Chapter 2

Will walked through the forest, with Gorgeous the cat following close behind.

"NICO! NICO! WE'RE ALL REALLY WORRIED ABOUT YOU! ALSO, ANNABETH WANTS TO KICK YOUR BUTT FOR WORRYING HER!" Will yelled.

"Mew." Gorgeous whimpered.

"Come on, Gorgeous. Cat up." Will said.

"MEW!" Gorgeous protested.

"Fine." Will said, turning around so Gorgeous could leap into his arms.

Will hugged the cat closer to his body, which seemed like second nature for him. The cat purred, and started dozing off. Will had two quivers-one with arrows, and one with a soft inside lining, for Gorgeous. Will also had his bow slung over his back. He put Gorgeous in the second quiver. Then, he nocked an arrow and got ready to let it fly. He heard something crack a twig, so he twirled towards the sound, and let his arrow fly. Gorgeous woke up when someone yelped.

"Oops! Sorry Katie!" Will apologized.

The counselors were put into five groups. Since they were searching for a counselor, the teams were even. Four people on each team. It had gone like this:

Will, Katie, Travis, and Connor would search the west forest. Piper, Annabeth, Jason, and Clarisse were scouting the edges of Camp, so they could beat Nico up if he was outside camp. Percy, Thalia (Thalia had come to Camp immediately after hearing that Nico was missing), Clovis, and Nyssa were searching the East forest. Pollux, Butch, Damien White, and Holly Victor were searching the North forest. And Laurel Victor, Paolo Montes, Chiara Benvenuti, and Lou Ellen were searching the South Forest.

"It's fine." Katie said, coming into view.

Travis followed behind her.

"Where's Connor?" Will asked.

Katie pointed above him, where Connor was putting down a wooden plank before walking, and then picking it up behind him.

"Hermes kids…" Katie said, shaking her head.

"Let's check with the others. See if they've gotten any luck." Will suggested.

"Sure!" Travis said, pulling out a spray bottle.

Travis pumped the bottle, and Will manipulated the light to make a rainbow. They tossed in a drachma, and then, slowly, the East Forest team came into view.

"Hey guys! Any luck?" Will asked.

"Nope. Nothing. Not even a glimpse or a shadow. Our search would have been good at noon, but now…" Thalia said.

"Yeah… You guys should probably contact the North Forest team." Will suggested.

Eventually, all the teams were on one IM. You could look through, and see the East team, then the North team, then the South, and then the Border. All the results had been the same, except for the South team.

"We found some of him…" Lou Ellen had said.

"What do you mean?" Will had asked.

"His sword." Lou Ellen had replied. "It's here, but he's not."

Gorgeous the cat had meowed, gotten up, meowed again, irritably, and then jumped onto Will's shoulder, only to paw at the IM.

"Well, we should probably IM Hazel." Will said.

Gorgeous, once again, meowed irritably.

The West Forest Team IM-ed Hazel, and told her the bad news. She put her face in her hands. Gorgeous meowed, almost like he was trying to comfort her. Will walked dejectedly out of the forest, and back to his cabin. When he walked by, some Aphrodite campers giggled. Will glared at them, and petted Gorgeous. Gorgeous hissed at the campers. Will flopped onto his bed, and Gorgeous slept on his pillow.

"Weird cat." Will mumbled before falling asleep.

~The next morning~

Will woke up and felt like he'd slept in the Hypnos cabin for a few years. Gorgeous was sleeping peacefully next to him. Will put one arm around Gorgeous.

"Good morning, Gorgeous." He said.

"Mew. Mrow." Gorgeous the cat replied.

"I'm going to guess that means you're hungry, huh?"

"Meow."

"Alright, we shall have pancakes!"

Will led the Apollo cabin to breakfast, and held Gorgeous in his arms. He even got Gorgeous his own plate at the Apollo table. Gorgeous purred contentedly when he was back in Will's arms. Jenny, the girl from Archery practice and the infirmary sat at the Aphrodite cabin. She glared at the cat during the whole meal. After breakfast, she tried flirting with Will again. Gorgeous hissed at her. She ignored Gorgeous up until the moment he tried to claw at her.

"Bad cat. Very bad cat!" Will scolded Gorgeous.

Gorgeous frowned and his ears went down. "Mrow."

"It's fine. I'm glad that I have you around to scare her off."

For the rest of the day, people were glaring over at Will and the cat, and Gorgeous purred contentedly in Will's arms. A group of newer campers came up and tried to pet Gorgeous, to which the cat snapped at their hands. The Aphrodite campers giggled and occasionally went hysterical whenever they saw Gorgeous the cat in Will's arms. Except for Piper and Jenny. Jenny glared now at both Will and Gorgeous, and Piper shook her head whenever she saw the cat and demigod together.

Will eventually put Gorgeous down so the cat could walk behind and beside him, but the cat just whimpered. Will picked Gorgeous back up, and walked to his cabin so he could let Gorgeous rest. Then, he realized he had missed the past few sing-alongs. He decided he would go to the sing-along tonight, and bring his new pet cat.

Before the sing-along, Annabeth came to the cabin, and spoke to Will. "Will, I think I know why that cat is so unfriendly, and why it's in Camp Half-Blood in the first place. I also think I know where Nico is."

"Where!?" Will said, perking up at the mention of finding Nico.

Before, he couldn't care for finding Nico any more than he wanted to clean the stables. Now, though, he missed Nico, and felt like he needed to find the other demigod.

"I'm still thinking, and I don't want to give anyone any false hope."

"Annabeth, if you are more than fifty percent sure of this idea, the you need to tell me, now."

"My idea is barely a concept."

"Okay. As soon as it's a fully grown idea, you have to tell me!"

"I will."

~The Sing-Along/Campfire~

Gorgeous the cat wanted to stay in the Apollo cabin more than he wanted to be in the wanted to go to the Sing-Along. Then again, he seemed to want nothing more than to curl up next to Will and sleep- That's when he seemed the most peaceful, the quietest. But Will forced the cat to come, mostly by tricking him into thinking it was time for food again. When the cat was near the campfire, it buried its head in Will's chest. Will chuckled.

He put the cat down next to Percy, and Jason, Thalia, and Annabeth made sure it wasn't going to run. Tonight was a rare night. Tonight was one of the nights when Camp Jupiter and the Hunters came to visit. All of the descendants of Apollo lead the Sing-Along. Hazel sat near Frank and Gorgeous, and she had agreed- it reminded her of Nico.

Will sang with the camp, but he wasn't really in it, so he stopped leading it about halfway through the third song. He walked to where Gorgeous the cat was, and picked him up. Hazel was absent-mindedly petting him. Gorgeous purred contentedly, this time because of Hazel petting him, and Will holding him.

Will had started singing a song he had learned long ago- 'You are my sunshine'. Gorgeous stopped purring, and climbed up onto Will's shoulder, listening. When Will got to, 'Please don't take, my sunshine, away…' Gorgeous started licking his cheek. Piper, who was sitting next to Jason, saw this and started giggling, as did the other Aphrodite campers.

"You know, my sister's cat hated it when I sang that song." Will told Gorgeous.

Gorgeous looked like he was in disbelief, but Will figured that was just his imagination. He remembered his sister, Sarah. She had died in a car accident with his mother. That was the last time he'd sung that song. The cat had just died, and Will was trying to comfort her when…

Will's eyes started tearing up.

"Will, are you okay?" Piper asked him.

"Yeah. Me and my cat are going back to the Apollo cabin. I'm going to bed." Will replied, walking off.

Will slept with Gorgeous beside him, and Will hugged Gorgeous for comfort.

"You know, I haven't sung that song in a long time. My sister died in a car accident with my mom, right after her cat died. There was a monster attack. We swerved to avoid an elephant, at least, that's what my mom had thought. The car swerved, but we hit a telephone pole. Some wires were snapping, and I crawled out of the window because my door wouldn't open and…" Tears were streaming down Will's face. "I tried to rescue Sarah and my mom, but the wires fell and they electrocuted the car, and I had been singing to my sister before my mom saw the hydra that she mistook for an elephant."

Gorgeous the cat wiggled his way up, and put a paw on Will's cheek. Will was grateful that the cat understood that he was sad, but he also found it strange that a cat would try and comfort him.

Then, Annabeth knocked on the door of the Apollo cabin. Will opened the door, Gorgeous following close behind.

"Will, I figured it out. Nico is safe. He's been with us the whole time!" Annabeth exclaimed, and then Will saw Hazel, Frank, Percy, Piper, Jason, and Thalia.

"Okay, soo…" Will asked.

Hey guys! So, I know that there's no way in Tartarus that Will would call a cat 'Gorgeous' but, hey, I was out of ideas, and 'Death Cat' doesn't sound too good. WHERE IS NICO! For those of you who haven't figured it out, read on! If you did, still read on! Till next chapter- Danny-Blaze, son of Hades!