The countless victims of the oceans waters slowly vanished one by one as Nico got his breathing back under control and went lax, blinking slowly, feeling how tight every muscle was as he slowly unwound, but more surprised than anything Oceanus wasn't back in here to yell at him for blowing up his kingdom the second time in one day.

Nico felt light, almost light headed as he coughed and leaned back from the warm embrace just to sit up.

Will sat all the way back though, still watching him with those open blue eyes of concern, but a faint blush on his cheeks again. Nico felt almost unreasonably warm around the collar, which was strange as he usually felt cold flashes after using his powers in such abundance. He hoped Will hadn't hurt himself by trying to heal him.

Nico coughed into his sleeve one more time and looked away at the others. Two things he'd been holding onto so tightly in here were just out in the open now. It was still an odd revelation to him, trying to find peace with his sister's death rather than hyper focusing on some new task.

He'd never felt so vulnerable, sitting there waiting for all of them to scream like a phantom had just crawled out of his skin, he'd felt the ghosts he'd summoned fading back away. There was no hiding it now, and he was just content to not want to, whatever their reaction.

"Nico," Percy spoke up first, the weight of his own guilt now back full force. Nico still looked at him, his hero, and knew what he was going to say next. The same thing he'd said to him that cold December day he'd come back from his quest with Annabeth safely home. He was going to justify her death by promising it had saved the quest.

He knew that now, he swallowed and accepted it, but it didn't mean he had to like it as he walked out of the room.

He didn't know where he was going, he never had the moment he left that pavilion. He'd wanted his sister back, and Minos had manipulated him while Bianca and his own mother never answered him. He'd wanted control over his powers, and still as he'd just proven he was useless at that too.

Jason didn't need his help, he could have anyone take him to that other camp, someone like the Son of Poseidon or the Daughter of Zeus who would be welcomed with open arms rather than the mistrusted son of Hades.

Going down into Tartarus had to be the answer. He'd find a weakness of Gaia, something irrefutably good.

"Nico?" Will's gentle voice surprised him. He jumped and missed a step, he hadn't even meant to go up to the roof. Now he found himself nearly falling into a dark abyss of a whole chunk of stairs missing before a hand snatched out and caught his wrist, supporting his balance before he could topple to the crumbling bottom of the ocean.

"Sorry," Will said, instantly dropping his hand. The warmth had once again seeped right through Nico's jacket, and he was starting to feel paranoid why Will kept constantly trying to heal him. "I just wanted to ask if you wanted a break for the day, get some sleep? I'll go, if you want to be alone."

Nobody had ever come after him before. Bianca, Percy, he'd been abandoned by everyone he ever would have wished to be right here except this strange guy from camp he'd spoken to maybe a dozen times before they were thrown into this place.

"I don't know what I want," he admitted. He still didn't seem aware his own shadow was overlapping him more than his jacket, as if some part of him were still trapped in them trying to draw him into safety. Away. That he couldn't reach right now by the Titan's power Nico and Percy together seemed determined to press to its limits.

Will nodded and seemed to take that as an answer as he slowly began backing away. Nico watched for a few steps before he quietly admitted, "I like talking to you. It's, distracting."

Will's smile lit the stairwell as he gestured to himself. "Medic's 101, how to keep someone distracted."

Nico gazed blearily down at him. "You're not going to pretend to count to three and poke me with a needle on two are you?"

"No," Will laughed lightly. "I'm just trying to help."

"Why?" He couldn't help but ask again. The first answer still made no sense. "What do you want from me?"

"Nothing," Will said again with the same firm conviction he had the first time, but he stayed on his step and didn't come closer. "Just for you to know you have a friend if you want one, everybody deserves that."

There was no pity in his voice, no hint of a lie, but there was something he still wasn't saying. It was an inherent part of his life, nobody could deceive death.

Will understood that too. Nico could see it in the way that smile didn't quite reach his eyes. How he spoke about his brothers with a haze of understanding many people lacked even years after a death of someone they cared about. Bianca had never been a camper, there were countless kids before her sacrifice that could be found in a list somewhere in Hades's palace to do with Kronos's war.

All he could see in his mind was Percy's sorrowful attempts to explain what had happened to Bianca. He now had the vivid description burned into his mind he'd never asked for. And here Will was still offering to be around him, when death haunted anyone associated with him. It was a good thing Percy would never be what he wanted, or he'd be next. Will didn't seem to understand that...but it was Will Solace who hadn't even flinched among the ghostly spirits in the ocean surrounding them.

"I'll go tell the others it's enough for today," Will promised again as he backed down another step.

"Don't," Nico choked out. "Just keep reading without me." Will hesitated, he looked unsure rather than relieved despite the welcoming Nico would get if he went back in. "I don't want to be tied up in the corner just to hear the rest," he waved off.

"Nobody would do that," Will looked offended now, at him, for an absurdly wrong reason. "If that was an option we'd have locked Percy in the bathroom the first day."

Just because nobody had blamed Percy's outbursts didn't mean they wouldn't turn on him. Will should know that better than anyone from camp.

"If you don't want to listen to the rest nobody is going to make you," Will got that stubborn look in his eyes that so fascinated Nico. He'd find a way to take on both children of the Big Three to stop them if they cared enough to try. "I just thought you'd want a break before hearing the rest of this quest, what your sister started."

Bianca had never finished anything she'd started. She left him, the Hunters, life.

"It just gets worse from here," Nico promised, he could feel the dread like a tidal of magma Percy would deliver onto him when he remembered the rest. "Just because they know who my dad is now doesn't mean they grasp, everything I've done."

"I'll leave if you don't want me to hear it," Will reminded of his promise, "because your past is your business, but they're going to hear it anyways. You have a right to defend yourself Nico, and Percy does trust you. You've always been welcomed at camp no matter what happened."

Nico couldn't help a wet scoff. Percy didn't shun him outright, but he'd never been first pick on any games, nobody offered to trade chores with cabin 13, he was avoided outright if not whispered as he walked past. Not being outcast didn't mean he was welcomed.

"Percy's only shared the truth of his stories over the campfire," Will wheedled, taking a cautious step closer with a stubborn smile to win that dismissal. "You're a hero to our home Nico, twice over. Whatever you did to get there, I know the last page."

Nico tapped the pommel of his sword in growing frustration why this guy wouldn't just leave him alone like everybody else did when the story was over. He was lucky to get a pat on the back before somebody flinched away, Will just kept staring at him.

He was right about one thing though, they were stuck down here until all the books were done. Just because he wasn't in the room for Percy to decapitate him, didn't mean there were a lot of places to avoid him down here. If he ever did get his wish of Percy chasing after him, it would likely end in his death he doubted Thalia would try to stop, and Will would get hurt trying. Maybe the healer would fix himself, but he didn't want to be the cause of that.

He still couldn't figure out what Will got out of it.

He wouldn't have to care about this enigma of a person anymore when they got out of this and he went to Tartarus. He'd find the answers to what Gaia had stirred and be a hero. He'd be able to give Percy, Will, and the entire camp something good then.

"I'll come back," he shifted restlessly on the spot as he glared at the missing gap somebody was probably going to break their neck on when they came up these stairs next and blame that on him.

"Take your time," Will said gently as he still watched him patiently even as he went down a step again. "If you change your mind let me know and we can pick this up later when everyone's ready."

Nico swallowed and took that step with him, but had to jump to avoid the gap, so now they were as close as they were on the couch. That Will had never seemed to be uncomfortable about, being so close to him.

He knew if he didn't go back now he never would as he finished walking down the stairs silently beside him.

Will hopped off the last step with the same spring in his heel, even in flipflops. He wasn't even glancing over his shoulder to make sure Nico was following, just content to go at his heel dragging pace despite Will's longer legs.

Outside of the door, Will did pause to look at him and say with a different sort of smile than his usual one, "I like talking to you too."

Nico couldn't think of anything to say to that. Nobody had ever said that to him before. Was thank you the right response?

"My siblings all roll their eyes and walk away when I try talking about movies that came out any longer than a few months ago. Trapped at camp during the blockbuster season always annoys them, they want to see the new thing," he gestured broadly as if to take in a huge cinema screen Nico had only been inside of once. They were so loud and crowded though he'd abandoned the lone adventure before the first commercial had started. "I like hearing about your game, I always wanted to collect something, and old bandaids didn't seem sanitary."

Nico felt a little laugh bubble out, and Will's smile grew. There was even a hint of a blush on his face for some reason again, though Nico couldn't imagine why he'd be embarrassed sharing that. Nico's own past had shown far more humiliating things already about his youth Will had helped him brush off.

"How about," Nico licked his lips nervously, but forced himself to plow on before he chickened out, "we play a round tonight, after this book." The last thing he was going to want tonight was to be alone, with Percy one room away loudly reminiscing without a care in the world about how Annabeth was safe while he'd slip into memories of those first nights in the Labyrinth, dreading the next book where Percy thought he was out to kill him while Nico had blundered through Minos's lies trying to get his sister back...

"Okay," Will agreed at once without a hint of hesitation.

"It's a, long game," Nico cautioned. "I don't know how much sleep you wanted, but the others will probably get annoyed if we don't wake up when they do."

Will waved his hand with a 'pssht,' noise. The blush was still lingering on his cheeks but his smile hadn't vanished. It was still different from his casual sunny attitude and Nico couldn't place why. "Do you know how many times I've looked out the window to see the sun up and gone about my day after a night of studying? You can sleep as long as you want when we're done and I will drug anyone into a coma if they try to wake you after the day you've had."

This guy got stranger by the minute, but Nico had his own tentative smile on his face as he edged back into the room.

Will followed with pride he'd gotten another laugh out of Nico, and he'd get the chance all night to listen to it if he played his cards right.

They both froze to see Percy doubled over, panting in pain. His hands were fisted in his hair, and he was muttering to himself, "Hades? They're children of Hades!"

He'd created a funnel around himself, a shield of water Thalia couldn't beat her way through, and it was slowly growing. Already she couldn't get within arms reach of him, and her boots were scraping on the cracked floor causing her to stagger as he tried so hard not to blast them all. What he might do next is dry up the ocean.

"Percy!" Nico jumped forward, drawing his sword on instinct. The curved, black blade had never met an obstacle it couldn't break, even the force of the ocean. He only meant to break the barrier to get through to him before he really hurt himself as his broken voice kept trying to run with this little glimpse forward, what Percy had no choice but to piece together, Percy was looking right at him and whispering the name Minos-

They were all sitting in their seats.

Oceanus stood before them in a bright pink towel. Suds were still dripping off of a few of his pincers that were trying to scrape at barnacle around his belly button...and why would a titan even have one of those?

Silence swelled in the room like a restraint all its own. It was the only force needed to keep them frozen in place as he held his towel in place and turned slowly in a circle to give a silent, deadly stare at each of them.

His eyes landed on Rachel, and he said, "you have clearly been of no use."

A snap, and she was gone.

"No!" Thalia, Percy, Will and Nico were on their feet before the bubbles had settled, but he vanished back out of the room in the same quick breath of silence he'd entered.

Shaking, hardly daring to breathe, they all exchanged terrified looks.

Then Percy's frown lingered on Nico, and he asked, "were you about to stab me?"

"No!" Nico yelped, quickly putting his sword back away. "I, I was just going to, pop your bubble and," he stammered himself into silence as the churning black water around them left an echoing impression of where Rachel's red hair had once been.

"We have to get her back," Percy turned away from Nico, again, to address Thalia. It still broke a little piece of his heart even as he sighed in relief.

"I know that Percy, but I'm not seeing any new options," she gestured to where the book lay where it had been dropped at Will's feet.

Percy slashed his sword at nothing but air. He wanted to scream in frustration, draw that pompous Titan back in here, and fight him to win.

Sheer skill wasn't going to get Rachel back here, or Annabeth, or him anywhere he wanted to go. Magnus was swallowing convulsively and wringing his hands, just like Annabeth did when she was stressed as his grey eyes once again darted nervously around where his own friend could be.

His green eyes landed on the book with deep loathing and regret, and then he winced and whirled back around to the present Di Angelo kid. "Bianca," he murmured as he stared at her little brother with ghosts of his own past clouding the color. "You, your dad-" he winced and Riptide vanished from his grasp again as his hands bawled in pain in his hair.

"Don't force it Percy," Nico said calmly while Thalia stepped up beside him again, squeezing his shoulder and trying to pull him to his seat.

"Don't force it Perce," Will gently agreed. "Nico couldn't tell you, for obvious reasons."

"I, I'm so-" but Percy stopped again with a pained gasp, his vision trying to de-age Nico to that snowy pavilion as the skeletons fell through the earth. His mind rattled like a caged animal in fury to be released-

"Percy!" Jason was on his other side, giving him a vigorous shake. "Racing your mind to the end doesn't help, trust me. You're lucky to get right back to it, don't make it harder."

"Lucky, right," Percy panted, but his knees were shaking, and he finally allowed himself to be steered into a seat and collapsed.

Jason looked over at Nico with intrigue, but whatever a Roman's impression of him should be, those blue eyes only held the same curiosity on him as they had everything in his path.

Nico still braced himself for the worst of it from at least Magnus, who had freaked out over everything in here, he'd probably shriek so loud Oceanus would come back and stuff seaweed in every orifice of theirs.

"You good?" Magnus asked gently.

Nico blinked slowly like he was trying to interpret his silent language instead.

"I know it happened a while ago to you," Alex brushed her hand uneasily through her hair, "but wow, that couldn't have been easy to hear."

Their condolence left a surprising warmth in him like Will was trying to heal him again. The son of Apollo shifted his weight beside him, but most definitely wasn't touching.

"You're not, scared?" Nico had to triple-check. The, of me, was on the tip of his tongue before he bit it off, he didn't think he could stand to see them lying.

"Why would you think that?" Alex scoffed. She hadn't told anyone Loki was her mom yet and didn't intend to, but not for fear of retaliation. She didn't care who mistrusted her because of it. She just denied everything about that side of her and regretted none of the rewards.

"If you were going to kill us I'd think you would already," Magnus agreed with a casual shrug. He didn't understand why he would be. Nico was the same kind of strange as any kid at that camp to him. So long as he didn't casually have ghosts appear, he'd adjust. He hadn't even screamed that loud when it was happening.

Nico couldn't help his eyes jumping to Will quickly, trying to catch him possibly considering the question.

"Why would ghosts scare me?" Will asked in surprise, with one of those tired smiles that made his eyes dim. "I see them every day, in the faces of my siblings. In my head when I close my eyes, all the campers I couldn't save. I imagine you've seen even more, you're not afraid of them are you?"

Jason made a content noise of agreement. He had a strange feeling ghostly forms would be the most normal thing down the street, if he could ever remember what street he'd ever walked down. He studied his hands curiously for a moment, maybe he was a child of Pluto too if that was his first thought?

Nico couldn't quite believe his ears at this lackluster response from them while Jason swallowed and very carefully, minding his every step in fear the slightest echo off the wall would draw their prison guard back, picked up the book and crept back to his spot by Percy, who now sat between him and Thalia and looked so miserably anxious he could have turned every errant thought that was giving him a headache into a new facet in a kaleidoscope.

Nico still hovered, waiting for some reaction, but he wasn't sure what anymore. Thalia was rubbing a soothing hand on Percy's back, steady as the Earth, while shooting him miserable looks. There was a look of gentle understanding in her blue eyes, she truly knew what he was feeling, and the idea of that lodged in his throat with shock.

It was helpfully distracting, as usual, when he saw everyone around him get a somehow subdued, but a genuine all the same laugh at the new chapter title.

"Language Percy, your mother would not approve," Alex teased.

"It's dam like the beaver," Jason corrected after his own ghost of a smile faded back.

"Much less fun and cussing involved, now we will dread the monster water rats arriving," Alex sighed.

"You remind me of someone," Percy said as he gazed at her a few extra moments. "I just don't know who." He rubbed absently at his nose again

"Well you let me know when you figure that out," Alex shrugged without concern as Jason started. Nico was finally the last to sit down in his seat, strangely feeling more connected down here than ever before. He had no more clue what was coming except the last battle with a titan, he and Percy were in the same boat once more...and yet it was so easy to brush aside any lingering hope it would get attention from the star. He just listened to the words trundling along like everyone else.

... full tank of gas, so we decided to borrow it.

A shiver passed around the room, jumping from one person to the next as they all imagined Talos's revenge, chasing them across the country; or worse, if only they'd found such a thing before Bianca's demise. Nico could see it in his mind, that old cab wouldn't manage to out speed some rusty old automaton, but just a few more bolts from Thalia managing to make it fall with more maneuverability while nobody was inside this time-

Will watched the anger quickly kindle to life, and try to burn out just as fast as Nico straightened himself out. The shadows gave just the smallest flicker on the wall again, and he decided right then he'd need to have another talk about how much Nico considered intervening. Later.

"Nico you-"

"Oceanus wouldn't like it if I had it out with Percy and Thalia over my every little thought," Jason startled as Nico snapped. Nico was lying anyways, and just knew this was a universally good reason. "Move this along!"

"Screw that titan," Will snapped, making all of them jump. Magnus swallowed nervously and looked around, but everybody had a grim look of acceptance on their face, and the skittish guy didn't do anything to deter them. "He can't lock us up in here and demand how we act about this!"

Will really looked at him too, the purple fire in those eyes, and didn't flinch away. The stubborn set of his mouth said it for him, he'd known Nico was lying again too.

Nico's hand twitched in frustration, he wanted to shove his statue into Will's mouth. Nico glanced at Percy, his rough voice hissing with guilt in every syllable as Nico answered Will while he was now so obviously talking about Percy. Thalia might gutter stomp him with those boots. "Bianca told me to stop holding grudges about this, I'm trying to let it go!"

"By not feeling anything?" Will challenged. He always managed to make his retort sound like the reasonable solution somehow, even whispering back. "You're only hurting yourself."

Nico wanted to storm out of the room again to get away from this. He wanted to hack down every brick of this place and risk the titan's wrath, possibly sending everybody to Timbuktu without care. They'd be free, wherever they were sent, and everybody would figure out how to move on with their life. Percy might actually thank him.

"Nico."

He closed his eyes and swallowed a jolting fear he hadn't felt all day before forcing himself to look at Percy. It was still there as those sea green eyes looked right at him, that Percy would see him, really see him, and then gag in disgust. His heart still skipped a beat in betrayal at that tousled black hair and quick smile while he clenched his hands to stop himself fidgeting like a child.

Percy wasn't fazed at the scowl he got for interrupting them clearly talking about him. "We're not on a time limit to get out of here, and I get it if you need a break. My memories don't get better or worse just because they're not coming from my mouth," he paused with a smirk at Jason, "or this guy still pronouncing his alphabet."

"I'm going to swap your sword with a real pen, see how threatening you are then," Jason rolled his eyes.

Nico shrunk into his seat and crossed his arms, muttering and still waving them on while kicking himself. Of course Percy would refuse to leave without all his memories, finding out what happened to Annabeth.

Will was still watching him as Jason hesitantly began again, and Nico was going to give himself a mental bruise as he sarcastically congratulated himself the son of Apollo was probably going to take back that whole enjoyed talking to him thing now too. He'd already found a knack for ruining everything in record time.

Thalia drove. She didn't seem as stunned as Zoe or Grover or me.

Thalia shelved her instinctive reaction to keep this to herself, like she was at Bianca's wake and trying to explain to her only family left standing why she wasn't crying. "I had to learn at a young age when it was convenient to break down. That wasn't it." The monsters that chased her across the country never cared when she cried.

Nico didn't know what she was talking about, but there was a disturbing flare of curiosity in him to ask about that. He didn't, but it was more for the befuddling feeling lately he could have and someone might answer him around here. He'd felt more involved in this room than he ever had in camp, and he wondered if he was getting one of those Stockholm syndromes for constantly finding more reasons he didn't want to leave even with this fresh torture on the book's display.

..."The skeletons are still out there, we need to keep moving."

Percy felt a whole new column of guilt and anger boil around him at the reminder of those. He should have insisted everybody run while he kept Talos distracted, no matter who his target was. Those zombies would have come for him eventually, he'd have that stupid tin man so angry and distracted he might have been able to use the two against each other and everybody would have been safe.

His eyes flickered to Rachel's empty seat, and the insane plan instead gave him a wrong kind of sense. What had Annabeth called it, not hummus? Hubris! That he could have survived something doubly dangerous Bianca hadn't. His mortal friend had constantly laughed along and rolled her eyes at everything she saw through her strangely clear sight, and she'd have probably died at the first hint of trouble being mixed into their world. He certainly didn't want to ever start thinking of himself as cleverer than somebody who had saved his life like Bianca had.

...the nice weather just seemed like an insult after losing Bianca.

"Which is why you should always carry around a black umbrella with you," Alex nodded. "When you need that aesthetic."

In anybody else's mouth that would have sounded mocking, but Alex really sounded like she meant she'd go craft one right now if it would help anybody's mood.

...couldn't even tell what god it was supposed to be.

Percy moaned in pain, his temple throbbing as the answer sat like a weight on the tip of his tongue ready to be barfed out, again. He should know the answer to that, the answer was staring him in the face just like those ghosts the son of Hades had summoned-

Thalia punched him in the gut. He felt the rush of water move around him more than that and only figured out what happened when he opened his eyes and saw her shaking out her fist with a disgruntled look on her face. Why she'd only mock-punched him and was exaggerating he couldn't guess. "Don't push it, right," he muttered in sullen agreement.

Nico bit back the very confused comment of who else it could have been. None of them even looked alike! The only one he could vaguely resemble was Ares, who also had a helmet, but that was it. His came in a war chariot with a spear, his cape blood red- he stopped the thought cold and rolled his eyes at himself hard. What a stupid detail to blather on about.

...Oh, gods, what was I going to tell Nico?

A horribly sarcastic laugh was his answer in here, and Percy winced. He didn't need an ugly hiss from his brain to know that must not have gone well. His broken promise was in every hurt crack of Bianca's little brother's voice.

Nico watched Percy, who fidgeted with his pen and chewed on the cap for a moment rather than trying to say anything now. He felt a vindictive need to defend his reaction and turned on Will instead and mockingly demanded, "well, you wanted me to emote?"

Will's smile was, of all things, strangely sympathetic?! "Yeah," he agreed calmly. He even gave Percy a guilty look, something in the way he looked between them made Nico confident Will was more sorry he was encouraging Nico to let it out more than the son of the sea having to hear it.

Percy didn't do a thing to stop any angry retort though. Nobody in here even hinted like they were going to shush him despite the obvious danger of even laughing to loudly now.

What the hell did it take to make these guys wince and politely lie they had to excuse themselves like every other kid at camp had?

...I should've gone into the giant."

Nico didn't give a nasty retort to that. Percy winced but forced himself to look over so the kid could at least give him a scowl again.

Instead the anger had vanished right out of him, he just looked tired as he rubbed his face with that skull ring digging in.

The silence lingered for an extra beat as Jason watched Thalia give Percy a dirty look, a snappy retort clearly on her lips what she thought of any other sacrifice, but Nico beat her to the punch, sounding exhausted, but sincere. "That's not true Percy. It, it was her choice."

He finally drew the statue from his pocket, but left it clenched tight in his hand as he studied the details. In her botched attempt to give him something, (An apology? A last gift before she departed on grand adventures never to return to camp?) Whatever this little thing had been, it connected to him. Even at his worst moments, Nico had never been able to wish Percy dead, no matter how he felt about his sister's choices.

Percy tried to find some resolution in that too, that he had to keep going on this quest to find that monster, rescue Annabeth and Artemis. It didn't make it feel better Bianca should have done all of that with them, but these books had never cared about what should have happened according to them.

... "Do you think anybody else would be my best friend?"

"I volunteer," Magnus offered helpfully.

"Should I be worried he's going to kill me just to get that honor?" Percy eyed Annabeth's cousin a little to wearily to mean that as a joke.

"Eh," Thalia shrugged without concern. "I don't think he'd do a decent enough job replacing you long enough for it to be a problem. He knows the capital of the state he lives in."

"I told you I was joking when I said that!" Percy groaned, a rather forced smile appearing for a second before vanishing just as quickly, but it had still been there as surely as Thalia's sincere attempt.

... I was afraid to talk to him, he might start bawling.

Will sighed and pinched his nose rather than cracking the book over Percy's head. "Would that be such a bad thing?"

Percy still looked rather panicked, like he'd actually run from the room and take an hour to find a box of tissues.

"I take it back Nico, we should have locked him in a bathroom," Will gave him a hopeful nudge.

Nico snorted in surprise and felt a flickering smile for a moment while Percy asked, "how often do you guys talk about me?" Like that was the concern more than the silly threat.

"Everybody talks about you nonstop around here Percy, surely you've at least noticed that," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"It's like we're reading a book about your life or something," Alex added helpfully.

Everybody did chuckle along at the light teasing this time.

... I wondered what she and Zoe were talking about in  the truck.

Thalia didn't hesitate to answer this time, "future strategies," but there was something dark in her stiff smile that set them on edge. Zoe had confided about the Titan they were heading off to face. Atlas had no idea the force of rage that was coming for him as Thalia gently helped steer Zoe into revenge of why they were out doing this rather than letting the girl dwell on her regrets of bringing Bianca along. Word had even been brought up again of Thalia's own future status, and she'd shocked Zoe with her answer so much her tears had almost dried up.

...Thalia got out and slammed the door. Immediately, one of the tires blew.

"Just for that extra kick in the rear you needed right then," Alex sighed.

...The rock cliffs dropped away below us.

"That's not the Grand Canyon is it?" Jason asked in surprise.

"If it was, it didn't deserve the title," Percy shrugged without much care. "I'd have called it the Dinky Canyon."

"Which is why you're not allowed to name things," Thalia snorted.

"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."

Thalia wouldn't, Jason instantly knew. The height hadn't been stated, but he bristled and was already mentally threatening to challenge anyone who thought they could mock or force her down any feet she didn't want even before he looked around and started seeing her get just a few shades paler already.

She met his eyes, a question on her lips, a hesitancy as she sought something in him which in itself was strange; but what she saw got him a look of stark relief that could only mean, thank you.

..."We can make it," Grover said. "I think."

"Not unless he gave us all goaty back rides," Thalia said through clenched teeth. She probably would have accidentally strangled him if that had been what happened.

... "I, uh, think we should go farther upstream."

Thalia was blushing quite vividly in here, finally chasing away that look of cold, goddess-gifted tight focus.

...I glanced at Thalia. Her eyes said a quick Thank you.

You're welcome, Percy mouthed back, headache finally easing off a pain level of excruciating as they exchanged grins.

...I was worried about how bad she sounded, like somebody with the flu.

Nico was surprised at the anxious feeling that bubbled up in him. Not anger or resentment, just a pit of unease as he imagined Zoe trying to explain what happened to Bianca instead of Percy. He didn't really think that conversation would have gone well either, but there was a tinge of regret he'd never gotten the chance to talk to someone who had clearly loved his sister.

..."Leave that to me," I said. We put the canoes in the water.

"There has been a surprising lack of you throwing water around ever since you nearly killed Thalia with that creek," Alex nodded in surprise.

"If only we'd been so lucky," Magnus muttered.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make the kitty upset by giving him a bath, or that pig," Percy rolled his eyes.

...Usually I'm good with water."

"Usually," Thalia repeated in an almost passable attempt at not mocking. She'd had other things on her mind at the time to indulge.

"Do you want to go again Pine Cone face?" Percy asked cheerfully.

"Not now," she shushed him and waved Jason on without concern.

Nico watched them go back to bantering while biting his lip. There was something forced in both of their deliveries, they were both clearly stressed about Rachel being gone now, and his unhelpful reaction upon just hearing of what happened to his sister probably still had nothing on the hours of terror living through it and looking for her had caused them.

He was just different from them. He felt Will's eyes still watching him carefully and looked around at him with words tugging at his mind, a feeling he'd never been able to really have before he suddenly knew. Will would listen. It felt like ever since Bianca left, every part of his life had been alien from everyone around him, only Hestia in her kindly silence before had ever made him feel heard; and she was a god. There would always be a disconnect there her warm embers just couldn't coax out.

"Would you take Zoe?" she asked. "I think, ah, maybe you can talk to her."

Alex had a really grim comment on her tongue to ask Thalia if she was already trying to axe off yet another member of this quest putting those two together, but it was in poor taste and wouldn't make anybody laugh, so she didn't volunteer it.

... she's starting to worry me."

Thalia may or may not have been considering dumping her in the river and holding her down until she fought to come back up, put some life back in that girl. Percy was her gentle approach.

..."One and a half," Thalia said.

"And I will be collecting," Percy grinned.

"Pssh, more like you owe me fifty by this point," she said confidently, and with all the smugness he couldn't remember for all of those that made him roll his eyes.

... I actually liked her when she wasn't yelling at me.

"Could have fooled me," Jason grinned, "even when you two get along it's mostly death threats and one-upping each other."

"What do other best friends do?" Percy asked without real concern.

Jason couldn't answer, and the blank space in his mind made him flinch more for himself. Did he have a best friend? If so, what were they like to each other?

Percy knew his reaction was a return of a headache, he lived that feeling constantly. Still, he went right back to fidgeting with his pen in guilt for his mouth.

...They looked like regular girls you'd see in any mall, except, they were underwater.

"Which is just awesome for their pours I bet, all that fresh water," Magnus said with no idea what he was talking about, but he was proud of himself for finally just accepting that was something he might see one day himself and wouldn't scream over.

... may have been giggling. I wasn't sure. I had a hard time understanding naiads.

"Or any woman," Thalia rolled her eyes affectionately. Annabeth, Aphrodite. Apparently the only girl he could figure out was her, and she snorted to herself it was just that idiot's luck. "Maybe you should spend a summer with the Hunters and get some practice," she happily snarked.

"You'd start a hunt to kill me," Percy said wisely.

"And you'd learn all kinds of important things about girls," she cackled.

...Grover fell into his canoe with his hooves sticking up in the air.

They all got a soft little laugh out of that, especially Nico's least begrudging of all. Instead of tall, strong, unbreakable Percy at the helm of that tiny canoe like a hero at the prow of a ship controlling the sea, his mind still flickered to the image of guinea-pig-Percy actually falling in and swimming before being scooped out.

"I hate naiads," Zoe grumbled.

"I'm beginning to think she hates everything," Will said sadly. She really needed the support of her other Hunters around her right now and was probably homesick.

A stream of water squirted up from the back of the boat and hit Zoe in the face.

"Does she at least appreciate the nice aim?" Jason snorted.

"No," Percy smirked, because he had.

..."Cursed water spirits. They've never forgiven me."

"She really just hates literally everything associated with you," Alex said in awe. "Teach me your ways."

"If ever I figure out how I managed that," Percy said with his own confusion.

"Forgiven you for what?"... "It was a long time ago. Never mind."

"Wasn't her mom mentioned to be a water spirit though," Jason recalled. "I'd have thought that was finally something you two could at least not kill each other over."

"She didn't answer me what that was about," Percy waved at the book in Jason's hand, "otherwise I'd agree."

... an excuse to start yelling at me. That might shake her out of feeling depressed.

Thalia face palmed and cussed. Why had she thought he would make her feel better?

"Tried the same thing huh?" Percy easily guessed.

"In so many words," she agreed with a sigh.

Instead, her shoulders slumped. "I pushed her into going on the quest.

Nico had already known that back at the table when this shit-show had started. He'd wanted to hate her then, but he couldn't for the same reason he didn't now.

If Bianca had refused, really asked Zoe not to make her do this, he knew she wouldn't have forced her into this. Zoe did care about the girls in her crew, and Bianca had come as much to get away from him as to make her new favorite sibling happy.

Will watched this turbulent back and forth play across Nico's face and was already deciding he might have to be terrible at this mythomagic game. It would take several rounds to even get the premise, the longer he stretched out Nico's hyperactive smile explaining it the better.

... I thought she would be the next lieutenant."

Percy twitched uncomfortably at the way she'd said that. To confident, but her old frostiness was still lacking. Just an acceptance it was needed, for an immortal being?

"That's, strange," Magnus said with an uneasy look between Nico and Thalia. "Why would she pick someone brand new for that?"

"I couldn't say," Thalia's voice was drawn and tight with her own world-weary similar decision she'd been putting off. The lieutenant always had a second they confided in, and she'd been putting off choosing one of her own. She'd have to get on that when she went back, especially as she was now hesitantly considering how Artemis might feel if she waged war against which god or goddess had taken Jason away all this time. Zeus himself? Hera the ever-meddling poster child of jealousy? Hades? Some other deity who simply realized what had happened and sought to separate them for the wrongness they represented? The possibilities plagued her if she thought about it to long, and she was encouraging this telling of Percy's life as much for her own sanity as his. She wouldn't find a concrete answer until they got out of here.

"But you're the lieutenant." ... "Nothing can last forever, Percy.

Percy had a bad feeling about those words, especially as the age of the gods was currently in question by him and Thalia. A decision that could end Olympus rested on his shoulders, and he couldn't even save an innocent girl from his crazy plans or keep a promise to a kid who'd only asked for one thing before helping him. He felt they like they were all pretty doomed at that moment, why would Thalia pick him to try and lighten up somebody right now?

"Hey," Thalia nudged his leg with her own. "Are you paying attention? I know a food court is always in a mall Percy, but you don't have to start drooling over every connection to pizza you can think of."

"I'm totally listening, I'm hanging on every word- oh hey, you mentioned pizza?" Percy grinned.

Thalia sighed and resisted the urge to figure out how to drown him.

...There's nothing you could have done." Zoe didn't answer.

They'd had this exact discussion in the cab, her and Zoe, and Thalia was no more convinced now than she had been then Atlas would have taken his daughter the lieutenant and left the goddess behind. There was nothing Zoe could have done, and Thalia sighed in relief at least Percy was repeating that and not getting stabbed in the throat for it like Zoe had clearly wanted to do to her. Maybe it was sinking in.

...Zoe looked at the pen, her expression was pained.

"Now you're just antagonizing her," Magnus groaned.

"Best ways to get answers out of somebody, remember? A little down time during exhaustion, a little anger," Percy said with a wistful smile for better times when he'd usually gotten Annabeth to open up to him like this too. He winced at his own thought though and begged of the gods nobody else would have to die to stop hating him.

... I was sure she was going to call me crazy,

"Why?" Jason asked in surprise. "We already know she has dreams like yours, and she's not even a half-blood."

"I'd call somebody crazy if they told me they were having dreams about me out of the blue," Percy insisted. Strange-overlapping-whatever Thalia had called it or not, that was still a part of this he wasn't looking forward to getting back to.

..."I am sure you do, hero. Don't all you boys want to be like him?"

"Not all of them," Will muttered. When it was his turn to tell a story around the campfire, he always made sure it was an example kids should want to follow.

"Err," Percy cast his mind around sheepishly. He'd been in that guy's head for a brief moment and really couldn't recall a name that should pop into his head.

"I can't even laugh at you for not trying to figure that one out," Alex frowned. "Who were you going to ask, Thalia? She'd punch you. Zoe? She'd stab you. Grover would be your best bet, and this is the first chance you've got but you're not even in the same canoe with him."

The obvious answer hung in the air as Percy closed his eyes to another burning trace of longing passing through him. He'd have asked Annabeth.

Her voice was so bitter, I decided not to ask what she meant.

"So you do have a sense of self-preservation," Will said in fascination. "I question that quite a lot."

"We all do," Magnus raised his hand in agreement.

Percy couldn't even think of how to argue the point since he was still glumly going in circles in his head about how he should have been in Talos, and nobody seemed to blame it on him, let alone agree.

I looked down at Riptide, and for the first time, I wondered if it was cursed.

"Well it's a pretty chill curse if so," Alex shrugged. "Hasn't done you any harm, still comes back every time."

"Maybe it's just waiting for me to gain its trust," Percy joked, sort of.

... With the golden apple tree and a dragon guarding it."

Magnus swallowed his usual dread at a dragon being casually mentioned, though it made sense that would be a myth Percy might actually remember.

"I will take your apologies one at a time please," Percy threw back his shoulders proudly.

"You will get no such thing," Thalia snorted.

"Congratulations though," Jason told him, actually sounding like he meant it, complimenting him remembering any myth.

... I was exiled. Forgotten. Blotted out as if I never existed."

Any icy chill traced them all, and it had nothing to do with Nico or Percy. The victors always wrote history, and they couldn't begin to imagine how Zoe felt about being blotted out entirely. That question Chiron had asked Percy his very first day there echoed back now, "how would you like being called a myth, an old story ..." Here was an answer. A harsh, proud warrior whom nobody but her patron believed existed. If Artemis hadn't taken her in after all that happened, would Zoe have simply faded away long before Percy could annoy her in a canoe?

... I gave him the idea of how to steal the apples, but he took all the credit."

"Yeesh," Alex wasn't the only one who winced, but she elaborated, "I'd have grown pretty damn angry over that happening to me too."

"Almost makes me want to take back the ice princess comment, I always hated those kids in class," Percy nodded. "Let alone, this," he gestured to the book, the world at large falling on Zoe.

..."Hoover Dam," Thalia said. "It's huge."

Percy at least now got a very fully enveloped distraction in his mind of Annabeth hitting him with each of these books, several times, when she found out about this.

... it was obvious they hated this dam blocking up their nice river.

Thalia sighed for them and twisted her bracelet about without a good answer. It was a monument to human architecture, and yet a blight on nature. It seemed impossible the two worlds she straddled were able to coexist, but she and her sister were sure to find a way someday.

...Zoe stared at us. "How do you know all that?"

"Annabeth," everybody in the room said at once without surprise the moment Percy had spouted the first fun fact.

...one of Annabeth's personal favorites, and she wasn't here to see it.

Magnus looked on at the book with a now familiar sense of guilt. He kept looking from Rachel's missing seat to Hearth's, he couldn't believe how selfish he'd been to stay behind just to get a chance to meet his cousin, and now she seemed even farther away than ever. He was still only getting hints of her life through a book he didn't feel worthy to be prying into. He wanted her to tell him her favorite monuments.

"Take a picture," Nico offered in an only slightly jilted voice as he looked at Percy and Thalia's strained faces once more. "She sent you one of the Lincoln Memorial, tell her this is revenge for going without you."

Percy got a good chuckle out of that while Thalia's halfhearted grin clearly said she was considering it.

"I'll bet Percy's banned from going there for some reason before they leave," Alex said quietly with that crooked smile. "Maybe you two could go there."

"Mm, family vacation to a dam," Magnus agreed noncommittally. What was he supposed to tell her, that he'd be lucky to have the luxury of someone missing him if he never came back? He wasn't even sure his cousin still remembered he existed, let alone had the means to offer to do anything with her except show her the good garbage bins to find thrown-away food.

"We should go up there, for her sake." "You are mad," Zoe decided.

"Like Ares going after Aphrodite," Percy agreed shamelessly.

"I'm kind of worried if this girl ever knows how to have fun," Will frowned she found this idea so crazy. It was no secret why Percy was along, Zoe herself had accused him of only being there for Annabeth.

"But that's where the road is... so, sightseeing it is."

"We are at the dam," Jason needlessly announced. "Not getting the problem yet."

"We get there when we get there," Magnus frowned at him for wanting to bring the monsters on.

"Oh, we get there," Thalia sighed.

...Thalia walked in the middle of the road, far away from the edges.

"Yeah, that would give anyone a little vertigo," Nico agreed. It was a good thing he'd never really been afraid of heights, as often as his shadow traveling in the beginning had led him to falling for quite a bit. Sometimes he was lucky enough to have ambrosia to heal when he landed, but most often he just walked it off and kept practicing.

Grover kept sniffing the wind, looking nervous...I knew he smelled monsters.

Jason felt a twinge of jealousy as he read that. It was an old feeling by now, one nearly constantly around he didn't give much thought to. Percy out on a quest with his best friend, this satyr being really useful and a great companion. The annoyed little tick linked easily with all his other constant missing gaps of where it should be connecting in his mind to his own travels.

...it's coming from several directions. I don't like that."

The skeletons, they all vividly remembered. Now here, in a place where the group could easily be pinned in, they all found themselves twitching with stress, Percy's chest tightened painfully as the thought sprang to mind and he was so sure he was right. His head hurt but his gut knew- "Duddett!" Alex had decided to jump on the stop letting Percy dwell on bad things train in her own way as the water pulsed around them. "We have very pressing dam matters to discuss!"

"And you told me to watch my mouth," Percy gave her a little grin despite his trembling jaw.

"Do as I say, not as I do," she shrugged while Jason hastily kept going.

... we still had a long way to go. We didn't need any more monsters.

"Which means that's exactly what you're going to get," Will groaned, especially because they still hadn't come close to finding Nereid yet like his dad recommended.

"There's that helpful Apollo wisdom," Percy huffed.

"There's a snack bar in the visitor center," Thalia said.

If she'd closed her eyes to long, she could still feel Luke beside her too. So close he could breathe down her neck while he watched her back, that endearing smile that never made a security guard question why two raggedy kids clearly on no tour group were there alone. He'd never said a word, waiting patiently all day standing there while she waited for a sign that had clearly not been coming.

She felt eyes on her, too real, and she jerked. Her breath rattled loose, like she'd forgotten to breathe, still waiting atop that cold windy place, only to see Percy looking at her now. She'd been doing it again, that too still tree joke.

He didn't pester her to keep moving on. She was starting to feel like a rotten friend to him, everybody else having to jump in lately and help him to stay focused while she kept drifting around in thought, but he never seemed to blame her for that. Percy never blamed problems on anyone but himself.

... looked kind of like Oscar statues with wings.

"Only you Percy," Thalia chuckled, chasing away her demon for now.

... dedicated to Zeus when the dam was built," Thalia said. "A gift from Athena."

"Why was anybody gifting Zeus statues about a river?" Magnus asked in fascination. "Even Poseidon is a loose but weird connection."

"Does he just have to have an award when anything exists or he gets an attitude?" Alex rolled her eyes.

"The Winged Figures of the Republic," Percy quoted with an absent minded smile. "I couldn't begin to pretend I paid attention to every word, but Annabeth said something about their influence with eagles, or maybe aliens, and they symbolize the readiness for defense of an intrusion or something."

"Sounds Zeusy and Athena-ish to me," Magnus shrugged in agreement, though he still didn't get how mortals from the 1930's had agreed, but that was probably that whole gods taking influence and visa versa thing he still had trouble wrapping his head around.

Thalia was looking on in fascination at Annabeth's cousin. It was a week after this had happened the two of them had found themselves in a particular alleyway. She'd always thought this time with Percy had been the very first her dad had ever actually answered her prayer...and yet her wish for guidance all those years ago might very well have thrown a certain pajama wearing, hammer wielding, daughter of Athena right into their path.

... They don't know the statues are sacred, they just know they're special."

"Sounds kind of nice," Will grinned. "I've heard of lots of stories like that, the idea of friendly spirits and spiritual places to them. Like they want to be more connected to our world."

Nico studied him for a few moments curiously. It was so rare to hear anybody talk about spirits and nice in the same sentence.

...They don't do anything. They're just big metal statues."

Percy's mind gave him a thwack, like that was a lie. He rubbed his temple and frowned accusingly from the book to Thalia in confusion while she bit her lip. She almost wanted to laugh, she'd never been so glad to be wrong, even if it had resulted in the worst dam rescue of her life.

...the last metal statue we'd run into. That hadn't gone well. I decided not to bring it up.

Nico flinched and wished Percy hadn't thought it either!

To his astonishment, Percy gave him a guilty look! Like he'd been thinking the exact same thing.

It had finally happened. There was no doubt about it. Nico waited for something to follow. An explosion of butterflies, the feeling of fireworks? The guilt he had a crush on the guy who had failed to protect his sister to finally vanish?

He just stayed blank, like he was in shock. Percy finally hesitated before turning back to watch Jason read, regrets clearly still on his lips he was holding in. He had the Son of the Sea god's full attention. Nico gave him a hesitant smile because he didn't blame Percy, he never had. Guilt was the only thing still clear as day on Percy's face before he shut his mouth and turned back away. Nico watched, just like always. Percy still wanted to apologize, he obviously still wanted to explain himself.

Gods, what would happen if Nico finally just heard him out? There were the butterflies, but he was positive they were all noxious orange as uneasy as he suddenly felt. The last time he'd tried that, Percy had almost convinced him he could be accepted at camp. It had been a lie, but the closest to happy he'd been since his sister died as he attempted to make it work around those other kids constantly staring and whispering.

"Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said.

"Language!" Alex repeated in an exasperated tease.

"Oh, you're not going to like this page," Thalia's smile was twitching along happily while Jason was already snickering at poor Zoe's use of phrasing.

... "And I need to use the dam restroom."

"Sorry, it just slipped out," Thalia smirked among all of them getting a good laugh out of it now. There was an edge of unease to it, like they were all aware if they lost themselves in amusement again that might annoy their Titan capture too, but it didn't stop them.

...I busted up, and I probably would've kept laughing all day,

Percy rubbed at the corner of his eye now, like he should have still felt the edge of tears, his smile finally felt a kind of strained like it hurt because he'd been holding it so long instead of faking it, his breath caught because he'd just been laughing too hard. A feeling he hadn't quite been convinced he'd feel again there for a time.

Nico watched as he and Thalia were still giggling hardest of all, the book was more crooked in Jason's hands than anything had probably ever been as he kept trying to laugh and hold it steady before Thalia reached over and mock covered his eyes, scolding, "hey that's not a word you should be remembering!"

He shoved her away while Magnus cheerfully taught Alex both signs for dam and damn.

Nico watched with his usual feeling of disconnect. Bianca probably would have wanted him to laugh more, or probably told him to leave the room so he didn't get any crazy ideas about using any other foul words.

He found himself glancing at Will, to check how hard he was laughing, maybe he should at least fake it? Will had an indulgent smile on his face, lounging in his seat as calmly as ever, but he wasn't busting a gut.

Will seemed to feel his stare, he looked around with that cheerful smile. "Guess it's just one of those 'you had to be there' things," he shrugged as he gestured at Percy and Thalia. It's not like he didn't get the joke, obviously.

Nico felt that flush of warmth again, he was starting to get concerningly used to that when he talked to him as Jason finally batted Thalia away enough he could try to keep going.

but then I heard a noise: "Moooo."

"Like the cow?" Alex and Magnus asked together in the exact same tone, then busted out laughing as hard as Thalia and Percy just were.

"To each their own," Will chuckled along just for seeing them leaning against each other like that, while Nico looked on in clear confusion for definitely not getting that joke. "I bet they wouldn't get it if I asked for a dam buffet," Will added just for him.

Nico gave him a rare smile, the kind that wasn't all hyper because something he actually liked was mentioned, or some snide joke. Just a quirk of the mouth as he nodded, his hair falling into his eyes for a moment before he brushed it aside and looked away. Will's breath caught, and it wasn't on a laugh.

The smile melted off my face. I wondered if the noise was just in my head,

"If you hear cows in your head then I would agree you've lost a screw," Thalia snorted. Annabeth had told her of the time Hera's cows followed her around leaving patties, and it would be just like the cosmic universe for Percy to have at one point been haunted by the same beasts.

... He was looking around, confused. "Did I just hear a cow?"

"Does he hear cows?" Magnus asked in fascination. "Or does he just hear what they're saying with a cow accent?"

"Now I want to know what a cow accent sounds like," Jason said in the exact same tone.

"I'm going to lock you both in a room with Grover when this is done so you three can have this out," Percy sighed.

"A dam cow?" Thalia laughed.

"Head in the game Thalia," Jason snorted.

"My brain cells were all that was holding this group together, I'd shared to much with them," she scoffed.

...Thalia was looking at me. "Percy, are you okay?"

She'd been worried he'd been having minotaur flashbacks or something, he'd looked really freaked out when she hadn't heard a thing.

... I just need a minute. To think."

Thalia shook her head at herself for falling for that one and leaving him alone. She must have really been exhausted. She should have known better. Percy was sharp, and had a knack for never letting things get past him.

But that boy did not sit around and think.

...  they finally went into the visitor center without me.

Magnus was surprised Grover hadn't tried to stay behind, or that Percy hadn't tried to ask him to. Not only if his best friend was feeling a little off, but because the satyr was the first person who came to his mind to want around if he was starting to hear an animal.

Thalia just swallowed yet another loaf of guilt as she'd spent the time in line for food whispering to Zoe about how he still must be stuck on thinking of Annabeth and wanted that time alone. Annabeth would have known what a load of crap that was and that he was hiding something. She could only hope when she did get Percy back to his girlfriend she didn't find out how badly Thalia was letting their friend down repeatedly.

...my friend from Long Island Sound, Bessie the cow serpent.

"Huh," Jason grunted in surprise.

"Obviously she was a magical cow serpent," Alex said quizzically, "is she going to follow you around now and warn you of danger?"

"Apparently only if there's water around," Percy nodded, his heart already thumping with the echoes of adrenaline, a much more familiar set of unease that made his mouth tense into a tight line once more.

... A lot of senior citizens, some families. Nobody was paying Bessie any attention.

"I wonder what they would see," Will grinned. "You couldn't dismiss the Mist on sea life like otters and dolphins splashing in the water out there could you?"

"Maybe just a stray cow swimming around," Alex shrugged, "let Bessie just be chilling."

"Hopefully with her heard," Magnus agreed, it's where he'd been hoping she'd gone off to.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her. "Moo!"

"I don't suppose that translates to she wanted a dam t-shirt?" Percy groaned.

"When is your luck ever that good?" Jason rolled his eyes.

...no way she could've swum all the way here. Yet, here she was.

"Her traveling anywhere she wants wasn't my highest concern," Magnus admitted. "Snakes can travel easily between land and sea, I just sort of assumed she could too."

"Would have been nice if we could all hitch a ride on her that first day then," Percy frowned thoughtfully for only a moment if he'd somehow accidentally rescued a super fast friendly creature that had nothing to do with a boar's bristly hide giving him a ride, but the thought ended abruptly with a familiar but never less dull pain for trying to think how Bessie connected to anything.

She wanted me to come with her... "My friends are inside."

Percy sat tense in his seat, indecision written all over his face. The skeletons were after him, if it was them he should go with her.

What if it was some other monster though? Grover hadn't been sure. He'd never forgive himself if he ran and could have possibly helped. At the very worst, if it was the zombies, he couldn't just disappear on them without warning what was coming. He had no choice, but every decision felt wrong.

...They wore gray camouflage outfits that flickered over skeletal bodies.

Percy's eyes flashed to Nico again, a horrible well of familiarity trying to drag him back into the pits of his mind with Bianca still fresh in his memory, telling this kid what happened to her.

Nico gave him a grim look. The exact same that had been on Bianca's face when she'd stabbed the one that went up in flames. A sort of detachment that could have been on a serial killer's face while the victim screamed.

Percy quickly looked back away, his eyes scrunched shut once more as he now had a vague idea he couldn't bear to have confirmed lest the pain somehow get worse of how Bianca had been the lone one to kill it that time.

... his face changing momentarily into a skull. "Ah!" the kids yelled.

"Nightmares," Magnus said confidently. "That kid will be having nightmares and possibly therapy the rest of his adolescent life."

"Sucks, I love Halloween," Alex said in genuine sympathy.

... a van swerved to a stop in the middle of the road, nearly plowing into some old people.

"Damn, who's next, a couple on their honeymoon?" Thalia huffed for the most mild of distractions these tourists couldn't catch a break no matter where Percy went. She just hoped that family from the Gateway Arch wasn't somehow around to mistake these ghosts for another doggie.

... The security guard yelled, "Hey, kid!" But I didn't stop.

"I bet he doesn't get that a lot," Will chuckled at that. "Kids running into this, most are probably trying to flee."

"I'm just full of surprises," Percy agreed, though that pretty much went without saying after spending five minutes with him.

... I couldn't see them anywhere. Where was the dam snack bar?

Percy wished he could pull that Nemon Lion coat closer for a moment, but the weight of that impenetrable fur wasn't going to protect him from the onslaught on all sides. He had to warn them, get them out. They still didn't know how to kill these things, nobody had managed it except Bianca, and her ghost wasn't exactly going to appear and help him out of this.

Thalia instantly saw he was fighting with himself again and laughed aloud to tease, "just follow the dam signs like we did. I don't think even Grover saved you hot sauce this time." She almost felt bad, that was twice he'd missed out on a chance at a good meal. It was no wonder he was in such a grumpy mood lately.

Percy at least gave her a look of exasperation again so she didn't feel to bad.

...There was no place to go but into an elevator with the tour group.

"I guess Annabeth's favorite place must be rubbing off on you," Magnus chuckled. "Hiding in a tour group, that's so, easy. And smart. I never would have thought it of you."

"It was that or Paris, I went with the better option," Percy shrugged. He didn't really think his impulse of one answer was that great, but he had a funny feeling about this tour group. Maybe he'd come back to Annabeth with a new fun fact.

... "Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the elevator hardly ever breaks."

"Hardly ever," Alex repeated for good measure.

"Now we know it's going to just because Percy's in there," Jason frowned.

"Your confidence is instilling," Percy sighed, and he couldn't say he thought they were wrong.

..."Does this go to the snack bar?" I asked her. A few people chuckled.

"Don't we all wish every room came with a snack bar," Thalia agreed.

..."Weren't you listening to my fascinating presentation upstairs?"

"About as well as he listens to anything," Will cheerfully agreed.

"I have a short attention span for thinking of to much at once," Percy grinned, "people who concentrate don't think as fast as I do."

"Right, I'm sure that's won so many arguments with Annabeth," Will snorted.

... The doors closed with the tour guide still inside, leaving me alone.

And a few mouths hanging open in here.

"Was that-"

"Yep," Percy said with confidence. It didn't even give him a headache to agree with Jason, he was that sure he was right, which meant he'd been just as confident back then.

"Huh," Jason muttered. It was the least strange way a god had yet appeared, and yet getting even a glimpse of Minerva still set him back a bit.

Which had nothing on Alex and Magnus exchanging discouraged looks. If that had been Annabeth's mom, she'd sure waited her time to give even a hint of help, and it felt like something Percy could have gotten from a fortune cookie.

... unless I wanted to jump into the turbines and get churned up to make electricity.

"I never thought I'd find a combination of you and Thalia's powers," Magnus said, his voice trying to edge into that curious fascination of their two opposites combing for the power of good.

"Yeah, this place is full of combine harvesting," Thalia frowned. She wished Percy would have chucked those skeletons in there, it might have taken them more than a few seconds to come back, but she had no idea how he could have done that without also grabbing up half the mortals in a horrible toilet bowl like massacre of churning water.

I didn't.

"Take notes Thalia," Percy poked her shoulder.

"Don't throw you into a turbine, yes, got that. Are you implying I can't just turn you into electricity? Because that sounds like a challenge where your lightbulb doesn't ever turn off," she scoffed.

Percy flopped back into his seat and huffed, "I hope you didn't get a single bite of that food."

She looked at him in betrayal and gasped, "I've never wished such a horrible curse on you!"

"Then you're clearly not as creative as I am," he smirked.

"You're going to regret that Jackson," she frowned, and Percy certainly didn't have that self-preservation he'd just been praised for because he shrugged without concern.

...I prayed that Thalia, Zoe, and Grover were okay.

"To which god?" Jason fished for specifics like that would help.

"Whoever wanted to help," Percy rolled his eyes. "To bad Bessie doesn't count, I was thinking of her and hoping she at least got away."

They might already be captured,

"Would the skeletons capture them?" Magnus asked uneasily. "They're after you, how strategic are these things?" He didn't know if he should ask Nico directly or not. Was that rude? He wouldn't feel like it was rude to ask Percy something about sharks, but this still felt more personal.

Will had his chin raised, a distinctly bodyguard kind of look to his face as Nico uneasily cleared his throat. Percy looked at the pair in confusion, somehow them being friends made even less sense the longer he watched and he was really hoping there was a whole chapter not about him in these books explaining how this had happened.

"They're, um, wicked smart actually," Nico spoke confidently, but there was still a hint of unease in his voice, like he was waiting for someone to scream in terror just because he was talking. "Think CIA with all their resources and they're that much better. It's completely possible they'd take hostages if they thought for a second it would draw Percy out."

"Creepy," Magnus said in a thank you kind of tone for answering and still shivering in disgust all at once.

Percy's flesh crawled as well as he wondered how he'd ever survived with these things on the loose. Would they come after his mom? Was one on its way now while the rest kept track on them?

Jason kept reading when nobody else had anything to offer and Percy bit his tongue to hold in a scream of mounting stress.

... I had trapped myself in a hole hundreds of feet below the surface.

"Honestly, that's some kind of talent for managing a whole new way to get caught, trapping yourself. If only all bad guys were as helpful as you," Alex said in her usual unhelpful tone.

"Maybe Luke will take notes," Percy scowled, the only good he could imagine coming of this.

... right behind me I heard a sharp Chhh! like the voice of a skeleton.

Percy startled out of his seat and uncapped his sword, looking at the book in Jason's hands like it was about to bite his fingers off.

...The girl I'd just tried to slice in half yelped and dropped her Kleenex.

Riptide fell from his numb hand as he stood there with his mouth hanging open, the most perfect picture of dumbstruck they all took a mental snap-shot of.

Rachel was going to be so pissed she missed this, Thalia alone could smirk.

..."Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?"

"Not in recent times," Magnus offered.

"Thank gods, or I'd have to ban him from the infirmary," Will grinned, "a place he visits far to often."

Percy was still imitating a tree of his own, a bird was likely to pop out of his mouth before he closed it.

... It had passed clean through her body. "You're mortal!"

"That's why!" Percy yelped, finally coming to life as he looked again where Rachel had once been.

The others were torn between watching Percy acting like a bigger lunatic than usual and Thalia biting her lip hard to stop from laughing. "Should we be concerned about Percy traumatizing some kid about this?" Magnus asked.

"Would the Mist make her forget once he ran off, or should the Hoover Dam start passing out therapy cards?" Will said, not entirely kidding.

"Just keep going," Thalia encouraged as Jason tried to keep watching Percy like he'd ever give a useful answer.

... Of course I'm mortal! How did you get that sword past security?"

"It's Rachel!" Percy finally came to enough to blurt out. Now everybody looked like he had a few seconds ago and it was pretty satisfying as his sword still sat innocently at his feet like it hadn't been found out.

"Wait, what?" Magnus couldn't seem to believe his own ears, again. Maybe they should start signing everything to him. "But, wait, she was mortal, and," he waved about the room intensely.

"She's a very special friend," was all Thalia seemed prepared to answer.

"Huh," Jason said in fascination as he looked from where she'd been to him. "You just cannot meet people the normal way."

"Falling out of a tree isn't that unusual," Thalia frowned.

"He does nearly kill everybody he meets though, without exception," Alex sided with Jason.

Percy opened his mouth to protest, and then found his mind completely blank how to do that as Jason kept reading.

... like she spent her free time poking them with a fork.

"Don't let Tethys hear that," Will frowned, "I don't need her coming in next with a lecture about what pants have to do with our cholesterol."

"And here I thought you'd welcome a visit from her," Nico admitted.

"I have not hidden a bag of marshmallows in my cabin and you cannot prove otherwise," Will said in the picture-perfect way he would to Chiron.

"Well, it's either a sword or the biggest toothpick in the world," she said.

"She really did fit right in here," Alex said.

"Shame she was booted into worlds unknown," Magnus muttered uneasily, his mind still on Hearth and hoping Blitz wasn't freaking out to bad.

...She asked so much so fast, it was like she was throwing rocks at me. I couldn't think.

Percy still looked like his mind was buffering in here, he'd sat back down with a truly blank look on his face as he lagged behind several sentences.

...if my pelt had changed back to fur, but it still looked like a brown coat to me.

"That's really creepy she can see what you can't," Jason said. He was glad he'd met her now, surely if there had been something hidden in the stitching of his purple shirt she'd have noticed.

"They say fashion is in the eye of the beholder and you never see yourself properly in a mirror," Thalia snorted.

...Thalia had done to fool the teachers. Maybe I could manipulate the Mist.

Thalia started laughing so hard it sounded painful. She was slumped over her seat in moments and trying to ask him while gasping, "you- you tried to- oh my-" and continued flailing her hand in Percy's face.

Who finally snapped back to here and now to frown at her for the display while the others got a good laugh as well. "Chiron owes me a world of apologies for this," was all he could sigh, fighting off a cringe at how he guessed this was going to go if Jason would stop snickering and get it out.

...She blinked. "Um, no. It's a sword, weirdo."

Thalia was barely starting to recover and wiping tears out of her eyes. "I'd have given anything to be there and see that," she managed breathlessly.

"I should have thrown you in the turbines," Percy sighed.

...are you going to answer my questions or should I scream for security?"

"I am disappointed that crossed her mind," Alex huffed, "why is she not stealing your sword from you and demanding to be kidnapped onto this quest."

"Alex, no," Magnus said in a tone of defeat, already knowing he was saying fruitlessly.

"Rachel!" Percy repeated, unprompted to anyone else but his own trail of thought that finally reconnected as he smacked his hand against the side of his head and stared at Alex. They definitely had the same vibe of being a terrifying force of nature right from the first meeting, but in a more chaotic way than Thalia had ever given off.

"It's okay Percy, she only called security on you once, and those guys only scolded you for trying to lick the statue," Thalia said without thinking, what she'd thought his exclamation had been about.

Percy shuddered though, like acid being poured into his ears once more of being reminded of something he had no memory of. Thalia put an apologetic hand on his shoulder and waved Jason on who did so without protest.

..."In a hurry or in trouble?"

"Usually it's both," Nico said from experience.

"Um, sort of both."

Percy grinned over at Nico, already soothed back into that casual attitude again as he called, "hah, echo high-five!" And held up his hand once more.

It drooped and Percy turned away with a sigh when Nico did not return the gesture, again. The guy was probably holding a massive grudge against him for getting his sister killed. He wouldn't blame Nico if he did summon more ghosts to attack him next time.

She looked over my shoulder and her eyes widened. "Bathroom!"

"Was the poor girl looking for that this whole time?" Magnus asked.

"Probably not anymore," Jason muttered. Any mortal would piss themselves if a sword was swung in their face.

"It's always the last place on the tour," Percy repeated, silently hoping he didn't try a crazy stunt of dousing any of those zombies in one. It probably wouldn't work as well as it once had on Clarisse.

... I slipped inside the boys' bathroom and left Rachel Elizabeth Dare standing outside.

"At least she wasn't just randomly announcing where the bathrooms were, or I'd be confused why she stopped doing that," Alex waved to the doorway where they were located in here.

Percy didn't feel any better about her telling him to hide than if she'd dragged him in there to keep throwing questions at him as he sunk farther into his chair. That little rodent part of him on full display for everyone to see what a coward he was, hiding behind a mortal.

Later, that seemed cowardly to me. I'm also pretty sure it saved my life.

"Look at those impulses being put to good use," Will applauded.

"It's on record as the least craziest way you've ever gotten out of a situation," Thalia agreed.

"And the third book in a row you've involuntarily been in a bathroom," Jason muttered.

Percy gave a reluctant chuckle for all of them not even batting an eye at that. Alex and Magnus were snickering as he showed her the sign for bathroom. Only Nico looked unimpressed he needed somebody's help, and that guy looked like he'd rather swallow nails than look at him again.

... What was I thinking? I'd left a mortal girl out there to die.

Jason kept reading unfazed at that thought. Those skeletons didn't know Percy well enough to guess he'd charge out there to save this random mortal girl, so they wouldn't attack her. Meanwhile Thalia had Percy's wrist and was hissing at him to put the sword away or she'd use it as a toothpick on him as he kept reading.

... I think he went over the side or something. Maybe he fell."

"This girl!" Alex fanned her face in awe. "I suspected she had a knack for lying and I'm so disappointed I didn't get to see it in action."

"She'll be around Camp plenty when we get back," Thalia promised while Magnus swallowed a tiny hint of jealousy.

...She looked shaken. Her face was gray and sweaty.

Percy's hands twitched, his wish to comfort her instinctive. Her first glimpse into the world of gods and monsters had not been a kind one...or was it? Another blank space where a memory should be, like he'd somehow actually know what her real first look at anything unnatural would be?

Regardless, he owed Rachel much more than the brief time he'd spent with her in here as the instant friend she'd been to him. He had probably been the first person who hadn't ever called her crazy for the things she saw, while she rocked his world sideways being the first mortal to help him survive, aside from his mom.

..."Do yourself a favor," I said. "Forget it. Forget you ever saw me."

"I don't think that worked out to well for her," Jason said astutely.

"It's a favor I don't even think Zeus could grant," Thalia snorted.

"Are you saying I'm to memorable to forget?" Percy grinned.

"She's saying your too much trouble to forget," Alex snorted.

"Forget you tried to kill me?" "Yeah. That, too."

"She actually constantly reminds you of that while you go fetch her breakfast in bed on some days," Thalia smirked.

Percy wasn't sure how much she was joking, but at this point he believed her.

..."What kind of name is Percy Gotta-go?"

"A name worthy of his Bathroom Royalties," Jason said with a straight face.

"My mom would cry if I tried to change my last name from hers," Percy said back, obviously unphased by such a compelling argument.

...The cafe was packed with kids enjoying the best part of the tour—the dam lunch.

"I really hope they sent the cool chaperone who laughed at that joke," Will grinned.

"I'm now grateful we didn't get a chaperone," Percy frowned, imagining Chiron in here coaching them on better strategies, or worse, Oceanus in here constantly trying to talk about the gods point of view over their measly mortal lives.

..."But we just got our burritos!" Thalia said.

"I should have known better," Thalia flicked her own forehead. "When as he ever tried to rush away from food?"

"Besides, it's not like you would have shared with me," Percy gave her a tragic look that, indeed, not one extra wrap seemed to have been there for him.

Zoe stood up. "He's right! Look."

"Ha!" Percy gave an almost authentic cheer Zoe had said that for him. It was marred just slightly by the annoying fact nobody had yet acknowledged that for him in here.

...a beautiful panoramic view of the skeletal army that had come to kill us.

"And they say nothing's better than dinner and a show," Nico muttered, his stomach twisting up at the idea of all those kids in that line of fire. He hadn't even been there and it was still all to easy to imagine he and Bianca in the crowd instead, living an actual normal life as she tried to caution him about to much hot sauce while he ignored her and regretted it on the first bite.

... All of them were armed with batons and pistols.

"I'd never seen a more terrifying border patrol, and I've dealt with Clarisse," Percy groaned.

...We were completely surrounded.

Percy's heart jolted in his chest. A part of him was grateful his terrible idea hadn't come true and his mom was safe, he was still their focus. The rest of him wanted to make that whole exploding buildings problem he seemed to have to activate, and yet he couldn't possibly hope for that with so many civilians and his friends in the center. There seemed no out. He wanted Annabeth here, to tell her how much he missed her as she came up with a brilliant solution out of this. His only play so far had been to hide in the bathroom, and he didn't think that would stop these guys again.

...In terms of deadly projectiles, a flying burrito is up there with grenades and cannonballs.

"No contest, Grover's the new master of chaos," Alex looked rather offended and like she'd be battling the satyr to the death soon for that title.

"I just heard a lot of sacrilege, those perfectly good burritos," Jason frowned.

"A few Guacamole Grande's aren't worth my life?" Percy asked, looking around at him.

"Ehh," Jason waved his hand about like he was still thinking about it, and Thalia cleared her throat loudly to stop the two drawing their own deadly projectiles on each other before that escalated. Whether it be swords or burritos, she still didn't want to know.

Grover's lunch hit the skeleton and knocked his skull clean off his shoulders.

"Cool!" Nico yelped.

Percy smiled, finally some of that little kid he'd rescued on the cliff coming back to life in here. He just hoped that wasn't a Mythomagic trap card or Nico would never leave him alone.

Will bit back a totally platonic and not at all ulterior motive of the fond idea in starting a food fight back at camp just to have an excuse to dump pudding all over Nico. He was pretty sure nobody's head would come off, but Nico might still get some fun out of it.

... the other kids in the café went crazy and started throwing theirs, shrieking.

"Your reign as the best man on how to make an exit continues unthwarted," Alex was mock rummaging in her pockets for notes.

"I think Grover outshined me for that," Percy shook his head modestly.

"You were still present and the cause of said Burrito War, you get at least half credit," Thalia rolled her eyes.

... Bodies and food and drinks were flying everywhere.

"I think one burrito was even on fire." Thalia grinned. The general laughter that flowed easily around the room now held a hint unease like it hadn't before, there was still to much of a chance somebody could get hurt in this, but man was that a precious mental image not to ever want gone.

...We ran to the bronze statues, but that just put our backs to the mountain.

Percy's gut was trying to tighten in answer. He felt the power of the ocean around him, wanting to protect him in his domain, but it would do him no good there unless he wanted to try collapsing the whole dam. Earth shaker, one of his father's other titles. He could have brought that mountain down around them if he'd tried hard enough, but he didn't think it would have gotten them out of there, and he sat there horrified at his own uselessness again.

... Two had burritos lodged in their rib cages. They didn't look happy about it.

"I can't imagine why," Magnus said with a completely straight face. Looks like somebody was getting over his zombie issues. "That's some high-quality food they get to easily pack."

Alex looked rather pleased and the others looked on in slight fear if she was rubbing off on him and what kind of chaos that was going to bring.

..."Whoa," I said. "Their toes really are bright."

Nico faced palmed while Will sighed so hard it looked like it hurt.

"You are like a whole new brand of ADHD," Thalia happily informed him, and she knew it paid off.

"Those attention deficiencies are supposed to help you survive, not, whatever your brain is," Jason agreed.

Percy didn't have a dignified response to that so he just flipped them off with a feeling of confidence Thalia had to admire. It's what she would have done too if she didn't want to hurl at what this had led to.

"Percy!" Thalia said. "This isn't the time."

"You are so lucky I had better things to do then than smack you," Thalia informed.

"A day I thought would never come," Percy grinned.

...There is always a way for those clever enough to find it.

Magnus leaned forward in his seat, his gray eyes giving them all a spectacular view of the calculating, pissed-off look that might have been on Annabeth's face had she been here to asses the same problem. Percy grinned from him to Thalia with renewed confidence he'd get his old life back and they'd all laugh about this one day.

...Thalia scowled like she was sure I'd gone crazy.

"I still think that, and now I know you're right," she grumbled for herself. Percy was still smirking like an idiot while their doom approached and Jason was jiggling his leg in some combination of anticipation and anxiety for how the fight was going to go while muttering in between breaths different strategies and she wanted to knock their heads together.

... Her lips moved in a silent prayer. I put in my own prayer to Annabeth's mom,

Percy glanced guiltily at the cracks in the floor and away as a new stray thought occurred he didn't know how to feel about. If Annabeth had never been taken, Athena might not have shown up when she did. He didn't know if they'd have gotten out of this without her being gone, Thalia and Grover might not have made it back from this quest if things hadn't fallen into place like they had.

...that she was trying to help us save her daughter.

Will hoped he wasn't alone in the flash of warmth that chased through him. No matter how they'd gotten to this point, he wished he could hand this chapter out in flyers around camp to remind any kid who ever questioned if their parents cared about them. Even the most logical and distant gods up there at the top had a hand in the lives of this quest.

And nothing happened.

There was something about the way Percy was watching the book now. Like he was just daring it to prove him wrong. And nothing ever won a dare against him.

...Zoe pushed Grover behind her and aimed an arrow at a skeleton's head.

"All that gawking finally paid off," Percy snorted with a lack of fear in his voice. He'd already been wishing for Bianca back before her godly given talent to vanquish these. He wished he could throw his lion coat over all of them as a giant shield while he could use Riptide to slash away every bullet. It was going to take all of them though.

A shadow fell over me. I thought maybe it was the shadow of death.

Nico's mouth thinned into a fine line. He still waited for somebody in the room to turn to him and make a gratuitous joke if he was about to show up.

Percy did look at him and then away with a flinch, but there was something in it Nico let himself really look at as he studied those green eyes, that familiar face he hated to think of for to long. Percy had connected to Bianca on that line, just like him, still mourning her death and wondering if anybody else was going to die even in the face of his confidence. Nico gripped his statue tight for a moment in agreement with that feeling and wished he knew how to say what that meant to him to someone he never could.

...The bronze angels stepped in front of us and folded their wings like shields.

Thalia's limbs curled in painfully tight to her at just the mention of those wings, remembering in too vivid detail what was coming for her, like her body was trying to assume the fetal position before she hissed and commanded her muscles to act right but it wasn't working as the trembling increased-

"What ho Thalia!" Percy linked their arms together in a merry display, quoting old Mr. Bruner with that same poised phrase that had gotten him through so many of his classes.

"You are such a dork," she gave him a shaky laugh some part of her meant her clumsy mouth didn't convey.

"People keep calling me that, but you know I've never looked up what it meant," Percy nodded to himself calmly. "So I'm just going to go on thinking you're all calling me awesome."

"I'm calling you something all right," her next laugh sounded just a smidge better than the last.

... Both angels slashed outward, and the skeletons went flying across the road.

"Most dam satisfying moment yet," Jason grinned.

"And that's saying a lot," Percy nodded in savage agreement.

... like he hadn't had a drink since he'd been built.

"I wasn't expecting them to talk," Alex seemed even more invested in meeting them now. All the questions she could ask, all the tourists freaking out in the background of the aliens descending.

... "Holy Zeus, what were those tourists thinking?"

"Hope," Will grinned. He didn't care how cheesy it was, the mortal endurance to find joy in small silly little things like rubbing a statue and feeling connected to a world they were apart from fascinated him. Maybe he shouldn't ever leave camp, he'd get distracted by everything they came across too.

..."Could I get a please, Miss Zeus's Kid?" an angel asked.

Any other anything that ever called her that would have gotten a thousand-watt punch to the face. Desperate times and all that had barely made her register it as she'd leapt into these flying automatons' arms while she huffed in here.

... one of them grabbed Thalia and me, the other grabbed Zoe and Grover,

Nico couldn't help but wince again, his mind trying to insert his sister into this still. Would she have gotten scooped up with Zoe, or had another fantastic conversation with Percy about what a burden he was on the trip? Would the angels have left her behind if she'd somehow been trying to hold them off alone?

His mind was spiraling with anger and bitter to much again to sense the icy water starting to freeze around him until there was a gentle tap on the couch behind him. He felt the small vibration it caused without having to deal with the uncomfortable sensation that usually came with someone trying to touch him. Will was watching him, as was usual now, and had somehow found a perfect way to distract him from his thoughts. Nico had no idea what he'd done to get such a good friend.

... the skeletons shrinking to tiny specks below.

Magnus couldn't quite believe that was over as Jason looked around and shut it to indicate so. He was still expecting a few more insane things to happen, but at this point was that even possible?

PJOPJOPJO

I live for irony. Yes I took Rachel out as she was finally about to appear. I feel bad, I barely got time to explore her character, I just finally decided to stop forcing an eighth person who I wasn't getting any traction out of when I like the seven, it's a better symbolic number to the last set of books anyways.