The Wants of a Young Demigod Heart (Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez x OC)

The Bracelet

Nico POV

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It's a very cold night. Perfect. I was lying awake at six in the morning, trying to fend off nightmares when I heard a shout. 

"WHAT THE HECK?" Merrily's voice echoed across the camp. I sit straight up in bed and pull on a T-shirt. I slowly peek out my door to see Merrily storm out, still in her pajamas and look up at the sky with a furious look on her face. "Apollo!" 

"Merrily?" I call to her. 

She looks at me, her eyes wild and bloodshot. "He's in my head."

"Are you okay?" I ask tentatively. 

"No, I'm not okay!" she shouts as she runs over to me. "It's Apollo... the bracelet was cursed!" Then she gets a hazy look on her face. "Blessing my a--". 

"I'm gonna go get Will...." Merrily then grabs my arm, rips off the bracelet and says for me to try. Reluctantly I put the bracelet on. 

"Hey, there death boy!" I jump about a mile in the air. 

"Apollo?" I whisper. 

"Yeah, it's me! You should go check on Chey! Just you though! You are on FIYAH!"

"I have a girlfriend," I say bluntly.

"I can change that!" I groan and look for Merrily, but she's gone.

"You can't leave me here like this!" I call out to her retreating figure. "Get back here!" I start chasing after her and she starts booking it back to the Athena cabin. "Fine. I'll give it to someone else." I make my way to Bunker Nine. 

When I get there, I pound on the door until a bleary-eyed Leo opens the door. "Here." I push the bracelet onto his wrist and his eyes widen comically. 

"The voice in my head is back..." he mutters. 

"Back?" I question. "No, that's just Apollo." Leo sags with relief,  but the relief quickly turns to anger. 

"Why?" he growls at me. 

"I had him for five minutes and that was too much!" I reply. Leo lunges for me and I shadow travel away. The camp is now waking up and campers are making their way to breakfast. I come up to Merrily and kiss her on the cheek. 

"What did you do with that bracelet?" she asks me. 

"I gave it to Leo," I answer. As if on cue, Leo ran up to us, a sweatshirt hastily thrown on. 

"What was that for?" he demands. "And Apollo wants to talk to you," he says, turning to Merrily. 

"Why?" Merrily whines.

"As if I know," he scowls. "Thanks a lot by the way. This was my first decent night of sleep since Green day, jerk."

"Your first?" Merrily asks worriedly. Leo looks slightly shocked but quickly composes himself. 

"Never mind," he mumbles. "And also, he says for Nico to go visit Chey."

"Why me?" I demand. "Merrily's her best friend!"

"Don't ask me," Leo frowns. "Apollo's orders. Now, leave me alone." Leo stalks off back to his cabin. 

I sigh and after breakfast, reluctantly leave Merrily to her conversations with Apollo and head to the Hermes cabin. After knocking about ten times the door creaks open and an irate Ryan peeks out. When he sees it's me though, he smiles.

"Hey Nico," he grins. "I take it you heard about Chey?"

"Yeah," I say lightly. "How is she?"

"Well, she's been glaring at me the entire time," Ryan admits. "Maybe you could cheer her up?"