Chapter 8: Nico's POV

When I woke up the next morning, I felt death creep over the valley. I stepped out of my cabin and noticed demi-gods in a mixture of armor and pajamas. I ran up to Piper who was in a mess. Her chocolate brown hair was a frizzy mess as if she just woke up, and she held a hairbrush instead of her knife.

"Piper, what's going on?" I asked.

"It's Annabeth, she's gone!" Piper exclaimed, "Malcolm ran up to me and Jason asking if we had seen her. He hasn't seen her since yesterday afternoon and thought she went to bed early because she didn' show up at dinner."

"I saw her in the morning when I went with her to Sally's and then later in the afternoon, but after that, I haven't seen her," I said. "Maybe she went back to Sally's?"

"Chiron checked, and she said she hasn't seen her since yesterday!" She cried. I could tell she was freaking out, she and Annabeth along with Hazel are close. Reyna and they are friends, but not as close as those three. I could tell she was crying before, but now she was just plain worried.

"I'm going to check in the other cabins, like Zeus' or Hera's," Piper told me as she ran away.

Why would she be in Hera's cabin? She hates her, I thought. I ran up to Chiron while he was shouting orders.

"Chiron!" I shouted.

He looked down at me, "Have you sensed anything? Like death?"

"Uh, about that, can we go inside the Big House to talk about that?" I asked, worried.

His worry lines deepened under his eyes and he hurried to the Big House while I raced after him. It was hard to catch up with a centar, but I managed to.

I ran up to him once he stopped next to the Big House.

"So, did you feel any death?" He asked.

I took a shaky breath, "Yes, I did when I woke up, but you can't be sure."

"I'm pretty sure, Nico. There's no other reason, she must've gotten captured or something…" He said and he didn't need to finish his sentence, I knew what he meant. "Plus, I'm sure you only feel the death of people you know."

Since he said that, I just realized it most likely true, I only felt Leo's death when he died, but it wasn't like a so-called-normal death. Even when Percy died, before Bianca's death I could feel, but I usually never felt any other death.

"Now that I think of it, yeah, I believe so," I admitted.

"Great, just great," He muttered. "Just like all the others."

I had no idea what he was talking about, the others? What others? The other campers? He was making no sense, I wanted to ask, but he'd probably yell, and tell me to mind my own business.

I looked at his face and I could tell that he had aged ten years just standing there talking about Annabeth and whether she's dead or not. I hate to just say "Oh, by the way, both of our greatest heroes died this week!" I always hated saying that, most people think I do, but it's disturbing. Sometimes I don't want to know if someone died until someone tells me, not the other way around.

I could tell Chiron was trying to read my expression because I must've had an angry or upset look on my face. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't because I could go off, which, by the way, is wrong. If I'm mad at you, you'd know.

"What?" I asked Chiron.

"Nothing," He looked away.

"No, it's fine, what'd you want to ask?" I told him.

"It's just when you told me it could be true, are you sure? Happen if it's because you're near them in location," Chiron hoped.

"No, I'm pretty sure. I haven't really felt any other deaths over the years. Just a few random ones, but that's not all the time. With Percy's and this death, it's still lingering around me, like an emotion. Whenever a mortal dies, I barely notice, I feel normal, but with these deaths, it's a longer feeling and it seems to affect me more than normal," I explained.

"Well, Nico, you should help find Annabeth," Chiron said, clearly wanting to change the subject.

"Okay, but I can't locate a person," I said.

"I know, Nico. Not everyone can and I'm not sure anyone can," Chiron said and galloped off.

Thanks, Chiron. I wanted to find someone today, I thought

I trudged through the crowds of demi-gods and started to look on the edges of the forest. I found Piper looking frantically along the tree line, I had to jog to catch up with her.

"Piper, do you want help looking in the woods?" I asked.

"Yes, that would be wonderful, Nico," Piper said, clearly happy.

"Okay, great. Let's look at Zeus' fist," I recommended.

We walked through the woods and as we got halfway through the woods, Piper stopped.

"What?" I asked.

"Look," She pointed to the ground. I looked at the ground and saw footprints in the mud.

"Annabeth's?" I suggested.

"Most likely," Piper said.

We followed the footprints until they ended. We looked in opposite directions. I looked under trees, inside holes, until I found Zeus' fist. I called Piper over so we could look around there. I looked for a few yards until I heard a girl scream. I ran in the direction of the scream and found Piper with a horrified expression. I followed her gaze and saw Annabeth, hanging from a tree. Her eyes were full of shock and her mouth had blood dripping and her nose was bleeding. There was blood dripping down her throat where the rope was tied. The rope had dug into her neck as if she jumped.

Piper sobbed and looked away, I couldn't look away, it just seemed weird. Why would she kill herself? It made no sense, but also it did. I looked below Annabeth and there was a bloody sword and a puddle of dark red blood. I looked back up at Annabeth and noticed she had cut herself many times before hanging herself.

She had stabbed her stomach, probably before she hung herself, she had cut her hands, her legs, I could tell by how her pants were cut in slash motion. She clearly wanted to end her life, otherwise, she wouldn't have hurt herself and hung herself. She clearly wanted Percy, she wanted to see him, hug him, just to be in his presence.

I looked at Piper, "Piper, are you okay?"

"I-I will be," She replied.

I didn't want to push her any further. I knew that was a bad idea.

"Piper, let's go and tell the others," I said.

Piper nodded and we went to tell the others what had happened to Annabeth. I went to Chiron with Piper at my side, crying. I explained to Chiron what had happened with Annabeth. The more I explained, the more his expression got grim. I told him that I need help getting her down, so we could bury her next to Percy. I told him that I would burn her shroud, and Piper spoke. She said she'll come with me to tell her dad about her death.

Chiron agreed and told us that we'd get her. We rode on Chiron's back as we went back to Annabeth. I climbed up in the tree and Chiron stood underneath having her shoes touch his back. Piper was next to him to make sure she didn't fall off. I cut the rope off the tree and Annabeth landed with a crack which made me cringe. I didn't mean to make her break bones.

I climbed down and started to get the rope off of her. I cut the rope off from around her neck and gathered the rope. I handed it to Piper, which she didn't really like that honor. I hopped off Chiron and told him he can go. He asked Piper and me to hold Annabeth, so she wouldn't fall off during the ride. Piper volunteered and hopped on.

She held onto Annabeth, making sure she wouldn't fall off as I ran after them. I could've shadow-traveled, but that takes up too much energy. I kept running after Chiron, and once we emerged from the forest, everyone started to swarm us.

"What happened to her?" One girl cried.

"I think she just–" One guy tried to say.

We ignored them as we brought her to the graveyard. Everyone followed, worried about Annabeth. Once we reached the graveyard, everyone started to slow down as if it just hit them what had happened. A girl sobbed into a guy's chest as Piper and I brought Annabeth down to the ground.

"What happened?" A guy demanded.

"Yeah! What happened to Annabeth?" Another camper agreed.

"Everyone, calm down!" Chiron called out, "We'll explain, well Nico and Piper will explain!"

Thanks, horseman. Give me and Piper the responsibility to tell dozens of campers, I thought.

Piper looked at me giving a clear look, Please. I realized she wanted me to tell everyone. I sighed and nodded to Piper and she gave me a look of Thank you!.

"Everyone, as you can see, Annabeth died, but not by anyone," I said.

"What do you mean, death boy?" A camper asked.

"Death boy? Do you want to see death? I can give you death," I shouted back.

Chiron put his hand on my shoulder, "Nico, calm down."

I moved away from Chiron, "Calm down? Why should I calm down? And don't ever touch me, ever."

Chiron seemed to get nervous and he backed away.

The grass started to wither around my feet, as it always does when I get aggravated and nervous. Some campers backed off, horrified.

"Look now you're killing off the grass!" The same camper shouted.

I ran at him with all my might and tackled him. He was surprised. He fell to the ground, easily as I punched him. He tried to push me off, but I had my legs around his stomach. He struggled as I slowly sunk him into the earth.

"Nico, enough!" Chiron scolded.

I gave the guy another sucker punch and stood up, "Don't ever call me death boy again. You saw what I could do, and that was just the tip of the iceberg." I walked away from him. He was trying to pull himself out of the solid soil.

"Help!" He cried.

Some of his friends helped him out of the soil, helping to get the clumps of dirt out of his matted hair and his clothes.

"You–You monster!" He shrieked.

"You haven't seen the monster within," I scowled. "You haven't experienced everything I can do to you."

Will came up to me and laced his fingers into mine, "Sunshine, calm down. No need to make it worse."

I growled, but I continued my explanation, "As I was trying to say before I was rudely interrupted," I glared at the guy who was still picking off the dirt, "Annabeth had killed herself. She most likely wanted to be with Percy again, and couldn't bear living without him. So she went and killed herself to be able to see him again."

Some campers glanced at Annabeth's body and grimaced. They didn't like the sight of how she died. Her eyes were still full of shock and surprise. Her neck wound is worse than I realized and her stomach was still slowly bleeding. There was no cure to save Annabeth, except for the Death Cure, but I didn't want to anger my father by taking souls.

"How can you be sure? Annabeth could've been tricked!" The guy shouted.

"Because I saw the rope she hung herself and the sword that she stabbed her stomach with," Piper spoke up.

Some campers backed away from Piper realizing she was holding a rope in her hands.

"Is that her rope?" The guy asked.

Why does this guy have to be so annoying?

"Yes. We needed the proof and the sword is with Nico," Piper said.

I didn't realize that I picked up the sword when we got everything from the forest. I unsheathed the sword and held it up. The blood was dripping off, but most of it was dried on.

Some campers gasped and others looked uncomfortable. They probably didn't realize that really we had the evidence of Annabeth's death.

"He's the one who killed her! That's why he knew where she died!" The guy shouted.

"I didn't know where she died! I just had the feeling of her death!" I protested. "Why would I kill her?"

"You wanted Percy! You wanted to exchange souls!" The guy shouted.

I dropped the sword and the blade embedded itself in the dirt, "I wanted him? You really think I wanted him?"

"Yes, you wanted him, you wanted him to yourself!" The guy said.

I tackled him again, but this time he expected it. Once he hit the ground, he rolled over and had me on the bottom.

"You, death boy, won't win this," The guy said.

"Get off me, jerk!" I cried.

"Jerk? You're the one who tackled me, death boy," The guy said.

I punched the guy's stomach, trying to make him get off. He just sat there, laughing. The grass started to wither around me. The guy's expression changed into worry, but he stayed put. I kicked and pushed. He wouldn't budge. It seemed like everyone was in too much shock to care.

"He's too weak to kick me off!" The guy laughed.

That's when I got angry, I rolled over with him on the bottom, he hit his head hard against the ground when I got on top.

"Now who's weak?" I asked.

"Get off me, di Angelo!" The guy said.

"What's your name, hm?" I asked, pulling his hair.

"Why does it matter?" He asked.

"So I can make your gravestone," I joked.

"My name is Charlie Nikolaidis, child of Nemesis," He replied.

I went slack and that gave him an advantage. He pushed me off and sucker punched me again. He stood up and kicked my side, which made me wince in pain.

"Charlie, huh? Well, I hope you like the wrath of my father," I threatened as I stood up.

"Hm, unlikely. My mother is Nemesis, goddess of revenge, and my grandmother is Nyx, you don't scare me, and your father doesn't scare me," Charlie said.

"You should, Nyx is only the goddess of the night, she only creates fears, while my dad is one huge fear, death," I said. "Everyone fears death, not everyone fears the dark."

"Only!" He shrieked, "Only, hm? What about all my aunts, my uncles? They're all something everyone fears, for example, old age."

"What comes after old age? Death, Charlie, and clearly you don't care for that. You care only about your family line, not about anyone else's, which by the way, Annabeth's and Percy's families are heartbroken. As much as their parents seemed to ignore them, they still cared for them," I said.

"Boys, enough now," Chiron scolded, he stood between us. "No need to fight. We need to honor Annabeth before sundown. We'll burn her shroud after burying her, understand you two?" He glared at me and Charlie.

I nodded and kept my cool, as much as I wanted to storm off, I had to bury Annabeth.

"Charlie?" Chiron asked sternly.

"Yes, Chiron," He muttered.

"Good, now let's get the job done," Chiron clapped his hands together.

Once we got situated, we started the funeral for Annabeth. Some of the girls cried, while most of the Athena cabin cried into each other's shoulders. I gave a speech and then buried her next to Percy. After the funeral, we got to the amphitheater and Malcolm came up and burned a shroud with an owl and an olive branch on it. It burned and turned into smoke and the smoke turned into a red shaped owl.

Everyone filed out of the amphitheater and continued with normal camp activities, the only people who didn't leave were me, Chiron, and Will. I had no idea why Chiron stayed behind, but Will probably wanted to talk to me.

Will walked down to the middle, where I was standing, "Hey, are you okay?"

"It depends, define okay," I said.

Will laughed, "How about are you bleeding?"

I wiped my nose from the dripping blood from Charlie, "Besides my nose, no."

"Okay, Sunshine, let's go check out your nose," Will said. "Come to my doctor's office."

Will led me out of the amphitheater and to his cabin, making me sit down on the bed.

"Stay here, I need to get supplies and while I'm gone, take off your shirt, I need to make sure you're not injured from Charlie," Will smirked.

I knew I blushed, but I took off my shirt willingly.