"No, Jason, look," Nico tried to explain, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Zeus has lightning bolts that give six hundred damage. As Apollo, you have two thousand defense. I took away six hundred on my last turn AND the turn before that. If I were you, I would use this turn to change gods."

Jason and Nico were playing Mythomagic in the Zeus cabin. This was the third round today. Jason had lost both of the previous ones via extremely poor strategic choices. Nico was almost tempted to let him win, just so he could have some small victory.

Jason pushed his glasses up on his face. "But Apollo is the best one I have."

"Not anymore," Nico pointed out.

Jason's shoulders slumped. "It's not really fair to use my own father against me."

Nico sighed as he pulled his hand of cards together. "Okay, well, we could always stop playing."

"No!" Jason yelled. "I mean, I'm not giving up just yet."

Nico sighed. How Jason had pulled him back into playing this little kid game, he had no idea. It probably went something along the lines of, "PLEASE, NICO. I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY IIIIIT." Jason pulled stunts like that all the time. Unfortunately, most of the time, it worked. They had been playing it in their spare time for months now.

Jason looked through his collection of action figures. He pulled one out and let him take the place of Apollo. "Dionysus, I choose you."

It took everything within Nico's power to restrain from groaning and slamming his head down on the table. Dionysus was literally the weakest. Way too easy to beat. As Nico proved when he defeated Jason for the third time in a row.

As Jason reshuffled the deck, Nico picked up his figurines and stood to leave.

"Whoa, dude," Jason called after him. "Aren't we going to play another round?"

Nico shook his head. "Um, actually, I was just going to go walk a bit after I put these away..."

Nodding, Jason swept up his collection of figurines. He stuffed them into a plastic box which he shoved under his bunk. "You don't mind if I tag along, do you?"

Nico shook his head. "No, I guess not."

Jason followed Nico out the door. Nico went back to the Hades cabin and put his figurines away. Then he began his walk. Jason followed, but didn't say anything, perhaps grasping the idea that Nico took these walks to think.

Nico didn't know why Jason was always hanging around him. It's not that he didn't appreciate the attention most of the time, it's just that he figured that Jason would rather spend time with his girlfriend Piper. It wasn't like Nico was Jason's best friend in the whole world. That was Percy.

It was only when they started to cross the bridge over the lake that Jason spoke up. "So where are we going?"

"Um, nowhere, really. Unless you want to pick a destination…"

"Nah," Jason said with a shrug. "I figured we were going nowhere. I was just wondering."

"If you didn't think I was going anywhere, then why did you want to come?" Nico asked.

"Oh," Jason began. "Y'know… Being all by yourself can stink sometimes."

After that answer, Nico remained silent. Being alone didn't actually bother him too much. Over the years, he had gotten used to it. Only up until recently had he acquired a few, really good friends.

They walked for a while a little while longer in silence, that topic behind them. Then Jason said, "We're getting a little close to the boundary, Nico."

Nico looked up. Thalia's pine was not that far away. The silhouette of a demigod sat near the base, staring up at the tree. He hadn't realized that they had passed the Big House. "Huh," Nico acknowledged. "So we are."

Nevertheless, they kept walking. As they got closer, Nico recognized the silhouette as Elise. Nico groaned internally. Another perfectly good walk, ruined.

Jason, who was good friends with Elise, addressed her. "Hey, Elise, what's up?"

She turned to see the pair of them. "Oh, hi, Jason." She glanced in Nico's direction. "And Nico?" She shot Jason an unfathomable look. Evidently, Jason understood and nodded. Whatever that was about.

"What brings you here?" Jason inquired.

Elise turned back to the tree and shrugged. "I really don't know. I just got this gut feeling that I should be here. That probably sounds stupid."

Jason shook his head. "Not at all. You should trust your instincts."

Nico noticed something about Elise that Jason hadn't bothered to bring up. "Why in Hades do you have a sword?" he questioned, referencing the weapon she held in her hand.

She glanced down at it. "Oh, I just came from the arena. I probably forgot to put it away. Didn't even know I had it." The ever-forgetful Elise strikes again.

"Well, Nico and I were just walking. Do you want to come along?" Jason asked.

Please, no, Nico begged in his mind.

"No, thanks. Something brought me here, and I'm not leaving until I figure out…" Elise's sentence faded, and she tensed. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Jason.

Elise stood up slowly. "I think there was a roar. It came from over…." She pointed in the direction she supposedly heard the roar. "There-ish."

They all looked stared in that direction for a while, trying to find the source of the sound. Instead, they found two people limping towards them pathetically. Nico instantly recognized them as—

"Percy! Annabeth!" Jason called.

It was then that the source of the noise revealed itself. It had come from a huge manticore that had obviously busied itself pursuing the couple.

There was little they could do to help. The only person with a weapon was Elise, and she wasn't exactly the best at swordplay. This is probably why she tossed her weapon to Jason and ran to help Percy and Annabeth get into camp. Nico followed suit.

Jason ran after the manticore, but Nico didn't see what else happened. He was too busy helping Percy and Annabeth. They could barely move by themselves. He and Elise dragged them back to camp as quickly as they could without hurting them.

As soon as they were inside the camp, Nico turned just in time to see Jason dissolve the manticore into dust.

Percy and Annabeth had collapsed on the ground and were gasping for air. Elise knelt beside them, doing what she could. Which was very little.

"Annabeth," Percy breathed. "Let's not take the bus anymore."

"You think?" Annabeth responded.

Percy rolled over on his back to reveal a large, bloody gash across his stomach.

"Oh my…" Elise whispered. "They need nectar. Nico, can you get Will?"

Nodding, Nico ran to where he knew Will would be: at the amphitheater, rehearsing for the Apollo cabin's next concert. Will sat on a box in the middle of the stage, laughing with his brothers and sisters.

"Will!" Nico called. "We need nectar and a doctor. Now!"

Will sprang up. "Whoa, slow down. What's wrong?"

"It's Percy and Annabeth. They're back, and they're hurt."