Percy explained to the others what had happened with Setne, out of Leo's hearing, leaving out the stupid jerk's remarks to Leo, but the others seemed to know he was omitting something.

"Did Setne do something to Leo?" asked Annabeth, glancing back at the younger teen with some concern. "He seems a little too subdued."

"He said some nasty stuff to him," said Percy, unwilling to lie to Annabeth again, but unable to tell her the whole truth. He couldn't do that to Leo. "Some of it hit a little too close to home for him, I think. He didn't actually get physically near him."

"I know," said Annabeth. "You may not like him, but you'd never stand by and let someone get hurt if you could help it."

"Leo's okay," said Percy. "I don't dislike him."

Leo continued working in silence for the next hour, pulling a number of tools seemingly out of thin air. After closer examination, Percy saw that he was actually producing them from his tool belt. He cracked open the cell phones and dismantled them, setting the screens aside and eventually lining them up together on top of the waffle iron cover.

By the time he was finished, the waffle iron resembled a closed laptop with a three panel screen where the top of the cover would normally be.

"Alright," Leo said finally. "Here's what we've got. This device, which I've decided to call the Soulocator, should be able to find Nico's soul, assuming that what I believe happened is correct. See, the huge chunk of cubic zirconium was acting as a catalyst and creating a vacuum for all demigod powers by actually siphoning -"

"English, Leo," said Sadie. "No one understands what you're trying to say."

Leo's gaze darkened a little. "That's nothing new. Ok . . . the machine was literally sucking the souls of any demigod within range toward it. It wasn't strong enough to sever the bond between the souls and their bodies, but it was strong enough to siphon off their powers. But at close range, when it overloaded, it was strong enough, but only with direct contact. It displaced Nico's soul, but because of the, uh, you know, frequencies and stuff, Nico's soul would have been rechanneled into a material of similar makeup as the crystal. So, into stone, I mean. Some sort of crystalline structure, not necessarily a diamond or cubic zirconium. If he'd had any jewelry with stones, that would have been the first place I looked, but since he doesn't we should go to the place where he lost his soul and use this there to . . . what?"

Everyone's expressions had changed when Leo started talking about stones, and Percy realized they'd all come to the same conclusion.

"What did I say? What did I do this time?" demanded Leo.

"Nothing. It's not you," said Percy.

"We just realized something," said Sadie. Their group all looked at each other. They came to an unspoken decision.

"Nico wasn't wearing any stone jewelry, but he did have a stone on him," said Percy.

Leo looked from face to face. Then he handed the Soulocator to Sadie. "Here.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"It's user-friendly. You don't need me to operate it. My part in this seems done, so if -"

"But there's still getting Nico's soul back into his body," said Carter. "You're not going to help us with that?"

"You want me to try and extract a soul from a stone?" demanded Leo.

"Well, yeah."

"With no idea what I'm doing, or how to anchor it back into his body, with no precedent to draw from and only theory to guide me?"

"You figured out how to locate his soul," said Percy.

"Locating it is one thing. Trying to experiment on it is something else completely. Think back on the disaster that got his soul severed. That's what could happen again if I mess it up, because it will take at least that much energy to dislodge it from wherever it is," said Leo.

"Then what are we supposed to do even if this works?" demanded Percy.

"Get a god to help you," suggested Leo. "Or maybe these House of Life peeps can do something for it. They're supposed to be used to dealing with massive amounts of magical energy and things like soul relocation, if what we've been taught about them is true."

Sadie and Carter were looking at each other. "We could ask Anubis, I mean Walt -"

"You can ask him when I'm gone!" said Leo quickly. "I don't want to be in the room when any death gods show up!"

"Why are my ears suddenly burning?" asked Walt/Anubis from right behind them.

"Hey, welcome back," said Sadie, hurrying to give him/them a quick kiss on the cheek, while Carter rolled his eyes at the public display of affection.

"What?" asked Leo. "Is he . . ."

"Walt," said Walt, holding out his hand for Leo to shake, which Leo took automatically, "host of Anubis."

That made Leo jump, the fear on his face almost comical as he snatched his hand back.

"And you are?" inquired Walt.

"Leo," he introduced himself and looked at Annabeth as though waiting for instructions.

"Leo just made a device that should help us locate Nico's soul," said Percy. "But in explaining the device, he gave all the rest of us an idea on where Nico's soul might be."

"And where's that?" asked Anubis, and Percy could tell by the tone of his voice and the intensity of his gaze that Anubis was very present at that moment and Walt was taking the back seat. One thing he had to give the jackal god, saving Nico had become his top priority.

"In his heart scarab," said Percy.

"Impossible," said Anubis, annoyed. "Don't you think I would have noticed that?"

"How much do any of us really know about that stone?" returned Annabeth.

Anubis was silent.

"So, I was just about to leave," said Leo. "Since you guys don't need me for whatever comes next. And since you don't trust me -"

"Leo, it's not like that -"

"Anymore than I trust you," finished Leo ironically.

There were a few seconds of silence as Leo's words sunk in.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Percy finally.

"Um, you mean besides what it says on the tin?" asked Leo. "Because you guys are keeping secrets right and left, and you clearly don't want to let me in on them. Not that I really want to be let in on them. I want Nico to be OK, but I don't see what more I can do to help, so like I said, my part in this is done. I'm going back to camp."

For a few more seconds, no one spoke.

"I'll show you out," said Sadie finally.

"Sadie," said Carter, sounding appalled. "Leo, you don't have to go -"

"But he wants to," said Sadie. "And he's right, we're not going to be filling him in on everything. Even if we wanted to, we don't have time. No offense, Leo."

"None taken," said Leo. "So, you said you were going to show me out?"

Percy felt bad letting Leo leave after all that had happened so far, but what else could he really do? Leo didn't want to be there anymore. He clearly was not OK with the stuff Sedne had told him, and had been avoiding looking at Percy as much as possible, probably since Sedne had spilled some of Leo's secrets to Percy. And they weren't going to be letting Leo in on everything. Percy trusted him a little bit now, but not enough to give him information that, if told to the wrong person, would start the inter-pantheon war they'd been trying to avoid for about a year now. Even most of the Brooklyn House kids didn't have that information.

"Well," said Sadie when she returned from showing Leo out. "Shall we test this bad boy out?" She held up the Soulocator.

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

As they'd all expected, the Soulocator led them right to Nico's heart scarab. They turned the device on downstairs, and the three separate screens all lit up with different images. One looked like a sonar, or at least how movies always portrayed sonars, with a star indicating the missing soul that kept making a pinging noise. Another seemed to be some sort of thermal image that showed the heart scarab clearly, even though there were several walls and floors in the way. The third screen showed a maze-like map of Brooklyn house, and a dotted line that charted out the best route for them to take to get to Nico's soul. Honestly, they could have figured that last one out easily enough on their own, but in Leo's defense, he'd been expecting them to use the device somewhere other than their own home.

"How could I not have realized this?" groaned Anubis as they went up to Nico's room to take a closer look at the scarab stone.

"Maybe because people don't generally expect souls to get trapped into stones, even if those stones are imbedded in their chests," suggested Sadie. "Don't be so hard on yourself, love."

After they'd gotten upstairs and taken a look at the stone, they came to another snag. Anubis had no idea what to do or how to get Nico's soul out of it or back into his body. He couldn't even tell that it was in there.

Sadie hadn't seen much of Nico's heart scarab. None of them had, since he wasn't prone to getting his shirt ripped open like Captain Kirk. It didn't look any different to her than from the times she'd seen it. Percy said the same. Not that Sadie expected one of them to notice something that a god who dealt in death and souls couldn't see.

"I probably don't have to say this, but I think it's time to tell Anubis what Setne told you," said Sadie to Percy.

Anubis growled. "Setne? You saw him?"

"Yeah," admitted Percy.

"And you didn't capture him?"

"No. Because he didn't attack me before introducing himself, and by the time I had any inclination of trying to beat him senseless, he'd already turned his back to me," said Percy.

"Well? What did he say?"

"He said . . ." Percy twisted up his face as he tried to remember. "Setne said . . . When we found out where Nico's soul is, we'd be confused again. That he'll still be as lost to us now that we know as he was when we didn't know. And he said we'd need a specialist. Something about powers of wealth and getting creative by raising hell or something."

Sadie smirked. "Well, that was a truly remarkable effort. Good job."

"That makes no sense," said Anubis.

"Yeah, no kidding," agreed Sadie. "Thankfully though, before he left, Leo gave me this." She held up Leo's parting gift to her. It was that strange blue-tooth earpiece lookalike made out of plastic toy gears. "He recorded the conversation you guys had with Setne."

Percy looked surprised. "All of it?"

Sadie pushed the button Leo had instructed her to, and Setne's oily voice began playing through the tiny speaker.

"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. 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."

"The Wealthy One? That's a reference to Had - uh, I mean to Nico's father," said Annabeth, choosing not to invoke the god's name. "So, we need someone with his powers other than Nico? Bianca maybe?"

"That would fit with that part about raising hell or sinking to its level," said Carter. "Since she's . . . you know."

"No," said Anubis darkly. "She and Nico had the same powers. Death powers."

"That they got from their father, the Wealthy One," said Percy.

"No demigod gets every power their parent possess," said Anubis. "Not even gods inherit their parents' every power. Old Corpse Breath has two spheres of power. Nico and Bianca both had their father's power over death, but neither of them have his power over the riches of the earth."

"Nico's got some power over stone," argued Percy.

"But not over riches," argued Anubis right back. "There have been children of the underworld who have been capable of controlling jewels and precious metals much like you control water."

"And you're sure Nico and Bianca couldn't? I never saw them even try," said Percy. "And we don't know the full scope of Bianca's powers, if they were identical to Nico's or not."

"Percy, I don't think it could have been Bianca," said Annabeth.

"Why not?"

"Because she joined the Hunters of Artemis. When a girl does that, whatever powers she inherited from her godly parent stop developing," said Annabeth. "They pretty much get frozen along with her age."

"But Bianca -"

"Bianca was about twelve at the time."

"So was I when I flooded the toilets at Camp Half-blood."

"Yeah, but remember how long it took you to get control over water?" asked Annabeth.

"That doesn't mean Bianca never had any powers over wealth," said Percy.

"But even if she did, how useful would she be at extracting a soul from a semi-precious stone?" asked Sadie. "I think that's the point your girlfriend's trying to make, Percy."

"Alright, fine then," huffed Percy. He looked quite put out. "What then? Nico doesn't have any living siblings, does he? That oath the Big Three swore and all that. Even though Zeus and Poisedon broke it, Nico's dad didn't. Did he?"

"I think we would have heard by now if he had," said Annabeth, "but you missed something. The Roman forms of our gods didn't make that vow."

"So Nico might have a Roman half-brother or sister," realized Carter. "We need to contact Jason and find out."

"That's not necessary," said Anubis. "There are no other children of the underworld walking the earth but Nico right now."

"And you know that how?" asked Sadie.

"The same way I knew of Walt's curse," said Anubis. "Death gods know where people with the shadow of death hanging over their entire lives are. When they're born, where they live, where they go -"

"But we're looking for someone with wealth powers, not death powers. Would that make a difference?"

"Not as long as they're really a death god's progeny," said Anubis. "I can tell you with certainty that Nico has no living siblings, Greek or Roman. They all died in the 40s. Your half-siblings killed all of them."

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other uncomfortably. Sadie shifted awkwardly and glanced at Carter. His expression was probably similar to her own. Sadie had forgotten how complicated Greek demigods' families were. She couldn't even imagine what family reunions were like. Then there was the slight matter of how they tended to cause world wars, and end up on different sides, and their siblings killed their friends siblings, and everything turned into a mess. She wondered how in Hades they managed to get along with each other now, with several thousand years of bloody history like that behind them. If someone killed Carter, she sure as hell wouldn't be able to be friends with that murderer's sibling. She couldn't guarantee she wouldn't start a blood feud with them and try to wipe them all out.

"Wait. No, not all of them," said Anubis. Suddenly he looked very faraway. "There was one who died elsewhere. And she had power over wealth rather than death."

"From what Setne says, it sounds like we're supposed to try to get in contact with someone who's dead, but will that really help us?" asked Annabeth. "If all Nico's siblings died so long ago, they'll have been reborn, won't they?"

"Not this one," said Anubis darkly. "She died a hero's death, but her circumstances were very unfortunate. If the rumors are true, she is still in the underworld, in the Fields of Asphodel."

This apparently meant something to Annabeth and Percy because they didn't look pleased. "Why is she there?" asked Annabeth.

"It's complicated," Anubis told her.

"Complicated or not, we need to know," said Percy. "If we're going to try to summon her, or go down and find her, or resurrect her, or whatever it is that we're supposed to do, we need to know what she did to get sent there."

"It is a very long story," said Anubis. "Perhaps we should go downstairs and sit down."

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

Leo, despite what the others probably thought, wasn't upset. Not really. Or at least not about them not letting him into their secret club. He knew the look of people who were in over their heads. Every single kid there definitely was.

Don't get him wrong, he liked Nico. The code of outcasts made them semi-friends by default, and they actually got along when Nico was at camp. If there was something more he could have done to help the kid, he probably would have. There just wasn't anything he could actually do. Or so he thought. It turned out that Setne begged to differ.

Leo realized quite quickly that he was being followed. He hadn't survived years on the run and on the street without picking up a heightened sense of awareness, even if he was severely ADHD. True, most details he took in went in one ear and out the other, but the ones that mattered stayed. Anything relating to danger mattered.

Leo would be the first to admit he wasn't brave. He wasn't a coward or anything, he was just practical about dangerous situations. When he could, he avoided them. Even if it meant running and getting called a coward.

That's what he tried to do when he knew Setne was trying to trail him. He sprinted across a road that probably would have been busy if it wasn't the middle of the night, then into an alley. A dumpster provided easy access to a fire escape, which he scrambled up, thinking himself in the clear, as he couldn't see or hear any signs of Setne. When he found the man waiting on the roof for him, he was not happy.

"Hello again, Leo," Setne greeted him.

"Goodbye again, Sidney," returned Leo.

"You might as well stay and hear me out. Or have I not just proven that I am fully capable of not just catching up to you, but getting ahead of you?"

Leo glowered. "You're annoying, you know that?"

"Such hurtful words. Wait. Not really. Pity. Though they may hurt you, I am unaffected," said Setne.

"They don't hurt me," said Leo.

"Yes they do."

"Ok, they do. Wait, no they don't," said Leo. "You're fishing."

Setne gave him an unsettling smile. "I'm not and you know it. You're such a pathetic little specimen of a half-blood. A psychiatrist would have a field-day with you and all your issues."

"Pot, meet kettle," muttered Leo.

"I may be a bit of a megalomaniac, but I embrace it. You on the other hand have an inferiority complex. Everything bothers you, from the laughs about you behind your back, to the fact that you never really fit in, to the fact that you have no real friends -"

"I have friends."

"Who? Your half-siblings?" asked Setne. "How many of them actually know you. Piper? She only keeps you around for comic relief. Percy Jackson? Annabeth Chase? The Kane siblings? Then why are you out here alone? They didn't even offer to see you back to camp safely or call a pegasus for you to borrow."

"I can take care of myself," snapped Leo.

"You've had to, haven't you," said Setne. "No one's ever been there for you. No one's ever wanted to be around you."

"I don't get what your beef with me is," said Leo. "I've never done anything to you, aside from call you Sidney. What is your problem with me? Are you trying to drive me into jumping off this roof for a laugh? Because if that's it, I can tell you right now, you're wasting your time. I don't care about people as much as you seem to think."

"Yes you do."

"As you pointed out, I killed my own mother. How much could I possibly care about anyone?" Leo hated himself a little for saying that, but if he was going to bluff he needed to be able to back himself up somehow.

"You do care. It's why you went to try and help them save Nico. I take it your little invention worked the way you intended?"

"Well, there was a slight malfunction with the electro-stasis field that totally wasn't my fault, and now Sadie's got electricity powers that may or may not be permanent, but if you're asking about whether or not it found Nico's soul . . ." Leo managed to keep a straight face as Setne's previously unwavering expression cracked, his jaw dropping slightly.

"You're joking. You must be joking," said Setne.

"My jokes aren't that funny," said Leo.

Setne stared at him, clearly unable to tell if he was joking or not.

"I'm just lucky Carter's so level headed," said Leo. "Any other guy probably would have busted my jaw for doing that to their sister."

"My gods, you did give Sadie electricity powers," muttered Setne.

Score one for Team Leo! Leo congratulated himself on a successful lie. "I take it you didn't corner me to force me to recreate the experiment and give you superpowers too."

Setne finally recovered and gave Leo a very serious look. "I'm here because they still need you. They just don't know it yet."

"Weren't you just going on and on about how no one needs me?"

"It's true, most of the time you're a waste of space in this already cancerously overcrowded city, but for once your existence is necessary," said Setne.

"Not buying it," said Leo, "and even if I did, what makes you think I'd care?"

"Because there is a girl who needs you. A beautiful, young lady who needs rescuing, who only you will be able to reach," said Setne.

"Yeah. Tell me another."

"I'm telling you the truth. No one has ever needed you like this girl does. Without you there, they won't be able to even find her," said Setne. "If by chance they do, it's very unlikely she'd help them. She'd fear a trick, or possibly have retreated so far into her own mind that she won't respond to a word they say."

"Then why in Had - why would she talk to me?" demanded Leo.

"Because you and she are connected," said Setne. "The others need you for this. Trust me."

"Trust you? Amigo, I trust no one," said Leo, "dead people who seem to know way too much least of all. Everything you've told me tonight has just convinced me that I don't want to be mixed up in this."

"You're a horrible liar," said Setne. "You and I both know that as soon as we part ways, you're going to turn right around and run back to Brooklyn House to convince them to bring you along."

"Well, if you're so convinced, we might as well call this meeting over," said Leo. "It's been fun, but I'm sick of you now."

"You'll go to them because they need you. Because she needs you. And if there's one thing you need, Leo Valdez, it's to be needed. If there's one thing you crave it's to be a part of something. You would give up everything for a chance to belong somewhere. For a chance at a new family. Well, this is your chance. Without you, they will fail. Nico's soul will remain trapped in stone. Poor Hazel will remain trapped in the Fields of Asphodel for all eternity. And you will always be an outcast."

"And you're telling me this out of the goodness of your heart?" suggested Leo. "You're like my fairy godmother? There's obviously nothing in this for you."

"I'll admit, I do have an angle," said Setne. "Nothing you'd object to, though. In fact, you might even like to help me."

"If I'm not going to help my fellow demigods who are kind of my friends, what makes you think I'm going to help you?" demanded Leo.

"Because my plan involves delivering some serious hurt to a certain sleepwalking woman you want to burn the heart out of," said Setne, smiling seductively. "You know who I'm talking about."

Leo froze. As in he stood completely still. For a good ten seconds all he did was stare at Setne. He didn't even breathe.

"This is, of course, just one part of the plan, but an important part," said Setne. "Well, I think that's enough to be going on for now."

"Name."

"Your pardon?"

"Tell me her name." said Leo.

"In due time."

"No. Now. Or I walk," growled Leo.

"No you won't," said Setne.

Leo felt the air around him begin to heat up and shimmer with fire haze. "Want to bet?"

"As a matter of fact . . . I do." Setne smiled. Then he disappeared.

Light danced around Leo as flames erupted over his skin, his powers reacting to his rage. He struggled to bring it under control. The last thing he wanted was someone snapping a picture that would end up on a tabloid cover. He wasn't a hero. He had no business being mistaken for the Human Torch.

He wondered what he'd do if he was a hero, but only for a second. The answer seemed obvious. Dash back to Tut's Tomb, volunteer to lead the charge to the Fields of Wherever, rescue the damsel in distress, and become a part of the team. Oh, and tell Percy and them all about what Setne had just told him, about how part of his master plan included beating up Leo's nemesis, just so that there were no skeletons in his closest.

Too bad for Percy and co, but Leo wasn't a hero.