Disclaimer: I don't own PJO, Rick Riordan does.


It was a normal day in Camp Half-Blood, you know, the usual lava wall and sword fighting. Ever since the war ended last year, more and more demigods have arrived. Most of the former undetermined were placed in new cabins. Sadly, I was still sibling less. Hades (aka my dad) had kept his promise and didn't have children after WWII (unlike two other gods I know). It's not like I didn't have friends, though. I had Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and all the little Aphrodite girls seemed to follow me around, like I was a Jonas brother or something. Dad also let me visit Bianca whenever I wanted, as long as I played with Cerberus and took him on walks (I once tried to take him around LA. Lets just say that mortals don't respond well to a giant three-headed dog prancing down Sunset Blvd.)

I was in my cabin when someone knocked on the door.

"If your from Aphrodite," I yelled, "GO AWAY!!"

The door opened and Grover walked in.

"Oh," I said, "it's you."

"Hey Nico." Grover sighed.

"Where's Percy?" I asked.

"He and Annabeth went down to the lake for a little 'Percabeth' time" the satyr responded. Grover didn't bother wearing his Rasta cap or fake feet inside camp. We were safe here.

"Figures." I said, "Well, if they're in the lake, they will probably be there for another hour or two, so do you want to hang out?"

"Can't," Grover sighed again, "Juniper is taking me to meet her tree parents, and I came down here because Chiron asked me to get you. He wants to talk to you."

"Oh okay," I replied, " see you later. Good luck with Juniper!"

"Thanks, later."

As I ran up to the Big House I saw the Stoll brothers sneaking around the Ares cabin. Whatever they were doing, I did not want to be around when Clarisse found out. I got to the steps of the Big House and saw Chiron and Mr. D playing pinochle.

"Drat!" Mr. D yelled as his cup filled with diet coke, "I wish I had a pinochle partner who wasn't so good."

"Ah, Nico!" Chiron said when he saw me, "Just in time to let me win. Good timing!"

"Uh, Grover said you wanted to talk to me?" I asked.

"Right! Well you see, one of our demigods said they heard about another Camp Half-Blood, in Austin, Texas." Chiron explained. "We would like you to scout it out, see whether it really is a sister branch, or just some hocus pocus baloney."

"So," I responded, "This is like a quest?"

"Yes," Chiron said, "only you don't have to receive a prophecy."

"I got a prophecy for you!" yelled Mr. D, "never play pinochle with a centaur named Chiron!!"

I ignored Mr. D and thought about this. I had never been to Texas. Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

"How am I going to get to Austin?" I asked.

"Well," Chiron started, "we chose you because we thought it would be easy for you to shadow travel there. It's too far for Argus to drive, and we wouldn't dare send you in a plane. Also, it's two short notice for you to go on foot, because you have to be there Monday. If you left tomorrow, that would give you a whole day to rest."

"Ok then," I said, "I'm going to Texas."

* * * * *

That night after I packed my bag (ambrosia, sword, list of supplies for camp, etc.) I decided to go down to the underworld. I had my own passage way down there which I had to really fight for. Chiron only agreed if we put it outside the camp boundaries, and if I was the only one to know about it. When I got down there I went strait to play with Cerberus. I hadn't played with him in over a week and I figured I owed it to him. I had bought with me his favorite type of toy: a red ball, courtesy of Annabeth Chase.

"Hey boy!" I yelled, "Look what I bought you!"

Cerberus barked so loudly that it disturbed the dead. He came pounding toward me and jumped, landing right on me. If that wasn't bad enough, he started licking me, one head at a time.

"No boy!" I yelled. "Eww, get off me! I bought your ball!"

That got his attention. I played with him some more and after a while I had to say good-bye. It was 10:00PM in the mortal world, and I know Chiron wanted me well rested to shadow travel. I couldn't believe it, tomorrow, I was going to Texas.