A/N: I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but it seemed like a good place to put a break. Read and enjoy and you'll see me again in December!

Disclaimer: Nope, don't even ask.

Chapter 10: This is Halloween

I stepped out of the shadows a few blocks from where I entered them. I needed to think.

Perfect, just what I'd prayed for—something else to make my life complicated. Why couldn't prophecies ever be straightforward, like a to-do list or something. And what was the prophecy supposed to mean, anyway? The "one who was made"—what was that? And what could possibly be my dearest thing? I didn't have much of value, especially to other people. The things I valued tended to be mementos from my travel. Like the Hades figurine. Not something that other people would see as worth wagering over.

I heaved a frustrated sigh and kept walking, my feet leading me through the streets of Chicago. I wasn't too worried about where I was going, pretty much anything mortal I met I would be able to take down. Monster, ditto. And, if I couldn't, I could always shadow travel away.

Well, at least I had a direction; West, for all the good that did me. I still had no idea what the rest of the prophecy meant. Rachel was right, Chiron or Annabeth would be good to talk to, but I had no idea where Annabeth was. I didn't want to talk to Chiron either. He might make me stick to tradition and make me take two others with.

Oh gods, the companions. The thought almost made me trip over a crack in the sidewalk. I don't think I can take companions. Not on a quest like this. Considering everyone who tried to do this particular quest failed... Yeah, not the best selling point.

I don't know. Maybe it's my loner spirit straight from dear old dad, but I wanted to do this by myself. I mean, I kinda felt like I had to do this by myself. This was the curse of the Ghost King; it felt like I had to do dealt with alone.

Suddenly a scream broke into my thoughts. I blinked, taking in where I was for the first time in awhile. The sound was either one of two things: someone just realized they were a child of Ares (Haha…I'm going to get hurt for that), or they were being attacked by a monster (which, come to think of it, is very similar to…I'll stop talking now before I get barbecued).

I rushed forward, eyes scanning the crowd who mostly acted like they hadn't heard anything—typical city people. Turning a corner, I spotted a little African American girl, big brown eyes wide in terror, almost entranced as she cowered against a storefront.

What scared her seemed to just be some lanky teenage creep in a gaudy black cape and a phantom of the opera half-mask. People powered by, eyes seeming to skip from one storefront to the next. Really people? Really?

I supposed I should have noticed something was weird when I saw that (people aren't that heartless), but I was angry, fists clenched.

"Hey!" I said, walking forward. "Leave her alone!"

The creep jumped, breaking eye contact with the little girl. She shook her head, braids bouncing, as if she was waking up from day-dreaming in class.

The creep's mask slid slightly, enough that I could see the full smirk on his face. The girl whimpered and ran to me, running behind my back. I may have been a stranger, but fear of teenagers in masks over rode any "Stranger Danger!" she had ever been taught.

"You're really messed up," I noted, stating the obvious as I glared at the guy and tried to get the girl to move. We had to get ourselves out of there. Little alarm bells were starting to ring, probably a little bit delayed. I need to get a system upgrade or something. "Come on, let's get out of here," I tried to say kindly, encouraging the girl to move.

"Thanks for ruining my fun," said the teen, a weird light dancing in his eyes.

"Yeah, no problem," I muttered, turning my back to him to try and move the girl away from the problem. That was a mistake. The girl stood frozen, pretty much literally, clutching onto the back of my trench coat, refusing to move.

Suddenly an unnatural cool breeze brushed against my neck as if someone were blowing against it. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as I swung back around and almost punched the guy in the face.

"Stop that! What's your problem?" I yelled, rubbing the back of my neck to try and remove the sensation.

The creep flew backward even though I hadn't touched him, repelled as if we were the opposite ends of a magnet. His face spasmed threw a series of emotions before it went blank behind the mask. That kicked the alarm system into high gear. Yeah, definitely needed to pay attention more.

I scowled at the creep. "Show your true form," I commanded.

The guy scowled back, a weird look on a masked-face, well, a weird look on any masked-face, but especially the one that was uncovered when the mask shattered, revealing unnaturally pale skin with red-rimmed eyes over hallowed cheeks. His limp black hair seemed to billow in a non-existent breeze. Weirdly enough, he still had on the stupid black cape.

Oh, great. "Taraxippi?" I guessed. I hadn't actually seen one before, but it was a good guess. A lot of the ghosts seemed to be female, or at least, the ones that always seemed to be the scariest, out searching for the souls of young men. Hey, I don't know why that is. Like they say "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" which isn't to say all girls will turn into evil, blood-sucking ghosts, it's just…uh, I'll stop talking now. Anyway, Taraxippi were the only kind that I knew that liked to be male.

The ghost gave an elaborate bow, sweeping his cloak in a superfluous flourish. Fantastic, not only is it a creep, it's dramatic too.

"Right in one, milord," he murmured in his hollow voice, somehow failing to be charming.

"Aren't you supposed to be on a racetrack somewhere, frightening horses or whatever it is you do?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. "And flattery doesn't suit you."

The Taraxippi dropped its gracious smile, leaving a pout behind and shifting its weight. "Its sooo boring there," he said, trying to look pathetic and failing. Miserably. "It's not as fun to scare horses as it is to scare humans. Besides, it's Halloween. The mortals are practically begging me to scare them."

I sighed and messaged my temples. Stupid ghosts. Stupid ghosts getting creative. "Look, I don't care if it's Halloween. Your realm is the racetrack. I can take it up with your boss, if you want. His name is Myrtilos, right?"

The Taraxippi paled even more, if that was possible, falling dramatically to the side.

"Please, no!" he pleaded, trying to look pathetic again, which instead made me feel slightly nauseous. "He'll have me on dung heap duty!" He rose slowly to his feet, raising his hands, begging.

I tried to keep the look of disgust off my face. This ghost was in one word, annoying. "Great. We have a deal. You leave Chicago and I don't report you. You don't leave and I tell your boss and send you to Hades on the express line."

The Taraxippi's face pinched, as if it were thinking very hard. This must have been a new experience for him, because it was awhile before he said anything again. A weird grin splashed briefly over his face, which should have made me nervous, but it was gone so fast, I barely noticed.

"Can't I just have one more smell of that fear?" it asked, stretching slowly around me, finally achieving what all its shifting had edged it toward the whole time, reaching for the girl.

I scrambled for my knife, knocking the Taraxippi aside as I yanked it out. The monster hissed and scratched nails that were suddenly long, raking though the sleeve of my trench coat.

Its eyes widened when it realized what it had done. I steadied my knife, leveling it at the Taraxippi's chest where its heart would be. It stood entranced by me now. That's right, fear me ghost freak, a cruel voice muttered in my mind. My knife edged toward the thing before it rested against the Taraxippi's chest, which seemed remarkably solid for a ghost.

What? No! I thought, shaking myself out of the blood lust, taking a shuddering breath. "Go to Hades," I rasped and it did.

That drive, whatever it was, was still around. Awesome.

I felt a tugging at my back and turned around quickly, wild thoughts rushing through my mind. Did it come back? Was there another one?

I jerked the knife just in time to not stab the little girl in the face.

"Uh…" I tried to say something but the words just wouldn't come, so I tried to give a friendly smile, as I sheathed my knife, but I think it looked more like a grimace.

The girl didn't seem afraid, though, she just stared at me like I was something interesting. "Uh," I tried again eloquently, "that creep shouldn't bother you anymore."

She nodded her head slowly, looking me hard in the face as if she knew me but couldn't remember from where. "He's gone, but they'll be others," she finally said, her chocolate brown eyes flashing a hauntingly familiar shade of green before changing back to her natural color.

I gaped at her like an idiot.

"You should get a shield," she commented idly, eyes flashing green again. "Yes, a shield would be good." She nodded to me wisely, looking more knowledgeable than the average eight year old should look before she turned to walk away.

I shook myself out of my idiotic stupor and grabbed onto her shoulder. "Do you see things? Things that haven't happened yet?" I know that was kind of a stupid question, but how often do you discover someone destined to be an oracle?

She nodded, eyes cautious but hopeful, as if she knew I was the answer to all the weird things that had happened to her. Well, she probably did know.

But she was too young to go now…my mind jumped to my meager collection of drachmas in my bag. "When you get a bit older," I said, slinging my bag off my shoulder and starting to dig around in it, "find a rainbow and ask for Chiron. Pay with this," I said, fingers pulling a drachma out of my bag.

She nodded and gave a genuine smile. "Thank you, Nico," she murmured, taking the coin before skipping away.

Oh yeah, she's definitely going to be an oracle.

Okay, get in, grab a shield, and get out. Get in, grab a shield, get out. What could possibly go wrong?

I really need to learn to factor my luck into my plan-making. Stepping into the shadows in Chicago, I made the leap cross country to the only place I know of that stockpiles weapons that can kill monsters: Camp Half-Blood.

As I stepped out of the shadows, I immediately knew I was in the wrong place. I wasn't in the shadows behind the Hephaestus armor shed; I was on the Diving Pavilion. With everyone there. Eating dinner. Thank you for nothing, useless shadows.

Chiron was the first to recover as Mr. D just snorted. "An unexpected surprise, as always, Nico."

"You and me both, sir," I muttered, wishing I could just disappear, which I could, but then I still wouldn't have a shield and Oracle Jr. told me, very straight forward—thank the gods—that a shield would be good. The year-rounders who were at dinner gaped at me, so even if I wanted to just try to leave even slightly unnoticed, it was too late for that now.

A/N: Once again, I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but it was a good place to end it, don't you think? Again, I'll be doing NaNoWriMo (or at least trying) so don't expect anything from me until December-ish.

Also, I need your help! See that cliff-hanger I just left? Yeah, there's a good reason for that. I have no idea who all should be year-rounders at this point in time a CHB, and because I'm feeling lazy, er generous, I'll give you the chance to put in some of your own characters as year-rounders at CHB. Some rules first: don't be ridiculous (ie: no children/ long lost siblings of main characters. I'm Percy's son/daughter/sister/brother! -he's still in college. Just no!), no children of the Big Three, and no characters that are Nico obessed (I know, somewhere a fangirl is crying). Other than that, fill out the form and I'll try to put at many of your charries in as I can.

As a note (just so I don't get in trouble), the characters you let me use, become, in essense, mine. I get to say what happens to them and how much or how little they appear. I know a lot of the submit your own character stories have been taken down, so I will try to make this as hands-off as possible. After I use them for however long Nico is at CHB, then they may return to your care to love and cherish and what-not. Anyway, with all that serious stuff out of the way, time for the form!

Name:

Gender:

Child of:

History:

Physical Description:

Personality:

Relationship to Nico/others at CHB:

Anything else of interest?: