ALL RIGHTS TO THE CHARACTERS (except Celeste, she's mine.) BELONG TO THE AMAZING RICK RIORDAN. I DO NOT OWN THE PJO/HoO SERIES!!!

Chapter 21 - Nico

The bruise on Nico's head stung when he saw the girl again. He couldn't remember her name, so he tried not to make any conversation with her as the others talked to her.

Well, the others being Percy, Leo, and Hazel. Everyone else seemed uncomfortable around the girl, like she was some kind of disease.

"Nico?" The girl called to him.

He turned, surprised that she said his name.

She laughed slightly. "Sorry. I was making sure I was getting your name right." She said.

Nico nodded his head and then turned away. He didn't feel like talking to this strange girl. He had already had quite the talking experience with Coach Hedge while he, Coach, and Reyna were taking the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood.

He remembered the Coach wouldn't shut up about all the "brave" adventures he went on with the rest of the seven. Nico didn't bother to mention that Coach Hedge was only a chaperone.

Nico wasn't that mean. Didn't want to dampen the guys spirits or anything.

Nico knew that Reyna was glad that the Coach wasn't talking to her. It was written all over her face.

Anyways, as Nico remembered his trip, he kept trying to scan his brain for the name of the girl. She had told him what it was not too long ago. Of course, neither him nor her had told anyone about their previous meeting, but Nico guessed it was best to keep it a secret for now.

Celina? No, that wasn't it. Celine? No.

"Celeste?" Someone said.

Yes! That was it! Wait-

Nico realized it was Annabeth who was talking.

She was facing Percy, Celeste, Leo, and Hazel. "I wanted to say I'm sorry. You know, for not being very trustworthy of you." Annabeth said.

Nico saw Celeste smile. "It's alright. If I were you, I wouldn't trust me either."

"So where'd you go?" Hazel asked.

Celeste tensed.

"Nowhere really. I just sort of walked the opposite direction from you guys." She said.

"Then how'd you find us?" Leo asked.

"Luck." Celeste shrugged.

Nico knew Celeste was lying. Besides, when he had run into her earlier, she had definitely been running away from the others. What Nico didn't understand is why Celeste came back in the first place. If she wanted to leave, she should've left.

However, Nico didn't say anything to Celeste. He simply gave her a look.

When she saw him looking at her, her face seemed to sink with guilt.

She wanted to leave. Nico didn't know Celeste, but he knew she was hiding something.

From everyone.

He still couldn't believe there was another Poseidon half-blood child though. She had been there the whole time, and no one but the sea god himself had known about her.

Nico thought Celeste was lucky, getting to choose if she wanted the demigod life or not. Her dad thought she was dangerous so she never went to Camp Half-Blood, went on quests, got mentioned in prophecies, or almost died every single day. However, he thought all this until he heard about her curse and her super-dangerous powers that attracted monsters and gods like flies.

That, Nico had to admit, sucked.

He had already lost Bianca. But the thought of her never being able to hear or see him, it probably would have driven him mad.

Nico couldn't help being impressed at how Celeste went through it all.

He had also learned from the others about the Argo 2 exploding. That wasn't very convenient.

Next time, Nico wouldn't leave his friends without some decent protection.

Nico noticed Frank, Jason, and Piper were sitting away from Celeste, as if they didn't trust her.

Frank kept eyeing Hazel and then looking back at Celeste as if she were a time bomb.

Jason had his hand on his sword and was looking at Piper as if she was some prophet or something.

Piper on the other hand was staring intently at Celeste. She kept staring into Celeste's eyes as if looking for something. She also kept glancing at her dagger, Katropis.

Nico tried to turn his attention away from them and focus more on Celeste, but suddenly, the air next to him shimmered.

An Iris-message.

"Nico." Said a voice.

Nico nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled around, his hand on his sword, and saw the sparkling image of Reyna.

She was wearing a purple praetor's toga and had an Imperial gold dagger in her hand. She had cuts and scrapes all over her skin and there was a scene of battle behind her.

The battle was at Camp Half-Blood.

Nico could see Greek and Roman demigods fighting each other with their hearts set on killing each other.

Apparently, the Athena Parthenos had NOT worked.

"Reyna? What's happening?" Nico asked.

Nico noticed the others had fallen silent and were staring at the image of Reyna.

Everyone was pale and shocked. In the background, they could all make out images of their friends dying in the battlefield.

It was the most horrific thing Nico had ever seen.

And that was saying a lot.

"I just came to warn you. All of you. The camps are fighting. Octavian started it-of course-and I'm trying to stop it. Though, single-handedly, it's hard to stop a dispute of this size." Reyna said.

Her image started to flicker.

"I don't have much time. And neither do you guys. You all need to stop Gaea, no matter what it takes. The sooner you get back here to camp, the better. Good luck." Reyna said.

And just like that, the image disappeared.

"Oh my gods." Annabeth muttered under her breath.

Everyone was silent.

"What are we going to do?" Hazel asked, breaking the silent. Her voice sounded shaky.

"We're going to defeat Gaea." Nico said.

He felt unsure though. He knew they weren't ready to take on Gaea yet, but maybe Celeste appearing was a sign.

Maybe her curse was lifted so she could help the seven.

Or maybe her curse was lifted to destroy them.