The Last Thing That You'll Hear

by XTheSonofHadesX

It was supposed to be just a normal summer camp. Nico was getting to spend time with his boyfriend and friends before a lot of them left for different universities and he was left to finish of his last year of high school. It was just supposed to be a joke. Now they've damned not only themselves, but the rest of the camp as well.

2. Chapter 2

After campfire, Jason pulled Nico off to the side as everyone was heading to their cabins. He smiled at Nico as he led him across the camp. Nico didn't really feel afraid, not when Jason was holding his hand, but they probably would get in trouble if someone other than their friends caught them. Hell, Bianca would probably bite Jason's head off for taking Nico off to be alone with everything that was going on.

Jason sat them down on a picnic table close to the edge of the woods. The two sat facing each other, Jason lightly fiddling with Nico's hands. "Haven't really had any alone time with you today."

Nico smiled. "Well, if you're hoping to get me naked, the current situation doesn't exactly get me in the mood," Nico smirked.

Leaning in, Jason pressed a chaste kiss to Nico's lips. "No. I wouldn't be so reckless to do that, especially not outside, with everything that is going on." He brushed some of Nico's hair to the side. "If I... go to California, would you be mad at me?"

"No?" Nico arched a brow at him. "Why would I? I mean, yeah it would suck, but you need to do what makes you happy."

Jason smiled and adjusted his glasses. "You make me happy." He let out a sigh and leaned back against his palms. "But I do kind of want to go. You'll come join me after you graduate, right?"

"Of course," Nico chuckled, lightly shoving the blond's shoulder. "Don't think you'll get rid of me so easy." The boy's smile slowly faltered and then he began chewing on his lip. "I will really miss you, though. A month has sucked, I can't imagine a year."

The blond frowned and took Nico's hand. "We can make it work. I'll call you every day. We can Skype once or twice a week, and I'll come visit when I can." Jason brought the brown-eyed boy's hand up to his lips and kissed it. "I'll be home on holidays, and I'll spend breaks here as well. We will probably have separate spring breaks. Maybe you could convince your dad to let you come out to California. Tell him it's to look at the university."

Nico smirked. "Maybe. If he didn't trust you so much, I doubt he would let that fly." Playfully sticking his tongue out, the boy winked. "If only he knew what you've done to his son in his own house."

Chuckling nervously, Jason rubbed the back of his neck. "I'd rather not think of what he would do to me. I thought Bianca was going to kill me that time she caught us."

Nico chuckled. "Afraid of my sister. That's really cu-"

"What are you two doing out here?" A light was shined on them as Octavian yelled in their direction. Nico rolled his eyes with a groan. "You're supposed to be in your cabin."

Jumping up from the table, Jason raised his hands in defense. "Sorry, sorry. It was my fault. We'll go there now."

Narrowing his eyes, Octavian kept his flashlight on the two of them. "You bet you will. I'm going to follow you there to make sure you do." He sneered at them. "And don't think I won't be informing Demeter about this. I'm sure she will-"

The two blinked and glanced at each other. Octavian had cut himself off and was staring behind them, shining the light into the woods. Every few seconds, a faint glow appeared in the woods, a green ominous light that swayed in the dark and moved slowly across the woods.

"Who's there?" Octavian yelled out. The green light faded away. Nico felt a chill run down his spine when no answer came. "I said, who's there!"

From the darkness came a scythe on a chain. It shot by all of them and then was yanked backwards. As it returned to the woods, it caught Octavian in the neck. The blond gurgled and grabbed the chain as he was pulled to the ground, slowly being pulled into the woods. His flashlight fell to the ground.

"Holy shit!" Jason yelled as he made a wild attempt to grab Octavian.

Nico couldn't move. He slowly reached up and touched his cheek. There was blood. Octavian's blood. Jason grabbed Octavian by the leg, yanking the other blond backwards. He even pushed his feet against a tree to try and stop it. With a sharp tug from the chain, Octavian's head was ripped off his body.

Jason fell backwards and stared at the head in horror as it rolled across the ground. This wasn't real, Nico kept telling himself. It was just a dream. A very horrible bad dream. The green light in the woods appeared again, but this time it was moving towards them.

Scrambling to his feet, Jason grabbed Octavian's flashlight and sprinted towards Nico. The brown-eyed boy was yanked along with the blond as Jason ran towards their cabin. From behind Nico, a blood curdling scream, which sounded eerily like Octavian, rang out like a banshee.

Nico stumbled to keep up with his boyfriend's longer legs. Grabbing the door to their cabin, Jason flung Nico inside and pulled the screen door shut and turned off the light. His eyes were frantic as he turned Nico to face him and looked him over.

"What the fuck is going on, dude?" Percy asked, sitting up in his bed. "You look a little crazy." His brow furrowed as he caught sight of Nico's face. "Is that blood?" Luke got off Percy's bed to inspect Nico.

Jason did his best to slow his breathing, moving to look out the window. "Octavian is dead."

"What the fuck?" Leo said.

"His head was ripped off. There was something in the woods, and it was using a scythe on a chain," Jason replied. "It murdered Octavian." Jason turned back to look at his friends. "Where's Grover?"

Percy slowly got up from his bed, brow furrowed. "He was walking Juniper back to her cabin."

Luke shook his head as he wiped the blood off Nico's face with his sleeve. "Is this some kind of joke?" Leo demanded, jumping up from his bed and storming over to the others. "If it is, can you cut it out?"

"It's not a joke," Jason hissed.

Frank gulped. "Maybe we should go get Demeter. Someone is clearly taking this too far."

Luke was silent when everyone turned to him. The blond locked his jaw and turned to them. "She's not here." He let out a sigh when the others started to panic. "She took her car to go to the nearest hospital. Chrion and the other camp directors haven't shown up yet. I think she was going to bring a cop or two back to search the woods."

Dropping to the floor, Nico put his face in his knees and gripped his hair. This was insane. This wasn't happening. He just needed to wake up. He had to. If this was real... If this was real, none of them would probably make it out alive. There best bet would be to make a run for it through the woods and try to get to civilization.

Everyone fell silent as the jingle of metal chains came from outside. Luke held a finger up to his lips and motioned to his room. The others all moved quickly inside, while Luke and Jason helped Nico to his feet and got the boy inside. Luke locked his door and moved to the other side of the room to grab his baseball bat. Everyone was silent as the door to their cabin opened.

It wasn't breathing that they heard, not really. Kind of like someone struggling to take a breath. Chains clanged ominously in the other room. Under the door, there was a faint green light that moved. Nico's breath hitched when the doorknob jiggled. It wanted in. Did it know they were in here? Luke stood just in front of the door, bat at the ready.

After a few seconds, the doorknob stopped moving. The green light slowly faded away and the door to their cabin slammed shut again. Was it gone? Nobody moved. Luke moved to his window and peered outside discreetly.

"I don't see anything," he whispered.

"What are we going to do?" Nico finally asked, frozen in terror from where he sat in Jason's arms.

Luke growled as he rubbed a hand down his face. He didn't have an answer, it was clear to Nico. "The others don't know," Luke said. "Silena is still out in those woods."

"Unless that thing got to her and Beckendorf," Leo mumbled. Luke punched the Latino in the arm. Jason clamped a hand over Leo's mouth to prevent him from yelling. Leo grunted and knocked Jason's hand away. "Sorry."

"I'm going out there," Luke whispered.

Percy was off the bed in a flash. "The hell you are," he hissed. "You're not leaving."

"No, you're not leaving." Luke picked up his flashlight and a knife. "You all are staying here, locking the door behind me. Don't open it until I come back."

Percy was shaking with anger, doing his best to stay quiet. "No. You're not going. That thing will kill you." It was the first time that Nico had actually seen Percy afraid. "If it is that thing from the book, it wants us."

"Wants all of us," Frank pointed out. "It wasn't just us that read it. Everyone at camp."

Jason's head shot up. "At the time it was read." He slowly got up from the bed, easing Nico down onto it. "I wasn't here. Neither was Annabeth or Reyna. What if we are clear?" He glanced between Percy and Luke. "I could go. I'll grab Reyna and Annabeth, they can inform their cabins, and we can try to get the word out."

Taking in a shaky breath, Luke nodded. "Yeah, that would probably be the best id-"

They all fell silent as several screams came from outside. They all scurried to the window. Nico was able to get there just as Gwen was ripped behind a cabin. Two other girls scrambled to run away. One was caught in the ankle by the scythe that had just been in Gwen. The girl screamed as she was dragged behind the cabin as well. The other girl made it away, though she was stupid enough to run to the edge of camp.

Luke grabbed Jason by the front of his shirt. "How confident are you that this thing won't kill you as well?" He hissed.

"Not very," Jason admitted, "but we don't have many options."

Nico grabbed Jason's arm, glaring. "You can't go out there."

Looking at Nico, Jason's eyes softened. He put a hand lightly on his boyfriend's shoulder. "Grover is still out there. We need to get the girls. I think we'll all feel better if we were together. Plus, your sisters are still out there." That silenced Nico's argument. "I'll be careful."

"I want to come with you," Nico whispered.

"Hell no," Percy jumped in. "You're not leaving. Your sisters and father would kill me if I let you get yourself killed."

Leo grunted as he sat back on the bed. "They may not get the chance if we don't make it out of here."

Frank was still watching the window. "It looks like some campers are making a break for it. Different ones." Everyone moved back to the window. "Groups are scattering."

Jason was already at the door and had it open when Nico looked away from the window. With a look at Nico, the blond shut the door. Percy grabbed Nico by the waist before the boy could go after his boyfriend. Luke locked the door.

Five minutes had passed and Nico was pacing back and forth. Luke looked like he was growing more irritated with each step that Nico took, but he did not say anything. Percy glanced out the window. "Still no sign of him," the green-eyed boy announced.

He didn't need to be waiting around here. With a deep breath, Nico opened the door. Percy had his wrist before Nico could get outside the cabin. "You can't stop me, Percy. This is our fault."

"If it's true," Percy mumbled.

"Yes, if it's true." Nico shook his head, glancing at Luke who was standing in the doorway of his room. "What if Jason was wrong? What if we just let him go to his death? The girls aren't that far away. He should have been back by now."

Percy let out a sigh and glanced at Luke. "Luke-" He blinked in surprise when the bat was tossed at him.

"Take that." He pointed a finger at both of them as he grabbed the doorknob. "If you're not back in half an hour, I will be coming to look for you."

With a nod, Percy firmly grasped the bat and ushered Nico out of the cabin. The two stopped dead in their tracks.

There were a few campers dead in the courtyard of all the cabins. Some were up against the cabin, one was even cut in half, and one had his intestines dragged out of his body and on the ground. The one thing that they did have in common were their eyes and faces. Their faces were hollow, their eyes gone. Nico crouched down and glanced at one girl's face. From her eyes came a dark green mist.

Percy touched his shoulder. "We need to move," he whispered.

They silently made their way across the courtyard. Most of their friends were in one cabin, except for Bianca. Her cabin was next door, though, so it wasn't a big deal. "I'm going to," Nico motioned to the cabin on the left, "get my sister."

Percy stopped and stared at the cabin. It was dark and no noise came from inside. "Okay," he said after a moment. "Just... be careful. Yell if you need help. I'll only be a minute."

Nico nodded and headed towards his older sister's cabin, while Percy went towards the one on the right. Slipping inside, Nico made sure the door didn't make any noise when it closed. He didn't move from the door. The cabin was destroyed. Beds were overturned and blood was all over the floor. Nico had to step over a girl's body to move further into the cabin. His brain was yelling at him to turn around and run. What if that thing was still in here?

But he couldn't.

His sister was still here, Nico told himself, or he hoped that she was. Bianca's door was slightly ajar. He gently pushed it open and shined a light inside. He covered his mouth to muffle a sob. Bianca was there on the bed. He slowly moved closer. Her neck was bruised and was at an odd angle. Broken. Her eyes were hollow.

Sitting down on the bed, Nico took Bianca's hand and leaned on her chest, sobbing. His sister was dead, and it was all their fault. That stupid book! How were they supposed to know something like that was real? Nico curled up next to Bianca. He didn't want to leave her. The thing could come back for all he cared and killed him too.

Several minutes passed and Nico heard movement in the other room. He sat up slightly as a light came through the doorway. "Oh my god," Percy breathed out. "Nico..."

"I don't want to leave her like this," Nico cried.

"What happened?" Hazel asked.

Thalia appeared beside Percy and covered her mouth with a gasp. "Fuck," she hissed. She grabbed Hazel as the girl tried to push inside, instantly covering her eyes. "Don't look, Hazel. Please."

Hazel still struggled. "Nico?"

Wiping at his face, Nico sat up more. "I'm here, Hazel." He stared down at Bianca's body. "Listen to Thalia. I don't... It's Bianca."

"No!" Hazel managed to scream before Thalia could get a hand over her mouth.

"Okay," Percy said frantically, "we need to move. Now. That thing had to of heard that." Nico didn't move. Percy stepped into the rooms and grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him away from his sister. "I'm not letting you get yourself killed, Nico."

"I can't leave her," Nico pleaded. "I have to stay with her. Percy, you can't ask-"

Nico's eyes were wide as he looked up at Reyna, who had slapped him. "I'm sorry, Nico, but they are right. We have to go. We can come back for her when it's safe." She took Nico from Percy and gently guided him out the door. "I promise we'll come back for her."

The group began making their way outside. But then it hit Nico. Someone was missing, and not just anyone. "Where's Jason?" He asked.

Percy and Reyna shared a look. "He..." Reyna was hesitant to answer. "I told Percy that he never came to our cabin. I haven't seen him since campfire."

Everything felt like it had shattered. Nico's world was on the verge of collapse. The only thing that kept him from crumbling in on himself was that Hazel took him by the hand. He couldn't shut down, not with Hazel still alive.

Percy squeezed Nico's shoulder. "We'll find him."

From behind them came the sound of chains rattling. The group all froze. From the shadows came a huge figure with a hood, carrying a chain that dragged a scythe on the ground behind him. His skin was ghostly pale, black bones even showing on parts of his arm. When he looked up, green eyes appeared in the darkness of his hood. On his side, a lantern began to illuminate a eerie green, like he had seen in the woods.

They were all frozen, at least until he pulled the chain and began readying the chain to throw. "Run!" Thalia yelled.

Everyone scattered. Nico kept a death grip on Hazel's arm as he took off running after Percy and Reyna, the latter gripping Nico's other hand. There was as scream behind them. Nico chanced a look, only to find Piper caught dead in her tracks. Blood spurted from her mouth. She looked down to find the scythe implanted in her body.

With one swift tug, the giant man pulled Piper backwards, the girl screaming as she went. Percy and Reyna shoved Hazel and Nico behind a cabin. They all peered around. The thing had taken its lantern off its hook, while Piper crawled across the ground. The Warden, as it seemed to really be, stepped on the chain and stopped the girl's escape. Nico's brow furrowed as he flipped her over. What was it doing?

Reyna clamped a hand over Hazel's mouth as she began to scream. From Piper's eyes and mouth came a green mist. It went into the lantern, until there was nothing left. Only the shell of Piper's body was left behind. The thing put the lantern back on his belt and it went dark again. Then the Warden picked its scythe back up. Percy was already pulling them away.

"Okay," he quickly whispered to Reyna, "you get Hazel back to our cabin. Luke will be waiting there with Leo and Frank. I need to find Jason. Nico won't come back with me unless we find him." Both Reyna and Percy look down at Nico. The boy nods. "Right. So, I'll find him and get back to you guys."

"What about the others?" Asked Nico. He pursed his lips. "Thalia and Annabeth are still out there."

Reyna pursed her lips. "This is shit." She glanced over her shoulder. The thing was gone. Taking in a deep breath, Reyna tried to stay calm. "Okay, I'll get Hazel back to the cabin. Find Jason and hurry up. I doubt Jason will come back without Thalia, and I don't want to leave her out here either. After I get Hazel back, I'm going to come back out here and look for her."

For a moment, Nico wasn't sure if Percy would agree. Then he nodded. Reyna tried to grab Hazel, but the girl shot forward to hug her brother. "Come back. Please don't die," she whispered in Nico's ear." Reyna grabbed her and pulled her off. Hazel cast a glance over her shoulder at her brother as Reyna quietly took them towards the boys' cabin.

Clenching his fists, Nico turned to Percy. "I'm not going back without Jason. So, if you want to back out, now is the time."

Percy smirked at him. "No way. You're stuck with me, buddy." He motioned in the other direction. "Come on, we shouldn't just stand around here."

The two took off running. Nico wasn't sure where to look, but it didn't seem like Percy had a clue either. There were screams that happened from time to time. Whenever they were close, Percy yanked Nico to a stop and hid them. The closest they came was when they had to dodge under a canoe. The Warden passed by them, his chain clanging as he went. Nico's eyes were wide as he watched the thing drag a mangled Drew Tanaka behind him. The scythe stuck out of her mouth and the chain wrapped around her neck.

After a minute had passed and they heard another scream in the distance, Percy and Nico shot away to continue their search. They ran all along the water, until they came to a stop. Standing by the edge of the water was a younger girl, her back to them. She wasn't moving, but was quietly singing to herself. Percy motioned for Nico to stay put and edged closer.

"Hey," Percy whispered. "You shouldn't be out here. It's too danger. Let's get you somewhere safe."

Nico's stomach fell as the girl turned around. Her entire face had been ripped off. Her outfit was not of this time, like something out of Victorian England. She carried with her a stuffed rabbit held to her chest. "Cling clang go the chains, someone's out to find you," the girl sang

Percy slowly inched back towards Nico as other kids rose from the water of the lake. Three didn't too far off in their clothing, something out of the sixties. Nico felt dread course through his veins as he had a thought. What if they were the ones that Demeter had talked about? Were these the spirits of those that the Warden had taken? Was that to be their fate? Eternal damnation in this prison?

The girl took a step forward as she continued with the next verse. "Cling clang go the chains." She raised and pointed a finger at the two of them. No, not at them. Behind them. "The Warden's right behind you," she sang in her eerie tone.

Sure enough, Nico heard chains rattling. He had just enough time to grab Percy and push him off to the side before the scythe cut through the air where they had been. Nico rolled across the ground and looked up as the Warden was pulling the scythe back to him. Percy yanked hard on Nico's hand and dragged the boy to his feet, the two of them shooting off into the night.

"This is insane," Percy said as they ran. "What the fuck was that? The chorus of the damned?"

"I don't think now is really the time to make jokes, Percy."

The two were paying so little to where they were going that they both tripped over a large object on the ground. Nico groaned and rolled onto his back. He had managed to hit his head on the root of a tree and his temple was now throbbing. He winced as he set up, though it was only momentary as he saw what they had stumbled over.

"Jason!"

"Ow," the blond groaned from the ground. "Did you two have to run over me like that?"

Percy sat up and helped Jason to do the same. "What are you doing, man? That thing is slaughtering everyone." His brow furrowed. "Bianca is dead. So is Piper."

"Well I was chasing Grover, and then I lost-" The blond stopped and looked at Nico. "Wait, Bianca is dead?" He reached out for Nico, barely missing him. Something was off. "Are you okay, Nico?"

"I'm fine." Nico's brow furrowed. "You..." Then it hit him. "Where are your glasses?"

The blond groaned as he was helped to his feet. "I think they broke." He let out a sigh as he rubbed his neck. "I found Grover, at least briefly. But he was in so much shock that he took off running. I tried to stop him and get him back to the cabin, but he knocked me out of the way. I think he stepped on my glasses in the process." The blond gave a weak smile at Nico. "Everything is a bit blurry." The boy then stopped, as if registering something. "You said Piper is dead, too?" Percy gave a nod. "Fuck." He let out a sigh. "Fucking dammit. What about the others?"

"I think everyone else is back at our cabin," Percy replied. "Annabeth and Thalia might be unaccounted for, but-"

"Wait, Thalia is missing as well?" Jason grabbed Percy by his shirt. "How did you lose my sister?"

Percy shoved the blond off of him. "It wasn't my fault, bro. That thing attacked us as we were getting the girls. We all scattered when it got Piper. I don't know where they went."

Growling for a second, Jason punched a tree and then shook his fist, cursing under his breath. "Goddamn fuck. This is so fucking messed up." He shook his head. "Okay..." He glanced down at his boyfriend. "You need to get back to the cabin."

"I need to find Grover," Percy interjected.

Jason gave a nod. "Yeah. I need to find Thalia. After we get Nico back, we can go looking." He motioned over his shoulder. "Grover ran into the woods, probably trying to make a break for civilization. If he's still alive, he's in there. No telling if we'll find him, though."

Nico grabbed Jason's hand with a scowl. "You're not going to leave me again."

Taking in a breath, Jason squeezed Nico's hand. "We'll figure something out." He motioned for them to move. "I also need to get my contacts from the cabin."

As they returned back to the cabins, they found the courtyard a little worse than they had left it. More bodies were scattered across the ground. One even hung from a tree. It was Cecil. A look of terror seemed to be on his face, what little was left of it. His jaw was missing, as were his eyes. That last part seemed to be common. Even one of the boy's arms was gone.

Percy's brow furrowed as he moved to get Cecil down. "I wonder if Will and the others are still alive. Cecil was supposed to be with them. If he's dead..."

"We won't know for sure unless we find them," Jason whispered, helping Percy put Cecil's body on the ground. He licked his lips. "What are the chances any of us can make it out of this?"

Percy chewed on his lip, his eyes diligently scanning the area. "I don't know. Maybe that book can tell us something?" He glanced at Jason. "Do you think you could find something?"

"Maybe," Jason replied as they headed for their cabin.

Inside, they knocked on the door. Leo opened it. Percy slipped inside, while Nico waited in the doorway. Jason went over to his bag and retrieved his contacts. The door was shut when they were all inside. Percy was standing there, staring at the room in confusion. Nico saw. Not everyone was here. In fact, only Hazel was the new addition. But, on top of that, Reyna and Luke were both missing.

"Where did they go?" Percy demanded, grabbing Leo by his shirt and lifting the boy off of his feet. Nico stared at Percy in shock. He wasn't sure he had ever seen Percy this mad, at least at one of his friends. The only time Nico had ever seen Percy this furious was when that asshole Bryce had made fun of Nico for crying in school after his mother had died. Percy had gotten suspended for two weeks for breaking Bryce's nose and two of his ribs. "What happened to them?"

"They took off." It was Frank that answered. Percy slowly put Leo down. "They went to look for Thalia and Annabeth. The two of them were insistent."

"Why wouldn't they be," Percy whispered, rubbing his mouth. "Fuck. I'm going back out there." He pointed to Jason. "See if you can find anything. Come find us if you do."

"Such a solid plan," Jason mumbled with a roll of his eyes. He pulled the old book out from under Luke's bed. Of course Percy still had the damned thing, Nico thought to himself. Jason sat down on the bed as Percy ran out the door, Leo locking it behind him.

Hazel took Nico's hand. "Are you okay?" She asked softly.

Nico smiled sadly at her. "I should be asking you that."

Leo was pacing in front of the door. "This is so fucked up." He looked at Nico. "How many others do you think are alive?"

"I don't know," Nico honestly replied. "A lot probably ran for the woods. The courtyard and the camp in general is pretty littered with bodies. Grover ran for the woods. We found Cecil dead, which could mean Will, Mitchell, and Lou are dead."

"We don't know that for sure." Jason didn't look up at the book, his face bearing a serious expression as he combed through the book. "Aha." Jason pointed to a page in the book. "So, I think I found us a way out. Literally." He stood up from the bed. "I mean, it's not much, and it's still danger. But it's something, right?"

"Just spit it out," Leo hissed. Nico had never seen Leo so shaken or serious.

Jason nodded his apology. "Right. So, we don't know the distance that this marked area went to, but if we can make it beyond that-"

"We'll be fine?" Frank finished. Jason nodded. "You don't know how far, though?"

Jason lightly shook his head. "I'd probably say the entire camp, probably several miles into the woods." The blond rubbed his temple, supporting the book against his hip as he did so. "There doesn't seem to be a way to kill that thing. And it won't stop until everyone marked is dead." His eyes locked on Nico. "Your souls are marked. It's come to collect them. It literally rips your soul out."

"Like some dementor shit?" Leo asked.

"Something like that," Jason continued. "There's literally nothing else to do. The problem is I'm not sure if that will even be enough."

Hazel pulled away from Frank and sat on the edge of the bed. "Why not?"

For a moment, Jason chewed on his lip. It was clear to Nico that it was bad news. He knew that look on Jason's face. "Nobody has ever survived an encounter with this thing," Jason whispered. He took Nico's hand and squeezed it. Leaning in, he whispered in Nico's ear, so only Nico could hear him. "I will make sure you get out of this. No matter the cost."

Nico could feel his heart breaking. He knew those words. Jason was basically telling him that he would die before he let that thing take Nico. Taking in a deep breath, Nico put a hand over his mouth and walked over to the window. This was too much. This was a nightmare. Why was this happening? It was just a stupid book, it wasn't supposed to be real. Jason didn't need to throw his life away. Jason, Reyna, and Annabeth could all run. They wouldn't, but Nico knew they could.

Leo took the book and threw it on the floor. "Fuck this thing." He kicked the thing as hard as he could, sending it into the wall. "It fucked up our lives." He took a breath and put his hands on his hips. "We can't just leave. We need to find the others. As much as I just want to book it, I know that none of you would just leave me behind."

Jason shared a look with Leo. "Percy won't leave until we find Grover. He'll be the hardest to find." He lightly shook his head. "If I'm being honest, I am not sure we'll find him. Whether he's alive or not, him doing this is putting us all in danger." He held up a hand. "We don't leave our friends behind, but Grover was hysterical. And he took off into those woods a good thirty minutes ago."

"That's kind of shitty," Frank mumbled.

"Nothing we can do about it," Jason sighed. "I don't like leaving him, but unless he came back to camp, we won't find him. And we can't just sit here until he comes back." He picked up his flashlight. "We need to regroup. If Percy found the others, we should probably leave. We'll need Luke to help convince Percy to leave."

"What if he's still alive out there?" Hazel voiced.

Nico placed a hand on her head and fixed her messed up hair. "Jason's right, we can't just stay here in hopes he comes back. The others should at least be here in the camp still, though." His eyes shot to Jason. "You're not going out there alone, though."

It seemed like Jason was about to tell Nico that there was no way in hell that he was letting Nico go back out there, but he didn't. "Moving us all out there is kind of dangerous," was all he said.

Leo held his hands up. "It's better than just sitting around here!" He shouted. He gave a nod to Jason. "Count me in. That thing is going to have to work for it if he wants Leo Valdez's so-"

Glass shattered and the dreaded chained scythe shot into Luke's room, slicing into Leo's back. The boy's body slumped. Before Jason could grab him, the small Latino was ripped out of the room with a scream. Hazel screamed and the others all shot into action. Nico scrambled for the door as Jason got the flashlight. Frank grabbed Hazel by the hand and they ran for it.

Frank and Hazel ran ahead, but Jason stopped outside the cabin. The thing was butchering Leo, paying them no mind. The boy's blood splattered and shot into the air with each hack from the thing's scythe. Nico tugged on Jason's arm, begging him to move, but the boy was frozen. He was watching his friend be butchered right in front of him.

"Jason," Nico pleaded, red hot tears streaming down his face. "Please."

Shaking himself, Jason took a few steps backwards before taking off running with Nico. The raven haired boy yelled as the scythe went flying by his head and tore into the side of the cabin as they turned the corner. Nico skidded to a halt. Panic filled his every being.

"Where is Hazel?" He asked.

Jason looked around. Frank and Hazel were gone. They must have kept running. The blond squeezed Nico's hand. "We'll find them. I promise. You won't lose another sister." He shoved Nico in the back of the shoulder to get the boy moving. "Just keep an eye out. We can't stop moving, though."

"We're not leaving without them."

"We won't, but we can't stay still. We don't have a safe place to hide anymore."

As they ran through the camp, Nico noted that it was a whole lot quieter now. How many campers were still alive at this point? Maybe people had gotten out safely. He needed to be optimistic right now. When they were making their second round through the camp, the two came to a halt at the sound of a scream.

Juniper ran out of the woods, heading towards the cabins as fast as she can. "Juniper!" Jason called out, motioning to where they were hiding behind some bushes.

The girl changed directions as fast as she could, but to no avail. The scythe and chain wrapped around her, yanking her to a stop. The Warden stood on the edge of the woods. It gripped the chain in its hand and pulled. Horror filled Nico's eyes as Juniper was flung into a tree with a sickening crack. The girl's body slumped to the ground and Jason grabbed Nico. It was time to run. Green glowed from beneath the Warden's hood. It looked right at Nico. He couldn't see its eyes, but Nico knew it was looking at him.

They bolted around the corner of the Big House and Nico nearly died. Will and Lou were huddled in the shadows of a vending machine. Lou put a finger to her lips. Jason shoved Nico in with the other two before pulling the vending machine to try and hide them.

"What are you two doing here?" Nico hissed.

Will was shaking. "Where are we supposed to go?"

Jason crouched down beside Nico, sitting on his haunches. "Maybe make a run for it."

Lou shook her head. "We were in the woods. We just got back into camp, and then we saw everyone dead." She slumped against the wall. "We came here to try and get one of the adults, but nobody is answering."

"Cecil's dead," Nico whispered.

Will pursed his lips, staring at the ground. "We know," the blond whispered. "The thing killed him in front of us. It got Mitchell as well." The blond wrapped his arms around himself, glancing out from behind the machine. "We found this clearing in the woods. It had been stringing up bodies."

"Who?"

"Silena, Jake, and Lacy," Lou replied.

"One looked like Chrion," Will added.

Jason's brow furrowed as he took Nico's hand. "Beckendorf wasn't with Silena?"

"Not that we saw." Lou met Jason's eyes with a frown. She had some blood splattered on her face and the sleeve of her shirt was torn. "There were a few more bodies, but they weren't distinguishable." She tried to move her sleeve up on her shoulder, but it fell right back off. "Anyone else alive?"

Nico and Jason looked at each other. "We saw Frank and Hazel just a little while ago, but we got separated when the thing killed..." Jason let out a sigh, "Leo." Nico squeezed Jason's hand. "Percy went looking for Luke and Reyna, who are looking for Annabeth and Thalia. And Grover ran into the woods, so we aren't sure about him."

Will gave a snort, his eyes dull. "I'm willing to bet money that Clarisse is still alive."

Jason finally stood back up. "We can't stay here," he announced. He peeked out from behind the machine before pushing it aside. The others stood up and peered out as well. Jason motioned for them to follow. "Come on. I think there's some stuff up in the attic."

The four of them crept towards the old wooden stairs that led up to the attic. Jason's brow furrowed as he found the door wouldn't open. Pulling back, he shoved his shoulder into it and cracked the door open. Nico's eyes widened as Jason's head was almost taken off by a hatchet.

"What the fuck, Clarisse?" Jason hissed. "We're already being murdered by that thing out there, we don't need you helping."

"Sorry," Clarisse mumbled as she pulled the hatchet from the wood and let them inside. "Just being cautious. Come to join my army?"

Nico peered around the room. There was nobody else there. Clarisse shoved a metal pipe into his hand, a bat into Jason's, and a shovel to Lou." She arched a brow at Will. "Sorry, Solace, that's all I've got."

The blond shrugged as he went to sit on a box, curling in on himself. Nico frowned as he watched the blond. He was not sure he had ever seen Will not smiling. Would any of them ever smile again, though? If they made it out of here being the first determining factor.

Staring down at the pipe for a second, Nico spoke softly. "Have you seen anyone else? We lost Hazel and Frank not long ago."

Clarisse finished barricading the door again. "Saw your friends running into the woods before coming up here." She sat against the desk she was using as defense. "That was about fifteen or thirty minutes ago."

"Which ones?" Jason asked.

The girl arched a brow at the blond. "Jackson and Reyna."

Nico's heart threatened to pound out of his chest. Just those two? "What about Luke?"

The girl slowly shook her head. "Not that I saw." Her brow knit together as she crossed her arms. "Jackson had a lot of blood on his shirt, seemed distressed. They ignored me when I called out to them."

Jason looked over at Nico, who couldn't move. What if Luke was dead? How many of his friends was he going to lose? Would he even survive? Nico just wanted to wake up.

"We need to get beyond the woods," Jason said softly. "It's going to sound crazy, but if we put enough distance between us and the camp, it should leave us alone."

Lou snorted. "Yes, because a weird demon-like man carrying a scythe on a chain and ripping out souls isn't already crazy." She let out a sigh. "How far?"

"I don't know," Jason admitted. Clarisse scoffed at that. "I'm sorry. It's complicated. We can talk about it later, if we make it out." He moved towards the door. "Right now, we need to go find Percy and Reyna, maybe see if they found the others."

"No." Clarisse stood up and blocked the door. "We need to get the hell out of here. Unless you want your boyfriend to be next. That thing is trying to kill us, unless you missed that part. I watched my entire cabin get slaughtered. The only reason I lived was because it knocked over the bunk beds and a mattress landed on top of me." Her eyes softened as she looked over at Nico. "I listened as it murdered Bianca. I'm sorry."

There were tears threatening to form in Nico's eyes. His vision blurred as he looked at his hands, which were shaking. He just wanted to lose it and scream, but he couldn't. Nico needed to hold it together, at least until they made it out of here. He could do that, right?

"I can't leave without the others," Nico whispered. "We're going. You guys can stay here or run, but Jason and I are staying to look for our friends."

Clarisse grunted before moving the desk aside. "Fine, but it's your funeral." She looked to Lou and Will. "What about you two?"

Glancing at Nico, Will pursed his lips. "I'm sorry. I just want to get away from here."

Nico gave the blond a nod before they all moved to the door. Clarisse opened it, axe at the ready. They all crept down the stairs. Jason and Clarisse shared a look before they started to go their separate ways. Until they heard the chains.

Just as he looked down, Nico's legs were ripped out from under him. The boy screamed and clawed at the grass as he was pulled towards the Warden. Jason made a dash for him, but came up short. Clarisse shouted and actually tossed her axe at the Warden, catching it in the chest. Lou and Jason moved quickly to pull the chain off Nico as the Warden popped the axe out of his chest.

Clarisse jumped at the pipe that Nico had dropped, which was far from the right move. The axe flew through the air and caught Clarisse right at her wrist. The girl screamed and pulled the axe from her hand. Seeing it so close, Nico wanted to hurl. Her hand dangled at the end of her arm. Clarisse made a small noise of horror as she crawled across the ground, away from the Warden, who was slowly pulling his chain back in.

Will and Nico helped her up, handing her off to Jason for support. Nico spun around as he heard the whirling of the chain. Blood rushed out of his face, sinking down to his toes. He was going to die. The scythe was headed right for them. For him. There was not going to be a future for him and Jason. It was over.

"Nico, move," was all Lou could get out as she pushed Nico out of the way. The scythe zoomed past them and then ripped back. Lou was caught in the back on its return. "Go!" She screamed at them from the ground.

Nico had to grab Will and make the blond run. Jason helped Clarisse hobble as fast as she could move, which was not all that fast. Nico stopped and watched as the Warden ripped his scythe from Lou's back. Gripping the handle tightly, he cleaved down into the girl's back. Nico shuddered as bones cracked and broke apart. Jason's hand wrapped firmly around Nico's arm. The blond was staring intently at his boyfriend, the message clear. Move.

As they moved, which was not all that fast with Clarisse, they could hear the Warden following them. The chains rattled with each step it took. It was haunting, like it was burned into Nico's mind.

Jason had them go into the Big House again, but this time they went to the medical room. They all scrambled inside and shut the door. A light shined on them from the exam table, followed by a groan in the dark.

"How the fuck are you all alive?" Luke hissed from behind the light.

Nico shot forward and nearly tackled the blond, who hissed in pain. "Sorry," Nico apologized as he pulled back.

Luke had his shirt off and had ripped it to use to bind around his torso. There was a lot of blood on his right side. He hissed and laid back down on the table. Nico took his light and pulled back the shirt to take a look.

"It might be infected," Will observed, suddenly at Nico's side. "My dad's a doctor. He needs to get to a hospital."

"Great observation," Luke mumbled bitterly.

Jason helped Clarisse sit down. "Do you think you could help Clarisse, Will?" He asked. The other blond slowly nodded, eyeing Clarisse's hand funny. Nico wanted to gag as he noticed the girl's hand was still dangling from her wrist. "Luke, what happened?"

With a grunt, Luke adjusted his position. "Well, we found Percy." The blond groaned in pain. "Before that, we had seen Thalia and Annabeth. But that thing showed up and we had to split up again. I got fucked up and Reyna brought me here. She did a quick swoop of the area and came back with Percy. Reyna took him to go find the others. They went into the woods."

"Jason," Will called hesitantly. "I might need you to help me." He pursed his hand as he looked through the supplies. "We are going to have to remove the hand the rest of the way."

"The hell you say," Clarisse hissed.

Will gulped. "I'm so sorry. I can't reattach it, though. There's no way I could pull that off." He glanced up at Jason. "But my dad did show me how to amputate. I mean, better than just hacking it off." He opened another cabinet. "I just need to find... Aha!" He pulled out a medical saw. "I need you to hold her down. Nico, get me a lot of gauze. I'll look for some painkillers."

It ended up taking all of them. They gave the painkillers to Clarisse and waited for a few minutes. Then Jason and Luke had to hold the girl down, and Nico stuffed some extra gauze into Clarisse's mouth, keeping his hand over it to make sure she didn't spit it out and scream. Even behind the gauze, it sounded painful.

Clarisse did her best to shake both blonds off of her, but they wouldn't budge. She wouldn't calm down, not even when Will warned that it could only make it worse. Nico had to look away after Will started cutting through. He could hear her flesh tearing, the rest of the bone snapping. Nico finally had to move away and vomit into the nearest trashcan.

Sliding against the wall, Nico curled in on himself and buried his face into his arms. His back heaved as he finally broke down. They weren't going to make it out of this, they were just prolonging things. Jason could live. He should leave them, but Nico knew he wouldn't. He would sacrifice himself to save Nico. That alone would kill Nico.

When silence finally filled the rooms, Nico felt warm arms wrap around his body. Jason kissed him on the top of his head and tried to calm the boy down. "Shhh," he said gently. "You're not going to die, Nico. I swear to you." He kissed Nico's head again. "I'll protect you."

Nico finally looked up. Luke was staring at him, but not in a way that made Nico feel stupid for crying. Luke was scared too, Nico could see it. They all were. Will was wrapping Clarisse's wrist in the gauze, the girl silently sobbing with her head turned away. Why was this happening to them? Nobody deserved to go out like this.

It was all their fault. They had brought this upon the camp.

Petting Nico's hair, Jason spoke softly. "Will, do you remember where that clearing was?" He asked. Will nodded. "Can you take us there?" Will shot him an odd look. "I'm just hoping that we'll maybe find Percy and Reyna there."

"They could be dead if they are there," Will whispered.

Luke sat back down on the exam table. "Why?"

Will sighed and slouched on his stool. "That thing had strung up a bunch of bodies." He shook his head. "It was... disturbing."

"What about Hazel and Frank?" Nico whispered into Jason's shoulder.

"We'll find them," Jason promised. He sighed and let his head hit the wall. "I just... I need to get you out of here." He looked up at the others. "We all need to get out of here. We can do one more sweep of the camp, then head into the woods." There was a pause. "Then we'll leave."

"No," Luke growled. "If we don't find them-"

"And then what?" Jason asked, eyes crazed with panic. "We can't stay here until morning. That thing will likely find us." He shook his head. "And we can't hope to keep searching the woods, it's too big."

Standing up from where he sat, Will sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "We can't stay here too long. Luke and Clarisse both need a doctor." He gulped and glanced between both injured parties. "It's likely that both of their wounds will get infected." His eyes settled on Luke. "You could even die if we can't get the bleeding to stop."

"You guys could stay here, and I-" Jason began, but cut himself off when he received a glare from Nico. "I mean... Nico and I will go find the others."

Luke frowned and shook his head. "Not a good idea. Then you'd have to come back for us."

"He's right," Clarisse groaned. "We need to move together. Find any survivors and get the hell out of dodge." She held up her amputated wrist. "Not like Luke or I have a choice, really. Without Grace here we are kind of boned. No offense Solace or di Angelo."

With a nod, Jason pulled his phone out of his pocket. Nico could see that the blond didn't have any service. With a sigh, Jason nodded. "Okay. It's a little after two. We give it an hour, if we can, otherwise we get out." Everyone in the room nodded their agreement. "Okay, get ready to move as soon as possible."

It took them about five minutes to make sure Luke and Clarisse's bandages were secure, but they eventually were able to move. Jason opened the door first and poked his head out, gripping the axe tightly in his hand. Without looking away, he motioned for the others to follow him out. Nico held on tightly to the back of the blond's shirt.

They waited a few seconds before leaving the Big House. It was quiet across the camp. No movement. Nothing. The only other people than them that were still alive were probably in the woods. Either lost, being hunted, or miraculously escaped. Nico highly doubted that many, if any, had achieved the last one.

Will moved up to stand beside Jason. The younger blond was clearly panicking. He didn't like being up towards the front, probably feeling exposed. They didn't talk as they moved. Clarisse, not able to really do anything if they were attacked, held the flashlight. They came to an abrupt stop when a twig broke, Jason immediately grabbing Nico's hand.

Then there was a cough and they all jumped. Clarisse pointed the light at a tree and Will yelped. Beckendorf sat up against the base of the tree, blood dripping from his mouth and he clutched his stomach. His shirt was drenched in blood.

"Beckendorf," Clarisse whispered in the darkness. "What happened? Where's Silena?"

The muscular young man groaned and opened his eyes to look at them. "She's-"

"Dead," Will finished. Clarisse whipped her head around to look at the blond. Beckendorf nodded. "I saw her body strung up in that freaky clearing."

"You saw that?" Beckendorf managed to get out, though it was strained. He groaned and clutched his side. "We were looking for Jake and Lacy. We found them." The young man shook his head. "That crazy fucker came out of nowhere and got Silena. Got me, too."

Luke groaned as he leaned forward and offered Beckendorf a hand. The young man just shook his head. "Come on, man," the blond hissed. "We can't just stand around here."

"Can't move." Beckendorf shifted his hand slightly to the side. Nobody said anything. His shirt was torn, so was his stomach. The only reason Beckendorf's guts weren't spilling out was that he was holding them in. "You guys need to get out of here."

"Some of the others are still out there," Nico whispered.

Jason nodded. "Percy, Reyna, Thalia, Reyna, and Grover." He rubbed his mouth. "At least that we know of. There could be more."

Beckendorf shook his head and looked down. "Shouldn't look for Grover, but you'll find him." Nico perked up at that. "He's in the clearing with the others." The hope immediately fell away. "I'm sorry. I tried to make my way back there not long ago, to get Silena's body, but that thing came back with Grover and another camper strung to some chains." He ground his teeth and tried to sit up a little better. "That's when he caught me in the stomach."

Nico squeezed Jason's hand. "We'll send help for you."

Will, who had been crouched down beside Beckendorf, pursed his lips. "He won't make it that long." His face softened. "I'm sorry. You might have another twenty minutes at most, and we can't move you got get you back to the medical supplies."

"What if we ran back and got what we needed?" Clarisse offered.

"No," Beckendorf growled. "Go. Find your friends. Get out of here." Something moved behind them. "Go. Now."

Jason pulled Nico as he took off running. The others followed behind them. It wasn't long after they had left Beckendorf that they heard him let out a scream before it was silenced. Will tried to do his best to direct them through the woods as they ran. There was no telling if that thing was following them still. Nico couldn't look back, or he would trip.

From the side, two girls barreled into them. They all tumbled to the ground, rolling through the grass and leaves. Nico groaned as he rolled onto his stomach to push himself up. Luke pointed his light at the girls. "Annabeth!" Luke cried.

"Nice to see you as well," Reyna groaned, pushing herself up. Nico tackled her to the ground in a hug.

Jason sat up and retrieved his axe. "Are you guys all right?"

"Yes," Annabeth replied. She glanced at the others. "Are you guys? What happened?"

"Long story," Luke groaned as he moved to hug his friend. "Where's Percy and Thalia?"

The girls looked at each other. "You guys might want to come with us. We need your help with Percy," Reyna replied.

As they made their way into the clearing, Nico slowed down. It was hard to look at. The camp was littered with bodies, but there were still plenty that were strung up in the trees. Their bodies were mangled, some of their faces disfigured, and some even missing body parts. As Clarisse pointed the light across the ground, Nico could see that most of the grass was red. Drenched in blood. It trailed along the ground. The fresher bodies still dripped it, while most had pools of it on the ground beneath them.

Percy was sat in front of one particular body. Grover. The green-eyed boy was clutching his head and rocking himself back and forth. Percy and Grover had been friends since they were twelve. In fact, for a time, Nico barely saw Percy because he was always off with Annabeth and Grover. Thalia was sat at his side, rubbing the boy's back and whispering to him.

"Thalia," Jason breathed out. He dashed forward and slid into the grass, grabbing his sister in a hug. "You're okay."

Thalia offered a sad smile. "That's one way of putting it." She nodded at Luke. "Glad they found you. Are you guys okay?" Her brow furrowed at Luke. "You look like shit." The blond flipped her off. Thalia's gaze trailed over to Clarise, her eyes widening. "Oh shit. What happened?"

Clarisse grunted and held up her arm. "Had a run in with that... thing."

Nico sat down beside Percy, lightly touching his shoulder. "Percy? We need to go."

"No," was all Percy said.

Annabeth shook her head. "He's been like this since we found the clearing. He saw Grover and..." She motioned to Percy. Luke pointed the light at her. It was obvious that she had been crying. "We've been trying to tell him that we can't stay here."

"That thing hasn't been back here?" Will asked.

Reyna shook her head. "Not for a while. We heard screaming back towards camp. Figured it had gone back to finish off everyone that it could find." Her eyes darted to Jason. "There is something else. When... When we were running, we briefly saw it." She motioned to Annabeth. "It was right before we bumped into you. We nearly bumped into it in the dark."

"Holy shit," Clarisse hissed.

Lips in a thin line, Annabeth shook her head. "Nothing happened. It... ignored us. Like we weren't even there." The blonde motioned to Jason. "The book... I think I might have the answer to why. The three of us weren't marked."

"Whoa," Clarisse said. "Marked? What are you talking about?"

The others, save for Will and Clarisse, all looked at each other. Well, and Percy. He wasn't moving. His eyes were duller than Nico had ever seen them. "It's... a long story," Jason offered. He took in a breath. "There was a book that was found."

"It might have been cursed," Luke finished.

"This is your fault?" Clarisse growled, taking a step forward.

Annabeth stepped in between them. "It's not anyone's fault. How were they supposed to know it was real?" She shook her head. "Nobody would have seen this coming." Taking in a breath, Annabeth glanced down at Percy. "We just need to stay together and get out of here."

Jason nodded his agreement. "We need to get beyond the marked zone." He rubbed his jaw. "Not sure how far it is, but it has to be beyond the woods." His eyes darted to Reyna and Annabeth. "The interstate isn't that far. Perhaps that would be far enough?"

"A few miles," Luke offered.

"What choice do we have?" Reyna replied.

"Wait." Clarisse clenched her jaw. "Why are we being hunted because of this?"

Nico pursed his lips, still staring at Percy. "It marked the whole camp. We didn't know," he whispered. They- We thought it would be fun to read from the book." His shoulders slumped. "It was the night before Jason, Reyna, and Annabeth got here."

Thalia shot up and glared at her brother. "And you didn't get out of here?" She demanded.

Jason glared back at his sister. "I'm not leaving Nico or any of you behind to die." He stared at her in disbelief. "We still have to find Frank and Hazel."

"Fuck," Thalia cursed, kicking the ground. "This is fucking bullshit. Should have never found that book." She made to kick Percy, but Luke caught her and glared at her. "Don't fucking touch me." She shoved the tall blond off of her and took a few steps back."

"We can't stay here," Will whispered. He was bouncing on his heels nervously, arms wrapped tightly around himself. "We could try going back to camp. Get a car, try to get out that way?"

"Pretty sure people would have already tried," Annabeth pointed out.

Luke's brow furrowed, eyes darting off to the side. "Wait..." He snapped his fingers. "There's the medical jeep. It was still there last I checked. The keys would be in Chiron's room."

Everyone looked at each other. "It would be closer to get back to camp," Reyna reasoned. "Then getting to the interstate would be easier." She nodded. "I agree with Luke." Annabeth nodded as well. Reyna let out a breath. "Then we need to get Percy on his feet and get moving. Maybe we can find Hazel and Frank on the way."

Hesitantly, Nico got to his feet. He didn't want to leave without Hazel. She was the only sister he had left, and she was possibly still out there. What if he left her to die? He chewed on his bottom lip, while the others tried to get Percy on his feet.

"Fuck off," Percy finally growled, throwing a punch. His eyes snapped open when he realized he had hit Luke in the face. The blond groaned from the ground. "Shit! I'm sorry, Luke." Percy crawled over and helped Luke sit up.

Luke let out a sigh and pulled Percy in for a hug before they got to their feet. "Are you good?" He asked, rubbing his cheek. Percy gave a nod. "Good." Pecking the boy on the lips, Luke pulled away from Percy. "We need to get out of here."

"Guys..." Will whined, terrified.

They all turned in the direction that the blond was facing. Nico felt his blood run cold as he spotted what Will had been looking at. At the edge of the woods, dragging two more bodies, was the Warden. A cry to run rang out in their group and they all bolted to their right.

The scythe flew by them and caught a tree right beside Nico's face. Jason reached back and took Nico's hand as they ran. Reyna pressed a hand to his back, urging the boy to go faster. Nico's heart was in his throat as he ran. The chains were rattling in his ears. It was like they were right behind him. Were they going to die here?

As they passed a large tree, the chained scythe shot across in front of them. It caught Jason and Percy in the neck and both boys went down, coughing violently. Nico and Reyna scrambled to help Jason up, while Annabeth and Luke got Percy.

"Look out!" Will screamed.

Percy's head shot up as the chained scythe swung down on them from above. His eyes widened as the blade came right towards his chest. Nico screamed, but Jason wouldn't let him move. Then everything stopped. Nico was stunned. So was Percy. He stood there in disbelief as Annabeth fell forward in his arms. Her head hit Percy's shoulder. She had taken the blow for Percy. She had been safe, unmarked. But she had taken the hit for Percy.

The chain tore back up into the tree, taking the scythe and Annabeth with it. "No!" Percy screamed, trying to hold onto Annabeth, but she was ripped away from him.

Blood spilled from above and rained down on Percy. Everything fell silent around them. Percy was frozen in place, still staring above him. His face and clothes were now drenched in Annabeth's blood. There was not a time that Nico could recall ever seeing Percy this shaken. He just stood there, chest heaving violently. Luke and Thalia didn't move either.

Clarisse elbowed Luke hard. "We can mourn later. We've got to get out of here before it comes back for the rest of us," she hissed.

Luke glanced back up at the trees for a moment before he nodded and shook Percy. "We have to go. I'm sorry." He clutched Percy's face to make the boy look at him. "I'm so sorry, but we have to go." Terror filled every inch of Luke's blue eyes as he stared into the devastated sea-green ones of Percy. "We will die if we stay here."

Thalia took in a deep breath and nodded. "She wouldn't want us to die in vain, Percy," the girl whispered.

Slowly, Percy nodded his head. He took a few steps before allowing himself to move into a slow jog with the others. Nico felt numb, cold. It wasn't until he looked down that he realized that Jason had his hand. The only reason he was even moving at all was because Jason was holding on to him and his legs were moving automatically to follow.

It took them a while of stumbling through the woods, but they eventually found the camp again. They all burst from the edge of the woods and bolted towards the Big House. Jason and Percy kicked in the door and they all scrambled inside to search for the keys. They all jumped when they heard movement behind them.

Relief flooded through Nico as he spotted Hazel standing there with Frank. He moved forward and pulled her in for a hug. She squeezed him back just as fiercely. They just needed to find those keys and leave now.

"Is this all that's left?" Frank asked.

Reyna gave a small nod. "Not sure if anyone else is out there, but this is all of our group." Her lips fell. "We lost a few."

Hazel looked up at Nico. "Everyone else is...?"

All Nico did was nod in reply. It was hard to say out loud. He wasn't sure he would ever be able to admit they were gone forever. There were so many that they lost, he wasn't sure how he was going to sit through all of the funerals. How was he even going to feel normal after this? He jumped when he felt Jason's warm hand on his shoulder.

Thalia dangled the keys in the air victoriously. "Got them."

Luke gave a nod. "Let's go."

They crept further into the Big House to try and remain unseen. Nico wouldn't voice it out loud, but he was not sure if that would actually help. As Annabeth and Reyna had pointed out, the thing had completely ignored them. What if it wasn't hunting them by sight or sound?

Luke directed them through the kitchen, to a door that was in the back. It was the closest way to the parking area. Nico pursed his lips as he stepped over two of the cooks that were dead on the floor. He had to wonder just what they were going to find up ahead. If it were so easy to get out of here by car, why didn't it seem like anyone had made it out?

Luke slowly pushed the door opened and poked his head outside. Jason, Thalia, and Percy came out next with their weapons held at the ready. Luke tossed the keys to Reyna, who took off in the direction of the jeep. The lot was just about as bad as Nico had imagined. The rest of the campers were here. There were too many dead that Nico had seen tonight to think that any had actually escaped yet. Teenagers laid up against their cars, blood pooling around their corpses. One that Nico had to step over had been cut in half.

A hand shot into the air, Reyna signaling them over. The group ran towards her. What they found didn't reassure them that well. Reyna pointed to the exit. It had been locked, the gate pulled to and iron chain and lock had been secured on it.

Nico wandered a few feet away while the others tried to see if any of the keys would unlock the gate. His brow furrowed as he looked at all the bodies splayed across the ground and the cars. He spotted Travis thrown into the windshield of a green sports car, while his brother Connor was on the hood of the same car. It looked like Connor had been trying to help his brother off the car, not wanting to admit that Travis was dead. The Warden must have slaughtered Connor while he was distracted.

Covering his mouth, Nico suppressed a yelp when there was a loud clank. He turned to find that Percy had taken the axe to the iron lock that was keeping them in. He frowned. Well, if the Warden didn't know where they were before, it probably did now.

"Nico," Reyna called out to him.

Perhaps a little too loud, Nico though. "Are you trying to draw its attention?" Nico mumbled under his breath, stuffing his hands in his pockets and slowly making his way towards the others.

Jason bolted towards him, confusing Nico. "Run!" The blond shouted. Nico slowly turned his head as that cursed scythe flew by his head and smashed into a car window. Nico yelped and scrambled towards his boyfriend. "Get down."

As Jason barreled into Nico, the two fell onto the hood of a car and rolled, barely missing the scythe again as it slammed into the hood. The Warden slowly made his way around the car, as Jason and Nico crawled under it. Its hand grabbed under the car. Nico yelped as that hand with some of its exposed black bones tried to pull him back out. Percy came over and helped Jason tug Nico out, ripping some of Nico's shirt off in the process. Jason clung on tightly for a brief second before the scythe swung down on them from over the car.

"No!" Nico yelled as Jason spun them around to shield his boyfriend from the blow. But it never came. Jason's eyes opened in confusion as he and Nico looked to see what happened. "Oh god."

Thalia stood there, gritting her teeth. The scythe had caught her in the shoulder. Jason and Percy rapidly worked to pull her off, but the chain was ripped back. Thalia screamed as the two held onto her. There was a sickening sound of the scythe's blade cutting through bone and flesh. There was a lot of blood, so much blood. Percy fell to the ground with Thalia's arm as it sliced off. He screamed and scrambled away from it. Thalia fell to her knees, screaming in pain.

"Come on," Jason whispered, trying to help his sister up.

They weren't paying attention, but Nico saw. Saw the Warden readying another attack. He tackled Jason to the ground. There was a sickening crack, but Nico didn't open his eyes. He couldn't. He knew what had happened, he didn't need to see.

"Thalia," Jason breathed. The chain sounded again and this time Nico looked. Thalia's body was ripped backwards over the car. "No!"

Moving forward, Percy helped Nico hold Jason. "She's gone, Jason," Percy whispered. The blond wasn't listening, doing his best to break free. "We are going to die if we don't get out of here." He shoved Jason hard in the chest, sending the blond stumbling into a car. There was a dark green light that emanated from the other side of the car that Thalia had been dragged over. "Nico is going to die if you don't help get him out of here."

Heavy breathing came from Jason as he finally looked Nico in the eye. His expression softened before he turned back to Percy and nodded. "We can grieve later," the blond whispered, "I know. I just..."

The Warden stood back up, placing its lantern back on its belt. "Fuck," Percy hissed as the Warden picked his scythe back up and turned to face them. "Go."

The three of them bolted back towards the others, dodging attacks from the scythe left and right. Nico screamed as it tore off a mirror beside him. Jason helped Nico into the back of the jeep before jumping in himself.

"Drive!" Percy yelled as he was pulled into the passenger seat and fell into Luke's lap.

Reyna floored it. The jeep crashed through the now open gate, but didn't make it any further. Jason and Frank peered over the back and cursed. Nico looked over as well. "What's happening?" Clarisse yelled back at them.

Nico's eyes trailed from where the scythe had embedded itself into the tail end of their jeep, following it to where the Warden was standing at the gate. His feet were dug into the ground, holding on tightly. How was that thing keeping a moving vehicle in place?

"Um..." Hazel whispered. She slowly curled up into the bed of the jeep.

Will dug around in the floor. He smirked as he pulled out a flare gun. "What about this?"

Clarisse arched a brow at him. "I hit that motherfucker in the chest with an axe, do you really think a bright light of fire is going to do anything?" She deadpanned.

While everyone was distracted, Frank leaped over the back of the jeep with the axe. Hazel screamed at him, but Nico tackled her to the floor. He wasn't losing another sister. "Frank," Jason growled, "get back in the jeep."

"No," Frank replied, defiantly. He gripped the axe tight and held it over his shoulder. "Reyna," he called out. The girl turned her head from the driver seat. "Floor it once I get this thing off." She nodded. "Don't wait for me."

"No!" Hazel cried, tears streaming down her face. Nico wouldn't let go of her, cradling the girl to his chest.

Jason was about to jump out and help, but Frank pointed the axe at the blond with a glare. "Stay there. I've got this." He looked over his shoulder when the chain on the scythe slacked a bit. "Fuck." The Warden was slowly making its way towards them.

Hefting the axe above his head, Frank swung it down hard on the back of the jeep. He didn't aim for the scythe or the chain, but the metal of the jeep. Smart. Nico somehow doubted that anything would have cut through that iron. With a final hit, Frank cried out and broke a big enough hole that Reyna was able to floor it and the scythe ripped through the torn metal.

Frank turned around as the Warden stopped behind him. Its hand shot out and squeezed Frank's neck, lifting the boy off the ground. "No!" Hazel screamed, trying her best to get out and help Frank. It took Jason, Nico, and Will to hold her down.

Pulling its free arm back, the Warden thrust his hand deep into Frank's chest. Nico clutched Hazel's face to his chest to keep her from watching. The Warden pulled its hand out and released Frank's lifeless body. It didn't move to follow them, though. It crouched down beside Frank and was in the process of removing the lantern from its belt when Reyna turned the corner.

Nico let himself slouch against the side of the jeep, chest heaving as he clutched Hazel to him. Jason watched him from the other side. He didn't say anything, though, just put his hand on Nico's leg. Nico could imagine why. Comfort. Wanting to make sure Nico was still there. They had made it.

The jeep was so silent as Reyna drove through the woods. Nico caught Percy looking back at them from time to time from where he was splayed across Luke's lap. Nico finally gave the boy a nod and Percy sighed and placed his head on Luke's shoulder, but didn't close his eyes. Nico could relate. He wouldn't close his either. His body felt exhausted, his energy spent, but Nico wasn't willing to shut his eyes. With every blink, he could see the dead bodies of his friends, watch as they were ripped away from him and murdered in front of him. He didn't want to think about what it would be like to actually close his eyes.

Or maybe he had spoken too soon.

From out of nowhere, the scythe and chain slammed down into the hood of the jeep. Reyna swerved and the jeep rolled onto its side, barreling into a tree just off the road. Glass shattered and everyone had gone tumbling to the side.

Nico managed to fall out of the back of the jeep with a groan. He held his hands up, his eyes in panic. Glass had cut his hands, blood dripping down from his palms. Nico breathed slowly and reached inside the jeep to shake Jason.

"Hey," Nico whispered. He sat up on his knees and peered into the woods. He gulped as he saw the Warden slowly pulling his chain back to him. "Guys," Nico continued, panic filling his voice, "we need to get out of here."

There were some groans inside. Percy pulled himself out of the passenger window with a wince. He fell over the side of the jeep and hit the ground, a shard of glass sticking out if his shoulder. With a groan, Luke managed to push the door open and helped Reyna crawl out. He stumbled out with her help. His shirt was soaked even more in blood, probably soaked through his bindings.

Jason crawled out with Hazel as the scythe slammed into the back left tire. Hazel let out a cry as she was pushed away by the blond, who turned around to help Will get Clarisse out. Luke barely managed to yank Percy by the shirt and pull him out of the way as the Warden came crashing into the side of the jeep, putting a heavy dent in it. Nico scrambled across the grass to grab both Hazel and Jason. The blond put both of them behind his back.

"Any plan here?" Percy called over to them.

Jason grunted, "Still working on that one."

As the Warden stood back up straight and readied his chained scythe, Nico prayed for salvation. Anything would do. It just couldn't end like this. He could practically hear cars passing by on the interstate, they had to be close to the road. Nico shut his eyes as the Warden began to wind his chain up to throw.

A car horn pierced the air and Nico's eyes shot open. Headlights flashed in front of them and the Warden stopped to turn around. The car slammed into the thing, smashing the Warden between the car and the jeep. The others had all jumped out of the way to avoid the collision and were recovering from their falls when the driver door opened on the car.

"Are you all okay?" Came Demeter's voice. Nico had never been so relieved in his life to hear her. "Everyone get in!"

They didn't have to be told twice. It was a tight fit, but they all squeezed in. Reyna sat in the front with Hazel, while the others all got in each other's personal space. Nico was on Jason's lap, while Percy's shoulders were pushed against his side. The green-eyed boy sat, jammed, across Luke's lap and even some of Jason. Clarisse sat on the other side of Luke, with Will on the floorboard with his feet pulled tightly to his chest. Demeter backed up, one of her headlights out. Nico leaned forward. He was gone. The Warden wasn't there.

He tapped furiously on Demeter's seat. "Go. Please drive. Before it comes back, drive."

The car spun around in the dirt road and headed in the direction it came. There was a pounding in Nico's chest as he stared out the window behind them. Nothing moved. Were they finally safe? Jason rubbed his back and squeezed Nico tightly to his chest.

As they were just about at the exit onto the interstate, five cop cars came shooting into the woods ahead of them. They all skidded to a halt, as did Demeter. The kids and Demeter all scrambled out of the car as the police shined lights on them.

They all began shouting and pointing, save for Demeter. Nico wasn't sure what the woman thought had happened, but she stayed quiet. "You can't go in there," Percy quickly said.

"That thing murdered everyone!" Clarisse shouted, her eyes wild. Everyone had the same look in their eyes. Did Nico? He wasn't sure. "It's fucking insane!"

"Please," Hazel sobbed, "I just want to go home."

Some of the cops put their hands on their guns, while others ushered the kids over to the cars. Nico, reluctantly, was separated from Jason. It did take three cops to separate them, though, as Nico refused to let go of the blond. He was finally sat down in the backseat of one of the cop cars, his knees poking out of the door. The police officer's expression softened as she looked at him shaking.

"Can you tell me what happened?" She asked gently.

"I don't..." Nico's brow furrowed as he stared off into the grass. What could they tell these people? They would sound insane. "Everyone's dead. That thing... He killed them and sucked out their souls."

The officer tipped back the front of her hat with the back of her pen. She stared at Nico in confusion, which was to be expected. "Did you take anything tonight?" She asked. Nico shook his head furiously. "Are you sure you saw what you saw? Maybe you-"

"I saw that thing murder everyone!" Nico yelled, drawing the attention of several cops and his friends. "It slaughtered them." Nico's eyes were near crazed as he rocked back and forth in the seat. "He... took them into the woods and strung up their corpses. W-We're the only ones that made it out." He looked up at her in fear. "Please. You can't go back there. Don't take me back there."

Staring at him for a long moment, the officer nodded her head before putting her notepad on the roof of the car and walking over to one of the other officers. Nico gulped and stared down at his hands as they talked. He was shaking. Blood covered his hands, which were still cut from the glass. Was it even his blood? Nico wasn't sure.

The officers all gathered together with Demeter and talked. Jason came over to Nico and pulled the boy into his arms, kissing him on the side of the head. Nico was still shaking. He couldn't stop, no matter how tightly Jason held him.

The female officer that had talked to Nico came back over, while half of the cops took two cars and drove deeper into the woods. Nico's brow furrowed, his head spinning. "Where are they going?" He desperately asked. "They can't go in there."

"Calm down," the officer said softly. "They are just going to have a look around."

An ambulance showed up while they waited for the cops to return. They loaded Clarisse and Luke up and put them in the ambulance. Percy crawled in beside the blond, holding his hand, while one of the paramedics looked at the green-eyed boy's fresh wound. Percy looked at Nico and waved as they shut the door. Nico took in a deep breath as he watched the ambulance leave the way it came.

Reyna, Hazel and Will had come over to sit beside the car that Nico was seated in. Jason had swapped places with Nico and cradled the boy in his lap now. It was too quiet. Nico jerked at even the slightest noise. No chains, though. Tears had been threatening to form in his eyes ever since the ambulance had arrived, but they wouldn't spill out.

After another fifteen minutes, Nico curled up in Jason's lap and buried his face in the blond's neck. He felt Reyna take his hand and squeeze it. Nico was afraid still. What if the officers didn't come back? What if the Warden came and slaughtered them all right here?

The officer that had been talking to Nico came back over and crouched down in front of them. "They're still looking," she announced softly. "They're finding bodies, but no sign of this psychopath." Nico wanted to correct her, it wasn't a psychopath, it was a fucking supernatural being, but he didn't. "Can any of you describe this guy for me?"

There was a long pause before Reyna finally shook her head. "No, officer," she replied weakly. "He had a hood on. He was very tall and had a scythe on a chain. All we can tell you."

The cop nodded and stood back up. "The sun will be up soon. We'll take you all to get some breakfast, if any of you are hungry, before we take you home." She let out a heavy breath. "I'm sorry about your friends. I'm sure this is traumatizing." She opened up the front passenger door and retrieved some cards from the glove compartment. "Here's some cards for each of you." Handing them out, she nodded. "Trauma counseling. I figure it would do you all some good."

Jason gave a nod, offering a weak smile as he adjusted Nico in his lap. "Thank you," he whispered.

With another ten minutes passing, the officers that had gone into the camp returned with some heavy expressions. Nico saw one of them shake his head. "They didn't find him," he whispered.

Will's brow furrowed as he looked up at them. "How is that possible?"

"Gone," was all Jason said.

Reyna sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I think he went back to his prison."

Will opened his mouth, probably going to ask what they were talking about, but shook his head. "I don't even want to know. It's over. All I care about."

Nico frowned at Hazel, who had yet to say anything. He squeezed her shoulder. She didn't look at him. The boy sighed and pet Hazel's hair softly. "Maybe we reached the edge of the marked area," Nico finally said.

Jason gave a nod. "Probably." He nudged Nico as their officer came back over to them. "What did they say?"

The woman rubbed her jaw, deep in thought. "They searched the woods, found the clearing you guys spoke about. It was... something from the photos they took." She shuddered and shook her head. "I can't imagine what you all must be going through. Sadly, they never found the murderer." She motioned to Demeter. "Your..."

"She's my step-grandmother," Nico mumbled.

The officer nodded. "She's going to take you all home." She took her hat off. "Try to get some rest, maybe some food. We'll be dropping in tomorrow to get an official statement once you've all calmed down."

Jason helped Nico up. Demeter came over and helped Reyna get Hazel up. They all climbed into the woman's car before she slowly drove away. Nico stared out the window, watching the trees pass by before they hit the interstate. He felt odd, like he wasn't fully there. Things didn't feel right. He didn't feel right.

---

"Nico?"

The brown-eyed boy took in a deep breath and looked away from the window he had been staring out, arms wrapped tightly around himself. "I'm sorry, what?"

The middle-aged woman put her notepad in her lap and removed her glasses. "I asked how you were sleeping? Are you eating?" She pursed her lips. "It's been three weeks. You were... quite crazed when you first came to me."

"I saw my friends die," Nico replied, barely above a whisper. She still heard him, nodding and scribbling something down. "I'm eating a little. Not sleeping much." He swallowed a lump in his throat. "I sleep better with Jason. We've been swapping houses to sleep at. I'm just... not sure what to do when the fall starts."

She wrote something down quick before handing Nico a prescription. "Get this filled when you leave, it'll help calm your nerves to get proper rest." She leaned back in her chair and stared at Nico. "You went through quite a traumatic event, Nico, but you've barely told me what really happened."

"I told you-"

"You told me that this supernatural being came from another plane of existence and murdered your friends, sucking out their souls." The woman sighed and looked at Nico with pity. "Nico, you need to accept that it was a human being that did this. A lunatic came into your camp and murdered your friends in the middle of the night. There was nothing you could do, but you are safe now. He can't hurt you now."

Letting out a breath slowly, Nico nodded. Just tell her what she wanted to hear, he thought to himself. "Yeah." He sat down in the chair opposite her. "Dad's been staying home, taking off work. Even lets Jason stay over and sleep in my bed. Not that we do anything. I can't... I just don't want to do anything like that right now, you know?" The woman gave a nod. "The funerals were hard. A lot. Bianca's was the hardest for me. Hazel hasn't said a word since we put Frank in the ground."

"And the rest of your friends?"

"I mean, you're seeing most of them," Nico pointed out. His eyes dulled as he looked down at his hands. The cuts had healed up and they were clean, but every now and then, Nico would see a flash of them with bloods and cuts. "Jason's been having a hard time with the loss of Thalia. He doesn't want to talk to me about it, though. He's trying to stay strong when we're around each other. There was a bad night, a week ago, where I woke up to him screaming and crying. I wasn't... I wasn't sure how to comfort him really. I just started crying, too."

"That's understandable, Nico," the therapist whispered.

"Clarisse is doing better. I'm going to see her and the others later today." Nico brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Luke's healing as well. Luke and Percy haven't really talked since that night. I think Percy's been avoiding him, but he'll be there today. They both will. I think... Annabeth's sacrifice might have gotten to him a lot." He sighed. "Reyna's basically mother hen. I can tell she's suffering as well, but she still makes it out to visit each of us every day. Will..." Nico pursed his lips. "I don't know. He's Clarisse. He doesn't really want to talk to any of us. I don't think either of them will meet us today."

When he was finally dismissed, Nico left her office and found a blond head of hair waiting for him in the lobby. Jason looked up from his phone and smiled weakly. His eyes weren't the same, they hadn't been since that night it all happened. But, then again, neither were Nico's.

"Hey," Jason said softly, standing up and taking Nico's hand. "How did it go?"

Nodding, Nico followed Jason out the door. "Good. I have another appointment next week. Same time." He squeezed Jason's hand, needing the reassurance. "The others are meeting us?"

"Yeah," was all Jason said.

The two drove out of the city and down the interstate. Nico sank a little into his seat as he watched them turn down a familiar dirt road. He wasn't sure why Percy and Jason had agreed that they needed to come back here, but here they were. Jason pulled into the parking lot, where Percy and Reyna's cars were already parked.

Percy sat on the hood of his car, Luke beside him. Reyna had brought Hazel with her, though the younger girl had yet to get out of the passenger seat. Jason parked his car and got out, Nico a little slower. He joined the others and just stared at the camp for a moment.

The police had cleared the area of all the bodies and cleaned it up. Demeter said that the camp would be shut down, probably for good. It was sad, but Nico had no desire to return. Everything just seemed... like a dream staring at it now. He could see the cabins, doors ripped out and windows smashed in.

"Clarisse and Will aren't coming?" Jason finally asked.

Percy slowly shook his head and slid off the hood of his car. "No. Clarisse gave me a lot of colorful words, and I couldn't even get a hold of Will." The green-eyed boy frowned and rubbed his neck. "Maybe it's for the best. It wasn't their fault." His eyes dulled as he looked out at the campground. "It wasn't any of their fault, yet their dead."

"Why are we out here?" Luke grunted.

"Right," Jason breathed. He glanced at Reyna and Percy. "We... That is... Reyna, Percy, and I talked it over..."

Reyna put a hand on Jason's shoulder. "We talked it over, and we decided we needed to come back here. But..." She looked at Nico and Hazel. "Jason and I can do this alone, if any of you want to stay here."

"Do what?" Hazel asked softly. It hurt Nico, like a knife to the heart, to hear her finally speak.

Percy gave a nod to Jason and Reyna. "We decided that we needed to come back, finish what we started." From his pocket, the boy pulled out a lighter. "We are going to destroy that book, so that nobody can ever find it again."

"Well fuck it," Luke said, shoving off the car, "count me in."

The others looked to Nico and Hazel, who were remaining quiet. Nico took his sister's hand. "You don't have to go, Hazel," he whispered to her. "We can stay here, if you want. You don't need to go see that again."

"No." Hazel took in a deep breath. "I need to do this. For Frank. For our friends." Her brow furrowed. "Percy's right, this was our fault. Reyna and Jason should have to go clean up our mess."

So it was decided. Jason held hands with both Jason and Hazel as they walked. It was so quiet. The silence was deafening. Last time he had been here with this silence, it was because everyone was dead. He walked through the grass, past where Lou had died. Her body was gone, the blood washed away, but Nico still knew the exact spot she had died.

His eyes lingered on Bianca's cabin. He knew her body was gone, Nico had buried her several days after it happened. It was just that... He couldn't get the image out of his head. Things felt exposed out here, like the Warden would come out of one of the cabins at any second and hack them all to bits before dragging their souls back to his prison.

Brown eyes drifted up to the tree in the center of the courtyard. Cecil's body had been there. Everyone's life just cut so short. Hours before it had all happened, even a day, they had been having fun and enjoying their lives. Nico chewed on his lip as he ripped his attention from the tree. He could even see the marks from where the chain had been on the branches.

As they approached their cabin, Jason stopped outside the window to Luke's room. The glass was still broken. The blond crouched down and ran his hand across the grass. Leo. All their friends, their family, they were gone. They'd never see them again. Even if nobody else wanted to believe them, they knew the truth. Percy took in a breath and opened the door to the cabin.

Following in behind the others, Nico had to stop in the doorway. It just didn't feel real to look at the room. Their things had all been returned to them by the police, save for the sheets and pillows. Nico couldn't take his eyes off his bed. Everything had just been so normal, and then it wasn't. He couldn't look at things the same. Nico wasn't sure how he was going to return to school next month.

Percy returned from the room that had belonged to Luke. Everyone stared down at the book in the boy's hands, unmoving. Did they dare even touch it? What if that thing sensed their presence and came back to collect Nico, Percy, Luke, and Hazel? They were still marked, right? Or were they? There was no way of knowing for sure. The answer might have been in the book, but Nico didn't want to risk opening it again.

They took the book back outside, and Nico was finally able to breathe again. Percy took it all the way over to the campfire and dropped it on top of all the sticks. They found the gasoline and poured it all on top of the pyre. Jason wrapped his arms around Nico's waist and put his chin on Nico's shoulder as Percy took his lighter and set fire to the wood.

A weight felt like it was lifted off Nico's chest as he watched the pages go up in flames. He rubbed at his nose and did his best not to cry. He wasn't sure if he even could anymore, not with how much he had done the past few weeks. Between crying, nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, and nightmares, Nico just didn't feel like himself anymore. It didn't feel real, like he was living a dream. Maybe it was. If that were true, he never wanted to wake up. The alternative was not something he wanted to think about.

Taking in a deep breath, Jason said, "I'm not going to California."

"What?" Nico turned in the blond's arms. "Why not? You have college. The scholarship. You-"

"I can't... go." His eyes looked at the others. "I'm going to take a year off, I think." He slowly nodded. "Reyna and I talked it over. We both want a year off. We'll go to California next year. Just, right now, I don't think either of us can manage school and recovering from this. I already called the university, talked to my adviser, they both assured me that the scholarship and everything would be waiting for me next year." Jason sighed and licked his chapped lips. "They understood with what happened."

"But..." Nico fell silent and looked down. Was this because of him? He didn't want Jason to leave, more than ever now, but he also didn't want to be the reason that his boyfriend stayed behind.

"It's not you." Jason cupped Nico's cheeks in his hands and made the boy look up at him. "Well, it is... kind of. I'm worried about you. But I'm also worried about myself."

Reyna nodded her agreement. "I couldn't focus right now. School can wait." She glanced at the others. "What about you guys? Luke?"

The blond swiped his thumb across his nose, briefly glancing at Percy. "I'm not going full time, but..." He crossed his arms. "I think I'm going to take a few course. My adviser understood as well."

"I'm sorry," Percy whispered. He didn't look at Luke, but everyone knew he was talking to the blond. "We haven't really been talking. That was my fault." He licked his lips and kept his eyes on the fire. "I think I'm going to work for a little bit. Maybe for a semester, see how I feel in the spring. I don't know. And us..." He motioned to himself and Luke. "I'm sorry for avoiding you. I just needed time to think. She... Annabeth... She saved me, sacrificed herself. I just-"

"I know," Luke whispered. He put a hand on Percy's shoulder and the younger boy turned to wrap himself in Luke's embrace, hugging the older boy back fiercely. "We'll get through it. I'm not going anywhere."

Nico and Hazel looked at each other. It was painful to look at his sister now, and he knew it was the same for her. Perhaps some part of her blamed Nico for him stopping her from saving Frank, or maybe that Nico still had Jason and she didn't have Frank. They'd be okay, in time, but Nico was letting her have her space.

"Well," Hazel said softly, "we still have high school. Another two years for me." Her eyes fell with a sigh. "My friends have been calling a lot, and I've been over to see Frank's family almost every single day. They're taking it hard."

Nico gave a nod. "I don't know. I really don't want to go back, not yet anyways." He pursed his lips and thought for a moment before continuing. "It won't be the same. You guys are leaving, and the rest..." He sighed. "It'll just be me and Hazel that will really understand each other at school. I'm sure Will is going to avoid me."

Jason squeezed his hand with a sad smile. "You can come to California with me next fall." His eyes snapped over to Hazel. "If that's okay with you. I don't-"

"It's okay," Hazel said, though her voiced sounded a little choked. This wasn't easy for any of them.

This tragedy couldn't have happened at a worse time. People were ripped from them, and those that were left were shaken in the aftermath. Their lives were destroyed. Nico nodded in Jason's arms and the blond kissed his forehead. He did want to be with Jason. Always. His family was trying to be supportive as possible, but they didn't understand, not even Demeter. Jason was the only one that was able to calm Nico down when he had a panic attack. He was thankful that the blond was staying a year. He just couldn't let his grades slip too much, so that he could go to California. Hell, even if they did, Nico would find another way. He wasn't going to be apart from his boyfriend.

After they were satisfied the book was burned beyond any shred of repair, they all headed back to their cars. The group agreed to meet at least once a week to make sure that they were all okay. They'd continue trying to get Clarisse and Will to join them, but Nico wasn't so sure that was going to go the way they wanted it to.

Later that night, Nico sat on his bed, while Jason was down the hall in the bathroom. The blond was staying over with him for the second night in a row. It was so different now. Before, Hades would have never been okay with Jason sleeping over, but now he was grateful to have the blond over. And Jason's parents didn't mind. They didn't say it, but Nico had to wonder if it was because both sets of parents were still mourning their daughter. Jason comforting Nico, not being at his own house, allowed the adults to deal with their own problems.

The blond returned to the room and pecked Nico on the lips, though the boy didn't look away from the show he was watching. As Jason turned the light off, Nico stiffened. Jason winced and turned it back on before walking over to turn on the LED water lamp that Percy had bought Nico a few years back. Nico's shoulders relaxed and Jason was finally able to turn the light off. It just helped. Nico didn't like the dark, not without some source of light.

Jason crawled under the covers and pulled Nico a little closer to himself, the younger boy still trying to absorb himself in his show. "I love you," Jason whispered.

Brow furrowing, Nico finally looked away from the TV and slid down into the bed with Jason. He rolled over and let his cheek rest on the blond's bare torso. "I know. I love you, too." He let his finger trail across each of Jason's ribs. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Staying. I mean, I know it's not just because of me, but... thank you."

Jason smiled down at Nico, his hands softly rubbing at Nico's back. He turned off the TV and gave Nico another chaste kiss. That was pretty much how they kissed now. Part of Nico missed the deep, passionate kisses that Jason often gave him, but he also appreciated Jason not trying to do anything with him just yet. They both needed time to heal.

"Did you take your medicine?" Jason asked gently.

Nico gave a small nod. "Tomorrow, can we go out to the cemetery? I just-"

"Of course." Jason's eyes were closed when Nico looked up at him. "We can go anytime you want."

What Jason didn't comment on was that they had been out to the cemetery at least five times in the past two weeks. Nico appreciated that it was left unsaid. It wasn't like either of them minded. They both had sisters and friends buried there now.

As usual, Jason slipped off to sleep long before Nico. It was normal that Nico would lay there and listen to Jason breathe and watch his face while he slept. Even with the medicine, this was the only way that Nico could usually get to sleep now.

He was not sure how long he slept for, but Nico's eyes snapped open in the middle of the night. His dark eyes focused on the changing lights of his lap, watching as the water moved within. Groaning, Nico sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. Jason was still fast asleep. Nico smiled softly at the blond and gently ran his fingers through his boyfriend's hair.

Getting out of bed, Nico stretched. He scratched the back of his head as he made his way out of his room and went to the bathroom. The house was quiet. It was probably very late, his parents probably asleep. Nico shut the bathroom door behind him and turned on the light.

After using the bathroom, Nico washed his hands. His brow furrowed when the floor creaked outside the bathroom door. As he stared into the mirror, the lights flickered and the room went dark. In that brief moment, the mirror cracked and Nico's body went cold. Standing behind him, chain and scythe in hand, was the Warden. A dark green light filled the room as the lantern flickered to life. In utter fear, Nico spun around to face his death.

He was petrified, but nothing was there. The lights were fine, the mirror was undamaged. He was alone. Turning back around, Nico rested his elbows on the sink and buried his face in his hands, trying to breathe. That had probably been the worst he had experienced since it happened. It just felt so real. He had felt that thing's presence behind him, felt the chill of that scythe's blade on his neck.

Splashing some water in his face, Nico stared back into the mirror. He was still alone. Breathing slowly, Nico opened the bathroom door, but looked both ways down the hall before he turned off the bathroom light and scurried back to his room, shutting the door and locking it behind himself.

Nico looked under his bed, opened up his closet, wanting to make sure nothing else was in the room. When everything was clear, Nico sat down on the edge of the bed with a heavy sigh. It was just in his head, Nico reminded himself. It was the trauma.

Sliding back under the covers, Nico looked at Jason. The blond's breathing was still shallow, still deep asleep. He wanted to wake Jason to have the blond comfort him, but Nico didn't want to ruin what sleep the blond got. Nico curled up beside Jason and the blond's arms instinctively wrapped around Nico. Even in sleep, Jason knew when Nico needed to be held.

He waited and waited to drift back to sleep. His nerves, though, were still gone. Nico shut his eyes and willed himself to relax. And he was almost there, until Nico heard a single jingle of a chain outside his door.

---

I don't think it's quite as graphic as my last one. More psychological in the end. It could be, I don't know. I look at my work very differently most of the time than you guys do. Like I could think something is crap and you guys really like it. So I gave up trying to judge my own work a long time ago. But I did leave the ending open. I felt it good to let you the readers interpret how it concludes. Is it all in Nico's head, or did the thing come back for him? Either way, you don't really have a happy ending. One way Nico is going to die probably, and the other he is severely traumatized and won't recover for a long time.

Personally, my ending is that part of that thing is now permanently embedded in Nico's head. Funny enough, I had this idea two years ago, and then I watched Stranger Things and remembered the ending idea I had. So, you can choose to think that thing came to kill Nico, though I doubt many of you will. It's really up to you. Just out of those two choices, though. No getting better super easy and everything is all rainbows and sunshine. That's not how trauma works. The reason I like this ending better is because it means that Nico has to live with these hallucinations, like he's hearing chains actually rattle, for years to come. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that he has to be committed for a short time.

Anyways, I'm going to get back to writing my next chapter for House of the Wicked before I go to bed. I hope everyone has a great Halloween, and I hope that you enjoyed this fic.