"There are so many people. It's like Asphodel but everyone is alive," Nico said. He was sitting in the front with Jessie, while I rode in the back of her Buick.

"You've been to Manhattan before," Vigil reminded him. There was a noticable change in the tone and timber.

"Yeah in the battle with Kronos but it didn't look like this. There are so many people... What kind of dogs are those?"

"Labradoodles," Jessie said. I felt a little guilty in missing her already. She glanced at me through the rear view mirror.

"I see your point. There are no bodies this time. Except for that one," Vigil said.

"That's just a homeless guy," Nico told him.

"Do you have change," I asked Jessie.

"I have water," she told me. She handed me two bottles. I got out and ran across to the guy. When I turned back to the car, Jessie was standing beside her door. "I'm pulling over. We're walking from here." She got back in and managed to squeeze her car in between two pickup trucks.

"Is this a good idea," she asked me when Nico was distracted by the labradoodles.

I shrugged. "Chiron thinks it's time for a test run. He's been stuck in the infirmary for weeks."

"But Will, do you know what you're getting into?"

"I'm not a kid, Jess."

"I know but this isn't something you have to do."

"It has to be me. I'm the only one who wants to. Everyone else is so concerned about him. They're always asking me how is he doing but they never ask him."

"Hey drachmas work on these," Nico said. He dropped two more coins into Jessie's meter and then did the same with the next three meters.

"Well I guess I'm good for the next three hours," Jessie said. "Should he be doing that?"

"Hey Neeks, forget about the rest of them. We are supposed to be buying you new clothes."

"Will..."

"Stop it, Jess."

"Did I do something wrong," Nico asked.

"No. We just can't waste your money like that."

"This is not normal Will and I'm not about to pretend it is," Jessie said.

"I was just trying to help them. You helped that old man."

"I gave him water and change. He's going to appreciate that. You're giving away your dad's money to people who won't even notice.

Enough Jess! This isn't your call to make. What makes think you can just take off and dictate my life? It's not like I ever let you do that before."

"You're arguing about me," Nico said. Where was Vigil, the Protector now?

"Don't worry about it," I almost yelled at him. "She got a taste of independence and now she knows more than Chiron. But she's taking us shopping and this conversation is over."

"I guess I've been told off," Jessie said.

I didn't give her another inch. "How much do you have?"

Nico emptied his pockets and started counting it. I cringed internally and avoided Jessie's gaze. "Like three hundred in drachmas and another one in cash."

"Let me hold onto it, okay?" I held out my hand to him. He didn't look happy about it but he gave it to me.

Jessie gave me one last look and shuffled us into one of the higher end thrift stores, one that was demigod friendly. I started browsing for myself.

Nico was as awkward as I expected. He took turns watching me and Jessie.

After awhile, Jessie came up to me with arms full of clothes and fabrics. "I better quit while I'm ahead," she said. She looked towards Nico. He had picked out one shirt. She gave me the same look from earlier. I thought she was about to cause another scene but she just pushed past me.

"It's not you, I can tell," she told him, taking it from him. She hung it back up and selected a Ramones t-shirt. She held it out in front of him. She almost threw it at me.

Before she was done, she was going through my stuff. She even held one of my shirts up. "You should know better," she told me, throwing it aside. She practically pushed him into a changing room. "Shopping can be therapy," she told him. "Are you having fun?"

"I guess. Chiron said I couldn't just wear hospital clothes and my old stuff anymore."

"What do you like?"

"Music," he said. "Beaches, but not like the Sound. The kind with clear water and blue skies."

"Try these on," she said, hanging clothes off his door. "I heard that Percy Jackson cleaned up the water around Camp HalfBlood."

"It's a good idea. We were all meant to do more than go to war. War ruins everything."

"Not everything. I designed shields and epaulettes and shrouds during the wars. I learned how to draw and how to cut fabric so that I didn't waste an inch. Will became a healer." Nico threw a couple of things back over and Jessica removed a few items she had chosen earlier. She held up a jacket with chains woven into the leather and shuddered, throwing it in the discard pile.

In the end, he had three new outfits. I pulled Nico to the side and counted out the money he would need for it. He gave me that look that made my skin crawl.

While he was paying, I started counting my own drachmas. I hadn't brought enough with me so I started debating which shirt to put back. I had these blue jeans with flames around the feet and there was no way I was getting rid of it. I put back the rainbow top I had chosen to get a rise out of Nico. I also put back the scrubs; I had enough already.

After we were done paying, I changed into my new clothes. I had chosen a white top to go with the flame jeans. "That's you," Jess encouraged me. She looked pointedly at Nico, who hadn't changed his clothes. He was distracted by the same labradoodles.

The traffic had cleared enough for us to make it a few blocks before slowing to a crawl again. Nico sat in the back this time. "She thinks I'm weird." It almost sounded like a question.

"You are being weird," I told him. I glanced ahead. I could see her apartment from here. It was a challenge staying where I was.

"She doesn't understand me," he said. "Those dogs were weird."

"Yeah I guess they were."

Jessie stopped the car again. "Want to come up? It's only six and we still have a few hours before we meet Kayla at the port."

Her flat was bigger and nicer than the TV would tell us. She lived in one of the safer neighborhoods in SOHO.

It was something I could look forward to, unless I decided on New Rome University. The time to choose was rapidly approaching.

Jessie threw something at Nico. "Try this on. It's is so you." It was a black top with verticle purple stripes and silver trim. "I can customize your CHB clothes, if you want. Just let me know. Watch the cashmere! It's worth more than this apartment."

I was looking at a blue and green dress with trains all along the sleeves and skirt. I waved my hand through them and they moved like feathers. "This is amazing, Jess."
"Peacock in flight," she told me. She turned red. "I didn't name it. But it sold at auction for 5k. The buyer will be here tomorrow."
"The Aphrodite campers wish they were you."
She gave me a wicked smile. "Don't I know it?" Her expression turned serious again. "We need to talk about it."
"It's fine. Nothing happened."
"They'll eat him alive. That's what I see. Chiron wanted the mortal view and I'm going to give it to him."
"You do that and he'll never see the outside of the infirmary."
"Well if you already know it's that bad then why bring him at all? Stop acting like mortals are so virtuous. If we hadn't been there, he'd be robbed and beaten up, maybe worse. It nearly happened anyway. How did he survive all that time by himself?"
"I slept in empty hotel rooms and did a lot of dine and shadow travel out of the bill. I survived... and nothing is keeping me here. Also, I hate when people talk about me like I'm not there."
Nico took off but only to the roof. I took it as a sign that he just ran off and didn't shadow travel himself to oblivion. So I went after him.
"They're taking my freedom, Will."
"I know it seems that way but-"
"It is that way. Chiron keeps mentioning a conservatorship after I turn 16."
"All that means is that he'll control your finances. I'm doing it too. I'm not putting in all the work into the infirmary because I like it. Chiron puts a third of the infirmary funding into a savings account for me every month. I have at least ten years left of college and graduate school left. All that time I won't have to worry about where my money is going."
"You were given a choice. I wasn't."
"Oh please. Everyday you don't leave is a choice. And he's giving you plenty of time to think about it."
"It won't be the same for me. I see how people look at me. They hate me or they feel sorry for me. They'd see me locked away so they can feel better about themselves."
"If that happens then I'm not going anywhere either."
"Jess is wrong. I can take care of myself. I did it for years."
This kept going wrong. I had to do something to keep him here. I pictured myself lighting up the roof top with so much light he couldn't find a shadow to disappear into.
It never happened.
If the rooftop hadn't been so dark, he might not have even noticed that I was glowing. He burst into laughter. It was so genuine a sound, that I couldn't be annoyed.
I was embarrassed, however. "I'm glad I can be amusing."
"But things always look different to me."
"I glow in the dark. How can you possibly see that as something else?"
"Because you give me perspective."
"Oh," I said, feeling dumb. "That's a compliment!"
"It is," he agreed. "Thank you. I know what I need to do now." He stepped into a shadow and vanished.