So I've been missing for a while, which is partially to blame for a concussion and partially my procrastination. Since it's been a while, I've got a nice long chapter here, with some new stuff for the stories of both Nico and Piper. I've been writing a lot of long author's notes lately, so I'll just let you get to the story. Enjoy!

NICO

"Nico?" Nico heard Percy's voice at the door.

"Yeah?" He was in his room, experimenting with his powers. He didn't want to do it with others around, as he wasn't sure shadows were a friendly power. In the time he'd been experimenting, he'd already managed to make objects vanish and reappear within the shadows, and to turn himself into a mere shadow as camouflage.

"Someone's here for you," Percy said. Nico perked up. Was it Will? He hadn't spent time with him since that night at the lake a few days ago, but he was secretly hoping he would be able to again soon. He just wasn't good at initiating that sort of thing.

But just as he was opening the door, expecting to see Will's sunny face, he was instead greeted with dash of bright red hair.

"Rachel," Nico said in surprise.

"Hey," she said timidly, avoiding eye contact.

"I'll leave you guys alone," Percy said, sensing the tension in the air and backing away. '

"What's up?" Nico asked cautiously.

Rachel took a deep breath. "It seems that despite the fact that we cut everything off, we still have to deal with the, uh, punishment."

"The prophecy," Nico clarified.

"Yeah," Rachel smiled dryly. "I was hoping we'd avoid it, but I don't think so. I've been getting some... visions, from Artemis I think, that are giving me a better idea of what we need to do." She looked around Nico's room, which was unnaturally dark as a result of his recent experiments. "Could we maybe go somewhere? Take a walk or something? Your room is suffocating me."

It felt comfortable to Nico, but it did seem as though he had sucked some of the life out of the room itself. It was a bright, sunny day, but his room was dark, the air thinned. Somewhere in the back of his head, he wondered if he would do that to Will, too. Will was the sunny day and he was the shadows, sucking the life out of everything.

"Right," Nico said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Yeah. Let's take a walk in the woods or something."

"Gods forbid you'd let a little sunshine touch you. It might help with your tan, you know."

Nico was ready to be offended when he looked up to see Rachel smiling, and he relaxed. It would be a little awkward between the two of them, there was no way around that; but at least she was comfortable enough to make jokes around him.

* * *

Out in the woods, the two sat down in a clearing as a compromise. They were away from people, sitting in the earth, but the gap in the canopy provided Rachel with enough sunshine to satisfy her.

Then, Rachel pulled out a sheet of paper and began talking. "So we have this prophecy:

Two have broken a sacred oath

Three will be punished

Four will know

One will hurt and two will inflict

The roles are assigned

Olympus has picked

The eternal maiden

Shall see to their quest

Until it is done

Neither will rest

The tree must be strangled

With shadows and ghosts

Two have the power

But neither will boast.

It doesn't sound like your average sail-around-the-world-to-collect-something-magical-before-this-date-or-the-world-will-end sort of prophecy (at this point I wish it was), but it's still a quest in there's something we need to do. I've been getting some visions from Artemis, who I think is the 'eternal maiden' referred to in the prophecy. It hasn't been anything extremely clear, but I get the feeling that one of her hunters broke the oath of chastity at some point, too, and the Gods just figured they might as well punish us all at once."

"So the 'three will be punished' refers to me, you, and one of the hunters?"

"I think so, yeah," Rachel said.

"And who's the fourth who will know?"

"Maybe Artemis? I mean, all the Gods know. So there must be someone else, too. Maybe whoever the hunter was with?" Rachel reasoned.

"And what about the 'one will hurt and two will inflict' bit?"

"Well, it's clear the Olympians already have decided who is supposed to what," she analyzed, "and I get the feeling that it will be you and I doing the inflicting, and the hunter who does the hurting."

"Makes sense," Nico muttered, although he didn't like the sound of it. He supposed he was plenty good at hurting and haunting people, especially the part about shadows and ghosts, but he was really trying to change his ways. "And the hunter- she's the 'tree'?"

"I guess so. Any ideas?"

At first Nico had no idea, but something sparked in the back of his brain, his heart dropping. She wouldn't do that, would she? But the "tree" reference, it made perfect sense, and she was a hunter...

It fit too perfectly.

"Unfortunately," Nico said, "I think I do."

"You do?"

"Remember Thalia Grace?"

* * *

They spent the next few minutes deciding what they should do. Neither of them liked the idea of giving punishment to a hunter who committed the same "crime" as they had, but the fact that it was Thalia Grace made it a lot worse. She was a friend, almost family. How could Nico stand to face her or the hunters again after that? How could he stand to face Jason, whom he had trusted with his deepest secret?

Should they tell her? He wasn't sure how that would help. Should they try to rebel against the Olympians? That never worked out well for anyone, especially when there was a prophecy involved. Wait until they were forced to carry it out? Sure, it might buy them a little time, but it's not like they could do anything to stop it in the meantime. There was no use delaying the inevitable. The only other option he could see was to dutifully carry out the prophecy, hoping Thalia was strong enough to endure whatever punishment they had to put her way.

"What do we have to do, anyway?" Nico asked. He didn't like the part about how she had to be tortured through shadows and ghosts. It sounded painful, it sounded cruel, and it sounded like something he would be a little too good at. He didn't want anyone to see that side of him, the side that hid in the shadows and only felt half at home in the world of the living. He hated himself for worrying about this given the current situation, but... What if Will found out? What would he think of Nico then?

"You heard the prophecy: 'the tree must be strangled by shadows and ghosts'. If it is Thalia... then I guess we'll have to find her, and haunt her? I wouldn't say I'm able to read minds, but since becoming the Oracle, I've always been able to 'see' people a little bit more clearly, and I think I'm supposed to use that to my advantage. Anyways, I get the idea that we aren't supposed to physically hurt her, if that makes you feel any better."

"Why would that make me feel any better?" Why in Hades would that make him feel any better?

"Stick and stones may break my bones?" Rachel said hesitantly, though it was clear she didn't believe that philosophy any more than Nico did.

"-but words can downright kill you," Nico finished. "You should know that, being the Oracle and all."

Rachel sighed. "I know. I know. I sound stupid, I'm just... it sucks being the Oracle, sometimes, you know? I've never been able to give someone a prophecy like 'no, you don't actually have to embark on a long and painful quest' or 'you're going to meet the love of your life and have three children and live happily ever after on a farm in the countryside'. It's all trials and consequences, big words and bad news. So I try to make the best of it, but it doesn't always work."

"Thanks for sticking with me, Rache. You deserved better."

The night was darkening, but he could still see that small, wry smile as looked straight ahead into the night.

"I don't really have a choice at this point, do I? After all, we've got some trials and consequences to attend to."

* * *

PIPER

The feeling had become almost familiar to Piper now. She was thankful it had only happened when she alone, as she knew she wasn't ready to explain the situation to Jason or anyone else just yet. Every time she thought of telling him, the scene of that funeral crowd came to her mind. If it hadn't been for that, she might have just let the events she saw in the past unfold before her, but she didn't want to risk these stakes. If it meant saving Jason, she would be more than willing to get her hands dirty with the affairs of her grandparents. So when she felt the spell of dizziness, the strange tugging, the nausea strike her again, she was ready more than ever.

Piper changed quickly into her period clothing. With her new powers as a goddess, she didn't even need to bother finding a place to change anymore; she could transform her clothe so seamlessly that no mortal would even notice what had happened.

Then, she examined her surroundings. She was still in New York, but a different part. In front of her stood a traditional brownstone apartment building, the kind that was probably old even in her grandparents' time. She was figuring that whomever she needed to find was somewhere in one of the many, many rooms of the building when the two people she hoped to see came walking down the street. Her grandmother held a pastry in one hand and her grandfather's hand in the other, laughing as they strolled down the street, a picturesque vintage couple.

Piper quickly sat down on a bench in front of the apartment building, head down, pretending to inspect her nails. Once again, she didn't want to draw attention to herself. Thankfully, her heightened senses allowed her to hear their conversation from her safe position.

"Thank you again for taking me out, Tom. I really enjoyed getting to know you. Not as much as I enjoyed this pastry, although," Rosemary smiled playfully, looking up at Tom.

"Understandable. I would pick one of these pastries over my own company any day."

Rosemary stopped suddenly in front of the building, looking around cautiously.

"What's wrong?" Tom asked.

"Well... nothing, it appears."

"Were you expecting something?"

"I... well... I'm sure you remember the other night, with those men? And I explained to you briefly, about the God of War... I'm sure I sounded insane, so you perhaps you just ignored that part-"

"Of course not," Tom responded. "I was raised on Cherokee gods and stories, and at night, sometimes, when I get out of the city and actually see the stars, I swear I can feel them and believe those stories. So why not a Greek God?"

"Really?" Rose sounded as if she couldn't believe him. "You're not just saying that to humour me?"

"Really," Tom replied softly, just barely loud enough for Piper to make it out.

"In that case," Rose continued, "why don't you come in for a bit? I'll make tea, and explain everything that's been going on. It'd be nice to have someone to talk to who doesn't think I'm entirely insane."

Piper cursed silently as the two headed into the apartment building. She could follow them through the hallway, but how could she get into her grandmother's apartment? That would certainly throw away the whole plan of laying low and staying inconspicuous.

The couple entered the building and Piper paced around, deliberating what to do. Were there any fire exits she could stand on, listening to their conversation? She hated to be a stalker, but she also felt it necessary that she hear what her grandmother had to say. If she was going to explain what was going on with her and Ares, this was vital information that Piper needed.

She was just about to go looking around the building when heard Tom's voice drifting towards her again. She looked to the entrance, thinking maybe he had decided to leave after all, but he wasn't there. Cautiously, she creeped around the building. Lo and behold, Rose had an apartment on the ground floor with a small patio in the back. She stayed where she was, sat down against the brick building, out of sight, and listened.

"So I already told you how I prayed for Timmy's life," Rose said, and Piper tensed at the mention of Jason's grandfather. "How Ares took the claim for it, although it was apparently you who saved him. Anyways, the Gods don't need money or anything, of course. Riches won't do them any good. When they have a mortal who indebted to them, they need their service.

"In this case, Ares wanted me to collect some things for him. Pearls, that once belonged to a necklace worn by the goddess Aphrodite, that are now scattered around mortal New York City for safekeeping from the other Olympians. Once assembled, the necklace is supposed to give the wearer power to force anyone to do anything. Aphrodite likely spread them around so that no one could use the power besides her, so that no one would abuse it, but Ares, of course, would love to have this power. Now, forgive me if I sound completely insane."

"Listen, Rosie, I haven't known you for very long, but you don't strike me as the insane type. You strike me as caring and loyal, but also very down-to-earth. And so if you say that these gods are real, that this quest of yours is real, then by all means, I believe you."

Piper could almost hear the smile in Rose's voice when spoke next. "That means a lot. I really hate to get you involved in this, though."

"Too late now. You're stuck with me, Rosie," Tom laughed.

"What do you think I should do?" She asked, voice serious again.

"First, that's not the right question. The questions is what we should do. And based on what you said, I think it's time for us to do some treasure hunting." 

As Piper strained to hear the last of her grandparents' conversation, she barely even felt the tug in her stomach before she was back at home in her bed.