A/N: Bonus chapter. Another one. Thanks to Blueraven123 on AO3 for requesting it!

'I only go on trips like this if it gets me burgers.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Lucky for you, I brought you to a burger restaurant.'

Thalia grinned while she opened the menu. 'It's like you can read my thoughts!'

'It's gay-ace solidarity.'

She slowly nodded, with her attention more on the burgers than on me. 'Yeah, yeah.'

Once we ordered, they brought the burgers fast, too, even though Thalia ordered two of them. She took a handful of fries.

'Speaking of gay-ace solidarity,' she began, 'I wanted to know how things were between you and Will Solace.'

'You haven't met Will often, though.'

'I met you often. Now speak up.'

'It's going well, Thalia. It's not like I receive a lot of flack for it.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'I'm rubbing off on you. The real Nico would never use the word 'flack.''

I inhaled deeply. 'Sure, Thalia.'

'It just goes to show my influence.'

'And how's this influence working out for you in the hunt?'

She let go of the burger she was about to bite. I picked up mine with a little smirk.

'Hm. Pretty okay, I'd say.'

'Afraid to say bad stuff? Will that make Artemis smite you?'

She raised her eyebrows. 'A comment like that will surely get her to smite you. But Artemis smiting me? No. She is a dork, you know.'

'You tell me, Thalia.' I took a bite of my burger. Thalia began to grin.

'One day, she walked into our basecamp looking, for lack of a better term, hungover. Messy hair, food on her face, strange marks on clothes. She didn't address it at all…' I tried to give Thalia, who was talking with sauce around her mouth and even on her nose, a look, but she didn't notice. '...she just began telling us about her wild hunt the night before. Eh, it was only then that we saw the red stains on her fingers. Anyway, we all just accepted it.' Thalia sat still for a second. 'That's the huntresses summarized.'

I ate a fry with an amused smile. 'Cool story, Thalia.'

'Eat more and talk less. I don't want Will to tell me you didn't eat enough.'

I rolled my eyes, but obliged.

Once we were done eating and talking about this-and-thats, Thalia requested the bill. While the waiter went to get it, she put her hands behind her head. 'Anyway. This whole talking and this whole eating burgers was not why I got here, even though I very much liked it.'

'You wouldn't say no to a burger.' I tilted my head. 'But what is it that you have in mind?'

She looked out the window. 'We are near a nice place I'd like you to see. We passed it during our hunt.''

'Uh-huh.'

The waiter came with our bill. Thalia slammed down a black card (Which - that must have belonged to Artemis). 'You'll see.'

I took a deep, cool evening breath. The surrounding forest was calming. 'That that waiter just accepted a black card from someone looking sixteen? Wild.'

'A little mist will do that to you.'

I giggled. 'Yes. Now, where are you taking me?'

'A little patience, we'll get there.'

I rolled my eyes. 'Sure, sure.'

'Keep walking.'

'I am!'

Thalia kept throwing me glances until we stopped near a hill. 'Come. Can you get up this hill?'

'Of course?'

'I don't know. Maybe you aren't fit enough.'

'I am!'

She raised her eyebrows. 'Hm. Okay, then.'

We climbed up the mountain, in silence, but not bad silence, in the wonderfully dewey night. When we got to the top, I raised my eyebrows.

There was a valley, a magic valley (It couldn't be anything but magic, it had to be invisible to mortal eyes), which was overgrown with wild roses. I felt something, too: Spirits. Hundreds of them, but none of them sad. I felt my body relax. How beautiful.

'Do you just... pass places like these every now and then?'

Thalia looked at the roses. 'Yes. Magical places. This one made me think of you, and I wanted you to see it. I thought maybe it would mean something.'

I looked at the roses. I could see the spirits now, hanging out between them, mingling together, having fun. The light scent made me think of good times.

'It means everything to me. You even picked the perfect evening. A calm place for ghosts, overgrown with roses. As if the dead can be happy too.'

Thalia nodded, while still staring at the sight in front of us. 'I thought you'd see that in it. Unless it reads too deep into things.'

I shook my head. 'No, no. It doesn't.'

We kept looking for half an hour or so, before wordlessly deciding that it had been enough.

Thalia seemed deep in thought while we walked down the mountain. I put a hand on her shoulder. 'A lot has happened in the underworld,' I said. 'Such as Minos being fired from his place as judge because of prejudice.' I paused for a moment. 'He got replaced by Jason.'

Thalia looked up. 'My Jason?'

I nodded, with a little smile. 'Yes. Our Jason.'

She looked at the path ahead. A little smile grew on her lips. It was a small, melancholic smile, but it was a smile. 'My little brother is going places.' She snickered. 'Well, to hell. But places.'

'It was perfect, actually. Minos was unfit for the job. Jason is a son of Zeus, or Jupiter, same difference, so he could replace him. As if it was meant to be.'

Thalia nodded. 'Thanks for telling me, Nico.'

'I had to do something in return for those beautiful roses.' I turned around, but I couldn't see them anymore. The path behind us was too dark. I could, however, still smell them. My heart jumped.

We walked back into town. The burger restaurant was still open. Thalia crossed her arms and looked at me. 'Want to go get a coke?'

'Yes, sure. All that walking made me hungry.'

'Indeed. I am thinking, maybe I should just get a third burger.'

A/N: I like to believe Thalia really loves burgers. And eats a lot.