Percy rolled out of bed in his cabin and groaned. A quick check of his watch and he knew he had overslept so drastically, he had missed breakfast. His stomach growled, and he longingly gazed at the dining pavilion. Unfortunately, there was a good hour and a half until lunch.

He staggered around, partially blinded by the light that was streaming through his windows, and found a pair of jeans that he thought were mostly clean. Yes, he reassured himself, this one had the hole in the knee and he knew he had just washed those... a week ago.

Okay, maybe it was time to do a little laundry.

His orange camp shirt was slightly fresher, having taken a swim in it just the other day, and he pulled that over his head. By now, Nico should be awake. It had been about four months after he had gone to help him out in London, and Nico had started really withdraw. He was hardly around camp anymore, and was practically constantly shadow traveling. Percy wasn't sure if it was something to do with trying to get somewhere or trying to get away from here, but whenever he saw Nico, he made an effort to include him. The kid needed somewhere he could call home.

As he brushed his teeth, Percy glanced out the window of his cabin. The black Hades cabin wasn't in the U shape that formed the twelve Olympians' cabin ring, but it was built almost right behind his. The lights were out, but Percy wasn't sure if that meant he was outside or still asleep. What with his shadow traveling into different time zones every day, Nico was jet lagged almost all of the time. Spitting toothpaste into the sink, Percy ran a hand through his hair in hopes that it wouldn't look exactly like he just got out of bed, and then jogged out the door.

When he knocked on Nico's door, no one answered. Cautiously, Percy pushed open the door. The Hades cabin had black walls and an eerie green skull affixed to one wall. Six empty bunks lined the room, only one of which looked used. On a shelf next to it, there were a few things—Nico's Hades Mythomagic statue was the most prominent of them. Percy smiled sadly and crouched down before it. The figurine had so much misery and despair attached to it. He almost wished Nico would throw it away. But that was wrong of him to ask, Nico had nothing but this left of his sister—the sister Percy was supposed to protect for him. In a way, he was responsible for her death.

Percy stood up. Nico clearly wasn't in this cabin. He probably was out shadow traveling. Percy probably wouldn't see him until later, maybe even tomorrow. If he hurried, he could still get in on some good training before lunch. Actually, he should probably work on his Ancient Greek. While he could understand it and speak it subconsciously, Annabeth was always hounding him to get a better grip on it. And he always liked it when Annabeth was happy with him.

He had the textbook back in his cabin. As much as it irked him to be inside, reading, on a day like today with the sun high and the lake just calling his name, Percy knew that pretty much every day at camp was like that. Percy crossed the grass back to his door.

Surprisingly, the door was open but someone had drawn the blinds. He stepped inside, wondering who would have entered his cabin without permission. Annabeth would have no reason to do so and just looked for him elsewhere. Someone was lying in one of the extra beds. Percy's eyes adjusted to the dark cabin and he was able to make out Nico's thin form.

Nico had flung himself onto a bed, probably exhausted after some wild shadow trip around the world. He must have arrived shortly after Percy left. After being in the Hades cabin, Percy could easily understand why he didn't want to stay there very long. Nico hadn't even crawled under the covers before passing out. He had something clutched in his twig-like arms, a fabric that was slightly shimmering. Percy reached out a hand hesitantly to touch it, and then pulled his arm back. It could be something Nico didn't want him to know about. Instead, he pulled a blanket over his cousin. He could wake him up in time for lunch.

For now, he would sit in the doorway and watch out for his cousin. Percy grabbed the heavy book and held it in a beam of light that came under the awning. While he wasn't too big on reading, someone needed to keep an eye on Nico. And he wondered if anyone else would do it.

Nico woke up to someone shaking him gently. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Five more minutes," he mumbled, and Percy's quiet laughter reached his ears.

"Come on," Percy coaxed. "It's time for lunch. Aren't you hungry?"

That got his attention. He sat up and his stomach grumbled appreciatively of Percy's suggestion. "What are you doing here?" Nico started to ask, but then he remembered in his half-asleep state, failing to arrive in his cabin and not having the energy to head over there. The dark, dank cabin sometimes felt more like a cell than a cabin, and it took a lot of motivation to even go inside. Instead, he had pushed open Percy's door and thrown himself into the closest bed.

"You're the one in my cabin, cous'," Percy pointed out, giving him a lopsided smile. "Besides, I figured you might want some company when you woke up, and you would have slept through lunch otherwise."

Nico shrugged indifferently, but inwardly he was pleased that Percy had cared enough to wake him up, and watch him while he slept.

"So what is it you picked up there?" Percy asked carefully, gesturing to Nico's, erm, borrowed invisibility cloak.

Nico jumped up, eager to show off the cool thing. "It's like Annabeth's hat," he explained, wrapping it around him. The cloak pooled at his feet, much too big for him. He glanced down, but from the neck down he was invisible. Then he peered back up at Percy, whose jaw had dropped.

"Where did you get that?" he asked, shocked.

Nico grinned, delighted by Percy's stunned face. "I, ahem, borrowed it from that Harry kid. I was visiting him last night! Or, I guess, a few hours ago... time zones are so weird." But Percy's smile was slowly slipping away, and Nico wondered what was wrong.

"I don't know, Nico," he said slowly. "Stealing is wrong. I think you should give it back to the kid."

Nico frowned. "But I need it for what I want to do today." He wanted to pay Sirius a visit. But he couldn't exactly walk into Number 12 and be spotted. They'd put him back in that room in a flash.

"Why didn't you just ask to borrow Annabeth's hat?" Percy asked.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Because... I didn't think she'd give it to me." He dropped his gaze to the floor, feeling Percy's sympathetic gaze on him. "Look, this is better. I wanted us both to go, and we can use the cloak for that."

Percy nodded slowly. "But return it when we're done."

Nico stared at the floor, ashamed. "Okay."

Percy messed up his hair in that protective, brotherly gesture he always seemed to do. "Come on, let's get some lunch."

Obediently, Nico followed Percy up to the dining pavilion where there were already platters of food set out. He picked up two burgers and plenty of french fries, and tossed half into the flames next to the Hades table. Then he sat down quickly. Percy was taking a bit longer, arguing with a camper about who should get the last slice of pepperoni pizza.

Something gooey landed in his hair. Disgusted and miserable, Nico reached a hand up to pull whatever it was out. A big gob of melted cheese, most likely from the pizza, was stuck to him. He yanked it out to the best of his ability, but his head still felt greasy and disgusting.

Suddenly, Percy was next to him. Nico sank lower in his seat. He didn't want him to realize he was being bullied. But Percy was having none of it. "Who threw that?" he asked dangerously.

The Ares table, which was right next to them, got very quiet. Percy fixed them with a menacing glare. "And what if I did?" asked a snobby Ares camper.

Percy was giving off a more frightening aura than Nico had ever released in his life. Nico watched the Ares camper shrivel up, realizing exactly who Percy was. The hero of Olympus, the bearer of Achilles curse, Percy Jackson. "Apologize," he ordered.

"I'm sorry," the camper muttered, not looking in the least bit apologetic. "Happy?"

"Yeah," Percy snapped, sitting down right next to Nico.

Nico stared.

"What?" he asked.

"This isn't your table," Nico told him. As if that needed to be said.

"Well, I'm eating here today," Percy said. "Do you not want me to eat here?"

"No," Nico said quickly, "It's fine."

Percy nodded. "Glad to hear it."

Nico glanced at the head table. Chiron was watching Percy with a hesitant expression on, but eventually nodded and returned to his salad. The rest of the meal passed in silence, with Percy making the occasional remark about how cool the cloak was or asking him about his latest trips. Nico hoped he wasn't boring Percy to death. He knew he wasn't the most interesting person in the world, but he was failing to make even simple conversation. And Nico really didn't want Percy to dislike him. He was like his big brother. He just wanted him to like him, too.

Percy and Nico stood in Percy's cabin. Nico shook out the cloak and held it out for them both to get under. A growing sense of unease filled the pit of Percy's chest. "I don't know if this is such a hot idea anymore, Nico," Percy said. "The first thing they'll do when they see you is most likely stun you and lock you up."

"This is why they won't see me," Nico replied, shaking the cloak impatiently. He had such a confident grin on his face. "And Sirius would never lock me up, which is why we'll only let him see us."

Percy wasn't quite as sure about the trustworthiness of Nico's new friend as he was, but he nodded and reluctantly stepped underneath the silky cloak. It was soft to the touch and felt like running water on his skin. Something about looking down and not seeing himself there really was strange. How could Annabeth wear that cap all the time? Being disembodied was just weird. Nico seemed to have no such qualms, and he grabbed Percy's arm. "Ready? Here we go..." he muttered, closing his eyes. Suddenly, they were flying through open space in a black void. Percy understood why Nico had shut his eyes. The shadow realm was disturbingly empty and frightening in that way. Even though they didn't have anything flying past to show him how fast they were going, Percy felt the cloak being torn away by the high speed. He gripped it tightly. How he would explain to that Harry kid that they lost his cloak in an endless void of shadows and death was beyond him.

The two of them appeared right in the front hall of the old house. Someone had been cleaning, Percy could tell. The building was much less dusty since the last time he had been there. He could see through into the kitchen, where large watermarks still stained the walls from his visit. Percy bit back a laugh.

Beside him, Nico drew in a breath. Sitting at the kitchen table was Sirius, sipping his coffee and reading a paper, looking bored. Percy realized that he hadn't noticed their arrival and still couldn't see them. "Sirius!" Nico cried, tearing off the cloak.

So much for making sure no one else was home. Percy smacked his forehead and pulled the cloak off of him, too. "Hello," he greeted.

Sirius was out of his seat instantly, at first a little wary looking but he masked it with a smile. "Nico?" he asked, his voice mostly shocked and not anywhere as eager as Nico's had been. Nico stopped, hearing the tone. This was not the warm reception he had been hoping for, Percy knew. Instead, Sirius seemed almost afraid. "And Percy, how nice. You wouldn't happen to have my godson's invisibility cloak, would you?" Now he sounded almost accusatory.

Nico stared at his feet. "Sorry," he mumbled. Percy wondered how long they had before Sirius just threw them out.

"Not to ruin your reunion," Percy said, "but are you alone? We don't want Nico getting locked back up again."

Sirius nodded. "No one else is here. But I doubt it would be an issue. If Nico got in, he can get out. You've been practicing, haven't you?"

Nico nodded. Percy realized that they had indeed come in the house without having any trouble. Nico had ignored whatever barrier had kept him inside last time. "I'm a lot better now," he said, yawning and stretching. "Do you have any coffee? I just woke up."

Sirius glanced at the clock, and Percy realized it was actually really, really late there. They had taken so long, what with him letting Nico nap and eat lunch. If it had been late when Nico left Europe before, it was now three AM in London. "Bit of an odd sleeping schedule you've got there," he said, but turned to the kitchen. "I'll heat up a pot for us."

"Thank you," Percy said, sitting down at the table. He glanced at the nasty watermarks on the wall. If he squinted, they almost looked like a skull. Now that was a nice memento of Nico. A few moments later, Sirius was handing them both coffee mugs. Nico drained his in one gulp, while Percy let his sit. He had never been a fan of drinks aside from water, really. Sure, Coca Cola was delicious, and he always loved to drink camp's special blue Coke, but nothing revitalized him like water. It probably came from being Poseidon's kid and all.

"You'll stunt your growth if you keep drinking coffee like that," Sirius said, refilling Nico's cup nonetheless. He was still watching them both like a caged animal. Nico seemed slightly hurt still, but he was covering it up well. "Harry'll probably want that back," he said. Nico cringed. "There's a lot going on at his school right now." And he proceeded to tell them about how Harry's school was basically being controlled by an old nasty hag named Umbridge, and how she kept giving him detentions. Then he explained about the evilest wizard ever returning from the dead, which interested Nico a bit, and how the world was denying everything.

"Nobody can come back from the dead," Nico told him when they were done. "Orpheus tried to bring someone back, but he failed. It can't be done." Sirius gave him a strange look.

"Why do you always talk about death?" Sirius asked. "Harry noticed it a few hours ago, too. It's like you understand it so well, it's odd."

Nico shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I've dealt with it a lot," he said. Then he stood up. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"You know where it is," Sirius said, a bit obnoxiously.

As soon as Nico was gone, Percy leaned over the table and said in a quiet but angry voice, "Do you have to bully the kid? He has enough trust issues as it is." Sirius was done messing with his cousin.

Sirius gave him a wide eyed look. "What? Me, bully a little boy? What kind of a person do you think I am?" But he was clearly uneasy.

"What happened that made you so afraid of Nico?"

"Nothing," Sirius insisted. "I'm not afraid of him. It's just... Harry was really disturbed by him, and he actually destroyed a ghost at his school, and he told him someone he knew was going to die, and that he had death embedded in his forehead."

"Well, then he probably does," Percy said, narrowing his eyes at Sirius. "Nico doesn't lie about that kind of stuff."

"How could he know it's true?" Sirius demanded. "He couldn't possibly know!"

"Nico knows," Percy said. "Listen, cut him some slack. He doesn't know most of his past, he spent around sixty years locked inside a crazy time warp casino, and he has had to deal with this whole 'ghost king' thing, and he gets no support from his dad, who always compares him to his dead sister. Plus he doesn't have a mom and is constantly bullied at the only place he can call home. So, lay off."

Sirius blinked once, startled. "Oh," he said.

"Yeah," Percy said, a bit out of breath. He had said the whole speech in just one breath, and now he wondered if it had been a good idea to tell Sirius all of this.

"So, he's like... seventy something?" Sirius asked.

Percy cracked a grin. "I spew all of that information out at you, and that's the one detail you grab? Yes, Nico is about seventy four. But he has the body and mind of a fourteen year old, so don't treat him like a grandpa." Maybe he could appreciate his cousin's best friend a little more.

Sirius sipped his coffee. "I have another question, too. You may remember that when we were back here about four months ago, everyone kept firing curses and jinxes at you, but they kept bouncing off. What happened? Why did none of the curses work on you?"

Percy glanced at the table and scratched it with his nail. It was hard to approach this subject. "I'm basically invulnerable," he said. "Sort of like Achilles from the ancient Greek myths, I guess you could compare it to."

"Sorry, I'm unfamiliar with Muggle mythology," Sirius said.

"Muggle?" Percy asked, confused. He frowned.

"Oh, non-magical person. Most of the world's population, really."

"Oh." Percy paused. "Okay. Well, when Achilles was a baby, his mother dipped him in the River Styx—and when you get touched by the water, you become invincible. Spears, arrows, you name it—it all bounced off of him. But she held him by his heel when she did that, so that one little bit of him wasn't invincible. He was the best fighter in the world, because nothing could hurt him, but one day an enemy snuck up on him and shot a poisoned arrow into his heel. And that killed him."

"So that's why they have the Achilles heel metaphor?" Sirius asked. "Interesting. But this never really happened."

Percy hesitated. "Well, that's the common belief." He dodged answering that one specifically.

"And where does your invincibility stem from?" Sirius asked, but just then Nico reentered the room. "Hello, Nico," Sirius said, in a much more cheery tone. Nico glanced at Percy in confusion, clearly thrown for a loop. "Want some cookies? They're kind of old and stale now, but cookies are cookies."

"Okay?" he said, like it was a question. Sirius got up and started rifling through the pantry. A few moments later he returned with a plate of chocolate chip cookies. Percy nibbled on the corner of one to be polite, but they were about as hard as concrete. To his surprise, Nico was munching through them contentedly. He didn't seem to be spitting out teeth, either, although the cookies were making a frightening cracking noise every time he bit into one.

Suddenly, the front door opened and Sirius called out, "Who's there?" in a cold voice. He drew his wand.

"It's me, Sirius," Moody said. He began hobbling down the hall but stopped, and a door opened, presumably a closet. "Where are you?"

"The living room," Sirius lied, motioning frantically for them to get back under the invisibility cloak. Percy hauled Nico up and threw the cloak over the both of them, dragging him towards the corner. Nico snatched one last cookie off the table.

"No, you're not," Moody said, coming into the kitchen. "I'm not a fool." He glanced towards the corner where Nico and Percy were huddled, and for a frightening moment, Percy thought he could see them. Then he glanced away, his false eye whizzing in its socket and Percy let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Why do you have three cups on the table?" he asked, scowling at Nico's coffee mug.

"I was getting ready for you and Tonks to get off work," Sirius lied smoothly.

"Why are they half empty and cold, then?" Moody demanded, and Percy was sure they were about to be caught. His hand drifted towards Riptide, but then he rethought it. He would only be making trouble for Sirius if they appeared now.

"Because I ran out of coffee halfway through pouring them and need to make a new pot," Sirius said. "Honestly, you're so suspicious of everything, Moody. Do you think I'm harboring criminals or something?"

"Funny," Moody grunted. "Considering Sirius Black is talking."

Sirius bristled and turned away. "Make your own coffee," he said.

Percy wanted to ask what was going on, but Nico grabbed his arm and hauled him into the black shadow world. His stomach churned violently. That was something he would have to be prepared for next time. When they landed back in Percy's cabin, Percy turned to Nico and demanded, "What was that all about?"

Nico dropped his head. "Sirius told me that he was a wanted criminal, but he didn't commit the crime he was imprisoned for."

"What crime was he imprisoned for?" Percy asked, a bit worried.

Nico stared up at him. "Murder."

Percy stared at his friend in shock. "What?"

"No, he didn't do it. It was another guy, he was framed. Haven't you ever seen a cop show, Percy?" Nico said. "He didn't do it!"

Percy turned away and ran a hand through his hair. "I just ate a wanted murderer's cookies. That has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever done." While Nico broke into a grin, convinced his cousin was now okay with his choice of friends, Percy was far from okay with it. His best friend was a convicted murderer. That was just wrong on so many levels. What if he started rubbing off on Nico?

Then again, Nico would really be much more likely to rub off on him. It was sad, but he knew Nico didn't exactly have it easy all the time and had killed plenty of monsters. As far as he knew, Nico hadn't killed any humans yet, but he was worried that as Nico grew older, he'd only slip more towards insanity.

Nico held up the cloak. "I know I should bring this back to Harry," he said, slightly sadly, but Percy smiled and shook his head.

"I think the kid can survive for one day without his cloak," Percy said. "You don't have to return it right now. Besides, he's probably sleeping. You'd just freak him out if you woke him up in the middle of the night."

Nico perked up considerably at the thought of getting to keep the invisibility cloak for another day. "Sooo... how long do I get to have it for?"

Percy shrugged. He really shouldn't encourage this kind of behavior, as he was probably the closest thing Nico had to a good role model, but the cloak was really cool. And it was just the kind of thing Nico could use to keep safe from any bullies or whatever. "Return it whenever you feel like it's a good time. Does he have any way to get in contact with you?"

"I gave him a drachma," Nico said. Percy smiled. That was good, now it wasn't totally like he had stolen his cloak with no way for him to ever get it back. "I told him that when people around him start dying, to get in contact with me and we'll talk."

That was less good. The poor Harry kid was probably way too freaked out to even look at the drachma, as he had been told that it would be useful when people he knew started dying. "We should call him and let him know it's safe and that we'll bring it back," Percy said, but he really didn't want to. The cloak was beyond awesome. Nico had wrapped it around his shoulders and was now nothing but a floating head in the middle of the room. He took a few steps and his head bobbled a little bit as it moved. "Actually, you know what? Let's not do it just yet," Percy said, and Nico gave him a sly grin. "Can I try it?"

The sound of maniacal laughter filled the house. Sirius hurried down the stairs and peered into the drawing room, almost worried about what he would find. To his surprise and relief, it was nothing but Kreacher, rocking back and forth in front of the fire place. Then a wave of suspicion and fear drew over him. Kreacher, laughing? Something was obviously wrong. "What happened just now, Kreacher?" Sirius demanded, grabbing his miserable house elf by the shoulder. Kreacher stopped laughing and glared at him like he was the foulest thing he had ever seen on the face of the planet.

"Nothing happened in the house, master," Kreacher spat, twisting under his iron grip. "Nothing has happened."

"I order you to tell me what happened just now," Sirius snarled, shaking Kreacher hard. The house elf's head rattled back and forth, but Kreacher merely stared up at him in silence.

Then his eyes began to twitch after about ten seconds of silence, and he said, very quickly and very quietly, "The filthy mudblood loving Potter boy came to see if you were here and Kreacher told him that you were gone, which Kreacher wishes very much you were. He now thinks you're being tortured by the Dark Lord." Kreacher dropped his voice to a mutter, as if Sirius couldn't hear him. "Kreacher wishes his master would be tortured something awful."

Sirius threw the house elf to the floor in a rage and flew up the flight of stairs to his bedroom. That was where he had left the golden coin Percy had given him to call if he needed it, tucked safely under the mattress. He tore first the blankets and then the whole mattress off his bed, but the coin had vanished. He dropped and looked underneath the bed, but it wasn't there either. Frantically, Sirius began yanking drawers open and throwing furniture out of the way to look behind it, but the coin had as good as disappeared.

As he stood in the room, panting hard and dread filling him up, he heard Kreacher come muttering up the stairs and try and slip past his room. "Traitor master will not find his coin, no matter how hard he looks," Kreacher was cackling softly, obviously not realizing he was speaking out loud. Furiously, Sirius stomped out. If he had ever wanted to hit his house elf, now was the time. Kreacher glanced at him and started to sidle away quickly, obviously expecting him to kick him over the banister and fall three floors to his death.

"What did you do with the coin, Kreacher?" Sirius asked, his voice surprisingly soft and calm to him. Inside, he was a ball of fury, but somehow his words were collected and not the least bit menacing.

Kreacher obviously heard the change in his tone and glanced at him, startled. "Kreacher has thrown it out with the rest of the garbage," Kreacher replied. Then he Disapparated before Sirius really could fling him down the stairs.

Sirius wanted to scream. He punched the wall and an ancient painting depicting dark wizards sacrificing something foul fell to the ground, the frame cracking. He needed Nico's help, but he was all alone. The drachma was gone, and Harry was in trouble.

Everything was falling apart.

A/N: I AM SO SORRY! I didn't mean to take this long to update, but I got this horrible virus on my computer, again, and then I got it on my brother's computer when he said I could use it to update, and then my parents didn't trust me with any of their laptops so I've basically been sitting around the house with no purpose in life since the last update. Can you ever forgive me?

Please review, even if it's just to spit your fury and rage at me for my terrible updating schedule. I'll accept your anger, because I totally deserve it. TT_TT