Once Rachel returned to normal and resumed painting Nico and I left the Big House. "Do you understand it?" I asked him truly puzzled. "No, but that's the point. You're only supposed to understand it after it's happened." He explained with his hands in his pockets. "Well, that's convenient." I stated sarcastically. Nico laughed for a brief second. Then something struck me, "This is the first time we've been nice to each other in how long?" He walked right in front of me and turned to face me, "I don't know. Probably since we've met one another." I nodded my head. He was, unfortunately, right. "What are you going to do about the quest?" Nico asked, changing the subject. "Nothing." I stated bluntly. I didn't want to go on the quest and I'm pretty sure I don't have to. "You can't just do nothing." Apparently Nico disagrees with me. Shocker. "Why not?" Just because everyone goes on their quest doesn't mean I have to. It's good to be different every once in awhile. Plus, it's safer. "You just can't." Isn't that a great answer? Very detailed in my opinion. "You're so specific it kills me." I rolled my eyes. "Deadly, you can't just do nothing." Nico repeated. "I think you said that already." Nico groaned and rolled his eyes, "You're impossible." I smiled and took a bow, "Why thank you Nico." He was getting more aggravated by the minute. I was loving it. "Why don't you wanna go?" Nico asked after recomposing himself. "Why would I want to go?" Truth was, I didn't have a answer to his question. Well, I didn't have a good enough answer. "You'd be able to understand what the Oracle meant. You wouldn't be wondering what it means twenty years from now." 1 point Nico, 0 points Deadly. "Let's just pretend I go on the quest, ok?" He nodded his head and motioned for me to go on. "Who would I bring with me? How would I get west? What if I'm not the demigod that dies?" I asked in a rush. "Me. Shadow travel. Do you want to die?" Oh gods, if he only used his brain for the greater good and not evil. Then again his dad is Hades. "Three people are going on the quest. Isn't shadow travel exhausting? No. I just don't want someone to die because of me." He smirked, "Take Becca. It was when I first starting doing it. There is no way you're a daughter of Aphrodite." I bit my lip, "I'm not risking Becca's life. I meant for me. Do you not remember me getting claimed?" Nico looked me dead in the eyes, "Fine. Not sure. I remember." I crossed my arms, "You never give up do you?" He smirked, again. "Nope." He said popping the "p" in a very Un-Prince of the Underworld way.

I stalked off to Chiron, unaware that Nico was following me. "Deadly, Nico." Chiron bowed his human half while the horse half was perfectly still. I bowed my head and if Nico wasn't a totally idiot he probably did the same. I turned around, "Will you quit following me?" I growled through gritted teeth at Nico. He just smiled and walked closer to Chiron. "She has a quest." He said proudly to Chiron. The centaur looked as if a wave of relief flooded through him. "Finally. Deadly, who are you bringing with you and when do you plan on leaving?" I looked at him wide eyed, "Who said I was going?" Chiron's hoof pounded the ground underneath him. "You have to go." Nico got a smug look on his face. He knew I would never disobey Chiron, no matter how much I wanted. "Fine. I don't know who's going with me but I want to leave in three days." The old centaur nodded his head in approval, "Very well, but if you don't chose your companions but sunset tomorrow I'll chose them for you." I clenched my fist, "Fine." Chiron looked my in the eyes, "You're doing the right thing, Deadly." I hung my head in shame. If I didn't go thing could be tragic. Even for mortals but especially for demigods. "I'll go with her Chiron." Nico said with respect. Chiron seemed surprised at first. Everyone knows Nico and I don't get along. We're like day and night, cats and dogs, rain and sunshine, etc. "Deadly, do you approve?" I knew deep down Chiron was praying to the gods for me to say yes. Nico's been on quests before and he'll know what he's doing. Both Chiron and Nico were staring at me intently. I clenched and unclenched my fists, "Yes." The old centaur smiled and Nico pumped his fist in the air. I really hope I didn't just make the biggest mistake of my never ending life.

Shortly after I agreed to having Nico join me on my quest Chiron went to check on the kids in the infirmary. After everything that's happened today I had some questions to ask Nico and I was going to get some answers. "Let's go for a walk." Nico seemed surprised by the request. "Um, okay." I walked towards the woods and motioned for him to follow. We walked for ten minutes in silence, stepping over fallen trees and waving to tree nymphs. "So why are we doing this?" Nico asked once we reached Zeus's fist. I climbed on the rocks and took a seat, "I wanted to talk to you about…stuff." He looked at me quizzically, I rolled my eyes and patted the seat next to me. He jumped up and sat down. "What kind of stuff?" This boy really knows how to irritate a person but then again so do I. "Why do you want me to go on the quest?" I said in one breath. He knitted his eyebrows together and played with his fingers, something he does when he's nervous or thinking. "You've never been on one before. It's an experience every demigod needs to have." Three words : What. A. Lie. "Since when do you care about my experiences in life? Let alone every demigod's." He laid on his back and put his hands behind his head. " I don't. It was the best thing I could come up with." He said to the sky. "Most people don't tell the people they hate when they're lying." I teased. He switched to sitting position, "I told you, I don't hate you." Nico stated bluntly. "I don't believe you." I whispered. He slid of the rocks and left me all alone in the woods. What a gentleman.

I eased myself of Zeus's fist and began my journey back to camp. "That just proves my theory." I heard a female voice say from behind me. I turned slowly and prayed to the gods that the girl isn't crazy. The girl was standing on Zeus's fist and was smiling wickedly. "What theory?" She jumped down and walked closer to me, "That all guys are jerks." I laughed and she joined in too. Once our laughter died down I managed to get a closer look at the girl. She was the person Rachel was painting earlier. I noticed she had a bracelet with a moon and stars engraved into the silver band. "That's cool." I said, pointing to her wrist. "Yeah, I know." She said jokingly. "I'm Deadly Beau and yeah, Deadly is my real name." The girl nodded her head, "Cool, I'm Zoey Luna." All of a sudden a very tired looking Grover ran over to us. "Zoey….please…..stay…with me…..Hi, Deadly." He said in between breaths. "Hey, Grover." I gave him a hug for old time's sake. "Can…you…take…her….back….to…camp?" Grover pointed at Zoey. "Sure, tell Juniper I said hi." He nodded his head and darted to his girlfriend's tree.

"I don't know why he thinks I need a babysitter." Zoey mumbled. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't have done this if I wasn't heading back to camp in the first place." She laughed. We were quiet for the rest of the walk. It wasn't awkward, though. It gave us both a chance to think. When we were out of the woods I spotted Spike and Snake near the campfire. I stopped walking and grabbed the back of Zoey's shirt. She turned around with a confused expression. I put a finger to my lips and she nodded her head. I pointed to the twins with a sly smile. "What's the plan?" She whispered. I took in my surroundings and evaluated what would be useful and what would not. Hestia was tending a newly lit fire. She had dry wood all around her, they would be perfect for torches. "Just follow my lead." Zoey nodded her head and we quietly crept to the fire. Hestia opened her mouth to speak but I put a finger to my mouth and she nodded her head. Snake and Spike were fooling around with something with their backs turned to us. I pointed to the pile of sticks near Hestia's legs. She picked up two sticks and handed them to me. I dipped half of a branch in the fire making it a torch. I handed the inflamed branch to Zoey and repeated my steps with the other branch. I advanced towards the twins with Zoey close behind. They were still oblivious to everything going on around them. I decided to eavesdrop on their conversation before I attacked. I motioned for Zoey to stop and leaned in to listen.

"He's insane." Snake said to Spike. "She is beautiful, though." Spike answered with a dreamy smile. Who are they talking about? This is why I don't like pronouns people. "Yeah, she is but she's still lethal." They both snickered and I prayed to the gods that would stopped using pronouns. "Do you think Nico has the guts to tell her?" Spike used a proper noun. Yay! So he=Nico. What does she equal? "He's in love with her. No way does he have the guts to say that….but if he ever does I hope I'm there to see her face." They snickered again. My patience was wearing thin. Who's the girl they're talking about? "Of all people to fall in love with Nico fell for D-" I threw my torch at Spike and Zoey threw hers at Snake. I ran to the Big House and hopefully Zoey followed.

We ended up running into Rachel who was in the middle of an art project. "Hey Rachel, this is Zoey, she's a new camper. Do you mind if we hide here?" Rachel wasn't paying attention to us so she just mumbled, "Yeah, sure, whatever." I dragged Zoey up to the attic. It was still filled with souvenirs from quests demigods have been on. Let's just say some souvenirs are more gruesome than others, says me from explaining all the gory details and you from reading them. "Seriously, Deadly? Hiding out in an attic?" Zoey raised her eyebrows at me. "Look, if we stuck around we would have gotten caught. I don't get caught." I look over and spotted my mother's pink scarf. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase brought it back from a quest. "Why didn't you wait for the twins to say who the girl was?" I shrugged my shoulders. "It would have been perfect blackmail on that Nico kid. Now all we know is her name starts with a D." Zoey obviously hasn't realized that my name starts with a D. So I was a little worried they were referring to me. Okay, I was really worried. "Deadly, I can't believe you gave up blackmail! I mean, wait, your name begins with a D. You don't think they were talking about you, right?" I bit my lip, "I don't know and I don't want to know, okay?" She put her hands up in surrender. I peaked out the one window in the attic and saw Snake and Spike being carried to the infirmary. I choked on my laugh when I realized Chiron was looking up at the attic, through the window, in my eyes. "DEADLY!" He shouted, making me cringe. "Time to go?" Zoey asked sarcastically. "Yup." I was already halfway downstairs. I bumped into Rachel on my way outside. "Sorry!" I called over my shoulder. I ran outside to Chiron, who just so happened to be with a very unhappy Nico. "What did you do?" The Underworld's prince asked. He wasn't too polite if you ask me. Well, not with the tone he used or the fact he was glaring at me. "I kinda set them on….fire." Someone patted me on the shoulder, "And I helped." Zoey said with a huge smile. I would have laughed if Chiron and Nico weren't glaring at me. "You could have killed them!" Nico shouted. "Nico, your dad is Hades, you know the god of the underworld? I'm sure he'd resurrect them or something." I'm pretty sure Nico wanted to strangle me. He kept clenching and unclenching his fist. "If you haven't noticed my father hates me and my brothers." I crossed my arms, "I wouldn't blame him if he did but he doesn't hate you." It's true. I've talked Hades and he speaks highly of his sons. He does love them but I mean you can't expect much affection from a guy who's surrounded by dead people all the time. "How would you know?" Crap. Dear gods, help me! "Because, you know, he… remembered your birthdays. Doesn't he always send a gift?" Nico gritted his teeth, "No." I pretended to pout, "Don't lie, Nico." Hades told me he always sends something. It's amazing how I get along with the god of the underworld and yet the goddess of marriage and family hates me. Gods these days. "I'm not lying, Deadly. You set my brothers on fire, nearly killing them, then you mention my father, and now you're calling me a liar. Are you freaking heartless?" I'll admit that stung. "Who gave you your sword? Or that ring you love so much? And who fought titans because you convinced him to?" He was speechless so I kept going, "And after all the crap you and your brothers put me through be happy I didn't use Greek fire or they would be dead. My mother's the goddess of love, you sound like an idiot calling me heartless." Chiron cleared his throat, "Deadly, you owe Snake and Spike an apology and Nico you owe Deadly an apology." I looked at him like he was crazy. Apologize? To Snake and Spike? "Deadly take Zoey with you since you both were involved." I nodded my head and lead Zoey to the infirmary.

"Stay out here, you can go in when I'm done." She nodded her head and I entered the infirmary. Snake and Spike were on two cots and burnt really bad. They looked uglier than usual. "Hey, boys." Their heads snapped in my direction at the same time. "Why are you here?" Spike asked with venom in his voice. "To apologize." I mumbled. "What? I didn't hear you. Speak up?" Snake had a smug smile on his face. "TO APOLOGIZE!" I screeched at them. They both had shocked expressions on their faces. I realized Trevor was the one taking care of them. "Deadly, keep it down." He said from the side of Snake's cot. "But-" "You've caused enough problems for one day. You almost killed them." Trevor said in a serious voice. "When did you start siding with them?" The twins eyes switched from me to Trevor. "What you did was stupid, Deadly. If you wanted to get back at them you could have done something a little less heartless." I felt my eyes start to water. Trevor was one of my best friends and he called me heartless. The same word Nico used to describe me. The only difference is that when Nico said it, it felt like someone punched me in the gut, when Trevor said it, it felt like someone dropped a piano on my head. I felt tears running down my face as I said, "Snake, Spike I'm sorry about the fire." I turned to Trevor, "I'm sorry." He looked confused, "For what?" I brushed away some tears, "I'm sorry for ever considering you as a friend, Trevor." I turned on my heel and left the infirmary.