Two new/old characters show up today...can you guess who? ;)

DemigonDNA (guest): Awww, you're welcome. And I'm sorry you had to wait so long for it; Mondays are always my library days where I use their computer (with actual FAST internet!) to do most of my research for this fanfic, which is why I post later on those days. I hope you get better soon!

Cherries (guest): Here more is. And, also, you might not want to be so sure about that other thing...hehehe.

Son of Dragon: Don't worry, I have PLANS for them. And while Camp Half-Blood isn't this chapter, we may see a little of it next chapter...

Divergent-R-Us (guest): Thanks, I really appreciate the help! And that's a really good idea.

Smile (guest): I've never been called scrumdiddlyumptious before. :) I think it makes me happy, though. It definitely made me laugh. And thanks for taking the time to review!

drinkingthestarswithbob: Yes, definitely in a non-creepy, bestie way. And thanks, really. I've probably said that a million times too.

Alright, my beautiful readers, onward! To the chapter!

Chapter LIII

Nico

Nico reappears right by Coach Hedge's side-that is to say, in the middle of the battle. He stumbles forward and almost gets gutted by a golden gladius, but Coach Hedge grabs onto the back of his aviator jacket and hauls him backwards, out of the sword's path.

"What are you doing back here, cupcake?" The satyr demands. "I got this!"

Looking around, Coach Hedge definitely didn't have it. He was in the middle of a horde of angry demigods, and even though his club/baseball bat was doing a pretty good job of keeping them at a difference, especially since they were pretty disoriented, Nico knew it wouldn't be long before they regrouped and started a more organized attack. The only lucky thing seems to be that most of the hellhounds have already been obliterated by the Romans.

"Coach, come on! We have to get back to Reyna, I left her on the hill with the statue!" Nico yells, slamming a Roman demigod in the head with the hilt of his sword.

"What'd you do that for?" Coach Hedge asks angrily. "Go back! I told you, I got this!"

Nico groans inwardly and wonders if he can just drag the old goat with him. He watches as the satyr smashes his way through a line of Romans, occasionally screaming 'Die!' at the top of his lungs and swinging his club at everything that moves.

He comes to the conclusion that it would be unwise to shadow-travel with the satyr unless he came willingly. Otherwise, Nico might end up getting brained in the head with a baseball bat.

"Come on, Coach! If we stay here much longer, we'll be overrun!" Nico shouts desperately, but the satyr just snorts.

"No way, kiddo! If you really want to, you can leave and wait with Miss Princess while I deal with these-" Here he interrupts himself to start screaming at a Roman that was trying to sneak up on him. "DIE, PUNY ROMAN! DIE!"

Up on Half-Blood hill where he left Reyna, Nico sees a brilliant golden light start to shine. His worry for the girl grows, but Coach Hedge isn't budging.

He sighs. Time for Plan B-the plan that could leave him with a cracked skull. Or with any other type of broken bone.

He steps forward, deflecting a thrust from one of the demigods, and grabs the back of Coach Hedge's neck, trying to stay out of reach of his baseball bat. Then he closes his eyes, and they fall into darkness. Well, darker darkness.

The world warps around them, and they land on the hill, right next to Thalia's pine, Peleus the dragon, the Athena Parthenos, Reyna, and a pure white pegasus that Nico has never seen before.

"Nice timing, Shadow Boy." Reyna says sarcastically, crossing her arms and glaring down at him where he collapsed onto the ground after being hit in the gut by the end of Coach Hedge's bat. The satyr is now beating the dirt, still screaming 'DIE!'

"What...do you mean?" Nico wheezes, trying to recover.

"Well, you missed me making friends with the dragon," she gestures to Peleus, who closes his eyes and hums, "Athena visiting and giving me a history lesson, and then that same goddess thanking me by giving me a new pegasus, who's name is _." The pegasus paws the ground, arching his neck proudly. "Oh yeah, and Athena said she'll be back tomorrow to bring the statue to Olympus. She's only leaving it here in the meantime so that it can help with the peace negotiations between the camps. Maybe seeing the symbol of our rivalry finally returned to its rightful place will help us get along a little better."

"How do you fit all that into five minutes?" Nico asks, a little miffed that he missed so much.

"It really isn't that hard. A lot of things can happen in five minutes." She says, a slightly sad expression on her face, the far away look she's been getting more and more often back in her eyes.

"Fair enough." Nico replies. He looks over at where Coach Hedge is still trying to kill the hill and sighs. "Do you want to get him, or should I?"

She follows his gaze and echoes his sigh, although hers is more exasperated than resigned. "No, I'll get him. Stay here, I'll be right back."

She marches across the hillside towards the satyr, and Nico settles in for what promises to be decent entertainment, leaning back on his hands. The pegasus shuffles his wings and tilts his head curiously as he watches his new owner chase a crazy goat man across the hill.

"You'd better get used to it." Nico tells the horse. "It's pretty much a regular thing now."

_ snorts, tossing his mane.

"Don't worry, though, Reyna's pretty great." Nico reassures him, smiling as he watches her.

She has one hand on her hip, and is shaking her finger at Coach Hedge, obviously yelling at him. He yells something back, his eyes bloodshot and crazy, and starts beating up the grass again.

Reyna throws up her hands in exasperation, looking up at the sky. Nico can almost hear her groan. She strides forward until she's less than a foot away from the satyr-dangerous place to be-and starts shouting again, gesturing angrily with her hands as she does so. Coach Hedge pretty much ignores her, and Nico can see her growing more and more frustrating, until finally, she grabs the end of his baseball bat, yanks it out of his hands, grabs his ear, and starts to drag him up the hill like a little kid.

Nico grins and leans forward, resting his folded hands on his knees, waiting for Reyna and Coach Hedge to get back to the top of the hill.

As they get closer, Nico can hear the satyr spluttering in indignation, his face purple with rage. They stop right in front of him, and as soon as Reyna lets go of him, Coach Hedge stretches himself up to his full height-which really isn't very intimidating-and glares at her.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BASEBALL BAT!" Is the first thing he screams. She offers it to him, and he snatches it away. "Rotten girl...disrespectful...never been treated like that..."

"Really, Coach, you didn't give her very many options." Nico points out to the satyr.

"I was being perfectly reasonable." Coach sniffs. Reyna rolls her eyes, her arms crossed across her chest.

"Whatever." She says. "We don't have time for this. We need to go into the camp, find someone to talk to. Someone has to be awake, right?"

"Almost definitely. I'd be surprised if they hadn't set a patrol around the perimeter to check up on the Romans. So, really, even if we wait here, someone'll probably find us here in a minute or so." Nico tells her.

She looks down at him. "You'd better get up, then. Or were you intending to sleep on the hill tonight?"

"Nah, I think a bed would be much more comfortable." Nico replies, grinning crookedly before pushing himself up off the ground. As soon as he does so, his head swims, and exhaustion washes over him, but he manages not to fall, largely thanks to Reyna, who grabs his shoulder to steady him.

"Yeah, a bed definitely sounds really good right now." He mumbles, leaning heavily against Reyna.

"A little longer and you'll get one, Shadow Boy, but first you've gotta make sure the Greeks don't decide to decapitate us." Reyna reminds him.

"Right. Although at least if I was decapitated, my headache would be gone." Nico murmurs.

"And so would your head, idiot." Reyna mutters to him. "I'm not entirely sure that's the best trade."

"Probably not." Nico concedes. Another wave of exhaustion engulfs him, and his knees buckle. Reyna just barely manages to catch him, grunting with the effort.

"You're not making this very easy, Nico." She tells him, heaving him up and draping his arm around her shoulders, wrapping her own arm around his waist.

"Wasn't trying to." He mumbles, his eyelids drooping.

"Well, you should be." She says. "You might not be very heavy, but it's not like you're made of air."

Nico doesn't respond this time, he's focusing all of his energy on staying awake. But shadow-traveling three times, once with a forty-foot tall statue, and all three times with another person, wasn't one of his better ideas. His eyes start to slide closed, but as they do, he hears something else...footsteps.

"Reyna, listen." He breathes, and she goes still, looking out into the darkness.

"Footsteps." She confirms. "Let's just hope they're friendly."

"Doubtful." Nico mutters. "They're Greek."

"Now what's that supposed to mean, Death Breath?" An indignant voice calls out.

"Yeah, geez, Nico, we thought you were our friend." Another voice, almost identical to the first, adds.

Nico sighs. "Oh, great."

"What's that? Is our best pal not excited to see us?" The first voice asks mockingly.

"Well, it couldn't be the fact that we tee-peed his cabin-" The second voice starts.

"Twice-"

"Or that we painted the door pink-"

"-And it definitely couldn't be because of the time we stole his sword and accidentally dropped it in the lake."

"I really doubt that was an accident." Nico mutters. He squints into the darkness and finally sees the two boys standing just inside the tree line.

"There's only one conclusion, really." One of them says.

"Obviously." The other comments.

They both look at each other and talk in unison. "He must be jealous of our brilliance." Then they grin.

"More like irritated by how annoying you both are." Nico mumbles, trying to stand up straighter.

"Awww!"

"You compliment us, Death Breath."

"Unfortunately, we can't do the same for you."

"It'd ruin our reputation, you see."

"And we can't have that."

Even though they've always annoyed him, Nico can't help but crack a grin at the twins' antics. Maybe returning to the camp won't be as bad as he thought.

And it might even be better, with Reyna here. He finds himself thinking.

This time, he smiles for an entirely different reason.

Again, slightly shorter than usual, but the next one will be longer, I promise-and then we're back on the Argo II with Leo and Annabeth!

Cheers!