LOVE THE WAY YOU LIE . . . hoo

XXXVIII.

MIA WAS RARELY wrong when it came to shadow traveling, but apparently she was, because they appeared nowhere near the ship.

Percy frowned. "This isn't the Argo II."

"Yeah, no shit," she hissed, her head pounding, like someone was trying to get into it. Her knees buckled, and then his scent was all around her, his arms wrapped around her.

"Hey," he told her. "Breathe. You're safe."

But all she was thinking about was why was she here? Why didn't they shadow travel to the ship?

Then she heard a voice in her head: Mia.

"Nico?" Mia breathed out, staring at the ground. "Where are you?"

Find me. Please, find me. I can't—

Then his voice faded, and she felt so angry, her fists collided with the closest thing to her.

"Ow!" Percy winced, stepping back and letting go of her. She just looked around, sensing that Nico was below them — that was why she'd shadow traveled here — when she saw the padlock.

She marched up to it and took out Regulus, swiping at it with her sword, and it immediately came off. She took a deep breath, willing strength to come to her, and then—

"Mia." Percy was pulling her away, away from where Nico was. "We need to get help."

"He's dying down there," she insisted. "He told me to find him. I have to do it."

"I know that, but—"

"I can't leave him!" Mia yelled. "And I can't lose him."

"You'll die if you go down there alone!" Percy insisted.

"As long as I save him, it'll be worth it."

"But what if you don't?"

She was silent at that, and she made eye contact with him. His eyes were pleading.

"Please, Stargirl," he pleaded. "We'll go get the others. And we'll save Nico."

That goddamn nickname. Mia nearly laughed, but she held it in.

"Fine," she said. "Fine. Let's run back to the ship."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

He started running, and because their hands were joined, she followed him, just like usual.

* * *

Once they got back, Mia, Percy, Jason, Piper, and Coach Hedge gathered on the deck as Mia and Percy traded off on explaining the story as if it was old times.

"So Annabeth was kidnapped on a motor scooter," Piper summed up, "by Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn."

"Not kidnapped, exactly," Percy said. "But I've got this bad feeling . . ." He shook his head. "Anyway, she's — she's gone. Maybe I shouldn't have let her, but—"

"You had to," she said. "You knew she had to go alone. Besides, Annabeth is tough and smart. She'll be fine."

His shoulders relaxed a little from the charmspeak. "Maybe you're right. Anyway, Gregory — I mean Tibernius — said we had less time to rescue Nico than we thought. Hazel and the guys aren't back yet?"

Piper checked the time on the helm control."It's two in the afternoon. We said three o'clock for a rendezvous."

"At the latest," Jason said.

Mia nodded toward Piper's dagger. "Tiberinus said you could find Nico's exact location . . . you know, with that."

"I've tried," Piper said, very unexcited. "The dagger doesn't always show what I want to see. In fact, it hardly ever does."