Nico was starting to get concerned. He hadn't seen Taylor since Friday night at her cabin, and it was already Monday. He had actually begun to hope that she was ignoring him, because the alternative was the very real possibility that she was hurt, and there was no way that he ever wanted that to happen.

Nico was about to lay back on the ground near the lake to continue his sulking when he heard Annabeth and Piper speaking about him, or what he assumed to be him.

"I think that we should tell him-he has a right to know! He's been sick with worry about Taylor; he has completely withdrawn into himself again! I really don't think that what we're doing to him is fair, Pipes."

"You're right, but I guess I just kinda wanted to fix the situation before we told him about it, you know? She did come to us for help."

Nico heard the hushed voices go silent completely, assuming that the two girls had seen him in such close proximity to them.

"Nico, hey, we, uh, need to talk to you about something," Piper said, awkwardly coming toward him with Annabeth not far behind.

When Piper remained silent even after the two reached the Ghost King, Annabeth gave an exasperated sigh and took over. "Nico, something's happened to Taylor." At Nico's alarmed look she quickly explained herself, "She is perfectly fine, she isn't hurt, she's just not quite… herself, you might say. I can't really explain it, you're going to have to come see for yourself."

Immediately, Nico became wary of whatever was going on. He was absolutely sure that he wouldn't like whatever it was, but he really had no choice in the matter; there was something wrong with his friend, and he was going to go help her.

With hurried directions from the two girls, Nico began his search for Taylor, all the while thinking about what might be wrong with her. After a while, his imagination became too much for him to handle, so Nico forced himself to focus on the task at hand. According to Annabeth, she was hidden in a secret room in the Athena cabin created by Leo and some other Hephaestus kids.

Once he arrived, the Ghost King began scouring the cabin for the opening as described by Piper and Annabeth. After quite a bit of seeking, Nico found a button behind one of the larger bookcases; he practically got whiplash from the speed the unit used to spin around.

There, in a twin bed in a practically nonexistent room, lay a sleeping Taylor facing the opposite wall. There was something different about her that Nico couldn't quite pin down, though… But that could wait; she seemed fine, but he couldn't know for sure. As Nico went to go shake her awake, Taylor turned over to face him. Nico stood in shock; she looked more masculine: she had larger, rougher hands; shorter, scruffier hair; the beginnings of a mustache and beard; a sturdier, stockier build; and a, erm, flatter chest.

Just to make sure that it was actually Taylor in the bed, Nico shook the figure in the bed awake and watched as their expression turned to dazed and confused to embarrassed and even more confused.

"Nico," the boy said, with a voice much deeper than Nico would have expected, "I should probably explain, huh?" The boy reached up and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, which Nico regrettably thought was quite endearing.

"This is going to sound super weird, but it's me, Taylor." Nico wasn't sure whether he should be more surprised that she was a he, or that Nico thought that Taylor made a good-looking boy.

"I, uh, was walking past the Hecate cabin the other day and I guess something they were practicing went wrong and hit me and… ta-da! Here I am, a genderbent version of myself."

Nico was finally able to find his voice and hurriedly blurted out, "But you-how did that even-what kind of…? You know what, I don't want to know. Actually, if you don't mind, what does-does it feel weird? Suddenly being the opposite gender?" He nearly smacked himself, both for his illiteracy and for asking such a dumb question. Of course it would feel weird, why wouldn't it? Or, would it…? Well, everyone's different; to each their own, he thought.

"Actually, not really. I mean, it kinda is, after spending my entire life as, you know, a girl, but it isn't unpleasant. I mean, I'm still me, I've just been… rearranged," she- well, he now- gave a small smile to the Ghost King, a tiny blush accompanying it. "It's been a lot to get used to, and the girls have had to sneak me new clothes, but otherwise it doesn't really matter that much to me. Preferably, I'd rather be a girl, but it isn't as bad as you might think."

Nico simply gaped at him in surprise and a little bit of awe. He may have quite possibly found the most amazing person in the universe; too bad he is really a she.

"Well, erm, if there's something I can do…? I mean, don't you want to get out of here? I can grab one of my sweatshirts and you can pull the hood up, if you don't want to be recognized, or something."

"You know what? I think I'm okay with no sweatshirt. I'd very much like to go for a walk with you, though; I just, I need to get out of here and breathe fresh air, you know? Plus, I don't really care what others will think, I mean, I'm still me and if they have an issue with me being a different gender then that's their problem, not mine."

Nico was once again in awe of how absolutely incredibly Taylor was taking the entire situation. Speaking of 'Taylor'...

"Um, would you still like to be called Taylor, or would you like to be called something else while you're a guy?"

Taylor took a second to think about it, then finally said, "Ah, you know what? Taylor's just fine. It's my name, and it's unisex anyway, so, again, it doesn't really matter that much. You ready to go?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm ready if you are," Nico said, still in a daze from the insane situation he was currently in.

Taylor stood up from the bed and stretched, making sure to crack his back as much as he possibly could, and then began heading out the door, expecting Nico to follow in his footsteps. On his way out, Nico wondered how he could possibly even be there, in such a situation, surrounded by such great people that cared for him and for whom he actually cared for as well.

Maybe his dad knew what was best for him after all.