When he woke up he was lying face down on the ground. He groaned and pushed himself up, spitting grass out of his mouth, and looked around. The first thing that caught his eye was a glint of bright gold and then the not-too-distant sight of a valley. He was under a tree. And not just any tree. He recognized this place. It was Half-Blood Hill and he was under Thalia's tree with the Golden Fleece hanging over his head. But this wasn't right…Peleus wasn't there guarding it. And it was morning now when it had been night only a few minutes ago…in Croatia. What exactly had Aphrodite done?

There were shouts coming from the valley and he stood up to see if the party was still going, but what he saw was three demi-gods in armor running up the hill behind Chiron. And they were headed his way. Maybe they had noticed Peleus was gone. Great , thought Nico. And Aphrodite dumped me at the scene of the crime. He waved awkwardly as Chiron galloped up but that ended when the old centaur leveled a spear at him.

"Are you after the Fleece?" he asked firmly.

"What?" Nico asked in shock.

"We were on guard duty when you just appeared on the ground!" said one of the demi-gods. She was a young girl in armor, but her long dark hair fanned out from under her helmet.

"Chiron, you know I wouldn't take the Fleece!" he said trying to slowly back away from the tip of the spear.

"Do I know you? You're a demi-god that much I can tell…"

"It's me? Nico? Son of Hades?"

All four of them gasped and stepped back like he was carrying a bomb. All the demi-gods were looking at Chiron nervously, but it was the brown haired girl who spoke up.

"First, Percy, and Thalia just came back yesterday, and now him! I thought Hades was the only one who kept his word?"

"Yes, this is troubling if what he says is true…"

"What?" he asked in complete confusion.

Nico wanted to scream that they'd all gone crazy but his instincts told him to calm down and think. They were acting like they didn't know who he was, even Chiron, like he wasn't even supposed to exist. He was starting to think Aphrodite had wiped away their memories but something nagged at his brain. The girl said that Thalia just came back…but no mention of the hunters.

No! There's no way, he thought. But it was the only thing that made sense. There was no dragon guarding the Fleece because they hadn't gotten a dragon yet! Aphrodite had sent him back in time to before he and Bianca had been discovered by Grover and brought to camp.

"You need to come with me," said Chiron lowering his spear. He turned to lead them back down the hill but the other kids were still eyeing Nico suspiciously, keeping their distance too thanks to his unnerving aura.

Chiron led him straight to the Big House and then dismissed the others so they could get back to guard duty. Mr. D wasn't around and Nico was disappointed. Dionysus wasn't exactly kind or generous but he could use another god's help right now. Once they were on the porch Chiron fitted himself back into his magical wheelchair, keeping an eye on Nico the whole time.

"Come inside," said the centaur as he wheeled into the house and headed for the office.

"Can you prove you are the son of Hades? When were you claimed? How old are you?" Chiron asked. He stopped the chair behind his desk and Nico sat down in a chair in front of him.

"Chiron, please listen to me. My name is Nico di Angelo, I'm fourteen, and…I'm from the future."

Chiron only stared at him but he counted that as a "go ahead".

"I am the son of Hades and I had an older sister, I mean have an older sister named Bianca."

"There are two of you?" he asked slowly. "Both children of Hades?"

"Yes. But we're still in hiding in this time. Grover will find us soon." That caught Chiron's attention.

"Grover Underwood?" he asked sitting up straighter.

"Yeah he finds me and my sister in a military boarding school. Our father put us in the Lotus Hotel in L.A. to hide us from Zeus and then had us moved to the school."

"…that makes sense…he would need to hide you after breaking the oath," said Chiron. He still sounded suspicious but Nico's heart was beating wildly. He needed Chiron to believe him and help him get home.

"But you still have not given me any proof that Hades is your father. Your aura is powerful, but-"

"Here," said Nico as he pulled his sword out of the chain he used as a belt and placed it on Chiron's desk. "Stygian Iron. Only children of the Underworld can wield it."

Chiron stared at the sword seriously and then glanced back at Nico.

"And you could only get such a weapon from the Underworld…" he said as if he was starting to believe.

"My Dad gave it to me along with this." Nico pulled the skull ring off of his left hand and put it next to the sword.

Chiron reached out like he was about to pick it up but his hand only got about three inches away before he yanked it back. He looked at Nico like he was a bomb now.

"But how? You said you were from the future? How are you here?"

"I…I made Aphrodite angry. She touched me and I woke up here," he said helplessly.

"How did you anger her?"

"I said that her making me fall in love with someone I couldn't have…that her plan was stupid," he explained as he flushed with embarrassment.

"Well…I'm surprised you're alive after an insult like that. The gods are hot-tempered and vengeful."

"I know that now, but what do I do? I can't stay here!"

"I'm afraid you may not have a choice, Mr. di Angelo. Unless you can find some way to appease Lady Aphrodite and earn her forgiveness," Chiron said sadly.

"Can't Mr. D just send me back?" Nico asked desperately.

"He's not here right now, but he should be back soon. I can put your case forward and ask, but I wouldn't pin my hopes on it, my boy."

"Great. So what do I do?"

"Eat, rest, try to figure out how to apologize?" Chiron offered. "I'm afraid we don't have a cabin dedicated Hades so we'll have to set you up in the Hermes cabin."

Of course his cabin wasn't here. He hadn't built it yet… Chiron studied him a bit longer and spoke again.

"There is a prophecy about the children of the Big Three…" Chiron started cautiously.

"Yeah, I know. It's not about me," Nico said dismissing the unspoken question.

"So, in your time…?"

"The prophecy has already come and gone. It was fulfilled."

"And since you are…here and Lady Aphrodite was the one to send you, I can gather that the world does not end?"

Nico was about to respond but Chiron held a hand up to stop him.

"I won't tempt the Fates by asking more. In fact, it would be best if you told no one else your story or gave away any more information, Mr. di Angelo," he said.

"Okay, yeah…"

"It may have been more irrational than she realized to send you here. This could alter everything and have devastating consequences. The damage you could cause would probably go beyond her abilities to fix it."

"What happens then?" Nico asked a little afraid.

"The Fates will step in and clean the mess…firstly, by eliminating you," Chiron said seriously.

"Okay," Nico said looking up nervously. "Don't tell anybody anything. Got it."

All-in-all it was a bad day. Chiron called for Connor and Travis Stoll to take him to the Hermes cabin. The place was packed with kids, exactly like he remembered from his first days at camp before he ran away. It was different back then. He was eleven and mesmerized with everything but now…

They got him a sleeping bag and all the other kids gave him a wide berth. It seemed word had gotten around already about him being a child of the Underworld. But he got really uncomfortable when it was time for dinner and he spotted Percy on the other side of the dining pavilion. He couldn't help but stare because this Percy was so different. He was younger with less muscle and height, but it was Percy. The same ruffled black hair and green eyes you could spot in a crowd. Nico watched as he burned some of the food on his plate and then went to sit down alone at the Poseidon table, but he had to shift his attention when Chiron called for silence.

"Heroes! As some of you know we have a new demi-god among us. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades," said Chiron gesturing to Nico. Suddenly he was the center of attention and that was never a good thing. A flurry of whispering broke out and some of the campers were even craning their necks to get a look at him. One of them was Percy.

"Capture the Flag is tonight and I expect-"

Nico tuned him out after that. He already knew the rules for Capture the Flag and just wanted to focus on making himself unnoticeable for the rest of dinner. What he got instead was mobbed right after dinner was over. His stomach did a flip when a younger Annabeth Chase approached him outside of the Pavilion. She didn't look that different. She wasn't as tall and her hair was a bit shorter, but that was all. Then again, he wasn't very good at appraising girls in detail…

"Hi, my name is Annabeth," she said holding her hand out for him to shake it, which he did half-heartedly.

"So, you're a child of Hades, one of the Big Three?"

"Yeah…"

"That's interesting," she said. Her eyes were examining him closely. For a moment he was afraid she would recognize him.

"Why?"

"Oh! Just because it's weird having children from all three at the same time. Have you met Percy and Thalia? Percy's the son of-"

"Poseidon," he said. "I know."

"How do you know?" she asked curiously.

"Uh," he stammered. "Chiron told me." He shouldn't have said anything. If anyone would be able to put this together, it was Annabeth, and that meant he needed to be extra careful around her.

"Yeah, I guess he would. Anyway, do you wanna be on our team for Capture the Flag?"

"Okay," he said because he honestly couldn't think of a reason not to.

"Great, with you, Thalia, and Percy that should allow for a more aggressive battle strategy."

She walked off muttering to herself about formations and effective misdirection. Nico had to resist the urge to laugh because there was something comforting in knowing Annabeth had always been…like that.

"Annabeth, wait up!" Thalia came out –giving him a look that was somewhere between curious and wary—and ran to catch up with Annabeth.

"Sorry about those two."

He froze and his heart dropped into his stomach. He'd planned on avoiding this if at all possible. What could be worse than this? Percy was standing in the entrance to the dining pavilion watching Annabeth and Thalia walk toward the armory. But he turned his attention back to Nico and gave him a cautious smile. It was weird how he looked so similar but different. He was dressed like he usually was in blue jeans and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, but his necklace only had two beads so far.

This Percy hadn't been on all the quests he needed to go on, seen all the things he needed to see to become the Percy that Nico knew in the present.

"Hi, I'm Percy."

What he wanted to say was, "I know," but he stopped and introduced himself like they were perfect strangers.

He followed Percy to the armory –like he didn't know where it was—and he learned some things. This Percy was only thirteen, younger than Nico, and he and Annabeth were just friends. The Fleece had just brought Thalia back to life so she and Annabeth were always together. They were catching up on all the time they'd missed. On top of that, Thalia had not taken the news about Luke especially well and Annabeth was the only one who could help her deal with it. Nico guessed that left Percy feeling like a third wheel, or worse, some kind of poor substitute for Luke.

Percy asked him questions too but he tried not to say much about himself. Mostly they talked about their abilities. Of course, Nico already knew most of the stuff Percy could do but when he started talking himself it was kind of embarrassing.

"You can summon the dead and make them fight for you?" Percy asked.

"Umm yeah," he said nervously. This was usually when people got freaked out by him.

"That's sounds cool," Percy said. He nodded in appreciation as he strapped on his breastplate.

Some of the tension drained out of Nico. He didn't realize it until that moment but he'd expected everything to be different. He thought Percy would be afraid of him this time around, even though he couldn't explain why. But he wasn't. Percy was as calm as ever around him.

They ran to meet up with their team in their half of the forest. The Athena cabin had formed a team with the Apollo and Hermes cabins, along with Percy, Nico, and Thalia. The opposing team was made up of the Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Demeter cabins.

Annabeth was in full battle plan mode. She'd set up a white board and had multi-colored dry erase markers to draw with. She was going on about how the toughest resistance would come from the Hephaestus kids and their traps. The Ares cabin was too straight-forward most of the time. They would try to force an open battle and send out very few scouting teams. And of course the Aphrodite kids would fight alongside them. Annabeth wanted to use the Apollo kids to hold them back with their arrows, and the Athena kids would scout for the traps and disarm them. Since the Hermes kids were the best at moving across land and stealing, they would be sent out in smaller teams to go after the enemy flag.

"We have a rare opportunity to give our flag a strong defense. I'm placing Percy, Thalia, and Nico as guards. If you guys can work together then it could be a huge advantage."

That's how they ended up on guard at Zeus' Fist.

"So have you been to the Underworld?" Percy asked. They were standing spread apart facing the direction an attack was most likely to come from, according to Thalia.

"Yeah," he said.

"Me too," said Percy. "I think your Dad hates me."

"Don't take it personally. He doesn't like anyone really. So, what were you doing in the Underworld?"

He figured the natural thing to do was ask since he was pretending to be ignorant. In fact, he'd only heard his father's side of the first time Percy had visited the Underworld. And his Dad had said something along the lines of, "barged into my realm and accused me of the being a thief!"

"Oh, I just found out I was a demi-god last summer and-"

"Hey, this isn't story time," Thalia called. "We could be ambushed any minute."

Nico saw a small flash of annoyance from Percy but he stopped talking. Wow, he thought. He didn't know things had been so tense between them. Percy and Thalia were on pretty good terms in his time. Well, he did remember that there had been a lot of animosity between them when he'd first met them and Annabeth went missing. He'd even asked Percy if he and Thalia fought a lot.

"You can tell me later," Nico said and turned toward the trees.

"Where are you going?" asked Percy.

"Checking the perimeter for an ambush," Nico said and walked off into the tree line. He heard Thalia huff in irritation behind him.

She was so different. He knew she would eventually find her stride with the Hunters of Artemis but right now she was kind of bossy. It must be the Zeus in her coming out but it wasn't the same as it was with Jason. Or, maybe it was just the difference between Zeus' Roman and Greek personae manifesting itself in his children. Whatever the reason, it might get worse if all three of them stayed together for too long in one spot. He could see she and Percy were already having a silent power struggle.

He moved carefully into the trees, blending in with the shadows. He hadn't meant to get so into the game, but he did like Capture the Flag. He would just never say it out loud. When he was younger and on his own he would sometimes shadow travel back to camp just watch the game. He could hear shouts in the distance. It sounded like Clarisse calling out orders. Annabeth was right, the Ares cabin wanted an open fight.

The sky was suddenly filled with an orange glow and he turned to see a plum of fire shooting up. It was a long ways off and it wasn't Greek fire, so it was probably alright. He heard someone whisper and stopped.

"Oh man, I bet somebody got roasted!"

"Shh! We're close!"

It was three boys –Ares cabin by the looks of it- and they were far enough away that they didn't see him. Nico pulled the shadows around him and followed. They moved through the trees slowly trying to sneak up on Thalia and Percy. Nico held back because he knew there was no way Clarisse would expect these three to be enough against Percy, let alone Percy, Thalia, and another kid claiming to be just as powerful.

"Hey waterboy!" one of them yelled. "You and the Princess ready to hand over that flag?"

"I knew they would try this!" He heard Thalia growl.

More people came from the other side of the clearing. It was another group from the opposite team.

"You three take Princess Pine cone, we've got Jackson," one of them said with a cocky attitude.

"The nicknames need work, guys." Percy was trying to sound confident but they were outnumbered and there was no water close enough for him to use.

"Where is Nico?" Thalia asked.

"Who?" asked one of the guys.

"She means that new kid. The one who says he's the son of Hades," answered another.

"If you two were stupid enough to trust him, you deserved to get thrashed."

Nico was planning to attack from behind but that comment set his teeth on edge. He concentrated –feeling that tug in his gut—and his aura flared. He stepped out from the trees and Percy's face split into a grin. He had to focus on the goons in front of him to stop himself from blushing.

"I don't know," said Nico. "I think you're the stupid ones for walking into a trap." He pushed at them with his fear aura and watched as they paled and their eyes widened with freight.

"Get the flag! Hurry up!"

They were going to try to push past Percy and Thalia, but Thalia had her Medusa shield out now. It wasn't as powerful as Nico but it made them hesitate long enough for him to concentrate harder. The grass was dying around him and ground started crack in the clearing. Skeletons crawled out of the ground and one of the Ares boys looked like he was going to wet himself. There were a couple of gasps and screams but they tried to close ranks and stand their ground. The Ares kids stood in a circle with their sword out. They were surrounded by skeletons and Nico's fear triggering was undermining their courage.

"I think you guys should go," said Percy. "You're not getting this flag."

The horn sounded somewhere else in the forest and they knew the game was over. Annabeth's plan had worked. The kids from the Ares cabin ran off but threw some insults over their shoulders as they went. Mostly they called Nico a freak, but that was something he was used to hearing. He sent the skeletons back into the ground and when the boys were out of sight he sighed in relief. He was drowsy now and just wanted to curl up in his sleeping bag.

"I was right."

He almost jumped because Percy voice was closer than he expected. He turned and Percy was standing right next to him with a little smile on his face.

"Summoning undead warriors is really cool," he said. "And don't mind what those guys said. They're just mad they lost. And you scared the crap out of them," he laughed.

There was no stopping this blush so he just turned his head away to break free of those sea-green eyes.

"Yeah," said Thalia as she walked over to them. "You've got pretty good control over your powers." She was still giving Nico that wary look, but there was grudging respect in there too.

Their team came running back into the clearing, whooping and cheering as Annabeth waved the enemy flag. Thalia ran over to hug her immediately but Percy hung back with Nico.

"Hey, maybe we can hang out tomorrow?" he asked.

"Uh yeah. Sure," he said trying to sound normal.