sky blue ● jason grace

me

 Daria wanted to be mad at Nico.

She sat behind Hazel as the girl force fed her brother some ambrosia. Really, she wanted to grab him by the shoulders and demand to know what he was thinking; but then again, she had known exactly what he had been thinking. And she didn't stop him.

Percy seemed to be having similar thoughts; even as he was complimenting Jason, in a fresh t-shirt, who was tying up Piper's sprained shoulder, she could see the Son of Poseidon turn and stare at the young boy with a frustrated curiosity.

Unfortunately for them, Nico still looked like he was on the brink of death. Everytime he raised his head to speak, it was followed by a series of unbridled coughing. The truth was that Nico got on Daria's nerves more than anyone else she knew. He was stubborn and bitter at the best of times, harsh and destructive at the worst.

Their relationship, if you could even call it that, was somewhat paradoxical. Mildly put, she used Nico as a weapon in the Senate, asked him to speak in favor of whatever outlandish proposition she had just put forth. In return, he would make requests- like Hazel Levesque, like Percy Jackson, like her silence about the Doors of Death.

But he was her friend, and she trusted him, which was more than she could say for some of the others.

Daria sighed, stretching. Between the underground cave and the giants' arena, she had exerted more power than she'd tried in one day. Her body ached, and all she wanted to do was curl up, close her eyes, and not see Gaea.

"Will you stop glaring at me?" Nico snapped at her. Ah. There it was. Actually, from Daria's perspective, Nico was the one glaring at her.

Hazel's eyes flickered between the pair-muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, "here we go again."

"Nico," Daria laughed. "Are you kidding me? We literally just saved your ass, otherwise you would be dead by now!"

"I didn't ask to be saved," he grumbled. Apparently, that first sentence had taken all his ferocity, because now he sat back and crossed his arms; pouting like a child.

"Oh my bad, you're right. Anyone who goes searching for the Doors of Death must already have a death wi-"

"Hold up," Percy made a time-out sign with his hands. "You knew about this?"

Daria wanted to throw something at the Son of Pluto and maybe give him a hug. "Hazel also knew about this," she glanced at the younger girl as she reprimanded Nico for moving so quickly. "No offense, Haze."

Hazel rolled her eyes.

"Yeah okay, Hazel knew. But he told you before he went, and you didn't stop him? Wait," Percy raised an eyebrow. "How well do you two even know each other?"

"Better than we do." Frank muttered.

"Look," Nico stood, balancing on his sword like it was a cane. "Whatever. You weren't glaring, sorry, Dars. But I need to say something."

"You are," Daria mumbled. Jason made his way to her side, giving her an amused smile as he heard the comment.

"The Doors of Death have two sides," Nico explained. "One in the mortal world, one

in the Underworld. The mortal side of the portal is in Greece. It's heavily guarded by Gaea's forces. That's where they brought me back into the upper world. Then they transported me to Rome."

Piper must've been nervous, because her cornucopia spit out a cheeseburger. "Where exactly in Greece is this doorway?"

Nico took a rattling breath. "The House of Hades. It's an underground temple in Epirus. I can mark it on a map, but—but the mortal side of the portal isn't the problem. In the Underworld, the Doors of Death are in...in..."