I have to admit I love your reactions to that twist, honestly I feel kinda bad 'cause I was so mean to poor Percy and Nico. I hope you guys enjoy the next ones, they won't be as painful but Nico's loss isn't gonna just go away.

Percy was still rather dazed when they finally left the junkyard, she let herself be prodded into a tow truck that was on the edge of the junkyard, huddling up in the back between Annabeth and Bianca, who appeared to have decided not to let Percy out of her sight.

Zoe was, of course, driving-she was the most put together out of all of them, Thalia was clutching her shoulder-which Percy assumed had gotten hurt when she tossed her away.

Grover was next to Annabeth, and Thalia sat in the passenger seat looking back at them all-a weary look on her face and a question in her eyes-but Percy couldn't bring herself to answer it, she just let her head rest on Annabeth's shoulders and she closed her eyes, trying to force away the images that flashed across her vision-of Nico's body broken somewhere in the junkyard.

She'd felt felt so broken before in her entire life and she didn't know how she was still able to do anything other than scream and cry.

And what scared her more was the numbness that was starting to creep in. It was a cold feeling and she didn't like it, but she felt too drained and broken to fight it off as she closed her eyes, her breathing evening up as she clung to Annabeth, who's fingers combed through Percy's hair gently, the blonde humming until Percy felt herself drifting slowly.

She wasn't asleep, not fully, but she was somewhere in-between, not awake but not asleep either when Thalia did speak.

"Did-was-what did she do? I don't understand how she did that. The earthquake I get but... how did she throw us back."

"The water in your body." Annabeth's voice was gentle, "I didn't know she could do it either-"

"Are you saying she can control the water inside of our bodies?" Thalia's voice was stunned, "But-"

"I didn't know she could until today but I'm not surprised." Annabeth admitted quietly. "Percy's powerful- she pretty much flooded an entire island once because they nearly took Luke."

"That sort of power is dangerous." Thalia pointed out, "I've never heard of anyone doing that before."

"She's never done it in front of me. I don't think she's ever done it when she was in her right mind before-"

"She was hurting." Bianca whispered, "It's not-she didn't mean to hurt us she was hurting and angry-"

"The gods won't like it." that was Grover's voice, "They won't like knowing there's a demigod who can do that."

"We don't tell them." Annabeth's voice was firm, "Is that clear?"

"Of course. I promised Nico I'd protect her, I won't tell them if they might hurt her because of it."

"I won't tell them either." Thalia said quietly, "I don't blame her-it just-it scared the crap into me. And it felt horrible." then Thalia shifted. "Zoe?"

"I do not like keeping secrets from Lady Artemis-"

"Zoe my dad already doesn't like Percy. If he finds out that she can do this... even if she does only do it when she's desperate." Thalia's voice was firm, "Put yourself in her position-she shouldn't have done it but she lost control."

"Please. Zoe please do it for me." Bianca's voice was desperate, pleading and Zoe faltered, staring at Bianca for a moment before nodding.

"So be it. I won't mention this to Lady Artemis. But she must learn to control her temper-"

"Usually she does." Annabeth's voice was tight, "But how would you feel if you were her and you just lost your youngest sibling?"

"I do not know." Zoe looked back at the road. "I didn't know what he was planning."

"Someone had to do it." Bianca's voice was tight, "It just should have been me."

"Bianca..." Annabeth's voice was soft, "Nico wouldn't have wanted that-"

"Maybe not but it shouldn't have been him and he needed Percy more than he needed me. And I was the one who caused it in the first place by being stupid. Percy was right when she said it was my fault-"

"Blaming yourself isn't going to help anyone." Thalia pointed out, "As understandable as it is." she paused, "Though... why didn't either of you stop
him?"

"He-he used the shadows." Bianca frowned, "They.. he controlled them, trapped our feet with them so that neither of us could stop him."

"Gods." Annabeth's fingers brushed through Percy's hair, and Percy curled in closer, her eyes burning with tears. "Of course he did. I didn't know he could control shadows but of course he found a way to stop you two from stopping him. He'd have known that Percy would have never let him do it."

"It was Percy's plan-"

"Ooh." Grover sucked in a sharp breath, wincing, "That's gonna hurt her a lot."

"I hate this." Thalia's voice was tight, "I fucking hate this-he was a kid, he was just a kid he wasn't even twelve yet and he's gone."

"You were twelve." Grover's voice was quiet, "You were twelve when you-not died but... I mean, basically."

"At least my dad intervened I guess." Thalia looked at Nico, "But I guess Hades can't do that. Father would probably punish him somehow." her voice was slightly bitter and Annabeth let out a soft huff of annoyance.

"Yeah that sounds like him." and with that a slightly uncomfortable silence filled the vehicle, and Percy managed to drift off completely, tucking her face into Annabeth's shoulder-and she woke up when she felt the truck coming to a slow juddering halt and Zoe cursed in Greek.

"We're out of gas."

"Great." Thalia's voice was thick with sarcasm, "I don't suppose there's a gas station somewhere around here. We're at a dead end."

"Guess it's on foot now." Bianca spoke up, "Annabeth you'll have to wake Percy-"

"No need." Percy muttered the words as she lifted her head slightly, "I'm awake." she let out a yawn.

"How do you feel?" Annabeth's voice was suddenly incredibly soft.

"Like crap but I'll be okay." Percy shook her head, "Let's just get on with this. We have a quest to finish."

And with that they were all piling out of the tow truck and Percy looked around, still leaning into Annabeth's side as she scanned the horizon.

The dead end road was at the edge of a river canyon.

There wasn't much to see. Desert in all directions, occasional clumps of barren mountains plopped here and there. The canyon was the only thing interesting. The river itself wasn't very big, maybe fifty yards across, green water with a few rapids, but it carved a huge scar out of the desert. The rock cliffs dropped away below them.

"There's a path," Grover said. "We could get to the river."

"Uh, Grover." Bianca's voice was hesitant, "Are you talking about that goat path?" she pointed to a tiny ledge winding down the cliff face.

"Yeah. And?"

"The rest of us aren't Satyrs."

"We could make it." Grover's voice was more confident than Percy's would have been-though- honestly-

"Not as bad as Polyphemus' island." Annabeth muttered, giving Percy a sidelong look, "It wouldn't be fun but I know you and I probably could."

"I mean-" Percy glanced at the others. Zoe was nodding, a determined look on her face, and Bianca hesitated.

"I mean, if you guys think it's doable then I'm willing to try."

Then Percy's gaze focused on Thalia-and her mind shifted back to their talk earlier-Thalia looked terrified, and of course she did, she was scared of heights. She'd freeze up and end up falling. But she wasn't going to want to admit that.

Percy let out a breath, running her fingers through her hair, "I don't-I hate heights." she ignored the raised eyebrow Annabeth shot her. "We should try further up stream, there might be somewhere we could get down easier."

"But-" Grover's mouth snapped shut at the look Percy gave him and he nodded. "Right, right a walk it is. A walk won't hurt." and Percy could almost feel the relief rolling off of Thalia-and she saw the daughter of Zeus give her a very faint tight grateful smile.

They followed the river about half a mile before coming to an easier slope that led down to the water. On the shore was a canoe rental operation that was closed for the season, but Percy left a stack of golden drachmas on the counter and a note saying IOU three canoes-which made Thalia snort and roll her eyes.

"You are such a goody two shoes-"

"Hey, mom raised me well-"

"And yet your brother taught you how to hotwire a car." Thalia pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"Eh, son of Hermes."

"Because that explains it." Thalia elbowed her very slightly-and Percy managed a very slight smile. She was painfully grateful for the fact that Thalia was willing to tease her, it restored some sense of normality, though not as much as Percy would have liked, and Thalia did make a point of pulling Percy aside as they were pulling the canoes out and getting the oars to thank her for intervening on her behalf.

They were distracted from their quiet conversation by Zoe's voice.

"We need to go upstream. The rapids are too swift." her brows were furrowed and her expression was tight with concern.

"Leave that to me." Percy let out a breath, "I should be able to handle them."

"You should be in the front canoe then." Annabeth spoke up-which made Zoe tense slightly.

"I was planning-"

"I'll go with you." Percy waved a hand dismissively, "Then maybe-"

"I'll ride with Annabeth." Grover spoke up quickly.

"We'll bring up the rear then," Thalia draped an arm over Bianca's shoulder.

And soon enough they were in the water in the canoes-and Percy realized fairly quickly that she didn't even need to use her powers, because when she looked into the water she saw a few naiads staring up at her giggling, and she grinned down at them, giving a little wave, and they waved back at her.

"Hey guys." she dipped her fingers into the water, doing an underwater high five, "Would you mind helping us, we're heading upstream-" and before Percy could even finish they were pushing the canoes forward-so fast that it made Grover lose his balance and almost topple over the edge of his canoe, though Annabeth managed to grab him before he could fall.

Zoe glowered. "I hate Naiads-"

"Hey." Percy's eyes narrowed, "That's mean, they're helping us-"

A stream of water squirted up from the back of the boat and hit Zoe in the face.

"She-devils!" Zoe went for her bow and Percy scowled.

"Stop that!" she shook her head, "They're just playing-"

"Cursed water spirits. They've never forgiven me."

"Forgiven you for what?"

She slung her bow back over her shoulder. "It was a long time ago. Never mind."

They sped up the river, the cliffs looming up on either side of them, and then after a long moment Zoe spoke.

"I am sorry. I didn't know what he was planning." and Percy blinked.

"You-"

"If I'd have known... I promise you I didn't know what he was planning." and that was a look of guilt on Zoe's face-and of course. Percy felt stupid for not noticing that sooner-Zoe had been the one to help Nico get inside of the giant.

"It wasn't your fault." Percy looked away, swallowing hard, "Or Bianca's-I was just lashing out unfairly."

"I cannot blame you." Zoe shook her head, "If I'd have known-"

"What would you have done." Percy let out a heavy breath, "Nico made his choice-I hate it and I'm never going to... I'll probably never stop regretting it and never stop hurting over it but... Nico might be young but he wasn't stupid." Percy blinked back tears. "He made his choice. I just... I wish we'd had more time." she looked down at her hands, which were shaking slightly. "There's so much he won't get to do." she shook her head. It felt like her heart had been pulled out and shredded. "But none of that is on you."

"I should not have been chosen for this Quest." Zoe shook her head, "I have done terribly-already one member of our quest has been killed and both you and Bianca are..." she shook her head. "I thought Bianca was ready."

"Ready for what?"

"She's a powerful half-blood with a good heart. I hoped- I know where we are going-I know what is likely to happen. I wanted her to be Lady Artemis' next lieutenant but she is not ready."

"But you're the lieutenant."

She gripped the strap of her quiver. She looked more tired than Percy had ever seen her. "Nothing can last forever, Percy. Over two thousand years I have led the Hunt, and my wisdom has not improved. Now Artemis herself is in danger." and Percy had never expected to feel sympathy for the other girl.

"Not your fault Zoe-" Percy hesitated, "I know what they planned-there's nothing you could do. By now they'll have tricked her into taking the sky and freed Atlas."

Zoe flinched, looking down. "I dreamed of it." she lifted her head, "There is something you should know-I believe the others already know, but before I joined the hunt..." she looked away, "My... Atlas is my father Percy. And he made it clear that when next we met I would die."