How Do You Say Gods- Last Olympian

6: I GET A SNEAK PEEK AT MY DEATH

Alex gasped dramatically when Nico read the new title. "Spoilers!"

"Spoiler alert," Percy waved at himself, "I'm not dead?" He couldn't help but phrase it as a question though, he still wasn't convinced now more than ever with Annabeth finally beside him feeling more real and more dreamlike than any of his adventures on the surface.

"Shh," Alex waved his hand about at Percy impatiently, "I'm talking about details man, the important stuff!"

If you want to be popular, don't come back from a mission with bad news.

"Finally, the secret to your success," Nico smirked.

"Don't go spreading that around," Percy said with a forced smile. "I might have to use that trick next time I want to sneak away."

"Some of us don't even need to lie about it," Annabeth muttered. She'd escape all the time to find a nice place in the forest to nest and be alone when she needed to collect her thoughts. She'd mapped out the place to perfection these past days with Percy gone and probably slain more monsters on record, though she doubted Clarisse would ever admit to it.

... demigods or gods or really, really lost pizza delivery guys. (It's happened, long story.)

Alex spluttered in distress he might have this story passed over.

"Okay, okay," Percy chuckled, more than happy to pass this camp wisdom along. "You know, looking back, she might have stumbled out of the Labyrinth."

"She just, appeared from the forest with three boxes," Annabeth nodded. "We probably owe Tyson an apology for that, I was convinced you had put him up to this getting her inside."

"I don't think Tysons's ever even used a phone, though I bet he'd love to try," Percy chuckled.

"But it happened, like, three times in a month," Will reminded, "that's a pattern, no way they all fell into the Labyrinth and managed to get out in one piece. Connor's convinced it's Hermes trying to prank his kids."

"And I'm still convinced the Aphrodite kids are carb-cheating and trying to hide it with their own secret backdoor they haven't shared," Percy shrugged.

"So you guys don't actually know how pizza carrying mortals get in?" Alex insisted.

"Nope," all three campers nodded.

"I'm convinced it's Mr. D.," Thalia reminded, "just because he can snap his fingers and make a pizza appear doesn't mean it has that same taste."

"I bet I can find out," Nico's voice sounded hesitant, but happy. "I can send out skeletons to patrol and find out, if it's a security risk."

"Um," Annabeth looked at him in surprise, but smiled without hesitation. "Yeah, that'd be cool."

"So does Nico get some kind of trophy for solving one of Camp's greatest mysteries, or," Jason trailed off with a smirk.

"He gets a pat on the back and one free pizza," Percy rolled his eyes. "For all we know he's going to bust Chiron."

Hey, it was more recognition than Nico had ever gotten in the past, so he wasn't going to complain.

...lookout was Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin.

Nico glanced swiftly at Will and away. He'd said his crush on Connor had 'faded,' but he didn't know what the hell that meant. He wasn't even sure he could call his own crush on Percy as faded as he'd like.

Will didn't start gushing about him or even seem that interested in sharing some Connor Fun Fact at all, actually, his face was rather somber. It might have been Connor that told Will about the news Percy was there to deliver, which wasn't exactly a happy time.