hands on fire and threw a blaze like a baseball. The skeleton burnt up like dry wood and crumpled to the ground in ash.

Nico's jaw was clenched. Another skeleton was clawing it's way up. I waited for it to stand in front of me before I blasted that one, too. Nico kept calling skeletons a d I kept blasting them. Apparently we had also worked out way up into the middle of the dinning pavilion. I could see his vital signs dropping. He was wearing himself out and he was going to kill himself.

"Stop Nico. You're acting like a child."

"I am a child! You're abandoning me and I want you to admit it! Just like Bianca did!"

"I'm not abanding you! I said I would HELP."

There was a giant wave of water that doused me and Nico, my flames went out in a wosh of steam, and Nico's skeletons came apart and washed away. Percy stood on top of the head table his hands out stretched. He looked thunderstruck back and forth between the two of us. 

"What is tarderus is going on?" He signed.

Nico spun on his heel and stormed out of the pavilion and into the trees. I spun the other way. Before I left I saw the look Annabeth gave me. Like I confirmed her worst fear. She gave Percy an I-told-you-so look. I glanced at other faces and they all looked like they were next in my fire ball hit list. Blinking tears I fled the pavilion.

After dinner, the campers headed toward the amphitheater, where Austin led the camp in an awesome sing-along to pick up our spirits. I wasn't in the mood I hung at the back leaning on a tree. Percy trudged up and stood beside me his hands in his pockets. He nodded at Raph who nodded back. The three of us just stood in the back.

Percy nudged me and nodded in the direction of the woods. Nico was disappearing into the woods. I decided I’d better follow him. We needed to appolagize. I nodded and tapped Raph and said I'd be back. He nodded. Percy and I followed after him.

As we passed under the shadows of the trees, I realized how dark it was getting. I’d never been scared in the forest before, though I knew there were plenty of monsters. Still, I thought about the Labrynth battle, and I wondered if I’d ever be able to walk in those woods again without remembering the horror of so much fighting.

I couldn’t see Nico, but after a few minutes of walking I saw a glow up ahead, I nudged Percy and pointed. At first I thought Nico had lit a torch. As we got closer, I realized the glow was a ghost. The shimmering form of a girl with black hair and dark eyes like Nico, stood in the clearing, this must be Bianca , Nico's sister. She was smiling at her brother. She said something to him and touched his face- or tried to. Then her image faded.

Nico turned and saw us, but he didn’t look mad. His eyes flicked to me and he looked away always, guilty in his body language.

"Saying good-bye," he said signed. "I’m not staying."

"But…you can’t just leave. It’s too dangerous out there for a lone half-blood. You need to train." Percy signed, his face was stricken, trying to plead with him.

"I train with the dead," he signed flatly. "This camp isn't for me. There’s a reason they didn’t put a cabin to Hades here, Percy. He’s not welcome, any more than he is on Olympus. I don’t belong. I have to go. You saw what happened at super. Did you see the looks on everyone's faces?"

"They look the same way at me and I have a cabin, Nico." I signed.

Earlier today, when Percy found me on the beach we talked long and hard. Percy had come looking for me and I briefly explained what happened at super and why we were fighting. Percy had sat quiet for a while mulling over what I had said. He made me see that Nico needed to find his own way. He convinced me that Nico is still very young, (which I agreed. He was a child who was hurting and had lost so much.)  He needed to learn to trust on his own and needed to come to these conclusions of trust and friendship and loyalty on his own. And also reassured me I wasn't abandoning him. I agreed, it hurt, but I also needed to figure out what I wanted, this was only my first summer as a demigod, and it had been jammed packed.

Knowing all this and yet I still wanted to argue, but part of me knew Nico was right, there was no cabin for Hades, despite being a huge important, big three god. I didn’t like it, but Nico would have to find his own, his own dark way.

"When will you go?" I asked, my hands shook and I had to bite my lip to keep it from trembling.

"Right away. I’ve got tons of questions. Like who was my mother? Who paid for Bianca and me to go to school? Who was that lawyer guy who got us out of the Lotus Hotel? I know nothing about my past. I need to find out. And Nora and I talked about some things and I wanna see what I can find out."

"Makes sense," Percy signed for my sake, "But, Nico I hope we don’t have to be enemies"

He lowered his gaze and kicked at the ground for a second before he signed and spoke. "I'm sorry I was a brat. I should’ve listened to you about Bianca.

"By the way…" he fished something out of my pocket. "Tyson found this while we were cleaning the cabin. Thought you might want it."

He held out a lead figurine of Hades. I recognized it as a piece of the game the Mythomagic he liked to play.

Nico hesitated and shook his head. Signing, "I don’t play that game anymore. It’s for kids."

"It’s got four thousand attack power," Percy coaxed, he was still signing for my sake.

"Five thousand," Nico corrected. "But only if your opponent attacks first."

I smiled. So did Percy and he caught my eye for a split second. "Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while." Percy tossed him the statue.

Nico studied it in his palm for a few seconds, then slipped it into his pocket. "Thanks." He signed with a nod.

Percy put out my hand. Nico hesitated, but shook reluctantly, he let go and turned to look at me. I could see the guilt in his dark angry eyes. His hands twisted his fingers  before he spoke using our link.

"And Nora... Bianca gave me a good scding. You're not abanding me. I'm choosing to go. I'm...I'm...I'm sorry. I can't take back what I said. But I'm sorry. You have been..like a sister. Dream team."

I let the few tears slid down my cheeks. I opened my arms, and waited, knowing he would never, but he surprised me. And stepped hesitantly into my embrace. He stood stiff for a second when I wrapped my arms around him. I held him in a hug for a second. I went to let go, but that's when he wrapped his skinny arms around me and held onto the back of my jacket, like I was a life line. I hugged him tighter. His thin body shiver and shuddered. I knew he was crying, I placed my cheek on top of his head and just held him in a tight hug. His face was turned away and buried into my shoulder and I didn't let go until he let go first. He stepped back with a big deep breath.

"I’ve got a lot of things to investigate," he signed. "Some of them…Well, if I learn anything useful, I’ll let you know."

I nodded. "please keep in touch. I'll miss my emo death Grandpa."

"Later Sparky."

He turned and trudged off into the woods. The shadows seemed to bend toward him as he walked, like they were reaching out for his attention.

Someone appeared right between Percy and I, making us jump. "There goes a very troubled young man." Mr D signed.

🔆