Casey had dreams of monsters that night. Strange wispy white creatures. We're coming, they'd whisper, over and over again. They seemed to fly right by her, barely noticing. She could hear somebody whimpering in the distance, but she couldn't see them. Somehow, Casey knew the spirits weren't talking to her. She woke up with a silent gasp and clung to her sheets.

"What the hell," she muttered. She got out of bed and splashed some water onto her face.

"CJ, you awake yet? Thalia is looking for you! You'd better hurry before she decided to kill me for taking too long," Nathan joked, pounding on the door. A few other Athena kids groaned and pulled their pillows over their heads to drown out the noise.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!" Casey had slept in her clothes that night, thanks to a late training session and fuck-it-all attitude, so she ran her hands through her hair and proclaimed she was ready to go.

"Given any thought to the capture the flag game tonight?" Nate asked.

Casey shrugged. "Maybe you should make the plan this time," she suggested.

Nate's eyes widened in surprise and he tripped over his shoes, falling flat on his face. "Why would you ever suggest something like that! I mean, I get it if you want me to help you start an indoor garden or something, but battle strategy? Yeah, no hecking way."

Casey just shrugged again. She couldn't get the image of the strange nightmare monsters out of her head. What did they mean? What were they, and why was she seeing them?

"What's wrong?" Nate asked.

"What? Nothing's wrong I never said anything was wrong why would you just assume that something's wrong?" Casey snapped back.

Nathan raised his hands in surrender. "That attitude doesn't work on me. You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, but just remember that I'm here for you, ok? I know you don't like the cheesy stuff as much as you do like the anger stuff, but I'm here if you want to talk or punch something. Or both," he said.

Casey felt a strange tight feeling in her test. She turned and fiercely hugged Nate. Before he could even realize what was happening, Casey quickly shoved him away. She stormed forward as if nothing had happened. If it weren't for the bright tinge to her cheeks, Nate may have thought it hadn't. He smiled to himself and followed.

"I take it this means you'll help with the battle strategy then?" There was a slight skip in his step as he ran to catch up.

"Maybe. Let's go meet Thalia at the border."

Nathan pretended not to notice her change the subject. He respected the hunters, but he didn't like them all that much. They were scary and most of them didn't like him just because he was a guy, which Nate viewed as unfair. Plus, Casey had always had a peaked interest in the Hunters of Artemis, another thing that scared Nathan. He liked the idea of Casey living forever but he really didn't like the idea of never seeing her again, or her being completely off limits. Then the hunters would really hate him.

"Thalia!" Casey yelled. She didn't give Nathan a second glance as she left him in the dust to greet her hunter friends.

Thalia, who usually didn't like much physical contact, enveloped Casey in a hug. Neither of them spoke. Thalia wore a short pendant around her neck, matching the one that Jase wore. When Jason Jackson was first born, Artemis helped Thalia craft two pendants. Thalia had one, and Jase had the other. They were made of the strongest metals in the world, crafted to never be destroyed. Thalia said that he could show it to any huntress he'd ever meet and they'd know who is and help him. Now, the necklace was just a painful reminder that he would never be able to ask for that help. But Thalia didn't take it off.

Thalia noted the sad look on Casey's face. "I'm going to beat your ass in capture the flag tonight," she said.

Casey tore her eyes away from the necklace with a dull smile. "You wish. Nate and I have a solid plan to win."

"We do?" Nate interrupted.

"Shut up," both girls responded.

Thalia smiled and crossed her arms over her chest. "We'll see. Anyway, we have a few hours until then. Where are your parents? Making out somewhere, I assume."

"I hope not. Last I saw, they were in the big house talking to Chiron and Nico."

Thalia's eyes flashed in worry before she masked it in confusion. "Nico?"

"Yeah, I think Will's in there too but Will is always with Nico so that doesn't really mean much."

Thalia nodded towards one of her lutendiants and walked to the big house. The door was closed, a rarity at Camp Half Blood. The big house door was almost never shut. Thalia, being the considerate demigod she was, kicked the door open.

"You two stay put," she ordered Nate and Casey. The pair exchanged a glance and followed her.

"Thalia, I'm afraid now is not the time. I can speak to you later-"

"What happened?" Thalia interrupted. Percy and Annabeth sat on one of the chairs, squished together and posed in each other's arms. Chiron stood in the center of the room. Sulking in the corner was Mr. D and Nico sat in another one of the chairs. Will stood over him with a guarded look. Leo and Calypso were standing against the wall, their hands clasped together over Calypso's bulging stomach.

"You know something, don't you?" Casey asked.

Thalia threw her arms into the air. "I thought I told you to stay outside!"

Nate pointed his finger accusingly at Casey. Thalia rolled her eyes. Percy left his wife's grip to go to Casey. "Yeah, we know something. We were going to come get you after Nico explained it."

Fear gripped Casey's heart. She grabbed Nathan's wrist desperately as if it would save her from any news she was about to receive. Casey was smart enough to know what this all meant.

"Nico is able to feel when a soul dies. We didn't think he'd be able to tell if he was in Tartarus, but he can."

Tears sprung to Casey's eyes. Beside her, Nate was already crying. He was silent, but tears left tracks on his cheeks as they fell to the floor.

"He died, didn't he? Is he in Elysium now?" he asked numbly.

Nico bowed his head. "I felt him die. It was different than usual, but that was probably because of where he was. His soul isn't in Elysium. It never made it to Hades' realm."

"You mean he's still down there?"

"His soul is, yes. We don't know if there is anything though, maybe his soul died with him."

Casey was trying to process everything. Jase was dead. He was really dead. There was no more hope of him popping back in after he escaped, because he wasn't going to escape death. "What happened? Can you tell how he died?"

Nico looked uncomfortable. "I don't know."

"Was it quick?"

Nico swallowed. His eyes flirted to the ground. "Yeah," he lied, "it was quick," he lied. The room went silent. Percy and Annabeth looked broken. It was broken by Leo taking a deep breath.

"What about Charlie?"

Nobody wanted to say anything. Casey felt a quick burst of anger. How dare he ask about Charlie after news like this! Nate laid his hand over hers to calm her. She took a deep breath and realized she would have done the same thing.

"I didn't feel anything about Charlie's soul."

Calypso let out a breath she'd been holding. She held her stomach almost desperately.

"Anything else?" Thalia asked. Her voice was eerily monotone. Her fingers were wrapped around the pendant she wore. She was staring at the ground.

"Somebody's fooling with Hypnos," Mr. D said. He sounded satirical, mordant. Casey wanted to yell at him. She always yelled when she got mad. But now, all she wanted to do was walk into the ocean and never come back.

"What do you mean?" Chiron finally asked.

"Hypnos sees all visions, all dreams, all that mumbo jumbo. Somebody's been putting dreams so bad in somebody else's mind that Hypnos is now blocking his ability. Can I go now?"

"What does this have to do with anything?" Annabeth asked. Her eyes were cold and calculating. She was wrapped in a fuzzy blanket and her hair was a mess, not to mention the blotchy red spots around her eyes. But she was still threatening.

"Zeus told me to tell you, don't ask me."

"Whose dreams are they?"

"How would I know? I'm a god, not a psychic." With that, Mr. D saunted outside onto the deck.

"What do you think that means?" Chiron asked.

"It doesn't matter," Percy snapped back. Frankly, he really didn't care if Hypnos was having bad dreams. He grabbed Riptide and stomped out the door. Annabeth stared after him. She took the blanket and pulled it further over herself, not moving from the chair.

"I'll make some tea," Chiron suggested.

AU-Sorry I forgot to update this week! I made this chapter a bit longer and I'll upload another one too.. Then we'll be all caught up and I'll go by to chapters from the outside and in Tartarus