Chapter 7

Nico had been healing an unlucky camper, who'd somehow cracked his skull a little, which meant it was treatable, with the help of Will, when Annabeth stepped through the doorway and stopped. "What are you doing in here?" Nico bandaged the campers head, and sung a hym to Apollo, like Will used to. "And why are you glowing like a child of Apollo?" He didn't know how to answer that and he kinda didn't want to. Luckily, Will did. But...why hadn't Annabeth, the Wise Girl, as Percy called her, pieced it together? She was the one with the sharp mind. "You swapped powers as well?" "Not willingly." Nico grumbled, turning to face her. And not missing the way she was carrying Percy. He was sitting on her back, passed out, and she was giving him a piggy-back ride, basically. For the first time, Nico fussed over him, which was so far from himself. "Is he ok? What happened? How can I help?" Will and Annabeth just stared at him, looking at him like they didn't know him, and Nico laid the son of Poseidon on an empty cot. He hooked the boy up to an IV and checked him. "This will be hard to believe, but he, uh, drowned. Thanks to me." Percy wasn't breathing correctly. "Somethings wrong with his breathing. Did you try CPR?" He asked her, placing a hand on Percy's chest, and concentrating. "I did but I got not reaction. And I didn't know what else to do other than bring him here." Nico jerked back, not liking the way Percy's lungs were so full of water, and the shock it had sent up his arm. He had an idea. "Annabeth, you can control water now, can't you?" "I wouldn't say I can control it, but yes, that's my power now. Why?" "Because I need you to try and extract the water from his lungs. Can you do that?" She nodded, and went to stand on the other side of Percy, placing her hands on his chest, and closing her eyes, concentrating. After a minute or two, water started flowing from his mouth, and Nico placed his hands on the boy's chest again, singing yet another hym, and told Will to get an oxygen tube so it would help Percy breathe better. Once everything was finished, Nico collapsed into a chair, exhausted, and ignored his headache. "Gods, is this how you feel every time after you heal someone, Solace?" Will knelt next to him, smirking. "Yes it is. Now you know what it's like." Nico smirked too. "Oh, just wait until you know what it's like to be me." They were on better terms now, seeing as they had made up earlier, and Nico was thankful they had.