Chapter 1

Jason

Jason hadn't thought it was possible to be so shocked until he spoke to Nico D'Angelo.

Nico was a creepy kid even before he needed to tell Jason that Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus. Add that, and Jason pretty much wanted to run away screaming.

He couldn't believe it. Percy and Annabeth were probably the most experienced Demigods alive, and now he didn't even know if they were alive.

Nico said they would meet them on the other side of the Doors of Death, but Jason was afraid that after the fall, Percy and Annabeth would be in no shape to do anything.

He still couldn't even believe they had fallen at all. Annabeth was way too smart, Percy way too powerful, way too good.

Frank and Hazel were just sitting down in the stable, staring through the glass bottom. Hazel had hardly stopped crying to tell her brother she was so happy he was alright. Frank just seemed shell shocked.

Leo kept muttering under his breath, and talking to Festus, like maybe that would help. Maybe Festus knew something.

Piper had locked herself in her room and was crying. Jason tried to talk to her but nothing worked. She wouldn't even answer him as he knocked on her door.

Coach Hedge was basically fine. Saying that Annabeth and Percy were some of the toughest cupcakes he'd ever seen and that they were going to probably blow everyone out of the sky one day.

Jason never understood Coach, so he didn't try now.

Then there was Nico. Jason remembered that when Nico came to Camp Jupiter Jason had always thought he was a little scary. And he was definitely powerful and mysterious. But he was also very sad.

So after trying to talk to every other person or goat on the Argo II, Jason gave up and went to the medical area to talk to Nico.

The son of Hades was sitting staring out one of the portholes. He looked way sadder than before.

"Hey Jason." He said quietly before Jason even got too close. Jason looked at Nico. The younger boy looked exhausted, and his kept randomly grabbing small bits of food from the plate on the table next to his bed.

His ribs were prominent, and there were dark circles under his eyes, despite the fact that he had been in a self induced coma for the past few days.

"Hey Nico. You alright?" He asked, noticing the Nico was holding onto something in his hand. "What is that?"

Nico turned towards Jason, his dark eyes unreadable. "I found Annabeth's dagger." He said softly. "She must have dropped it."

Jason flinched. He knew that Annabeth almost never left her dagger, that it was always with her, no matter what. So for her to have dropped it . . .

He shook his head quickly. "How did you meet Percy and Annabeth?" He said quickly, trying for a change in conversation.

Nico winced. "The Satyr protecter that was assigned to me was Grover. He was both Percy and Annabeth's protecter as well. When he realized that there was a powerful monster at the school my sister and I were at, he contacted them, and Thalia to come help him." He said shortly.

Jason felt shocked. Thalia? Percy, Annabeth and Thalia had been the ones to bring Nico to Camp?

Nico kept talking. "Everything went wrong. My sister Bianca and I were captured by the monster, which was a Manticor. Percy tried to rescue us, but got injured. And since we didn't know about the gods yet, we thought he was crazy.

"Annabeth was knocked over the side of the cliff, along with Manticor, and the Hunters showed up. Bianca joined them, and we went to Camp. No one knew who my Dad was back then." Nico told Jason.

Jason tried to follow what Nico was saying, but he was just becoming more and more surprised. "Wait, this sounds like the beginning of the quest Thalia told me about that she left on to rescue Artemis." He exclaimed.

Nico nodded. "Thats the one. Zoe Nightshade, Bianca, Thalia, Grover, and another Hunter were going to go rescue her, but the Stolls played a bad prank on that Hunter. They thought it would be fine and just left, but Percy followed them, because he thought that when they found Artemis they'd find Annabeth."

"They did didn't they? Jason interrupted. "But Zoe died, and so did Bianca."

Nico looked at Jason sadly. "For the longest time I blamed Percy for the death of my sister, despite the fact that he was probably one of the only Halfbloods that would even remotely accept me. When I accepted that he wasn't my enemy, we became friends. I helped him achieve the curse of Achilles."

That was something Jason had heard about over and over. Percy Jackson having the curse of Achilles, and fighting Titans, and going on quest after quest.

Before arriving back at Camp Jupiter, he was sure he was going to hate the guy, but once he got there, he realized that Percy was actually one of the nicest people he had ever met.

Of course, having been raised in Rome . . . Percy was definitely nicer than every single Roman ever born. Except maybe Hazel.

And Annabeth, despite her distrust in him, she was always at least polite to him, if not very helpful. She was fierce, and a fighter. She definitely cared for her friends.

But Percy was so loyal to his friends it was crazy. Instead of just letting Annabeth fall into Tartarus, he'd fallen with her.

Nico probably knew Percy and Annabeth way better than anyone else on the Argo II, and Jason hadn't even thought of that yet.

"Nico, do you think they'll actually meet us at the doors of death?" Jason asked his cousin quietly.

The son of Hades looked at Jason. "Like I told you before, Percy is the most powerful Demigod I have ever met. If anyone can survive Tartarus, those two will."

Jason felt reassured. He also felt a little surprised that Nico thought Percy was so powerful. Sure Jason hadn't really seen too much of what Percy could do, but it seemed to him that he would be the more powerful Demigod because of their parentage. But maybe that stuff didn't matter.

He thought about Piper. The Aphrodite children were all pretty weak, other than her. And Frank was not your stereotypical son of Mars either.

So maybe somehow, Percy was a lot stronger than Jason. He would just have to hope so, because Jason didn't think he would have been able to survive Tartarus.