The Blood of Olympus

I don’t define myself by the boys who may or may not like me.

When she died, the words
would probably be written on her tombstone: There were too many of them

‘Beautiful.’ Piper snuggled up against Jason and he put his arm around her. ‘But aren’t you going to get in trouble?’
‘Who cares?’ Jason asked.
Piper laughed quietly. ‘Who are you?’
He turned, his glasses pale bronze in starlight. ‘Jason Grace. Pleased to meet you.’
He kissed her, and … okay, they had kissed before. But this was different. Piper felt like a toaster. All her coils heated to red-hot. Any more warmth and she’d start smelling like burnt toast.

‘So,’ Nico said, ‘since we’re going to be spending at least a year seeing each other at camp, I think I should clear the air.’
Percy’s smile wavered. ‘What do you mean?’
‘For a long time,’ Nico said, ‘I had a crush on you. I just wanted you to know.’
Percy looked at Nico. Then at Annabeth, as if to check that he’d heard correctly. Then back at Nico. ‘You –’
‘Yeah,’ Nico said. ‘You’re a great person. But I’m over that. I’m happy for you guys.’
‘You … so you mean –’
‘Right.’

‘Right now you couldn’t summon a wishbone without melting into a puddle of darkness, di Angelo,’ Will said. ‘I told you, no more Underworldy stuff, doctor’s orders. You owe me at least three days of rest in the infirmary. Starting now.’
Nico felt like a hundred skeletal butterflies were resurrecting in his stomach. ‘Three days? I – I suppose that would be okay.’
‘Good. Now –’

‘So where were you?’ Will demanded. He was wearing a green surgeon’s shirt with jeans and flip-flops, which was probably not standard hospital protocol.
‘What do you mean?’ Nico asked.
‘I’ve been stuck in the infirmary for, like, two days. You don’t come by. You don’t offer to help.’

‘That’s – that’s fantastic! Dude!’ Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. ‘Right. No touching. Sorry.’
Nico grunted. ‘I suppose we can make an exception.’
Jason squeezed him so hard Nico thought his ribs would crack.

‘Look, Nico, the reason I wanted to talk to you … I know what you said back at Auster’s palace. I know you already turned down a place at Camp Jupiter. I – I probably can’t change your mind about leaving Camp Half-Blood, but I have to –’
‘I’m staying.’
Jason blinked. ‘What?’
‘At Camp Half-Blood. The Hades cabin needs a head counsellor. Have you seen the decor? It’s disgusting. I’ll have to renovate. And someone needs to do the burial rites properly, since demigods insist on dying heroically.’

Be good to my sister, okay?’
Hazel walked up next to Frank and laced her hand with his. ‘Nico, you’re not threatening my boyfriend, are you?’
The two of them looked so comfortable together it made Nico glad. But it also it caused an ache in his heart – a ghostly pain, like an old war wound throbbing in bad weather.
‘No need for threats,’ Nico said. ‘Frank’s a good guy. Or bear. Or bulldog. Or –’
‘Oh, stop.’ Hazel laughed. Then she kissed Frank. ‘See you in the morning.’

Then she did something so unexpected Nico would later think he dreamed it. She walked up to Nico, who was standing to one side in the shadows, as usual. She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently into the firelight.
‘We had one home,’ she said. ‘Now we have two.’
She gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. For once, Nico didn’t feel like pulling away. He buried his face in Reyna’s shoulder and blinked the tears out of his eyes.