Casey didn't get much sleep that night. She was tossing and turning into the early hours of the morning and when she finally got to sleep, the breakfast bell rang. She groaned and groggily sat up. For a short second of bliss, she forgot what had happened. That was her favorite part of the day. That moment when she first woke up and was too sleepy to remember where her brother was. There was a knock on her door.

"Casey, you up? It's almost time to go," Jon's voice dragged her into consciousness.

"I'm up. Be there in five minutes." She got dressed and lazily dragged her hand through my hair before pulling on her combat boots, grabbing her sword, and heading for the door. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob and glanced back at the wall next to the bed. Jonathan said it was too boring and put a few pictures up on the first day on the Argo, back when all of this began. She snatched one of Jase and her off the wall and stuffed it in her flannel shirt pocket.

It had been three weeks to the day. Three weeks since her brother jumped into Hell, since he left everybody else up here on their own. Probably three weeks since he'd died.

Nico was at the bow with a pained expression. Casey marched up to him and stopped a foot or so away. He glanced up but didn't say anything.

"Is he dead?" She asked.

Nico frowned. "Cas,"

Casey felt a pang in her chest. "Don't call me Cas." Only Jase could call her Cas and get away with it. Nico knew it too He flinched slightly before speaking again.

"Casey, you know I don't know. There's a lot of souls entering the underworld, I haven't seen his but we don't know how death works there," he said glumly.

Casey huffed and stood next to him with her arms crossed stubbornly over her chest. "Do you think he's alive?" she asked.

Nico sighed in annoyance. "I just told you-,"

"No. I'm not asking if the son of Hades knows anything about Jase's potential death. I'm asking my godfather, survivor of Tartarus, if he thinks my brother is alive."

Nico swallowed but didn't speak. It was all the answer Casey needed. She moved to walk away. Nico gently caught her hand.

"Casey, I wasn't there for very long. And I'm going to be honest with you, there's a reason the mortals call it Hell. But Jase is the strongest kid I've met since Percy was your age. He's strong, smart, and highly motivated. He would strangle the fates barehanded before leaving you in harm's way," he told her.

Casey couldn't help but feel doubtful. If his ultimate goal was to keep her from harm's way, why did he jump in the first place?

"Thanks, Nico." And she meant it.

"Casey, you good to go?" Annabeth asked, cautiously approaching her daughter. Casey nodded and gave a smile-purely for her mom's benefit. Annabeth had Oscar strapped to her chest in a greek-style wrap. He seemed to be asleep for the time being. Casey doubted that would last long.

"Yeah mom, I'm good. Is Adora coming?"

She nodded and looked back towards the door to the cabins. "Yes, she's inside getting ready with your dad."

When they finally left, only Leo stayed behind on the ship. Piper had tried to convince him to come, but he wouldn't even leave the control room. So they went without him, promising to come back before sundown.

"Where are we?" Casey asked.

"Cape Spear, Canada," Nico told her.

It wasn't snowy, which was a bit surprising. Casey had never been to Canada before, but she'd always just assumed it was snowy.

The group hiked to a nearby gas station. It must have looked strange to have all fourteen on them march into the small gas station on the edge of town, but the clerk didn't say anything. He watched them all with a smile that made Percy keep a hand on his dagger. Casey grabbed a few energy bars and dropped them onto the counter, then leaned against it as she waited for everybody else to grab their things. Jase used to make fun of her for liking the energy bars. She wished he was there to tease her now.

"You parents really can get through anything, huh?" the clerk suddenly asked.

Casey whipped around and took a step back. "Excuse me?"

Max was immediately at her side. He may be a bit sensitive, but he was still one Hades of a fighter. He was the perfect mixture of his parents, which made him a great friend and a great fighter.

"No need for the back up, it's just an observation. Call the rest of the cousins over, I've got a proposal."

They didn't call the others over. Instead, Casey raised her hand so he could see her dagger. "What did you say about my parents?"

The clerk sighed dramatically and flailed his arms over the countertop. "I mean, leaders of the Titan war, travelers of the sea of monsters, killers of Kronus, survivors of Tar-,"

Casey cut him off with a dagger to the throat. This got Percy's attention, and the rest of our group surrounded the counter to see what was going on.

"Who are you?" Casey asked.

"Come on, little cousin. Don't you recognize me?"

"Apollo," Percy growled.

Apollo looked surprised at the irritation in his voice. "Last I knew, we left off on good terms. Don't worry, I'm just here to invite you all to a godly birthday party! Where's the little swordsman teacher? I wanted him to help me review my party tricks," Apollo strained his head to look through the group. Since Jase was 13, he started teaching swordsmanship at Camp. he got his skill from his dad, but perfected it much earlier.

"Don't talk about him," Piper warned.

Apollo took a step back, metaphorically. "Y'all don't seem to happy about whatever it is the scary Jackson kid is threatening me with."

Casey assumed she was the scary Jackson kid. She glanced back at her parents, who looked at her in worry. They'd been even more overprotective than usual since it happened.

"Do you know where Jase is?" Max finally asked him.

Apollo eyes darted from Max to the dagger Casey still held to his neck, and seemed to finally put it together.

"Is he dead?"

"Stop talking. No, he isn't dead," Annabeth said cooly.

Apollo glanced to Annabeth and Percy. Annabeth leaned on her husband, keeping the weight off an old painful memory. Apollo took this as a clue.

"He's not-,"

"He is." Piper interrupted.

Apollo shrunk down a bit and turned into a scrawny teenager. Lester's face was pale, there were slight bags under his eyes. He was covered in freckles and even had a bit of ache. This was his most human form. "When?" he asked, much more solemnly.

"Three weeks ago. He lead the expedition to save the Seven, but things went wrong."

"Nyx," Apollo guessed.

Casey let the dagger drop.

Jason stepped forward and raised his own weapon angrily. "How did you know that?"