Sorry…I'll update sooner, Swear on the River Styx…Just had to sort some things out.

I twisted against my chains, rusty and cold beside my raw skin. Fear crept up and threatened to drown me. They were coming.

Coming for me.

A low cry escaped me as they unchained me and I tumbled towards the floor. I heard a chuckle. "Look at this one, quite a good catch."

I stared at the dirty floor beneath me. Not again, oh gods not again.

"C'mon," they muttered, my captors heaved and grunted as I struggled against them. I would not go in there. I couldn't. It was dark; I had no problem with that. And it was cold, I could deal with that. But the screams, and the moans, they cried all around me, relentless, begging for help and pleading out to their silent parents.

They pushed me harshly inside, and I fell, sending agony up from my legs. I felt my limbs tremble with fear.

Not again.

Nico woke with a gasp, escaping the horrible reality that had become a dream now. He couldn't go back to sleep. He knew he would return to that awful place. Luckily the sun came up and he stood. He had minutes to shower before they went.

"Hello. You're up." Percy said while eating and trying to fill his enormous appetite.

"Yeah, who'd you choose?" Nico said, right down to business.

"Um, I chose Ravel, Will, and you."

"Why Will?" Nico frowned.

"Cuz' he might be handy. You know, being the son of Apollo and all that."

He shrugged. Nico really didn't have a problem with Will; it was just that he made him feel weird. He was always looking at Nico as if he was trying to figure something out. Not with the mixture of fear and pity other people looked at him with. Well except Percy, he always looked at him as the guy who had saved his life, crawled up from Tartarus, and the boy who played Mythomagic all at once.

Percy took a bite out of his waffle. "You cool? Do you want to bring someone?"

Nico shrugged. "I'm fine. When do we leave?"

"Soon as I tell them. And when I finish my breakfast." Percy seemed a bit down as he said the last part.

"You haven't told them?" Nico asked, incredulous. Before he could respond, Nico spotted Will and Ravel and waved them over.

"You couldn't wait until I finished?" Percy complained, licking syrup off his fingers.

"Good Morning." Will said, shooting them both a smile before sitting down.

"Morning." Percy said as Nico simply nodded.

"We're going to Texas and we decided to bring you and Ravel along, I mean, if yall want to." Percy summarized.

"Oh! We're going on a quest!?" Ravel cried. Her hair was especially messy today and her eyes shone with excitement.

"Um…sort of."

"Sure. Let me go pack." Will said.

"Me too!" Ravel squealed and skipped away giddily.

"Gods, this is going to suck." Nico grumbled.

Hours later as they were in the car, Nico was right. He was in the back with Solace while Ravel had insisted to go next to Percy while he drove.

"How did you sleep?" Will asked. He fixed his blue eyes on him and Nico turned away.

"Fine."

Okay, Will bothered him more than he wanted to admit. He couldn't exactly say why, though.

"Hmm…" Will reached over and touched the bags under Nico's eyes lightly. Nico felt his face heat up and he cleared his throat uncomfortably, causing Will to take his arm back.

He could say why. Will sped up his heart rate and made him feel as if he was going to cry and laugh at the same time. He made him feel weak, unguarded, unstable, unsafe and shaky.

Just then, Percy's panicked voice interrupted his thought.

"Oh, DAM It…!"

The car swerved off the side as a truck sped past where they'd been. Unfortunately, the car turned over on its side.

Nico felt a wave of fear and claustrophobia as they were trashed around. He couldn't tell how many times they've turned, only that there was a lot of glass and a lot of pain. Finally, the car stopped. Nico found himself looking up at the floor. Carefully, he sat up and crawled through an open window. He didn't have time to assess his own wounds because Will was moaning in pain and Percy was struggling to free him.

"Nico, get Ravel!"

He quickly dragged Ravel out and went to help Percy with Will. His arm was a mess of blood and it was twisted in such a way that Nico felt his stomach curl in repulsion.

Nico lifted the seat off of will as Percy picked him up and carried him to the side of the road where ravel was currently standing up.

"Oh gods is he okay?" she cried.

"Great. The Doctor gets hurt. It's all my fault, I should have seen that coming…a mortal hospital won't help us…what do I do?" Percy rambled.

Nico looked up and two men were coming down. He stared, dazed as one of them merely touched will's arm and it healed completely.

Percy uncapped Riptide and stood in front of them.

Nico couldn't get the ringing out of his ears…but he heard clear as day when that strange man smiled and said, "Hello. I'm Phobos and this is Deimos."

For those of you that don't know, Phobos and Deimos are the gods of Fear, pain, terror, and so forth. ;)