A/N: Brownies and cookies for everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews and favoriting and subscribing – it really made me very happy. I just realized I have so many reviews for this story – it's amazing how supportive all of you are. Thank you veryvery much!

Chapter 14

The next morning, Thalia woke everyone up at six to begin discussing their plans. "We need to figure out what we're doing – are we returning to the Underworld?"

"I don't think all of us should go," Percy said, sitting cross-legged on top of his sleeping bag. "We need some of us to return to camp, tell them what's going on, and make sure they're up to scratch. The rest of us should get back to the Underworld and try to limit the number of monsters that are actually escaping from Tartarus."

Annabeth twirled her blonde hair around a finger. "What do you think, Nico? Nico?"

The boy in question yawned loudly, pushing himself up onto his elbows. "What?"

"Get out of that sleeping bag already!" Thalia scolded. "I woke you up fifteen minutes ago. We're trying to talk to you!"

"Yeah, whatever, did you say something?" He looked expectantly at Annabeth, and listened as she elaborated on her question. "I'm definitely going to the Underworld," he said, "And I need to take either Percy or Lily with me for sure. Thalia will be useless – no offense, Thalia – because she and I can't work together well enough to merge our powers."

"You take Lily," Percy decided. "Annabeth, Thalia, and I will go back to camp – can you take Jessie with you?"

"Yes, we can," Lily answered for her boyfriend.

"I don't know," Jessie said. "I mean – the Underworld is kind of scary, and I don't know if I can –"

"Okay, you know what? Annabeth and I will go with Nico and Lily, and you go back with Thalia." Percy stood up and stretched. "Meeting adjourned, people. Do you know where the coffee is, Wise Girl?"

As they all began to move around, the girls rushing to be the first into the built-in bathroom that the Hunters had managed to include in the tent's design, Lily saw Nico creep out of the tent's flap and followed him, grabbing two mugs of coffee on her way out. He was sitting on a bench in the park, a ways away from the tent – since they had slept in their day clothes, they didn't look too conspicuous, just a little ruffled.

Handing him a mug, she sat beside him. "Hey," she smiled, nudging him with her shoulder lightly.

He smiled back and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. "You look beautiful," he whispered, pressing his lips to her cheek gently. She blushed and lowered her eyes, and he smirked, loving the effect he had on her. He leaned in again, kissing her forehead, when he heard someone clearing his throat behind them.

"Excuse me, young man," a tall, dark-haired man said, "But my wife is having some trouble with her cell phone. I was wondering if you could come over here and take a look at it?"

Nico nodded. "Sure. Be right back, Lily." He kissed her hair and walked away with the other man, who led him into a clump of trees far enough away that Lily was out of earshot.

"You can drop the disguise now," Nico snapped.

The man's exterior shifted, and Nico was standing face-to-face with a tall, still dark-haired man with piercing green eyes, scarred hands, and a tan. Poseidon narrowed his eyes at the insolent boy in front of him. "Stay away from her."

"What?"

"You heard me," Poseidon growled. "Stay away from my daughter. She's too young to be in a relationship with anyone, and I will not have –"

Nico scoffed. "Don't try to order me around," he snarled. "My father is just as powerful as you are – you can't intimidate me. She's old enough to take care of herself, and if she doesn't want me around she'll let me know. You don't need to get mixed up in this."

"Yes I do," Poseidon insisted. "She's my daughter, you can't just –"

"Yeah, and some father you've been," Nico retorted, smirking slightly as Poseidon's expression showed his guilt. "Completely ignoring her, letting her get nearly killed by monsters – she doesn't even know what you look like! She only knows vague things about you because Percy actually cared enough to tell her, but it's not the same as actually knowing you." He lowered his voice. "And right now, if she had to choose between you and me, she would take me."

Poseidon's green eyes blazed suddenly, and the aura of power around him increased. "Do not speak to me like that," he said quietly, his voice scarier than it would have been had he shouted. "I only want what is best for my daughter, and she would have been better off with Leo Valdez instead of you. I know you understand what I'm saying, di Angelo."

Nico stared the irate father in the eyes, not deigning to reply.

The god eyed the boy with a mixture of irritation and admiration. "Zeus wants her dead right now, because she is dating you," he informed him. "You had better take good care of her. If you mess up even once…"

"You'll blast me into a puddle of seawater, blah, blah, blah," Nico muttered, rolling his dark eyes. "If you're done whining, she's waiting for me."

The god's eyes glowed. "Be careful, son of Hades," Poseidon warned. "I am not as quick to anger as Zeus. But you had better watch your tongue, or one of these days someone will lose their patience with you, and you will wish you had never chosen to mess with us. I came here to try and dissuade you from a relationship with her because Aphrodite has foreseen a turbulent future for you both – she will be safer, if not happier, without you. Do you want to risk her safety for your pleasure? Think about it." And he melted away into the crisp morning air.

"Nico? Nico!" Percy jogged up to him. "Was that…"

"Your father," Nico said.

"What did he want? Don't tell me he told you to ditch her." When his friend didn't answer, Percy sighed. "Let him be. We sea-god types are a little protective of our women." He chuckled, seeing Nico crack a small smile.

"She's my woman, not yours," Nico grinned, punching his friend's shoulder playfully. "Go back to Annabeth, I have to go find Lily and my coffee."

They walked back to the tent together, and paused when they heard muffled shouting coming from inside it. Upon entering it, they found Thalia pinning Leo to the ground with her spear shaft pointed at his throat. Jessie was pulling on Thalia's shoulder, screaming obscenities at her, and Leo was struggling while trying to avoid the sharp point near his neck. Annabeth sat in the corner, watching with raised eyebrows.

"Let him up!" Percy bellowed, and Jessie shoved Thalia so roughly that the latter fell over. "Leo, what are you doing here?"

"I thought you guys might need some help," Leo muttered, rubbing his arm, "And I thought fire might be a useful weapon to have with you when you go wherever you're going. So I followed you guys."

"How did you even find us? No, that's not important right now. Nico…" Percy looked at his friend, asking silently for his opinion.

Nico mussed up his hair, closing his eyes. "He's going back to camp with Thalia and Jessie," he decided. "We already have four of us going to the Underworld – I think that's enough."

"Before we go back," Thalia interrupted, "I think we should go to the Underworld one more time. We need to get a better sense of what exactly is going on and what we're going to be up against first."

"I agree," Annabeth added, standing up and walking over. "So Nico, Percy, and Leo, you three figure out how we're going to get there. Thalia and I will contact our backups and camp and keep them on standby. Lily and Jessie…do something."

Five minutes later, Lily and Jessie were sitting at a small table at the nearby Starbucks, blowing on their coffee and talking.

"Hey, there's something I wanted to ask you," Lily said, wrapping her hands around her cup. "Are you and Leo, you know, going out? He was staring at you like he couldn't possibly tear his eyes from you."

Jessie blushed, and Lily whooped. "Shut up," Jessie mumbled. "You're the one getting all mushy with the hottest boy at camp – I saw you two staring lovingly into each other's eyes last night." She giggled and ducked as Lily playfully threw a packet of sugar in her direction.

"Okay, spill," Lily demanded. "When did you guys even hook up? And how come I found out now?"

"It was the day we left," Jessie sighed. "It all happened so fast – I walked into the forge and he was by himself, and you should've seen the coffee machine he built in like three seconds. It was fantastic, and I told him so, and you know he has those dark eyes that seem to be sparkling the whole time with some sort of joke? So I was just looking at him, and all of a sudden he just kissed me!"

"You let him?"

"I was hoping he would! I mean, he's not as hot as your boy toy, but he's cute enough, and he's got a great personality and a talent for invention. He's smart, too, and that's all I'm looking for." Looking around, she edged her chair a little closer to Lily's. "Are you okay with going back to the Underworld?" she asked in a whisper. "I wouldn't want to go back…it was so scary down there."

Lily shrugged. "It's not so bad, and besides, I'll be with Nico. What could go wrong?" Bad question, as it turned out.

A/N: A THOUSAND APOLOGIES FOR THE PATHETIC LENGTH! BUT I NEEDED TO UPDATE AND SCHOOL HAS BEEN GETTING IN THE WAY! NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE LONGER PROMISE! PLEEEEASE REVIEWWWWW *begs*