not about angels - solangelo au

Chapter 6

Reyna and I were sitting in one of the meeting rooms in the palace after a conference, during which Octavian had been incredibly annoying, as usual. I sighed and pushed my hair back from my forehead, my head pounding from the headache I'd developed in the middle of the meeting, during one of Octavian's boring "let's-kill-all-the-angels" rants.

"What time is it?" I asked Reyna, remembering my arrangement with Will. The thought of him brightened my mood a bit, which was confusing, considering I didn't think of him as a friend, yet.

"It's almost one," she replied, looking at her watch. "Why?"

"I've got somewhere to be at two," I replied. "And everything just kind of blurs together during these meetings, so I always have a bad perception of time afterwards."

"Oh," she said, nodding. "Where are you going?"

"Um.." I said, my mind going blank and rendering me incapable of thinking up a convincing lie. "I've got to, um...finish taking the soul of that human. When that angel got in my way."

I saw hints of suspicion in her eyes, but she nodded anyways. "I'd have thought you finished it up by now."

"Oh, you know, stuff gets in the way sometimes," I said, attempting nonchalance. "And I had other assignments." I actually did have other assignments, so it was only a half-lie, which is better than a whole lie, technically.

"Why don't you just hang out with me for today?" Reyna said, and I tensed up inside. "Hades doesn't care, so you won't get in trouble."

"Um.." I said, thinking quickly. I needed to get out of staying in the Underworld, without Reyna becoming suspicious, or at lest buy myself enough time to go tell Will I couldn't come see him. I glanced around the room, and my eyes landed on the notes I had brought for the meeting. I picked them up and put the pen in my jeans pocket. "Okay. I've just got to run home and put away my notes." Pretending I was putting away my notes would buy me enough time to shadow-travel to the park and tell Will I wasn't coming.

"Alright," she said, suspicion still present in her tone.

"See you in a bit," I said, standing up and resisting the urge to run out of the room.

I turned the corner of he hallway leading to the conference room and found a shadowed corner, dark enough that I could shadow-travel easily. I stepped into the murky darkness. My hair blew back against my forehead from the speed of my movement, and then I was stepping out of the shadow of the park bench.

He wasn't there yet, obviously, as it was too early, so I scribbled a quick note on the back of one of the sheets of paper.

Hi Will,

I won't be here today, my friend asked me to hang out with her, and I didn't want to say 'no' and seem suspicious. Sorry. I'll come tomorrow, promise.

-Nico

I folded up the paper and left it on the bench, thankful that there was no wind today to blow away the note. Satisfied, I shadow-traveled back to the Underworld and hurried to the meeting room, where Reyna was still waiting for me.

"Great, you're back," she said as I walked in. "I thought you'd run off somewhere without me."

"Ha ha," I said, with a slightly forced smile. "Of course not."

It wasn't that I didn't want to spend time with Reyna, I did, but she just wasn't Will. He had this quality about him, this uplifting power, that always brightened my mood. Reyna and I knew each other better than Will and I knew each other, yet I felt more comfortable with Will than I did with Reyna. Maybe it was her direct connection to Hades, or her serious attitude, but I always felt like I had to be careful around her. With Will, I could be impulsive and outspoken, and awkward and quiet and whatever I wanted.

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I'm sorry if this chapter/ending is sort of bad; I lost inspiration about halfway through. Anyways, next chapter will be more interesting.