Chapter 1: Driving Myself Crazy

I ran out of the bar in blind rage,

shoving the glass door open and letting it slam behind. I ran quickly to my car and shoved the keys into the engine starter. The car roared to life and I drew three quick sharp breaths and slammed my head against the wheel.

"Dude, chill," Percy sat next to me and closed the door.

"Shut up."

"Here let me take the wheel, if you couldn't handle what just happened, I don't think road

rage-"

"I SAID SHUT IT"

I breathed in shaky breaths and wiped my tears that had somehow escaped during my

tyrant in the bar. I shakily took out a first aid kit from next to me and opened it. I used a pair of tweezers to remove the glass from my hands. My continuous shaking and rage caused my hand to drop the tweezers and the piece of glass.

"Do you need help?" Percy asked in a smaller voice.

I dropped my head back into the head of the seat.

"I'm good thanks."

I turned to Percy and saw the hurt and anger in his eyes. THat was the same look that he gave me. I then remembered everything that happened in the bar and it struck a flame in my stomach, stronger than ever.

I grabbed the wheels and glared straight ahead down the road. And I gathered all my anger and pushed down on the gas pedal hard.

3 months earlier

"What?" I blinked twice and stared at Chiron's solemn face.

"So what do you think?" Chiron asked me.

He twirled around the best he could (those four legs weren't doing him justice), showing off his new suit and pants that only fitted up halfway on his two front legs.

"So what are you going to do with the rest of your legs?" I stuttered, thrown off by

Chiron's new appearance.

"I don't think she'll mind, do you think she'll like me?" Chiron asked nervously.

I had a sudden interest in whatever was in the grass.

"I'm sure she would."

"Thanks Nico," he breathed out "You're good at this." Chiron hobbled away across the

way with campers from all directions turning to stare at him. I was pretty sure that any water nymph wouldn't mind spending a good 3 hours with Chiron eating strawberries picked from her cousin's home.

Hours passed as I supervised the new campers from the hilltop hanging out underneath

Thalia's tree and the heat was slowly getting to me, I took off my aviator jacket and was slowly drifting off to sleep. And all was dark.

I was suddenly standing in the dark by a barely lit fire in a junkyard, and a teen boy and

a younger girl were sitting by the fire. They seemed to be siblings, both with raven black hair and crystal blue eyes. They looked like they hadn't eaten in days and the life was being leached out of their eyes. They were snuggled up against each other, shuddering and covered by a thin, dirty sheet. I suddenly felt a hot, painful pang against my heart something I hadn't felt for a longtime. I felt my eyes fill up with tears, seeing them two being so close as siblings. It reminded me of Bianca, I've been too long apart from her.

/Flashback/

I shut my eyes and wondered what it would be like if it was warmer out here. We would be catching fireflies and singing songs that we heard from a radio. We would chase each other and swim in the lake and play Mythomagic together, with Mama and Papa. Mama would set out a platter of food that she personally cooked only a hour ago on a soft picnic blanket and all of us would stuff ourselves with lunch. Papa wouldn't have any calls from work (was Papa a businessman?)

An icy breeze blew past me, awakening me from my daydream. I shuddered and huddled deeper in my aviator jacket that was too thin against the freezing weather. Bianca sat across from me and repeatedly struck two rocks together, attempting to build a fire.

"Should we head back to the group?" I suggested.

"No, we're running away and we're never going back to that hell hole of a school." Bianca glared into the wet logs.

"I didn't know that you were serious about that."

"Oh, I'm very serious about this." Bianca struck again and a piece of wood caught on fire. "Got it!" She stood up and grinned, looking pleased with herself.

"It's not too late to go back, I bet they still have some hot dogs left. Maybe even some grapefruit…" I said hopefully, glancing at the fire.

Bianca grinned at me and knelt down beside me.

"I promise you, when we get out of here, I'll get you as much hot dogs and grapefruit as you want." She flicked my nose and I flinched. "They definitely have a lot of grapefruit left no one likes grapefruit except for you, especially since you're the most sour one of us all."

"Hey!" I said, swiping at her hand.

"Just kidding, Ben's definitely the sour one," Bianca tousled my hair. She stood up and stretched, she held out her hand.

"What?" I asked.

"Come dance with me."

"There's no music though," I said slightly confused.

"No, but I'm pretty happy right now, let's hum to the tune of…"

"Let's dance the swing," I said "Round the clock."

"Round the clock it is," Bianca smiled again. I took her hand and she pulled me up.

I felt my head getting hot and shook my head, Snap out of it! I had Hazel now.

I began walking towards them, wondering if they could see me. The girl looked up at me

and she leaned closer into her brother. Her brother looked up as well but this time looked passed me. I turned around and saw hundreds of fiery, brilliant meteors shooting our way. I turned back and both of them gone. My hands instinctively reached for my sword, when I realized it was gone. I frantically looked around and frozen when I saw the sheet the two siblings had now been cleaned and was hung from a tree.

I was knocked off my feet as the meteors began crashing into the ground, they vibrated

the space around them and shook the ground. I clenched at my ears and gritted my teeth as millions of screams ripped from the ground beneath me.

I woke up with a gasp and looked around me. The sun was setting and the fields looked

pretty peaceful, almost too peaceful. My hands dropped from my ears, where four curved cuts on each one (had formed because of my uncut fingernails) and began bleeding. My mouth had a very heavy metallic taste to it and my palms were clammy. I looked down at my waist and was immensely relieved when I saw that my sword was still in my sheath. I relaxed into the grass and took a deep breath.

My peace was shattered when a bunch of screaming 6 year old campers rushed up the

hill and jumped on him.

"Nico!" "Nico!" "Ni-"

"Alright kids, settle down!" Hazel chuckled, appearing from a side of the hill. Hazel

looked amazing as always, with her golden hair sparkling in the sun. She smiled and Nico's heart warmed, it reminded him of Bianca's smile. "Nico, come on, it's almost time for dinner and campfire." I stood up and opened my mouth to speak, when suddenly a waterfall of blood came out as well as a piece of meat and a note tied to it.

I choked on my own blood and the children screamed. Hazel just looked downright

horrified.

I began to hyperventilating, starting to think if that piece of meat was a piece of my

tongue and wonder where all that blood came from. I fell back and Hazel caught my head before it hit Thalia's tree. Hazel started crying for help and I just blacked out, again.