As they walked into the large room, about as many girls walked in from a door across from them. Nico kept close to Percy as he fought through the crowd, no doubt trying to find this Annabeth he had kept mentioning. Nico lost him a few times but eventually found him sitting at one of the round tables, a blond girl sitting next to him. Her eyes were gray, as gray as her soul.

"Percy, don't leave me like that." Nico sat down with his arms crossed. "I had no idea where to go."

"Weren't you a soldier? Toughen up a bit." Percy laughed. "Relax, Nico. This is Annabeth, my soulmate. Annabeth, this is the newbie that's sharing a room with me. Nico di Angelo, dead war veteran."

"The war isn't over. How can I be a veteran?" Nico accused.

Annabeth laid a hand on Percy's shoulder before he could argue. "Nico, you'll find that time...it doesn't work right here. It might only seem like a day or two that you'll be here, but it might have actually been years in the living world."

"So the war could be over." Nico summed up. "It could be over right now."

Annabeth nodded. "Sorry."

Nico laid his head on the table. "Every few seconds, I keep trying to convince myself that this is a dream, that I'll wake up at any second. But I know it's not and I hate it."

"You'll get through it, don't worry." Annabeth moved a hand to his back and moved her thumb in small circles. "I mean, you'll be a baby again soon enough."

Nico scowled into the table. "Are you kidding me?"

Percy laughed in embarrassment. "Oh, yeah, Annabeth...I was going to have you explain everything to him. He doesn't really...know anything about...here."

"Great job, Percy. This poor boy is probably so confused." Annabeth sighed. "Nico, sit up so I can explain."

Nico huffed but lifted his head off of the table. "I thought this was supposed to be breakfast. Where's the food?"

"I'll go get our trays." Percy got up and walked off towards a long line of people, all seeming to be getting their trays as well. Once he was gone, Nico looked to Annabeth.

"All he told me was that I'm dead and that he's lived more than one life," Nico explained. "That isn't really helpful, you know."

"He's an oaf." Annabeth smiled. "But I still love him. Okay, so you died. He said you were a soldier...?"

Nico nodded. "Died while meeting my soulmate."

"Oh, that's harsh. But it makes sense." Annabeth drummed her fingers against the table. "Not all people go here when they die. Most go to Heaven or Hell. But the people that run this━well, they're not people but that's what we'll call them━they use people they think deserve another chance. They use them to carry out their experiments."

"Experiments..." Nico mused. "Experiments with rebirth?"

"Kind of." Annabeth glanced back towards Percy. "They see us and our soulmates, think we deserve another chance together. They bring us here, but I haven't figured out how yet. So when your soulmate dies, she'll come here."

"He." Nico corrected. "He'll come here."

"Right, sorry." Annabeth smiled sheepishly. "He'll come here when he dies. You both will be reborn into roughly the same timeframe. Most of us remember everything, but some of us don't."

Nico looked around him. "Will could be here soon?"

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. But...I wouldn't think of the leaders of this as a good group. The point of all of this isn't to achieve perfect rebirth. It's to achieve immortality. They made our souls immortal, but we always have to go back to the world of the living as a baby. They're trying to make it so we don't have to be reborn, but so we can just go back whenever. We're all part of the experiment."

Nico's smile dropped. "So, that operation...?"

"You were made one of us." Annabeth finished. "Your soulmate will be, too."

Percy came back with three trays, balancing them as if it were a magic show. "Here we go, my favored guests. Three trays of slop coming up. Who ordered the gray slop?"

"Percy." Annabeth took her tray before kissing his cheek. "Give Nico his."

Percy set a tray in front of Nico, the contents looking like metal scrambled eggs. Black, all black. Annabeth's food was gray and Percy's was a mix of blue and green, whatever way the light caught it. "You expect me to eat this?"

Annabeth nodded, her and Percy already having started to eat. "I'm not sure how, but it helps our soul stay healthy. It's not as bad as it looks. Remember, you don't have tastebuds right now. You don't have a body."

"Right..." Nico looked down at his slop. "I'm dead."

They both nodded and Annabeth smiled. "What a beautiful thing to be."