Chapter One: The day at the beach

Nico's POV

I was looking at my skeleton ring thinking about my past and death, to summarize everything up. The phone rang and I picked it up. I looked at the caller ID, it was Percy.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone.

"Hey Nico, want to come over to my house and go to the beach with us?" Percy asked.

"With who," I asked.

"The whole crew and I invited Coach Hedge too." Percy replied.

"Sounds fun, I'll come to your house in a couple of minutes." I said "See you."

I hung up the phone and I ran out the door.

The day was cloudy and stormy so there was no one else on the beach. Perfect. Percy dropped his blanket onto the floor and everyone else followed his example.

"Okay let's play Truth or Dare, cupcakes!" Coach Hedge yelled into his megaphone. We all plopped down.

"I call first!" Leo said. He turned Coach Hedge's megaphone and spun it on the beach floor. The mouth of the megaphone pointed to Piper's direction.

"Well Pipes, truth or dare?" Leo asked smiling sinisterly. Piper turned pale. She tugged on the strap of her swimsuit.

"Erhmmm..." Piper thought for a moment "Truth."

Leo grinned "Well Pipes, have you ever had another guy in your life other than Jason?" Piper turned red.

"Um… well…" she stammered out "There was this one guy who I had a crush own, but as I got older, he became a jerk and um… end of the story."

I got nervous I started fingering my ring, if I had to tell the truth about what happened last Friday…

Piper spun the megaphone and it pointed at Annabeth. "So, truth or dare?" Piper smirked.

Annabeth said "Well, I'm not taking any risks, so I am choosing truth." Piper smiled "What was the worst thing that happened in your life? Non demigod related."

Annabeth stared up into the clouds. "Well, probably when my dad married my step mom and then when they neglected me. Everyone nodded understandingly.

Annabeth spun the megaphone and it pointed to me. I gulped. Annabeth's gray stormy eyes seemed to bore into my flesh. "So, di Angelo? Truth or dare?"

I licked my dry lips; I didn't want any of my secrets to be out in the open so I said "Dare."

"Well, no one was brave enough to go for dare, so I'll give you a good one." She said. Oh no. She pointed to Percy's surfboard, I want you to go and ride the waves when it's high wave." I heard everyone suck in their breath.

"But I might get wet," I said. "And I have my aviator jacket on right now."

"You can borrow one of my swim pants." Percy said grinning.

"Are you serious?"

"Anything to see you ride the waves."

"Fine."

I stood awkwardly next to the water holding Percy's huge surfboard and wearing Percy's shorts and absolutely nothing else. I felt covered in Percy. Ugh.

"Come on Nico, you can do it!" My sister Hazel cheered. I waved to her half- heartedly, my smile more like a grimace.

"YOU CAN DO IT CUPCAKE! THE COW GOES MOO!" The coach yelled "BY THE GODS, VALDEZ!"

On the edge of the shoreline I lay on the surf board and pushed off. There was that rush of adrenaline that ran down my spine as the waves pushed further away from the shore. It was fun for a few minutes, until I saw an unfriendly dark gray fin racing towards me. I was so taken aback, I crouched on the surf board and the surf board ran out underneath my feet. I yelled and splashed into the dark waters. I heard the others shout and saw Percy swimming towards me.

I felt knives slicing into my arm and I thought I saw red liquid splashing onto my face. And as if it couldn't get worse, a rain storm started and hit the water, I felt a shocking sensation. It burned a lot. The waves lifted all around me and crashed onto me. I couldn't breathe; I sunk underneath the water and waited for my father to receive me.