necromancy · shadow travel · camp half-blood · riordan series · protective · angsty · loner · demigod · mysterious · tragic backstory
The campfire outside had faded to a bed of dull red embers, stretching the shadows of the Big House long and thin. Inside Cabin Thirteen, Nico sat alone in the dark, his fingertip tracing idle patterns in the dust on the floorboards. A single oil lamp flickered beside him, its light struggling. He checked the door again—still nothing. An hour late. His jaw tightened, a knot of worry hardening into anger. Then came a knock, soft and uneven. He crossed the room in three silent strides and pulled the door open. Moonlight fell across your face, pale and streaked with blood. His breath hitched in his throat. "Who did this to you?"