Gods, the last chapter was incredibly mushy. Bear with it, please. Hahaha. It was a request though, Percy's birthday so yeah. I'll be doing only Percy's POV as a first person's POV if that's okay.

Disclaimer: I don't have gray hair, so unless Uncle Rick suddenly decided to dye his, and even then, I don't own any of his books and the characters in it.

Chapter III

Nico's POV

Underworld

One Day before School Starts

"I take it Demeter hasn't succeeded on teaching you farming for eternity," Chiron asks him with amusement in his eyes. Nico di Angelo grumbled. It's too early in the morning to be having this kind of talk, no sun, dark sky. Plus, he really didn't like talking about anything that has to do with plants ever since meeting Demeter and Persephone. "Thanks to you. Father heard of the schools. Took pity on my pleading look, and remembered the schools and told Demeter I was already signed up. I've no choice now," he muttered

"Oh, don't you worry, you'll have fun," Chiron says. "Fun," Nico says sarcastically. "Yes, not to mention Persephone wouldn't let me go without swearing I'd eat cereal at least once a day," he adds. "Hmm, Persephone did love cereal," Chiron mumbles.

"No, she doesn't. She just likes forcing me to do things that I don't want" Nico says in a tone that was almost like a growl. Nobody talked for a while. "Well, c'mon, Chiron, give me the list and I'll pop by already," Nico says.

Nico notices Chiron studying him. He wonders what Chiron things. A sixteen year old boy with a mind of a thirteen year old? A memory flashed. He remembered aging three years, offering three years of his life to put Mother Earth back to sleep. But then, Chiron had always thought before that Nico was wise beyond his years.

Chiron gives him the least but Nico makes no move to get it. "Chiron, is Mr D really right sending us all away? There's something not right about this," Nico asks. He still gets this feeling that everything that was happening was a façade.

"I know child, don't worry. Come now, take it, and bring them to the School," Chiron tells him. "There's just about nine other half-bloods that'll be enrolled in the same school as you," he says. Nico takes the list. Ten, he thought. Just ten of them? Other schools contained twenties at average. Why was there just ten?

The moment Nico skimmed the list, he figured out why. "Are you sure you don't want to lower it to five Chiron? I shouldn't be even with this bunch. Or at least one of this bunch. The scent level would be way too—"

"Oh don't worry, Percy can handle it," Chiron say. Well, Percy's scent is the problem in the first place, Nico thought. Too high. He can't see any way putting him in the same place as Percy would do any better. Their scents together…will oh well. If it's what Chiron says.

He reads the list. Apparently, Percy and Annabeth won't need him for transport since they were near the school. "Well, I'll be going, Chiron. Need to pick up school kids," Nico says. Chiron nods and closes his eyes as if to think. The list told him he'd be chaperoning seven people to school. Travis and Connor, Katie, Kayla, Lacy, Mitchel. He was delving into the Shadow now, but paused when he saw the seventh one: Clovis.

Clovis? He actually got Clovis awake long enough to convince him to go to school? And forget that, he's gonna put the whole school asleep with him. Nico stepped out of the Shadow back to Chiron to ask for an explanation, when he heard Chiron's voice. The Shadow was so thin now, that he could jump up and break it and be back in Camp, so thin that voices travelled through it. Who was Chiron talking to?

"Are all the preparations good, Chiron?"

"Yes, all is well. It'll be fine."

"How…how about her? Are you sure you want to... *sighs* Chiron. Why so near in the first place? Are you sure it's safe? Not just for her, for him to. Please, I don't want any of them hurt"

"Yes, I'm sure. It's goode. It's all fine. Plus, She has her mother's bravery too"

"And does—does he know about this?"

"No, as of the moment. You made sure of that, my Lord"

"B—someone is here. I can feel a faint presence"

Oops. Nico quickly delved into the Shadow forgetting Clovis immediately. Nico's heart was drumming fast. He knew who owned the voice Chiron was talking to. But what did all mean? Should he tell Percy about this? He might need to know, maybe, he knew something about it.