Okay, I was so excited to write this chapter and I hope you guys really like it to!

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When Nico came back onto deck, it seemed that the topic of who had been shouting those directions had ceased, which was a relief, but a new problem arose when he saw the panicked look on Annabeth's face. Percy tried to comfort her as she held the remains of a broken, soggy map in her hands.

"No, no, no, no, no..." she muttered, getting onto her knees and trying to reassemble the map, only for it to look like a pile of indecipherable mush.

"Annabeth, it's okay-" Percy said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"No!" Annabeth snapped, then took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Percy, that was the last version of the map we had! It...it was our plan."

"I should've made a copy of it," Reyna said, clenching her jaw. She barely showed it, but Nico could tell she was mad at herself. He stood next to her and put his hand on her shoulder, a silent, but reassuring gesture.

"How are you going to get to the island now?" Piper asked, though the answer was obvious.

"We aren't," Jason said, looking just as crestfallen as everyone else.

"Hold on," Leo said, trying for a weak laugh. "We didn't go through all of that to just turn back."

"Well we don't have a map and we're stuck in the middle of the ocean," Annabeth said through gritted teeth. "So if you have an idea I'd love to hear it."

He didn't answer. Annabeth quickly stood up and hurriedly made her way down to her cabin, her eyes storming with frustration.

"I'm going to check on her," Percy said before following her, a worried look in his eyes.

Nico understood Annabeth's distress. She was labeled one of the best strategists in the world - not an easy title to carry. Now, she feels as though she failed, and even if you're supposed to be a genius, failure doesn't feel good for anyone.

"I..should go check on supplies," Frank said, shuffling on his feet.

"I'll go with you," Hazel said, and the two quickly made their exit.

"C'mon Jason, let's fix the sails," Piper said, pulling his arm, snapping the blonde prince out of his thoughts.

"I should go check the hull," Leo said, before leaving as well.

That left Reyna and Nico on the deck, staring out into the sea; the wide, vast, endless sea.

"That was you, wasn't it?" Reyna said. "Shouting out instructions to Leo."

He hesitated before answering. "Yeah. Yeah, that was me."

"How did you know?" She asked, genuine curiosity in her voice.

Nico was skeptical about answering. After all, he didn't want her to think he was a crazy person. What would someone say if he told them he saw a gold, glowing orb in the water that led them out of the storm? The more he thought about it, the more it hurt his head. And then, finally, it clicked.

That first night on the boat, the golden tail he saw for only a second before it vanished in the water, could it be...? The bottle against his chest grew warmer.

"I..." he paused, thinking of how to phrase this seemingly insane claim. "I saw this golden tail in the water during the storm. And it sounds crazy, I know, but then it started going right, so I said-"

"'Go right,'" Reyna finished for him. Nico nodded and continued.

"It kept going so I kept shouting directions," he said, rubbing his throat - still raw and sore from all the yelling. "And then it led us out. I...I think it swam away before I could see it again."

Nico could practically see the gears in Reyna's head turning. "So some type of...fish led us out of the storm?"

Nico nodded, though winced at how ridiculous it sounded.

"Why...why do you think it would do that?" Reyna asked, looking over at Nico, who shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know," he sighed. "But we're alive. So I guess-"

"Nico," Reyna said sternly. "There had to be some sort of reason a gold, glowing fish would care enough to want us to live."

"Well I don't know!" Nico threw his hands in the air helplessly. "Alright? I don't know! I really, really wish I did but I don't, okay?"

Reyna visibly calmed down at Nico's outburst. He was just as stressed out as any of the others, maybe even more. She pulled him in for an unexpected side hug, and the prince tensed up, before quickly relaxing, not realizing how touch starved he had been.

"It's alright Nico. I-I don't know either," She said.

Nico couldn't put into words how grateful he was for her. Reyna was like his older sister - she practically took over that role when Bianca died, and had stayed there ever since. In all honesty, he just wanted to break down and cry, to be weak and vulnerable, but no, he'd built too many walls for that. The mask he wore was too thick.

"I'm...I'm going to my cabin," he mumbled weakly, pulling away from one of his closest, and oldest friends.

Reyna nodded, and he walked off the deck.

~~~~~~~~~~

In his cabin, Nico had pulled out his sketchpad he had brought from the castle. He flipped to the last thing he'd drawn, - probably when he was thirteen or fourteen - and saw a nice, detailed pencil drawing of a rose. He grabbed a pencil from the bag as well and sat on his bed, leaning against the wall as he drew mindless shapes and figures. Some real, some mythical.

He drew vague drawings of fairies, centaurs, satyrs, and mermaids. He even drew what he remembered of Bianca, and this time he tried to make it as detailed as he could. He worked on this piece for a long time, trying to get every fine detail just right. He hadn't even realized how much time had passed, as when he was finished, the sun had already begun to set.

He put his supplies back in his bag and came out of his cabin. He had seen that they had lowered the anchor, and Annabeth, Reyna were in the dining room, eyebrows furrowed as they scribbled on a blank piece of paper. On the deck, Leo, Jason, Piper, Percy, Frank and Hazel had just thrown a huge net over the side of the boat.

He walked up to Hazel, confused. "What are you doing?"

She turned to face him, a little surprised to see him outside of his cabin. "Fishing. Leo wants to make fish tacos for dinner, and he insists this is the best way to do it."

"Uh huh," Nico said. "And what are Annabeth and Reyna doing?"

"Oh, they're trying to recreate the map," she said. "I don't think it's going very well though."

Nico nodded in agreement. He had only seen it a few times, but when he did he got dizzy from the sheer amount of lines and landmarks on the paper. Of course, those were mostly for people who went around the Mare Nigrum, while they had decided to take the hard way.

"You sure this is going to work, Leo?" Jason asked skeptically.

"Of course! We'll have like, a hundred fish in no time!" Leo said with a winning smile. He was still damp from the storm, and covered in even more grease and dirt from repairing the Argo II.

"Right..." Frank said, tugging at part of the net. "But don't you think a hundred is-"

Before Frank could finish what he was saying, the net tugged. And it wasn't just a few fish either - it must have been just as Leo said, a hundred, because the force of the pull was so strong it made the entire boat lean, causing everything to slide across the deck, and the crew to stumble before holding onto the railing.

Before anyone could process what had just happened, Reyna and Annabeth ran up to the deck, looking frazzled and confused.

"What the hell was that?" Reyna yelled, just as the net tugged again, almost causing her to fall.

"Fish!" Leo said frantically, grabbing the net and pulling it back, using all the strength his scrawny arms could muster. "Well don't just stand there! Help a guy out!"

They all scrambled over to the railing, pulling the net as hard as they could, because if the boat leaned over any further, they would lose some of their supplies. Nico was in the back, but even if he was in front he wouldn't have been able to see what on Earth had gotten trapped in the net that would be strong enough to pull the boat. At one point, he heard whatever it was emerge from the water, and it struggled like hell to get out.

"Maybe-" Jason said, breathless. "Maybe we should just let go!"

"Nu-uh!" Leo said. "I'm getting my fish tacos."

Nico rolled his eyes and pulled back some more. And for a moment, he thought he heard a voice shouting from below the boat, but maybe he was just imagining things. He continued to pull until he heard a thump, and everyone stumbled back from the force. When Nico looked up to see what the hell had been in that net, his breath hitched and his eyes went wide. Leo, who had been in front, scrambled back behind Jason, his eyes wide and his mouth agape as if he were screaming but forgot to make noise.

"Seriously?" A foreign voice said. The voice that was coming from the creature entangled in the rope net. "This is the thanks I get for getting you out of that storm?"