Hello there all,

It's been a long time since I've updated this, I know. I'll try and continue with weekly updates after this long hiatus but I haven't abandoned it yet! Anyway, any feedback you have is definitely appreciated.

"So..." Nico broke the silence.

I glanced at Nico, we'd been walking for several minutes just to put some distance between us and the camp but we hadn't discussed what we were going to do. I didn't have a plan, my main objective for the last hour had been to leave efficiently and I'd done that.

"How did you find the Roman camp?" I asked him however, I wasn't extremely worried about completing the quest at this moment.

Nico stopped walking, we'd simply been walking alongside the road and cars frequently passed us. There wasn't any benches nearby to sit down on so we stayed standing.

"I've done a lot of exploring in the last few years, and I'm always finding different passages from the underworld," Nico explained.

I frowned, why didn't he live at camp? It was dangerous to be travelling alone, monsters could attack you in your sleep. And in the underworld? The living should avoid it at all costs, it was a gloomy and miserable place and it was so easy to die and be trapped there forever.

"And how did you get here?" Nico asked me.

He'd asked me this earlier. "I don't know why I'm alive and I don't know why I was led to camp Jupiter but I'm trying to find out, and I'm going to try and help the camp," I said, feeling determined. I wanted to help, that was why I was on this mission now.

"So are these supplies we're getting really special and important then?" He said, suddenly excited.

Maybe I'd sounded too bold there. "Only normal supplies, but they were running low on everything and they only had one Pegasus in the entire camp," I answered.

"Oh, well Pegasus don't like me," Nico mumbled his excitement turning to dread.

Really? As far as I knew Pegasi could tolerate most demigods. Unless he was really exaggerating and they were fine with him (which was possible but he sounded quite serious), he had either offended the immortal Pegasus himself, I hoped not, or he was the son of Hades.

Actually, he looked like a son of Hades, now that I thought of it, with the pale complexion, dark hair and a serious expression. In fact it seemed obvious now, why hasn't I realised it sooner?

"You're a child of Hades?" I asked to confirm.

"Oh you didn't know? Yeah, I am," he replied. A nervous tone entered his voice. "You still want me on your quest?"

Actually Bianca had probably been one too, which explained how she had managed to kill those skeleton soldiers on the quest. Oh. Nico was worried that I didn't like Hades.

I wasn't fond of him but Nico's powers would be undeniably useful though it could make the Pegasi a little more troublesome.

"Of course, are you able to shadow travel?"

"Yes, though carrying more than one person would really tire me out," he replied, with more confidence.

I didn't fancy trying to catch wild Pegasi, I'd probably injure them for there was no easy way to catch a flying target. So that meant either trading or stealing was the best thing to do. So Mount Olympus would be best.

"Lovely, I'll keep it in mind but could you take us to Mount Olympus now?"

Nico shrugged. "Alright."

He grabbed my arm. I knew it was required for this method of transport but I couldn't like it - not that it was particularly uncomfortable or anything, but my mind was an expert at creating tension when it came to boys. It would be wonderful if I was simply able to relax.

Anyway, we started running towards a nearby shadow created by a tall tree. It felt a little unnatural to be running into such a solid looking object with no intention of slowing down. But it wasn't the first time I had shadow travelled she my mind easily overrode my instincts.

Instead of a hard impact, we ran straight through the tree into absolute darkness. Then a second later the dark melted away, replaced by a busy street filled with cars and people. The amount of noise was very disorienting after the quiet.

We were in a shadowy alleyway and I could see the Empire state building a head of us. Nico suddenly trembled and I gripped his arm tighter and steadied him to stop him from falling. He really did seem exhausted.

"You alright?" I murmured. I'd learned it was best to keep quiet in densely populated areas as many monsters lived in them. Not that it was especially helpful, seeing as they could always smell me.

"Yeah... just need to... sleep for a few hours?" Nico said, struggling to focus.

I frowned, that had exhausted him more than I'd anticipated. But it wasn't safe to rest here, I'd have to take him up first.

-

On my own again. The plan - though I was mostly making this up as I went along - was to steal the supplies I needed. I could see a shop opposite me had several golden weapons. Now I just needed to see a way to get them.

I entered the shop, aptly named Spoils of war for as well as the gold weapons and some bronze, it contained many dead monster parts. I could see a minotaur horn, teeth and claws from some Dragon-like creatures, hippocampi scales fashioned into armour and much more.

I walked straight up to the shopkeeper, a young woman who smiled at me as I came over.

"Hello, I'm from camp Jupiter and I was wondering where I could get some imperial gold," I said.

The woman looked surprised. "You're Roman? I wouldn't have thought-" she quickly cut herself off. "Never mind! You've come at a good time, there's loads of gold in the market right now."

That was lucky. "That's good, why's there so much?" I asked, something told me I should be suspicious.

"It's really weird, there's this guy who seems to have hoarded loads of it and is suddenly selling it all of it at once," she replied. "I actually bought a gold chair from him."

A good chair? Why would anyone think it was a good idea to build a golden chair? And why would anyone buy one? His could this shop be running with the person in charge impulsively buying golden chair? My mind immediately presented me with a few reasons but I ignored them. This was strangely amusing.

"Well that's lucky, where can I find him?

-

"Go away..." Nico moaned, resisting my gentle attempts to wake up.

"Nico, wake up!" I raised my voice though I wasn't particularly irritated. I was fairly excited.

Eventually he did get up though he didn't stop grumbling and he might've been attempting glare at me. It was hard to tell with him only half awake. Still, I thought he was giving me most of his attention.

"I bring good news about the quest," I began, he nodded to show he was listening.

"We're going to Nebraska to steal some gold!" I said brightly.

Nico look confused. "What." He said this in a flat tone.

"Some person has just appeared with heaps of gold in a mansion in Nebraska - it sounds like Midas, we're going to steal from him!"

"King Midas?" Nico was incredulous, as if that was somehow impossible.

I could see his point of course, but I had a good feeling about this. I had come back to life after all and I was prepared to trust this feeling. Besides, what else was there to do?

"Yes, shall we go?"

"But how could you possibly find something like that out?"

I sighed, why didn't he trust that I had years of experience, maybe I was acting too happy. I just want in the mood for dark and serious right now, not when I had escaped the camp.

"Maybe I was unconsciously using magic on this shop owner to get her to tell me what I needed to know," I suggested. Subtle uses of magic came with time. That use was just so subtle they even I was unaware of it.

"You can do things like that?" Nico asked with great fascination.

I shrugged.

Nico stood up. "So how were we getting there then?"

With Nico here, the best way to get around really was shadow travel. I did this to him. He groaned.

"Don't you have another way to get around, what would you do without me?" That wasn't a rhetorical question. He was genuinely curious.

There was no optical method of transport for demigods however. "I might have tried the labyrinth, it's very dangerous and I can't exactly navigate it, but if I wander round I'm likely to cut off weeks of travel, and I'm good at avoiding death" I said.

Nico made a strange nervous sound. "It's gone."

What? "What?"

"It has been destroyed," he said.

I didn't know what to think. It had always been there, I had only been gone a few years right? How had the works changed so much?

"Wow it's a good thing you're with me then..." I responded, not sure what to think about this development.

Nico nodded, with a far-off look on his face, presumably thinking about when the labyrinth was destroyed. How involved had he been?

"So the quest?" I said, bringing him back to reality.

Nico did focus, "I won't be ready to shadow travel again until the evening, definitely not before lunch."

I rolled my eyes. Boys thought about food far too much. Fortunately for him though I was a hunter and could conjure up a dead animal out of nowhere. (Well not really but I had never been hungry for long. Having no money was just very inconvenient.

Oh well, I think I'd enjoy spending a day in Olympus. It would be pleasant and there was no real urgency to get this quest fine. I would wait until night to steal all that gold.

I informed Nico of this and he certainly seemed pleased, now I just needed to find some food.

So what did you think? Does anyone want me to continue writing this? Please do tell me! And feel free to check a few of my one-shots if you're interested.