We go up into the sky to see what looks like a comet flying the wrong way. Weird, I know. Soon we see Nico and Percy holding each other, standing on a cloud.

Another argument ensues,

"What the hell did you do, Percy?"

"What did I do? What did YOU do? Think of home, that was an amazing plan!"

Percy looked downright pissed off, "You thought of your home, I thought of mine. Now we're halfway between the two!"

"You idiot, what did you think of your home for?"

"You moron, you just said home! So that's what I thought of! If you wanted me to think of YOUR home, you should have said that!"

"Some deranged psycho was going to cut your heart out and you wanted more specific instructions? Like a diagram maybe?"

A net fell on them, and they fell through the cloud. Hey, it shut our boys up, didn't it?

"Heave ho, boys. Got something in the net, do we? Look, Coach Hedge! Got ourselves a little bonus!" Grover yelled.

Coach came over, and saw them. He studied them closely.

"A couple lightning marshals," Juniper claimed. Coach looked at them and then at his workers, "They don't look like lightning marshals to me."

"Why else would they be in this storm?" Demeter asked.

"Let's think, maybe for the same godforsaken reason we are," Coach said, then looked at them. "Who are you?"

They looked at him, then each other and then back to him.

He smirked,"Throw them in the brig. Maybe a night there would loosen their lips."

Cheers erupted from the crew. They were taken out of the net and shown to the brig. There, they were tied back to back and left there for the night. The crew then went back to work. The ship sailed away.

After being locked in, Percy sighed and spoke up, "They're going to kill us, aren't they?"

He felt Nico shrug. He thought about it for a minute before speaking, "You know, it's funny. I used to watch..." Percy cleared his throat, "I used to watch people having adventures."

Nico smiled as he listened. Percy kept talking, "I envied them."

Nico looked to the side, "You ever heard the expression, "Be careful what you wish for"?"

"What? So ending up with my heart cut out, it'll serve me right, will it?"

Percy voice sounded pained. Nico flinched, and said "No, I didn't mean it like that. Look, I admire you for dreaming. Shop boy like me, I never imagined an adventure as big as this, in order to have wished for it. At the most, I thought I'd find a lump of celestial rock, take it home and that would be it."

Percy laughed, "And you got me."

The two of them laughed until they couldn't. Then Percy leaned his head back til it touched Nico's neck. "If there's one thing I've learned, in all my years watching earth, it's that people aren't what they may seem."

Nico smiled and relaxed. Percy continued, "There are shop boys, and there are boys who just happen to work in shops for the time being. Trust me, Nico. You are no shop boy."

Percy felt Nico nod. He smiled. Nico couldn't help but feel something in his heart for this star.

Percy spoke again, "You saved me from that psycho, thank you."

Nico's heart jumped. He felt Percy hand cover his and relished the contact. "We should sleep. Never know when that Coach guy will come back and grill us."

Percy nodded and the two soon were asleep.

Bright and early, back on land. Ares came upon Poseidon dead in a tub, blue blood covering most of his body.

"Well, well. Look what we have here. The last brother dead."

Ares looked around, and thought about it. "This means I am king."

He turned and walked toward his men, "I am king! I am.. not until I get the stone, damn it!"

The captain of his guards looked at him in confusion, "Your brother didn't have it?"

Ares glared at him, "Why don't you go find out?"

The captain walked to the tub and started searching. The very thought gave me the wiles.

He walked back toward his horse, until something grabbed his ankle, He pulled out his sword and held it along the jaw of the boy. (This is the kid who was Sally and I think he groped himself.)

"Who are you?"

"Bernard, sir."

"Where is my stone?"

"I don't... Oh, the man your brother, I heard him speak of a stone. Yeah. The brunette boy, he had it."

"What boy?'

"I don't know. This was a trap set up for him, but your brother, he just come straight into it."

"A trap, set by who?"

"A man you should pray you'll never meet. He's...he's gone. He took your brother's carriage."

"This man, did he want my stone?"

"No, he wanted the brunette's heart." Bernard looked scared throughout the conversation about the man but continued speaking, "He said the boy was a star, and he wanted to cut out his heart and..."

Ares shook the boy and said, "Eat it?"

Bernard nodded.

"Oh my god. Do you have any idea what this means?"

Bernard looked confused. Ares got an evil grin on his face, "Everlasting life. King Forever."

The captain took his hand out of the tub and said, "it's not here, sire."

Ares stood up, holding Bernard by the collar, "This boy is coming with us."

He dragged the boy to a horse. The Captain followed.

The next morning, Percy and Nico heard a key enter the lock, then saw the man they knew was Coach come in and close the door.