Warning: Certain ancient Greek names matches words use of foul language but no foul language was intentionally used. Also if you haven't read them yet read 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Early Adventures' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Magical Labyrinth' as well as the one shots 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Stolen Chariot' The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Sword of Hades', and The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Bronze Dragon' before reading this story as stuff that happened in them will be mentioned. Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.

I Decided to Go on a Trip with Nico

The rest of the day went better than I thought. After turning in the paperwork and forms, I headed back to Poseidon Cabin to put what was left of my cholate in the space under a loose floorboard before heading out for my usual daily training. I did grab my thermos and a couple of Sand dollars incase some point of the day some sea creature needed me. I decided to start the day with sword-fighting so that I can check on Mrs. O'Leary.

Along the way I found Clarisse and Michael at each other's throats, again, only this time Chris tried to calm Clarisse down.

Apparently Chris said something wrong because both Michael and Clarisse trudged off, leaving Chris behind.

"I guess you saw the whole thing?" Chris asked when he saw me.

"Saw, but didn't hear," I responded. "Don't worry about it, man. I'm pretty sure she'll forgive you long before she'll forgive Michael. Even after this issue is resolved."

Chris smiled. "Thanks Percy."

"No problem," I said.

…

I finally made it back to the arena and even before I saw her, I slammed into the ground with a huge paw on my chest, and an oversized Brillo pad tongue licking my face.

"Ow!" I said as Mrs. O'Leary kept me down, "Hey girl! Good to see you alive too. Ow!"

It took a few minutes for Mrs. O'Leary to calm down and get off me. By then I was pretty much drenched in dog drool. She wanted to play fetch, so I picked up a bronze shield and tossed it across the arena.

After a few throws, she started barking—a sound slightly louder than an artillery gun—like she needed to go for a walk. The other campers didn't think it was funny when she went to the bathroom in the arena. It caused more than one unfortunate slip-and-slide incident. So I opened the gates of the arena, and she bounded straight toward the woods.

I jogged after her, not too concerned that she was getting ahead. Nothing in the woods could threaten Mrs. O'Leary. Even the dragons and giant scorpions ran away when she came close and if I lose her, I can just blow at my hellhound whistle and she'll come back.

When I finally tracked her down, she wasn't using the facilities. She was in a familiar clearing where the Council of Cloven Elders had once put Grover on trial. The place didn't look so good. The grass had turned yellow. The three topiary thrones had lost their leaves. But that's not what surprised me. In the middle of the glade the stood the weirdest trio I'd ever seen: Juniper the tree nymph, Nico di Angelo, and a very old, very fat satyr.

Nico was the only one who didn't seemed freak out by Mrs. O'Leary's appearance. He looked pretty much like I'd seen him in my dream—an aviator's jacket, black jeans, and a T-shirt with dancing skeletons on it, like one of those Day of the Dead pictures. His Stygian iron sword hung at his side. He was only twelve, but he looked much older.

He nodded when he saw me, then went back to scratching Mrs. O'Leary's ears. She sniffed his legs like he was the most interesting thing since rib-eye steaks. Being the son of Hades, he'd probably been traveling in all sorts of hellhound-friendly places.

The old satyr didn't look nearly so happy. "Will someone—what is this underworld creature doing in my forest!" He waved his arms and trotted on his hooves as if the grass were hot. "You there, Percy Jackson! Is this your beast?"

"Sorry, Leneus," I said.

Leneus' fur was dust bunny gray, and a spiderweb grew between his horns. His belly would've made him an invincible bumper car. "Call off your beast!" He demanded.

"WOOF!" Mrs. O'Leary said happily.

The satyr gulped. "Make it go away! Juniper, I will not help you under these circumstances"

Juniper turned toward me. She was pretty in dryad-y way, with her purple gossamer dress ad her elfish face, but her eyes were green-tinted with chlorophyll from crying.

"Percy," she sniffled. "I was just asking about Grover. I know something's happened. He wouldn't stay gone this long if he wasn't in trouble. I was hoping that Leneus—"

"I told you!" the satyr protested. "You are better off without that traitor."

Juniper stamped her foot. "He is not a traitor! He's the bravest satyr ever, and I want to know where he is!"

"WOOF!"

"Mrs. O'Leary, Heal!" I ordered.

Mrs. O'Leary reluctantly backed away. I didn't like Leneus still treating Grover like a traitor, even though the issue was resolved, but I need him on our side to get us more eyes around the city.

"How about I walk the dog," Nico volunteered.

I nodded and handed Nico the hellhound whistle. "Just incase she tries to pull a fast one."

Nico nodded and took the whistle and led Mrs. O'Leary away from Leneus.

Leneus huffed indignantly and brushed the twigs off his shirt. "Now, as I was trying to explain, young lady, your boyfriend has not sent any reports since we voted him into exile."

"You mean you failed to vote him into exile," I corrected. "Thalia Chiron and Dionysus out voted you with Dionysus' extra vote count."

"Bah! Chiron and Lord Dionysus are honorary Council members and that girl had no clue what she was doing."

"I'm sure Dionysus would like to hear that you said that," I said.

The color of Leneus' face drained. "I only meant… Now see here, Jackson."

"Not to mention Thalia told me herself last winter that Lady Artemis herself approved her vote about Pan's last words," I said which was true, she did tell me. "Grover's alive, and I need the support he has along with the rest of you satyrs who still refuse to accept the truth to act as the camp's eyes and ears in the city parks around Manhattan."

"For a war that doesn't involved us!" Leneus said.

I grabbed him by the shirt. "Listen, Leneus. It was the work of satyrs and Nature Spirits alongside with Amalthiea that helped raised Zeus as a baby so he could free his siblings and dethroned Kronos. You think after over three thousand years, Kronos have forgotten about that and will let the satyrs and nature spirits free once this war over? No! He's going to destroy them along with all mortals, gods and demigods. So do us a favor and get us our eyes in the parks around Manhattan and see if you can find Grover for Juniper's sake while you're at it!"

I shoved him very hard, but he was kind of top-heavy. He fell on his furry rump, then he scrambled to his hooves and ran away with his belly jiggling. "Grover will never be accepted! He will die an outcast!"

When he disappeared into the bushes, Juniper wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry, Percy. I didn't mean to get you involved. Leneus is still a lord of the Wild. You don't want to make a enemy of him."

"It doesn't matter." I said, "When Kronos attack, Leneus will have to open his eyes to the truth or die a coward he is."

Nico walked back to us. "Good job, Percy. Judging from the trail of goat pellets, I'd say you shook him up pretty well."

"Thanks," I responded.

"Nico, you're the son of Hades ad all," Juniper said, "Are you sure you haven't heard anything from Grover?"

Nico shifted his weight. "Juniper, like I tried to tell you… even if Grover died, he would reincarnate into something else in nature. I can't sense things like that, only mortal souls."

"I'm sure Nico would have told us if he have seen Grover," I responded. "You just have to believe in Grover and hope he's safe."

She nodded glumly. "I hate not being able to leave the forest. He could be anywhere, and I'm stuck here waiting. Oh, if that silly goat gotten himself hurt—"

Mrs. O'Leary bounded back over and took an interest in Juniper's dress.

"No, Mrs. O'Leary, heal!" I yelled.

Juniper yelped. "Oh, no you don't! I know about dogs and trees. I'm gone."

She went pooff into green mist. Mrs. O'Leary looked disappointed, but she lumbered off to find another target, leaving Nico and me alone.

Nico tapped his sword on the ground. A tiny mound of animal bones erupted from the dirt. They knit themselves together into a skeletal field mouse ad scampered off.

"I heard what you did on that ship," Nico said.

"How—"

"I talked to some of the dead," Nico replied.

"Oh," I said. I tried not to remember about the demigods on the ship.

"Don't worry, the demigod casualty was light, but the explosion opened some of the demigod's eyes," Nico said.

"Too bad it came too late," I said, "You weren't in Mount Tam a few days back, were you?"

I expected Nico to said no, or asked me how I know but instead he said, "I was following leads on my mortal family when I was in the neighborhood. I figured you wanted to know what I saw," Nico explained.

"I take it that was a power of yours?" I asked.

Nico nodded. "It's mostly common with children of Hypnos, but sometimes a child of Hades can do it. Bianca could too if she wanted too. But that's not why I'm here, and you know it."

A feeling of dread started to build in my chest. Ever since Nico first propose his plan for beating Kronos last summer, I'd had nightmares about it. He would show up occasionally and press me for an answer, but I kept pushing him off. Not to mention after reading the Great Prophecy, I had hoped to spend as much of my remaining time as I could enjoying it.

"Nico, I don't know," I said. "It seems pretty extreme."

"You've got Typhon coming in, what… a week? Most of the other Titans are unleashed now and on Kronos' side. Maybe it's time to think extreme."

I looked back toward the camp. Even from this distance I could hear the Ares ad Apollo campers fighting again, yelling curses and spouting bad poetry.

"They're no match for the Titan army," Nico said. "You know that. This comes down to you and Luke. And there's only way you have any hopes to beat Luke in order to free him from Kronos."

I remembered my fight on the Princess Andromeda. How all my attacks didn't even phase Kronos.

"We can give you the same power," Nico urged. "You heard the Great Prophecy—you even got a prediction from Hal. This could help you become a great hero you're meant to be."

That hit a nerve. My whole life I been trying to live up to Hal's prediction. Plus I read about that power myself. It doesn't make me 100% invulnerable, but it might be enough to help me last until my final battle with Kronos.

"All right," I decided. "What do we do first?"

His cold creepy smile made me sorry I'd agreed. "First we'll need to know more about his past, his childhood, before he met you Annabeth and Thalia."

I flinched when I heard that as I remembered Rachel's painting of nine-year old Luke and an old memory of mine from my time with Thalia Luke and Annabeth. "You don't mean—"

"Yes, Luke's mother," Nico said.

I moved my hand through my dark hair. I never thought I would go back to the home of May Castellan—even after finding what happened to her.

"Are you sure she's the best way to find out what we need?" I asked.

"Positive," Nico said.

"Okay… so how should we get there?" I asked.

"Through Mrs. O'Leary." He whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary came loping out of the woods.

"Have you Shadow Travel yet?" Nico asked.

I snorted. "Only in times when I need her too."

I climbed on Mrs. O'Leary's back and clung onto the celestial bronze collar Beckendorf made for her.

"Do you want a ride or are you going there by yourself?" I asked.

"I'll go by myself," Nico said.

I nodded. "Alright Mrs. O'Leary, take me to Westport Connecticut, outside May Castellan's place?"

Mrs. O'Leary sniff the air like she does to find the best shadow to shadow travel to. Then she bounded forward, straight into an oak tree.

Just before we hit, we melted into the shadows.