NICO

After a day of school, which is always harder when you've got other things on your mind, I was ready to get this conversation with Will over with. I hoped that I knew him well enough by now to be ready for his response to the quest, but I was more nervous than I had been when we held hands walking around camp the first time. We were the first gay couple that had been at camp in the a really long time (the ancient demigods weren't as shy about who they loved), and it wasn't easy to come out. I'd never have done it if I'd lived my life out when I was supposed to.

(I was born in Italy in the early 1920s. I don't remember much from before 1930. My father, Hades, had remained close to my mother even after I was born. Part of this was because my uncle, Zeus, wanted me dead. The Big Three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, made a pact not to sire any more demigod children. Bianca, my first sister, was born before this pact was made. I however was evidence of the weakness of the gods. Zeus had found out and made plans to kill Bianca, our mother, and me. He was only successful in killing one of us. Bianca and I survived and were sent to America. There we were taken to a hotel in Las Vegas. It's called the Lotus Hotel and Casino, if I can remember correctly. We were there for something like sixty years. But to us, inside the hotel, it had seemed like only a month. To quote the cliché, we weren't in Kansas anymore.).

It wasn't something that normal people did back then, men were supposed to love women. For a long time I didn't recognize those feelings for what they were. I just thought that all people must feel that way. Then I met Percy Jackson and I realized what I was. At first, I hated myself and thought that if I just stayed away from him it would go away. They didn't.

After everything I'd been through with Tartarus, Cupid, and finally Gaea, I thought I could keep my sexual orientation to myself and live out the rest of my life alone and be perfectly content. Of course Will freaking-son-of-Apollo Solace had to force his way into my life. He was the first demigod (not counting Jason and Percy) not to run in fear when I reacted poorly to something he said, he was the first demigod to give me a reason to pull myself out of the shadows. He was the one who initiated our friendship, the one who finally got me to open up about everything that happened in and before Tartarus. He was the first person, besides Bianca, that I had ever completely trusted. How could I not fall for him?

Despite having been born nearly sixty years before him, Will is technically older than me. It's only two years, but I sometimes wondered if he really is the older one. He acts like a 6 year old when it comes to anything comic book related. I never liked superheroes as a kid, but then I never really got to have a childhood. I was ten when I entered the Lotus hotel and I was ten when I left, but over half a century had passed.

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Percy alerted me to our arrival back at camp. I had heard Piper say something, get out and shut the car door, but it hadn't really registered. He gave me a look like, are you ok? I smiled, something I never would have done a year and a half ago, "Yea, I'm just not looking forward to telling Will about the quest. I want him to come with me but is that fair of me to even ask?" Percy gave me a nod of understanding and a sad smile. I thought he was going to reassure me like Annabeth and Piper had, but then he got a strange look on his face. "Wait here for a sec, ok?" Despite the confused look I gave him, I agreed. He left me in the car while he ran up to the Big House with Piper. What could he be doing? I started to think he was going to get Will but when he came back alone I was even more confused. When he got back behind the wheel he just flashed me his signature smile and drove off back towards the city. "Percy, where in the world are we going?" He smiled again and shook his head. Apparently I was being kidnapped. When we got to a familiar part of town, I asked him again where our destination was and again he just smiled and shook his head.

"Percy, this is starting to freak me out in a it's-going-to-be-a-cheesy-pep-talk kind of way." Then I noticed the street we were on. "Are we going back to your mom's apartment?" I loved Sally Jackson. She had basically adopted me and when I wasn't staying at camp I had a standing invitation to stay with her and her husband Paul.

"Nico! How'd you know?" He had a very disappointed look on his face and I knew I'd guess it.

"You drove down streets I recognized. This is the way back to your mom's apartment." Well, finally, I- If we were going back to Sally's then he must have IMed her and now she was going to give me the cliché Will-would-never-say-no pep talk. Great.

"She's going to hit me for even thinking Will would say no. And then she's going to hit me for not making you tell her about it when we were here earlier."

He laughed and lightly socked my shoulder. "Dude, if she is going to hit anyone it's going to be me. And she's going to want you to talk to her anyway. You're like her other son!" I had to smile. Sally checked on me every week and when I did stay over, she always made me feel like I had a mom again. I'm sure Annabeth thought of her as a mom too. Sally was just everyone's mom. She didn't know how not to be.

STILL NICO

Percy had been right. Sally and slapped the back of his head when he told her about the quest. "You couldn't have told me this earlier?" He shrugged and gave her an embarrassed smile.

"I was going to come back to talk to you anyway so I figured I would just drop Nico and Piper off and then come back. But Nico needed to come back just as much as I did." She sighed and seemed satisfied with that answer.

Then she turned her eyes on me. "Ok, so you are going on this quest too?" I nodded. "Well, tell me everything I need to know." This is why we love Sally Jackson. Paul walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table with the rest of us.

"So, another long quest?" This is why we love Paul Blofis. He got so excited about all the demigod stuff and honestly, I think he'd go looking for a monster if it meant he'd get to see us fight one. Sally rolled her eyes and smiled at her husband.

"Paul, honey, I swear, you get more excited about the kids hunting monsters than anything that a normal middle aged English teacher should." He tried to act like he felt bad but the smile on his face gave him away. Sally chuckled and then turned back to me and Percy expecting us to start talking. I shared a look with my cousin and he smiled and gave me a look that said, go on, you tell them. Awesome.

"Well, Chiron woke us up this morning along with Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Leo. He IMed Reyna, Frank and Hazel in New Rome too. He told us about these mortals who'd been blessed by Hecate, the goddess of magic, and explained that the descendants of these mortals were in danger of being exterminated by one of their own. To get straight to the point, Hecate wants us, the Seven plus me, to go and help in any way we can. The catch is that this isn't a normal quest. There's not really a prophecy and we have to go undercover without letting anyone know exactly who we are. The biggest problem is that it's going to be three years before we can even come home." I paused because I figured Sally would have a cow at the thought of not seeing Percy for three whole years. Apparently having notice before your kid disappears does make a difference. Her eyes went wide but otherwise she remained quiet. She gave me an encouraging smile so I continued.

"The other weird thing about this is we aren't the ones who will actually be doing any saving. There is a prophecy, but it was spoken nearly twenty years ago and it was about someone descendant of the blessed of Hecate. He has to be the one to fulfill the prophecy." I specifically left out the part where the guy had to die. I figured Percy would have too. "That's basically the gist of it." Sally looked to Paul and they had a silent conversation. After they were done Paul addressed us.

"So, where exactly will all of you be?" Percy decided that he would answer. "We'll be in England for a month each year and a few weeks at Christmas. But for the most part we'll be at a school for magic in Scotland." Sally nodded and put the cup of coffee I hadn't noticed she'd had on the table.

"Annabeth asked Lady Hecate if we could IM you while we were gone and she didn't see a problem with it. But you should probably know that she's going to give us all our bodies from when we were fifteen. So we'll all look like we did then."

"Wait, this goddess is going to make all of you revert to fifteen? What about Nico and Hazel?"

"We're the only ones who are actually fifteen. We won't be made to look any younger. Although Hecate did say we'd be returned to the age we are now once we completed the quest, so I'll get to be fifteen again in three years." Too much too soon.

"Why in Hades would you have to be fifteen?" Percy and I shared a look, a look Sally did not miss.

"Styx." Percy was absolutely right. We were so totally screwed.

"Percy, please tell me what else is going on." For the love of Zeus. No one could deny Sally when she was like that.

"Mom, this quest is to help a fifteen year old wizard. He's the kid the prophecy is about. There's an evil wizard called Lord Moldy-shorts,-"

''Voldemort, Percy, its Voldemort."

"Oh," he blushed, "right, Voldemort. So this guy is really bad news. Not as bad as the whole earth being out to get you, but pretty bad. The kid, Harry, he's got to defeat him. Someone tried to figure out the prophecy and because of that his whole family was killed. His godfather ended up in jail and he was sent to live with his mom's sister who couldn't be bothered to care about him. He needs people who have been through the ringer to give him some support."

All of a sudden I was very confused, "Wait, Hecate didn't tell us that. How do you know all that?" Percy ran his hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck and sent me an apologetic look.

"Well, after everyone left Hecate and Chiron cornered me and gave me a few more details. Apparently they think Harry and I are really similar and I should know a little more than everyone else. Don't let on that you know though. They said he's really private about his life with everyone except the Weasley people we'll be living with while we aren't at the school." I nodded. I understood not trusting anyone. I'd kept my own conscience for the last several years. Until Jason found out about my crush on Percy when Cupid forced it out of me, I'd never told anyone about what happened in my head. Then Will Solace came along and gave me a shove out of the closet. If anyone could understand privacy, it'd be me.

"I won't say anything. I'm good at secrets." Sally and Paul looked like they wanted to find this boy and wrap him in a hug and give him some blue chocolate chip cookies. If anything could make a kid destined for death feel better, it would be one of Sally's hugs and one of her cookies. Paul suddenly got a very determined look on his face glanced at Sally, and then addressed the table,

"Well, that settles it. Sally, how do you feel about moving to Scotland for the next three years?" I don't think I've seen Percy's jaw drop so low. I'm sure mine was on the floor, but gods he was so surprised.

"Well, Paul, I think that we ought to find a place to live there first."

"What… you…I…what?" Percy looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

"If you're going to be leaving for three years then Paul and I will come with you. I know that all of you will be fine over there and if these Weasley people are trustworthy then fine, but I want to be as close to you as possible. I consider all of your friends to be family and, Olympus forbid one of you needs a mom while you're gone; I want to be there. I couldn't have done much while you were in Greece, but you said that this was not a normal quest. This time Paul and I will be there. My book sold out and it's brought in a lot of money. They're already asking for another. I'll have the peaceful and scenic Scotland to inspire me. I'm sure we can find a job for Paul if he wants one. And besides, we never really got a honeymoon. This will be perfect."

Sally was someone who you didn't argue with when she got it in her head that she was going to do something. I mean, according to Percy, that's exactly how the whole blue food thing started. Her ex-husband, Smelly Gabe, had once told her that there was no such thing as blue food. Ever since then she'd gone out of her way to make, buy and create blue food. Despite the fact that all of us could take care of ourselves, we'd only saved the world twice, I was really glad that Sally and Paul would be there. It would be nice to know that if I ever just needed a home cooked meal of the bluest food, I'd be able to go wherever Sally and Paul were staying.

"You should talk to Chiron and ask him if there's a place near the school you could stay. That way, if we need you, you're right there. I mean, all of us can take care of ourselves, but if we did need you, we wouldn't have to go far."

Sally smiled at her son, obviously pleased that he'd taken so well to the idea. Then she turned to me, "Ok, Nico. What's up with you and Will?" I took a deep breath and let it out before I answered.

"There isn't a problem with us. It's more about this quest. I just don't know if it's fair of me to ask him to give up three years of his life here at camp just to follow me on some quest that could be dangerous enough to get us all killed. I don't think I could live with myself if he didn't come back. It would be all my fault for asking him to go in the first place." I had stopped looking her in the eye and averted my gaze to the table. The table didn't have a gaze that was sad, encouraging and understanding at the same time.

"Nico, sweetheart, I think you know exactly what I'm going to say but I guess I'll have to say it anyway. Even if it was dangerous, how do you think Will would feel if you didn't come back? How could he live with himself if he didn't follow you, if the last time he saw you in person was when you were saying goodbye?" She was only half right. I'd known she would say something about how he would feel. What I hadn't expected was her insight into exactly how it would feel to be left behind. She'd experienced that with Percy during Hera's demigod exchange program. Thinking about Will having to hear from Percy and the others that I hadn't made it back and picturing him crying over me was enough of a kick in the όρχεις. I wasn't feeling any better about what I was asking Will to do, but I was determined to give him the option.

"Thanks, Sally, I'm glad Percy Nico-napped me and brought me here." Percy looked aghast that I had used his humor without consulting him, but Sally was giving me a I'm-proud-of-you smile. "But I need to get back to camp and talk to Will. Hopefully he'll react the way everyone thinks he will."

HAZEL

Despite the fact that later today I'd be saying goodbye to the first place I'd felt at home since I died (long story), I was feeling good about the decision to take the quest Hecate had laid at our feet. Even though I wouldn't be getting a trip to the past like everyone else (well everyone but Nico), I was happy to be getting to travel again. As horrible as the trip to Greece had been I had loved getting to see the places I'd read about. During my first life, I'd read about the British Isles in History and read a little Shakespeare when I could borrow a book from the library. I'd have given anything to have gone to another country for a visit. But my excitement could wait. I needed to get back to my bunk with the Fifth Cohort and get enough rest to be alert enough to command my troops.

After Dakota's death in the battle against Gaea, the legion (Reyna and Frank had something to do with it) had named me Centurion of the Fifth Cohort. It was a difficult job, but I was glad to be respected for being a Heroine of Olympus instead of being feared for being a Daughter of Pluto. The job should have gone to Frank, but he politely declined in favor of giving the position to me. Not a very Roman thing to do, especially for a son of Mars, but that was my Frank. Always making sure to remain true to his kind nature rather than the war hungry psycho some of his siblings thought he ought to be. Being Praetor, Frank's sleeping quarters were now in the Principia with Reyna instead of in the Barracks with the Cohorts. I'd helped him move his few belongings into his new room and was extremely jealous of his new bed. But thinking about that bed wouldn't help me get to sleep. It was going to be a long day. I needed as much rest as I could get.

"Hazel!" I woke with a start and pulled my small dagger out from under my pillow and aimed it at the presence that had woken me. Hannah, one of the newest recruits of the Fifth Cohort, jumped back and held her hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Hey, I didn't mean to scare you, but you weren't waking up. We got worried." Hazel wiped the last of the sleep from her eyes and saw that most of her cabin mates were surrounding her bunk. The scared looks on her faces told her that the dream she'd had probably made her cry out.

"I'm ok, guys. It was just a dream." Hannah shared a look with one of the other girls and looked back at me.

"You were thrashing and you screamed once. We were going to send someone to get Praetor Zhang, but you finally woke up." That's all I needed. Frank would have been worried sick if they'd gone to get him.

"I'm fine. It was just a very vivid dream."

I'd never had dreams that woke me screaming or made other people worried for me. I had always thought that Roman demigods had less vivid dreams because we were Roman, but after the Second Giant War, I'd come back to New Rome and had my fair share of weird dreams. The only one I'd told was Frank but I might have to explain to my whole Cohort if I started screaming in the middle of the night.

After assuring my comrades that I was fine and issuing an order to meet after breakfast on the training field, I went to find Frank. Knowing him, he was probably curled up in his bed having taken the shape of a bulldog (Frank's ancestors had passed along the gift of being able to morph their bodies into any animal. When Frank slept he often subconsciously became a bulldog.).

Hopefully I wouldn't have to explain too much. I just wanted a hug before dealing with having to tell my cohort I'd be gone for the next three years. I had only been the Fifth's Centurion for a year and a half, but I had come to love being back here in New Rome and leading my Cohort in training and War Games.

The thought of leaving my troops in the hands of someone else for three years was nerve-wracking at best, and terrifying at worst. Brendon Raines was the only one I thought would be able to really handle the responsibility I'd be leaving behind. He'd been my first recruit after becoming the Fifth's Centurion and He'd become a good friend and a trusted ally during battle. He'd practically followed me around for the first month he'd been here and after that I kept him at my side during the times when I had to make decisions for our Cohort. He could fulfill the task, I was sure of it. He got his first stripe for saving the life of a fellow legionnaire and his second upon the completion of his first year of service (in Camp Jupiter you got a tattoo burned into your arm upon achieving rank in the legion. Your parent's symbol, plus a stripe for every year of service and the SPQR signifying your acceptance into the legion. At Camp Half-Blood you got a leather necklace and a bead for each summer you survived at camp. This was only one of the ways in which the two camps were different). Despite him being young and only six months into his second year of service, he was probably the best candidate.

"Centurion Levesque!" I turned to whoever had spoken my name and was pleasantly surprised to see Brendon running towards me. "

Hey Brendon, what do you need this time?" He smiled,

"Why do you always assume I need something? Can't a legionnaire greet his Centurion without pretense?"

I laughed, "If this legionnaire was anyone else but you, I could say yes. But we both know that you only use my title if you're trying to get out of something."

He scoffed feigning offence, "Do you really have so low an opinion of me?" I sent him a smirk and kept walking and he followed.

"I'm going to make sure our faithful Praetor Zhang is awake and then I will meet you and the rest of the Cohort for our morning meal." It was my polite way of saying, 'Please leave I don't want to talk to anyone right now.' He nodded his understanding and took his leave. I had made it to Frank's bedroom but as I raised my hand to knock on the door it swung open revealing a fully dressed and wide-awake Frank Zhang.

"Hazel! I wasn't expecting to see you up this early. I didn't even expect myself to be up this early. We didn't get to bed until after 4am."

I smiled, "Yea, I had a bad dream and needed to see a friendly face before talking with my Cohort about the quest so they aren't sidelined at the senate meeting today." He nodded and gestured for me to come into the room with him. As soon as he closed the door I ran into his arms and held him as tightly as I could. He seemed shocked, but he responded in kind.

"Are you sure it was just a bad dream? Do you need to talk about it?"

"How in Hades do you always know when something is wrong?"

He chuckled into my hair, "Hazel, it's my job to know when something is wrong with you." He released me enough to look in my eyes. "Are you ok, Hazel?"

I smiled and stood up on the tips of my toes and gave him a small kiss on his cheek, "I am now." He searched my eyes for another moment but seemed satisfied with my answer and smiled back.

"Well, we better not stay in here alone too much longer. We don't need any more rumors about the Praetor and the Centurion of the Fifth Cohort." We both laughed and I was thrown into the memories of last summer.

It had been a year for me being the Fifth's Centurion, and Frank and I were in New Rome celebrating. Despite there being a rule against Praetors dating the Centurions everyone had decided to overlook it in our case. We had been a big part of the team that had saved the world after all. But last summer rumors were spreading about Frank and some girl in the Legion. Reyna, Frank and I had all assumed the rumors were about me, but surprisingly they weren't. Supposedly Frank had been sneaking around in the middle of the night and meeting another legionnaire from the First in the Garden of Bacchus. This went on for weeks before I had finally gotten tired of the rumors that Frank would ever cheat on me. I demanded that whomever had started these rumors come forward and name the legionnaire that was supposedly being seduced by my Praetor.

When no one came forward I had been ready to go through each of my Cohort and threaten the answer out of one of them. It had been that thought that had given me a clue as to who it was. Apparently I had been using the Mist to create the scenario in the minds of the Legion. I had seen Frank speaking with a member of the First Cohort who was known to have plans to break him up with me and take him for herself. Normally I would never have gotten jealous. But he'd laughed at a stupid joke she'd made and accidentally turned himself into a bleating goat. I had been the only person to elicit that kind of response from him ever since he'd discovered how to use his family gift. And for the first time, I became worried that maybe she could take Frank from me.

For the next week I'd had dreams about him and that girl from the First and all week it had been the two of them in the Garden of Bacchus at night. I didn't know that it was me bending the Mist to make everyone think they saw my deepest fear. It had become a joke throughout the camp and looking back, I could finally laugh about it. We headed to breakfast hand in hand and ignored the looks from practically everyone. I understood why they felt that we were blatantly showing off our rule breaking, but at that moment I couldn't begin to care.