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Ψ I Start Over Ψ

PERCY

"Percy!"

A yank on my arm sends me spinning back to face Annabeth, who's pointing up the hill with a panicked expression on her face. "Look!"

My eyes follow the path of her outstretched finger to the back of an aviator's jacket topped with a familiar mop of black hair, getting smaller and smaller as it moves away at a frightening pace.

"Nico!" I yell and take off after him. Annabeth runs alongside me, her curly ponytail bouncing in the air behind her.

By the time we reach the bottom if the hill closest to the paved road, we've shortened the distance between us and Nico, but I can tell we won't be able to catch up.

"Nico!" Annabeth calls. "Come back!"

Nico stops and turns around. At first I think he's actually going to come back, but then I see the expression on his face, making me stop in my tracks. His dark eyes look shattered beyond repair, and he looks back at us with a sadness that tells me to give him some space.

"Stop." I thrust my arm out beside me, blocking Annabeth's path.

"Are you crazy?! We can catch up, try to talk to him-"

I shake my head. "No. Just leave him alone."

I look at Nico, locking eyes with him. Before I can change my mind, I nod to him. He hesitates for a split second. I'm not sure if I really see it or if I'm imagining it, but I think I see the tiniest of sad smiles creep onto his thin lips before he turns back around and keeps running, disappearing into the shadows.

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Annabeth and I return to camp in silence, ignoring the various campers' greetings and heading straight for the Big House. Chiron is sitting on the wraparound porch in his wheelchair form, sipping a glass of lemonade with his gaze fixed on the horizon.

At first I think I'll have to shake him to snap him out of his trance, but all it really takes is a step onto a creaky spot on the porch to bring his attention towards us.

He smiles warmly as soon as he sees us. "Ah, you're back. How did it go?" Then he raises an eyebrow. "Where's Nico?"

Annabeth and I exchange a look. "Nico... Is..." She clears her throat. "Gone."

Chiron's eyes widen and he rubs the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "Oh, my... How-?"

"Woah, woah, woah," I cut in with a pointed look at Annabeth. "Not gone, like dead gone, but gone like... Ran away."

"Oh." Chiron looks relieved for a second, then his brow furrows. "A demigod should not be in the mortal world, let alone a son of Hades."

"Well," Annabeth starts, "he might not be in the mortal world. He could be in the Underworld, y'know... With his dad."

I think back to the last father-son reunion I saw between Nico and Hades and shake my head. "No. No way."

Chiron looks at me like I should be smarter than this. "Percy, Nico is a very powerful demigod, maybe as powerful as you, with an aura just as strong. If we want to find him, we cannot rule out any possibilities."

"Okay, then, it's very unlikely he'll be in the Underworld," I say, putting a stress on the new additions to my thought.

"And you never know," Annabeth points out. "Nico's kind of unpredictable. He could be down there chowing on pomegranate seeds for all we know."

"He better not be," I say, clenching my fists.

Annabeth raises an eyebrow at me, but says nothing.

"So I'm assuming you're both going to look for him," Chiron says.

"Well, Percy looks emotionally devoted already, so I'm going, too." Annabeth says.

"What?" I feel myself getting defensive. "If we can find him, I'm not going to just leave him out there. Not after I let him down like that."

Annabeth's eyes get softer. "Of course."

"So," I clench my jaw in determination. "When can we leave?"

++

I know, not as long as normal, just something to wrap this up.

Yes, this is the end... :(

But there's a sequel coming!!! cx

So here's what I'm thinking: I'm going to go back and edit this (I'm considering changing the title; this went in a totally different direction than I planned it to) and then start on the sequel (title TBA) when school starts (for me, it's August 18th... Percy's birthday! cx). Sound good to you guys?

That was a lot of parenthesized (That's a word. Of course it's a word.) stuff. Sorry. Kudos if you followed it all the way. :P

Alrighty, then, I think that's it! Until next time, my potatoes!

Yours in demigodishness and all that. Peace out!

Katia