Author's Note: Rereading the first series… Expect a lot more Runaway chapters… But this isn't one of them. I own nothing.

Helping A Friend

"Why are we doing this again?" Nico asked as she hopped off Mrs. O'Leary. Jason snickered at the giant dog whose tail was beating out a tattoo on a nearby dumpster bending it nearly in half.

"Percy invited us remember." Nico shook her head.

"It's a bad idea for the three of us to be in the same spot. Add Arthur to that and we're bound to attract something nasty." Jason nodded slipping his coin out of his pocket.

"That would be why we came armed." Nico rolled her eyes as she checked her sword on her belt. Jason frowned slightly.

"You know I've always wondered what the mist turns that into." Jason gestured at the sword at Nico's hip. Nico shrugged.

"No idea. Baseball bat maybe? Heard someone call it a satchel once which makes no sense but I'll live with it." Nico frowned shoving her hair out of her face. "Better safe than sorry though." She pulled her sword, it sat on a simple loop of black leather at her side, no real sheath to be seen, and shoved it into the shadows where it disappeared.

"Has Will cleared you for that yet?" Jason asked a small smile on his face. Nico rolled her eyes.

"She's not the boss of me." Jason laughed as they stepped out of the alley. They were across the street from Percy's high school. Goode was a nice looking place but Nico didn't like schools. The last one she'd been to was Westover Hall. Malcom from the Athena cabin had nearly had a heart attack when he'd learned that she was from the forties and had only been to a year of school in the modern era. He'd taken it on himself to teach her what she'd missed during her time in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Between that and Will, Cecil and Lou Ellen, Nico wasn't sure when she'd made so many friends. The seven all kept up with her too. She rolled her eyes at a joke Jason made as they headed into the gym. It was an older building, the floor was on a mechanism so that the gym floor could be pulled back to reveal a large Olympic sized swimming pool. The bleachers were on the edge of the pool and the swim team was waiting near the entrance of the locker room. Percy beamed at them looking more relaxed than any of the other girls on the team.

"You came!" She bounced over to them and wrapped Jason in a hug. Her teammates muttered about a boyfriend and Nico rolled her eyes before she was wrapped in a slightly salty smelling hug. She patted Percy awkwardly on the back. Percy pulled away and grinned before dragging them both over to the team. "Guys! These are my cousins, Nico and Jason!" Nico rolled her eyes but felt a small smile pulling at her lips. One of the other girls on the team, a shorter wiry haired girl, looked between the three of them.

"Ok I buy you two being cousins." She pointed from Percy to Nico. "But he looks like a Greek god. Come on." Percy rolled her eyes. One of the other girls leaned in and spoke as well.

"Are you trying to tell me you haven't been paying attention to how cut Percy is? Seriously, built!" The first girl nodded as Nico frowned. They were speaking English but she had no idea what they were saying. Jason took pity on her.

"Means she has some nice muscles. Well built muscles. Built. And Cut is basically the same thing, like cut from marble." Nico nodded slightly. One of the girls on the team raised an eyebrow at them but Percy stepped in.

"Nico's homeschooled. Doesn't get out a lot." One of the boys on the team, who had already shed his shirt winked at Nico.

"Pretty girl like you should get out more." Percy and Jason bristled but Nico spoke.

"Get within four feet of me and I break your hands." The team blinked at her and she nodded to Percy before stepping over to the bleachers and finding Sally Jackson in the crowd. Arthur was sitting next to her and grinned at Nico highfiving her and hugging Jason. Sally held her arms open and Nico only hesitated for a moment before hugging Sally back. She was warm and still smelled like candy despite not having worked at the candy store for quite some time.

"Do we think Percy is going to cheat?" Jason asked. Nico rolled her eyes looking around at the crowd.

"Do we think there's gonna be an attack." That wasn't really a question. She was certain something was going to go wrong. She hated being in groups, demigods or human. Though at least with large groups of Demigods they all knew something was going to happen. Nico frowned. Something smelled wrong. Not like monsters. But like goats. She tapped Arthur on the shoulder.

"Do we have any satyrs here?" Arthur shrugged.

"Grover would know, but he's not here. I don't know. Why?"

"Take a deep breath." Arthur did as he was told and frowned.

"Can you find them?" Nico nodded.

"Should be easy to track. Look for the life sign without a soul. Satyrs aren't hard to find not in a crowd of people demigods make it difficult." Arthur nodded and made to stand. Nico shook her head.

"I got this. Be there for Percy, it's her first meet after all. If she's not cheating she'll need you." Arthur grinned at Nico who slipped off with a word to Jason. She slipped out of the gym and took a deep breath. The smell was slightly stronger here. Percy wouldn't have noticed. Percy was the worst at spotting magical anything. The girl was an amazing fighter but it was a wonder that she hadn't been killed by something she couldn't see coming. Nico glanced around, there was no one else here, she'd slipped into an unlocked classroom off the hallway so no one would spot her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing. If she let her mind wander she could feel every person in the building, and the few next to it. So far her range was about a block wide.

Sensing life and sensing souls wasn't quite the same feeling. Sensing life was like sensing drums beating through her feet. It was a constant thump in the earth, put off by everything that had a heartbeat. But sensing souls was… Well it was almost like having a filter over her vision. Everything that had a soul glowed. It had gotten easier to turn off throughout the years but when she was younger she had just thought that was how people were, glowing from within. Satyrs didn't have that, because Satyrs had no souls. They had the dull green aura of nature spirits. That was what Nico was looking for now. And she found it quickly enough. Two souls and the green aura, behind the school. She opened her eyes and headed off.

She slid into the shadows as she carefully opened the back door of the school without a sound. The door opened to an open area, a playground of sorts, but it was disused. Or at least it looked like it. One of the swings was hanging from a single chain and the merry go round was tilted to the point that turning it would have been extremely difficult. Sitting on the merry go round was a boy she recognized. She relaxed slightly. It was Thomas Greengrass. He was a searcher, she'd met him during the quest to defeat python. He and two demigods he'd found had been captured by the great snakes forces, set to be tortured to death as it suited them. She and Lou Ellen had broken them out before she and Will had defeated the snake, almost dying in the process. She let the shadows around her relax and stepped off the stairs of the school.

Thomas noticed her first and smiled waving. Then he frowned. The two teens he was talking to turned. They had to be twins. Both had the bright yellow hair and big blue eyes Nico had come to associate with the Apollo cabin. They were both boys and Nico waved at Thomas. But she was frowning again. That made six demigods in the same place. That was not going to be god.

As if on cue something rustled in the alley to the left of the playground. A deep growl rolled out of the darkness, a growl Nico recognized very well. She pulled her sword out of the shadows and leapt forwards landing between the merry go round and the alley just as a hellhound the size of a rhino barreled out of the darkness straight for them. Nico twirled her blade as both boys screamed and Thomas bayed in fear. She leapt to meet the charge, her sword cleaving through the monster like a hot knife through butter. It burst like a popped balloon, dust raining. She landed and turned to Thomas.

"Thomas. Good to see you again." Thomas nodded, adjusting his overly large beanie.

"You are fantastic Miss Di Angelo! Seriously though why are you here, is something wrong at Camp?" The twins looked very confused.

"No. It's the swim meet today. Percy invited Arthur, Jason and I to watch. I told them it was a bad idea. Too many in one place isn't a good idea." Thomas blinked.

"Percy Jackson? She goes to school here?" Nico nodded.

"Junior… I think she might be a senior. I don't really understand that whole system, never really did though to be fair I was eleven when I last went to school." One of the twins cleared their throat the other looked too stunned.

"Ok great that you two are old friends and all but what the fuck just happened!" This twin was dressed in a lime green t shirt and bright blue jean shorts. Nico slipped her sword into the loop on her belt where it belonged.

"That wont be the last one. We need to get out of here. Have you told them yet?" Thomas shook his head.

"They weren't ready yet, but I guess we have no choice now." Nico nodded.

"Walk and talk. Quickly please." She gestured down the street and Thomas ushered the twins down the street. Nico frowned and pulled the phone Leo had given her out of her pocket. A few of the kids at camp had laughed at the design. It flipped open but had a touch screen on both sides instead of keys. Leo claimed the design was harder to break even though his looked like a regular smart phone. She scrolled through her contacts and found the one she was looking for. She tapped it and the second twin, the one who hadn't spoken yet, blinked at her.

"Who the heck is Stormskull?" Nico shook her head as the line rang. He picked up in a few rings.

"Nico where are you? The whole building was shaking after that growl. What happened?"

"Rouge hellhound. We're fine Jason. It's a satyr I know and two halfbloods. I'm gonna get them to camp. Let Percy know that A, I was right, and B Im sorry for missing the meet."

"Alright. Just be careful and no shadow travel or I'm telling Will." Nico frowned at his words.

"I wouldn't do that to new ones unless it was life and death. I'll talk to you later Jason." They rung off and Nico flipped the phone closed.

"I thought phones were dangerous." Thomas said looking around nervously. He was chewing on the collar of his shirt. Nico tugged it out of his mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. And normally yet but these are special made, Valdez brand. He calls the thing that keeps the monsters from hearing the Hephaestus filter. But they can only be made at camp, he claims he can get them to fit any phone but I've seen him try, he cant help but upgrade them. The others are better about just fitting the filter." Thomas nodded. The twins looked beyond confused. Nico whistled and a cab pulled to a halt. She held the door open for them. Thomas nodded to them and they slipped into the back of the cab. Thomas was about to tell the driver the address for camp but Nico interjected with a coffee shop in little Italy. The driver nodded and Nico shook her head at the satyrs questioning glance. He nodded and the cab pulled into New York traffic.