Chiron listened without much comment. Annabeth kept making small noises, but she didn't say anything. She just kept giving me looks that were mostly worried, except for when they were obviously disapproving. I tried to ignore her, which actually wasn't too hard with Grover shuffling around the room and eating doilies and whatever else he could find sitting around that I hoped Mr. D. wouldn't miss too much. It was pretty weird describing everything in, well, detail, but I figured if I didn't do it now Chiron would probably ask questions about it later. So I sat there and tried not to squirm and I talked until I ran out of things to say.

I'd never thought of talking as particularly tiring, but by the time I got to what had happened yesterday in the woods I was pretty exhausted. I felt like I'd been talking for hours. When I got to the part about feeling Nico die, my stomach felt cold and I had to blink a lot because my eyes kept stinging. Nico being dead seemed more real every time I said the words, and I just felt worse and worse every time I thought about it. I realized just how much I'd been looking forward to seeing him when I got back. And now I couldn't even see his body, because they'd already burned it. I wondered if he'd even gotten a proper funeral shroud. Who would've made it for him? I hoped it wasn't the Ares kids.

When I finally stopped talking and slumped down in my seat a little, Chiron nodded and stroked his beard with a thoughtful look. "That does explain a lot, really," he finally said with a sigh. "You two had started to become sensitive to each other's realms of influence because of the nature of your relationship. That was why Nico had the ability to control water as you do, and why you seem to have become sensitive to death." I nodded slowly, remembering now how Nico had said that he knew whether people were dead or not. I'd never thought about how he'd known, but now I understood because I knew it too.

"Wait," Annabeth said, looking at Chiron, her expression suddenly strange. "If all that can happen because Percy and Nico… uh, you know," she flushed a little, "then what about… other half-bloods? Like if a boy and a girl…?" She did have a point. How come this didn't happen every time two heroes, you know, got together? Maybe it did… or maybe it was just that half-bloods didn't usually live long enough to get together very often.

"Ah, but there's a difference," Chiron said, raising a finger and seemingly oblivious to Annabeth's obvious discomfort. "When a male and a female couple, there is not the, ah, mutual exchange of fluids, as in Percy and Nico's case."

Now it was my turn to feel some obvious discomfort. "Wait, so you're saying that the whole power thing, it's just when guys… do it?"

Chiron nodded. "It was not uncommon among the Greeks for men to take male partners, of course. But it was discouraged among half-bloods for that very reason. The exchange of abilities can make the heroes involved in such a coupling much more powerful – and possibly much more dangerous." I could see how the gods might not like that. Not with the whole I could be the one to either save Olympus or destroy it prophecy already hanging over my head. And besides, it could've applied to Nico as well – we were both kids of the Big Three. Suddenly I was pretty surprised we'd gone unnoticed for as long as we had.

Grover nodded. "So that's what the oracle meant when she said the gods weren't thrilled about it. It sounds like Hades was just getting a head start." He glanced at me and I got the feeling he was probably remembering our first quest together, when we'd gone into the Underworld because we'd thought Hades had stolen Zeus's master lightning bolt. Our audience with him then hadn't gone so well, either. "Hades doesn't like you much anyway."

I shrugged. "Well, I don't really like him much either."

"That's as may be," Chiron said quietly, looking at me as though examining me for physical defects, "but you have a part of him inside you now, through Nico. You can already sense death, at least when it's near you. You may be able to affect other aspects of it as well – whether this is good or bad, I don't yet know, but we must proceed carefully." I guess he had a point – I didn't exactly think that Hades would be thrilled if I had death powers.

"Proceed?" Grover asked, coming over beside me, his hat in his hands as he twisted it like he wanted to wrench it in two. "What do you mean? I mean… the oracle is dead. Nico – " He swallowed and glanced at me. "Nico's dead. What do we do now?"

That was the question, wasn't it? What do we do now? What was I supposed to do, now that he was gone?

"Tell me again what the oracle said," Chiron said. "As exactly as you can."

Annabeth immediately cleared her throat and began to recite, but Chiron stopped her after the first sentence. "She mentioned a plan – Percy, were you and Nico planning something?"

I swallowed. "Well… yeah," I admitted. "I mean, that was why he showed up at my window in the first place." Or, at least, why he'd said he had. "He had an idea, a way we might be able to beat Luke – I mean, Kronos." Annabeth looked sharply at me, like she was mad at me for not saying anything to her. I didn't exactly want to tell her it was because every time I mentioned Luke she got all defensive. It wasn't my fault the guy was a traitor, but sometimes I felt like maybe she thought it was.

Now Chiron looked very interested. "I see," he said, and I could feel not only his eyes on me, but Annabeth's and Grover's as well. "And you two were… working on this plan?"

I nodded, feeling suddenly just as self-conscious as when I'd been talking about everything Nico and I had done. "Yeah… I mean, we were just talking about it. It's not much. We were going to tell you when it was, you know, more than just a couple of ideas."

"I see," Chiron said again, but now he was frowning. "Well, it's obvious this plan must hold merit, because it's apparently the reason Kronos sent his assassins here for Nico."

My stomach suddenly felt cold again. Could that have been the reason? It suddenly made a lot of sense – why else would they come after Nico now? They hadn't ever come after him over the summer when he'd stayed here, or even when we'd been at my mom's apartment. But I hadn't thought anyone would know about our plan. We'd only talked about it in whispers in my room. How could Kronos have found out about it when we'd barely started to figure it out ourselves?

"So… what was your plan?" Annabeth asked, voicing the obvious question. "If it was so important, maybe you'd better tell us."

Chiron nodded in agreement. I sighed, already feeling like I'd run a marathon just from having told them everything about me and Nico earlier. But I had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to get some rest until I'd told Chiron about our plan. So I took a deep breath and started talking. We hadn't really gotten far on it, but the most important part of it was something Nico had sensed. It was something none of us could have known without powers like his.

Nico had said that Luke was dying. He could feel it – Kronos was leeching the life out of Luke's body and soon he would burn out like a candle. Then Kronos would be left with a dead body and no Luke. He'd have to switch to a different body. And he'd be vulnerable in that instant.

But of course that meant Luke was going to die. In fact, Nico's plan kind of depended upon it. Annabeth looked pretty stricken as soon as I said it. I knew she still cared about Luke a lot, even if he was a traitor. I couldn't say I really understood. The guy had tried to kill me more times than just about anyone else, and even though I got what Hermes had said about being family I knew I still would've killed him if I ever got the chance. But even if I admitted that I would've killed him in a fight, this was something different. If Kronos had his way Luke would just go out like a candle. That didn't seem right somehow. Not even for someone like Luke.

Chiron was nodding again. "I had suspected," he murmured, glancing at Annabeth before he looked back to me. "I suppose it is good to have confirmation, though the news is grim."

"Yeah," I said, feeling pretty grim myself. There was a lot more Nico had wanted to do, too. He wanted to recruit all of the dead heroes in the Underworld to help us. He had been pretty sure he could do that… But then I realized that I was thinking like Nico was still alive to do all that stuff. And he wasn't – which meant that most of this plan was shot to, well, Hades.

And there were a lot of other factors, too. If Kronos got himself a new body – an immortal body – and we couldn't stop him in time, things would go from bad to worse in an instant. The clock was ticking, and nobody knew how much time we had left. Sure, Chiron's prophecy said I would be sixteen when I had to choose between the gods or the titans. But I knew that wasn't really much comfort. A lot of things could get pretty bad before the potential end of the world became an issue.

"It is a weakness we could exploit," Chiron finally admitted, stroking his beard a bit. "And any weakness is worth considering, given the alternative." Annabeth was biting her lip; she looked pale but she nodded. Grover was watching Chiron with dark eyes. "I will give it some thought," Chiron finally announced. "Even without Nico, perhaps some sort of variation on –"

"What about Percy?" Grover interrupted, looking at me. "Can you feel Luke's life force and tell how much time we have left? I mean…" he flushed a little, "since you have some of Nico's powers now."

I shook my head. "No, I don't think so. I can't feel anything like that." I didn't want to admit that it was horrible enough to just feel people die. It was like a punch to the gut with a spiked glove every time. A spiked glove coated with poison, even. I didn't know how Nico could stand it – could've stood it, my mind corrected miserably. He didn't have to stand it any more.

But the point was I didn't want to be able to feel somebody's life burning out. And unless there was some special ritual that Nico had done to feel it, then at least I could rest assured I wasn't going to, either. I didn't feel a thing.

Chiron's lips were pressed together, making a thin line across his face. "We'll have to work around our limitations if we intend to carry out this plan," he said quietly. "I do think it holds merit, given the cost at which…" He trailed off, looking at me like he was silently trying to tell me he was sorry. It didn't help much, but I guess it was better than nothing to hear him pretty much say that Nico hadn't died for nothing. Because he hadn't. He was a hero.

He changed the subject by asking about the rest of the prophecy. Annabeth recited the rest as he listened silently. "Most of it makes sense," Annabeth mused when she was done, frowning in that way that she did whenever she was faced with a puzzle and not enough information to solve it. "But there's the part about repeating a quest…"

"A failed quest of old, in particular," Chiron said as he considered the oracle's words. He was looking at me with this weird expression, like he wasn't sure if he should say more because I was going to take whatever he said the wrong way.

Of course, that only made me want to know what he knew even more. After all, he knew everything I knew by now, wasn't I entitled to the same? I hated it when he looked at me that way. "What is it?" I asked, probably sounding a little more demanding than I meant to. "What do you know about it?"

He sighed. "Well, there is a certain quest that comes to mind, given the context of the prophecy. But you must understand – listen to the words, Percy. Failed quest of old – there's a reason it failed. This sort of quest is always doomed from the start. You yourself have attempted it, and failed to save what mattered most, if you recall."

I stared at him a minute as his words sank in, trying to make sense out of what the oracle had said. Grover looked nervously around the room, biting his bottom lip like he wanted to pick up one of the figurines on the nearby end table and start munching on it. Annabeth suddenly looked very concerned, frowning at me and shaking her head. Chiron was still looking at me with that weird expression that said he knew something I didn't and he didn't like what it was.

But suddenly everything was becoming clear. Failed to save what mattered most – I knew very well what that meant. "I know what I have to do," I said, looking right at Chiron. Why hadn't I thought of it before? "I have to go down into the Underworld and get him back."

Annabeth shook her head so fast her blonde hair whipped around and hit me on the shoulder. "Percy, you can't – you heard what Chiron said! It hasn't worked before – you've tried it and failed. Even Orpheus failed, and he actually got Hades to agree to let him try. You can't do it."

I'd heard about Orpheus before. He was kind of like an ancient Greek pop star who had gone into the Underworld to ask Hades to give him back his girlfriend, Eurydice. He sang a song that was so sad that even Hades cried and finally said he could have Eurydice back. But the catch was that he couldn't look back to see if she was following him until they were all the way out of the Underworld. I guess he got antsy or thought that maybe Hades had lied to him or something, because he was almost out when he'd looked back. Eurydice had been following him, but the deal was broken and she disappeared as soon as he saw her. There was no way Hades would have given him a second chance.

I frowned. Annabeth didn't understand. Sure, some guy with a lyre had failed, but that wasn't me. And maybe the last time I'd tried something like this before it had failed, but that was years ago. I had a little bit of the Underworld inside of me now. How could I possibly be better prepared to succeed at a quest like this than having apparently acquired at least limited death powers of my own? That was better than a good signing voice any day.

"I have to do it," I told her. I was as serious about this as I had ever been about anything in my life. My stomach felt funny. Could I really do it? Could I really get Nico back? It didn't matter what anyone else thought. I knew I had to try.

"Does that mean we have to go on another quest?" Grover asked hollowly and I glanced at him, feeling bad. I knew that he didn't really like quests, especially when they involved being underground.

"I'm going," I said. "I mean, the prophecy says I have to. I can do it this time. The oracle knew it." I wasn't positive of that, but why would she tell me to repeat a quest if I was going to fail it?

"If the oracle could see all that, why couldn't she see what was going to happen to her?" Annabeth countered quickly, frowning. I knew she didn't like the idea of me going down into the Underworld, but I didn't care. It wasn't her decision. "She said something about it being too soon. That means she knew about the attack, didn't it? Then she could've prevented…"

But Chiron was shaking his head sadly. "Oracles cannot see their own deaths clearly. They may get visions of the events leading up to their demise, but they do not know the time or place they will occur. It seems she had some idea of what was going to happen, but not when it was going to happen." He turned to me. "Percy, you must promise me – promise you will not attempt anything until we have thought this through." Chiron looked down at me and suddenly I felt like one of those kids who has to be put on suicide watch or something. "I need to know that you will still be here in the morning."

I won't lie – most of me wanted to go after Nico right then. I didn't care about what Chiron or Annabeth thought about how hopeless it was. I could do this with or without their support. But I was exhausted after everything that had happened, and Grover was looking at me with a pleading look in his eyes as he continued to wring his hat. Somehow I knew that waiting another day wouldn't matter enough in the long run. Nico would still be there in the Underworld. So I sighed and nodded, looking at my dusty sneakers and the faded carpet covering the floor. "Yeah. I'll be here in the morning," I said.

"Good," Chiron said, with an air of finality that ended the discussion for now. "I think we all need some rest. We'll talk about this again in the morning." He glanced out the window, where the sun was starting to set over the strawberry fields. "It should be about time for dinner. Why don't you all get something to eat – you must be famished."

I probably should have been hungry, but my stomach still felt like it was full of frozen lead and I didn't think I could eat anything. All the same, it was easier to let Annabeth and Grover drag me towards the dining pavilion than to put up much of a fight. If I at least made some attempt to eat something, they'd probably be more likely to leave me alone after dinner so I could think. As we made our way down the steps of the Big House's porch the conch shell sounded over the campgrounds, marking the start of dinner. The campers who were year-rounders – a lot more than there had been before, I was pretty sure – began filing out of their cabins and towards the open-air tables of the pavilion.

Annabeth and Grover left me at the empty Poseidon table with worried looks as they went off to their own respective tables to eat. Mr. D wasn't at his usual place, but I supposed that wasn't so unusual as of late. Things were getting down to the wire – everyone felt it. Kronos was going to make his move, and soon. There wasn't a lot of time for luxuries anymore.

The naiads who served our meals left a big platter of barbecue in front of me, but even the smell of A-1 wafting from the plate couldn't convince my stomach to be hungry. I joined the line of campers at the fire pit in the center to make my customary offering to the gods, but suddenly I wasn't sure how much it meant anymore. I mean, from what the Oracle and Chiron had said, none of the gods were likely to be on my side. I wondered for the hundredth time what my dad thought about all this – was Hades really right? Was Poseidon angry with me? Did he hate Nico? How was I supposed to convince anyone that we had just wanted to be left alone?

I scraped most of the meat on my plate into the fire, staring at the flames as the meat burned and smoked. "Please be on my side," I whispered into the fire.

Nothing happened. I tried to convince myself that while that might be worse than a good sign, it was better than a bad one. I went back to my table and picked at the rest of the food on my plate, trying to ignore the looks and whispers I was getting from the other campers. I stared at the rest of my brisket bitterly and wondered if word had gotten around yet that I was gay. That I'd had a boyfriend. That he had been the son of Hades, who didn't even have a cabin here at camp. That he was dead now, and it was probably what he deserved.

I didn't have to wonder for long. "Hey, Percy!" boomed a taunting voice from the Ares table. I didn't have to look up to know it came from Clarisse. "I think your mom was a little off when she named you! She should've called you Nancy instead!"

There were snickers and wolf-whistles from the other campers at her table. I just glared at my plate and wished that being the son of the Sea God came with the power to make people's heads explode with my brain. There were a couple of other jokes that I was fuming too much to really hear, and then Silena Beauregard at the Aphrodite table got the bright idea to counter on my behalf with some spiel on how love was beautiful and knew no bounds, not even gender. That only made the Ares kids laugh louder, and I could feel my face burning as I stared at my plate. I wished that I could at least use Nico's power to open the ground so that I could sink down into it and die. I already felt pretty lousy, given everything that had happened. I didn't need the Aphrodite kids trying to defend me to the Ares kids about how love was beautiful and was supposed to conquer all. Because obviously it didn't or Nico wouldn't be dead and I wouldn't be stuck here when there was a way I could go and save him.

So instead I just sat there and moved the food around on my plate and thought about how much I didn't particularly want it. I thought about Nico and how he could open up the earth when he wanted to. I looked over and saw the jagged line where he had opened the ground to swallow a legion of skeleton soldiers two years ago. And I began to wonder – if Nico could divert the lake, then maybe I could do other things he could do, like…

An idea suddenly popped into my head. I went back to my food with more enthusiasm this time, moving things around a little more and making a show of forcing at least a few bits of barbecued brisket down. Then I got up and went for seconds. I slapped a couple of big pieces of meat on my plate, then went back to the table and managed to get a little more of my dinner down. Then I made a big show of "accidentally" dropping the remainder in my lap, while what I was really doing was stuffing as much brisket into the pockets of my jeans as I could manage. It wasn't very sanitary, but I figured it didn't need to be for what I was planning.

I pulled my shirt down as far as it could go, getting sauce all over it in the process, but at least that would probably mask the meat juice that was starting to leak through my pockets. Some of the other campers – mostly the Ares cabin – snickered but I ignored them and stood.

I headed straight for cabin number three. Once I was inside I pulled the meat out of my pockets and changed clothes as fast as I could. I chucked my old clothes in the laundry bin as the smell of steak sauce permeated the whole cabin, almost overpowering the sea salt smell coming from the fountain bubbling in the corner.

I sat on my bed. Now all I had to do was wait until dark.