Kaie shot up, muscles protesting as she took in her surroundings. Sand. Lots and lots of sand. For as far as she could see broken only by...a very pissed of son of Hades. Kaie ported.


The woman shot upwards and froze, taking in her surroundings. The second she saw him she teleported.

Well, tried to. Her body rippled, almost disappearing before the collar activated. She collapsed with a pain filled scream that echoed across the desert. Nico felt a twinge of guilt but quickly brushed it away. She's the one who had chosen to put up a fight.


Kaie pulled herself to her knees, breathing heavily. The skin around her neck burned as her fingers traced the metal circle. The bastard had collared her. His shadow fell over her,

"Done?"

Kaie's hands went for her knives. "Gone." She could hear exhausting in his voice but she ignored it, hands searching for any of the weapons she had worn a few hours ago. They were all gone.

"What the hell did you do, strip search me?" The words fell out of her mouth before she realized it.

The son of Hades smirked. "Pretty much." She lunged for him, cussing.

He moved, a hand hitting a wide metal cuff on her arm she hadn't noticed till now. Metal expanded, coating her forearms in silver. They wouldn't move. Kaie dropped to the sand, pissed off and unable to do anything about it.

He hauled her up by an arm. "C'mon. We need to start moving." Kaie let herself be pulled along only because she didn't feel like dying of dehydration in the middle of an unknown desert.


They walked for several hours in silence. She was unwilling to speak. He was too frustrated to.

His patience snapped first.

"Where were you trying to teleport to?" Nico had reasonably concluded that they ended up in a desert because they had tried to jump locations at the same time. It would make sense that they were somewhere in the middle of where ever she was trying to get to and New York, his goal.

She glared at him, arms pinned together in front of her. He could see in her eyes that she was considering ignoring him. "Brazil." Her voice dripped with anger and frustration. He knew how humiliating it must be for her to be cuffed like that but he didn't see any alternatives. Nico's gut told him she would do anything to stay away from Olympus. He had no interest being a dead body in a desert so she stayed cuffed.

Unfortunately her insight didn't help Nico's sense of direction any. A desert somewhere between New York and Brazil was just a little too vague.


They walked for another hour or so before Nico grew bored. Endless piles of sand offered little in the way of entertainment.

"So what's your name?" The woman looked over at him, an eyebrow raised.

She hesitated then answered. "Kaie." Nico thought the name fit her. Harsh but elegant.

"I'm Nico by the way. You already figured out that I'm a son of Hades. How'd you do that by the way?" He was surprised when she smiled. He would have described her as hot to anyone that asked, but when she smiled it was closer to drop dead gorgeous. No pun intended.

Nico shook his head, trying to push away the attraction. He just needed to get this done with.

"You remind me of Hades."

Nico stopped walking and looked at her. She stopped too once she realized he had. "You know my father?" She nodded. "How well?"

A mixture of emotions passed through her face for a moment before she rolled her eyes. "Too well."

They both started walking again in a more companionable silence. Neither one liked the idea of spending the night in the desert.


"So I'm going to guess that your not a demigod? Kaie glanced up at the darkening sky, tempted to go back to ignoring the son of Hades.

"Nope."

"What are you then?"

"One of a kind."

Nico started to reply but stopped when Kaie turned around sharply.

"There." Nico followed her gaze and saw the lights now visible against the growing darkness that had caught her eye.

"Bout time." Nico didn't bother trying to hide the annoyance in his voice as they changed directions and literally walked towards the light.


Kaie looked up at the sign then back at Nico. "This is your fault." "Is not! You shouldn't have tried to run." They glared at each other, neither one willing to back down.

"Calle is Spanish isn't it?" Nico broke first, turning his attention back to the street sign. He had never paid attention in school for the few months Annabeth had managed to get him in the building. Who would have guessed it would have been useful?

"So we're somewhere between Brazil and New York and the locals speak Spanish." Nico was surprised to hear a small sigh of frustration escape from between Kaie's lips. "Pretty much."

Kaie scanned the buildings around them, ignoring the attention they garnered from the locals. "I assume we're looking for a phone?" She looked over at Nico who nodded. "Our best bets gonna be a bar then."


Nico grinned, he liked the way she thought. Plus alcohol would go a long way towards helping this situation. Hell, it helped any situation...unless cops were involved. Then it only helped some of the time.

They found a bar nearby after help from a local.

Nico entered the bar first, the dingy room fell silent as Kaie stepped inside.

He hesitated, assessing the room and locating multiple exits. He had been in far to many bar fights in his life time not to have a standard procedure by now.

Kaie walked straight to the bar and lean on it. "Donde estamos?" Nico glared at her, annoyed that she had waited till now to mention she knew some Spanish.

The bartender hesitated then answered. "Rancho El Valle." Kaie nodded, friendly to all appearances.

"Donde esta Rancho El Valle?" "Circa de la frontera con los Estados Unidos."

Nico took one of the trashy stools next to Kaie as she continued speaking to the bartender, paying more attention to the men behind them than the conversation. "Tienes un telephono? "Si" The bartender placed an ancient rotary dial on the counter. "Gracias. Una tequila para mi y un..."

She broke off and turned to Nico. "What do you want?" "Beer." "Y una cerveza por mi amigo." The bartender nodded, slightly happier now that he was getting cash out of the deal.

Nico moved to the phone and dialed the number every demigod committed to memory.

"Camp Halfblood." A younger camper who got stuck with desk duty answered.

"It's Nico. Get Percy on the phone now kid." He turned and caught a disapproving glare from Kaie. Annoyance rose up, who was she to judge him?

The bartender put their drinks in front of them while Nico waited, surprised and a little impressed when Kaie immediately downed the shot of tequila with the little movement she had in her fingers due to the cuffs and ordered another.

"Nico?" Percy's voice brought Nico's attention back to the phone. "Here."

"What's going on?" "I found her." "You need a lift out of Baltimore?" "Kinda not in Baltimore." Nico swore he heard Percy's annoyance over the ancient phone line. "Where are you then?" He asked slowly. Nico hesitated, "Mexico." "How in Hades did...Never mind. Give me your location and Clarisse and I will be down there as soon as we can." Nico filled him in quickly and hung up. Percy would get on to him when he got here either way.

"You're jealous of him." Kaie smirked from her seat on her bar stool, already on her third shot as Nico grabbed his beer, condensation covered the clear glass.

"I am not." "Yes you are." "Am not." "Are too." "Am not." "Are too." "Fine." Nico relinquished the childish argument. "Why am I jealous of Percy?"

"You want what he has. Steady girlfriend, strong connection with his father, acceptance at the camp."

"How do you know so much about us?" Nico interrupted, disliking the course the conversation was taking.

Kaie laughed ruefully. "Laws of life. Know thy enemy." She motioned for two more shots. Sliding one over to Nico before downing her fourth.

"Are you trying to get drunk?" Nico asked after finishing his beer and shot. "Yup." Kaie leaned on the counter, staring at the dirt covered bottles that lined the back wall.

"Why?" Nico decided to take the opportunity to find out more about her and why the gods wanted her found so badly.

"Cause I'm gonna be on Olympus in a couple of hours and that always ends horribly." "You've been there before."

"Yup."

It was two more shots before either one spoke again. Kaie was not even buzzed yet. Surprising for someone her size and weight. Of course, Dionysus was never drunk.

"What are you?" Nico asked bluntly again. Kaie laughed loudly and ordered two more shots.

"One of a kind."


So it took longer than I thought it would to get this up. Sorry about that. Anyway, I know people are reading this but you aren't reviewing! C'mon it only takes a minuted and the feedback is really helpful. Give me something to work with people! Cookies for reviewers! How does that sound?