Project Demigod (a Percico fanfic)

Chapter 20: The Night Nico Loses Himself

Okay let's be real, I've gotta stop kidding myself. These chapters are never gonna be short again. I'm terribly sorry guys, haha honest! I'll keep trying. Still, you have permission to come after me but I warn you I'll just yap you to death hehe, so bring it. Lol and as always, thanks for joining on me on the ride! I just love sharing a new piece with you each time. And double update in two days! What?!

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Over Wales, 3:39 am

'What in the world?'

The golden case lay limp in Percy's hand as his mind swam with questions. He had so many but the only one that kept coming back to the forefront of his mind was what. What was he looking at?

He bit the inside of his cheek.

Percy put it in his lap and gingerly lifted several rectangular sheets of paper. Then dark eyebrows scrunched together under his bangs, he began to analyze them.

Nico looked up at him preparedly.

The prince didn't understand what was written on the pieces but figured maybe Percy would decode it quicker than he could. Each rectangle was a different size with bunches of swirls and lines all drawn in blue ink. Many strokes went off the edges and some were thicker than others with a couple dashes scattered around. It was all very strange and somehow alluring, but what made the entire thing more sinister than it appeared, were the crude letters and numbers marked on each. Words like time, density, scripts like Ω and ∞, floated around almost aimlessly – it all looked like gibberish! And Nico understood languages not advanced science, and the symbols and broken letters weren't forming any sentences.

But after a couple more seconds, a light in Percy's brain went off and he glared at the slips.

"They're jigsaw puzzles," he mumbled accurately.

Nico blinked as he leaned in closer.

"You're sure? Because each rectangles' a different size. They won't fit each other."

Nico hadn't asked to sound condescending but wanted to make sure Percy gave himself the extra reassurance. Percy still nodded as he turned a few in his tanned fingers.

"It's an advanced 'squaring the square' tiling game for problem-solving," he explained. "You have to create the integral square using the sides with integer lengths – you know, figure out how to fit each piece in correctly so you get one perfect square... except this time I think it's gonna be a rectangle."

"I guessed as much after you said squaring the square," Nico sighed but brightened up when he reached over the aisle and pointed at two pieces.

"But hey, don't look so bummed!" he teased, pointing out Percy's darkening scowl as he tried to resize each piece with what Nico would call Percy's beautiful, genius mind. "Because look, we can just match these blue lines to the ones on some of the others... and I'm sure these letters form sentences if you can do it."

"You mean, we."

And Nico's face quickly grew warm when he stared up at Percy's serious gaze. The prince gave a nervous chuckle and smiled up at him.

"I-I'll do my best," he sighed and when his breath hit Percy's nose, the spy tensed slightly. It was still laced with the chocolate and coffee from earlier and reminded him of their dance. His ears tinged a slight red but Nico didn't see it as Percy began to rub his hand over one bitterly.

"Okay let's get started," Percy whispered and he quickly began taking each rectangle and handing them to Nico. He wanted this strange puzzle decoded now before he let yet another interruption happen on his account. Maybe it was a list of shipping reports for the other Hunter, or a secret map of Thalia's system. He could use a new route to stealth through international security.