JADE’S POV
Nico hotwired the car silently, drove away silently, and he took my directions wordlessly as well. In fact he stayed so quiet I was afraid I had said something wrong, taken two steps back with him instead one step forward. I don’t know why I said all that emotional crappy stuff. I felt that after Kelly I owed it to her to say the truth, to help Nico. That’s what she would have wanted. The truth, now I’ve realized emotions are just distractions, and if you let them get carried away, you might end up dead.
I had told him to take highway 1, hoping he’d comment on the view, but he didn’t. I didn’t care, I wasn’t going to let his moodiness ruin one of my only happy memories of California and my former life.
I lay my head against the head rest and allow myself to remember his laughter, the way he said my name, the way he could look at the road and at me at the same time. We would drive up and down the coast all the time going to all of the Madammes different little betting houses. And since there were so many of us, we had to take different cars. And since I was her favorite, and so was he, she let me and him drive together, closely watched and patrolled of course.. She probably thought if she had let us spend enough time together, we would stop trying to escape and settle down with each other, but I knew I was beyond that, beyond her, beyond even him. Even though he was the most powerful demigod I had ever met, besides maybe Nico. I allow myself a second to wonder and worry about him. When I had left I swore to myself I would never think of him again, because I knew it would make me reckless and miserable, maybe enough to go back to him. But, I was heading back to him anyway, so why the hell not.
I wondered if he was stil there, taking care of the little ones, teaching them how to hold a knife, and digging graves for them a day later. I used to do that with him, Madamme didn’t like to get her hands dirty. We would feed them, bathe them, train them, lead most of the classrooms. Madamme tutored him and I, and a handful of other kids, but we were the ones who taught the little ones. And they were so little. It was disgusting. I knew that when I left I would come back to save them. Not because I wanted to, but because I felt like it was almost my destiny, but I never thought I would be forced back there so soon, before I was ready. With some Son of Hades who wouldn’t even look at me.
How the hell could I ever think that we were starting to be friends, that he might even like me? Stupid! The prince of the dead would never like me. He's not he liking type. He’s the taking type, the getting what he wants type. And he wouldn’t waste his time on a miserable little low life like me when he had dozens of beautiful girls back at camp drooling over him. And why do I even care? I don’t! I don’t like him at all! I find him miserable and moody and dark and sarcastic and he makes really nasty comments and I think he's despicable.
I turn my head to relax the creak in my neck, when I notice something. His skull ring. I had seen it before, but I hadn’t really looked at it until now. It was morbid. The skull so white it looked like it had been made out of human bones, which I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. The ring part itself was silver, a gleaming silver that looked more expensive than silver. Hades in his roman sense was also the god of riches and minerals, so that wasn’t so surprising. But what was captivating about the ring was the eyes. Small little rubies in the eye sockest so red and dark and deep they looked as if they were dried blood itself. They were mystifying to look at, and I couldn’t take my eyes away from them.
“So what’s the story behind your ring” I ask, trying to sound casual, but something about the ring had sparked a hunger in me. To know what the ring was, to know it’s history, to own its history, to own its riches. I shake my head and turn my eyes before the feelings drew me in. I shvier to myself, that was creepy.
I see Nico awkwardly twist the ring around his finger and then run it through his hair, sighing. “It did it, didn’t it?” he asks.
“Did what?’ I blink, turning to him, keeping careful not to look directly at the ring.
“It sucked you in, made you want to know about it, made you want to own it, enough so to kill for it?” He asks. I was afraid to admit that’s exactly what I wanted. I could almost taste the blood in my mouth, the blood I was willing to spill to have that ring. Instead I just nod slowly.
“I’m sorry” he says shortly. “Do you still want to know the story?” he asks after a moment. I think about the answer. Would it revolt me enough to make me not want to have the ring? Or, probably more likely, just make me want it more.
I nod my head again slowly, and he takes a deep breath. “My dad gave it to me when I was really young. Before I knew about all this stuff. I found it while I was playing outside by my mother’s grave, he had laid it there for me. But I didn’t know till later, when he told me. He really loved my mother” he says turning to me, making sure I understood that, I nod, but found it difficult to believe that a god would love a mortal. “I know you think he didn’t and you just agree because you feel bad for me, but you should have seen him when she died” he says shaking his head, as he was imagining it now. “And then my sister, he loved us too”
“wouldn’t he be happier though, I mean-“
“Now they’re ghosts and part of his domain, well yeah I guess. But they’re dead Jade. Eternally damned to be lifeless, no matter ow much they sacrificed themselves or were ok with dieing. The dead are always sad, trust me” he says. Did his sister die sacrificing herself to save someone? Right now wasn’t the time to ask, not when he was finally telling me something.
“Anyway he gave me a ring as a sort of protection. If I hold it up, and you know, put enough energy into it, it can make even the most strong willed lose their minds” he says. The thought terrified the deepest parts of me.
“But, when, I mean…”
“You were willing to kill me for it, and you're wondering if I try to mind control my enemies, wouldn’t that just make them more likely to kill me? Not exactly, it doesn’t work that way, it wouldn’t be very effective if it did that. No, instead it messes wit the brain, making it so they believe they have to kill themselves to obtain the ring, which sort of symbolizes power and wealth, or I can make it so it wipes out friends and allies, I can make commanders wipe out their army and turn the knife in their hands if I want him to” he sighs, as if it was a terrible power. How could he wake up with that every day, knowing he had driven people to kill themselves because of it. I wonder how many people he might have killed, but I don’t voice it. He proably knew what I was thinking, he seemed to have a knack for that, but he didn’t answer my unvoiced question, which just made me more sure not to force it.
“So its not a ring you would give to your girlfried if you guys were going seady or something”I joke. He doesn’t laugh, just drums his finger on the wheel, the skull catching the light and shining in my eyes, but after hearing that, I did not want it anymore. Is that why he told me, did somehow knowing about its powers protect from kneeling before them. If it did, that meant he was trying to protect me, which meant he might use it soon.
“If you ever see this ring around any girl, it means I’m planning on marrying her” he anwers, telling the solemn truth, which surprised me a little.
“Didn’t peg you as the marriage type of guy.”
“Why, cause I jump around from girl to girl” he says turning his head for a second and giving me a half smile. He was slowly turning back into his old, man whore self.
“Yup, pretty much.” I answer, and we both laugh for a second.
“I like the concept” he answers after a while, “of you now, spending the rest of your life with someone you love so much you could not imagine a minute without them. You know all those Greek tragedies about people killing themselves after a loved one dies. Well, I want to experience love like that. Not the killing myself part, but the being so devoted to someone you’ll follow them to hell if it means staying with them. I know most reatioships don’t turn out that way. And I don’t expect me to ever get that lucky, but still. I like the concept.” I don’t know what to say, I never would have imagined Nico to have thoughts such as these. “What about you, what do you think of marriage?”
“Well, you know, our parents had an affair to creaet us bastards, so um, I don’t know, I think back then vows meant a lot more than they do now. Back then marriage was something sacred, and people are forgetting that. I mean,I’m all for gay marriage and stuff, its just that most relationships have troubles, and a lot of people don’t stay around to work out the hard stuff. But I guess demigods may have a better chance working out reationships then mortals because they’ve done a lot harder things. But I mean, you’ll have to stay alive for that long” I answer, and we both chuckle again, and then we stay quiet until I fall into a comfortable sleep.

Notes