Solangelo 2

WILL

Usually I don't like to leave Nico alone when he's asleep, but Percy shakes me awake and I can see it's an emergency.
'There's a girl, outside, hit her head, lot of blood.' He says, breathing heavily. I get up instantly and rush past him, he follows close behind.
'Where is...?' I trail off as I see Reyna staring at a girl, who appears to be completely fine, despite blood covering the left side of her face.
'She was out cold.' Reyna says quietly, 'she just say up, she's fine.'
'Hey, do you mind if I look?' I ask the girl, moving over to her. She nods and let's me see her head. There's no mark. Nothing, 'Are you sure she hurt herself?'
'Of course.' Reyna says, 'I saw it, she was dying.'
'I saw it too.' Percy says.
'There's no sign of any injury.' I say.
'So what just happened?' Percy asks, looking from Reyna to me, 'something happened.'
'It was a distraction.' The girl says, 'he said it was just a distraction.'
'Who said that?' I ask, trying to take a calm tone with her, but struggling.
'Oh my Gods.' Percy says, and he runs out the room, 'Nico!' He calls out.
I suddenly realise what's happened. I rush out the room after Percy only to see Nico gone. Our bed empty.
'He shadow travelled.' Percy says, on the floor, 'I tried to stop him. There was a...you were...'
'I was what?'
'Your body was there. You were dead.' He says, 'Nico thinks you're dead.'
'Oh my Gods.' I say, 'he's going to the underworld. He's going to his dad.'
'He's going to try swap places with you.' Percy says. Reyna comes into the room, looking around.
'Where's Nico?' She asks. We're both quiet, unsure how to answer, 'Where's Nico?' She repeats, sterner.
'He thinks Will's dead. He's going to get him back.' Percy explains.
'Why the hell does he think that?' Reyna asks.
'He saw me dead. Or he thought it was me. I don't know. He's going to go to the underworld. He's going to his dad. He must be.'
'So it was Hades. He...Gods.' Percy says, as if just realising something, 'he's going to swap places with you, Hades is getting what he wants, Nico in the underworld, away from us.'
'He's going to get Nico to beg him to take him instead of Will.' Reyna says slowly, 'Nico'll think he's saving Will, but he won't know he's still alive.'
'We need to go after him.' I say, my mind overflowing with panic.
'He can shadow travel, he's too fast.' Reyna says.
'I'll call Mrs. O'Leary.' Percy says.
'Who?'
'Hellhound. She can shadow travel.' Percy whistles and almost instantly there's a rumbling around us. A huge dog bursts out of the shadows and mounds towards Percy, knocking him of his feet.
'Alright, girl, no time to mess around, sorry.' Percy says, standing up, 'let's find Annabeth and everyone-'
'We don't have time.' Reyna says, 'Nico's got a head start, and once we're in the underworld, that's his territory. We need to go now.'
'Okay.' Percy says, reluctant but understanding, 'Get on her back.' He helps me and Reyna onto Mrs. O'Leary and then jumps on himself, 'Alright girl, it's a long one. Take us to the Hollywood sign.'
I've shadow travelled with Nico before, but this is different, this is messy. Nico is so quick and slight when he moves, Mrs. O'Leary bounds into the shadows and when we come to a stop, I find myself on my knees, doing all I can not to throw up.
'Well,' Percy says, unaffected by the shadow travelling, staring at the Hollywood sign, 'this brings back memories.'