The Winged Warrior

Chapter 15

Nico's POV

I felt so guilty over the next two days. Guilty because of the small part of me that had felt relieved when Saven had died, because it had meant Will would be alright.

Will had barely been talking at all, and his mood was reflected by the other Apollo campers. I knew Saven had been a ball of relentless energy and everyone had loved him. 

Percy and Luke, however, seemed to be dealing with their own problems using humour. I could see it was just a shield, but no-one else seemed to notice. It was just like Leo all those years ago, but then again, I was the only one who had noticed then either and I hadn't even told Leo about it.

I had also felt a powerful longing to reveal my identity. If I did, I knew I would be free to be with Will, but I had to run it past Percy first. He was boss, and I didn't know if he had a further plan that required my real identity to remain a mystery.

It was morning. My room was dark, although the walls were painted a fresh white. My room had the great ability to look like a light, airy space while being dark and moody-looking, just how I liked it.

I got out of my bed, stretched and slipped on my bracelet lying on my bedside cabinet next to my collapsed staff. I then adjusted my newly reappeared cloak slightly, slipped my staff into an inside pocket and headed out into the corridor, my hood down.

Upon entry to the kitchen, I saw Luke and Lexi sitting at the table, Luke attacking a pile of waffles, Lexi picking moodily at a bowl filled with the same strange-looking gloopy substance that the Arishe ate sometimes. I had tried it, it was surprisingly good.

"Where's Percy?" I asked, sliding into a chair beside Luke and making a grab for one of his waffles. Luke grabbed my wrist without looking and answered,

"He's still in his room. Painting, I think."

"Cool." I answered. I then punched Luke in the stomach and walked away cheerily, a waffle in each hand, leaving him to wheeze and gesture obscenely in my direction.

***

Climbing the stairs, I munched happily on a waffle as I knocked on Percy's door with my free - but sticky - hand. I heard Percy's voice say "Come in." and I turned the doorknob, striding inside.

Percy had painted several more pictures since I'd last been in here, and he was getting better and better. Most of his earliest paintings had been of Annabeth, but since he's let her go he had been painting a lot of landscapes. The one he was currently working on was a huge expanse of green grass, with rolling hills and beautiful flowers. Just looking at it, I could almost feel the breeze sweeping over me and making the grass ripple into a great wave carpeting the scene, with a river cutting off the flow of green and snaking it's way through the valley.

"Hi, Perce." I greeted, pulling up a chair next to Percy, who was concentrating on the brush strokes smoothly gliding down the fresh blue river. He had an apron on, and had covered his wings in what looked like a large bin bag to stop paint getting on his feathers. He had expressed previously how long it took to wash acrylics out of his wings.

"Sup." He said, without looking up at me. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no." I answered quickly, shaking my head slightly. "No. I was just wondering if I could, maybe, reveal my identity?"

"Oh sure, just make sure you... wait, WHAT?" Percy did a double-take and almost yelled the last line, staring at me in shock. "Why on earth would you want to do that?"

"Well," I answered tentatively, "If I reveal myself, I would be able to... to be with Will."

Percy's face changed to a look of understanding. "Oh. Well, If you really feel that strongly about it, then it's up to you. I won't stop you if it feels right."