Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.
"Are you absolutely positive he ran away?" Annabeth demanded for the sixteen hundredth time.
Nico glanced meaningfully at Thalia, asleep in his arms, and nodded.
"Okay, so we just have to find him. He can't have gotten too far, right?" Annabeth lowered her volume. "I'll wake up camp and have everyone start searching. Meanwhile, Nico, you go look by the borders of camp, since you don't have the demigod scent on you. He might have gotten away, but let's pray that he didn't."
Nico shifted Thalia around and traveled down near the dining pavilion, just past where he knew the camp border would be. Where could Percy be?
He felt like cursing Percy, Thalia, the gods, everything! Why in the world would Percy run away? The kid wasn't a cat!
Suddenly, a sharp feeling – kind of like pins and needles – ran over him. Percy wasn't at the border! He halted right where he was and shut his eyes, focusing hard.
After a moment, his eyes flew open and he grinned. He knew exactly where Percy was.
He turned around and flew past all the campers that Annabeth had managed to already pull out of bed.
Past the cabins, past the Big House, past the arena, Nico ran all the way down straight to the beach.
"Percy!" He shouted.
At that moment, Thalia yawned and woke up. "Nico, what the Hades are we doing here?"
"Don't swear." Nico scolded absently. He scanned the beach for the little boy.
"Are you looking for PercyCat?" Thalia questioned.
"Yes, but it's just Percy. Don't encourage him." Nico warned.
"Well, I don't know about Percy, but I found PercyCat." Thalia replied.
"Where?" Nico's head snapped over to follow Thalia's arm.
A little boy was sitting, cradling his knees to his chest, and staring at the ocean before him.
Nico hurriedly dropped Thalia onto the soft sand and ran toward him.
"Percy!" The relief was evident in his voice; he rushed over and threw his arms around the little boy.
"Nicko?" Percy looked at him questioningly. "What are you doing here? I am running away; go away."
"Oh, Percy, I thought you were hurt or something!" Nico scolded. He ran his hands over Percy's arms, as though checking to make sure that he was really okay.
"Really?" Percy seemed surprised. "I thought nobody loved me because I was a cat."
"Oh Percy." Nico sighed. "We'll always love you, whether or not you're a human, a cat, a dog, or a…a…monster."
Percy wrapped his arms around Nico. "Thanks, Nicko."
Thalia popped up and threw herself in between the two of them. "Yay! Hug pile!"
Suddenly, the air began to shimmer around them.