The Real World || Percy Jackson Olympians Fanfiction (2)

Chapter 15

The mood that morning was light and cheerful, even as our terrifying journey loomed in front of us and a death weighed us down. I had woken up to the sound of singing, which belonged to Leo. He was in the kitchen making some toast when I walked in.

"Someone's in a cheerful mood this morning!"

Leo, still singing, spun towards me. He took me in a salsa dancing position and proceeded to dip me backwards.

"What's not to be cheerful for?" He asked. "Sure, we have a super scary secret mission in front of us, but I'm here in a freezing kitchen dancing with my little Luculent Libellus! I say: enjoy the moment as it comes!"

"Should I call the RSPCA? It sounds like someone's strangling a cat in here," a sleepy-eyed Nico said from the doorway. "And what's that smell?"

Me and Leo both met eyes and shouted "the toast!"

After a disgusting meal of charred bread, we all gathered our stuff and set off. The clothing we had found kept out most of the warmth, although I still had a deeper chill in my bones.

My two companions were trudging along either side of me, all of us shoulder-to-shoulder to expand our body heat. No matter how we positioned ourselves, we still couldn't stop the wind from smacking harshly against our frozen faces.

After an hour of walking, the mountain seemed no closer. The only things we had accomplished were making our feet hurt and our bodies frozen. There had been no talking throughout the walk so far, as all of our energy was being put towards the task at hand. That method wasn't helping our moods.

"We... Need... A... Distraction," Nico stammered.

"Tell me... More... About... Your powers," I suggested.

"What... do you... Want to know?"

I considered this for a moment. "Can you... Only... Shadow travel sideways?"

"I don't know," Nico replied, releasing a cloud of white. "I haven't... Tried it... Falling."

"What about... You... Leo? Can you only create f-f-fire in your... hand?"

Leo stopped walking for a moment before his whole body was consumed in flames. All of the snow in about a meter radious instantly melted.

"Will it... Hurt?" I questioned, holding my hand out towards the fire.

Leo calmed the fire down and made it end at his elbow so that his hand was bare. He touched it to my own hand and I felt the bearable warmth underneath his skin.

"Ha, you've... Been keeping... All this warmth... To yourself... You selfish pig!" I joked, continuing to walk.

"You know I c-c-can make you feel the heat any time," he responded with a wink.

I laughed off his flirting and tilted my head to avoid the blush. He had been flirting with me for a few days now, but I just shrugged it off as a friendly thing. Obviously I had seen him joking with some other girls at camp, so it couldn't have meant anything. Nico didn't seem to think the same as me though, because I noticed a miniscule glare and frown stamped onto his face. Friends are so protective.

We stopped twice, once during the day and once again as the sun was starting to set. There was no shelter in this empty wasteland, so we just had to make camp on the cold ground.

Leo cleared an area of land big enough for the three of us to sleep on. The wind died down to a small breeze as night came, but the temperature only dropped. I lay awake listening to the deep breaths coming from my two companions. But it felt like there would be no sleep for me as I curled up in a all and shivered.

There was a sound of a scuffel behind me and I froze, trying to calm my breathing and pretend I was asleep. Just when I thought the person had gone back to sleep, I felt something warm wrap around me.

"You don't have to pretend to be asleep," a deep voice whispered. "You're freezing."

"I-I'm f-f-fine."

The boy gently rolled me over so I was looking into the dark eyes of Nico Di Angelo. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, his warm fingers lingering on my icy cheek.

"I can always tell when you're lying, solitario. Get over here."

I gave up and shuffled closer to Nico, putting my hands against his chest and my forehead against his. The warmth was so inviting, I couldn't get enough of it. My body craved the sensation of human contact I had missed so much. Just being close to Nico reminded me of all the small things from home: my mum straightening my tie whenever she was home from work, holding my brother's hand as he walked into school on his first day, my dad ruffling my hair and calling and me his little monkey whenever I did something bad. I missed it.

"Much better," I sighed.

Nico's arm felt heavy on my side as it circled my waist and held my shaking body against his. The other softly played with my hair, his eyes glinting mischeviously as they stared into mine.

"It's a shame you're only doing this for warmth."

"You're not?" I questioned.

"What do you think?" He murmured.

"I think you should get some sleep, Mr Di Angelo."

"And you, Miss Hope. May your dreams be as..." He paused, seemingly searching for a word. His hand squeezed my hip as he found it. "Riveting as mine, you beautiful midget."

"I'm not that small," I yawned.

"Compared to me you are," Nico replied, pulling my head into his neck so he could rest his head on top of mine.

I smiled. "Goodnight, death boy."