A couple years passed. It was right after the Battle of Manhattan. While I was there there was this sense of pull. Like the string on my hand pulled because I was close. Dammit why did I have to be right. I know it wasn't Percy. I had personally seen him. His string was invisible. But it is someone at camp. I don't know who, and I don't plan on trying to find out. I was done with camp. I never wanted to go back again.

~Time Skip(Blood of Olympus)~

(I'm going to copy paste dialogue from the book because I'm lazy.)

I woke up in my bed. 2 days after the battle. William Solace. The son of Apollo. The son. I hadn't thought about the string much at the time. It was in the middle of a massive fight. The last 2 days it had been sneaking into my head. I thought that when I saw him the string would disappear. I held my hand up as I was still laying down. Yup. I thought to myself. Why is it still here? I sat up in bed and ran my fingers through my messy, black hair. I had seen Will very little the past 2 days. He had been running around when I saw him. Has he thought about it at all? Was he surprised it was a boy? He was obviously surprised it was me. Was he ashamed it was a boy? Does he feel the same way I do? My mind was racing.

Right then I heard a knock on my door. I groggily stood up and opened it. It was kind of bright and all I saw was blond hair. For a split second I thought it was Will. I hated myself for the thought. '

You okay?'Jason asked. 'You look –'

'Fine,' I cut him off.

I gestured for us to step outside. I stepped into the open, my eyes squinting and I almost fell over. Jason caught me and I looked up. Once again I saw Will for a split second. I hated it. I knew there was no chance he would like me, let alone love me. He saw what I did with Octavian. What did he think of me? Jason waved his hand in front of my eyes. "Earth to Nico" he said, adjusting his glasses. I blinked and looked at him. "I'm all good, just spacing."

Jason pointed to the Roman camp by the strawberry field. I looked over. "It was strange to see them here. Now it'll be strange not seeing them."

"Do you regret not going with them?" I asked. Jason's grin was crooked.

"A little. But I'll be going back and forth between the camps a lot."

We walked for a bit, in silence.

"Look, Nico, the reason I wanted to talk to you … I know what you said back at Auster's palace. I know you already turned down a place at Camp Jupiter. I – I probably can't change your mind about leaving Camp Half-Blood, but I have to –"

I cut Jason off, "I'm staying."

Jason blinked, seeming very confused. "What?"

"At Camp Half-Blood. The Hades cabin needs a head counselor. Have you seen the decor? It's disgusting. I'll have to renovate. And someone needs to do the burial rites properly, since demigods insist on dying heroically."

"That's – that's fantastic! Dude!" Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. "Right. No touching. Sorry." I grunted. "I suppose we can make an exception." Jason squeezed me so hard I thought my ribs would crack. "Weak bones" I squeaked out. "Oh, shit. Sorry,"Jason said, letting go of my frail body. "Oh, man! Wait till I tell Piper. Hey, since I'm all alone in my cabin too, you and I can share a table in the dining hall. We can team up for capture the flag and sing-along contests and –" I chuckled a little, "Are you trying to scare me away?" "Sorry. Sorry. Whatever you say, Nico. I'm just glad.' The funny thing was I genuinely believed him.

Jason poked my arm and pointed toward the cabins. I glanced over and saw Will waving at me. I felt my stomach tie and the red string attached to my little finger pull. He pointed at his feet as if telling me to stand in front of him. "Go to him, I feel he might put you in the infirmary otherwise" Jason said, pushing me towards him. I walked over, watching my string shrink. The closer I got the tighter the knot in my stomach got tighter.

"So where were you?" Will demanded. He was wearing a muted teal surgeon's shirt with blue jeans and black flip-flops, which was probably not standard hospital protocol.

"What do you mean?" I asked, tilting my head.

"I've been stuck in the infirmary for, like, two days. You don't come by. You don't offer to help."

"I … what? Why would you want a son of Hades in the same room with people you're trying to heal? Why would anyone want that?"

"You can't help out a friend? Maybe cut bandages? Bring me a soda or a snack? Or just a simple 'How's it going, Will?' You don't think I could stand to see a friendly face?"

"What … my face?"

The words simply didn't make sense together: Friendly face. Nico di Angelo. "You're so dense," Will noted. "I hope you got over that nonsense about leaving Camp Half-Blood."

'I – yeah. I did. I mean, I'm staying."

"Good. So you may be dense, but you're not an idiot."

"How can you even talk to me like that? Don't you know I can summon zombies and skeletons and –"

"Right now you couldn't summon a wishbone without melting into a puddle of darkness, di Angelo," Will said. "I told you, no more Underworldly stuff, doctor's orders." Those words had a weird effect on me. Doctors orders. "You owe me at least
three days of rest in the infirmary. Starting now." I looked at him, feeling my face flush a little. "Three days? I- That sounds g-good to me." He grinned at me, making my stomach erupt with butterflies. I was about to say something else when I was cut off by a giant Whoop!

Over by the hearth in the center of the common, Percy was beaming at something Annabeth had just told him. Annabeth laughed and playfully socked his arm. "I'll be right back," I told Will, as I started walking backwards. "Promise on the Styx and everything." I walked over to Percy and Annabeth, who were both still grinning like crazy.

"Hey, man," Percy said. "Annabeth just told me some good news. Sorry if I got a little loud."

"We're going to spend our senior year together," Annabeth explained, "here in New York. And after graduation –"

"College in New Rome!" Percy pumped his fist like he was blowing a truck horn. "Four years with no monsters to fight, no battles, no stupid prophecies. Just me and Annabeth, getting our degrees, hanging out at cafés, enjoying California –"

"And after that …" Annabeth kissed Percy on the cheek. "Well, Reyna and Frank said we could live in New Rome as long as we like."

"That's great," I said. I was a little surprised to feel so genuine while saying it. "I'm staying too, here at Camp Half-Blood."

"Awesome!" Percy said. I studied his face, but not how I used to. His sea-green eyes, his grin, his ruffled black hair. Somehow Percy Jackson seemed like a regular guy now, not a mythical figure. Not someone to idolize or crush on.

"So," I said, swaying my hands at my sides casually, "since we're going to be spending at least a year seeing each other at camp, I think I should clear the air." Percy's smile wavered. "What do you mean?" "For a long time," I started. My hands found their way to my hair as I finished. "I had a crush on you. I just wanted you to know." Percy looked at me, then at Annabeth, as if to check that he'd heard correctly. Then back at me. "You –" "Yeah," I cut him off, smiling to finally have it off my chest. "You're a great person. But I'm over that. I'm happy for you guys."

"You … so you mean –"

"Right."

Annabeth's gray eyes started to sparkle. She gave me a sideways smile.

"Wait," Percy said. "So you mean –"

"Right," I said again. "But it's cool. We're cool. I mean, I see now … you're cute, but you're not my type."

"I'm not your type … Wait. So –"

"See you around, Percy," I was already walking away. "Annabeth." She raised her hand for a high five. I went along with it. I walked back across the green, to where Will Solace was waiting. I had a feeling I would be seeing his face a lot in the next three days.

(A.N. I don't own most of the writing in this chapter, I copy and pasted it out of the book and tweeked it. Most of this belongs to Rick Riordan.)