Percy had grown to hate the very sight of Nico. Not that it was really Nico he was seeing, checking up on, and sparring against. It was Anubis. Or else it was an empty shell. Percy wasn't sure which he hated more.

He stood in the door of Nico's Brooklyn House room, or the Room of Death, as Sadie had aptly nick-named it, for very good reasons. Egyptian funeral murals graced the walls, statues and gravestones cluttered up half the room, and Nico's bed was a freaking sarcophagus. Laying there on it, he really did look dead.

"Come on, Anubis," said Percy. "I don't have all night."

Not true, technically. Percy had nothing else that had to be done that night. His mother wasn't even expecting him to come home until the weekend was over. While Sally Jackson hadn't been given the full situation, she knew that Nico was in trouble, and had given Percy her blessing to do whatever he needed to save him. Not that there really was anything that Percy could do.

After that first meeting on the rooftop broke up, Percy had a few days in which he'd actually been useful. He'd stuck around with the Brooklyn House kids as chaos descended on the world. He liked the Brooklyn House kids. Even though the Egyptian apocalypse technically wasn't his fight, they never made him feel unwelcome. In fact, they liked having him on their side and looked to him as something of a general, even the older students who had a lot to prove and clearly all wanted to be in charge when Carter and Sadie were away. He supposed his performance at the siege of Brooklyn House helped him earn their respect.

When they marched off to the front lines, Percy had gone with them without a second thought. That battle had been brutal, but in the end they'd been triumphant. Things actually worked out better than Percy had dared to hope they would, but he was glad. His faith in Sadie and Carter hadn't been misplaced. He'd thought that after beating such monstrous odds, fixing the problem of Nico and Anubis had to be a cinch. He'd thought wrong.

Annabeth had been through every scroll and book in the Big House's library, and had done multiple searches on Daedalus's laptop, scouring every bit of information she could get her fingers on for even a scrap of relevant material. Zia, who'd been let in on everything, was doing the same at the First Nome. Carter paid a visit to the Greek Nome while Sadie tore apart Brooklyn House's library and used some kind of book fetching shabti to obtain other texts. Jason was using all his Roman resources on the other side of the US, and Thalia was searching everywhere in between.

Not a one of them had come up with a thing.

Percy tried to help Annabeth, but only seemed to get in her way. Things between them had been tense for awhile. They'd gradually been getting better, but Percy could still see the sting of hurt in Annabeth's eyes sometimes. Somehow he didn't things would be completely okay between them again until they managed to fix this. As long as there was a semi-living, sometimes-breathing reminder of how Percy had hid the truth from Annabeth, lying around comatose for the better part of every day, they weren't going to be able to get past this.

Anubis, at Percy's insistence, didn't walk around possessing Nico's empty shell, at least not most of the time. He had a second host now, something Percy had been surprised, and inexplicably annoyed to learn about. He hated the idea of Anubis possessing Nico, but somehow the idea of Anubis having a host other than Nico felt like he was betraying Nico. But to keep Nico's muscles from atrophying, Anubis fully possessed Nico at least a few hours every day and made sure he got at least a little exercise.

Tonight, he was sparring Percy.

Percy used to love sparring Nico. Very few beings were capable of giving him a good fight. Even with other demigods, his natural abilities as a son of one of the Big Three elevated him far beyond the average demigod. Too often, when he sparred anyone at camp, egos got in the way and if Percy wasn't under the Curse of Achilles, things would have been dangerous. Percy didn't like that feeling of knowing he'd caused a friend to lose their temper so badly they really wanted to cause him harm. Not that they could, it was just the thought that counted. Nico though could not only give Percy a run for his money but fight with a cool head. True, he fought just this side of dirty (against Percy. Against enemies he hopped right over that line) but that was something Percy had not only come to expect from him, but to look forward to. He'd faced too many enemies who fought with no honor at all. Practicing with Nico, who wasn't above cheap tricks, helped Percy raise his game.

Anubis didn't fight a thing like Nico. Whenever they faced off, Percy's mind just kept screaming 'Wrong, wrong, wrong!' He made stupid mistakes because he got distracted or disconcerted, or because he was expecting Anubis to react like Nico would to a certain block or certain attack, only to be jarringly reminded that this wasn't his cousin he was facing.

It ticked Percy off.

"Anubis, come on," said Percy, getting annoyed when Anubis didn't respond. He stepped into the room and went up to the sarcophagus bed. "Nico. I mean Anubis. Come on."

The outside doors downstairs slammed shut, immediately putting Percy on high alert. No one should be coming or going now. It was almost midnight. He'd taken to sparring Anubis when no one else was awake to see, because they tended to draw a crowd, and because most of the Brooklyn House kids didn't know about Nico's situation. Those who hadn't been informed didn't even know that he was currently in residence at the house. They were used to him coming and going whenever he felt like it, disappearing for days, sometimes even weeks on end. Moral would probably fall if it got around that he'd been lying comatose and soulless in his room for the last half month.

Cautiously, Percy stepped back out into the hall, easing the door of Nico's room shut behind him. Then he pulled out Riptide and made his way to the main room to see who was there. He relaxed at the sight of some familiar faces. Sadie, Carter, and Annabeth were there. So was someone else. Someone who didn't belong at Brooklyn House.

It took Percy a few moments to remember the kid's name, and when he did, he frowned. Leo Valdez, counselor of the Hephaestus Cabin. He didn't know much about the kid, but from what he did, he was not impressed. Leo was constantly getting into trouble, coming up with elaborate schemes and Rube Goldberg inventions that more often than not blew up in his face, and the faces of all those around him. He did have his moments, though. Percy remembered how he'd managed to tame the automaton dragon that had been running around causing havoc last winter, but that was the exception rather than the rule. Or maybe not, since he'd somehow added wings to the thing and now it had taken to swooping in at any given time and trying to join in whatever Leo was doing, like it was some kind over over-sized, over-eager dog. More than that, Leo was twitchier than a squirrel on a caffeine high. Even for a demigod, his ADHD was bad, and he was always running off his mouth. Percy didn't think he was a bad kid or anything, but there was a long list of people Percy would trust before he trusted Leo Valdez.

"What's going on?" asked Percy as he walked down the stairs. "What's he doing here?"

"Stop glaring, Percy," said Annabeth. "I had a good reason for bringing him."

"Hi Percy," said Leo, as though oblivious to the fact that Percy didn't want him there. "So you're in on this too? Whatever this is?"

Percy looked expectantly at Annabeth, waiting for the explanation.

"He saw the schematics for that machine on my laptop," said Annabeth.

Percy fought back a wave of frustration. "Annabeth -"

"He only got a glimpse of it Percy," said Annabeth, her voice rising defensively. "Literally, a less-than-a-second glimpse. But in the time it took me to shut my laptop as he and Piper stepped into the Athena cabin, he was able to memorize the entire thing. Then he was able to work out what the machine did, just from seeing the outlines of the pieces that made up the machine, many of them not anywhere near where they were supposed to go. From one measly little look at the screen, he figured out how to fix it and what it actually did."

"And how dangerous something like that could be to us," said Leo, staring at the ceiling, or maybe at the railing around the upper levels, spinning around in a circle.

"Then instead of going to Chiron about it, like most people probably would have if they saw another demigod working on something so potentially dangerous, he came to me," said Annabeth."

Percy looked at Leo in surprise.

"Hey, I'm no rat," said Leo.

"Why?" asked Percy.

"Uh, probably because I have too many pairs of chromosomes. Or maybe not enough," said Leo. "How many pairs of chromosomes does a rat have again? I'm not good with organic life forms."

"No, Valdez," said Percy, certain that Leo was just playing stupid. "Why didn't you go to Chiron?"

"Um, you mean aside from the fact that he's an adult?" asked Leo. "Because Annabeth is Piper's friend, and Piper's my friend."

"You're awfully loyal," said Percy, still suspicious. "And what do you mean you didn't go to Chiron because he's an adult?"

"You can't trust grownups, man," said Leo, pulling out some sort of windup toy from his pocket and popping it open to reveal a bunch of tiny plastic gears, which he began promptly pulling out of place.

Percy looked at Annabeth to see if she had more to say.

"I explained our problem to Leo," she said. "How we have a friend who was hurt when this machine exploded. Leo thinks he might be able to help us figure out what happened but needed to see the components of the machine."

"Why?" asked Percy. "If he was able to tell so much just by the schematics on your laptop -"

"You don't get it," said Leo. "The power source wasn't listed on the screen. Annabeth doesn't understand it either. I have to see how it was being fueled and get an idea of how much refraction could be provided by the crystal you mentioned, because its density and luster weren't recorded in the schematics, figure out what kind of energetic waves it emitted, and then what its shatter-point was before I can even come up with a theory for how a soul could be severed from its body by that force, and where said soul would be sent, and that's based on an unproven theory that souls are comprised of energy of an unspecified kind, which will make it even more difficult to -"

"Breathe, Leo," interrupted Sadie, slapping him on the back. "You're brilliant, I know, but that brain of yours does need oxygen to function."

Leo grinned at her. "So you think I'm brilliant, huh?"

"No, don't even think about it," said Percy, moving to cut off Leo's view of Sadie. He'd heard about Leo's tendency to crush on unattainable women, and Sadie had too much drama where her love-life was concerned already. He didn't want to think about how Nico was going to deal with it when they finally got him back.

"You're no fun," said Leo. "So when do I get to see the machine? Or what's left of it? And are you ever going to actually tell me who this buddy of yours who's soul went missing is?"

"Maybe," said Annabeth, right as Percy said, "Not if we can help it."

"Cool," said Leo.

"Does he know what Sadie and Carter are?" Percy asked Annabeth softly as they led Leo to the spare classroom where the pieces of the machine that caused all this mess were being stored.

"I actually think he's always known," whispered Annabeth. At Percy's surprised look, she added, "He's a lot smarter than you'd think. He actually might be something of a genius."

"He's OK with them being Egyptian?"

"Totally," said Leo. "Sadie and Carter helped save me and Piper from ending up as a hellhound's nom nom the day we met."

Percy and Annabeth stopped talking and turned around to look at Leo, who was several yards behind them.

"Oh, sorry, was I not supposed to hear that?" asked Leo. He pulled something resembling a blue tooth earpiece off his ear. Upon closer inspection, Percy saw that it was made of colorful plastic gears. And he guessed that it probably amplified sound, and that Leo had been using it deliberately. The smile on his face was too devious for it to have been anything else.

"Stop that, Leo," said Annabeth. "Before you get accused of espionage or something."

Leo nodded and put the ear piece away. By that time they had arrived at the spare class room.

Percy stood back and watched as Leo dropped down on his knees beside the pieces and began examining them. "You're sure this is a good idea?" asked Percy.

"No. Not one hundred percent sure," said Annabeth. "But this is the closest thing we've had to a breakthrough since we started. And you know as well as I do that a lot of times with people like us, things happen for a reason."

"Yeah," admitted Percy.

"How many people in the world do you think could figure out what those schematics were supposed to be of even if they had an hour to pour over them?" continued Annabeth. "Leo had half a second, and he didn't just memorize them, he interpreted them. Someone like that just falling into our laps can't be coincidence."

"So he's meant to be a part of this?" asked Percy.

"I can't say how big a part. I just feel like this is right."

They watched for awhile as Leo worked, losing himself in his task. He lifted up certain pieces, turned them over, opened them up to see what, if anything, was inside, then rearranged them. After about ten minutes it became clear that the way he was arranging them was in the general order they'd need to be in if someone wanted to reassemble them.

When that was done, Leo moved on to the crystal, or what they'd retrieved of it. The pieces were all laid out on a piece of linen. Leo pulled a jeweler's monocle from out of his tool belt and used it to take a closer look at the largest fragment.

"Cubic zirconium," he declared a second later. "High refractive rate. I'd say 2.18 for this one, maybe even 2.19. Adamantine luster. So if . . . No, that wouldn't work. Unless . . . Oh, no. Oh Hade - uh never-mind, won't invoke that name now. Important question: Does Nico wear any stone jewelry?"

"What?" Four pairs of eyes stared at Leo with different degrees of surprise.

"Who said anything about Nico?" demanded Percy.

"Well, it's kind of obvious that he's the one whose soul went missing," said Leo. "He was on that mission, but hasn't been back to camp since, even though it's supposedly finished. He was friends with Sadie and Carter. We're at Sadie and Carter's house, or at least their base of operations. And you, Percy Jackson, are here brooding and being all suspicious. That's probably the biggest giveaway of all. Now quickly, tell me, does he wear any stone jewelry? I know he's got the skull ring but that's metal. That jackal pendant he wears, what's that made of?"

"Silver," said Sadie.

Leo muttered darkly in Spanish then stood and started pacing. "That wouldn't work. No, no. But I could . . . that could . . . Assuming that there was a suitable receptacle within range . . . proximity would be key, and if there weren't . . . no, not going to think about that."

"Think about what?" demanded Percy and Carter in unison.

"Talking about it would be even worse than thinking about it," said Leo, "and it's bad. Trust me, that would be very bad, so I'm not going to risk jinxing us by saying it."

"All in favor of not risking any jinxes?" asked Sadie, raising her hand.

Carter immediately raised his as well, as did Leo. Percy looked at Annabeth, who looked about ready to raise her own hand.

"Majority rules," said Sadie before it could become an issue.

"If that was something important," started Percy.

"It was a worst-case-scenario," said Leo. "Leaving that behind now, because I'm coming up with a plan for a gadget that will help us find . . . Alright, I need three cell phones, a waffle iron, and a pot of coffee!"

Everyone stared at him.

"What?" asked Sadie finally.

"Three cell phones, a waffle iron, and coffee," said Leo. "Preferably expresso."

"Leo, you know how demigods and cell phones -"

"I know," said Leo. "But I need them. I can take them apart and use their components to make a sort of radar that could help us find Nico's soul."

"Are you joking?" demanded Percy.

Leo gave Percy an impatient look then turned to Sadie. "Do you guys have a waffle iron?"

"No," answered Carter.

"Then we need to go out and get one," said Leo. "And the three cell phones. Unfortunately, I don't have any money, but -"

"We do," said Sadie immediately.

"Let's go," said Carter.

"It's after midnight," protested Annabeth.

"And we're in New York City," said Percy. "We'll find somewhere that's open. But Leo, are you sure this is going to work?"

For the first time that night, Leo's expression actually looked serious. "No. I can't be positive. This invention's going to be based on a theory I have about soul energy, and that theory could be wrong. But I think it will work. And it's the best thing I can come up with right now. I'll take care of getting the phones if you guys get the waffle iron and the coffee."

"How are you going to get three phones in the middle of the night?" demanded Sadie.

"I'm a man of means -"

"You just said you had no money."

"And sometimes my means mean operating outside the law."

"Leo," said Annabeth, overly patient, "you're not stealing three random peoples' phones."

-------------------------------------------------

Percy was tasked with picking up the waffle iron with Leo. Sadie and Carter went together to get the phones, since they weren't burdened by the demigods' problems with technology. Annabeth was getting the coffee.

"No, this doesn't look weird or suspicious at all," said Percy as he and Leo wandered through the appliance section of a 24 hour department store. "Two teens out at one in the morning shopping for waffle irons."

"This one will work," said Leo, tapping the display model then kneeling down to pick up one that was new in its box. He struggled with the weight a bit, until Percy pulled it from his grasp, seeing that the much smaller boy was having a hard time. "Right. Back to Tut's Tomb."

"Tut's Tomb?"

"That Egyptian house we were just at," explained Leo.

Percy shook his head but a smile was starting to form on his face. Despite his skepticism about Leo, he was starting to get a good feeling about this. True, Leo wasn't the most confidence-inspiring person in the world, but he seemed consistent at least. Percy was beginning to accept that Leo's brain functioned similarly to his own, except that instead of being geared toward combat, Leo's was geared toward inventiveness. When he talked about inventions and machines he had the same expression on his face that Percy knew was on his own when he spoke of fighting, or when he was actually in a fight. And, when it came down to it, it was in Percy's nature to trust people, unless he had a real reason not to. He was willing to admit now, to himself anyway, that his worry over Nico may have been clouding his judgment earlier.

They paid for the waffle iron with several of the crisp twenty-dollar-bills that Sadie and Carter supplied them with, then headed back toward Brooklyn House.

"Hey Percy?" said Leo, his voice soft.

"Yeah?"

"Don't look now, but we're being followed."

"What? Who?" Percy started to turn his head from side to side, searching for whoever was shadowing them.

"I said don't look!" said Leo, sounding exasperated. "Dude, that's exactly what you don't do when you know someone's following you, because now he knows we know he's following us, and we've lost our best chance at running and shaking him!"

Percy shifted the waffle iron box into his left hand and got Riptide ready with his right. "I don't run from fights, Leo."

"And I do," said Leo. "Because I like to avoid getting shanked, capped, or roughed up by punks, so let's just go, Percy!"

"My my, Percy Jackson," said an oily voice with an odd accent. "You certainly cut an imposing figure, with your waffle iron in one hand and your pen in the other. You should pose for a portrait like that."

"Who the heck are you?" asked Percy as the man came forward. He uncapped Riptide and started to hand the waffle iron box to Leo, until he saw that despite Leo's instincts to flee, he'd produced two large hammers from somewhere and was ready to fight. So instead of handing the waffle iron off to him, he set it on the ground.

"I'm sure you've heard of me. Perhaps Sadie and Carter mentioned me? I'm Setne."

"Did he just say his name is Sidney?" asked Leo.

"Close enough," said Percy. And yes, he did know who this guy was. Sadie and Carter had a lot of choice words for him. "What do you want?"

"Many things," said Setne. "Though right now one of the things I want is the same as what you want."

"Get your own waffle iron!" shouted Leo.

"Not the waffle iron, you matricidal little idiot-savant."

Leo stiffened. "What did you call me?"

"Yes, I know about you, Leo Valdez," said Setne. "I know how you caused your own mother's death and how you were rejected by the rest of your family. The devil's child, they called you when they threw you out like trash, to be bounced from home to home -"

"Shut up," said Leo, a slight tremble to his voice.

"I know the secrets you keep. That burning fear that you'll-"

"If you don't shut up, I'll shut you up," said Percy angrily as he stepped between Setne and Leo. "Tell me right now what it is you want with me, or I'm sending you back to the underworld in pieces."

"Such hostility," drawled Setne, "so uncouth, especially since I'm here to help you."

"I don't want or need your help," said Percy.

"Not even if I have the key to saving dear little Nico?"

Percy glared. "What do you know about Nico?"

"I know that Anubis misplaced something very important of his. Very irresponsible that one, but what can you really expect from a hormone-crazed teen?" said Setne. "I also happen to know just where this important thing was misplaced. And the important thing is his soul, by the way. In case you're particularly dense and couldn't figure out that's what I was talking about. The Ritalin poster-child there looked a tad lost."

"Tell me, dead man," said Percy, "does it make you feel big and strong to pick on children?"

"Actually, yes," said Setne. "But we digress. Your Chihuahua there is going to get you on the right track. What he's planning will actually work. Or at least it will if you stop keeping secrets from him, or if he stops twitching long enough to actually explain his grand plans to you. Communication boys, is going to be the key to solving this."

Behind him, Percy heard Leo make an angry sound at Setne's racial slur. Part of Percy wanted to charge Setne and make him pay for that remark. Even though Percy and Leo weren't exactly friends, it ticked Percy off that someone was standing in front of both of them talking about Leo like that. But another part of Percy wanted to hear what Setne had to stay. Even though he knew it was probably a bad idea. He couldn't help it. If there was even a chance that Setne had relevant information about Nico, Percy had to hear him out.

"When you find out where Nico's soul is, you'll be flummoxed again. It will be right before you, but you'll be helpless to set it free, to set him free. He'll be every bit as lost to you as he already is. That's where my advice comes in," said Setne. "What you need is a specialist. Someone with the powers of the Wealthy One. Precious few of those in existence. None of whom are currently alive. So, you'll have to get creative. Raise a little hell. Or sink to its level. Ask Anubis what I mean, when you get that far. He'll be able to figure it out."

"Maybe he can also tell us what you get out of this," said Percy. "Somehow I doubt you're going to tell me."

"Smart boy," said Setne. "Well, for now I bid you adieu, but don't worry. I'll be in touch."

Percy wanted to attack. Even though the man, well ghost, had his back turned, he wanted to charge him and take him down. He had the feeling that he'd regret not doing just that. But Percy wasn't the sort to stab someone in the back.

"Who was that guy?" asked Leo once Setne was gone. His voice was odd and a little tremulous, but he did a decent job of hiding it.

"An evil man who's cheated death more than once," said Percy. "He tried to kill Sadie and Carter not two weeks ago. You okay?"

"I'm fine," said Leo, but he didn't sound fine. Percy grabbed his arm to stop him when he tried to pick up the waffle iron box.

"I've got it," Percy told him.

Leo looked up at him, his expression like a statue's. Then he jerked his hand out of Percy's grip and picked up the box anyway.

Percy watched as the smaller boy started walking again, struggling with the weight. Then he sighed and caught up in three steps. He lifted the box out of Leo's scrawny arms with ease.

"I don't need your help you know," said Leo coldly.

"You're inventing something that might save my friend's soul," said Percy. "The least I can do is carry a box for you."

"Are we really going to do this? Are you going to pretend you didn't hear what that guy said?" Leo wanted to know.

"That's a conversation I don't even know how to start," said Percy, "and you don't seem to want to talk about it."

"Damn right I don't," muttered Leo.

"I won't make you then," said Percy. "I've done things that have gotten other people hurt too. I know that sometimes, despite what everyone says, it doesn't help at all to talk about it."

Leo stared at him, several emotions flickering across his face too fast for Percy to read.

"But sometimes," continued Percy, "it does help to let your friends help you with the heavy lifting."

"We're not friends," said Leo.

"You wanted to run but instead you stayed and watched my back," said Percy. "And you're helping me save my best friend's soul."

"And you don't trust me," said Leo. "I'm not an idiot. I saw the moment you saw me at Tut's Tomb that you didn't trust me."

"I didn't then. I do now."

Leo scowled. "Aren't you even going to ask?"

"Ask what?"

"If I did it on purpose," said Leo bitterly.

"You didn't," said Percy.

"You can't possibly know that."

"That look in your eyes tells me everything I need to know," said Percy. "Now come on. We should get moving." He started walking. Leo followed a few steps behind.

They didn't speak again all the way back to Brooklyn House, and once they were there, Leo immediately got to work. He used a set of small screwdrivers to take the waffle iron apart and stripped it down into so many spare parts. By the time he was finished with that, the others had arrived with the three requested phones and the coffee. Leo got started on the coffee and the phones simultaneously, working and drinking mechanically, like he himself was an automaton. His impish smile was gone. So were the spastic but animated movements. An hour ago, Percy would have thought this an improvement. Now he wished he could get the old Leo back.