Nice to meet all of you," said Nico awkwardly. She had never really been a big social person in general, so she wasn't entirely sure of what to say.
Leo quickly took pity on her and decided to fill in the blank for her. "Don't worry, Neeks. Everything will be alright. We are your friends. And hey, maybe we can figure out a way to make you feel better about the whole thing. Like, I don't know. We have an endless supply of chocolate and we're not exactly short on ideas."
Hazel and Will grinned happily, while Annabeth chuckled softly. Gwen just remained quiet, probably feeling uncomfortable after learning about the situation from Annabeth. Nico laughed lightly.
"Yeah, you probably do. Thanks."
Chapter 2
"Alright," declared Nico in her most commanding tone, "now that the introductions are over, I would definitely prefer to get down to business. What exactly is it that you wanted to talk to me about today? I hope you don't expect me to help any time soon. I really need time to process everything."
As she finished speaking, Annabeth sighed in relief. "Yeah, okay, we totally understand. And no, we don't expect you to do anything immediately. We only wanted to let you know something, though."
Nico narrowed her eyebrows at Annabeth. "And what would that be?" She tried to play dumb.
The dark haired girl shook her head disapprovingly. "You know damn well. I want you to go over to Will's house after school tonight and stay until tomorrow morning. You are not going anywhere. You are staying here with the rest of us until your dad gets home. Period."
Nico scrunched her face slightly. She could hear the irritation creeping through her voice as she responded. "Why the hell are you telling me this now? Why now of all times?"
"Because we think that it's best for you," replied Annabeth as she glanced briefly over at Reyna.
"No," Nico shot back firmly. "I mean, why do you think that that is best for me. This is the exact same time of year that I broke the curse. If my parents get back in contact, they're definitely going to find out about this eventually. And if they find out, then they're gonna start looking for me, so you guys are wasting your time by doing this now. I'd rather stay here and wait for them to show up than deal with this crap right now."
"We already discussed this with the others. This isn't something that we could discuss with your family. Your dad will kill us if he finds out that we are interfering in the affairs of others without their permission. Trust me, I would absolutely die before I would try to explain that. But this is for your own good, Nico. You have to admit that you can't continue to avoid them forever, can you? Eventually you are going to run out of options. And once they realize that you aren't coming home to live with them, then that's exactly the problem. So we thought it would be safer if we did all of this while you still think that you can manage to avoid running away from everything, rather than making you face the possibility of actually living with them. Please, Neeks. Don't be stubborn about this. Let us take care of you for the time being and then we can worry about moving onto the next step afterwards. Okay?" Annabeth pleaded with her as she grabbed the other woman's hand gently.
Nico hesitated, feeling slightly defeated. However, she ultimately understood what Annabeth had been saying. The other women were right, after all – she couldn't continue acting like nothing had happened between her and her father. They had to put an end to these stupid feuds. Besides, it was kind of hard not to think about it anymore with the constant reminder of how angry she always felt whenever someone even mentioned her parents.
With a sigh, Nico reluctantly agreed. "Fine, okay. I promise. Just don't expect me to start showing gratitude every time something happens and that I want my privacy. Deal?"
Annabeth seemed relieved as she gave Nico a tight hug. "Deal, sweetheart. Now, let's go sit down and eat breakfast!" With that she dragged Nico back inside the cabin and sat her down at one of the long tables. Before she disappeared into the kitchen, she whispered into her ear softly, "Thank you, Neeks. Really."
Nico nodded and forced a smile. After all, if she had learned anything throughout her life, then it was that smiles could hide many things.
Chapter 3
"What does your dad want with you?"
After a couple of minutes of silent eating, Annabeth asked the question that had been bugging her for days. She hated it when her girlfriend got upset over such trivial matters. After all, her father was not the nicest man around, so why should this matter so much to her?