Disclaimer: As stated before...I do not own PJO and HoO. They belong to Rick Riordan.

AN: I would like to thank everyone who encouraged me to continue. Here is a long overdue chapter (which hopefully doesn't sound too rushed)!

Seeing an expanse of snow and the looming mountain behind me brought back a flood of memories. Shadow traveling with Annabeth and Thalia and then first entering the mountain, awed… they were fond memories now, compared to what had happened since then.

The snow triggered another memory. I had pinned Nico to the cold ground with a sword at his neck. I had told the monsters around us to go away, and then...I'd seen the gods in an Iris Message. Everything after that was blurry, but something stood out to me. I was remembering through a haze, but… I had stabbed Nico. I had knocked him flat on his back and plunged the sword into my friend. A horrible feeling-one of self-loathing and disgust- rose up in my gut. Shivering violently, I stumbled forward and gagged. I couldn't even be sure that I hadn't killed him. A swirl of emotions clouding my mind, I forgot about my exhaustion and ran to find a more populated place.

I found a building with helicopters and other vehicles in it, but I ignored them and just paced. I had to get to camp. I knew that just one person wouldn't be enough to save it, but I had to at least be there for my friends.

Luckily, no one was there to question me, though I figured it was just a matter of time before someone showed up. Where in Hades was that girl?

At that moment, Lucia limped in, battered and bruised. I rushed to help her, letting her down on a bench. "What happened?"

She cleared her throat and said, "I got attacked by hostile Lumina. I'm sorry, Percy. I don't think I can transport you all the way to camp like this."

I blinked. "But...what?"

She shook her head sadly. "It's like that shadow traveling thing that your friend does. Use it too much, and you'll fall over from exhaustion. Unfortunately, I've been using it a lot lately to escape newfound enemies, so my energy is drained." Noticing my crestfallen look, she sighed. "The farthest I can take you is maybe Western Europe."

I shrugged and managed a tired grin, trying to hide my doubts in order to not make her feel bad. It must have sucked, being alone and chased around by monsters and former servants. "I'll figure something out. Especially if it's the coast."

She nodded, and without warning, a dim light filled our surroundings. For a second, I felt like I was falling through the air, and then we were suddenly on a beach. Maybe it wasn't as cool as shadow traveling, but hey, whatever works.

I turned to Lucia, who was blinking sluggishly and swaying a little. "What are you going to do now?"

"I'll find someplace," she yawned, "and maybe take a nap for, oh, maybe twelve hours or so?"

I started to chuckle, but it died in my throat. There was an unnatural chill in the air, and Lucia seemed to feel it too. She tensed, and that was the only warning I got before two light spirits materialized around us. One of them knocked her in the head with his sword hilt, and she went down. I sliced my dagger across his neck, and he dissolved into the air. Then I realized too late that I had stupidly left myself open for an attack from the other one. He made a deep cut across my side, and I hissed in pain, clutching the bleeding wound. The Lumen tried to behead me next, but I stumbled down and threw my knife at his vulnerable shoulder. It hit its mark, and the soldier vanished in a flash of light.

The dagger clattered to the sand. I should have retrieved it, but any movement triggered hot pain in my side. Abandoning the thought, I decided instead to crawl to the ocean. I needed to help Lucia as well as myself, and to do that I had to heal myself. But of course, I had lost just enough blood to not make it. With dizziness came the spots in my vision, and soon blackness would follow. It sucked because I could see the ocean waves just a few yards away…