"KENZIE" I called again. I followed her essence still, but it was tainted with the slightest hint of blood. Not enough for her to be too badly hurt, but I was worried.

"NICO? NICO!" I heard a voice. Was it her?

"Mackenzie? Are you here?" I said.

"Nico, follow me, quickly." She said, already starting to run. And boy, could she run fast. Through the trees and into a small clearing by a river.

"What? Why are we here?" I asked, but then I saw him. It was a boy, 15 or 16. He was lying on the ground, bloody with limbs at uneven angles. I looked over at Mackenzie, who was obviously shaken. I could tell she was wondering what to do, but according to me, there was only one thing to do.

"I'll get Chiron" I offered. She pounced on the idea.

"Go" So I went. The next few hours were a blur of different people, different questions, but the same horrifying fact-the boy was probably going to die. Which seriously, seriously sucked.

"Hiya" Mackenzie sat down next to me, outside of the infirmary. "Good news. He talked-gurgled, really. But he is alive. Thank GOD he's alive."

"Tell you where he came from?" I asked her, flipping my dark brown hair impatiently.

"No. I'm going to bed." Shoot. Now she thinks I'm heartless. But then I noticed the hidden ambrosia as she walked away. Now why would she need that?

A few hours later

Something was wrong. I sat straight up in bed and looked around my beautiful (ha-as if) room in my black obsidian cabin. In one corner my dad's messenger from the Underworld glowed-new message. Well, that would have to wait. Pulling on my clothes and packing a sack full of my stuff, just in case, I grabbed my sword and headed out the door. To my surprise, my feet took me to the Hephaestus cabin. Was something up with Clayton, the new kid? Inside, I looked around, feeling stupid, but then I saw the note. It was sitting on the table, on it scrawled in untidy writing was this:

Hey,

Don't look for me. I'm sorry guys, but I have to do this. I can't stick around waiting for something that will never happen-my Clearing. I hope you understand.

Love, Mack

P.S. My room is booby-trapped along with my workshop/projects. Fair Warning.

I chuckled. That was so Mackenzie. Just 'I'm leaving but if anyone touches my stuff, they're dead.' Then shocked gripped me. Mackenzie was leaving? Why? What happened? Grabbing my rucksack and leaving the note where I found it, I left the door swinging behind me. There was only one exit from camp, so I figured that was where she would go. Everyone had to go by Peleus-camp rule ever since the war where Percy Jackson triumphed. When both me and Mackenzie were 13. I'm 15 now, by the way. Besides, even if we didn't, no one, not even Ares kids, are brave(or stupid) enough to go through the woods at night. Too many monsters-you'd be dead in 10 minutes. And, believe me, it wouldn't be pleasant. I talked to the last idiot who did it. He's did it in 1979 and has been wandering the Fields of Asphodel ever since.

All of a sudden, I stiffened, hearing the crack and certain vocabulary of assurance that Mackenzie was here.

"Pleasant night, don't you think, MACKENZIE?"

"Shit, why are you here?" she asked in disbelief.

"Figured if you were skipping town, I might as well come along." I smirked, knowing all the options to get rid of me quickly were running through her mind. "And if you don't let me, I'll wake everyone up. Including the entire Hephaestus cabin and the half-dead boy lying in the infirmary." She swore. Profusely, as a matter of fact.

"So can I come?" She looked at me hard for a moment. Finally, she nodded.

"If you slow me down, I'll shoot you myself." I believed it, too. I left a note where Percy would find it-on my pillow.

Left with Mack. See you when.

-Nico

"7 words in a runaway note. I think that's a record." She grinned at me from across the path up the hill back to where the gateway to the real world was.

"Naw. For me it's three, from when I was little. Bye-bye, Mommy." She laughed, and it was good. It was fine. Then the monster attacked. It was some sort of mutant-body of snake with lion legs, a bunny tail, and the head of a boar crossed with a human. All of it was a greenish goldish color. It's teeth were that of a poisonous snake. But the scariest thing were it's eyes which were strangely human, but more divine, and not in a good way. Something bigger than a Titan. And something that had a strange desire to kill us.