Hey there, here's another chapter. Thanks for the reviews, I do plan to make Percy and Zoe a couple unless I decide to diverge. Sorry if it's so slow, I want to speed up yet I love all the subplots...

"Goodbye Midas," I murmured as he appeared through a doorway.

He surveyed the chariot I stood next to with interest. That fearful look he had worn earlier was gone, replaced with a composed, if not resigned look.

"The Pegasus's name is Sherbet." He wasn't looking at me, only at his flying horse.

I said nothing but slowly boarded the chariot, ready to leave. Midas left without another word.

What a strange character. Very dangerous. Yet he wasn't a monster but a mortal, blessed with the golden touch. I doubted that I was the only one to use him for his powers.

With these thoughts in mind, I instructed the Pegasus to leave though the back entrance of the stables. Sherbet complied and I was soon in the air, carrying an impressive bounty of gleaming gold.

Even by air, the journey would take a couple of hours. By the time I arrived, Nico would most likely be awake and may have bought a few Pegasus too.

Unless Nico was in some sort of danger; he was vulnerable while asleep. Perhaps this plan had been too risky. And yet there was nothing I could do about it now. Nothing safe for flying in his direction as fast as possible.

Trying to distract myself from these negative thoughts, I instead thought about Midas. I'd never asked him how he had escaped death. I knew now that I wasn't the only one so it seemed that the barrier between life and death was fading in general. But why?

Something was happening. Jason's disappearance, people coming back to life, Greek and Romans meeting each other. The gods lack of communication. Who was behind all this? Maybe we should have talked to Athena back in Olympus, she usually had answers.

I sighed. It had been a long day, I looked forward to a rest when I arrived at the place. I couldn't go to sleep in the air unfortunately. Instead, to pass the time, I decided to enchant a couple of arrows although that would likely make me more tired.

Sherbet was grateful to land when we arrived. To my relief Nico was waving at me. I waved back. It looked like things had gone smoothly after all.

"No Pegasi?" I asked as I landed.

Nico shrugged with a smile. He seemed relieved to see me as well. "I decided to wait."

I frowned when I noticed some bruised skin on one of his cheeks. It looked like someone had punched him. "Are you alright?"

"Wonderful," he replied, in an unconvincing voice. Far too cheerful.

"Nico?" I asked again, or rather demanded.

"It's nothing, just a Satyr wanted to... fight." Nico blushed.

I rolled my eyes in amusement. "How did you manage to find an aggressive Satyr?" I chuckled.

"I don't know! He was really mean!" Nico complained loudly.

"Well I'm glad to see you have recovered from losing against a Satyr."

"I didn't lose! I won!" He protested.

"Whatever, let's go," I said feeling genuinely cheerful.

"I didn't lose though," he muttered, following me.

We bought half a dozen Pegasi with a chunk of our gold. That was all I planned to get but the camp couldn't be unhappy with another seven Pegasi in total. It was a miracle to get that much anyway.

With that done, we paid a little more to sleep in beds for the night. When I got back to New Rome, I was definitely going to get some camping supplies though. This quest had highlighted how much I didn't have.

We had some food - we were quite hungry - and didn't do much else before resting for the night. I was asleep within moments.

-

The next day was warm and bright and clear, perfect for flying, so long as the sun didn't get in our eyes. I prepared the chariot in high spirits and decided to attach six Pegasi to it, while I flew on Sherbet, whom I was becoming quickly fond of.

Sherbet was a rather lovely beige colour with large cream wings and a cream mane. He had carried the heavy chariot admirably yesterday, with a few short rests. He seemed to have quite recovered his energy over night however I thought it'd be best if he carried just me.

This meant that Nico would be in the chariot. I hoped that the Pegasi would tolerate him, though he seemed worried about it. I needed him to fly it, as it would be quite troublesome trying to handle seven flying horses. And splitting up was usually a bad idea.

I think they didn't mind as long as Nico kept his distance in the chariot though it nevertheless took about twenty minutes of ordering to get them to fly and Nico seemed convinced that they were planning to make him to fall to his death.

So I had to endure his complaints.

"Shadow travelling is nothing compared to this - I think they're looking at me!"

"Zoe are they secretly laughing at me?"

"Help! They're going to flip me over!"

It was irritating and I'm sure the Pegasi were as tempted as I was to just let him fall. I'd catch him, of course. How did I end up on a quest for Pegasi with someone who was scared of them?

It was ironic. Not that Nico hadn't been a big help but I hadn't anticipated such an exhausting flight. Sherbet decided to keep his distance from the chariot. The sound of rushing winds in my ear miraculously drowned out his voice. Though I found myself feeling irritated as I knew he was complaining

Eventually Nico became silent and even conjured a book from somewhere to read. I scowled, because one shouldn't read while flying a chariot but decided not to say anything if it kept him occupied. The Pegasi simply followed Sherbet and I.

I found myself enchanting arrows again, which was what I usually did to prevent boredom. It usually required a fair amount of concentration to enchant them properly. The wonders of flying in the air faded after a while and the chill winds were unpleasant.

Unfortunately we would be flying all day to get back at camp very late at night. Perhaps we could've checked in at a hotel somewhere and arrived at camp in the morning but that was troublesome with seven Pegasi and a chariot full of gold.

So we flew in silence all day with rests for lunch and dinner. I may have stolen a few apples for the horses too. The weather stayed warm all day although it felt could up in the air.

It was indeed the middle of the night when we arrived at the familiar tunnel leading back to camp. I got off Sherbet and led the chariot through the tunnel followed by some very shocked looking guards.

I recognised one of the guards as an archer though I didn't know his name. He recognised me as well and looked at me with suspicion as well as shock.

"Miss Nightshade... What are you doing out of camp?"

I gave him a sharp look. "I was helping the camp, have you ever tried that?"

He snorted. "Helping? After what you did with Jason?"

Nico, looked down at us from in the chariot. "What did you do to Jason? I thought he disappeared?" He asked, with innocent curiosity.

"He did disappear. Some people just suspect me because they're idiotic."

"You appeared days before he disappeared, fully trained and was the last person to see him, and you call yourself innocent?" He seemed so certain that he was right.

Nico chuckled. "Zoe's a good person. You can trust her, don't worry." I smiled at Nico, that was nice of him to say.

"Oh you're friends with the ambassador of Pluto? Obviously you're trustworthy," the boy said in a voice laced with sarcasm.

I just barely restrained myself from lashing out at him. I quickened my pace.

"Those supplies are for the camp, courtesy of myself and Nico," I stated.

Not waiting for a response, I rushed off to find somewhere to sleep, it was best to avoid killing any obnoxious boy.

That's it for now, thanks for reading! So the mini-quest is over but I enjoyed it, I hope you didn't mind it either! Please do send your reviews, especially if there's something you dislike so far. But things you like are also appreciated.

I like the name Sherbet.