LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

XXVI.

MIA HID AS she tried contacting Nico.

Iris-Messages didn't work, her dreams didn't work, nothing. That dream that she'd had when she'd plunged in the water in Alaska . . . it had scared her. She didn't know what Nico had been up to, but she knew that he was in trouble, and that she had to save him.

And her best bet now? She glared up at the giant warship above her, menacingly hovering above the city.

The battle had gone well — or so Mia had heard. Percy killed Polybotes, the camp had gotten their eagle back, Percy had become Praetor in the Senate meeting today, everything was just fine and dandy.

For them, at least. For Mia? Not so much.

She'd hid in the shadows while the warship had flown in, looming over them menacingly. She'd watched as Annabeth, Jason Grace, and two other people had climbed down the ladder and met up with Reyna, Percy, and the others.

It hurt like hell to see Annabeth again after nearly a year. She simultaneously hadn't changed at all and changed in every way. She still looked the same, at least — until Mia realized that there was a hollowness, a rage in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

That's your fault, a voice said in her head. That she looks like that.

Everything was her fault nowadays, Mia thought. What's another thing to add to the list?

She let the shadows wrap around her as she took the long trek to Pluto's temple, where she dumped her last bag of chocolate covered pretzels and used her lighter to set the bronze brazier on fire.

"Please," Mia begged, looking around to see if anyone else was there, looking in on her doing this.

Now this camp had it out for her, since she'd left with barely any notice in Alaska for Percy, Hazel, and Frank to die. She wasn't a true legionnaire.

She didn't want to be anyway. Mia would rather be at Camp Half-Blood as a traitor than at Camp Jupiter with a blank state. And that's saying something.

"Please help me save Nico," she whispered. "I can't — I can't survive without him. You know this. I can't let his death be my burden too. Dad, he . . . he's trapped there in a jar, the only things with him the seeds that mother gave us in case of emergencies and hope. Hope that I'll save him. Please, Dad, send me a sign, or give me some strength or something. Because you know I need it."

It was silent. Then, get on the warship. That's your key to getting to Nico.

Mia nodded. "Thanks, Dad. Take Cerberus on a walk for me, would you?"

She placed a couple of drachmas down, and then she walked away from the temple, before bolting for the ship, which was shooting flaming spears at the camp.

What were they doing? Why are they shooting at the camp? Wasn't their own shtick to come in peace?

Doesn't matter, Mia thought. She had one goal, and one goal only: to get on that ship.

She glared at the rope ladder, and the mob of people starting close to it. That wasn't going to work. She didn't want to be pelted by a rock or a plate anytime soon.

Which meant two options: shadow travel, or she could yolo it and make a flower take her up there. You could tell what option she went for.

Or . . . she would've went for.

She was stupid. The stupidest person ever. Her disguise hadn't been on; it'd shed off when she'd gone into the temple of Pluto. She hadn't put it back up, the Mist or the shadows or otherwise.