This time I was standing at what looked like a Texan cattle ranch, or at least, what I'd always imagined a Texan cattle ranch to look like. Nico was sat on the steps of a porch of a house, but he had his head bowed and didn't notice me until I had sat down right next to him. "You look like you have a great deal on your mind, Nico." He jumped sharply when he heard my voice, not even realising he was dreaming as he blinked at me blearily, dark shadows under his eyes. I reached out and brushed his hair. "You're not in the Labyrinth anymore?" I watched as he swallowed back some kind of emotion like it was a lump in his throat before nodding. "Good. Wherever you are, stay there. Luke's army will be entering there soon enough, and he'll be leading a smaller party through very soon, a couple of weeks at most before he's ready. Don't be there when he is, if he finds you…if the Crippled One finds out who you are and who your father is, they'll never let you go. I don't know if I'd be able to protect you from them all."

"I don't want protection."

"You say that now, but you haven't met either of them. Even Luke scares me sometimes, and he still treats me like a friend. Just trust me on this one, okay?" Nico never promised, and I'd come to regret not making him give me my word. At the time, I was just more focused on trying to get to the bottom of why he was so upset, worse than I'd ever seen him before, and after some gentle coaxing, he admitted to me what had happened.

"I saw Percy, and Annabeth, and Grover and Tyson. They came through the Labyrinth looking for Daedalus's workshop but ended up here." It was physically painful to supress my elation that Nico had finally seen Percy, but I had to because I didn't want to make Nico angry and stop him from telling me what had happened. "This place was owned by Geryon but he's dead now, Percy killed him after he tried to sell all of us to Luke. I didn't like it, but he did save me. Kind of. Anyway, we managed to summon Bianca's soul after Percy told me that she'd been sending him Iris messages but she…she…she told me to stop trying to summon her. She told me that I shouldn't hold onto grudges because it's the fatal flaw of Hades' children, that it wasn't Percy's fault that she died…I don't get it. Why isn't she helping me? Why is she on Percy's side? Why did she…why did she have to die? I wish it had been me! It would have been better, she could have been with the Hunters and Artemis, she'd have been happy, but me…nobody needs me…"

"Now that simply isn't true." I spoke in a firm and stern tone, cutting Nico off from his downward spiral of rage and sadness before it could take him too far. "You don't know what you're truly capable of yet, Nico, but I think you'll do amazing things in your lifetime. I understand you're upset, but Bianca probably understands that her time was up, and she chose to die so that others may live. It's harsh, it's cruel, it's unfair, but there's no way around it. Don't taint your sister's sacrifice by wishing yourself dead, my little man. It's your job now to honour her memory, and do what you think would make her happy whilst she's watching over you, because clearly, she still is. If she sent my brother messages, then it's obvious that she's still trying to protect you. She's still trying to be your big sister." Harsh as these words were, Nico needed to hear them. I knew he wouldn't accept them at first because he was too angry, so when he stormed off in a rage I didn't chase after him, hoping at the very least that after he'd calm down, he'd think my words over and maybe see some sense in them. It seemed that all I could do for this dream was done, because even as Nico stormed off into the distance, I began to rise from sleep only to find I was being shaken awake by Luke.

I hated being woke up, and if my looks could kill and Luke didn't have an indestructible body, he'd be dead. He told me to eat something, that I needed to keep up my strength and that I could go back to sleep again in a bit as he pulled me up by my hands. I'd rather have continued to sleep, but then my stomach grumbled and I changed my mind. I thought about Nico and the dream, about everything he'd said and what I'd told him, and thought that he probably wouldn't want to talk to me ever again and might even force himself to stay awake out of spite. I hoped not. I couldn't help but worry about him even as the days crept by, however when an excited ripple started to spread throughout the camp and the army, with monsters bristling with ugly grins, I lifted my head from where I had been grooming Snowstorm with the sense that something was wrong. Luke was a little ways away, talking to one of his men rather urgently but then he must have sensed me looking at him, because then he looked at me. He looked pained, so I patted Snow's neck and placed her brush down on a rock in order to head over in order to ask him what was wrong, but the closer I came the more he looked like I would turn around and walk the other way. I continued to stride forwards. "Luke? What's wrong? Why's everyone so…jittery?" I asked, giving him a smile like there was nothing wrong in the world, but Luke did not return the expression. He was still looking at me with a look that I couldn't quite place. "What's that look for? Come on Luke, don't keep me in the dark. Tell me what's happened."

"Lily…it's Percy." Instantly I froze and my shoulders drew themselves up as they tensed, suddenly thinking that I didn't want to know the answer, because now I understood that look in Luke's eye. Condoling. He was condoling me. "He's missing. We think he's…dead. He was at Hephaestus's forge. Most of the telkhines were vaporised because of him and the volcano exploded, only some of them escaped but…Percy was caught in the blast too. There's no way he could have survived." Luke looked like he didn't know what else to say, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. According to him, Percy was gone. Gone. Beneath me, the earth began to tremble. It climbed and climbed in ferocity until all at once, the entire mountain was quaking with such force that it felt like it was going to stand up at any moment, the newly built city of the Titans beginning to crack and crumble as screams filled the air. I didn't care. Why should I? My baby brother was gone. The entire mountain could split open as far as I was concerned.

Snowstorm squealed in fear and took flight as everyone ran to avoid broken columns and falling braziers, even Luke was struggling to maintain his balance as I just stood there at the centre of it all, releasing everything without restraint as the pressure of my mounting emotions finally burst free all at once. The quaking did not affect me so it could not even shake away my emotions, allowing me them to fill me up one after another in a terrible assault that made me feel like I would rather be pierced by a thousand arrows than feel this kind of pain. I'd even rather throw myself back to Kronos's torture than to feel this, because even though Kronos's ministrations there was still hope it might end. With this? With this there was no hope for anything, and that sensation was more agonising than any amount of pain, and to those who could endure and even overcome it, it seemed that they should never fear physical pain ever again, for nothing could cut them as deeply, or burn them so intensely as this. Around me chaos continued to rage, a brazier fell and set alight one of the monsters turning them to dust, and all the while Luke was bellowing over the noise for me to stop. It was only when Kelli yelled with delight that I awakened from my blank rage and grief. "I'll stop her!" She offered with a wicked grin that told me she was enjoying every moment of this, flying towards me with her talons outstretched to snatch at my throat.

All at once the mountain stopped rumbling and fell deadly quiet, the sudden stillness causing another wave of confusion as I lifted my sea green eyes and looked at Kelli with such ferocity and fury that she flinched. My balled fist swung into her face before she could even react, so quick was my movement. I powered every fibre of my strength into that blow, pounding her solidly right on the nose which crunched and cracked under my knuckles which burst like I had branded them with fire, bruising them badly but I hardly noticed the sensation. Kelli recoiled then went flying backwards, striking one of the black marble columns which cracked and shattered under the force of her body. I hoped she'd burst into dust then and there, but I should have known she was far too strong for that. I couldn't stay still, I needed to go, to do something, to try and clear my head and find out what had actually happened to Percy. As if understanding my wish, Snowstorm landed beside me with a flutter of wings and I immediately threw myself onto her back. "Lily!" Luke lunged for me, grabbing my arm but I turned a look so murderous upon him, he automatically let me go.

"Don't." Some instinct told him to let me fly away, and it was probably the biggest risk Luke ever took whilst under the control of Kronos, because he had no guarantee that I would come back. Snowstorm reared and plunged forwards, taking flight as soon as she had gained enough speed and then we were in the skies and I lowered myself over her neck in order to sob. She flew me over San Francisco and further, never once dipping below the clouds as I howled into the skies and tried to make sense of what was happening. I probably would have cried and cried forever, but then a cooling sensation started to rise in my chest and a gentle feeling seemed to forcibly soothe my emotions and push aside my grief. Someone was reaching out to me, but it didn't feel like Hermes. This time it felt different, but it was definitely the presence of a god. Or rather, a goddess. I felt serene and lightweight, as if I could float up to the stars and never come down, pure and radiant like the moon and in my head, I heard the voice of the goddess I had unwittingly fought alongside when we challenged Atlas. Artemis. In my head, her words were enough to cure me of all woe and strike down the sensation of grief as it were merely grass under a blade. He is not dead. Now I sobbed again, but it was a joyous fit, and I was glad of it because it washed away the taste of bitterness. So Percy was alive! I had no idea how or what had happened to him, or why they couldn't find him, but it was enough to know that he was alive somewhere. I abandoned my personal law of never praying to the gods, and prayed directly to Artemis.

Thank you, great goddess of the Hunt. A final bubble of soft serenity rose in my chest like the cool light of the moon, and then it was gone. Snowstorm called to me softly and I told her with elation that my brother was alive, which caused us both to cheer in celebration as she looped through the air. She landed so that I could clear my head, pacing back and forth as I didn't even pay attention to our surroundings, trying to straighten out my feelings as it was rather stressful to believe your baby brother to be dead and then find out that he wasn't. That little runt. When I get a hold of him, I swear I'm going to shake him until his teeth fall out.

'This is good news, is it not? So why do you look so worried, my lady?'

"Because knowing my brother he's gotten himself into trouble again, and I can't do anything about it. It must have been at least a year now since I fell in with Luke and the others, I can only imagine what my mom must be feeling, thinking that she's lost us both. Damn it! If I had a drachma I'd risk trying to contact her so I could let her know." But a hopeless search through my pockets yielded no results, so I sat myself down on the ground and just held my head in my hands. Snowstorm grazed for a little bit, she'd found us a little patch of land that was out of the way and fairly rural, so there was very little traffic or people around. If there did happen to be someone to pass us by, they'd probably just see a random girl and her horse and not bat an eye.

'My lady, are you planning on going back?'

"I have to. That coffin bastard will torture Luke otherwise then hunt me down. I've come this far, I can't abandon him now."

'Your loyalty to him is admirable, but I worry that it will get you killed.' Snow told me bluntly, nipping at my hair affectionately as I slowly lifted my head and stared up at the sky with a despondent sigh and a chaotic feeling within me.

"Yeah. Me too."