A/N: Hello~ It's Sundayyyy! Not gonna lie, I wrote almost all of this today. BUT I got it in on time. Thanks for suggestions, and encouragement, I will incorporate some ideas in the next chapter. MORE IDEAS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED.

The school looked nice enough. It was big, and probably old, judging by the worn brick look. It looked too happy, though. He could see freshmen being ushered through the doors, the upperclassmen laughing at their confusion. Nico was most surprised at the sheer amount of people. How could there be so many mortals in one place? And this was only young mortals. They probably each had two parents and probably siblings, too. Nico had never thought about how outnumbered the demigods were.

"Nico, freshmen can go that way, with that group over there." Percy pointed towards the youngest mortals. Nico nodded.

When he got to the group, he stayed to the back and couldn't hear whoever was talking. Suddenly everyone started walking towards the doors, on instruction from an adult probably. Nico followed, staying in the back, hopefully unseen for the most part.

"Hey." A voice to his right said. He turned to see a short blond boy in a hoodie with big black "hipster" glasses and a beanie. Probably trying to be cool.

"Hello." Nico muttered.

"My name's Rowan. What's yours?" The boy asked. Nico wasn't really in the mood to talk.

"Nico."

"Cool." Rowan said. The two walked together in awkward silence, neither daring to speak. They followed the group of freshmen down the halls, and there were a ton of freshmen. It was probably at least ten minutes before they got to the gym, where an orientation was being held. Honestly, it would have been easier to just send the kids there in their own time instead of gathering them outside. Stupid mortals.

There were chairs set out for them, and as he sat down Rowan sat next to him. He assumed this kid had no friends, or he wouldn't be wasting his time trying to talk to Nico.

Then a lady who acted overly perky stood on a small platform in front and began a long boring speech.

"We're so happy you're here!"

"You'll love the school!"

"The teachers are amazing!"

"Everyone is super nice!"

It was obvious to Nico it was all lies. Well, it might be nice for other people, but Nico knew he was the kind of person that would have a less than pleasant experience.

"What a load of crap." Rowan muttered. Nico nodded out of instinct. It seemed someone agreed.

"Alright kiddos! If your last name starts with an A through C then follow me!" The really annoying lady said. Nico wasn't entirely sure if di Angelo counted as and A or a D, but he stood up anyway. To his disappointment, Rowan stood up too. Nico followed the other people who had stood up, and was overly aware of Rowan behind him.

The day dragged on, and Nico was bored out of his mind. This place was full of uncaring teenagers and overly happy adults. He hadn't seen Percy all day, which was something to be happy about. He did see a lot of Rowan, however. The kid had practically stuck to him like glue the entire morning. He didn't attempt conversation, but it seemed like he really wanted to. Nico did not want to talk, though.

Soon enough, it was time for lunch. Nico had told Mrs. Jackson that he would prefer to buy his own lunch, with his own money. This was a lie, he didn't have any money, and really just wasn't hungry. So now Nico was sitting at a picnic table outside, alone.

"Can I sit here?" A voice asked. Nico pretty much already knew who it was, who else would talk to him? He turned to see -he guessed it- Rowan. Nico nodded, and looked down at the table.

"So… um, do you play any games?" Rowan asked nervously. Nico was slightly surprised. They hadn't talked all day, and this was what he decided to say?

"I, uh, used to play Mythomagic, when I was younger." Nico said. Why not talk to someone for once.

"When you were younger? I still play it now." Rowan said, grinning.

"Cool." Nico shrugged. He didn't really like to talk about Mythomagic anymore, it reminded him too much of his sister. And now Nico was sad.

"Any other games?" Rowan asked.

"No, not really."

"Oh, really? You've got to play this one game! It's super cool, it has mysteries, and monsters, and you can play it without a computer, too." Rowan got really excited. Nico wasn't sure why. It's just a game. "Here, let me show you." He turned and reached into his bag, pulling out something that Nico wasn't sure he had seen before.

"What's that?" Nico asked. Rowan looked at him, surprised.

"It's an Ipad. For games and stuff?" Rowan looked kind of confused. Which confused Nico.

"Huh." Nico said simply. He was curious. In all of his traveling, he had seen an Ipad before, but hadn't known what it was. He leaned over to look at it.

"See?" Rowan pressed a button on the side, and the screen lit up. "And now we just go to the game…" He pressed a few more buttons.

"What game is it?" Nico asked.

"Slenderman. I'm not sure why, cause I don't think he's a man, and I wouldn't call him slender, but it's cool." Rowan shrugged. Nico looked at the screen, not sure what to expect. First is a title screen. 'He is back.' Written in blood. Then choose a setting: night or day. Rowan tapped day, and the game began.

"All I remember is that I need to find the signs." Rowan read aloud. "So, basically, you walk around this spooky forest, and look for notes. They say creepy stuff, like 'he's here' or 'no one will find your body'" Rowan explained. The screen showed a scene where it seemed like you were in the forest. It was kind of unnerving, even though Nico knew it wasn't real.

"And here's a sign!" Rowan said. A paper appears on the screen, saying 'He's always watching.'

"What's the point of this?" Nico asked.

"To find the notes without dieing." Rowan said.

"How are you supposed to die? Tripping over a branch?"

"No… like… hang on." Rowan walked around the misty forest some more. The screen started to get scratchy, and hard to see where you were going. Rowan stopped walking. He waited, then made his character turn around.

"Like that!" He yelled. On the screen, there was a faceless white head, in a suit. Nico jumped back, he was not expecting that. Rowan laughed. "And that's Slenderman."

"What in Hades was that?" Nico muttered. Rowan only laughed harder.

"Nico!" A voice yelled. Nico looked up, and saw Percy walking towards him.

"Hello." Nico greeted. Seeing Percy reminded him that he was here against his will, and that he was angry about it.

"How's it going?" Percy asked, sitting down next to Nico. He glanced sideways at Rowan. "Made a friend?" Nico just shrugged.

"Hi, my name's Rowan." Rowan said, holding out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Percy, Nico's cousin." Percy shook Rowan's hand. "Alright, I'm gonna go. Have fun!" Percy ruffled Nico's hair, and walked off to do Zeus knows what.

"Seems like a nice guy." Rowan remarked.

"Too nice, in my opinion." Nico muttered.

"Hey, want to come my place after school? We could play more games." Rowan suggested. Nico looked at him, eyes wide, and actually considered it.

It would be after school, and no Percy or Mrs. Jackson. He could run. Or he could be a good little boy and go straight home after hanging out with a friend. But no. Nico only felt a little bit guilty for planning to use Rowan as an escape.

"Yeah, sure."