That song reminds me of solangelo. Will would sing it. Does anyone else see it? Is it just me?

Also My sister is yelling "Where did Octavian get the torch? Oh well. Torch for you, torch for you, torch for everybody! Everybody gets a torch!"

Wpov

"Who's there?!"

My heart started beating faster as the silhouette got closer.

Weapon, weapon, I need a weapon....

My eyes darted around, but I didn't see anything that I could use as a weapon.

Protect Nico. Just protect Nico.

I stepped away from Nico's sleeping form, trying to direct the attention to me.

"Will?"

"Cecil?"

"Oh thank the gods it's only you!" Cecil looked around, but then panicked, "Where's Nico?!"

I hesitated, wondering if it was safe to tell Cecil, but deciding Cecil was his friend,
"He's sleeping over there."

"You didn't try to protect him." Cecil said, "When you thought I was some sort of serial killer. You didn't try to protect him."

"I was trying to draw attention away from him. That way you wouldn't see him."

"Oh."

He walked over to Nico. He nudged him. "Nico." He whispered.

Nico's eyes fluttered open. He looked panicked until he remembered where he was.

"Cecil? How...? We're in the middle of the woods...how did you find us?"

"I followed you. I wanted to make sure you made it out okay."

"Oh. Thanks." Nico paused, "You don't happen to know how to get back, do you?"

"I will in the morning, when we have light."

"Oh my gods, thank you so much!" He hugged him a and I suddenly felt very jealous.

I walked a little closer so that I could actually see them.

"We can get out of here, Will!" Nico beamed at me.

"Yeah!" I tried to hide how upset I was, but I could tell Nico knew something was wrong.

"Well I'm going to collect wood for a fire." Cecil said, standing up.

"Okay."

Once he was gone Nico asked what was wrong.

I hesitated. "Jealousy."

"Jealousy....over Cecil and I? Trust me, he's straight. Trust me."

"Tell my feelings that." I grumbled.

He laughed. "I know how you feel."

"I'm baaaaack!" Cecil yelled from a few yards away.

"Do you guys know how to make a fire? Without matches?" Nico asked.

"Ummm, no." We said in unison.

"Great." Nico grumbled.

"But I have matches." Cecil offered.

"Why do you have matches?!"

"Well, I was going to play this prank but I guess this is more important."

"What prank...?" Nico looked confused, "Actually, never mind."

Cecil grinned evilly. First he made a pile of firewood, and then he lit a match.

A moment later we were warmed by a campfire.

"Aaaaah, this is so much better." Nico said.

I agreed. Slowly, my eyes shut and I dozed off to sleep.

————

Someone was desperately shaking me awake.

"Will! Will, wake up! There's a wildfire!"

My eyes flew open and I jumped up. Nico had tears running down his face. "There's a fire!"

I looked behind me and saw he was right. "Where's Cecil?"

"I told him to leave. He fought it, but I made him."

"Okay. C'mon we have to get out of here!"

We started running in the opposite direction of the fire. Luckily, this was the direction of the castle.

My heart must have been beating a million times a second as we leaped over burning logs and sprinted through the forest, the fire behind us.

"Will, this is how my mother died." Nico panicked.

"I know, Nico, I know. But please, keep running! We have to make it out."

He nodded and I glanced behind us.

Oh gods its  right there!

I was holding Nico's hand as we ran through the woods, so I could tell when he slowed down. He was smaller than me, so it was harder for him to run this fast without getting tired.

I knew he couldn't run much farther, so I scooped him up in my arms and kept running. I ignored the pain in my legs and kept running. I ran until we burst through the last of the trees, into the lawn outside the palace.

I ran to a safe distance away from the trees. Then I set Nico down.

"T-Thank you." Nico stuttered, still on edge from the wildfire.

"It's fine." I said, but my brain was thinking about the fire.

Was there anyone else in the woods? Did they make it out?

"Nico, do you know what made the fire?"

"I think so."

"What?"

"Our campfire. It was too much heat for such a dry forest...the entire forest caught fire."

"So this is our fault?"

He hesitated, thinking about his to word something. "I'm not sure if it was just us..."

"What else...?"

"Octavian had a torch when he entered the woods. I think he had followed us. I think he purposely set the woods on fire."

"Does that mean there were other people in the woods?"

"Probably all nekos, but yes." He paused, "I think they probably made it out though if they knew Octavian was setting it on fire."

"Yeah, that's true." 

We went to the infirmary to treat the few burns we had. He had less then me, as I protected him from the fire by carrying him, but I only had a few. We made it out quick enough that I had three minor burns and Nico had one.

Lou Ellen was already treating someone when we got in, but their face was turned away from us. Nico immediately recognized him.

"Cecil!"

Cecil, the person Lou Ellen was treating, turned to look at us.

His expression turned from worry to relief. "Oh thank the gods you made it out!"

"Will had to carry me half the way, but yeah, we made it out."

Cecil raised an eyebrow, "You carried him? Half the way?"

I looked at my feet, "Yeah."

"Well, congrats," Cecil said.

"Well, anyway," he said, turning to Lou Ellen, "We were wondering if you had any medicine or stuff for burns."

"How bad are they?"

"They're very small," Nico said.

"Then yeah, sure, it's right this way."

She led us to a shelf of medicine and handed us a very small jar of "burn balm" and handed it to us.

"Rub this at least once a day, and the burns will be gone soon."

We gratefully took the jar and headed back to Nico's room.

Word count: 1078 words