2

NICO

Nico di Angelo was not having a good day.

After waking up in an unknown forest with a splitting headache, finding Percy wounded and dragging him to and up the fence of a random house, he was not sure which was more beautiful: Maia, or the piece of ambrosia she was holding. Then, to make things even better, they get caught by two men in sunglasses that look like they would personally rip there throats out given half, no, quarter the chance.

The four demigods took out their swords instinctively, but Percy and Maia looked at the newcomers with dismay as they stepped out of the light. The one who spoke looked skinnier than his friend but still strong enough to take them down. They both wore simple jeans and black t-shirts with black shades covering their eyes.

"They're human," Percy whispered to Maia and they lowered their swords slightly, fully aware that celestial bronze would pass through any ordinary mortal as if they were a hologram. Nico and Annabeth tensed, ready to strike for them if they had to, attentive to the gun at either of the men's' waists.

The one who had not spoken growled and drew his gun, pointing it at Percy.

"What do you mean, they're human? Yeah, we're human. What you going to do 'bout it, parasite?"

The first man drew his weapon, walked five steps towards them and aimed it directly towards Nico's head. "Look, we were told not to kill any more of your kind, but when it's a really hot day and one finds a couple of aliens in one of the supply areas that one uses, one might be a little…ticked off."

Annabeth frowned. "Um, firstly, aliens? I'm not sure what you're on about, because there's no such thing."

"Says the girlfriend of the water-wielding demigod," Nico muttered.

"Secondly, I'd really appreciate it if you'd put down your weapons? My boyfriend's leg was wounded and we had little time. The door was unlocked."

The first man frowned and took off his sunglasses. He had strikingly blue eyes with shaggy blond hair. He could not be older than nineteen.

His eyes widened and he looked around at them as if seeing them for the first time. "Hey, you guys are human!" his partner took off his shades, exposing dark brown eyes. He too, looked bewildered.

All six of them just stood there, just for a second, staring at each other. Then Blue Eyes' face broke into a smile. "Ha. Wait 'till Uncle Jeb hears this," he put down his gun and so did his friend.

"My name's Vince. Sorry for almost blowing your heads off. We can't see anything through these glasses. So if it's alright with you, can you guys please put away your bats? You look ridiculous."

The four demigods lowered their swords, their gaze hostile, unfazed by the fact that he saw their weapons as baseball bats. The Mist saw to disguising their swords and they were not complaining. Finally Percy sighed and capped Riptide, reducing it back to a normal ballpoint pen. The other three took that as a signal and put their own weapons away.

"So what were you talking about when you said 'aliens'?" Maia demanded.

"And who the heck's Uncle Jeb?" Nico queried.

Brown Eyes looked at them quizzically. "Uncle Jeb is a friend," he said slowly. "And as for aliens, we mean the parasitic Souls that take humans as hosts. The ones that have basically taken over planet Earth. My names Max, by the way."

Percy, Annabeth, Nico and Maia all looked at each other. Then they turned to Max and Vince.

"What?" they exclaimed in unison.

Vince narrowed his eyes. "Have you guys hit your heads or something? Everybody knows about them. They came down to Earth a couple of years ago and started taking over. They look like little… I don't know, lights? Well, up to this day, every single human being as been invaded by these Souls. Except of course the ones who escaped; like you guys."

"We didn't escape anything," Percy said. "All I know is that we woke up in a forest and wound up here. That's all," he took a step forward, leaning on Annabeth for support. "And where is here, anyway?"

"El Paso, Texas."

The demigods were lost for words.

How could they be that far from Long Island? But just then Max saw Percy's bandage. He frowned.

"Hey, what happened to your leg?"

"I was stabbed," Percy replied casually. Vince studied each of them closely. "Come to think of it," he said. "You all look a mess."

It was true. Even though they all felt better, Annabeth had a bruise on the back of her head; Maia had several scratches from the hellhound/wolf when it hit her; Nico endured numerous cuts and bruises from the monsters; and Percy…well, he had seen better days.

Max stepped foreword. "In that case, we should take you guys back to the Caves. Doc'll fix you up."

Nico's eyes narrowed. "We're not going anywhere with you."

Vince sighed. "You can trust us," he said. "And anyway, if you try to leave by yourselves, the Seekers will find you and they will turn you into hosts for their kind. But they won't find us where we're going to."

The four friends stood there for a moment, thinking it over. Then Percy started to say something, but suddenly his left leg buckled. He fell to the floor with a groan.

"Percy!" Annabeth exclaimed, dropping down to his side. His face was pale. "My leg…" Percy moaned.

Max folded his arms. "You see?" he said. "Your friend needs help. We can provide it."

Maia paused, then nodded reluctantly. Vince and Max grinned and went to help carry Percy to their car that was parked outside.

The drive was long, but Max insisted on sticking to the speed limit. "We can't afford to draw attention to ourselves," he said. "Unless of coarse you want to get caught deliberately. They do have the right medication…"

"No," Annabeth interrupted. "If what you say is true, then its best to wait until we get there."

Vince turned around to look at them. He had that trouble-maker face that the children of Hermes usually inherit. "So tell me, who exactly are you people? You're definitely not from around here."

Maia looked at him with chocolaty brown eyes. It looked so real, sometimes Nico forgot that the colour was just a trick of the mist that her locket creates, and her eyes were actually the same shade of green as her brother's. "My name is Maia Jackson. That," she gestured to Percy, who was sleeping silently, stretched out on the seats behind them. "Is my brother, Percy Jackson. His girlfriend's name is Annabeth Chase." Annabeth raised her hand and wriggled her fingers at Vince, smiling tightly. Then Maia turned to Nico. "And this," she said, a small smile spreading across her lips. "Is my amazing boyfriend, Nico di Angelo." Nico grinned at her and rested his head against the window, looking out at the barren landscape that they had entered.

Vince sighed. "Well, I'm guessing that that's all you're going to give me right now; your names?"

Maia nodded and leaned back in her seat, putting her knee up, relaxing her hands on it and resting her head on the headrest, closing her eyes, making it clear that the conversation was over.

Vince sighed again and turned back in his seat. He opened up the dashboard, scratched around for three seconds, then produced three pairs of sunglasses almost identical to his and Max's that they had both put back on. Vince turned around again and held them out. "Here, take these," he said. "They'll cover your eyes so the Souls can't tell whether you're human or not if we run into them."

Annabeth, Maia and Nico took them gingerly. Annabeth looked at hers for a second, then at Vince. "What do our eyes have to do with it?"

"You can distinguish between hosts and regular humans by silver rings around their irises," This time, it was Max speaking. "But they're to trusting to think of looking underneath the shades."

"Trusting?" Nico asked, reluctantly on putting the sunglasses, Annabeth and Maia doing the same.

Max nodded, not taking his eyes off the road. "They trust each other, maybe a little too much. Take this one time, when our friend was hosting a Soul, her conscience was still awake and she convinced it to travel to where we're going right now. They needed a car, so the Soul rejected hijacking one, went up to this old guy and asked to borrow his. He immediately got out and told her that the tank was full and started walking instead."

Annabeth frowned. "What do you mean, she was hosting?" she said, echoing Nico's exact thoughts.

Vince grinned at her through the rear-view mirror. "Well, we found a way to extract the Souls without killing them or the human."

Annabeth stared at him, then sighed at slumped back in her seat. "Of course," she said, looking out of the window. "As if my day can't get any weirder."

They continued in silence for two minutes, each one deep in their own thoughts. Then something occurred to Nico.

"What's the date today?" he asked Vince. Vince glanced at him. "January second," he said. Then he grinned. "Happy belated New Years, by the way."

Maia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank the gods," she muttered. "At least it's the same month."

Nico agreed. But then Max said, "3015."

"WHAT?"

The three demigods screamed so loudly that startled Max swerved, narrowly missing an oncoming car. He went off the road and onto the rocky landscape beyond. After stopping the car he turned around in his seat, his face flushed and furious. "What in the fricken name of–"

"The year," Annabeth interrupted, fear starting to creep into her voice. "Did you say… 3015? Please tell me you didn't. Please tell me that you just like sprouting random numbers or something and it's not one thousand years in the future."

Vince stared at her like she was literally and utterly insane. "One thousand- what are you talking about? Yes, he said 3015. Of course he said it. That's the year!"

Maia took off her glasses, put her head in her hands and groaned. "This isn't happening," she muttered. "This isn't happening."

Nico tried to stay calm, but it was difficult. How could they be in a whole different centaury? He lived in a world where the Ancient Greek gods were alive and having kids with mortals, but this?

Just then Max turned back around in his seat, started the car again and sped off, driving on the road, just slightly above the speed limit. "Okay, now we really need to get you guys to Doc. Maybe he'll check you all for a concussion."

Then Maia looked up sharply. "We do not have head injuries. But one of us might die if he doesn't get help. So could you please… I don't know, step on it?"

Max gripped the wheel tightly and smiled grimly. "Yes ma'am," he muttered, flooring the gas pedal so hard that it made everyone lean back from the force of the speed and rocketed off into the distance.