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‘I know,’ said Will, and shame burned his face. ‘And I don’t think I made it any easier for you.’

Nico raised an eyebrow. ‘What do you mean?’

‘This whole quest got me thinking. About you and me, and how often I thought your darkness was something to be conquered or healed.’

Nico’s head drooped. ‘Yeah. Ididfeel that sometimes.’

‘But now I know that it’s not about conquering, or vanquishing, or any of that kind of hero talk. Sometimes it’s better to learn to livewiththe darkness.’

Will looked to the Cocoa Puffs, who were still watching him nervously.

‘I guess I’m going to have toliterallydo that, too.’

Nico looked deep in thought for a moment, and then he leaned forward quickly and kissed Will. It was short, but when he pulled away, his face was alight with joy.

‘I appreciate you telling me that,’ said Nico. ‘But also … I like that youwantto take care of me, Will. I haven’t had someone like that in my life since Bianca and Maria, and I’d started to forget what it felt like. Until I met you. I love that you care so much for the people in your life. I don’t want you to think I dislike that.’

‘I don’t,’ Will said. ‘But maybe I need to do a better job of figuring outhowto take care of you, rather than assuming you’re just like everyone else.’ He took Nico’s hands, which were cool to the touch. ‘Because you’re not like anyone I’ve ever met.’

He pulled Nico close, and this time they kissed longer. Fuller. They only stopped because Bob’s sobbing was now impossible to ignore.

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ asked Will, looking back at the Titan.

‘I am perfectly fine,’ Bob said, wiping at his face. ‘I am crying tears of happiness for my sun and my star.’

‘Do you know what that means?’ Will whispered to Nico as he settled back against the rear seat.

Nico cuddled up against him. ‘Not a clue.’

Moments later, the ghost king was fast asleep in Will’s arms once more. Bob sniffled softly behind them, and the current carried them all down the river. There were shadows in the distant fields this deep in Tartarus, but if they hid secrets, those secrets never revealed themselves.

Will just drifted along with it all, strange as it was – the reformed Titan on one end of the boat and the shadowy, inky Cocoa Puffs at the other. And the whole being-in-Tartarus thing. And escaping Nyx’s control. And …

Okay, there was a lot. But this one part here – Nico using Will for warmthandas a pillow – nothing felt strange about that.

It was the most fitting part about this whole quest.

They both had plenty to talk about when they returned to the mortal world, and Will felt a sudden jolt of nerves flash through him when he thought about bringing the Cocoa Puffs into Camp Half-Blood. He was certain Chiron would erupt into flames on the spot. Will would have to keep his field-medic kit handy.

For now, Will allowed himself to close his eyes. Bob and Small Bob were watching over them. They were safe. Or at least as safe as two demigods could be in the lowest part of the Underworld, where monsters and demons regenerated.

Before sleep came for him, Will felt an odd softness on top of his right hand. He opened his eyes to see that one of the Cocoa Puffs – the one with a single eye like a Cyclops – had cuddled up against him. It stared at him, and he worried it would dart off like the others. But it merely observed him sleepily until its eye closed, and then it began to snore.

Will had heard love described in so many dramatic, bizarre ways over the years, but no one had described it like this:

It’s like drifting down a river of pain and knowing you are safe.

It’s like holding a person in your arms and realizing they are an interlocking piece of a puzzle you hadn’t known how to assemble.

It’s like staring into a dark and treacherous expanse, unsure of what awaits you but finding comfort in the fact that you won’t have to face it alone.

It was a son of Apollo falling for a son of Hades.

It was this.

Nico dreamed.

He was in darkness, and he heard his name being called.