"Connor!" Connor looked up from his bunk bed (under Travis's—a result of losing the bet they made when they first came to Camp) and came face-to-face with none other than the camp newbie, Nico di Angelo.

"Oh hey Nico, what's up?" he asked, curious as to why Nico would take off a bit of time from the activities to come talk with him, cabin co-counselor. The kid was way too hyper to normally sit down and have a nice chat (though he couldn't really say much for himself).

"Well… There'sthisnewcardgamethatIreallylikeandthere'sato urnament—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there, will ya?" Connor asked, brain trying to comprehend the information dump that he had just been through. "So… you wanna go to a card game tournament?"

Nico blushed and mumbled, "It's a really cool game… I couldn't get a deck before 'cause I didn't have the money, but the tournament's here in New York City, so can we go? Chiron said that I need a guardian to go with me, and I guess they wouldn't let a ten year old kid to go in by himself, so can you come?" He finally finished his long rant and looked at him pleadingly. Note to self, kids plus puppy eyes equals indestructible mortal weapon. Connor found that he couldn't say no, because who would do that to such an innocent kid (how much he would regret that thought later) and finally put down the layouts for Mission Golden Mango. Now he just needed to find Travis.

Travis had been more than willing, after he placed a video camera in a strategic place where it wouldn't be found and had the Aphrodite cabin in perfect view.

Now, an hour later, they were ready to go out into the mortal part of NYC.

A long car ride later, the trio found themselves in front of a stadium of average size, and there was a freaking long line in front of the ticket booth.

"Darn," muttered Connor. He hated lines. Glancing at Travis, they nodded simultaneously.

"Okay, Nico, you just wait here—"

"—We'll be right back—"

"—So don't worry your little mind about us, 'kay?"

And just like that they were gone. Nico whipped his head left and right, but he couldn't find the Stoll brothers anywhere. He wondered if he should get in line and wait…

Then they were back, three tickets in hand.

Nico stared at one, then the other, and finally shrugged, leading the way to the entrance.

When they got to their seats, they really weren't expecting a really girly looking guy and an American that was… looking way too patriotic for December.

"Pegasus J. Crawford and Bandit Keith Howard! They're the ones dueling," Nico said excitedly. Connor and Travis grinned and turned their attention back to the duelists as the match started.

The man named Pegasus just sat there. The brothers looked at each other in confusion, but were interrupted by a soft voice.

"Ugh… no… make it stop…" Travis looked over at Nico in alarm. The 10 year old clutched his head with both hands and slightly rocking back and forth in his seat, pain evident on his strained face. He locked eyes with his brother.

What was going on? It couldn't be a monster—it would be blatantly obvious with so many mortals around. Connor made an attempt to comfort Nico, but the young boy either ignored him or was just blank to the world.

Nico's head hurt. This repeated pounding rhythm was getting to him and he couldn't think, it hurts it hurts ithurtssomuch—

Dark, damp place, it looked like the inside of a huge cave. There were three lines, he couldn't really tell, the image flashed by too quickly, but the lines scattered to make way for one person,

Bianca.

Her translucent form was the only clue he needed to know that something was wrong, but he denied it, it couldn't be, Percy promised, but he knew.

Something inside him told him that yes, Bianca was dead, and what he just saw was her spirit, possibly in the Underworld, and he felt angry, angry that he couldn't do anything, angry that the other four quest members couldn't have gone in her place—

But his head hurt so badly.

Wake up, he tried to tell himself. Wake up, get back to the stadium, you're at the duel tournament, this isn't real, wait. What is that?

The image had long since been replaced with an infinite expanse of darkness, blues and purples and blacks swirling around him, but not too far from him, he could see a bit of gold—was that an eye? A gold eye? Why would someone have something like that?

He could find it out later; now get back to the present, stupid brain! But it seemed that even that request was too much and—

—He found himself in the infirmary, staring at the ceiling and he couldn't help but think, was that real?

I did a thing.

Okay, so for those of you who don't understand,

Pegasus used Mind Scan, and thus uses Shadow Magic.

Shadow Magic affected Nico and caused him to awaken the death-sensing thing he does, and saw Bianca.

It also affected him in that he blacked out do to it overloading his brain.

'Kay?

Tell me what you guys think :)

ETC (End Thought Capacity)