A/N: Rating may go up when relationships are formed. More reviews could possibly motivate me to update faster, just so you know.

Titan's Curse: Calm Before the Storm

Nico was bored. After a morning full of fighting, running, and sledding, traveling via boar express had zero entertainment value and a need for an improved saddling back-hind. Nico swore his butt was already non-existent and his back was shaping into a permanent hunch back look.

He was situated in between his sister and Percy with Thalia in front of the older demigod while Zoe, true to form, took the rear for less boy-contact and Grover in the front as their temporary boar driver.

He tried not to succumb to his drowsiness lest he wanted to fall off a thirty foot wild boar but his body, weak from last night's chase and this morning's excursion, begged for a proper night's sleep. Nico needed to get his mind alert and what better way to stay attentive than by talking to his hero.

"Hey, Percy," Nico asked, from his uncomfortable perch behind the older demigod. "You okay?"

Percy looked startled as he turned over his shoulder to stare at Nico, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I just remembered during our fight with the skeleton warriors that you got hit by the bullets. But there was no blood. How did you do that?" The awe was evident in Nico's voice. Bianca chuckled behind him and he could hear Thalia groan from the front.

"You shouldn't encourage him, kid. The Kelp Head here did nothing but put on a fur coat." Really, could she stop calling him kid; he wasn't that young.

Percy rolled his eyes. "She's just jealous because she didn't think of defeating the Nemean Lion herself."

Thalia immediately retaliated, "Oh, like chocking it with space food really-"

But Nico didn't hear her over his amazement, "You defeated a Nemean Lion?! But its fur and claws are impervious to weapons! I'd know, because it has a Defence level of six in the Mythomagic Nemea collection. How-?" He asked Percy with excited anticipation.

Percy quirked a smile, "Well, it was mostly me acting in the moment, but killing the lion took a group effort so..."

And Percy went on to tell him about his adventure chasing the van from camp ("Whoa! A car chase! I wish I could have seen that!" Nico said. "Uh...I don't think you would have been able to watch it, unless you could suddenly fly." Percy told him.) How he eavesdropped in the enemy's plans ("Wait a minute, does that mean you eavesdropped on us as well?" Thalia exclaimed indignantly. "It's not like you guys were sharing personal secrets.") And that it helped him warn the others of an imminent threat. Bianca and Thalia would give their two pence (and sarcastic remarks) in the tale once in a while and by the time they were finished, the horizon was blanketing into a sunset.

Nico didn't realize how far they had travelled until he properly scoped his surroundings. The mountains had long faded into the distance and were replaced by miles of flat, dry land. The grass and scrub brush got sparser until they were galloping across the desert.

Nico had long stripped out of his warm bundle of cloths and had given them back to their respective owners when he noticed how hot it had gotten. As night fell, the boar came to a stop at a creek bed and snorted. He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.

"This is as far as he'll go," Grover said. "We need to get off while he's eating."

Nobody needed convincing. They slipped off the boars back while the boar was busy ripping up cacti, groaning and moaning with their backs and thighs sore. Nico felt as if he'd strain a thigh muscle and he didn't even do anything for the rest of the day!

After the beast had its third saguaro and another drink of muddy water, the boar squealed and belched, then whirled around and galloped back towards the east.

"It likes the mountains better," Percy said.

"I can't blame it, "Thalia said. " Look."

Ahead of them was a two-lane road half covered with snow. On the other side of the road was a cluster of buildings too small to be a town: a boarded-up house, a taco shop that looked like it hadn't been open since the fall of Greece, and a white stucco post office with a sign that said GILA CLAW, ARIZONA hanging crooked above the door. Beyond that was a range of hills...made of enormous mounds of old cars, appliances, and other scrap metal. It was a junkyard that seemed to go on forever.

Nico looked wide eyed at all the junk just sitting out here in the middle of nowhere.

"Whoa," Percy said. Nico's sentiments exactly.

"Something tells me we're not going to find a car rental here," Thalia said. She looked at Grover. "I don't suppose you got another wild boar up your sleeve?"

Grover was sniffing the wind, looking nervous. He fished out his acorns and threw them into the sand, then played his pipes. They arranged themselves in a pattern that made no sense to Nico, but Grover looked concerned.

"That's us," he said. "Those six nuts right there."

"Which one is me?" Percy asked.

"The little deformed one," Zoe suggested.

"Oh! Can I be the acorn beside him?" Nico said, grinning when Percy and Bianca laughed.

"That cluster right there," Grover said, pointing to the left, "that's trouble."

"A monster?" Thalia asked.

Grover looked uneasy. "I don't smell anything, which doesn't make sense. But the acorns don't lie. Our next challenge..."

He pointed straight toward the junkyard. Nico stared wide eyed at the hills of metal, feeling excitement and apprehension at the thought of more fighting. Maybe this time Bianca would let him be part of the battle. Then as an afterthought, Nico decided he didn't needed his sister's permission to protect himself especially when he had saved her life this morning.

The group decided to camp for the night and try the junkyard in the morning. None of them wanted to go Dumpster-diving in the dark.

Zoe and Bianca produced five sleeping bags and foam mattresses out of their backpacks— they got into an argument about whom Nico would sleep with since apparently all restrictions against boys included brothers, so the young demigod ended up sharing one with Percy. Not that Nico was complaining. He didn't notice Percy's unenthusiastic look.

The night got chilly fast— Nico berating himself for forgetting his jacket back at camp (not that he knew he needed it)— so Grover, Percy and Nico collected old boards from the ruined house, and Thalia zapped them with an electric shock to start a campfire. They soon got comfortable or as one can get comfortable in a rundown ghost town in the middle of nowhere.

"The stars are out," Zoe said.

She was right. Nico looked up to see a million stars staring down at them, with no city lights to pollute them.

"Amazing," Bianca said. "I've never actually seen the Milky Way."

"This is nothing," Zoe said. "In the old days, there were more. Whole constellations have disappeared because of human light pollution."

"Wow," Nico whispered. He wished he could see what the old days were like; To be actually living in the world of His Mythomagic cards. He sighed— that'd be a dream come true.

"You talk like you're not human," Percy told Zoe.

Zoe raised an eyebrow, "I am a Hunter. I care what happens to the wild places of the world. Can the same be said for thee?

"For you," Thalia corrected. "No thou. No thee. Just you."

Zoe threw up her hands in exasperation." I hate this language. It changes too often!"

Grover sighed. He was still looking up at the stars like he was thinking about the light pollution problem. "If only Pan were here, he would set things right."

Zoe nodded sadly.

"Maybe it was the coffee," Grover said. "I was drinking coffee and the wind came. Maybe if I drank more coffee..."

"-then Pan will respond to you again? Cool! These gods react in strange ways, don't they?" Nico asked the others with a silly grin on his face. None of them had the heart to break the boy's illusion of cool gods.

Percy rolled his eyes at his bed mate and told his satyr friend, "Grover, do you really think that was Pan? I mean I know you want it to be."

"He sent us help," Grover insisted. "I don't know how or why. But it was his presence. After this quest is done, I'm going back to New Mexico and drinking a lot of coffee. It's the best lead we've gotten in two thousand years. I was so close."

Nico suddenly had new found respect for the satyr's determination to find his god.

"What I want to know," Thalia said, looking at Nico, "is how you destroyed one of the zombies. There are a lot more out there somewhere. We need to figure out how to fight them."

Nico shook his head, a bewildered look on his face as he recalled what happened. "I don't know. I just saw the zombie lunging after Bianca and reacted instinctively. I stabbed it and it went into flames."

"Maybe there's something special with the Hunter's knife," Percy suggested.

"It is the same as mine," Zoe said. "Celestial bronze, yes. But mine did not affect the warriors that way."

"Maybe you have to hit the skeleton in a certain spot."

"I-I don't remember where I stabbed it. Everything happened so fast."

Nico was frustrated that he didn't know how he destroyed the zombie— he just did. But that wasn't going to help his companions in anyway. Bianca, seeing his frustration, said." Never mind. We will find the answer later." She smiled comfortingly at him and Nico relaxed, smiling back.

"Yes," Zoe said. "In the meantime, we should plan our next move. When we get through this junkyard, we must continue west. If we can find a road, we can hitchhike to the nearest city. I think that would be Las Vegas."

The Di Angelo siblings immediately tensed up at the familiar place.

"No!" Bianca said. "Not there!"

His sister was pale and shaking like she'd just been dropped off the steep end of a roller coaster. Nico knew he wasn't faring any better. The concerned glances from Percy said enough.

Zoe frowned, "Why?"

Bianca took a shaky breath, glancing worriedly at her brother. "I...I think we stayed there for a while. Nico and I. When we were traveling. And then, I can't remember..."

"Bianca," Percy said, weariness in his tone. "That hotel you stayed at. Was it possibly called the Lotus Hotel and Casino?"

"How'd you know that?" Nico said with wide eyes.

Percy looked as if he'd just confirmed a terrifying truth. "Oh, great."

"Wait," Thalia said," What is the Lotus Casino?" Zoe looked confused as well.

"A couple of years ago," Percy began, "Grover, Annabeth and I got trapped there. It's designed so you never want to leave. We stayed for about an hour. When we came out, five days has passed. It makes time speed up."

Normally, Nico would have been more excited listening to Percy's quests but now, a queasy feeling was stirring uncomfortably inside him. Time speeds up? Then does that mean...

"No," Bianca said, seeming to come to the same conclusion. "No, that's not possible."

"You said somebody came and got you two out," Percy said. Bianca must have told him their past.

"Yes."

"What did he look like? What did he say?"

"I...I don't remember. Please, I don't want to talk about this."

When Percy turned to look at him, Nico swallowed, the tight feeling in his gut increasing as he tried to recall. "I can't remember what he said, but he was dark and was wearing a suit while holding a briefcase. We thought he was a lawyer or something."

"Nico, enough. How did you even remember that?" Bianca asked.

"Because he had an imposing aura around him and he seemed out of place. I thought it was weird after we escaped."

"Bianca" Zoe interjected, "can you tell me the name of the president of the United States right now?"

"Don't be silly," Bianca said. She told them the name and it seemed to be correct judging by their reactions.

But Zoe wasn't finished, "And who was the president before that?"

Bianca thought for a while. "Roosevelt."

Zoe swallowed. "Theodore or Franklin?"

"Franklin," Bianca said. "F.D.R"

"Like FDR Drive?" Percy asked but was ignored.

"Bianca," Zoe said. "F.D.R. was not the last president. That was about seventy years ago."

That funny feeling Nico felt before suddenly plummeted as he registered Zoe's words. Seventy years ago? That's how long time has passed for them?

"That's impossible," Bianca denied. "I...I'm not that old." She stared at her hands as if to make sure they weren't wrinkled. Nico looked at his own hands as well.

"It's okay, Bianca. The important thing is you and Nico are safe. You made it out."

"But how?" Percy questioned. "We were only in there for an hour and we barely escaped. How could you have escaped after being there for so long?"

"I told you." Bianca looked ready to cry and Nico hated seeing his sister that way. "A man came and said it was time to leave. And-"

"But who? Why did he do it?"

Nico had half a mind to tell Percy off (awesome demigod or not) for insistently stressing his sister with his questions, and was about to do so when they were hit with a blazing light from down the road. The headlights of a car appeared out of nowhere. Nico almost thought it was Apollo but the engine was way too silent for the sun chariot and besides, it was night-time. They immediately grabbed their sleeping bags and stepped out of the way as a deathly white limousine slid to a stop in front of them.

Nico watched as the back door of the limo opened right next to Percy. Before he could do anything, the tip of a sword suddenly pointed at Percy's neck. Zoe and Bianca drew their bows defensively.

Percy had to move back slowly as the man holding the weapon stepped out of the car. He was a big man with a crew cut, wearing a black leather biker's jacket, black jeans, a white muscle shirt, and combat boots. Wraparound shades hid his eyes and Nico felt like he didn't want to know what lay behind it.

The stranger smiled cruelly. "Not so fast now, are you, punk?"

Nico clenched his fists. Who was this scary dude? His face makes me so angry, I want to throttle him before he could hurt Percy, Bianca and the rest of us.

"Ares." Percy growled.

That name sent a jolt in Nico's obsessed-to-all-Mythomagic mind. The young demigod gasped, the earlier anger suddenly vanishing to one of awed fear. "Ares...the god of War?! Bianca, it's the war god!" Nico didn't understand the meaning of subtlety.

"Nico! Be quiet." Bianca hissed at him, as the war god glanced at their group.

"At ease, people."

He snapped his fingers, and Zoe and Bianca's bows fell to the ground.

"This is a friendly meeting." He dug the point of his blade a little further under Percy's chin. "Of course, I'd like to take your head for a trophy, but someone wants to see you. And I never behead my enemies in front of a lady."

"What lady?" Thalia asked.

Ares looked over at her. "Well, well. I heard you were back."

The war god finally lowered his sword and pushed Percy away, Nico immediately helped to steady him.

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus," Ares mused. "You're not hanging out with very good company."

"What's your business, Ares?" She said. "Who's in the car?"

Ares smiled, enjoying the attention. "Oh, I doubt she wants to meet the rest of you. Particularly not them." He jutted his chin toward Zoe and Bianca. "Why don't you all go get some tacos while you wait? Only take Percy a few minutes."

"We will not leave him alone with thee, Lord Ares," Zoe said.

"Besides," Grover managed, "the taco place is closed."

Ares snapped his fingers again. The lights inside the taqueria suddenly blazed to life. Nico watched wide eyed as the boards flew off the door and the CLOSED signs flipped to OPEN. "You were saying, goat boy?"

"Go on," Percy told them, pushing Nico along when he didn't budge. "I'll handle this."

Nico didn't understand why he felt so hesitant leaving Percy with the war god. Probably because the god first appeared with a sword threatening Percy's life.

"You heard the boy," Ares said. "He's big and strong. He's got things under control."

Bianca grabbed Nico's hand, bringing him along with the group to the taco restaurant.

"Does Ares have a grudge against Percy?" Nico inquired, looking back to see Percy getting inside the car.

"You could say that. It's a long story." Grover murmured, probably still in shock after seeing the intimidating god.

"What I want to know is why that woman is doing here." Thalia said.

"Who?" Bianca asked. They walked inside the restaurant and Nico was amazed at how different everything looked from before.

"Now, this is what I call awesome godly powers." Nico ran to the counter and immediately ordered his food. He didn't question where the person behind the cashier suddenly appeared from.

"Aphrodite." Thalia answered after everyone situated themselves around the table. "She's not one to always help demigods in their quests."

"Yes, and she hates Artemis." Zoe added.

"Maybe, something caught her attention for her to intervene this time." Grover suggested.

"How are you guys so sure it's Aphrodite anyway." Bianca asked, before taking a bite out of her taco.

"That's because she and Ares have been dating for centuries." Nico said, rolling his eyes at his sister's lack of knowledge. You'd think after she became a huntress that she'd try to know more of her Greek roots.

The others stared at their young companion in surprise.

"What? It's common Greek knowledge. Everyone knows that Aphrodite ditched her husband, Hephestaeus, to date Ares for the simple fact that she's a love goddess." Nico shrugged, sipping on his cola.

"You couldn't have gotten that information from your Mythomagic cards, Nico. And don't tell me you learned it at camp because you've only been there for a day and a half." Bianca narrowed her eyes.

Nico scowled. "I do listen in my history classes, you know. And besides," the young demigod averted his eyes in embarrassment, "I read more Greek mythology books so that I could create better strategies for my Mythomagic card games."

Thalia turned to look at his sister. "Bianca, I'm sorry to say but your brother's a nerd."

The group laughed while Nico grumbled at their tease.

"Come on, let's head back. I'm sure Percy's done by now." Grover said.

Everyone nodded. As they exited the restaurant, the place suddenly vanished at the same time as the limousine drove away, leaving Percy and his friends standing in the middle of the junkyard, mountains of scrap metal stretched out in every direction.