By the time Nico got to the party, it was exactly how he'd imagined it: People all over the place, on the front lawn alone twenty or so were drunk or passed out or sucking each others faces off. Music shook the ground violently.

Nico didn't have to know Castor and Pollux's address. The sky was alight with so many colors it made a couple people collapse into spasms. Two of Castor's friends were handing out drinks at the front door.

Inside there were a lot more people. The DJ was run by two identical looking boys, notorious for selling everything they can get their hands on in the black market, the Stoll brothers. Each of them had electric green head phones on, bobbing to the music, a drink in their hands.

A girl walked up to Nico, walking weirdly, and a stupid smile on her face. Her clothes were a little too tight, and covered in a foul smelling substance- either barf or alcohol.

She giggled and wrapped her arms around Nico's neck. "How about we head upstairs, babe?"

Nico pried her off, "How about, no."

"Aww, you're no fun, handsome." She brushed her fingers against his chin, causing Nico to shiver with disgust. Then her eyes gazed and she took a drink of a nearby cup, not that it mattered what was in it, or who's it was.

Nico sunk into the shadows creeping around the sweaty, smelly, mass of inappropriately dancing teenagers. The beat seemed to rattle his entire body.

"Nico!" A voice yelled loudly next to him. Even so, Nico could barely hear it, "My main man!"

Castor appeared with his dark hair slicked back with sweat. He grinned holding two red plastic cups. His face was illuminated with flashing red and blue and green.

"Here! I got Dakota to make you one himself!" Castor held out one of the cups. "Oops, not that one, that's got the drug in it." He quickly switched the cups and Nico raised an eyebrow. He took the cup which flashed with a dark red wine color. Castor laughed.

"Gotta go! Thalia's over there! I wanna get her early so I can hit Katie before Travis comes down!" Castor grinned maniacally, pointed towards a girl across the room guzzling beer straight from a copper can.

She had bright blue highlights, and night black hair, with a splash of freckles on her nose. Her eyes looked bloodshot, her moves, lacky, and she looked ready to pass out already. Even so she looked familiar.

Castor raised his cup to Nico and headed over to the girl.

Nico looked at the cup in his pale hand.

Don't you dare!

Nico looked to his left, frowning. A mirage of Bianca stood there, hands on her hips. She shimmered, like a ghost.

Why are you here, Neeks?! This is a terrible party! People are having SEX UPSTAIRS!!

Nico looked at the drink and brought it up to his mouth.

Nico! That is Alcohol! Is this how-

Nico took a sip and swallowed. The drink burned down his throat, tasting worse than liquid sandpaper. At the same moment a guy and a girl from the mob of dancing freaks slammed into the wall right where Bianca had been. His sister disappeared.

The guy and the girl were kissing like their lives depened on it. Barely breathing. The guy started tugging at the girls shirt and she started lifting it up.

Nico shook his head and looked away. Bianca's words still running in his ears. Why was he at this party? Why was he doing this? Is this how he wanted Bianca to be remembered?

It's just a hallucination. Nico thought to himself. Bianca, is dead. She can't talk to you.

His eyes landed on Thalia again. Castor was taking her hand and he was talking but Nico couldn't hear anything. Thalia was shaking her head sleepily. He smiled and said something and Thalia seemed to try and resist. But then she fell over, right into Castor's arms.

Suddenly, Nico knew why Thalia looked familiar. From a couple years ago, a club meeting at his house. He wasn't suppose to have been in the room with the girls, but the whole group had been lounging in the family room for a club meeting. A banner hung across the front hall, "Welcome Hunters!" written in larger black and silver paint.

The top girl, couldn't have been older than fifteen was named Artemis and she talked with authority. Thalia had been the her right hand man, or in this case woman.

Something else was bugging Nico though. He'd seen her even more recently. When, though?

He set his cup down, the alcohol churning in his stomach. The look in Castor's eyes flashed in his mind.

Before Nico could stop himself, he started pushing through the crowd. He couldn't explain it, but he felt he owed Thalia something. A guy collapsed in front of him foaming at the mouth. Nico jumped over him and headed for the stairs.

Castor carried Thalia in one arm, her face pale and her eyes closed so she looked like a corpse. A flicker of an image clicked in Nico's mind. Castor clinked his cup, with a guy by the stairs yelling over the music.

Nico shoved past a girl wearing only a bikini. Nico didn't even want to think why she was wearing that. Some guy stumbled back pouring beer down his back.

Castor was almost up the stairs now, the DJ booth right under him. Travis and Connor seemed to be fighting over a music station, with Connor pouring his cup of a dark liquid right over Travis's head.

Nico ran up the stairs. "Castor!" He yelled. Castor kept going grinning like an idiot. "Castor stop!"

The drunken boy wobbled as he turned around, his eyes bloodshot like he'd spent the last hour poking pencils in his eyes.

"Nico! My main man!" Castor screamed, over the music. Nico gritted his teeth. "How's it going?"

"Wonderful!" He lied, "but I wanna talk to Thalia!"

Castor laughed and ruby light casted a malicious glue on his features. "No way man! She's out cold! This is the perfect time to nail her!"

"Dude, I really need to see her!"

"What?!"

"Let me see her!"

"What?!"

Nico grunted in frustration he grabbed Castor's shirt collar and yelled in his ear, "I'm taking Thalia home!"

Castor expression was slacking, but he was definitely against the idea. "What, you going to nail her, Di Angelo? No way! I called dibs!"

Castor shoved him away pitifully. Nico stepped down to steps with surprise. Castor turned and pulled Thalia up a step.

Nico wasn't sure what happened next. He remembered grabbing Castor's arm and he knew Castor flung himself back, dropping Thalia on the stairs.

Then somehow Castor went over the edge of the stairs. The wooden railing broke and he fell into the air. Seconds later he landed on the DJ station, and the table snapped in half. The music jittered and everyone stopped to look at Castor, Travis had dispersed and Connor looked a little crazed at his broken music table. Then just when Nico thought someone was going to attack him, the crowd let out a cheer and the drunken teenagers started dancing again.

Nico didn't spend time, wondering if Castor was okay.

He swooped in and checked in Thalia. She was cold, and pale. Her breathing was labored.

Nico exhaled sharply. Her pulse was faint. Did she needed medical attention? He'd never had been faced with anything like this. He'd take her back to her house, but he had no clue where she lived.

Hospital it was.

Nico picked her up, she was lighter than he expected. He pulled her closed to his chest, carrying her bridal style.

He felt awkward. Some guys congratulated him with a pat on the back. Some tired to offer him a couple drugs in exchange for "a couple minutes in heaven".

Nico obviously refused and pulled Thalia out the door. The Hospital was a few blocks away. And Nico had walked to the party. Never the less, Nico ran those blocks like his life depended on it. He almost got hit multiple times and nearly took out a blond haired girl walking out of the public library.

Nico was surprised she didn't cuss him out.

He burst into the lobby of the brightly lit hospital out of breath. He trekked for some medical help and immediately a nurse and two doctors ran out.

"What happened?" A doctor asked calmly, his name tag reading Dr. Apollo.

"She.... was drugged." Nico panted.

The doctors nodded taking Thalia from his arms and pulling her through the glass doors to the emergency rooms.

Nico tried to follow, but a younger teenager stopped him, "Sorry, man, no one can come." He had blond hair and wore an intern tag with the name Solace in purple Sharpie.

"I'm her... her brother!" Nico lied.

"Sorry, dude, can't go in. Not even family."

Nico watched as Thalia disappeared behind the doors. He let out sigh of breath and tried to get his breathing under control. The Solace guy pointed him toward a chair in the lobby.

Why was he still here? He'd got her to the hospital. He made sure Castor didn't rape her. He could leave and never see her again.

But Nico say in the chair next to a guy anxiously bouncing his knees with a blue sweatshirt that was thick and wooly.

Nico clasped his hands together.

"Hey." Nico said, randomly. The boy stopped bouncing, like he wasn't sure if Nico was taking to him.

"Hey." The boy said. They were both silent and Nico noticed he looked edgy, whenever Nico moved. It was weird. The boy could easily deck Nico with a simple flick of his wrist.

"So your sister huh?"

Nico froze. He knew about Bianca? Or was it Hazel?

"You know the girl you just ran in here...?"

Nico relaxed. Thalia. He meant Thalia. "Oh yeah. Some idiot drugged her and almost had sex with her."

"Oh." He said.

"Why are you here?"

The boy tensed, he rubbed a hand over his wrist as if the sleeve was bugging him. "My mom." He said finally, "She got caught on a back road by a gang called The Monsters. Their leader, Minotaur, he...he..."

Nico watched as the boy struggled for words. He had to wipe a couple tears off his cheek, and for a second the sleeve rolled back and revealed a messily wrapped wrist.

"My mom...she's in critical support."