Will's PoV

That boy is going to be the death of me I swear to the gods. How can he say he never had anything to live for before? He had friends here, or more like people who were friendly to him and wanted to be his friend, but he still pushed people away. Of course, he's gotten better about it now, but that wasn't the point. Anyway, I figured I wouldn't push it this time since we already had this argument yesterday, and I can tell he has actually started believing me. Of course, Nico being Nico, he would never admit that. I was surprised, however, at his response to my last question.

"What is the thing that you are willing to admit to staying alive for?"

"You."

While it made me depressed that he believed, or at one time had believed, that he had nothing to live for, it made me giddy that out of all of the things he could have said, sarcastic or not, he said it was me. Gods why was I a teenaged school girl at heart?

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After I wrote the note and met Nico in front of his cabin, it had been about an hour and a half since he woke me up. I grabbed his hand, and we shadow traveled away to the first place he had felt the burst of underworld magic.

We landed in front of a bus stop which really confused me because I didn't exactly picture the Lord of the Dead using a bus to go anywhere. I mean, he was a god.

Nico must have sensed my confusion because he explained, "The spot where the actual burst happened is a little ways away from here, but I got a strong sense of residual energy here. He must have had strong feelings about this place, but I can't imagine why..." I looked at Nico as he trailed off. He seemed to be just as confused as I was. He shook his head slightly and said, "Follow me."

We walked up a trail that led from the bus stop to a nearby neighborhood. Nico suddenly stopped in front of a two story house and looked at it with confusion. He then looked at me quizzically, and I just shrugged back at him. We walked up the front steps and rang the door bell.

It didn't occur to either of us that it was still o'dark in the morning until a frazeled looking woman with rollers in her hair threw the door open. "Oh my God, have you found her?" She cried.

Nico shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Um... Who?"

The woman narrowed her eyes at us suspiciously. "I thought you were the police. Why are you here? What kind of practical joke is this?"

"We were looking for someone too, and we thought they might have come by here recently. We're sorry to disturb you." I explained quickly.

The woman nodded slowly, tears filling her eyes. "I'm sorry you two. It's just... My daughter has gone missing too. Maybe you know her? Her name is Ari Rahal."

I looked at Nico, and he looked back at me helplessly. I looked back at the woman and shook my head sadly. "We're sorry." I mumbled quietly.

She stared at us for a couple of minutes then said, "Why don't you come in then? I have some tea..." She looked completely lost.

I agreed just as Nico tried to shake his head, and I dragged him inside. This woman needed some comfort, and maybe Nico would be able to pick something up while we were in the house. We followed her into the living room where three men sat arguing on the couch.

"I just don't understand it! Why would she leave, and what was with the Halloween decorations? Since when did she stalk up on skeletons and zombies?" The youngest man asked angrily. He looked to be around 19 with tanned skin and brown eyes. In fact, all of the men could fit that description with varying ages. The only person in this family that looked different was the woman. She had a paler tan than the men and pale blue eyes.

"Well, Asim? Are you going to answer my son? When did your daughter become a crazed lunatic?" One of the older men asked.

"She is my step daughter," the other older man spat as if it were the worst thing in the world. "Although I'm not sure I can call her that anymore. Honestly, I have put up with her for far too long. I don't understand why she wouldn't marry you, Kadar. I really don't. I tried my hardest to integrate her into the family, but if she hangs around her room with skeletons and zombies all the time, and then uses them to attack random people that try to get into her room to talk to her, then maybe it's for the best that freak left."

"Would you stop arguing over her? We can discuss this later when she's home! Now we have guests who have lost someone too. I'm getting them some tea, and then they'll be on their way." The woman sniffled. She walked into the kitchen and left Nico and I to sit across the men in the living room.

There was an awkward silence while the woman made tea. I could feel Nico shaking with anger, and I had a feeling I wasn't much better off. These people were trying to force the missing girl to marry someone. From the looks of it, her cousin was her fiancé. None of them cared that she was gone, and they called her a freak. The skeletons though... I looked at the men sitting across from me and saw there were bruises all over their faces and arms. I didn't think decorative Halloween dummies could make those injuries appear, and they had acquired them very recently. Within the last few hours actually which would probably put them in the time frame of when the firm went missing. It also fit the time frame for when Nico sensed the first burst of underworld magic.

Nico must have come to the same conclusion because just as the woman came back with the tea, he asked, "Can I see Ari's room? I think our friend might have mentioned her. Our friend that went missing."

"Yes."

"No."

The woman and the man named Asim spoke at the same time. The woman turned to Asim. "Please, dear? If they could help find her, then why shouldn't we let them see if they find anything the police might have missed?"

"Like I said before, she's better off gone. Even if she did come back, she'll just run off again."

Ari's mother only nodded. "Can they at least see her room to see if they find any clues for their missing friend?"

"Fine."

We followed the woman up the stairs, and her eyes filled with tears. "Well, wherever she is, I hope she's happy." She sounded genuinely sincere.

Nico and I locked eyes as we stood in front of Ari's door. Her mom opened it then excused herself to go to the bathroom. Her room was small with a small bookshelf filled with CDs and random books. Her bed was disheveled as if she had recently slept in it. Her closet was open, and inside where black and dark colored clothing including flannels. There were a lot of flannels.

"I don't see a lot of Halloween decorations do you?" I asked Nico.

He pursed his lips and his eyes swept around the room again. "If the underworld magic came from her, then she would probably be passed out near where the second burst of energy came from. Especially if this is her first time using her powers, then she should be asleep for about a week."

I looked at him and tried to decipher the emotions flickering through his eyes. I could only read a few, but I took a pretty good guess at some others. He was angry at her family (besides her mom) for not caring about the missing girl. He was feeling a sympathetic pain for her because her family called her a freak, and they were judging her based on her biological dad and her interests. He was in shock at the possibility of having another sister. He was disappointed that he hadn't found his dad, and the underworld would remain in chaos. He was also feeling stressed at having all of these emotions at once.

I grabbed his hand in an effort to comfort him, and he pulled me down into a gentle kiss. Suddenly, there was a cough behind us, and we broke apart and turned to look at who it was. Asim looked furious. "Who the hell do you think you are? Get the hell out of my house, now! I have never seen more disgusting behavior in my life. Get out!" He shouted.

"I apologize profusely for caring more about your step daughter than you do, and for showing my boyfriend affection in your house. Maybe that's why she left. I would have done the same if I had a step father who had money and pride shoved up his ass." Nico yelled angrily. I grabbed Nico, and we shadow traveled away as Asim threw a tea cup and saucer at our heads.

We landed in an empty patch of forest, and Nico fell to his knees. I scooped him up and sat down with him in my lap. I gave him a little bit of unicorn draught which he took gratefully. After he drank the medicine, the tears he had been fighting back for the past few minutes spilled out of him. He sobbed into my shirt while I held him and drew circles on his back. A few tears of my own slid down my face and got lost in Nico's raven black hair.

I gently rocked back and forth and whispered, "It'll be okay. We'll find your dad and your sister. Don't listen to a word that man said. You're so beautiful. I love you so much."

Nico looked up at me and hiccuped. "I love you too, Sunshine."

We stayed like that for the rest of night, accidentally falling asleep under the winking stars.

Sorry that took longer than I expected it to, and it was a longer chapter than I expected too. I would write another chapter tonight, but my phone is over heating. Currently I can only type four words per minute, and it's really pissing me off. Hopefully I'll be able to publish more chapters tomorrow than I have today. I hope you guys have a good night and know that you are beautiful no matter who you are. Don't let others bring you down because there is always someone there for you who loves you and accepts you for who you are.