The Next Great Prophecy

NICO XXIX

            Nico and the others watched Percy walkaway,wondering what they should do. Annabeth looked distressed, confused, and irritated all at once.

            "I can't believe this," she muttered. "He's the least useless person I know. I'm going to to destroy those stupid gods, if it's the last thing I do."

            "We need to let Percy rest right now, but what god should we find next? Morpheus was no help, but maybe we can get to someone else," Nico suggested.

            "Maybe we should go toHecate. She was on outr side in the last war, and she really helped Hazel. Maybe we can convince her, and get her help with the the onhters," said Jason.

            "Probably," said Piper. "Calypso said to go to a crossroads. Repair Boy, where's the nearest crossroads?"

            "Let me go look," said Leo, running over to his controls to check their location. He came back a few minutes later. "We're actually not too far from Florida, there should be a crossroads there, easily."

            "Set course for Florida, Leo," said Jason. "WE can find the crossroads, get Hecate on our side, and get Percy back to normal."

            "I'm going to go check on him," said Nico, surprising everyone. Before anyone could respond, Nico turned and followed the path Percy took, ending right outside the son of Poesidon's door.

            "Percy?" Nico called, knocking. There was no response. Nico placed an ear to the door, listening for any sign of him. He gently pushed open the door.

            Percy sat on his bed, knees pulled to his chest. He had his head in his hands, and barely reacted when Nico stood nearby. He hadn't changed out of his wet clothes, and the spot of water on the sheets grew as he sat.

            "Percy?" Nico said again.

            "What, Nico?" asked Percy, not looking up. His voice was uncharacteristically irritated. Usually he was happy to see anyone.

            "Are you okay?"

            "Sure, I'm fine," responded Percy saracastically. "Dozens of gods want me dead, I feel like I got hit by six trucks in a row, I can't do anything of use, and I get to sit here while someone else has to fix it because I'm too pitiful to help myself. I'm just wonderful."

            "Percy, I don't know what makes you think you're useless, but you're not. I'm terribly sorry you can't use your fancy water powers," Nico continued, his voice also dripping in sarcasm, "but you'll have to make do like everyone else. You're good at plenty of other things, the water was just an added perk!"

            "Like what?"

            "Percy, you're the best fighter I've ever seen! Despite what people may say, you are pretty smart about a lot of things. I mean, gods, you've survived this long, haven't you? Think about it, if you weren't a threat, then they wouldn't be targeting you! They're scared for a reason!"

            Percy was quiet for a long time. He never removed his face from his hands, and Nico was beginning to wonder if the demigod had fallen asleep. Zeus knows he could use some rest.

            The two sat in silence for a long time before Percy looked up. He was starting to dry, and was shaking despite the summer heat. "where are we going?"

            "Florida. We're going to a crossroads to see if we can summon Hecate," answered Nico.

            "Awesome," muttered Percy sarcastically. He stifled a yawn.

            "Percy, go to sleep. It's been a terrible few days, and you're still really beat up. The sooner you get better, the sooner you can beat the crap out of minor gods!" said Nico, trying to sound upbeat. Percy smiled weakly.

            "Sure, Death Breath. Whatever you say." Percy laid down and faced the wall.

            Nico stood, looking down at his cousin. "Sleep well, Kelp Head," he whispered, and left the room.

Ok, I feel super horrible for not updating for so long. School and work are officially trying to kill me. It's a joint effort. 

Hopefully no one thought I was giving up on this story. I would never do that, in case you were worried. I realize there's not all that many of you, but I would never abandon you guys like that! 

Special shoutout to juliafredrikaaa (I swear, if I had any idea what I was doing, I'd dedicate the chapter to you, but I don't :( sorry!) for commenting and everything on several chapters the other day, reminding me that I had an unfinished chapter sitting on my computer. So I shoved aside some homework, and here we are!

I'm hoping to update again soon. If not in the next week or so, I will start writing a bunch over spring break (15 DAYS!), since I won't have school and one job will be out as well. So for a few days, I'm hoping to get a lot of writing done.

And, in case anyone was wondering this after this chapter, there WILL BE Nico-has-crush-on-Percy-and-Percy-is-adorably-oblivious issues (I am planning for feelings to be admitted, so he won't be oblivious for long!), but I haven't quite figured out to include them, so this chapter is more Nico-is-super-worried-about-his-best-friend issue-based. 

Ok, my author's note, assuming anyone actually reads these, is almost over. Now, just your friendly reminder to comment/vote/follow/what you will, and I'll be out of your hair. Hope you enjoyed this super delayed chapter. Until next time!-T

Sorry, I lied. It's not over quite yet. I just looked at the info page for this book and I saw

I'VE HIT 1K READS! THIS IS SO EXCITING! I figured I'd maybe hit 100 reads, so this means a lot to me. Thank you to everyone who has read this, thank you so much! I'm glad so many people seem to be enjoying it! And seriously, thank you. This means the world to me. Writing is a passion of mine, and knowing that anyone is reading this just makes me beyond happy.

So, for real this time:

Until next time!-T