Solangelo 4

Part 21

NICO

'That is so sneaky, Nico, I love it.' Kayla says after hearing about my set up of Leo and Will.
'I've never found anyone he doesn't like. He gets annoyed by Leo the same way I get annoyed by everyone.' I joke.
'It's annoying isn't it? He gets along with everyone so well.' Kayla says, 'I fully support your actions.'
'Much appreciated.' I say. We continue deeper into the forest. Normally I love working in silence. Small talk angers me, but with Kayla it seems more relaxed. I've spent a lot of time with her in the infirmary and it feels less forced now.
'You still with George?' I ask, casually.
'Ugh. Yes.' She says. I turn to her, confused.
'Is that bad?'
'Not bad. Not great. Just. Ugh.' She says again.
'You want to...talk...about it?' I ask. She laughs.
'I'm certain that that is the first time you've ever said those words in that order.' She says.
'You're not wrong. But do you? Can't promise I'll be much help.'
'Why not.' She says, 'I can trust that it won't get back to him because I'm pretty sure you don't know who George is.'
'Sure I do. He's the...tall...with the hair...glasses?' I try.
'He doesn't wear glasses.'
'Okay, so I don't know who George is.' I say, 'you going to break up with him then?'
'I don't know. He's...he's really nice...I just, I don't think we have that much in common.' She says, 'like last week he spent a full 24hours just meditating or something.'
'That's weird.' I say.
'Right?' She asks, 'it's just annoying. He's so sweet. And when we get on, we get on really well. It's just the bits in between.'
'Well if you're not feeling it, you're not feeling it. Maybe you guys were made to be friends.' I say. I look up and see her smiling, 'What?'
'Nothing. That was just quite good advice.' She says, shaking her head.
'Well, What can I-' I stop mid sentence. My stomach knots up, my head pounds.
'What's wrong? Nico? Nico, talk to me.' Kayla says, instantly by my side and in doctor mode.
'It's Will. He's in trouble.' I say.
'How do you know?!' She asks, concerned.
'My Persephone thing. I have connections to people.' I explain, 'I need to shadow travel.'
'Take me with you. I can help if he's hurt.' She says. I grab her hand and shadow travel in the general area of where I feel Will is. We land deeper into the forest.
'Will?!' I shout, 'will?!'
'Nico!' I hear a while away. I instantly sprint towards his voice.
'Will!' I shout again.
'Nico, help! Help.' He shouts. I run into the clearing and find Will on the floor, bleeding. Leo holds his sword above him, ready to strike. I throw myself at Leo and tackle him down. Without thinking twice I lay into him. I punch him over and over. I feel his nose break. Blood covers his face.
I only stop when Kayla reaches us, and forces me off of him.
'He's unconscious.' She yells, 'that's enough.'
I move away from him and over to Will. Kayla is already working away on his wounds, but he seems pretty out of it.
'Hey. Hey. What happened?' I ask, incredibly worried, 'what'd he do?'
'I don't know. He just...' He coughs, 'just attacked me. It was out of nowhere, I...' He coughs again and his eyes start to shut.
'Will. Will, you've got to keep your eyes open. Keep talking.' Kayla insists.
'Sorry, Kay...' He says before drifting off.
'Shit.' She says. She starts working twice as fast.
I stand up, adrenaline coursing through my body. I turn jut as Percy enters the clearing.
'I heard shouting...what the hell happened?' He asks, seeing the chaos.
'Leo...I don't...' I try to explain but my mind is going too fast for me to form sentences. And then Leo gets up. He feels his broken nose.
'I'll kill you.' I say, plowing towards Leo, only to be held back my Percy.
'Jesus Christ, Nico, What the hell?' Leo says, backing up, 'where'd this come from?'
'I'll kill you.' I yell again.
'Nico, man, calm down.' Percy insists, 'calm down.'
'Let me go.' I say, resisting him as best I can.
'Calm. Down.' He says, then turns to Leo, 'Leo, man, maybe you should leave.' Leo stares at me for a moment before hurrying off.
'He attacked Will.' I say, 'he attacked him. He was going to kill him.'
'Nico. Nico. Listen to me, okay. If that's true, then it wasn't Leo. Leo wouldn't do that, okay?' Percy says, 'Leo wouldn't do that.'
'He could have killed him.' I say.
'But he didn't.' He says, 'now Will is hurt and needs you, so calm down, okay?'
I take a couple of breathes, 'Okay.' I say, quietly.
'Okay. If I let you go, will you be chill?'
'Yes.' I say. He let's go and I head back to Will, 'is he going to be okay?' I ask Kayla. His shirt is ripped open and she's done a patchy job of addressing his wound with what she had.
'He'll be fine. I need him in the infirmary to get started sowing him up, but he'll be okay.' She says, 'What the hell happened? Was he going to kill him? What would he have done if we didn't come?' I can see she's as worried about him as I am. She just had to put her concern aside to help Will.
'Look, let's just get him back to the infirmary. Let's focus on that.' I say. I pick Will up in a princess carry, and Kayla gets up too.
'Yeah.' She says, 'yeah, okay.'
'Percy, you need to find Leo. I don't care if it's really I'm or not, I don't want him anywhere near the infirmary and I don't want him anywhere near Will.' I say, firmly.
'Got it. You guys go, I'll deal with Leo.' He says, hurrying off. Kayla and I hurry back to the infirmary.