Chapter Text
NPOV
Track: Twisted, MISSIO
I take the three of them to my house because it's within walking distance. We move quickly, winding down the streets at record speed. When we finally make it to my front door, I don't waste a second throwing it open and shoving my friends through.
My mother is pacing in the living room, still wearing her clothes from work. She turns when the door opens, and she sobs a little when she sees me. "Niccolò!Figlio mio, ero così preoccupato!" She glances at my friends and switches to English. I am very careful to keep the burnt side of my face turned away from her, hoping not to worry her. "The school sent out a message about a superhero attack at homecoming, and—"
"I'm alright," I say softly as I lock the door behind me. "We're going to catch our breaths here, though. Is that alright? I know you weren't expecting guests, but—"
"Guests are great," she says, waving me off. "I'm just glad you're alive, Niccolò." She approaches me, so I turn my head another few degrees to the left to keep the burns out of her sight. She notices and frowns at me. "Niccolò...are you injured?"
"No," I say. "Just, uh. Well."
My mother's hands turn my face toward her, and I inhale sharply when her fingers touch the burns. As soon as she sees the damage, her hand flies off of me, and she takes a step back, her face horrified.
"These are burns," she says, shocked. "Did—?" She glances at Will, her expression quickly turning to fury. "DidSunburstdo this?"
"No!" Will says quickly, putting his hands in the air. "I swear I didn't hurt him. We were attacked—"
"Those areburns," my mother repeats, raising her finger to point at Will, "and the school was claiming they sawyouattack some teenagers at the dance!"
"Sunburst did attack Nico," Cecil says, his voice defensive, "but Will was helping us fight Sunburst. So why does it seem like you're accusingWillof this?"
My mother's pointing finger drops about a foot. "What? How were you fighting Sunburst? I thought... Am I missing something?"
"We're all missing something," Lou Ellen agrees tiredly. "Why don't Nico and Will start explaining?"
I glance at Will, and he looks a little bit sick. I'm sure I do, too. We ran here, so we're all still a little out of breath, and the fact that my identity was put on the line already once tonight makes me want to keep it a secret from everyone for the rest of eternity. The last thing I want to do is tell more people who I am.
"Why don't I heal all of us first," Will murmurs. "Then, Nico and I will explain everything—start to finish. No more secrets."
Cecil purses his lips a little—he's upset that Will was keeping secrets in the first place, but at least he doesn't seem exceedingly angry. Just a little sad. With luck, he'll understand. I don't want Will to lose his friends because of this. Because of me.
Will starts with my face. He makes me sit on the couch while he works. His light is so soothing; I close my eyes and relax, letting his light flutter over and through me. I don't dare look at Lou Ellen and Cecil yet—I'm sure they're more than a little shocked by this new development.
When he's finished with my face, he heals the bruises along my arms and on my stomach from Luke's punches. After that, I'm good as new, so he moves on to helping Lou Ellen and Cecil. I open my eyes once Will is no longer touching and healing me. Cecil currently looks a little bit like Flynn Ryder fromTangledin the scene where Flynn's hand gets healed.
Lou Ellen's eyes are narrowed at the light drifting out of Will's gloved hands. She says nothing, patiently waiting for an explanation.
My mother is silent. Normally, she would be offering to make dinner, but I think she's still suspicious of the burns that were on my face. To be fair, itwasSunburst's powers that burned me, so I can't blame her for holding a grudge against Will, although hopefully she believes us when we explain what happened.
When Will finishes healing Cecil and Lou's injuries, he moves on to his own. He shifts his jacket aside a little, revealing the burn on his neck. My mother's eyebrows raise as he heals it. Well, that should be plenty of evidence that Will wasn't the source of the burns.
When he's done, he glances at me, and my stomach roils. He wants me to start—I'm the one who's in more danger, so he's giving me the opportunity to lie if I want to. I could tell them I'm not the Ghost King. I could...
I swallow, and I stand up to address them. "So, um. Hello."
Lou Ellen does not look impressed.
"Basically, I'm the Ghost King," I blurt, and then I immediately tense, waiting for them to pull out their phones and call the police.
Cecil looks surprised, but Lou Ellen just rolls her eyes. "Yeah, I figured that out, idiot. That doesn't explain almost anything. Who was the crazy person with the cloak? Why did Sunburst have a creepy robot voice, and why—"
"Hold up!" Cecil protests. "Are we just going to brush over this? Nico is theGhost King!Like, the criminal! A whole supervillain!"
"He's not a supervillain," Will said. "It's all a misunderstanding, really."
"That reporter—what's her name?" Cecil snaps his fingers, trying to remember.
"Aphrodite Lookgoode," supplies Will.
Cecil points at Will. "Yes! Aphrodite Lookgoode said he's evil!"
"Aphrodite Lookgoode is an asshole," I mutter. "I'm pretty sure I'm not evil. I break into people's houses, sure, but like...I don't hurt anyone. For the most part, at least; Luke was an outlier."
"Luke? What does Luke have to do with any of this?" Lou Ellen asks.
"Who cares!" Cecil shouts. "Should I be running for my life right now? You're theGhost King! The police are probably after you as we speak. Am I going to go to jail for helping you? Why are you called the Ghost King anyway? You didn't even use any powers today—why didn't you use your powers if you're really him? And—"
"Slow down," I tell him. "I'll answer all of your questions. You're not in any immediate danger, butIprobably am; a woman called the Viper is after me. She has something against my father. She kidnapped my sister when I was young, so the reason I've been breaking into houses is so that I could try to get my sister back."
"You promised me you'd be safe with this," my mother murmurs. I look away from her, guilty.
"The Viper," Lou Ellen repeats. "Is she the cloaked person from the dance? If so, why did she call off the attack?"
"We don't know that yet," Will says. "Any ideas, Nico?"
I clench my jaw. I actuallydohave an idea about why the Viper called off my capture, but Will is going to hate it. For a second, I debate whether I should even say it. But then, we're never going to get anywhere if we're afraid to face the truth.
"I think the Viper met me. The real me—Nico di Angelo, not just the Ghost King. I think she realized I have a closer connection to her life than she first thought," I say slowly, my gaze boring into Will.
He scowls. "No. Nico, we're not discussing that idea again. It's awful, and it doesn't even make anysense—!"
"Will, shut it," Lou Ellen commands. "Nico, please continue."
Will and I glare at each other. He's daring me to say it—to make the same accusation I made last time. The tension in the air is thick enough to choke me.
"I think the Viper is Naomi Solace," I say finally, and Lou Ellen recoils. She doesn't say anything, but I can tell by the look on her face that she's already poking holes in my theory. Lou has probably been to Will's house before—she's met Mrs. Solace. Mrs. Solace has probably served her dinner and made her cookies. She's probably seen Mrs. Solace sing 'Happy Birthday' to her son every year. Lou Ellen has seen the motherly side of Mrs. Solace, and it's enough for her to believe that Mrs. Solace can do no wrong.
"Which is ridiculous, by the way," Will adds, "because Nico's sister was kidnapped when he was seven, and I was living in Austin at that age. My family was not exactly available to kidnap people in New York."
"Hm." Lou Ellen glances between the two of us. "Okay, so let's pretend the Viper is somehow, miraculously Will's mother. You think she called off your capture because she met you? Would that really be enough?"
"On its own? God, no. But tonight the Viper found out I'm dating her son," I say bitterly. "That would put a bit of a damper on her plans to kidnap and torture me, don't you think?"
"Okay. So...that explainssomeof my questions. What about Sunburst though?"
Will sighs and then explains his own story—trying to impress his mother and contribute to his household by getting my bounty ("Goody-two-shoes," I mutter), learning that I wasn't actually trying to hurt anyone, fighting the Viper... He goes through everything. By the time he gets to the Viper stealing his suit and apparently giving it to Luke, Cecil looks wildly overwhelmed by the new information.
I stand up—maybe if I get some tea, they might calm down a little.
Except Lou Ellen and Cecil flinch at my sudden movement, and I freeze.
Will stops talking, his eyes flicking between me and his friends.
"Are you guys afraid of me?" I ask, the betrayal heavy in my voice.
"No," Lou Ellen assures, but she's still leaning away from me slightly. "Of course not."
I clench my jaw and try to keep a hold of my emotions. They thought the Ghost King was an evil supervillain, I remind myself. They don't really understand all of this yet. It's not their fault.
Cecil's eyes follow me as I disappear into the kitchen to make them tea. As soon as I'm gone, I can hear Cecil's hushed voice.
"Can we really trust him, Will? Was everything he said true? I mean...is he even safe to be around?"
I clench the countertop. I stay out of the view of the doorway, which is a little difficult to do in the small kitchen. I'm safe. Of course I'm safe. I've never hurt anyone unless they attack me first—it has only ever been self-defense.
"Yes, of course he's safe," Will says, and my shoulders relax. "And everything he said is true—except the part about my mother. My mom wouldn't hurt anyone. She's... I mean, she's mymom."
"And you're sure he's not lying to you?" Cecil asks, still sounding a little hesitant.
"He's not lying," Will says confidently. "You can trust him, Cecil. He's a really good person—and I'm really sorry you had to find out about all the superpower business this way. I should have told you about myself earlier, and then I could have warned you that the Ghost King isn't as awful as the media makes him out to be."
My whole body relaxes as Will defends me. Lou Ellen and Cecil might be wary of me, but Will has faith in me. That's what matters. The others will come around.
I steep the tea and wait. My mother asks Will for more details about the attack at school—will the attackers return? How did they know to find me at the school? Should she call the police?
Will answers all her questions patiently while I wait for the tea. Yes, the attackers might return since I refused the Viper's deal, but we'll be more prepared next time. He tells her about Luke targeting me at school, about how he knows my identity. He warns her that calling the police will probably do more harm to me by getting me arrested rather than my attackers.
The tea is done. I add the sugar and carry it out on a tray, offering it to everyone as I pass. Everyone takes a cup, except my mother, who looks too sick to do much of anything. She stands up when I try to offer her a cup, and rather than taking it, she pulls me into her arms and holds me tightly.
"You could have died," she whispers, and I can hear the way she's holding back tears.
I'm not really used to her hugs yet, but I slowly wrap my hands around her anyway. Sometimes I forget how much I love my mother. Her warm, steady arms hold me up and tell me it's going to be okay even in the face of something horrible. The face of death. The face of the Viper.
I shiver. My mother's fingers trace up and down my back, and something inside me almost breaks—I don't want to fight the Viper. I want to stay here and let her hold me for the rest of time. I want Hazel to be safe in the house, and I want Bianca to walk through the door like she just got home from school.
All I have left of any of that is my mother's protective arms, so I stay there and pray that I'll survive the next few days so that I can come home to her and experience this again. I don't want her to spend her nights waiting for me to return, cooking for a silent house and hoping her son is still alive.
I also can't leave Hazel to die.
"Niccolò," my mother says, and there are tears running down her cheeks. "You can't keep putting yourself in danger. This has to end—now. The Viper gave you a choice that allows you to keep coming home safely each night—youhaveto take that deal."
"No," I refuse, pulling out of her arms immediately. I set the tray with her tea on the coffee table and lean against the fireplace to sip my tea. "Hazel is out there. We're so close to getting her back—that's why the Viper is so desperate to stop me. I won't give up now."
"Niccolò—"
"No, Mamma."
Her face contorts, and this time her tone isn't gentle. "Niccolò! You do not get a choice in this. You are grounded—do you understand? You are not allowed to leave this house until I know you'll come back." She lifts her chin. "I made a mistake once that put my children in danger—I will not make that mistake again."
I jolt, and tea spills on the carpet. "What? No!"
"You're grounded, Niccolò, and that's final," she repeats, tears still streaming down her face. "I can't let you go out and get killed."
I glare at her, and she just meets my gaze with sad determination. Anger boils in my chest—she doesn't get it. She doesn't understand how close I am—how closeweare to finally bringing Hazel home! To doing what the police never could andfixinga part of our family. To being a hero.
My mother finally breaks her gaze away from mine. "I'll get dinner started. I'm sure you all have a lot to discuss. I'm really glad you're safe, Niccolò. I love you."
I just glare at her as she goes into the kitchen. I can see her as she cooks, and I know she's listening to our conversation. If I try to make a plan for tomorrow, she'll shut it down. She doesn't trust me to leave this alone.
Well, good. She shouldn't. I won't.
I set down my cup of tea. I'm more of a coffee person anyway, and I really can't stand the thought of eating or drinking anything anymore. And then, out of spite, I get ready to tell the others the plan—and if my mother thinks she's going to get in my way—
Well, that won't happen because—
"Will and I will break into Underworld Ores tonight. No more waiting. No more playing the defensive. Tonight, it's our turn to make them pay for all of this," I start, my voice low and angry.
—because I'm the Ghost King.
Will glances nervously at Lou Ellen and Cecil. But then he nods. Good.
—because no one will ever get in the way of that.
I glance up at my mother, who is standing in the kitchen, hands clasped together. She's giving me an expression like I've betrayed her.
—because I'm going to save my sister.
I give her a cool look and get back to work.
