Gone Girl.¹

𝟬𝟭𝟬. cruel summer

gone girl.
━━━ chapter ten

❀

The afternoon of the same day, Amaryllis found Nico in the infirmary. He had a cold compress on his forehead, his black clothes were a bit torn up and he had bandages all over his body. Despite everything, there was a smirk on his face.

"Amaryllis, thank the Gods you're here!" said an exasperated Nia, who was by his side. "He won't listen to me. He says he's fine and ready to leave. Can you please handle him?" she pleaded. She looked half scared and half stressed out. "I have more patients to tend to."

"Sure, don't worry," Amaryllis watched her sister leave to check the beds across the room. She turned to look at the son of Hades, who looked strangely amused. "What did you say to her?"

"Me? Nothing," he shrugged, though his face said otherwise.

"You can't seriously think of leaving in a state like that. You look like a train wreck," the blonde told him and the boy sat up, taking the compress off.

"Looks can be deceiving. I feel perfectly fine," Nico insisted and he got up from the bed to prove it. "Besides, I already told you I wouldn't be staying at the Camp."

Amaryllis rubbed her temples as she sighed. "Can you please stop being so stubborn? You need to stay here. It's- it's dangerous out there, now more than ever."

"And why do you care?" he snapped.

"Because I'm your friend, Nico," she snapped back. "I don't know if that's a wild concept for you to accept, but people do care about you, whether you realise it or not."

Nico's expression softened. For a second, she hoped that she had convinced him, but when he spoke, he said something else. "Do you feel like you belong here? At the Camp, I mean. Does it feel like home?"

She took a moment to think about it. Some of the best memories of her life were created there, she met some of her favourite people at Camp Half-Blood — it was home, the only home she had, but did she really feel like she belonged?

"I've been gone for four years. If I'm being honest, it feels a bit... weird now that I'm back. I still have a lot of love for this place, it just doesn't feel the same," she said, but she hesitated before she continued. "It's not like I ever had any other options though. Camp Half-Blood was always the only option."

Nico looked at her like he expected a different answer. "What if there was an alternative?" he finally said, loud enough only for her to hear.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." The answer came quick and almost panicked, like he had just realised he was about to make a mistake but he quickly covered it up. "Just forget I said anything. I can see you hold a lot of love for this place, but I don't. It might be your home, but it's not mine."

"I can't convince you, can I?"

"No, you can't. I'll be gone after dinner."

Amaryllis nodded, not knowing what else to say. She was too tired to keep fighting to convince him to stay. "Be careful then, okay? And stay in touch, at least so we know that you're safe."

He smiled. "Trust me, we'll speak again sooner than you think," he said, creating unnecessary suspense. After that, Nico walked out of the infirmary without sparing anyone a second glance and Amaryllis didn't hear from him until later in the summer.

❀

For the rest of the summer, everyone was trying their best to pretend like everything was normal. Like they weren't survivors of a vicious, bloody battle that cost lives, but instead, they were your typical teenagers. There was a mourning period of a week, where everyone was still recovering from their injuries and their wounds – physical and mental, but after a while they returned to their usual Camp Half-Blood activities.