This is my first fanfic. It may suck, but fingers-crossed it doesn't. I don't own PJO but do own Jesse Dread (he was made by my messed up mind. ;) Enjoy.

Nico's POV:

I sat in silence, my back rubbing against the hard bark of a pine tree. It wasn't Thalia's pine. This one was smaller, and much less important. I thought about Thalia. What would she look like running into battle? Hot, probablly. Her spiky-black hair in her breath-taking blue eyes, a silver bow slung around her pale shoulder, holding the arrows which she'd perice through the hearts of blood-thirsty monsters. .

While I was lost in thought, I hadn't noticed Annabeth and Percy, edging closer. Annabeth gave me a quizzical look, and Percy turned toward the direction I was looking. Percy turned back, and asked, "Are you stalking an imaginary person, Death Boy?" I made my hazel eyes level with his emerald eyes, and answer, "No. I'm just - you know - thinking." Annabeth came over, placing her tanned hand on the shoulder of my avatior jacket. Her gray eyes sparkled, like the ripples on a gray-colored pond.

"Nico. Stop obsessing over a girl you can't have. There are so many other girls at camp who flirt with you all the time. Why not date one of them?" I sighed. Sure, I'd noticed all the other girls at camp. And yes, I'd noticed their non-stop flirting. I just didn't like them that way. They seemed nice enough to be friends with, but they all wanted to be serious. I was 15, and a son of Hades. Who wanted to date the son of the God of the freaking Dead? Nobody alive, sane, and willing.

I slumped against the tree. "I just. . . don't know what to do, or who to date. How do I kiss right? How do I know if she likes me or not? How do I know if it's not a prank?" I looked up at Annabeth and Percy. Annabeth - for a change - looked clueless. Percy was looking around, probably for an excuse to leave. Then he shouted, "Hey, Drew! We need some love-help!" Oh, crap.

Drew ran over, her sleek black hair flopping around behind her. She wore a neon-orange tank-top, very short shorts that showed off her glamorous long legs, and to top it off, a metal headband that gleamed like gold in the sunlight. She smiled sweetly, showing off her perfect white teeth. "Hey, Percy. What kind of love help? Like dumping that tramp Annabeth" - Drew noticed Annabeth standing beside Percy, her arms crossed over her chest - "Oh. Hi, Annabeth. How are you?" Annabeth narrowed her gray-eyes, probably wondering if she could stab Drew with her own metal headband. "Oh, just fine, Drew. What was that about we being a tramp?"

Percy stepped in between them. "Hey, stop it. The love-advice isn't for me. It's for Nico." Drew's eyebrows shot up, and she laughed like a hyena. A very fashionable hyena.

"Him? Hades' kid, wants love advice?" She asked between choking and laughing. I glared, my hazel eyes burning like hot coals. "I don't want the advice, Drew. Actually you can go back over to your gossiping circle and be the snob you usually are." I held up my hand, and mimicked a wave. Percy, Annabeth, and Drew stared at me, jaws dropped. Then, Drew mumbled some very choice words in ancient Greek, and stomped off toward the other Aphrodite kids. Annabeth laughed. "Yeah, Death Boy, show her who's boss."

Right then, Grover ran over in his Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, and shaggy goat hindquarters. He clopped over in his polished hooves, gasping for breath. Percy put his hand on the satyr's shoulder, steading him. "Yo, G-man. What's the rush?"

"Some new camper. He - he's half dead. We don't know his name, his godly parent, or how he got here. But - Nico, he wants to talk to you." Grover bent over, the palms of his hands on his knees. I stared at him, like he was crazy. A new camper? Who wants to talk to me? This kid must be crazy, but I rushed over with Grover, Annabeth, and Percy to see this 'new camper'.

When we got to the Big House, the first thing we saw was the blood. Blood was smeared on the wooden steps, and red hand-prints were on the door by the metal handle. Grover opened the door, ushering us in to keep the other demigods from peeping inside. That's when I saw Mr. D and Chiron hovering over a limp teenager's body. The boy's black hair was tousled and messy, his face smeared in dried blood. The boy wore black clothes: a black t-shirt , dark holey-jeans, and black shoes covered in green-monster blood. A necklace hung around his neck: it was beaded, but in the very middle, a carefully carved wooden skull, painted with black-and-white paint, hung loosely on a black rope.

Mr. D was poking the un-moving boy with a wooden branch covered in strawberry vines. He was watching the boy closely, looking for any movement at all. The only movement was the boy's head banging sharply against the wood-paneled floor. Nico looked up at Chiron, who gestured to the boy, saying, "This kid came at about 9 o'clock, half-dead, asking where you were. Try and wake him up."

I walked over to the limp boy, crouching slowly next to his head. I put my hands on his chest, pushing my weight on the boy's shirt. Then, in a sudden flicker of movement, the boy's eyes shot open, and he stared at me with wide hazel eyes. "Ow! Get off would ya'?" I stood up abruptly, and the boy stood up, too. He glared at me, wiping his chest furiously, as if I was a disease. "What was that for, man?" Then, he turned, only to have Mr. D poke him in the cheek with his vine-covered branch. He brushed it off, then saw Chiron's horse body. "Um, dude, you're a horse." Chiron raised an eyebrow. "You are taking this well. . ." Chiron muttered. The boy shrugged.

Chiron looked him over. "What's your name?"

"Uh - Jesse. Jesse Dread." Then, Jesse turned and saw me. His face lit up, and his eyes seemed to dance. "You're that kid. Nico, right? Nico di Angelo?" I just stared at him, but eventually nodded. "Dad told me to find you. He said you could help me." The kid seemed to be getting pretty excited. "He said you could help me save my best friend."

Was that good? I'm pretty proud of myself. . . Thanks for reading. I'll post more. :)