Nico's POV

Nico just wanted to walk by himself. He enjoyed it. He could be alone with his thoughts. No interruptions. Who wanted to bother a son of Hades anyway? Evidently, Elise Mosely wanted to.

She was annoying. That was all Nico had to say about her. She giggled too much. She was conceited in the extreme. Worst of all, she kept trying to be his friend.

Never before, in all his life, had he met someone who could get on your nerves like Elise. The only person who came close was Percy Jackson. Percy was irritating, true, but Elise took it to a whole new level. She was infuriating. She was the very embodiment Percy's annoying-ness on steroids.

He had no reservation thinking those things. He got that everyone was supposed to feel bad for her because she was fifteen and her godly parent hadn't bothered to claim her yet. He just wasn't really up for the whole "feeling bad" thing.

For the sake of his few real friends, Nico tried to tolerate her. Who didn't love Elise? She was just everybody's favorite, and if you didn't like her, you must have been messed up! It made Nico sick.

So, when she practically skipped to walk with him, Nico had to fight the urge to yank out one of her messy, frizzy, honey-colored ringlets.

"Hey, vas happenin'?" she chimed.

Nico shrugged. "Nothing really…" he mumbled, when all he was thinking was, Go away!

"Wrong!" she giggled. "Didn't you hear?"

Nico sighed. "Hear what?"

Elise stepped in front of him and began walking backwards. "Apollo's back. Rachel started with the prophecies again."

Nico stopped dead in his tracks. "So, what did she say?"

Elise shrugged. "I don't remember. It was something about Kayla Barton and Austin Robinson going on a quest for Aphrodite's hairbrush or makeup kit or something. They're leaving for Philadelphia tomorrow with Grover Underwood's cousin. At least I think it was his cousin."

Another flaw that Elise had acquired: she couldn't remember anything if her life depended on it. At least she remembered Austin was going. The son of Apollo was practically her boyfriend, and if she forgot, Nico would've been concerned.

Nico shoved his hands in his pockets. "Okay. Nice…"

She stared at him with a look of anticipation. "Well, c'mon, Nico! This is huge! We don't have a prophecy in a year and all you have to say is, 'Nice'?" she laughed.

Nico shrugged. "I guess I'm not a big fan of quests. They're dangerous. Not something to be anticipated."

Her face fell. "Oh. Well, I personally am excited. Things are finally getting back to normal around here…"

As if Elise knew anything about normal. She arrived at camp at the worst possible time: during the war with Gaea. The normal Elise knew were warring camps and exploding demigods.

"So…" Nico began. "Is that all, or…"

Elise furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh, no, there was something else…"

Nico waited as patiently as he could. Elise always managed to make things awkward.

"Oh!" she finally exclaimed. "Duh. Everyone's already in the Mess Hall. I didn't know if you weren't hungry or if you missed Mr. D's announcement or…"

Nico shook his head. "I actually wasn't going to go in today…."

Elise nodded quickly. "Oh, yeah, sure. Ok. It's just that…" She began twisting her pinkie finger and sighed. "Will is pretty much demanding that you come and eat something."

Rolling his eyes, Nico started to trudge to the Mess Hall. Will Solace was always trying to make sure he was in the best health humanly possible. It wasn't that Nico didn't appreciate the effort; it's just that he was fine. For real.

Elise skipped behind him. Sometimes, it was hard to believe she was fifteen. She acted like such a little kid.

"Why do you skip so much?" he asked over his shoulder. He instantly regretted it.

She answered in a way that only she could. "Because I'm a fairy and I'm trying to fly."

Nico rolled his eyes. Holy mercy. Fifteen? More like five.

They reached the Mess Hall in one piece, surprisingly. No one paid attention to them when they walked in. Or at least, no one would have.

Elise nearly hollered at the top of her lungs, "I'm back!" Oh, sure, that was probably directed to the Hermes table, but everyone heard it. She bounded to her table and sat down, immediately picking up a conversation with Travis Stoll.

Will caught Nico's eye. He looked angry. All he did was point to the Hades table. There was already a plate of food there.

Nico nodded at Will and shuffled over to his assigned table. He sat down and immediately decided he was in no mood to devour the enormous burger set in front of him. A few of the fries would be enough for him.

For a few minutes, he did nothing but blankly stare ahead. There was no one to talk to anyway. After the war, he did have Hazel for a while, but too soon she was gone. His friends had convinced him to stay, but part of him wanted to go take care of his sister.

A round of cheering came from all around him. Nico tried to discover the cause of the commotion. It didn't take long. Kayla, Austin, and a satyr Nico didn't recognize had walked in with Chiron.

Motioning for the campers to settle down, Chiron began to speak. "No doubt all of you are already aware of the recent prophecy given by our Oracle, Rachel. The quest for Aphrodite's Dove is an important one, no doubt."

Oh, so Elise's memory-loss was so bad, she couldn't remember that they were questing for Aphrodite's symbol of power.

Chiron continued. "In concordance with the prophecy, two children of Apollo will be embarking on this quest along with a satyr. After careful consideration, Kayla Barton, Austin Robinson and Lazlo Waters have been chosen."

The campers exploded into more cheers and applause. Chiron again silenced them.

"Austin, Kayla, Lazlo, this will be no easy task. The quest will be fraught with danger, and you may not return alive. Are you willing to take that risk?"

Kayla spoke up without hesitation. "We are."

There was no calming the crowd after that. Chiron yelled over the noise. Something about showing support and whatever. No one really heard or cared.

Nico didn't join in the commotion. The buzz of energy that swept over the campers didn't affect him one bit. However, he did hope for the best or them, because there would be times for them when hope was all they had.

Nico decided that no one would notice if he slipped away now. So, he left. He headed back to his cabin.

When he entered, he looked around. He had finished redecorating last August. It was now a medium gray room with pomegranate accents. He was pretty proud of his work, and he was able to enjoy it all by himself.

He sat down on his bed and picked up a book Annabeth had recommended before she and Percy left for college. It was peaceful here, if a little lonely.

It was late when a knock came on the door. It was almost curfew. Before Nico could answer, it was open.

Will stood in the doorway. "Hey, buddy," he greeted.

"Hi, Will," Nico answered, feeling guilty for running off.

Will walked into the cabin slowly. He waited a while before speaking. "So, I'm just taking a shot in the dark here, but I'm assuming that you're not as excited for quests as everyone else."

Nico sighed. "People die on quests, Will. I've seen it too many times. Beckendorf, Leo, Bianca… It's bound to happen again at some point."

Will nodded and sat down on the bed opposite to Nico. "I'm worried about, Kayla," he confessed. "She's young. She's impetuous. Sure, she's got experience, but…"

Nico shut his book. "Will, don't make predictions about who's going to die. It's frightening coming from the son of Apollo."

Will shrugged. "You're right. I shouldn't worry so much. I'm just freaked out because they're my siblings. That's all."

"Believe me, I know how that is." What Nico left unsaid is that siblings don't always come back just because you worry.

Will stood to leave. "I guess I'll leave you to your book. I imagine things are going to be hectic in our cabin. By the way, don't think I didn't see how much you didn't eat. You've got to take care of yourself, kid."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I'm not a kid, Will."

"I know, I know," Will responded. "It's just because we're worried about you. We all care about you."

Nico re-opened his book. "Okay, Will. I get it."

Will seemed to hesitate for a moment, but he just nodded and left.

Nico thought long and hard about what Will said. We all care about you. He doubted the truth of it. He was able to narrow the list of people who really cared about him to four people: Will, Jason, Hazel, and (though he hadn't seen her in a while) Reyna. Maybe Annabeth, but that was a big maybe.

Of course, there were the people who pretended. That was Percy, Elise, and… well, pretty much the whole camp. Nico was used to it. Besides, someone had to represent Hades here…