"Is he there?" With stiff and bruised fingers I hold on to the phone. I hear Piper's breathing quicken on the other side of the line. 

"Yes, yes Nico he's here." her voice sounds smothered as if she's pushing her face as close to the device as possible, scared that he might hear her. I clasp the telephone tightly in my hand while lowering it away from my ear. With a heavy pounding in my head, I lift my face up to the sky and let whatever is left of me stream out of the corner of my eyes. My shoulders shaking violently with every sob. 

"Nico?" Piper's voice sounds far away and distorted. I squeeze my eyes tightly closed as I take a moment to compose myself before bringing the telephone back to my ear. 

"Have you talked to him?" I ask quietly, the low rasp in my voice breaking through. 

There's a moment of silence at the other end of the line before Piper's words fill the room again. 

"Nico, I'm terrified of him. I'm watching him and the others from the corner of the living room right now so no, I haven't spoken with him. I'm afraid that if I'd try, I'd just wake up from this unreal dream and he'll be gone again." 

I nod in understanding before remembering that she can't see me. 

"Are you alright?" I ask softly. 

She huffs out a small breath in something close to misery and amusement. 

"What do you think? There's a dead boy sitting on our couch, no I'm not alright!" 

If the mentioning of Will didn't literally pierce through every vein of my entire heart, I might have laughed about it.

But right now, I couldn't possibly be any further away from laughing. 

"Come over, we'll face it together," Piper ushers, "I'm not going into that room without you next to me." 

I stay quiet. Only the thought of seeing him again is enough to make my head spinning and my insides churn up with nausea. I don't think I'd make it three steps in his direction before spilling all the contents of my stomach before his feet. 

"I don't think I can." my voice is barely above a whisper.

Piper quickly cuts in, "The only thing you can't, is running away from it forever." 

I wipe the tears of my cheeks with trembling fingers. 

"I can try." 

Piper snorts shortly, "You'll need new running shoes because I think you've already burned through the soles of your old ones, don't you think?" 

I don't answer her but instead keep my head tilted towards the lightbulb on the ceiling in an attempt to stop crying. 

"Isn't Nathan the living proof of that?" she asks without really making it a question. 

I feel the anger boiling through my chest and spilling over my lips before I can stop it. 

"Leave him out of it," I snap back harshly, " He has stayed longer than Will cared to do." 

My heart is hammering in my ribcage while I wait for Piper's response in the deafening silence. She stays quiet for so long that for a moment I worry that she might have just hung up on me before her voice crackles through the connection again. 

"Put your running shoes away in the closet Nico." her voice sounds a tad more demanding then before, with strained patience forced in her words. I know that the discussion about Nath isn't over yet, hell she has argued about it for over five months now. 

"He means a lot to me Piper, don't take that away from me." I say while ignoring her last statement. I can almost imagine her standing there with her fingers twirling through her hair and an annoyed expression laced on her pretty face. By the sound of her next words, I know that vision isn't so far from the truth.

"Just come over Nico." she answers tiredly.

I glance over my shoulder to see Nath sitting on the old leather couch with a fond smile curling around his lips as the white light of the television flashes over his sharp features. Completely absorbed in the action movie he's watching, the sound of yelling soldiers and bullets flying around coming vaguely from out of the living room. Ever since yesterday I'm not allowed to close any doors anymore. Once he notices me staring at him, He grants me a tender smile and almost automatically the corners of my own mouth lift up in response. 

How can someone so beautiful be so horrifying? 

"I'll be there in twenty minutes." I say quietly before hanging up with a sharp click. 

---------------------------------

"Are you ready?" Piper asks as she gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. I can only stare at her with wide fearful eyes. My legs feels as if they're filled with lead, it's impossible to set even the tiniest step towards the front door. 

"Of course he's not, how would you be if your dead ex-boyfriend shows up in the living room, drinking cocktails with Percy and Jayson after going missing for a year?!" Drew exclaims as she snatches me out of Piper's grip. I'm trembling so badly in her hold that i'm sure she's the only thing that keeps me from collapsing against the ground. 

"H-He's drinking... he's drinking cocktails with Percy?" I mutter while trying to force down the bile rising in my throat. 

"Hey!" Drew's voice yells into my ear, "keep it together Di Angelo." 

Her pointy, red nails dig into my shoulders as she shakes me forcefully back and forth. 

"D-Don't do that, I'm-I'll throw up." I bring out meekly. My face is as white and ashen as death itself and my knees keep giving out as if they're build from rubber. 

"Oh my Gods, he's going to pass out." Piper's face blurs in and out of my vision, I barely feel her hands grasping my upper arms. 

"Di Angelo what did I just tell you?!" Drew's sharp voice is enough to cut me out of the haze. She  snaps her fingers right before my nose and I shoot back upright while barely containing myself from tilting backwards. 

"He's nervous." Piper states the obvious as Drew shrugs her off almost immediately. 

"Good for him that I just got the right thing to cure that." She throws my arm over her shoulder and blows some long strands of black hair out of her face. I straighten my back a bit as we stumble further towards the front door of the half-blood house. 

"Please don't tell me that you're going to get him wasted on mojitos." Piper says between the biting of her nails. 

I give Drew a faint smile as the lights in her dark eyes start sparkling again.

"I'm going to get him wasted on mojitos!" She yells happily over her shoulder while raising a fist into the air. 

Piper pinches the bridge of her nose in annoyance while I call out a weak; "Don't." as Drew drags us further through the front door. 

---------------

"I'm good." I say as we walk through the coolness of the hallway, "You can let go now." 

Drew eyes me warily before slowly slipping my arm off her shoulder. Her hand still lingers on my arm as she guides me towards the kitchen. 

"We're still getting those mojitos though." she says. 

My head is spinning so badly that at this point I don't even need alcohol to fuck me up even more so anymore. I reach for her hand and let out a deep breath as our fingers wordlessly intertwine. she quickly glances my way. 

"Damn Nico, I didn't think this shade of white was even possible." she jokes lightheartedly as she pokes my cheek with a neatly painted nail. My stomach is rolling it's contents around as if it was rebuild into a washing machine. I don't respond in fear of vomiting all over her shoes. 

"Hey," her voice softens a bit, "you're going to be just fine, okay?" she assures me with something close to sympathy etched on her gorgeous face. 

I nod without a sound. 

Of course it will be. When is it not, right? It's always fine and it's always okay. It's never worse enough to be honest about. 

"Okay, we're here." Drew says as she stops before the kitchen door and releases my hand. 

I keep staring at the blue door a few rooms further. 

Chill Moor

Is painted on it in the most hideous handwriting and red paint. I still remember the day that Percy was standing there with a brush in his hand, the tip of his tongue sticking out in concentration, back in the days when his sea green eyes would make me swoon right on the spot... What an awfully long time ago.

A pleasant time where my narrow shoulders didn't even have to carry half of the trauma that they carry now.

It was supposed to spell 'Chill Room' but he messed the letters up with his dyslexia. Annabeth and I thought it was so funny that we never tried to repaint it, reminding Percy of his stupid mistake every time someone would step through that door.

To imagine that Will is sitting behind it today is more than my mind can handle. 

"Have you seen him?" I ask Drew as she follows my gaze. 

She sighs deeply, "Only for a second but I haven't talked to him yet, he went inside with Percy and Jayson and hasn't come out since." 

My knees start trembling again at the thought of going in. I look at her to see her coal black eyes already piercing through my head.

"I can really use that mojito now." I whisper hoarsely.

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This chapter was getting a bit too long so we'll have to wait for Solace just a tiny, little bit longer. Hold on to the next chapter and don't forget to comment or vote!