This Cold Year ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase²

―iii. naomi's least favorite goddess asks for a big favor

JUST AS CHIRON HAD SAID, Nico was in Cabin Thirteen when Naomi walked in.

Naomi's heart sank at the apologetic look on his face. "No sign of Percy?" she guessed sullenly, crossing the common room to her bedroom door.

Nico shook his head. "Sorry," he said. "But he's not in the Underworld, so that's good news, right?"

Naomi grabbed a fresh change of clothes, her shirt and shorts stiff from the lake water. She stepped into the bathroom and changed, then stepped back out into the common room, brushing through the tangles in her hair.

"Of course it's good news," Naomi said. "But then where is he?"

"You'll find him," Nico said. "You've got everyone looking for him—he'll turn up eventually."

Naomi sighed. "Hera sent Annabeth a dream-message, telling her to go to the Grand Canyon," she told him. "We thought Percy would be there, but instead we picked up three demigods, all older than thirteen. One of them doesn't even know who he is."

"Seriously?" Nico asked. "Have any of them been claimed?"

"One," Naomi answered. "A son of Hephaestus. The other two are undetermined."

"Think they'll be claimed by tonight?"

"They better be," Naomi muttered. "The gods promised."

"Since when do the gods keep their promises?" Nico asked.

Naomi waited for the sky to rumble with angry thunder, but there was nothing. The gods remained silent—either they didn't hear the accusation, or they didn't care. Naomi wasn't sure which was worse.

"Nico, what's going on in the Underworld?" Naomi asked, repeating the same question she'd asked him every time she saw him since her mother stopped talking to her. "Why won't my mom talk to me?"

Nico winced. "You know I can't talk about it."

"But why?" Naomi asked. "If something's wrong down there, don't I have a right to know?"

"I'm sorry, Nay," Nico muttered. "I swore not to say anything."

Naomi huffed a sigh. She'd spent the first week of her banishment from the Underworld being pissed at Nico, both because he was the unfortunate messenger of her exile and because he was still allowed to go down there whenever he wanted to. Now, she was just tired—tired of being shut out, tired of not knowing what was going on, tired of being ignored.

"Are you staying for dinner?" she asked.

Nico shook his head. Naomi wasn't surprised, even if she was disappointed. "I just came by to give you an update. I'm gonna keep looking for Percy."

Naomi nodded, torn between being grateful her brother cared so much and being sad he was so eager to get out of camp. "Be careful," she told him. "I don't want to lose you, too, Nico."

A month ago, Nico might have bristled at that—always defensive when it became clear someone cared about him. Now, he just averted his gaze. "I will," he said, and Naomi prayed he meant it.

"Keep in touch," Naomi said, squeezing his shoulder.

He nodded, then stepped into the shadows, disappearing once again.

Naomi sighed softly. She stepped back into her bedroom. It wasn't cold outside, the camp's boundaries keeping out the winter chill, but Naomi still grabbed Percy's hoodie and pulled it on.

She sat down on her made-up bed, bringing a knee up to rest her chin on it. Out of habit, she fidgeted with her camp necklace. Four beads, one for each summer she'd been at camp. Four years didn't seem like a long time, but Naomi hardly remembered the terrified pre-teen she'd been before she came to Camp Half-Blood.