Nico's Quest

Chapter2

"Didn't I have wings the last time I was here?"

"Hmm?" Anubis looked at him.

"Wings," repeated Nico. "I know I was tripping on acid, but I distinctly recall having a pair of big black wings. So why don't I have them now?"

Anubis shrugged. "Sometimes the Duat changes you more into what you need to be when you enter. At other times, you're free to remain as you are."

"What do you mean 'what I need to be'?" Nico wanted to know.

Anubis gave him a tolerant look and began to explain as they continued walking. "The Duat isn't a place like your world. Ideas go much further here, time runs different in different places, and both fate and tradition are able to influence those who enter."

"Why?"

"That's just how it is," Anubis told him.

"So what's the significance of me having wings?"

Anubis hesitated before answering. "I do not know," he then admitted. "Your wings looked similar to a vulture's -"

"And vultures are associated with death," Nico remembered.

"Not always. Not in Ancient Egypt. They were seen as protectors," said Anubis.

"Then me having vulture wings might be a good thing instead of straight-up morbid?" asked Nico hopefully.

"Perhaps." Anubis spared a rare smile for Nico. Despite everything that had happened and his guilt for nearly killing Nico with the powerful locating spell that had turned out to be three times more powerful than he'd expected it to be, Anubis was quite proud of his host. Nico had been through so much in his relatively short, time-warped, and twisted up life. More than most people ever had to deal with, and it seemed like fate just kept heaping more and more on top of him. Nico didn't just meet it head on, which would have been impressive enough on its own, he also met it with a positive attitude, something very rare for someone so closely linked with death.

"I wish I had them now," said Nico, his face lit with a dreamy, childish look. Through their link, Anubis could feel Nico's enthusiasm and excitement for whatever he was about to say. "I bet I could move so much faster if I could fly. I'd be all like whooooosh and be out of here in no time," he said, pantomiming a gesture that Anubis thought was probably supposed to signify an airplane as he made the accompanying sound effect. "And I wouldn't even have to worry about Zeus smiting me, would I? He doesn't get any authority in the Duat does he?"

"No, he doesn't," confirmed Anubis. "But don't be too hasty in your wish. You wouldn't have any idea how to work your wings, would you?"

"I've flown before, remember?" responded Nico. "On Dedalus' wings. That was fun."

Anubis looked away so that Nico wouldn't see his smile grow wider. It wouldn't do to have anyone, even his host, thinking that he was going soft. But it was hard not to have a soft spot where his host was concerned. Or where his host's friend Sadie was concerned either, but the way Anubis felt about Sadie was completely different . . . and it was probably better not to dwell on that now.

But Nico . . . Nico was kind of like the little brother Anubis never had. Anubis knew it was a mistake to think about a mortal that way and tried not to, but he really couldn't help it. In the past few months he'd gotten to know Nico better than he'd ever known anyone else before, be they god, goddess, or mortal, and he couldn't help it. He liked Nico a lot. The kid was a little awkward and weird, and a little OCD as well, but he wasn't a bad kid. Anubis actually thought he was funny and . . . well . . . cute, but he was careful never to let Nico know that, lest he be on the receiving end of one of Nico's angry Italian cursing sprees. There were times that Anubis found himself wishing that Nico wasn't his host, but that Nico was a god too. It wouldn't have mattered to Anubis if Nico was on the Egyptian pantheon, or Greek one, or some other one entirely. He was pretty sure they'd have ended up being friends eventually. There were only so many immortal beings who played Mythomagic, after all. Anubis had asked every single one of them and found less than a dozen in the entire world.