Percy's POV

We headed out to my favorite beach and met Jason, Frank, Hazel, and a pink-haired girl I'd never seen before.

'Hey guys.' I said.

'And girls.' Pink said.

'That's Lavinia.' Frank said. Then he brought his voice down. 'Leo would've been perfect for her if she dated guys.'

'Fish.' Nik, seemingly better, called. 'Truth or death wish?'

'I'm The Destroyer.' I said. 'Hit me with your best shot.'

The way she stared back at me and Nico; I was afraid she was going to ask me to kiss him.

'Does everyone remember what Nico said in our last game?' Nik asked.

'I wasn't present.' Lavinia said.

'I'm talking, Pinky Dinky Doo.' Nik said.

'Burn.' Me and Jason said.

'The point is,' Nik said, pacing around like a Sergeant looking for who to send to war. 'Nico admitted that Percy was his type after all. But before then, Percy felt absolutely roasted because a long time ago; Neeks said the opposite.'

Nik pointed at me. 'I dare you to roast Nico.'

A weird feeling roused in me. I hadn't had that feeling since I tried to poison Ahkyls; but whatever it was, it was plain evil. Maybe even close to Nik evil.

I drew a line on the sand. 'Nico, you were just pulled over for reckless driving. The officer assumes you're drunk; and he tells you to walk on this line. It's a very straight line. Can you do that?'

'Of course I can.' Nico said.

'No, you can't.' I said.

My friends laughed. Lavinia didn't seem to get it.

'Nico asking for directions; "Excuse me. Me and my boyfriend are looking for the McDonald's nearby. Where is it?" Then I said, "Take a left down that road and go straight— whoops."'

Nico's eyes were filled with murderous rage.

But of course I didn't want to stop there. 'Enough of that. Let me tell you another story.

'Once upon a time, I bought Nico a pair of sunglasses.' I said. 'I said it was to protect him from getting blinded by the golden rays of Will's smile.'

Everyone except Nico laughed.

'He said he didn't want them.' I said. 'And I was like, "Let me guess; not your type?"'

Applause.

'Another one.' I said, not minding the way Nico glared at me. 'Nico was in trouble for some reason. I was the nearest person around. He said, "help me, Percy." And I was like, "I'm not the type to save you."'

'Ohhhhhhhhh.' My audience roared.

'One time, I told Nico a joke.' I said. 'It wasn't funny, even for me, but for some reason he couldn't keep a straight face.'

I suddenly felt immense pain; like someone punched me.

'This,' Nico said, materializing out of thin air. 'is exactly why I said you weren't my type.'

'You can quit roasting him now.' Nik said.

'You were waiting for that to happen, right?' I asked in pain.

'Yeah.' Nik said. 'Who's next?'

'Nico,' I called. 'Truth or dare?'