Mostly Normal: Hearts and Spades

Chapter Sixteen: W Oddali

Almost a week after the incident with the curse, Nico di Angelo regained consciousness and was acting fine, although Will made him stay in the infirmary for far more time than was needed.

Nero sat on the edge of his bed in the Nemesis cabin, his head lay in his hands and he was taking deep, shuddering breaths. A single tear escaped from his eye and ran down a pale cheek. The black haired boy stood and walked to the other side of the room, pulling out a duffel bag and carrying it over to his chest of drawers.

He tenderly placed several of his possessions into the bag, along with three pairs of clothes, as he could not have his family members thinking that he had gone, even though he had. He took another deep breath and then performed one of the spells that Sara and Hakizimana, who had been trained together as small children, had taught him.

He closed his eyes and then thought of a place that he had always wanted to go, one that he could envision perfectly. When he opened his eyes, he felt exhausted, but the old Egyptian spell had worked. Nero stood in the middle of a cornfield just outside of Omaha, Nebraska.

The city was small, so Nero knew that his family would never be able to find him there, as many people did not know what it looked like. He sighed as he walked through the city's protective barrier. He knew that some very powerful Japanese magicians lived here from the stories that he had heard Taka and Nino tell.

Nero took another steadying breath and adjusted the duffel bag on his shoulder. He started forward slowly, looking around warily for magicians. He wasn't taking any chances, not when he was still regenerating his magic. He'd used up all he'd had when he'd accidentally cursed Nico.

Nero continued into the humming city, frowning as he saw two women standing on the street next to him, he did not mean to, but he listened to their conversation.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" one of them asked, she sounded strangely like his sister. Nero shook his head, it couldn't be his sister, the only reason that he could hear her voice in this stranger was that he missed her so much.

"I honestly don't know, but he did leave this note where we would be able to find it right away." The voice of the second stranger sounded oddly like Gilbert.

Nero shook his head and then delved deeper into the city, happy with the secure feeling that it gave him. He continued to travel around the city before someone placed a hand over his mouth and began to drag him into a dirty alley way. "Nero! Nero wake up!" They shouted he could feel a hand caress his forehead.

When these words were spoken again, he felt himself begin to float away from the earth, though he was not floating up, rather down. When he finally landed, he was in the underworld. He did not know how he got there, but he knew that that was where he was. "I'm sorry, my siblings. But I had to do it."