So hi :3 This is my first story, hope you like it. I don't own PJO.

Nico's POV:

Aria Marco.

She was my mission. Chiron assigned me to the job of finding her and bringing her to Camp Half-Blood. He said she is 'high risk'. Last month she attracted quite the crowd of monsters and gave her school quite a scare. I'd only been in her school for a few days, but it felt like years. Highbrooks Boarding School in Massachusetts was probably the strictest school I'd ever been to. Girls and boys were always separated, even in the hallways, so that didn't make it any easier for me to find her. On top of that, I had to cut my hair short and wear a stuffy uniform. Tonight was the high school dance, and probably the only chance I had at finding her. I checked my watch again, 6:41. I readied myself in my dorm room, and made my way to the cafeteria. As I was walking, I pulled her picture out of my jacket pocket. The back of the picture gave her details.

Name: Aria Marco

Eye Color: Gray

Hair Color: Brown

Height: 5' 6"

Age: 15

Godly Parent: Unknown

I flipped it over and stared at her picture. She was slim with olive skin. Her wavy dark hair just barely reached her shoulders. A small braid held her bangs out of her face. A few freckles were splattered across her small nose and under her eyes. In the picture, she wasn't looking directly at the camera, but she was smiling at something. Her smile was pretty, and so was she. I glanced again at her last name. Probably Italian. I couldn't help but draw similarities between her and Bianca. I sighed, and hated being there just a little bit more. I scanned around the room and tried to match her face to any of the girls dancing around. It was hard to focus with the loud music and the crowd of sweaty boys grinding all over the girls. I spotted one girl with similar hair, but she was too pale. Then I saw one with darker skin, but her nose was too large. Too tall, too heavy, not a brunette. I went through at least twenty girls before I found her. She was leaning against the left wall, chatting with a few other students. Unlike her peers, who looked like they had been dancing, her uniform was perfect and unwrinkled. Her hair was curled in ringlets and fell nicely on her shoulders. The blonde girl next to her said something, and Aria laughed. She seemed so carefree. My heart sank a little as I realized I was about to erase everything she thought she knew about the world, and introduce her to a much scarier one. I stood there and stared at her for a moment, letting her enjoy her last few seconds of normality. Suddenly, she and her friends started walking towards the dance floor.

OH GODS NO! I thought. I'll lose her in the crowd!

I quickened my stride until I was sprinting after her. A few students gave me questionable looks, but I just pushed them aside. I was within touching distance, and absentmindedly, I reached out and grabbed her arm. She turned to me, her eyebrows raised. I mentally slapped myself.

Great. Now she thinks I'm a creep. I thought.

"Uh..hi." I said like an idiot.

She smiled uncomfortably.

"Hi." she yelled over the music. "Could you,like, let go of me?"

I immediately released her. Her eyes were wide and alert. She looked like she wanted to bolt, but I couldn't lose her again, so I went to my last resort.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked.

She gave me a wary look then nodded slowly.

"Uh, yeah sure." she yelled.

I had no idea what the hell I was doing. It was less like dancing, and more like awkwardly swaying and jumping while facing each other. She leaned in close to my ear.

"I don't think I've ever seen you around," she said. "What's you name?"

"Nico." I said. "And you're Aria, right?"

This made her stop dancing.

"How do you know me?" she asked. I shrugged.

"It's...a long story." I said.

She stared at me, then suddenly grabbed my shirt and pulled me to her ear.

"If you are what I think you are, I have a knife, so I wouldn't try anything."

I couldn't help but chuckle when she pulled a pocket knife out of her bra.

"You think that little thing will kill a monster?" I laughed.

She took a cautious step back. Wow, I sucked at this.

"I'm not a monster." I said quickly.

"Oh really?" she scoffed. "Because that sounds like something a monster would say."

"I swear I'm not," I said. "But I know why you've been seeing them. And I know how to make it stop."

Behind her appeared two girls. One was African American, the other was blonde. I recognized them as the girls I had seen talking with Aria earlier. They were pretty; both had pin straight hair and pretty white teeth. They were both staring at me.

"Who's this?" the blonde one asked.

"This is Nico." she said. "Uh, he's new here."

The other girl smiled and winked at me. "I'll say," she said. She traced a finger down my forearm, and I could feel the goosebumps rising on my skin. Something about the way they looked at me was unnerving. They almost looked...hungry.

"I don't think I've made out with you yet." She giggled and flashed me a blinding white smile. My surrounding went fuzzy. I forgot about Aria, I forgot about my mission, I forgot about everything. I knew something wasn't right, but I didn't care. All I wanted to do was kiss her glossy lips. They were so perfect...so tempting...

Aria's scream jarred me out of my fantasy. The blonde girl was holding Aria's pocket knife to her throat. The Mist lifted and I saw the girls for what they were.

"Empousai." I said.