I don't own Percy Jackson. I do own Jack Willis and Mrs. Winters.

Chapter 1 – Fifth Grade

The minute he'd opened the package Nico had decided that the Hades statue was his favorite. Bianca had sent it from Rome, she was there on an exchange trip. She'd been gone since Christmas but she was coming home that day. That was why his father wasn't there, he had to go pick up Bianca. They would be home soon, and Nico had made his sister a painting in art that day. He wasn't a particularly good artist, he knew, but he decided that no one could mess up throwing bright green paint on a black piece of construction paper, although his teacher had yelled at him that it wasn't art.

There was a knock at the door, and Nico looked up. He wasn't sure who would be knocking at their door at five o'clock in the afternoon. He hadn't ordered pizza, Percy was at swim practice, and Nico didn't have any other friends.

Dad must have forgotten his key, he decided as he stood up and went to the door.

It was a lady wearing a police officer's uniform. "Hi, is your dad home?"

Nico shook his head. "He went to pick up my sister. She's coming home from Rome today."

The lady's face twisted into an expression that Nico couldn't quite label. "Bianca."

"Yup."

"And you must be Nico."

Nico nodded. "Do you need something?"

The lady cleared her throat and knelt down on one knee. "Your sister isn't coming home," she said gently.

Nico felt cold. "What do you mean?"

The lady looked sad. "The plane from Rome that your sister was on crashed. Bianca didn't survive."

Nico shook his head. "You're wrong. My dad would have called me."

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart…"

"You're wrong," Nico interrupted. He was calm, and he wasn't sure why. He should be sad, right? Crying? She'd just told him that his sister was dead. And called him sweetheart.

She put a hand on his arm but he tore it away and shut the door.

"She was lying," he whispered to himself. "She had to be."

He stood there for a few seconds with his hand on the doorknob, his breathing heavy and his heart racing. There was no way that Bianca was dead. His dad would be there any second lugging her suitcase and she'd wrap him in a hug and tell him all about Rome and he'd give her the painting and laugh about what the police officer had said.

But that didn't happen, and after five minutes of standing there staring at the door Nico turned and ran to his room. He tripped and fell on the floor, and when he saw what had tripped him he wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

It was the Hades Mythomagic statue. The one from Rome. The last thing Bianca had given him.

Because he knew she was dead, he could feel it, and this just seemed cruel.

He stood up, picked up the statue, and hurled it as hard as he could at the wall. Then he sat down on the bed and stared at the mirror across the room.

He had her eyes and her hair and her pale skin. They both looked like their mother, but she'd died when Nico was three. It seemed cruel, first he lost his mother and now his sister. He wasn't particularly close to his father, so how was he supposed to survive with no other family?

He stood and picked up the Hades statue, running his thumb over the little face and the robes and the skull that the statue held. He looked back up over his shoulder at the mirror and wondered why he wasn't crying, he should be crying, shouldn't he? His sister was dead, he should cry for her. What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he cry?

Because he was too numb for that. He felt like he'd been frozen inside, like he'd never feel again.

How am I going to do this? Hades asked himself, turning off the car and staring at the wall of the house in front of him. How do I tell a ten-year-old that his sister is dead?

He'd gotten to the airport and stood there waiting for an hour before an airport official had come up to him and asked what flight he was waiting for. When he told the young man he swore softly and explained in a gentle tone that that flight had crashed. No one had survived.

Hades had nodded and thanked the young man, and then sat there staring at the floor in shock. For the first fifteen minutes he hadn't thought anything, just stared at the floor and listened to people walking by. Then he'd realized that his ten-year-old son was still at home waiting for him and Bianca and he ran to the bathrooms, locked himself in a stall, and broke down crying.

Twenty minutes later found him driving home.

After sitting in his car and staring at the wall for a few minutes Hades realized that Nico already knew. The man at the airport had said something about sending people home to alert the family. Whoever had been sent to his home would have told Nico.

Hades darted out of his car, panicking. Nico was home alone, and he'd just learned that his sister was dead. What would he do? Would he cry like Hades had? Nico had never cried much, even as a baby. Would he cry for his sister?

"Nico?" Hades called as he closed the door behind him. Nico didn't answer. "Nico?" he called again. He began making his way towards Nico's room. The door was closed. He knocked.

Nico's head turned from the mirror to the door when he heard his father knocking. He sat still for a few seconds, trying to decide what to do. Then he stood up, crossed the room, locked the door, and went back to his bed, the Hades figurine still in his hands. He could hear his father knocking and saying his name and telling him that they needed to talk but he ignored it.

He didn't leave his room until two o'clock the next morning to get food. He stayed in his room all the next day and the day after, and when he finally left he didn't say anything to his father. He walked into the kitchen on Wednesday morning, sat at the table, and poured himself a bowl of cereal. His father sat next to him and they ate in silence.

Nico went back to school the following Monday, a week after Bianca's death, because his father forced him to. Normally he would have walked with Bianca, their schools were right next to each other, but Hades drove him.

"Hey Nico!" his best friend Percy called out when he saw Nico walk in the door. "Where've you been? I thought you were sick or something, but you never get sick, especially not for a whole week…"

Usually Percy's ability to never shut up annoyed Nico, but right now he was glad of it. Percy took another five minutes before he remembered his initial question. "So where were you?"

Nico looked down at his hands and didn't answer.

"Nico?" Percy said, concern lacing his voice. "Is everything okay?"

Please please please just start talking again, Nico thought. Everything's easier when you're talking.

But Percy didn't start talking, so Nico just made his way to their classroom with Percy trailing behind him. When they got to their room Percy grabbed Nico's arm and said, "Seriously, Nico, what's wrong?"

Nico glanced around the room, wondering how he was supposed to get out of this, and breathed a sigh of relief when their teacher, Mrs. Winters, walked over to talk to him. Of course he should have known what she wanted to talk about, but at least Nico didn't have to explain to Percy.

"Nico, I was so sorry to hear about your sister," Mrs. Winters said. "She was a wonderful girl…"

"What happened to Bianca?" Percy interrupted.

Mrs. Winters looked back and forth between Nico and Percy. "You didn't…" she started, then looked at Percy with sad eyes. "Percy, come here please," she said, leading him away.

A few seconds later Percy dropped his backpack and ran over to Nico. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, looking like he was about to cry. He wrapped his arms around Nico in a hug.

The bell rang and they both went to their desks. Mrs. Winters never called on Nico that day, and during lunch and recess people avoided him, except the teachers who came over to give their condolences. Percy stayed by his side all day, and after a few classes he realized that Nico wasn't going to say anything. He stopped asking questions but never left him alone.

"Hi, Nico, I'm Doctor Willis. You can call me Jack." The therapist his father had made him see had curly brown hair and chocolate brown eyes and looked exactly like Nico thought someone named Jack would look. He was smiling and holding out his hand for Nico to shake, but Nico just nodded and looked at the floor. "Why don't you come in and sit down?" Jack asked, leading Nico over to one of the chairs. Jack sat on the chair across from Nico's with a pad and pen.

"Tell me about your sister," Jack asked, but Nico just looked at the wall behind Jack and said nothing. He'd started talking again, about two weeks after coming back to school, but the school guidance counselor had suggested to Hades that Nico go to a few therapy sessions.

"Okay, how about we start with your mother. Can you tell me about her?"

Nico pulled the Hades figurine out of his pocket and started playing with it.

"What's that?" Jack asked. Nico didn't look up. Jack sighed. "Nico, I'm here to help you. But I need you to talk to me."

Nico stood up and went to the corner of the room. He crouched down and hugged his knees to his chest and stared at the floor.

Jack kept trying to talk to him, even going so far as to come sit in front of him, but Nico just stared at the floor or the ceiling or sometimes the chairs. What did I do? hewondered. What did I do wrong?

I had a bit of a hard time writing the part about Hades at the airport. Hades is much nicer in this story than in others, I think.

I decided to change the name of this story, but it's based on Without You By My Side. Actually it's the same story, just with more details.

I've already finished the second chapter, so that should be up pretty soon, and I'm almost done with the third chapter. And I planned out the entire story. Each chapter will be a different grade, so chapter two will be sixth grade and chapter three will be seventh grade, etc. Except eleventh grade will be in three parts unless something changes. But it shouldn't.

I hope you liked this, I'll have the next chapter up probably next week.

Review!