Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nico tried not to take his anger out on anyone except for the Underworld shades that easily regenerated every time he ran one through with his sword. Over a year later, he was still mad at Bianca for joining the Hunters - he hadn’t seen her outside of an IM since his birthday, and even that had only been for a few hours. He was mad at Will for spending more time with Lou Ellen and their new friend Cecil than he did with Nico. (“You should hang out with us,” Will always told him, but something about seeing Will acting so friendly with Lou Ellen only made him want to punch something.) 

Mostly, he was mad at Chiron. Despite what Bianca had told him about how Chiron would share all the information he had about whatever this big prophecy was, Chiron had been frustratingly tight-lipped. He didn’t share anything that Bianca hadn’t already told Nico, and basically insisted that the only thing Nico needed to do was train.  

And so, for at least a full week every month, Nico was sent to the Underworld to train with the best warriors history had to offer. Really, it was great practice, and the extra time with his dad had really helped Nico perfect some of his other abilities, but he could sense a plateau coming, and that only made his frustration worse. He could feel his entire life slipping away from him again, and he wasn’t allowed to focus on anything except for some stupid prophecy that he knew nothing about. 

Nico was happy when he could finally return to camp, and then got frustrated again when he had to save a few people from getting killed when a hellhound tried getting through the camp’s magic border. (There were still a few around who didn’t trust Nico because of who his dad was, so chances are they thought Nico might have been the one to summon the hellhound to begin with.) (Though at this point, most of the people that hadn’t seemed like Nico’s biggest fans had...disappeared, which he tried not to think about.) 

After sending the hellhound back to Hades, he learned through a quick conversation that that had been happening more and more often over the last couple of weeks, as if the border was getting weaker. Upon entering camp, Malcolm from the Athena cabin pointed Nico toward the Big House where a counsellor’s meeting was already in session. And when he stepped into the rec room to learn that, 1.) Percy’s tree had been poisoned, and 2.) Chiron had been banished from camp for some possibly-related reason, Nico was furious. Couldn’t he at least have been notified that he could end that week’s training session early?

Maybe the worst part of it all was Chiron’s replacement: a man named Tantalus that Nico recognized from a few trips to Punishment. Tantalus seemed to remember him, as well, and took an immediate dislike to him. Connor from the Hermes cabin - a newly appointed co-counsellor after Luke left for college (Nico hoped) - had to hold him back a few times when Tantalus said something particularly taunting.

Clarisse was the one to demand a quest to find a cure for the poison, and Tantalus granted it to her right away, quicker than Nico could jump to his feet and demand the quest for himself. Not that he thought Tantalus would give it to him anyway, not after Nico had walked by his lake so many times in the Underworld and refused to give him food. 

“Go to the Oracle and ask for your quest,” Tantalus told Clarisse, though he shut his smug grin in Nico’s direction. “You shall leave tomorrow afternoon, after the chariot race.”

When the meeting was adjourned, Nico high-tailed it out of there with such speed that Lee had to jog to catch up. They were both headed toward the infirmary, so it made sense to walk together. 

“Will’s gonna be glad you’re back,” Lee commented at one point, which only made Nico feel worse about his own sour mood. Will was his best friend; he shouldn’t have to put up with Nico’s bad attitude. Still, he wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to hang out with him while Lou Ellen and Cecil were stuck in their own activities for the day. 

The infirmary was mostly empty aside from the Apollo campers, and despite being one of the best healers at camp, Will wasn’t busy. As soon as Nico walked through the door, he saw Will’s grinning face before the other boy jumped to his feet and ran to Nico, practically tackling him in a hug. 

“I missed you!” Will exclaimed before taking Nico’s hand and leading him to one of the cots. It was tradition, at that point, for Will to check Nico over whenever he returned from the Underworld, just to make sure he hadn’t gotten injured or overexerted - which had only happened once, so far, early on in the process. Nico was getting good, okay? “Tell me everything! Did you meet Achilles yet?”

Nico sat down on the bed and gave Will his wrist. Just by checking his pulse, Will could tell almost everything about Nico, health-wise. It was apparently a trait that even Lee had only just perfected that year. “Not yet, but--” 

“You have to ask him about his curse, okay?” Will reminded him for the hundredth time. Nico wasn’t sure what it was about Will and Achilles - something about Mythomagic, maybe, or about some friend that Achilles had had when he was alive. 

“I know, I will,” Nico told him. “I promise. And I’ll tell you everything else, too, but first: What’s this chariot race thing that Tantalus the Asshole was talking about?”

Will’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Oh! It’s apparently this training thing that the camp used to do. I guess they just stopped doing it a little while ago - I think Lee was here the last time it happened. It’s just, like, a chariot race, and I think we get to stab each other with javelins? I dunno for sure, but you should be on our team! Lee said I could drive the chariot, so maybe you can be my fighter!” 

“Do you think that’s allowed?” Nico asked. “I mean, can teams cross cabins?”

Will shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Besides, then it wouldn’t be fair to you, since you don’t have a cabin to race with.” Will’s eyes widened as he seemed to realize what he said only seconds too late. Sure, if Bianca had still been there, the di Angelos probably would’ve been an unstoppable team. “Um. I mean--” 

Nico squeezed Will’s hand. “It’s okay. I get it. Do you think the rest of your cabin would be okay with it?” 

Will glanced toward where about half of his siblings were gathered across the infirmary. “Well, I think Michael wanted to drive it more than anything, and Kayla really wants to stab people, but Lee says she’s too young, which--” Will shot Nico a look that was half agreement, half fear. “I think that’s more for the benefit of every other team.” He shrugged again. “It won’t hurt to ask.” 

“Then should we ask? I’m all cleared to leave, right?” Nico asked with a smile. “No mortal wounds or anything, doctor?” 

Will grinned even brighter than before at the nickname. “Yep, all clear!” He got to his feet and pulled Nico up by the hand. “C’mon, there’s already some people down at the track working on the chariot. We can ask them.” 

Gods, Nico had missed walking through camp, hand-in-hand with his best friend. 

Will led him out behind the arena, where a large, oval-shaped dirt track had been dug out. There were a handful of campers from just about every cabin, each putting together chariots or rigging up new and dangerous weapons. Nico was trying to get a good look at whatever the Ares cabin was cooking up - while still trying to keep his distance in case it exploded - when Clarisse jumped to her feet. 

“Hey, Solace,” she said, causing Will to stop and halt Nico alongside him. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure,” Will replied. “What’s up?” 

Clarisse glanced at Nico, looking like the addition of alone? was on the tip of her tongue, but then her eyes dropped to their linked hands, and she sighed, resigned. Nico tensed at the sound. “I was given the quest to find the Golden Fleece, and I need a healer. You’re the best at camp, and you have the most field experience, so I’d like it if you came along.” 

Will didn’t even miss a beat. “Sure. Can Nico come?” 

“Sorry, you’re my third,” Clarisse replied, and Nico felt Will’s hand tighten around his own. “It’ll be you, me, and Annabeth. We’re leaving tomorrow after the race, so make sure you’re packed and ready to go.”

“But--” Will started, but Clarisse had already gone back to her chariot. He started forward again and smiled sadly down at Nico as he told him, “Sorry, Neeks, but I guess we won’t be teaming up after all.”

“What’s this about Nico teaming up with us?” Michael demanded suddenly, stopping in their path with his arms crossed. He grinned, though something about it was more dark and sinister despite Will’s sunshiney look. “We’re going to be unstoppable with you on our side! You two are, like, the dream team!” 

Will flushed at his brother’s words, and it almost seemed like he tried to slip his hand out of Nico’s, but Nico only held on tighter. It was clear Will needed the comfort right then. “Actually, um. Clarisse just asked me to go on her quest, so I guess I won’t be driving after all, because I’m gonna have to pack and stuff.” 

Michael slung an arm around Nico’s shoulders with some effort. Even though he was around two years older than Will, he was still only about Nico’s height, while it was clear that Will would soon be towering over them if he continued to grow like he had been. “Don’t worry about it, Will! Nico and I are gonna tear every other team to pieces.” 

That brought a smile to Will’s face. “Please don’t.” 

Nico had helped Will pack for the quest for as long as he could before he had to be at the track for the race. He didn’t get why Clarisse could still participate in the race while Will had to pack, though he figured Will had a little more sense to be prepared than Clarisse did. (He noticed that Annabeth wasn’t at the race, either, and while Nico didn’t know much about her, he knew for sure that she had more sense than Clarisse.) 

If Nico tried a little harder to tip the Ares cabin’s chariot than he did with the others, no one had to know. 

Unfortunately, not only did Ares come in first (with Apollo in a close second, thank you), but Clarisse walked away unscathed, and so the questing party left as scheduled. Will had pulled Nico into a bone-crushing hug before he boarded the CSS Birmingham, some ship that Clarisse’s dad had supposedly lent her for the quest. 

Alright, fine, Nico probably wasn’t the right guy to send on a quest in the middle of the ocean. That didn’t mean he had to be happy about staying behind. 

It didn’t help that, with Will gone, Nico was mostly alone. He appreciated Cecil and Lou Ellen’s attempts at friendship, but Nico realized fairly quickly that he’d seemingly lost the ability to make friends. (Or maybe he never had it to begin with - Will really was the friendlier of the two of them, anyway.) And possibly the worst part of all, even worse than being sent away by Chiron, was Tantalus. 

Seeing as Nico didn’t have a table to himself, he typically ate meals at the head table with Chiron and Dionysus. With Tantalus there, though - not that he could eat or drink, since his eternal punishment still seemed to linger - Nico was subjected to endless taunting. Apparently, Tantalus had more than recognized him from his trips through Punishment, remembered how many times Nico had ignored his pleas for food or water, and in retaliation, had seemed to make it his goal to prevent Nico from eating anything at all, either. Whenever Nico sat down with a plate of food, Tantalus would reach over until the plate literally flung itself off the table.

Nico couldn’t even throw his glass of water angrily in Tantalus’s face, because the water wouldn’t touch him. 

He didn’t think Tantalus had the authority to send him to his room, even after the attempted water assault, but he went anyway, just to get away from the man.

The last straw was when Tantalus decided that he could throw Nico out of the Big House. Nico could live in the overcrowded Hermes cabin with every other child of a minor god, or he could go crawling back to daddy in the Underworld. 

Nico wondered if he had the power to crack open the earth underneath Tantalus’s feet and have the ground swallow him up.

He didn’t try. Instead, he packed up everything he could carry from his room in the Big House, and stepped into the nearest shadow. 

He didn’t know exactly where to go, but he thought of the Atlantic, and he envisioned a boat. Any boat would be better than camp, and at least it would get him closer to Will.

He wound up in what he assumed was a closet, because it was cramped and dark, and when he pushed himself out of it, he found himself in an empty bedroom. Now, he hadn’t been on a boat in...ever, maybe, but he was pretty sure boats didn’t have full bedrooms on them. He walked out the door on the opposite wall, and found himself staring out at the endless ocean.

Okay, so it was a boat. A boat that he could crash on for the night to get his energy back up, and then he could try another jump to catch up to Will. 

Nico didn’t even bother crawling under the covers before he passed out. 

In the morning, the boat became noisy, like the other people who were on it were up and moving about. And if there were so many people, surely there had to be food somewhere. And there was no way for anyone to know that Nico wasn’t supposed to be there, so he could probably take as much as he wanted.

If only he could find the kitchen. 

He got turned around more than a few times, and wound up staring out at the open ocean even though he was trying to work his way inward. At least he’d brought his stuff with him so that he wouldn’t have to try to find his way back to that room. 

He was pretty sure he was getting close. All the chattering was getting louder, and he thought he could smell bacon cooking, so he kept weaving his way around corners while following the smell. There must have been something not-quite-normal about that boat, though, because Nico found himself out on a balcony, looking over a lower deck. He leaned over the rail in an attempt to get something of a closer look at what was below him - tables full of people in a dining room setting, though he couldn’t see any food - though when his eyes scanned the people, he froze. 

Sitting at one of the larger tables, surrounded by people that looked not-quite-normal, was Charlie. 

Nico didn’t wait around any longer. He ducked around the nearest corner and jumped into a shadow, his mind on a loop of Will, Will, Will, and get away, as far away as possible.

He found himself in an engine room, mostly dark and so hot that he was sweating instantly. Nico fought through the dizziness of jumping on an empty stomach and found his way out of the room, up a flight of stairs, and walked straight into...a skeleton?

“Stowaway!” the skeleton exclaimed, grabbing Nico by the collar of his jacket and dragging him away. The thing was wearing an old military uniform, probably the same one it had died in. 

“Hey, let go!” Nico shouted, elbowing the skeleton in the ribs, though it seemed to hurt himself more than anything. 

“You better pray that Captain Clarisse is feeling merciful,” the skeleton told him as they started down a long hallway, “or else you’ll have a long swim to shore.” 

“Clarisse?” Nico repeated. “Clarisse La Rue?”

“That’s Captain Clarisse!” 

Nico rolled his eyes. “Oh, shut up.” 

After that, the skeleton didn’t say another word, even after Nico was brought up onto the deck, where Clarisse, Annabeth, and Will were all huddled over a map. When Clarisse ordered the skeleton to speak and it still didn’t, Nico realized that it must have been his doing.

Will had wrapped Nico up in a hug as soon as he was released from the skeleton’s hold, but Nico was yanked out of the hug by Clarisse gripping the back of his jacket. 

“Are you trying to steal my thunder, you little brat?” Clarisse demanded. “Just like last winter, you think you can swoop in and save the day, but not this time. This is my quest, do you hear me? So why don’t you do your little Underworld magic, and get lost.” 

Will got between them, setting a gentle hand on Clarisse’s shoulder. “Hang on a second, Clarisse, let him explain himself.”

Clarisse took a deep breath and dropped Nico’s jacket, allowing him to take a few steps back. “Fine,” she spat. “Why did you stow away on my ship?” 

“I didn’t,” Nico replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “I shadow traveled and ended up in your engine room.” 

“You shadow traveled all the way here?” Will asked, suddenly gripping Nico’s shoulder instead. “Are you okay? Did you lose consciousness? That was such a long jump, how did you do it?” 

“I’m fine,” Nico assured him. “I made a pit stop along the way, and I probably should’ve eaten something before I jumped, but I’m okay.” 

“Good,” Clarisse replied, “then you’ll be fine to jump right back to camp.”

“No, he needs rest,” Will spoke for him. “At least give him a chance to eat something and take a nap before you send him away.” 

Clarisse rolled her eyes, and directed her words to Nico when she spoke. “Fine, but if we get into the Sea of Monsters and you’re still here, you’re staying on the boat. My quest, my rules.”

“Deal,” Nico replied.

He glanced around Clarisse to see Annabeth watching him with a calculating look in her eyes. He tried not to fidget under her gaze, but the way she was looking at him was so unnerving, and he had to look away.

“Clarisse,” she said to get the other girl’s attention, and then nodded her head in a come here sort of motion. Clarisse followed Annabeth across the deck.

Will took Nico’s hand and pulled him down to sit on the floor. “I can’t believe you followed us out here,” he said as he started digging through his bag. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have a friendly face and someone who will actually laugh at my jokes instead of looking at me like I’m an idiot, but, I mean. Neeks, you’re kind of an idiot for making that big of a jump.”

“Two jumps,” Nico reminded him, though he was only half listening. He was trying to eavesdrop on whatever Annabeth was saying. He knew it was about him, because she kept glancing over at him, but he couldn’t hear her over Will’s rambling. 

He caught a few things whenever she happened to raise her voice over a whisper: “We could use him,” and “We don’t know what we’re going to find when we get there,” and probably his least favorite, “A child of Hades isn’t my first choice, but it’s not like Percy’s around…” 

Great. Nico loved being compared to a dead guy.

Will gave Nico a granola bar, then a small piece of ambrosia before walking him below deck to the cabin where Will had been sleeping. Nico wasn’t exactly tired, but he didn’t feel like getting his head bitten off by Clarisse, or melting from Annabeth’s seemingly x-ray vision. (Will told him that x-rays wouldn’t make people melt, but if that was true, then why did they have to wear lead to block the beams? Will might’ve been smarter than Nico, but he couldn’t know everything.) 

Nico laid in the hammock that Will had apparently been using for a bed, until he started feeling motion sick, which only took about twenty minutes. He tried laying down on the floor for a little while, but that hadn’t been much help. He was almost thankful for the way the boat started shuddering beneath him, because then he at least had a reason to leave the room. 

There were a handful of skeletons running down the hall, all dressed in the same frayed military uniforms, so Nico reached out and grabbed one before it could pass him by. He figured that if he could shut one of them up, maybe he could force some answers out of one, too. 

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

“Charybdis!” the skeleton exclaimed. “She’s pulling us in! We have to get the engines to full power before she tears the ship to pieces!”

Nico released the skeleton, and it continued on down the hall. He made his way toward the deck, but a quick peek outside revealed nothing but sharp cliffs in the distance and a howling like strong wind. He went back inside. 

Down another hall, he saw an open door, and found the others inside. Clarisse was at the ship’s controls, Annabeth was drumming her fingers against a map, and Will was bouncing nervously on his toes. 

“What’s Charybdis,” he started, drawing their attention immediately, “and how is she pulling us in?” 

“Whirlpool,” Will replied, and Nico could see the fear in his eyes.

Nico set his eyes on Clarisse and glared. “You want to battle a whirlpool?”  

“It’s the only way into the Sea of Monsters,” Annabeth told him. “We should be fine, as long as the engine doesn’t explode, or--” 

The ship creaked deafeningly, and Will flinched. Nico stepped toward him and grabbed his hand. “Or what?” Nico snapped.

“Or as long as Charybdis doesn’t rip the whole thing apart,” Annabeth finished. Her tapping had ceased, and instead she held the edge of the table in a death grip. 

“We’re almost through,” Clarisse said. She had a grip on the wheel as though steering was the solution to getting them out of there. “We just need one more little boost, and then--” 

Another creak, a rattle, and the room tilted to the side at a steep angle. Will ended up squished between Nico and the wall, while Annabeth and Clarisse had lost their footing but held onto the fixtures. Clarisse pulled herself upright as best she could, and gasped. “We’re taking on water,” she informed them. “There must be a leak, or--” 

“She pulled the ship apart,” Annabeth cut in definitively. 

“Lifeboats?” Will asked. He had a deathgrip on Nico’s hand. 

Clarisse shook her head. “They don’t have motors. We’d get sucked right in.”

“We’re getting sucked in right now,” Annabeth pointed out. “What can we do?” 

Nico didn’t give himself a chance to think about it. “I’ll get us all out of here.” 

“What?” Will said. “No, you can’t! You just made a huge jump, and you’ve never tried it with more than one other person before!” 

“It’s our only option,” Nico reminded him. He kept Will’s hand in his, but started to pull away toward Annabeth and Clarisse. “Take my hand. We only have time to try this once.” 

Annabeth didn’t hesitate, and moved to stand between Nico and Will with an arm around Nico’s shoulders, so that his hand was still free for Clarisse, though she hadn’t moved. “My quest, my rules,” she reminded him. “You don’t get to be the hero.” 

“You won’t either, if you die right now,” Nico pointed out. “Don’t take us all down with you.” 

Clarisse took his hand. 

Nico pulled them all into the shadows.

The first thing that came to mind was mistake. Oh, gods, mistake, mistake! Bad idea! Get out, get out, get out!  

And he didn’t get much farther than that. 

Nico felt himself slipping, hoping that when they surfaced on the other side, there would at least be land for them to surface on. He realized a millisecond later that he didn’t know if he’d have the strength to pull them all out on the other side. He did the only thing he could think of and gave the other three a strong push, which forced them back out into the land of the living. 

He didn’t know if he would make it out alive.

Nico woke up in the sand. His mouth was dry, and his whole body ached. He groaned, just to make sure he was still alive and breathing, but before he could move, he felt a hand slide underneath his neck. His head was propped up slightly, and a warm liquid was poured into his mouth. He couldn’t distinguish the taste, but something in the back of his mind told him that it should be sweeter, creamier, and ice cold.

After swallowing the drink, Nico forced his eyes open. There was a girl beside him with brown skin and a white cotton dress, her dark hair braided over one shoulder. She looked to be about Nico’s age, if not a year or two older. 

Nico started to move, even after the girl warned him not to, and pushed himself up so that he was sitting. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“My name is Reyna,” she answered.

“Where am I? And where are my friends?” 

Reyna eyed him with confusion. “You’re on the island. I didn’t see anyone else around. I just found you here a few minutes ago. I took a real risk giving you some of my nectar, you know. I could’ve killed you.” 

“Well, that was pretty dumb of you, wasn’t it?” 

Reyna shrugged, like she wasn’t actually all that bothered. “Strange things happen on this island. Nobody would’ve noticed if you disappeared.” 

Nico nodded. “Thanks. Really reassuring. Is there somewhere that I can maybe get some real food, or try to find my friends? Or maybe get on a boat so I can leave?” 

Reyna raised an eyebrow. “You know, a thank you would be polite.” 

“Thanks,” Nico said with a roll of his eyes. “So?” 

She looked like she was regretting saving his life. Nico figured she would’ve fit in great with the Hunters. And then that thought turned his mood sour again.

“On the north side of the island is the resort,” she told him. “You can look there for your friends. And there are a lot of boats that have washed up there over the years, so if you find one that’s in good enough shape, I doubt anyone would miss it. Like I said, strange things happen here.” 

“Thanks,” Nico said again, though unlike last time, he actually meant it. He got to his feet and started walking without a goodbye. It wasn’t like he was ever going to see some random island girl ever again, so why bother with any fanfare?

Apparently he’d landed on the more wooded side of the island, so after hacking away at a few overgrown plants with his sword to make a path for himself, Nico saw the first building. He peeked through the window, hoping to maybe see a kitchen with a snack that he could snag, but when he got close, he heard a woman’s voice. 

“I can already tell that you’re going to become such a handsome young man,” the woman was saying to whoever else was in the room.

“Thank you, ma’am.” Nico felt himself jump at the voice. What was Will doing with some random lady? Nico tried to stay close to the window to keep listening while he searched for an exterior door. 

“Oh, but honey, don’t you wish you could just skip all those embarrassing in-between years?” the woman continued. “Don’t you think you would be so much happier if you were taller, and stronger, and had the confidence to ask that beautiful friend of yours waiting outside on a date?” 

Nico almost tripped. Waiting outside? How could she know that Nico was there? Wait, beautiful friend... on a date? No, no, he was safe. She was talking about someone else. Why did Nico hate the idea that she was talking about someone else?

“Oh, um,” Will started awkwardly, “Annabeth and I are just friends. There is someone, though, but I just don’t know if--” 

“She would be a fool not to say yes to the new you,” the woman said, and something about the way she said it made Nico want to throw up and punch that lady in the nose. Nico glanced through another window, and the look on Will’s face decided it for him. This lady was about to get punched. Nobody was allowed to make his best friend look so dejected. “Just drink this potion, and you’ll be so handsome and confident that every girl in the world will want you.” 

Nico found a door. He pushed it open slowly so that the hinges wouldn’t creak, and watched as the woman forced a small bottle into Will’s hands. He still looked unsure, but raised the bottle to his lips.

“Will, stop!” Nico shouted. He rushed into the room and slapped the potion out of his hand, then put himself between Will and the woman with his sword in hand. “He’s perfect the way he is, you old hag!” 

“What did you call me?” the woman hissed. 

“Nico, run,” Will said behind him, and yanked Nico back outside, the woman chasing after them and howling in anger. 

“We need a ship,” Nico told him. “On the north beach, we can--”

“Nico?” Annabeth’s voice called out to them, and suddenly she was running alongside them. “What did you do to C.C.?” 

Nico almost growled. “You mean that witch who was trying to poison Will?” 

“What?”  

“Less talking, more running!” Will insisted. He tugged on Nico’s hand to get him to pick up the pace. “Annabeth, get Clarisse!” 

Will and Nico ran clear across the island, weaving in and out of groups of people as they reached the more populated resort, and momentarily lost C.C. in the crowd. Nico went to the nearest boat that still looked sea worthy, and started trying to push it off the sand and back into the water.

“We can’t just steal a boat,” Will told him.

“It’s not stealing,” Nico replied. “I got permission. Are you gonna help, or not?” 

Chapter Text

Nico tried to hide his excitement over the fact that they were sailing on a literal pirate ship. It probably would’ve been way cooler if he hadn’t been seasick for the last however many hours they’d been sailing, but it was better than the last two boats he’d been on. 

Will had been trying to help him with his nausea, but there wasn’t much that could be done while they were still teetering back and forth with the waves. Nico had appreciated the gentle hand rubbing his back as he puked over the side of the ship that one time, at least. 

They hadn’t seen much of Annabeth and Clarisse, who always had their heads together, plotting out their next moves. Nico didn’t see how they could have next moves since they seemed to be drifting aimlessly through the ocean, but Annabeth claimed to know what she was doing. She had also apparently discovered at one point - before Nico’s arrival - that Will could almost perfectly determine their location based on the placement of the sun in the sky, so he had been key in helping them enter the Sea of Monsters in the first place. Now, though, the two boys were at a bit of a loss as for what to do. 

As the sun set on their first night on the pirate ship, Nico was about to brave heading below deck in an attempt to find someplace to sleep, but stopped when he heard a noise in the distance. It was the first sound he’d heard other than wind and water in almost a full day, so it immediately had him on alert. 

“What was that?” he called out across the deck, where Annabeth and Clarisse were behind the ship’s wheel, staring out at the water. The two girls exchanged a look, then a few quiet words, and Annabeth started toward him. 

“There are sirens up ahead,” she told him. “We’re about to enter their territory.” 

Nico frowned. “Are they dangerous? Like, territorial?” 

“Did you say sirens?” Will asked as he appeared beside Nico, their hands linking together between them almost unconsciously. 

Annabeth nodded. “As long as we keep our distance, they won’t bother us, but…” 

Will’s eyes widened. “Their song.” 

“What?” Nico looked between them, but it was almost as if the two were speaking telepathically. 

Then, Will squeezed his hand. “A siren’s song is how they lure in prey. When you hear it, you supposedly see your greatest desire. You get drawn in, and when you get close enough, the siren, well…”

“Eats you,” Annabeth finished for him. “But they say that there’s great wisdom in a siren’s song, if you can listen to it and survive.”

“How would you do that?” Nico asked. 

“Clarisse and I have a plan.” 

“Hang on, you’re going to listen?” Will asked incredulously. Then, after a second’s pause, “Can I try?”

Annabeth shot him a challenging smile and shrugged. “If you think you can handle it.” 

Nico felt the ship start to turn gently as Annabeth explained the plan. Clarisse was steering them toward land, hopefully close enough to the sirens to hear them, but far enough away that they wouldn’t get attacked. Annabeth needed to find candle wax that they could all stuff in their ears to keep the siren song out. Then, Annabeth - and now Will - would be tied to a tree before their wax was removed so that they could hear the song, with Nico and Clarisse nearby to keep an eye on them.

It didn’t take long to find wax. There were plenty of old candles below deck, so Annabeth pulled out her knife to chop the wax into pieces that could be easily balled up and stuffed in their ears. When they finally came across an island, they simply had to hope that they were close enough for the sirens to be heard.

The four of them climbed off the ship with a long length of heavy-duty rope, and followed Nico around the island as their guide through the dark. He found a rock that seemed small enough to tie Will and Annabeth to, but heavy enough that they wouldn’t be able to drag it along with them, and he and Clarisse got to work. With their hands bound, they couldn’t remove their own earplugs, so digging around in his best friend’s ear had suddenly reached near the top of Nico’s list of weirdest things he’d ever done.

He could see the change in Will’s eyes instantly. They widened, and his mouth dropped open, and suddenly there were tears rolling down his cheeks. A quick glance to the side showed that Annabeth was no better. Then the two of them started fighting against their restraints. Nico started to reach out for Will to soothe him somehow, but Clarisse stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and a shake of her head. 

It almost felt like Nico had blinked, and suddenly Will and Annabeth were gone, nothing but cut ropes laying on the ground where they had been. Nico saw Clarisse take off at a sprint, fully tackling Annabeth into the sand, before Nico managed to move himself. He tried his own hand at tackling, but Will was bigger than him, and it barely made him stumble. Instead, Nico wound his arms around Will’s waist and dug his heels into the ground, but the sand didn’t offer much resistance. 

Images flashed in his head, though Nico had no idea where they were coming from. He saw Will with his usual bright smile, sitting next to a woman that Nico could only guess was his mother. She was playing guitar and singing, looking lovingly between Will and the man who sat on her other side - Apollo, Nico realized, though he was dressed more like a mortal than a god. The three of them gave off the appearance of a happy family, and Nico’s heart broke at the realization that this was Will’s greatest desire. The family that he’d never gotten to have, and probably never would. 

Nico snapped himself out of Will’s head. He needed to get them out of there.He couldn’t shadow travel them out of there, Nico thought, though he might have been saying the words out loud. He wouldn’t be able to get them far enough away from the sirens, and he didn’t know that there was anything nearby. He wasn’t going to risk dropping them in the middle of the ocean when he didn’t even know how to swim.

When he thought back on it, Nico realized that he was saying that out loud, begging Will repeatedly to stop, shouting, “I don’t know how to swim!” as if that would stop Will from pulling him into the water.

Nico’s mind caught on something he’d thought of right before leaving camp, when Tantalus had gotten on his nerves to the point that Nico was tempted to have the ground open up and swallow him.

He didn’t even know if it could be done, but… Nico was out of options.

He prayed to his dad, and he put all of the focus he could spare into cracking into the Earth’s crust, just a few feet down with enough space for them to breathe, and a dense enough layer of dirt to cover them back up that it would block out the sound. 

The next thing Nico knew, he was laying on the ground with Will on top of him, his arms still wrapped around Will’s waist but he only knew that by feel and not sight. It was suddenly so dark that he couldn’t see anything.

For the first few seconds, Will still struggled to break free. Then, he relaxed against Nico, and another few seconds later, he turned in Nico’s hold and sobbed into his chest. All Nico could do was hold him until the crying subsided, and even then, he didn’t stop. He wished there was something he could say to Will, or that he could listen and give Will a chance to vent, but he didn’t want to risk taking out his earplugs. 

And speaking of earplugs…

Nico reached into his pocket and pulled out the wax, coaxing one of Will’s hands into letting go of Nico’s shirt long enough to take the wax. Nico had to assume that Will was stuffing his ears shut once more, and hoped he was reading Will’s following hand squeeze as an affirmative to Nico’s guess. 

Nico dug them out of their little hole in the ground, and found Clarisse consoling a sobbing Annabeth. Nico met Clarisse’s eyes, and she nodded to him once before scooping Annabeth up into her arms and carrying her back toward the ship. Nico’s eyes widened. Clarisse was much stronger than she looked. 

He kept a firm grip on Will’s hand as they walked back to the ship together. 

By morning, they had arrived at another island, this one much larger than the last and absolutely covered in green grass and livestock. Nico just assumed that it was some sort of oasis in the desert, but Annabeth seemed to think that this was exactly where they needed to be. 

They anchored the ship in a small inlet between cliffs, and made their way up to higher ground to see if they could find...whatever it was that they were looking for. An antidote for the poison in Percy’s tree? Nico had hijacked a quest and still had no idea what was going on. At least scaling a cliff side had helped him realize that the climbing wall at camp did have some actual real-world training purpose, rather than just warning campers that death could come at any moment with a spray of lava to the face. 

Once the four of them were safely perched on solid ground, Nico whispered, “So...what are we looking for?” 

Clarisse rolled her eyes with so much force that Nico was afraid she might knock herself off the cliff. 

“The Golden Fleece,” Annabeth told him. “It has magical healing properties that we believe are strong enough to heal Percy’s tree.”

Nico frowned. “It’s just like, a golden lump of wool?” 

Will shrugged. “You’re probably not wrong.” 

“Can we get a move on already?” Clarisse said with irritation clear in her voice. 

“Hang on,” Annabeth said, “we need to be careful. If this is even the right island, we need to watch out for Polyphemus. Supposedly, Odysseus blinded him a long time ago, but if he has the Fleece, he might have used it to heal himself. We need to be absolutely silent, and we need to get in and out as fast as possible.” 

Clarisse looked to Annabeth with a raised eyebrow, and the other girl rolled her eyes. 

“Now we can go.” 

Nico kept his back pressed to the side of the cliff as they all shuffled along. He hadn’t realized he had a fear of heights until that moment, and all he could focus on was getting as far away from the ledge as possible, right now.  

When all four of them were able to get a good look at the island spread out below them, it didn’t take long to locate the Fleece. The glittering gold lump of wool was draped over a low-hanging tree branch near the mouth of a cave. Nico was just starting to think that this all seemed a little too easy when he heard thundering footsteps before Annabeth tugged him behind a large rock.

“Come here, sheepies!” the booming voice of Polyphemus called out across the valley, and a stampede of sheep came rushing toward the cave.

Nico risked a peek around the rock. Polyphemus was a giant, standing at least ten feet tall, with one large milky eye centered above his crooked nose. As Nico watched, he saw Polyphemus pat one sheep on the head, then lean down to do the same to another. He turned back to Annabeth and whispered, “I don’t think he’s blind. At least, not completely.”

Annabeth nodded, as though she’d almost expected as much. Or maybe she just had about a million backup plans rattling around in her brain. “Alright. You and I will have to serve as the distraction while Will and Clarisse get the Fleece.” 

“How?” Nico asked. 

“Are you familiar with the Odyssey?” Nico nodded. He hadn’t read it, but he’d trained with Odysseus a few times in the Underworld and had heard most of the story first hand. (They’d had an unfortunate bonding session when Odysseus told him about the Lotus Eaters.) “You and I are now Nobody. That should get Polyphemus angry, and keep all of his attention on us, and hopefully give the others enough time to get the Fleece and get away. Your shadow travel thing, can you do that more than once without a rest in between?”

Nico shrugged. “As long as I’m not jumping too far.”

“Good.” Annabeth pulled a folded up baseball cap from her pocket. “Try to get his attention, and then jump to another spot. We’ll have to try to tag-team this. Are you ready?” 

Before Nico could ask how Annabeth planned on getting around unseen, she placed the hat on her head and disappeared. Nico blinked a few times in confusion before he felt something like a flick against his forehead.

Annabeth’s voice came from right in front of him and said, “C’mon, Numbskull, are you ready or not?” 

Nico waved a hand in front of his own face as if to ward off another flick. “I’m ready, gods.” 

“I’ll go first,” Annabeth told him. He had to assume that she got up and walked away, since he couldn’t see what happened next, but suddenly, he heard her cry out, “Hey, ugly!” from a good fifteen feet away. 

Polyphemus turned to look inside the cave, which Nico took as his cue to start moving closer. He wanted to save his energy as much as he could, so he darted back and forth between rocks to stay as hidden as possible, until he was sure that he could draw the cyclops’s attention without giving away Clarisse and Will’s location. 

“Who’s there?” Polyphemus demanded. Nico saw him grab a giant wooden club from the ground.

“Nobody!” Nico shouted, and slipped into the shadow of the rock he hid behind, reappearing inside the cave. He ducked behind a pile of straw, and poked his head out to see Polyphemus checking behind the rock where he’d just been hiding. 

“I remember you!” Polyphemus shouted. “You poked my eye! I’ll poke your eye!”

“You’ll have to find me, first!” Annabeth replied from across the cave. 

Polyphemus growled and swung his club with enough force to send a large rock flying. 

Nico held his breath for a second. He had no idea where Annabeth was hiding, so he could only hope that she hadn’t been behind that rock specifically. 

“Missed me!” her voice came from somewhere off to Nico’s left. 

“Where are you?” Polyphemus roared.

“Over here!” Nico shouted, and then vanished again. From the place where he reappeared, he could clearly see Will and Clarisse inching closer to the Fleece. Nico tried not to think about how tired he was already starting to feel. As long as he could keep this up for another few minutes, they’d be as golden as that lump of wool.

With Will and Clarisse so close, Nico couldn’t risk drawing the cyclops’s attention toward him, so he rose from his hiding spot to dive behind another rock. He thought he would have enough time to go unseen, but Polyphemus exclaimed, “There you are!” and raised his club.

“Nico, look out!” Will shouted, and Nico’s heart stopped as Polyphemus turned on him, his club swinging down and swiping Will off his feet. Will’s body collided with the wall of the cave, and he crumbled to the ground.

Nico went into a rage.

He drew his sword and felt himself dissolve into shadows, reappearing in the next second a foot above Polyphemus’s head. Nico dropped down with his feet on the monster’s shoulders and drove his sword into the cyclops’s eye with a furious scream. When Polyphemus swatted at him, Nico pulled his sword out and stabbed the eye, again and again and again until Polyphemus finally dropped to his knees, and then collapsed face-first into the ground. He didn’t dissolve into coppery dust, nor did he melt away into shadow, but Nico figured that a creature as ancient as he was would need more to take down for good. At least for now, Polyphemus was immobile, and definitely blinded for good.

Clarisse was already at Will’s side. He was awake but gasping for breath, his eyes darting around in a panic. Nico grabbed his hand and squeezed it between both of his own. “What’s wrong?” Nico asked frantically. “Is he gonna be okay?” 

Clarisse set a hand on Will’s chest, causing him to gasp again and wince. “Broken ribs,” Clarisse decided, and Will’s chin dipped in a nod. “He should be fine, but the gasping is worrying. We should give him some nectar, or--” 

“The Fleece,” Nico cut in.

“One step ahead of you,” Annabeth said from behind them, the massive golden wool piled in her arms. She draped it over Will’s torso, and his face relaxed instantly. “It won’t heal him right away, but it should be faster than ambrosia.” 

Behind them, Nico heard Polyphemus groan.

“We should leave,” he told the others with a tone that said they shouldn’t argue. 

Clarisse scooped Will into her arms and started carrying him down a path that Nico suspected only the sheep had ever used. Annabeth rushed to get ahead of them to make sure they wouldn’t have any steep cliffs to climb while Clarisse didn’t have a free hand. Nico brought up the rear, his sword still drawn, and keeping an eye out for a half-dead cyclops. 

Annabeth told him that Florida had seen weirder things wash up on shore than a pirate ship, but Nico wasn’t so sure about that. The looks they’d gotten from the mortals on the beach made him think that the Mist hadn’t worked quite as well as it should have. 

(Though a tiny part of his brain was telling him that they were watching with disgust at the way that Will seemed to be hanging off of him. He did his best to ignore that little voice.)

Nico had to support most of Will’s weight as they marched their way up the beach, since he still wasn’t at full strength. Nico wasn’t doing too hot himself, if the way he’d passed out next to Will as soon as they’d boarded the ship was any indication, but Will had asked for his help, and Nico couldn’t say no to his best friend. 

One good thing was that the Fleece had transformed itself in the Mist to appear as a gold and white varsity jacket rather than a lump of wool, which made it easier for Will to keep wrapped around his chest. And it was one less thing to worry about bringing on a plane when they flew back to New York.

“You won’t come with us?” Will asked with a pout as they all sat at a picnic table near a food truck. Clarisse had just enough money left from her quest kit to buy them all a quick bite to eat, which she’d argued against until Annabeth assured her that she knew how they could get more money for plane tickets.

Nico shook his head. “It’s not my quest, and I wasn’t supposed to be here in the first place. I’m not here to steal anybody’s thunder, and if I show up at camp with the rest of you, then some people might think that.” 

Clarisse shoved at his shoulder, none too lightly. “Alright, kid, I get it. I misjudged you. But I’m not gonna make you find your way back to camp all on your own just because of that.” 

“Well, uh.” Nico scrunched up his nose. “I also have a certain uncle who probably wouldn’t be very happy about having me in an airplane. So I’m happy to stay on the ground.”

Will nodded, but he didn’t seem all that happy to agree. “Yeah, I guess you’re right about that.” He turned to Annabeth and asked, “But how are we even going to get the money to buy plane tickets?” 

Annabeth’s eyes locked on Nico. That calculating stare of hers wasn’t any less unnerving now that he knew her better. If anything, Nico wanted to summon Jules-Albert and get himself as far away from there as possible.

“You tell me, Numbskull,” she told him, leaning her forearms against the table. 

Nico blinked. “Me?” 

Annabeth shrugged. “Your dad’s the god of wealth. Surely you have some way of getting money for things, don’t you?” 

Nico thought about it for a second before reaching into his pocket. He brought out the small plastic card that Hades had given him a little over a year ago, though Nico had never bothered to use it. Supposedly, he could buy things with it, but he didn’t know how. “Would this help?” 

Annabeth grinned. 

“You have a credit card?” Will exclaimed, snatching it out of Nico’s hand. “It’s got your name on it and everything!” 

“Does it have a limit?” Clarisse asked, and Nico shrugged. She grinned, which suddenly had Nico a little worried. “That sounds like first class seats, to me.” 

Nico frowned. “Um. Sure. Just don’t lose it, okay? I don’t want my dad to get mad at me.” 

“We won’t,” Annabeth assured him, taking the card out of Will’s hands. “I’ll make sure of it. We should probably flag down a cab soon, so we can get to the airport, asap.”

“Oh, I can get you guys there,” Nico told them.

“No more shadow traveling,” Clarisse shot down instantly. “You couldn’t do it last time, and I’m not gonna be your guinea pig again.” 

Nico rolled his eyes. “No, of course not. We’ll drive.” 

Jules-Albert parked at the curb within minutes of Nico summoning him. It was a thirty minute drive to the airport, the entirety of which Nico spent pressed up against Will’s side in the backseat. He knew the quest was practically over, and the two of them would likely see each other again before the day had ended, but Nico still hated goodbyes.

It was almost easier than expected to wave them off from inside the car as Jules drove them through the departures drop off. 

That just left Nico with a solid eighteen hours or so to sleep off the stress from the quest, and figure out what he was going to do when he was face to face with Tantalus once more. 

Except that he’d forgotten how fast the old zombie could drive, and Nico found himself woken up at the camp’s slowly strengthening border. So much for thinking up a plan. 

Nico climbed up the hill and spotted the Fleece where it was draped around the trunk of Percy’s tree, then waved in greeting to the patrol that was still set up nearby, just in case. It was probably around dinner time, if Nico had to guess, so he started toward the pavilion, hearing the cheers that came from it before he could make out any of the words spoken. 

He should have guessed that Clarisse was being praised for a job well done, not that she didn’t deserve it, but Nico was already sick of Tantalus playing favorites. Another cheer went up just as Nico was entering the pavilion, though he knew it had nothing to do with him.

“What do we have here?” Tantalus called mockingly over the sounds of rejoice. “The hero of Olympus, finally returned! Didn’t anybody ever tell you that you aren’t allowed to leave camp without permission, you little brat?” 

Nico stopped in the middle of the pavilion, hands in his pockets and one eyebrow raised. Was Tantalus really about to tear into him in front of everyone?

Tantalus marched up to Nico, and a hush fell around the pavilion. “First you refuse to eat with your cabin, then you refuse to sleep in your cabin, then you leave without permission, and now you think you can just waltz right back in here like nothing’s wrong? Oh, no. I should have you banished for this!” 

“Banished?” Nico repeated.

“Yes, banished, you little--”

Nico raised a finger to his lips, and Tantalus’s mouth glued itself shut. The man clawed at his own face and neck, but no sound came out of him. 

“You want banishment?” Nico said calmly, feeling the temperature around him start to drop and watching in satisfaction as Tantalus continued to panic. “Then go to hell.” 

The ground started to shake. Nico heard a few campers around him cry out in fear as the pavilion floor cracked and opened up. Tantalus tried to run, but skeletal hands reached out to pull him in. Then, as soon as it had started, the earth closed up, leaving nothing but a thin scar across the floor. 

A new round of cheers went up as the campers realized that Tantalus was gone for good. Nico made himself a plate of food and took his usual seat at the head table, leaning toward Dionysus for a moment to say, “Someone might want to find Chiron soon, before this place gets any more chaotic.” 

After learning about the quest, and given the camp’s usual rise in training over the summer, Chiron agreed to let Nico stay at camp without interruption for the next couple of months. When Nico shared the news, Will wrapped him up in the tightest hug, almost strong enough to crack his own ribs, now that Will’s were healed. 

Chiron insisted on keeping a constant patrol on the border, at least until they were able to find a permanent replacement, to ensure that Percy’s tree was healing properly and that no one would come to steal the Fleece. Nico and Will had each served their turns on guard duty, and were happy to have a bit of free time that they could spend together - with Lou Ellen and Cecil, too, at Will’s insistence - and were on their way to the lake when they heard a cry for help. 

The two took off running for Half-Blood Hill. 

Annabeth had been on guard duty that morning, and Nico knew that she would be able to hold her own against any monster that came to attack, so he shouldn’t have worried, but there had been nothing but shock and fear in her voice. They weren’t the first to arrive at the scene, but there was enough of a crowd that Will had to pull the medic card to get them up close.

When Nico pushed his way up to the front, he couldn’t make sense of what he saw. 

Annabeth was in tears, though she looked perfectly uninjured under her armor. She was sitting on the ground, and for some reason had the head of a sleeping boy resting in her lap. His hair was black, and his skin held a tan darker than Will’s, and the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing were torn nearly to shreds.

Will got to work immediately, checking the boy’s pulse, and then his eyes to determine brain function. Nico wasn’t sure what to do, so he sat down beside Annabeth and took her hand in an attempt to comfort her. “What happened?” 

“I was just sitting here, and--” She heaved in a deep breath. “I think the Fleece worked too well. One second, I was alone, and then the next, he was just... here.”  

Nico frowned. “What do you mean it worked too well? Do you know him?” Annabeth nodded. “Who is he?” 

The boy in her lap gasped and his eyes shot open. His gaze met Nico’s, his vibrant sea-green eyes sending a shock down Nico’s spine, though he couldn’t understand why. 

Annabeth choked out a sob. “Percy Jackson.”