𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 | 𝐩. 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

The world through a fish's eyes

It felt good to have a regular dinner at Camp. Tyson sat with Percy at the Poseidon table. The sunset over Long Island Sound was beautiful. Things weren't back to normal by a long shot, and when he went up to the brazier and scraped part of his meal into the flames as an offering to Poseidon, he felt like he really did have a lot to be grateful for.

He and his friends were alive. The camp was safe. Kronos had suffered a setback, at least for a while. The only thing that bothered him was Nico, hanging in the shadows at the edge of the pavilion. He was standing next to Evangeline who was rambling on and on about something.

There she was, he hadn't seen her since Grover's meeting. She was twisting her camp necklace and not the snake one, she only used to do that when she was nervous. Percy wasn't super obsessed with her like Tyson said he was.

He just picked up on things she did, like chewing on her bottom lip while she was busy thinking, or when she moved her fingers frantically he would know she was close to freaking out.

After dinner, the campers headed towards the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin promised an awesome sing-along to pick up their spirits, but when his eyes looked for the children of Hades, he found Evangeline walking with Landon to the fire, he then saw Nico turn and disappear into the woods. Percy decided he'd better follow him.

As Percy passed under the shadows of the trees, he realized how dark it was getting he had never been scared in the forest before, though he knew there were plenty of monsters. Still, he thought about yesterday's battle, and he wondered if he'd ever be able to walk in those woods again without remembering the horror of so much fighting.

He couldn't see the son of Hades, but after a few minutes of walking, he saw a glow up ahead. At first, he'd thought Nico had lit a torch. As he got closer, he realized the glow was a ghost. The shimmering form of Bianca di Angelo stood in the clearing smiling at her brother. She said something to him and touched Nico's face—or tried to. Then her image faded.

Nico turned and saw him, he didn't look mad.

"Saying goodbye," He said hoarsely.

"We missed you at dinner," Percy said. "You could've sat with me, or Eve."

"No,"

"Nico, you can't miss every meal. If you don't want to stay with Hermes, maybe they can make an exception and put you in the Big House. They've got plenty of rooms. Or maybe in the Hermes Cabin—"

"Percy," Nico cut him off. "I'm not staying."

"But...you can't just leave. It's too dangerous out there for a lone half-blood. You need to train."

"I train with the dead," he said flatly. "This camp isn't for me. There's a reason why Hades doesn't have a cabin here, Percy. He's not welcome, any more than he is on Olympus. I don't belong. I have to go."

Percy knew that he was right, he didn't like it, but Nico would have to find his own, dark way. He remembered Pan's cave, how the wild god had addressed each one of them individually... except Nico and Evangeline.

"When will you go?" Percy asked.

"Right away. I've got tons of questions. Like who was my mother? Who paid for Bianca and me to go to school? Who was that lawyer guy who got us out of the Lotus Hotel? I know nothing about my past. I need to find out."

"Makes sense," The son of Poseidon admitted. "But I hope we don't have to be enemies."

He lowered his gaze. "I'm sorry I was a brat. I should've listened to you and Eve about Bianca."

"By the way..." Percy fished something out of his pocket. "Evangeline gave me this, she thought you might want it." He held out a lead figurine of Hades—the little Mythomagic statue Nico had abandoned when he fled camp last winter.