Chapter 2

Nico's feet landed with a soft thump against the old wooden boards of the Big House porch. The force of his landing making him stagger against the side of the old house. Swaying slightly as he walked Nico moved to support himself against the railing the encased the porch of the building. Bringing his forearms to rest against the worn wood, his head dipped against the breeze that was tickling the top of his hair. White flecks of chipped paint were sticking to his skin where it came into contact with the old paint job but he couldn't bring himself to care. He needed to speak to Annabeth. Because of him she would have to leave the search's headquarters tomorrow. All because he couldn't do a simple job correctly. It would do her good to take a break though. In the three days since Percy had been missing he didn't think she'd slept at all. She was the driving force behind the whole operation. Mind you, now that he'd been alerted to the situation, he no plans to rest until Percy was found.

Everything was so still and peaceful here at night. The rest of the camp around him was silent, all except from the hum of noise coming from the house behind him. Younger demigods most likely tucked up in bed, while their older siblings made up the search parties and strategy teams. Heaving himself up, unable to put off the inevitable any longer, Nico turned to enter the old house.

Nico didn't know why he was surprised at the sight that greeted him but it was not what he was expecting. Organised chaos hit him the moment he strolled through the big house doors. Nameless demigods he didn't know ran in and out of rooms carrying out different tasks. Navigating their way through the unlit corridors into the illuminated rooms throughout the house. Maps littered every available wall space. over spilling from the walls within rooms onto the corridors walls. There seemed to be a map of every place Percy had ever quested. Walking into the room that looked to be the main search hub, Nico could see one male demigod who looked like he could have been Annabeth's brother was manning, what seemed to be an iris message call desk as search parties called in with their news. Rachael Elizabeth Dare, the camps oracle, was sat huddled in a corner. A look of pure concentration covering her face, making her look as if she were in pain. Rachael was one of the few people Nico actually knew the name of, of all the people surrounding him in the room, despite never having spoken to her himself.

People skirted around him the further he moved into the room. Deliberately moving out of his way as he journeyed further into the center of the room, parting around him as he made his was forward. Like the Christian tale of Moses parting the Red Sea. Reaching the center of the room he could see more maps laid out across the old ping pong table. Annabeth pouring over them as vigilantly as she could with another demigod tried to pull her attention away from them. Given the medical scrubs shirt and stethoscope, plus the bright blond hair and blue eyes, Nico took the boy to be a son of Apollo. He looked almost like a clone of the god that he had met just a few short years ago, back when he was a completely different person. Still he paid the boy no mind. There were more important things to focus on than the appearance of every kid at camp Half Blood. As Nico neared the table the conversation between the two blonds rose above the noise that was filling the rest of the room.

"Annabeth you need to rest! Go back to the Athena cabin and get some sleep. We can hold the fort here for a few hours"

"No. I'm not sleeping until we find Percy."

"You'll be no good to the search if you don't sleep"

"I can't! Don't you get that? I need to figure out what all this means. What did Rachel mean by 'the boy with one shoe will lead you to him'? Why can't Grover make contact through the psychic link? Why did he just vanish like that without a word? I just- urgh!" The sound of frustration came accompanied by one Annabeth's fists slamming into the table, causing the maps to jump slightly. Missing the son of Apollo's hand by inches, though to his credit the older boy didn't flinch at all.

"That still doesn't mean you can't take a few hours just to sleep and recharge your batteries. Please! And you!" Nico was shocked as the tall boy turned his attention on him, wheeling round and fixing him with a piercing blue stare. Nico had assumed his presence had gone unnoticed up until this point. "You look just about as bad as she does!" The blonde moved closer, arms outstretched as if to begin a full medical examination in front of the blonde boys hands away and sidestepping the older boy, Nico's focus stayed on Annabeth, who had looked up hopefully once she saw him. Pleading with him silently to have brought good news.

Giving a soft shake of his head he watched her shoulders fall in defeat.

"He's not there. Hasn't been there since the battle by the look of it." Pausing, unsure of how to continue Nico thought it best just to get it over with. Let Annabeth be mad at him then move on. "Plus Mrs Jackson caught me snooping around. I said you'd visit her tomorrow. Explain things." It was a measure of Annabeth's level of exhaustion that, instead if the shouts of rage at not going undetected as she'd asked him to, that he expected, she simply took one long large calming breath before pushing herself off of the table and turning to face him calmly.

"Thank you Nico. I'm sorry I dragged you into this. I know you and Percy haven't always been on the best of terms" And who's fault is that? The voice inside him taunted. "Still I appreciate it" Nodding solumly Nico turned to leave. Not wanting to stay any longer than he had to. This allowed the son of Apollo to once more begin badgering Annabeth about the merits of sleep; while people who had stopped to listen to the exchange between Annabeth and himself once more busied themselves with the tasked they had been given.

His job here done, Nico made a beeline for the nearest exit. His journey to leave being just as unobstructed as his entrance had been. On his way out a map pinned up next to the door frame caught his eye. Turning to study the map in greater detail, Nico found himself staring at an old section of road map for the San Francisco coastline. Though tattered and faded, with one still bright square adorning the corner, where the map had been protected from the sun, the maps contents was still legible. Alcatraz Island, sat serenely off the coastline, had been invaded by a large red push pin. As had several other spots on the map. A roughly drawn sticky note attached next to the maps key told him that red pins stood for Percy's battles with monsters, while yellow pins highlighted his meeting (and more often than not disagreements) with Gods. After several seconds of tracing random lines that crisscrossed the maps surface Nico settled to running his index finger along one of the roads that dotted the western coastline. His finger settling to rest in a seemingly empty stretch of road situated equidistant from the city and the seas shoreline. He had found his next course of action.

Peering over his shoulders, Nico was pleased to see that the corner he had found himself in was secluded away from the main action. Despite it being near one of the rooms many entrances. In addition to this no one seemed to be paying him any attention. The perfect chance to slip away silently. With his hand still attached to the map in front of him Nico gradually allowed his outstretched hand to glide into the unseen shadows he could feel surrounding him. To anyone around him it must have looked like he were stepping through the wall instead of a shadow dimension. As the shadows raced across his body, engulfing him arm, then stretching to cover his legs and torso, he could feel their effects on him. Draining his already reduced energy levels still more. Despite the exhaustion they cause, the shadows gave Nico a feeling of exhilaration that he found no where else in his miserable existent called a life. As he pictured the placed he wished to go in his minds eye, Nico was yanked back into place at the Big House. A hand had grabbed him by the shoulder and was holding on firmly, but not so tight as to cause any pain. Just enough to force him not to leave. Nico's skin burned and prickled at the contact.

"Not so fast. di Angelo is it? You need rest too. You're in no fit state to be going anywhere. Let alone trying to do what it is you just tried to" Twisting his shoulder out of the vice like grip he was held, Nico turned to face the person who had accosted him. Though he had lost his stethoscope somewhere in the last few minutes, Nico recognised the same son of Apollo that had been pestering Annabeth.

"I don't need to do anything. I'm fine." Glaring at his would be capture Nico tried to put as much malice in his voice as possible. He had already spent more time here than he was comfortable with. The sly glances and whispered words from the campers had followed him throughout the room since he had arrived. Though the demigods kept their distance, too scared to actually approach him. He didn't want to be here when the rest of the camp woke up. It would be worse then. Better to be on his way, do what he had to do, then return to the underworld where he belonged. This didn't seem to phase the other boy though who just stood there, arms crossed, like an angry parent.

"No. You. Need. Sleep."

"No what I need is for you to stop hounding me so I can get back to work" in his anger the ground had started to crack at Nico's feet. Tiny fissures now marring the old wooden floors, stretching out from his feet to the other boys. Although Nico was a lot more in control of his powers than he used to be, accidents like this still happened occasionally if he wasn't concentrating when he got upset. And with the way he'd been running ragged these last couple of days, it was no surprise that his mind was anything but focused. Turning back to he map he'd been facing, Nico ran his eyes over the detailed surface. Trying to pinpoint the spot he'd been so focused on moments before.

Although he knew it was just silly daydreams, Nico still hoped he would be the one to find Percy. Preferably in a situation that required Nico to lead a dashing and heroic rescue. He would swoop in, sword at the ready. Skeletal army behind him. But those thoughts belonged to the child within him. The part of him he wished had died with Bianca.

Without turning to face the blond boy behind him, Nico cut off whatever monologue the medic was spewing about the benefits of sleep. "Look. I am not one of your 'camp mates'." He sneered the words, hoping to get across to the older boy his utter disgust at the idea "You don't have to coddle me, I'm fine on my own. I am here because Annabeth asked me to be. End of story. If Annabeth asks where I've gone tell her I'm following a lead" and before the other boy could even realise what was happening Nico stepped through the shadows, letting them consume him.

A/N: Well here is Chapter 2, a little later I anticipated but I hope you guys still like it. I didn't intend on having a little Solangelo moment it just sort of happened... Still one more chapter to go!