REMEMBER, I DO NOT OWN PJO OR HOO! WHO WILL IT BE THIS TIME? DUN DUN DUN!

I left Nico by a copse of birch trees where Vanessa's body was. He'd chosen to have her buried, not cremated. I t was a sad, beautiful sight, with the silver trees swopping down into a soft canopy, dripping with sweet dew that slid off a cool stone marker onto the bare earth.

But when I closed my eyes, all I could see was Vanessa in the ravine, bloody and unrecognizable, yet so happy to leave everything behind. It had seemed so easy for her.

"I'll leave you some time with her," I whispered. "Alone."

He didn't respond, but just kept his eyes on the engraved stone marker.

I quickly ran out of the forest, taking extra caution to avoid the Hecate cabin. They were still shaken up about their head counselor dying, and still thought that I had murdered her. And I had in a way. I'd had the chance to stop her before she plummeted to her death. The guilt would be there whenever I looked at Nico's face.

Quietly, I stole into his cabin and locked myself in. Nico could never see what I would be doing. Never.

His bunk was disheveled, but still neat, with his armor on a stand and his sword resting on top of the fireplace that burned black. A small photo decorated an obsidian bedside table-him and Vanessa in the Underworld. Out of pity, I turned it face down, and opened the door to the little shrine.

Dark hellfire burned in a fountain instead of water. The walls were decorated with the moving images of the recent dead. With a lurch in my stomach, I saw Percy on the wall ahead of me, laughing as he cradled Annabeth in one of their happier times. Jason looked on from the right, proudly smiling at his ill-fated wedding. And on the left was Vanessa, her tendrils of magic around her fingers, smirking at something unseen.

Forcing down a sob that was rising in my throat, I dug a small crystal of emerald in my pocket and threw it into the Hellfire. The glittering green trailed through the air as if in slow motion, like Vanessa's body suspended in air before she fell.

The emerald struck the hungry flames and dissolved in a flash of light. Immediately, the fire smoothed down to black, onyx water. Trembling, I cupped some of the icy liquid in my hands and brought it to my mouth.

The result was instant. My body seemed to freeze internally, like my insides were crackling with frozen water. My throat was on fire, as if I had swallowed needles, a handful at a time.

"I wish to trade my soul for Vanessa D'Onorio's!" I yelled as the wind grew in my ear. "For I am a soul who cheated death!"

A silvery vapor hissed out of the midnight water, shimmering and taking form. Curls of mist solidified into different shapes, the oval outline of a head, the faintest glimpses of the limbs of a young woman, floating waves of the beginnings of hair. Soon, Vanessa's spirit was there, fully formed.

Her once ebony eyes were now pale gray, and the lustrous midnight hair was dull and colorless. Her bloodred lips had gone dark gray, her skin was like moonlight.

"Please, don't do this," she whispered sorrowfully. "I chose to die of my own will. I'm happy here. You have your entire life ahead of you. Mine ended."

I shook my head forcefully, gold and brown glinting.

"Nico…"

"Don't you dare!" she spat out viciously. "Don't you dare talk about him! I know, it's true, we did love eachother once. But not anymore. He ignored me, cursed me, flung me away like I was nothing to him, abused me." Her eyes welled up. "He's not the same person I knew…"

"He's changed!" I insisted desperately. "I swear on the River Styx! He's at your grave right now in the woods. He wanted you buried in the birch copse where you two first met. He hasn't moved since dawn."

Vanessa bit at her lip, and her now pale gray eyes wandered, taking on a distant look.

"Does he still love me?" Her voice was wistful, but cracking with pain and regret.

I reached out for her hand, even though I already knew she would dissipate and shy away from living flesh.

"It's already been done," I told her. "It'll be starting soon. My soul for yours."

Shock shook Vanessa's face when I raised my hands. Silver vapor was wisping out of my fingers. Vanessa screamed and scratched at her face, her swirling hair getting in the way, which was now darkening, the glints and former luster was starting to return.

I fell onto my knees, my whole body heavy and drawn to the ground and shrine like a magnet.

"No, no!" Vanessa shrieked, staring at her arms which were returning to their color as her body sank lower and lower, her hair renewed of their midnight color. Her image on the wall distorted, the black hair turning into curls of cinnamon and gold. Bright metallic eyes replaced the piercing dark ones, and the face shape shortened, the skin darkening into a beautiful caramel teakwood shade. My hands were now turning gray and crumbling into ash. I was literally dissolving. With a gasp, I slipped out of my body.

The transfer was nearly complete. All that was left to change were Vanessa's pale gray irises. As I watched, the darkened and darkened until they were the same mesmerizing eyes that I remembered. The last of my body released into dust. Then that disintegrated too.

"Good bye…" I whispered, as my spirit was drawn into the fountain. Then everything went black.

I KNOW, I KNOW, EVERYBODY PROBABLY HATES ME NOW