I was completely thunderstruck. Okay, surely Hades had never been too honorable, but this? Wasn't it enough, that I was somewhat doomed? The last thing I wanted, was anyone else to be involved in this mess. Least Jayda.

But Hades just smirked, somewhat amused. I skimmed over Jayda, feeling more and more guilty. She was scoping out the dagger, looking thoughtful. Then she raised her gaze at me, tucking the dagger back into her sports bag. "Well, what's the plan?" Her words weren't a surprise to me. She had this sometimes pretty strenuous obsession of digging for trouble. But now it started to really aggravate me.

"Jayda." I muttered. "You don't understand. Now isn't the time to show off your spunk." My voice raised at the end, and I finished up staring at her fiercely, challenging her to protest. Which she of course did.

"Oh, now I'm showing off or something? Do you really think of me like that? That I'm just always showing off, not caring about anything else than my own glory or something? Can't you just realize, that I'm trying to help you?" She managed that all in the same breath, staring back at me her eyes flaming overheated.

"I don't need your help." I muttered, closing my eyes and slumping against my seat. I tried to focus my thoughts to the essential, but it was hard. The guilty feeling didn't ease from saying her that I didn't need her help. I knew I had insulted her. She had meant it, when she offered her help. She really wanted to help. It felt strange. I had got used to dealing with everything alone. I hated myself for even thinking it, but the thought that I maybe didn't have to go through this alone... Shut up, I told to that small, desperate part of my mind. I wasn't going to die a coward.

My dad cut off my thoughts. "Well, I don't think it's yours to decide, boy. I'll take you to... what's the name of that place again, Alecto?"

The fury cackled. "Florida, my lord."

"Florida?" Jayda asked next to me.

"The Sea of monsters is there... you think the base could be there?" I looked out of the car window. It felt like we were driving at a normal speed, but the scenes were flashing off so fast, they were just gray colored blur.

"As I already told you, it's not that simple", Hades said impatiently. "But yes, you may find it from there. And by you, I mean you two together. You, Nico, and this kid of Nike... Death and victory - they are necessarily connected to each other. To win a battle, you have to kill your enemies."

That sounded reasonable, but yet confusing. And the point was this was one of those many times, when Hades' information were more than deficient.

Suddenly, the car slided to a sudden stop. "Okay!" Hades exclaimed. "Off you go then, and remember what I told you!"

"But-..." Jayda started, but before she could continue, the limo had disappeared. We were standing on a palm-fringed street and the sun was shining so bright after the dim light in the BMW that I felt I was going to blind. I cursed, squinting my eyes.

"Nico?" Jayda said quietly, opening the zipper of her sports bag.

I looked to the direction she pointed at, and saw a shadow flicker on the corner of a pink town house. I pulled out my sword.