Disclaimer: Don't own any of this etc. No profit being made.

Author's note: New story, new fandom. Not really sure how far this one is going to go, but I've got a few ideas sketched out and I've been thinking of writing something along these lines for a while. Think there's a slight dearth of PJ Slash stories in general, and particularly PJ Slash without Dom/Sub or Alpha/Omega elements. Hopefully this is part of the solution.

-Chapter One-

'Who the fuck are you?'

The disturbingly attractive and almost naked man standing on his rug stared at him.

'Who am I?' He asked incredulously. 'You don't recognise me?'

'No.' Nico replied, eyeing the man's flawless body appreciatively. 'I definitely didn't order a prostitute.'

The man blinked a few times, and the unearthly glow emanating from his skin seemed to flicker with annoyance.

'I am Apollo, God of the Sun, of Light and Truth and Knowledge.' He announced indignantly. 'Ruler over the realms of Poetry, Knowledge, Healing and Prophecy.'

'Fuck me.' Nico muttered, dropping his head into his hands.

'I am not a prostitute!' The god of the sun exclaimed, snapping one of the strings of his golden lyre.

'Then why have you broken into my house?' Nico asked.

The god ran a hand through his thick golden locks, the taut muscles of his stomach rippling tantalisingly under his gleaming skin. He looked slightly exasperated, but took a breath and drew himself to his full height.

'I come to you at the behest of the Fates themselves!' He announced, spreading his arms. 'Sent to summon you on a quest to determine the fate of all mankind!'

'Wonderful.' Nico replied drily.

'Isn't it!' Apollo replied, grinning and blinding Nico with his teeth.

'You're really bright.' He commented, narrowing his eyes.

'Thanks!' Apollo replied. 'I'm the god of knowledge, so it sort of goes with the territory.' He frowned. 'Athena doesn't think so, of course, but she's just stuck up. I mean, what even is 'wisdom'? Socrates is seriously overrated.'

'No, I meant bright, as in, like, you're about to burn my eyeballs out.' Nico said, wincing and lifting his arm to shield himself.

'Oh, right! Sorry.'

The glare dimmed somewhat.

'I get carried away sometimes.' The god of the sun admitted. He paused and examined Nico. 'Wow. My uncle did well with you.' He commented, before hesitating. 'You know, if you want to have sex…'

Nico stilled. Was Apollo, god of all that random crap, but also the hottest guy he'd ever seen, like hot beyond his wildest fantasies and filthiest dreams, genuinely offering to sleep with him?'

'Umm,' he began. He could feel his cock twitching in his jeans.

'Hmm, better not, actually. We're not supposed to sleep with demigods.' Apollo said before Nico could continue. 'Dad would probably castrate me.' He winced slightly at the thought.

Nico didn't know whether he was relieved or disappointed.

'Why are you here?' He asked, kind of exasperated.

Apollo frowned.

'I told you. The Fates have sent me—'

'To summon me to go on a quest.' Nico finished. 'End of the world, death of mankind, all the usual bullshit.'

'The usual bullshit?' Apollo echoed, confused.

'Why do you think I live in England?' Nico asked the god, leaning forwards.

Apollo frowned.

'Well, Uncles Hades put you here to hide from dad, obviously.' He replied. 'But don't worry about that; he and Uncle Poseidon have been sleeping with mortals as well. Anyway, you're kind of necessary for this quest, so I don't think he'll send a lightning storm to blow up your plane or anything.'

'What plane?'

Apollo looked at him as though he was stupid.

'The plane that's going to take you to Camp Half-Blood, of course. I'd take you in my chariot, but the last demigod I took over the ocean in it fell out and drowned.'

'Umm, I'm not going to Camp Half-whatever.' Nico told him, dropping back into the soft cushions of his sofa.

'But that's where the quest is going to start.' Apollo replied, eyes wide and innocent. 'And I've come up with a really good prophecy for my oracle. I can even give you a preview, if you'd like?' He offered eagerly.

'Yeah, no thanks. I'm not really one for prophecies. I'm pretty happy where I am, to be honest. You'll just have to find another demigod to persuade to risk their life to save you from your own stupidity.'

'My own stupidity?' Apollo exclaimed, looking indignant. 'It's not my fault!'

'Really?' Nico asked. 'Who have the gods managed to piss off this time? Did your dad not get the message when Kronos nearly managed to chop off his balls and feed them to him?'

Apollo seemed confused.

'Message?'

'Yeah. Like the 'OLYMPUS IS FULL OF DICKS' one, all in big capital letters.'

'Olympus is not full of dicks.' The sun god replied petulantly, looking offended.

'I'm pretty sure one of the biggest signs of being a dick is the inability to recognise the fact that you are.' Nico observed.

Apollo seemed to consider that for a moment, before shaking his head as though to free it from such a strange idea.

'Olympus is awesome!' He exclaimed. 'I do concerts and poetry readings on the weekends.' He frowned again. 'Dad won't let me do them during the week.'

'I honestly don't give a shit.'

Apollo looked offended.

'You haven't heard me play.' He strummed the remaining strings of his lyre.

'We both know you've got nothing on Orpheus.'

In a flash the sunny-tempered god was gone. He seemed to grow a foot in height, and the gentle glow beneath his skin expanded, brightening until it looked like tongues of angry flame were writhing within the muscular flesh.

'Do not speak his name!' Apollo boomed. The room around them shook, its expensive furnishings apparently in imminent danger of destruction.

'Why not?' Nico asked, sprawling back casually. 'Can't bear to admit that a mortal might actually be better than you?'

The lyre of the god of music melted, dripping liquid gold onto the thick Persian carpet.

'That was really expensive.' Nico mourned, watching the ruined rug smoke. When a flame erupted, he stretched out to smother the fire with a tendril of shadow.

Apollo jerked away when it caught his foot.

'Urgh. That tickles.' He said, rage disappearing in an instant.

Nico rolled his eyes at the fickle god, wishing he would leave.

'So!' The sun god continued cheerfully. 'Camp Half-Blood will be expecting you at the end of the month!'

He looked like he was about to vanish, but Nico's unimpressed stare held him where he was.

'What part of our conversation has given you the impression that you should be expecting me?' He asked coolly.

'You're going to be part of a prophecy.' Apollo said slowly, as though explaining something to a toddler. 'You have been chosen! Honour and glory await you!' He paused. 'And if you happen to die bravely, then I'm sure your dad will fast-track you to Elysium.'

'Yeah, no thanks. I'm sure my dad has fucked someone else whose child you can go and try to kidnap and send to their death.'

At that moment the doorbell rang, startling both of them. Nico stood, and when he glanced at Apollo he was surprised to find the sun god looking pale. Nico brushed his way past him and made his way to the front door.

'Umm, hello?' He greeted. 'Can I help you ladies?' He asked politely, confronted by a trio of ancient-looking women dressed in brightly coloured raincoats and staring at him with dark, beady eyes. He felt suddenly uneasy.

'You can, young man.' Their leader told him. Her hair was almost completely white, her face a mass of wrinkles, and her jacket electric blue. Before he knew what was happening, she'd pushed past him into the hallway.

'Very nice.' She commented, looking inquisitively at the chequered stone floor and pale panelled walls. She began to unwind her scarf.

'Do you have tea?' Asked one of her companions as she, too, squeezed her way in and began stripping off.

Nico stood staring, a growing sense of dread in the pit of his stomach as he watched the three crones smear mud and leaves across his floor, hang their coats on his light fittings and drop their sopping wet gloves onto his gleaming hall table.

'I think so.' He managed to get out. His voice sounded thin, and he couldn't help but think it was ironic that he could face down a god without batting an eyelid, and then two minutes later find himself cowed by three women who looked like they'd staged a daring breakout from a nursing home. But then, of course, Apollo's strength was nothing compared to the power these three wielded.

Nico fled to the kitchen, leaving the pensioners to finish dirtying his hallway and making themselves at home. He leant against the worktop, closing his eyes and forcing himself to breathe slowly. Stay calm, listen to them, hold it together, he told himself. He began searching the cupboards for teabags, filling and flicking on the kettle with absent hands. Eventually, he found the box of Yorkshire Tea the lady who cleaned for him kept tucked away.

Five minutes later he reentered the sitting room with a tray of what he hoped was vaguely drinkable liquid and a packet of biscuits he'd also managed to steal from Tanya.

'Excellent!' Exclaimed the old lady who'd asked for tea, reaching out for a cup almost as soon as he'd put the tray down.

The strangeness of the scene struck Nico with new strength. It couldn't be often that an almost naked Greek god, the three Fates who dictated the future of the world and a teenager drank tea together in the sitting room of a Mayfair townhouse.

The pensioners were all sat together on a sofa, pressed together so tightly that they took up less than half the available space. Apollo was stood next to the empty hearth, leaning awkwardly on the mantelpiece and looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.

'Nico di Angelo, son of—'

'Hades, God of Wealth and Dead People and Skeletons and Dark Corners and so on, yeah. Can we skip the introduction?'

The three Fates stared at him silently for a few moments, before their leader smiled.

'You have been summoned.' They announced together in a pretty creepy chorus.

'I've told him!' Apollo interjected, sounding like a slightly indignant child. Nico was hit again by how absolutely gorgeous he was, pouting and gleaming.

'And yet you have not persuaded him.' The middle Fate announced, her gaze not straying from Nico for an instant. Her companions had taken out their knitting, and sat on either side of her, needles clicking away at a fearsome rate as spools of purple and green wool flew through the air.

'I would have.' Apollo replied.

The middle Fate's eyes went cloudy for a moment.

'You would have failed.' She answered, gaze clearing. 'In one possible future you would have been asked to leave thirty four seconds after we arrived, in the other you would have had sex with him, attempted to make him immortal, and then been turned into a rabbit for a hundred years by Zeus for daring to sleep with a demigod.'

Whilst Nico's mind was struggling to move much beyond the thought of sex with a god and immortality, Apollo had gone white.

'You're really scary when you do that, you know.' He told the Fate, his voice shaking slightly.

She smiled and didn't answer.

'There are things beyond even our control.' She began, sounding almost annoyed by the idea. 'There are events we cannot force to come to pass. Your deciding to journey to Camp Half-Blood is one such example.'

Nico frowned, wondering why on earth he merited such freedom.

'And so we sent Apollo to ask you.' The Fate continued. 'To sleep with you, if necessary.'

'Made me wear my tightest loincloth.' The sun god muttered.

Nico prided himself on being difficult to embarrass, but the idea that the Fates had forced the god of the sun to dress up like an Ancient Greek gigolo and seduce him made him feel deeply uncomfortable.

'And then we saw that he would not succeed, so we decided to visit London ourselves.'

Nico, whose eyes kept straying against his will to that bloody loincloth, forced himself to concentrate.

'Hang on. You're here to persuade me to go to America and join this quest to save the world or something?' He asked.

The Fate nodded, apparently waiting for him to continue.

'But you can't force me? It isn't, like, written in the stars or anything?'

The Fate on the left looked up at the ceiling, as though staring through it to try and examine the constellations.

'No. We cannot force you, or punish you for refusing, or affect you negatively in any way for deciding not to involve yourself. In a very real sense, you are beyond our power.' She admitted, before returning to her knitting.

'So, are you going to offer to sleep with me to get me to do what you want?' Nico asked, both amused and horrified by the prospect.

All three Fates looked at him suddenly, and he felt like they could see straight through his clothes as they inspected him.

'No.' The middle Fate admitted, and Nico's pride took a blow in spite of the fact that he'd have sprinted from the house had her response been anything else. 'We do not strike deals with demigods; they live and they die at our whim.'

A chill ran through Nico at the admission.

'But we are forced to negotiate with you, and so we will offer you the only thing valuable enough to make you accept.'

Nico felt confused. There was nothing that could tempt him to involve himself in the vicious, selfish games of the Olympian gods.

'Which is what?' He challenged.

'Your soulmate.' The response was delivered in an expressionless voice.

A jolt ran through Nico at the word, an alien surge of yearning so powerful he was almost surprised he didn't jerk out of his seat.

'My what?' He asked, attempting to scoff.

'Your soulmate.' The old woman repeated in the same tone. 'The other half of your heart. The solitary person ordained by the universe itself to be your partner, your equal, your everything.' She frowned. 'It sounds better in Greek.'

Nico's heart accelerated in his chest. He could feel the blood in his veins and the air in his lungs, the electric thrum of adrenaline pooling in his skull.

'Bloody Plato.' Apollo muttered. 'Should never have told mortals about the soulmate thing. Now they all run around looking for marriage and eternity rather than big cocks and wild parties.'

Nico couldn't help but think that Apollo would have absolutely no trouble finding big cocks and wild parties should the fancy take him.

'I don't believe you.' He told the Fates, though the words rang hollow somehow.

'You think we lie?' Their spokeswoman asked, sounding genuinely confused by the notion. She shook her head. 'Our power is immeasurable, the reach of our influence beyond mortal comprehension. We knit the strands of fate, weave the cloth of time itself.' She paused and drew a huge pair of iron scissors from her shapeless handbag. 'Cut the threads of life.' She finished solemnly. The great black blades snipped, and the purple yarn being worked on by one of her sisters broke off and fell. Nico eyed the curl of wool, wondering whose existence had been cut short.

'But we cannot lie.' The Fate finished.

'Get up, Seaweed Brain!'

Percy Jackson rolled over in bed and rubbed his face deeper into his pillow, silently praying that all annoying daughters of Athena were caught up in freak tidal waves and swept far away from the door of the Poseidon cabin.

The knocking did not let up, however, and he groaned, wincing as he opened his eyes only to have them blinded by the morning light.

'Coming!' He called, voice rough from sleep as he stumbled out from beneath his duvet and padded across the floor.

Annabeth looked disgustingly awake. Her honey-coloured hair was tied back in a ponytail and her bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt tucked neatly into her jean shorts. She seemed about to speak, but stopped and flushed. Percy was confused for a moment, before he glanced down and noticed that he was only wearing a pair of boxers.

'Umm, just a minute.' He mumbled, hastily backing away and pulling a pair of shorts from his chest of drawers.

Annabeth entered the cabin a cautious number of seconds later, and seemed relieved to find him pulling a matching camp t-shirt over his head.

'Hi.' He greeted, feeling slightly awkward. 'What's up?'

She rolled her eyes at him, and eyed the clothes strewn about the floor disapprovingly.

'There's going to be a meeting after lunch.' She told him.

Percy blinked.

'After lunch? Then why—'

'Lunch is now, Percy.' She told him.

He glanced out of the window, and saw the sun high in the sky outside, sparkling brilliantly on the waves.

'Umm. Oops.' He replied weakly. His stomach rumbled as he spoke, which earned him another glare.

'Come on.'

She caught his hand and yanked him after her. Percy blushed slightly at the contact, but she didn't seem to notice. The mess hall was almost full when they arrived, with at least three quarters of the hundred or so demigods currently in camp sitting around the tables.

He followed Annabeth mutely, helping himself to food and sliding a few potatoes into the brazier.

Fates, no more quests please. He wished silently, wondering whether praying directly to the weavers of destiny was more likely to have an effect than throwing food at his father.

'Let's sit here.' Annabeth announced, leading him to the Poseidon table. She let Percy sit first, knowing she needed his permission to perch in the realm of the Sea God.

'So, what's happening?' He asked around a mouthful of beef stew.

Annabeth wrinkled her nose at him slightly, but she replied.

'I don't know, really. Chiron told me to bring everyone for a head counsellors' meeting after lunch.'

'Do you think this has anything to do with the missing demigods?' Percy asked, after quickly swallowing his mouthful.

Annabeth shrugged.

'Maybe. I hope so.'

Summer had officially begun almost a month ago, and with July only a couple of days away not a single new demigod had arrived at camp. Everyone they'd expected from previous years, minus a few fatalities, had trickled in, but every face had been familiar. No one seemed to have any idea why no fresh blood had arrived, but it had become increasingly concerning as the weeks went past. Most of the head counsellors had led scouting parties around the boundaries of the camp, killing off all of the monsters that inevitably clustered there, waiting. It hadn't seemed to change the situation; if anything, there had been more monsters each and every time a new party had been sent out. Percy knew that Will was being worked to the bone patching up all the injuries, and that even members of the Ares cabin were now wary about straying beyond Thalia's pine tree alone.

'I think we're going on a quest.' Annabeth declared.

Percy just nodded. The time had long since passed when he would bother to question the daughter of Athena.

'Where do you reckon we'll end up this time?' He asked. He was hoping for somewhere with a beach.

Annabeth's eyes gleamed with a different vision, however.

'Rome.' She replied. 'Or maybe Paris.'

Percy's geography wasn't great, but he was pretty sure that neither of those cities was on the coast.

'You losers ready?'

Percy looked up to find the bulky form of Clarisse La Rue looming over the table. She was clearly ready for battle, with a leather chest plate and a wide belt bristling with weaponry.

'I think so.' Annabeth answered, standing.

The two of them followed the head of the Ares cabin as she stomped off across the grass towards the Big House. When they arrived, they found the meeting room already crowded with campers. Chiron stood at the head of the room, looking stern as he watched them slowly take their seats. Mr D loomed in a corner, slumped in a chair with a naiad dropping grapes carefully into his open mouth. The only real surprise for Percy was Apollo. The god of the sun stood next to Chiron, wearing his blond hair long and loosely tied back, like a surfer who'd just come from the sea. His bright green t-shirt, board shorts and flip flops only reinforced that impression. He was frowning, however, watching the doorway closely as people trickled in. He bit his lip, looking frustrated, when at last Clovis stumbled in, half-comatose, and shut the door behind him.

'Well, I think that's everyone.' Chiron began. 'Over to you, Lord Apollo.'

The god's disgruntled expression vanished, and he grinned brightly at the assembly.

'Hello campers!' He began cheerfully. 'I hope you're enjoying your summer! I've been letting my chariot linger over camp for the last few weeks to give you guys a bit more daytime!' He announced brightly.

'Now we know why the cabins have all had to buy thicker curtains.' Annabeth muttered to Percy.

'So, hope you enjoyed that.' Apollo said, looking slightly disappointed that he hadn't received a round of applause. 'Anyway…' He continued hastily when Chiron threw him a look, 'that's not really why I'm here. I have invited you all to share in a very special moment: the first official prophecy of the new Oracle of Delphi!'

A low murmur went around the assembly as Rachel Elizabeth Dare emerged from Chiron's shadow. Her long, curly red hair tumbled down around her shoulders and she wore a loose white dress that looked like something straight out of Ancient Greece. Percy grinned at his friend when her eyes darted over to him, and she smiled back nervously.

She cleared her throat and opened her mouth. A thin stream of green smoke issued from it, curling like a snake around her head and shoulders. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse and strange. Percy still thought she was a lot less frightening than the previous Oracle had been, with her lack of trailing bandages and gentle smell of rot.

Seven star-bound half-bloods shall answer the call,

Three from Olympian peaks, three from the Tiber's fall,

And the twice-blessed son of darkness at the heart of all.

Between storm and blood and fire will the earth be caught,

With an oath, a bond, and a lovers' kiss the future bought,

And beneath the Doors of Death the last battle fought.

Apollo grinned.

'Wasn't that great?' He patted Rachel on the back. 'I'd go a little slower next time, though.' He advised her. 'Really get some gravitas in there, a sense of "the fate of the world hinges upon my words".'

His new oracle nodded weakly, the green smoke clearing. Percy noticed Apollo suddenly jerk upright, gaze fixed somewhere behind the semicircle of seated demigods. He craned his neck round to see what had caught the god's attention, but could only see an empty room.

'What does it mean?' Clarisse burst out.

'Well,' Annabeth began, leaning in and looking thoughtful. 'It's a quest, obviously, for seven demigods.' She frowned deeply. 'Hang on, Tiber's fall?'

Percy looked at her blankly.

'Like the season?' He offered.

The look she gave him in response made him feel like the stupidest child in the class, again.

'Like waterfall, I think.' She replied. 'The Tiber is the river Rome sits on.' She glanced around the group. 'Do we have any demigods from Italy?'

Everyone shook their heads.

'Hang on, Olympian peaks!' Annabeth exclaimed. 'None of us are from Greece either, so it must mean Greek demigods.'

Percy's eyes widened. He thought back to the strange sight of his father wearing an admiral's uniform, his green eyes stern and hard.

'So…' He began.

'It must mean Roman demigods.'

There was uproar. Everyone in the room starting talking at once, a mass of confusion and incredulity and, slowly, consideration. The eyes of the assembled half-bloods slowly drifted towards the only people in the room who would have the answers they sought.

Chiron's face remained impassive, but Percy couldn't help but notice that one of his hooves was nervously pawing the rough wooden boards of the floor. Apollo was easier to read. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, as though someone had just caught him doing something that he really shouldn't be and he was trying desperately to come up with a credible excuse.

'Lord Apollo.' Annabeth began sweetly, and Percy almost flinched, because it was the tone she used on him when he was in trouble. 'Would you be able to explain this to us?'

'Umm, I really should go.' The god of the sun began weakly, glancing round as though trying to work out where he'd parked the sun chariot.

'They're going to need to know eventually.' Chiron said suddenly. 'They've worked it out anyway.' He eyed Annabeth with what looked like respect.

'Fine.' Apollo didn't look happy. He stared at his audience. 'You have Roman cousins.' He announced, and before anyone could even think to open their mouth, he vanished in a burst of golden light.

Percy gaped at the empty space Apollo had just vacated.

After that, of course, the assembly turned on Chiron, who almost certainly knew the answers to all of their questions, but seemed completely unwilling to provide them.

'So we need to find three Roman demigods.' Annabeth announced eventually, in such a stern voice that the rest of the room fell silent. 'What about the three of us who are going on this quest? How do we choose them?'

Immediately, most of the eyes in the room turned to Percy. He held his hands up.

'Umm, someone else's turn?'

'Yes.' Clarisse agreed vehemently. Her hands were clenching and unclenching on thin air as though she was imagining wringing the necks of particularly scrawny monsters.

'Hang on, what about this dark guy?' Leo interjected suddenly. His gaze was weirdly intense for someone who was usually completely concentrated on things that existed only in his head.

'What was the line?' Annabeth asked.

'The twice-blessed son of darkness at the heart of all.' Rachel whispered, without the green smoke this time.

'Who the fuck is that?' Clarisse snorted.

'How about me?'

The head of every demigod in the room jerked round. Even Mr D sat upright, spitting a half-chewed grape from his mouth in surprise.

Percy watched, astonished, as a boy seemed to unfold from a shadow in the darkest corner of the room. The guy in question's eyes flicked round the assembly with something approaching amusement. Percy wasn't sure he liked the smirk playing about his perfect lips. Hang on. He thought to himself. Perfect lips?

Percy wasn't gay. To be honest, he'd never even thought about touching a cock that wasn't attached to his own body. But even he could see that this guy was smoking. Like, in the full sense of clothes-melting, underwear-throwing, where-the-hell-has-my-girlfriend-gone hot. Instinctively, he edged closer to Annabeth.

'Where the heck did you come from?'

The stranger's eyes turned to Clarisse.

'Take a guess.' He challenged, voice smooth and amused and…

'You're British?' Annabeth asked. Percy couldn't help but notice that she looked slightly flushed, and that her face reddened further when the boy's attention turned to her.

'I am.' He agreed, smiling slightly. He stalked forwards and draped himself over the empty chair next to Annabeth.

'How did you get in?' Clarisse demanded, unwilling to let go.

The stranger gestured carelessly, and Percy had to shake his gaze away from watching the play of muscles beneath the tattooed, tanned skin of his arm.

'There's only one door.' He observed.

Somehow, Percy was sure the guy hadn't come through it.

'Who are you?' Clarisse bit out, looking like she was about to pull a dagger.

'Can you tell us your name?' Chiron asked more politely, frowning disapprovingly at the daughter of Ares.

'Nico di Angelo.' The words rolled off his tongue.

'That doesn't sound British.' Clarisse accused.

'It's not.' The guy, Nico, replied carelessly. He didn't bother to explain.

'Umm, right, well, welcome, Nico.' Chiron said awkwardly. 'You say you think you might be involved in this prophecy?' He prompted.

'Well, seeing as Apollo came all the way to England to drag me here, I think there's a pretty good chance.' He commented.

Even Clarisse couldn't seem to come up with a response to that. Percy watched as her mouth closed on empty air a couple of times before she slumped back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest.

'So who's your godly parent?' Percy couldn't help but ask.

The new guy's attention turned to him, and Percy felt heat rising in his cheeks as the boy's eyes swept slowly down his body before returning to his face. He seemed about to speak, but then stilled and bowed his head slightly, as though deferring to someone. A moment later a gasp ran round the room, a strange collective exhalation of breath as the shadowy image of a high-crested Trojan helm appeared over the boy's head, revolving slowly for a few seconds before dissolving into mist.

'Hades.' Chiron muttered, and it half-sounded like a curse. His voice strengthened. 'Lord of the Underworld, The Rich One, The Silent One. Hail, Nico di Angelo, Son of the God of the Dead.'

Silence followed his words.

'Well, thanks for that.' Nico remarked drily. 'Does that mean I'm part of your scout troop now?'

Clarisse sputtered.

'Scout troop?' She demanded furiously.

The boy lifted a dark eyebrow.

'Yeah. Well, that's kind of what this is, isn't it?' He spread his arms, apparently trying to encompass the whole of Camp Half-Blood. 'The summer camp, the cabins, the camp fires.'

Percy felt slightly offended by this stranger coming in and mocking their world. He hadn't saved the world from Kronos, after all, had he? He hadn't risked his life time and again to protect Olympus.

'We are not a scout troop.' Clarisse ground out.

'I apologise.' Nico replied smoothly, not sounding remotely apologetic.

Chiron cleared his throat.

'Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Nico.' He announced formally. 'You may stay for as long as you wish. I am sure that space for you can be found in the Hermes cabin.'

The Stoll brothers grinned.

'Yeah.' They announced together. 'We can find him space.'

The new guy eyed the pair with vague curiosity, taking in their baggy orange t-shirts and cargo shorts.

'Does my father not have a cabin?' He asked casually.

An awkward silence fell. Percy wasn't really sure what to say. He'd won the right for every god to have their own cabin at camp at the end of the war, but no one had actually got around to constructing any of them.

'Well, we haven't had a child of Hades here for a very long time.' Chiron began carefully. 'So I am afraid that he does not have a designated cabin in the camp at the moment.'

'Well, I'll have to have one built then, won't I?' Nico asked, lips quirking. 'I wouldn't want to upset my dad.'

'No, of course not.' Chiron answered uncertainly, looking as though the very last thing he wanted to do was offend the god of the dead. 'If you need any help, I'm sure you can ask around. You're welcome to stay in the Hermes cabin until you've finished building, of course.'

'I think I'll stay in the city for now.'

'In New York?' Annabeth asked, disbelieving.

'You'll be dead by the morning.' Clarisse predicted, looking as though the prospect didn't upset her in the least.

'I think I'll be fine.' Came the calm response. 'When are we setting off on this quest?'

'We don't even know who's going yet.' Annabeth pointed out.

'I vote for Green Eyes, Smiley and Pixie.' Nico declared, nodding at Percy, Will, and Leo.

'Umm, what?' Will asked, looking startled.

'You three are the best looking.' Nico commented. 'If I'm being dragged off on a quest to save Olympus from the-gods-know-what fucking mess they've got themselves into this time then the least you can do is give me some eye candy.'

Another silence fell over the room. Percy was blushing furiously, Leo, for once, didn't look like he knew what to say, and even Will's cheeks had darkened as he eyed the new guy with surprise.

'You're gay?' Drew's question was shrill.

'Umm, yeah, sorry.' Nico answered, flashing her a brilliant smile. He eyed her briefly. 'Though if anyone could turn me, you'd be right up there.'

For once, the counsellor of the Aphrodite cabin seemed unsure of how to take a compliment.

'Thanks?' She offered eventually, sounding uncertain.

'So, if you guys want to work out who's going with me, then as soon as that's decided we can go and find some Romans.' Nico said, sliding to his feet and stretching. Percy, who was just getting over his blush, watched Annabeth go red in his place as several inches of insanely ripped abs were exposed.

'I'm gonna go find a hotel room.' Their newest sort-of campmate announced. 'I'll come back in the morning to get work started on my dad's cabin and see if you guys have made any decisions.'

With that, he strolled over to the door, and left.

Let me know what you thought!