I DON'T OWN THIS: RICK RIORDAN DOES!

~ THE ASSASSINS ~

NICO'S POV:

I WASN'T OVER THE SHOCK YET.

Naturally, I was used to hanging around death. Nothing about it bother me. I mean, it was sad, knowing that so many people, young and old, died, but it was a cycle of life…

But Mom…

She had always seem so steady, so strong…I think I may have believe her to be above death. Like she wasn't capable of dying. I suppose I thought of her as a goddesses. A motherly loving and fierce goddesses that was incapable of being selfish or cruel.

Was it a punishment? To have both, my mother and my adopted mother killed?

If it was…what in the name of Hades did I do?

The thought was over a second later. It was not my fault. I did nothing but help the gods. But the gods, it seem, were too busy to help my mother.

Where was Poseidon? Wasn't he suppose to be watching over her? He claim to love her, but he let her die.

I shook my head. I couldn't afford to be angry at the moment. I had to focus on my cousins…they were the only family I had left.

Thalia swallowed. "We need to go."

Percy shook his head. He was still crying, staring at Mom's body. "I…We can't leave her."

Thalia knelt besides him, a few tears escaping. "We…we should burry her…It's the least we can do."

I nodded, stepping behind her. "I know just the place."

"Do you think she would like it?" Percy asked. He didn't look at us. He was still staring at Mom.

I snorted. "No one likes the thought of bring buried, Percy."

He looked at me. For a second I thought he was going to slice me to bits, but he started laughing. It was hysterical laughter. I never heard him laugh like that…wait, yes I did. We had been in war at the time. He had been slaying thousands of monsters…laughing.

This wasn't any different.

I looked down at Thalia, and she look at me. Her lips were twitching, as if she was fighting back the urge to laugh. I don't know if it was because watching them laugh at nothing was funny, or their craziness was contagious, but a burst of laughter left my lips.

Thalia started laughing out of nowhere too.

And suddenly, we were all laughing. It was hysterical laughter, uncountable. I don't know why we were laughing. I don't think I cared at the moment. I suppose it was either laughter or tears. I honestly prefer laughing.

I don't remember how long we lay there, on the floor of our dead mother's house. After the laughter died away, I felt exhausted, my stomach ache, my throat hurt, and my head was pounding. I could only imagine how my cousins felt.

After a few hours of silent, I began to notice that the sun was going down, and the shadows were closing in. The house was still dark, and the only lights we had were dim lights coming from the open windows.

"We should go," Thalia said, not taking her eyes off from the ceiling. "We need to…" She trail off.

I understood what she was trying to say.

"You said you knew where we should burry her, Nico," Percy said.

I nodded slowly. "I make it my business to know about graveyards and stuff alike."

There was a pause before Thalia snorted. "That is so sad, Death Breath."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Pionaco Face."

"You can't copy my nickname, Zombie Boy," Percy called, raising his head to look mockingly accusingly at me.

I return the look. "You're one to talk, Kelp Head."

Percy open his mouth to answer, but Thalia stood.

"Shut up, both of you. I just want to get out of here. We have things to do," she lecture, placing her hands on her hips, looking down at us.

"Like what?" Percy challenged.

"Oh, I don't know," she said sarcastically. "How about where we are going to get money for food? Where are we going to sleep? What are we going to do now? Don't you think figuring that out may be a little important?"

"I never said they weren't important," he said airily. "I just wasn't particularly worried about them."

"Well, you should be," Thalia snap. "I am not sleeping on the streets."

"Calm your head from the sky, Thals," I said, sitting up. "You're not sleeping in the streets."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "Where are we going to sleep then?"

I was silent for a few minutes, then turn to Percy. He look back at me, then shrugged. He didn't know what to do either.

"Exactly," Thalia huffed, then she sat back down. "I don't want to stay here."

I shook my head, repressing a shudder. "We aren't staying here."

Percy snorted. "I'm not about to disagree with you guys…I don't think I could stand being here."

I frown as a though crossed my mind. "There's something wrong."

My cousins turn to look at me, disbelief taking over their features.

"More?" They asked in perfect sync that it was kind of creepy.

"Well," I said, standing up. "Don't you think that it's a little weird that no one's come up and check what all the sound is about?"

"We live in New York City," Thalia said, rolling her eyes. "There's always noise in New York."

Percy frown, looking around. "But…Nico is right. I doubt Mom went down without a fight. She would have…Someone must have notice."

Thalia paused, frowning as well. "Well, unless there was no one in the building besides Mom and Paul, which is very unlikely, there's only one more option…Magic."

I nodded, having to come to the same conclusion. "The only option there is."

Percy, however, frown. "The only people who can do magic are the gods and Hecate's children." He shook his head. "I doubt the gods would want to bother with killing a mortal…And why would Hecate's children want to magic the building, or kill Mom for that matter?"

"It doesn't make sense," I agreed. "The gods would have not killed like this…Too much mess. They would struck a mortal where they stood, or just burn them with their godly power…or send a monster to do their biding for them."

"It was a monster," Percy said, glaring out the window. "I know a monster's mess when I see one."

I couldn't help but wince at the bitterness of his tone, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Thalia shudder.

It was still true, though. Percy was the one who probably saw more death then any other demigod who wasn't Thalia or me.

"Let's go," Thalia said, standing up. A flash of silver told me that she had been holding her iPod. Demigods were not friends with phone, but iPods weren't so bad for us. They were...safer-ish than phones. "It's twelve thirty in the morning. We should take advantage of the dark and…get what we need to get done, done."

I nodded, standing up. "I'll…I'll get her."

Percy shook his head. "I should be the one-"

"I'm Hades son," I argued, looking at him straight in the eyes. "I'm used to this stuff."

He hesitated for a second before he nodded, standing up. "Alright, then."

I walked toward Mom's body, and knelt down before whispering a few Ancient Greek words. Her body glowed for a second, then was gone.

"Where did she go?" Thalia asked from behind me.

"I sent her ahead of us," I answer. "I thought it would cause suspicion if we walked out with her."

Percy took a deep breath, then spoke on a shaky voice. "Ready?"

"Not really," I said, shaking my head with a small grim smile.

Thalia snorted. "As ever as I'll ever be."

He gave a small grim smile. "Perfect."

We were standing on a hill top that over looked a cemetery. The hill had a big tree, shading the ground underneath it. Mom's body lay there, under the protection of the three.

We had stopped at Wal-Mart to buy some needed supplies. We had gotten the money from around Mom's house- emergency money that Mom had left for Percy if he had ever needed it. We had gotten a few pair of clothes, cheap, but nice.

Thalia had gotten black shorts, and simple back thank top. According to her, it all went with her leather black jacket that she always wore, and punk boots. Her lightning-shaped heavy looking ring flashed every time she moved her hand. And with her black make up - which she had reapplied in the store's bathroom- she looked like the kind of girl who would kick ass just because someone annoyed her.

Percy on the other hand, had chosen a simple pair of black jeans, a black V-neck, a black hoddie to go with his expensive looking green Nikes, which had been a gift from Paul. He had taken new headphones too- black ones. he was twisting the ring Poseidon had given him.

I had chosen a black pair of jeans, a black T-shirt that had a death angel on both sides- the face on the front and its back on my back, and a black leather jacket. My skull ring glittering evilly in the light, and a black pair of combat boots.

Black was the right color to choose if you were going to go sneaking around in a cemetery at night.

We look dangerous to outsiders- judging by the looks some adults gave us. The cashier girl had actually tried to hit on Percy, but he just gave her a weird look and then look away. The girl had looked embarrassed, and hurt.

Well, I couldn't blame him. He wasn't exactly too aware of girls. It took him years to finally go out with Annabeth, and she turn out to be a cheat.

We had "borrowed" a shovel that had been "lying around." Percy and I took turns every so often. I'd never realize how hard digging could be. At the end, I'm pretty sure we made the whole big enough- it certainly looked around six feet.

We couldn't steal a coffin. Mom wouldn't have liked the idea of us stealing. So we had found a carbon box that had clearly been for a fridge, and decorated.

The box didn't look bad. It actually looked nice.

It was a greenish blue - we had spray painted it. The green faded in the blue, making it look unique. Thalia had taken ruffle paper, and staple it on the edge- black, green, and blue paper. We had taken every flower we could see in the dark, -and even some leafs from the tree- and gently glued it to the sides.

"Ready?" Percy asked me.

I nodded, reaching for the coffin. It was difficult. But I could almost pretend she was sleeping. Her hands were folded on her stomach, her eyes close, and she looked peaceful…even if her clothes were tattered, and there was dried blood on her person.

I had learned that even if some people had violent deaths, they were strong enough to have peace on the underworld.

I placed my hand on Mom's forehead, and murmured a final prayer, a final prayer for her to find peace.

Percy grabbed the other end, and we lifted the box/coffin. We lowered it gently to the ground, being careful to not break the box. We settle her in the middle of the roots, and then step back.

"Wait!" Thalia exclaimed, pulling out her ring. She jumped in the hole, and walked towards Mom.

"What are you-" Percy asked, but trailed off when Thalia placed her ring on Mom's hand.

"I want her to have something of me," Thalia said, taking a few steps back. "It's only right."

I played with the ring on my finger, and looked at Percy. We looked at Thalia, who shrugged at us, giving us a sad smile.

It was Percy who took of his ring first. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to decide.

I looked down at the ring. My father had given it to me, a present. The Big Three gods had give Thalia, Percy and me the rings, as a representation of our lives, I suppose. Thalia got lightning, Percy a trident, and I got a skull…

The skull my dad gave me had meant so much to me, but now…

"It feel like they marked us," I said out loud, looking up at my cousins. "As if they were putting a seal on something to mark it as their property."

"I know," Thalia said, massaging her left hand, where her ring had been.

I looked at Percy and he shrugged. "I want nothing to do with them anymore. Plus, it'd been nice to leave something of us with her."

I nodded, placing my ring on Mom's finger, next to my cousins.

We stayed there for a moment. Percy kneeling by Mom, Thalia standing slightly behind him, and me, a crossed from them on their other side. I would have said that we were alone, but we weren't. We had each other. We were family, and that matter above everything else.

Finally, I sigh, and climbed out. I reach back, and held out a hand to Thalia. She gave me a small smile of thanks, and took it. I gave her a boost up while Percy placed his hands together, and held out for her to step on. She didn't have to touch the dirty too much when she climbed up with our help. Percy just took hold of a branch, and took hold of the dirty, and he was out.

It took twenty minutes to get the hole cover again. The hill had been even covered by neatly cut green grass. The hill had been whole. Now, there was a spot of dirty that stood out at first sight. Thalia had manipulated the Mist to fool the mortals, but I knew… I knew what lay underneath that uneven spot of dirty.

I swallowed and looked away.

"Bye, Mom," I heard Percy say.

"Rest in peace," Thalia said, sounding as if she was choking on something. "I'll take care of the boys, and make sure they don't mess up."

Percy choke on a laugh.

"We love you," I manage to choke out.

Thalia took my hand, then reach over for Percy's. We looked down at the secret grave. My throat closed off, my eyes stung, and my heart was beating unevenly on my chest. I was shaking, like my cousins.

Then, together, we turn around, and walked away.

No one of us had the strength to look back.