Daughter of Poseidon

What To Do Now

(Pov: Nico)
Nico coughs the water out of his lungs as he sits up on the lake's bank.

No.

He flails in the sand, scrambling up to his feet.

Where is she?

His gazes shifts frantically from each nearby tree or rock searching.
The last he remembers was her tossing him and Lucas out to the middle of the lake, then they must have washed ashore here.

But he only sees Lucas lying on the shore next to him, his face buried in the sand.

Vaguely, Nico remembers one more detail.

Right before Kai had yanked him from the scene with a controlled water blast, her mother had said something.

She said that in order for the guys to live, Kai had to come with her.
And if they were alive it could only mean one thing.

Should I leave her, and take the other two, three now with the scrawny one, back to camp, or go straight for her, taking the boys with him and possibly get them killed? Their lack of experience against that witch would only get in the way.
Behind him, Nico hears a branch snap.

Whirling around, he faces Noah's large shadow blocking the glaring sunset.

"So, what are we going to do?" Behind Noah, the other two boys squat by Lucas, arguing about something.

"I don't know," Nico runs his hands through his hair. "We still need to find two other demigods on top of somehow freeing Kai. Should we take these three back before finding them and risk the possibility that Kai could be killed or in another country? Or risk the other three by taking them to face that witch again?"

"You saw how easily she took all of us down last time, the only setback she had was with Lucas and Kai. Although Kai maybe because she is her daughter."

"Yeah, you and I both know that just because Kai is her daughter that it definitely means that she has feelings keeping her from harming her."
Noah nods, his sarcastic tone could've bitten through steel.

"Well, let's think about what the Oracle said, the prophecy mentioned that we will need help from an old friend, so maybe we need to find a demigod we know to help get Kai back?"

"But aren't we forgetting about the ancient rule to quests where only three demigods should be allowed on quests? Especially considering that this is Lake Isabella, California. We are WAY to close to the gates of the underworld for my liking. Not to mention that she is a daughter of Poseidon and I literally reek of death to them which draws them like a beacon. I'm surprised that they haven't found us yet with how many of us there are in one spot."

"Ookkkaayy, how about this; I take Loki and Evan back to camp, while you take Lucas to find our 'old friend' to retrieve Kai?" Noah suggested earnestly.

"Uuughghhhh."

"What?"

"You're sticking me with him." Nico groans.

"Yes, because he is the one the witch was vulnerable to."

"Fiiinnnnee."

"Great, I already have an idea of who our old friend could be." Noah pulls out a drachma. "First we need to find mist. Ay! You two," Noah shouts at the other boys "can either of you by chance be able to control water?"
Both shake their heads.
"Alright, guess we have to do this the old fashioned way, any ideas of where we can find a hose?" Lucas stands up dramatically groaning.

"Yeah, my house is kind of far, but we could make it there in about two days if we started now."

"Two days? Where the heck do you live?!" Evan blunders.

"340 North June Street, Los Angeles CA 90004" He rattles it off the top of his head like he's had to recite it a couple thousand times.

"Yeah no way do you live there." Evan laughs.

"What's wrong with that place?" Loki demands.

"That's Ariana Grande Zandor's house . . . Wait, maybe it is, your last name is Zandor isn't it." Evan trails off.

Lucas nods.

"Still it's way too far away, my house is much closer, even if we walked it would still only take us till midnight to get there." Evan insisted.

"Not to mention that we would be going to Kai's house after right?"
They all turn to Nico.

"Only some of us, Evan and Loki, you two will be returning to Camp Half Blood with Noah once we reach the house and get some rest." Turning to Lucas, he says "we will be coming back for Kai with a friend that is extremely talented."

"Wait, hold on a minute, your ditching us and sending us home?!" Loki interjected.

"It'll be safer for you guys, your lack of training-" Noah gets cut off.

"But that's not fair! We can help!" Evan yells back.

"Oh really! What can you do again?!" Nico is moved to anger himself. Why can't they just agree so we can get on with this.

Loki crosses his arms. "Exactly what I just did."

"And what did you just do?"

Loki glares at Nico.

Nico's arm seems to have a mind of its own as it reaches for his sword.

Noah's eyes cloud over with rage as he pulls out his axe.

One swipe and Noah's axe clashes down on Nico's sword. The reverberation clatters his teeth together.

His mind is trapped in his body, swinging his black sword at Noah repeatedly, giving him no room to breathe. Struggling to gain control, Nico tries to command his body lay off, to stop.

Circling each other, Noah and Nico dodge and swipe and slice at one another.

Suddenly, the rage recedes as quickly as it came and it's like Nico is handed the controls to his own body again.
He and Noah collapse in sweat panting for breath.

"Wha-what just happened?" Nico shuddered.

Loki smirked "THAT is what I can do."

"What was it exactly?" Noah asked.

"I can manipulate the balance of chaos to those around me. If I choose to, I can turn even the closest friends against each other. And if I wanted to, I could have torn you two apart without lifting a finger. Now, I'm going."

"As much as that could come in handy, you are still way too young. Can't you see how easily Kai's mother threw you aside like trash. And if we went back to her, I doubt we could all do it together." Nico explains desperately.

"There are simply to many of us. Our best chance to do this, and get everyone out alive, is to be as stealthy as possible." Noah adds.

"Whatever." Loki grumbles. "I'll go just to make him miserable." He glances at Evan.

"What did I ever do to you?" Evan complains.

"Alright, now that that is settled, Noah, we need to find a fountain or something." Nico cuts off that conversation before another fight can break out.

"Isn't that what the hose was for?" Lucas asks.

"It was originally, but now that I've thought about it, none of your guy's houses are close enough for that."

"We could just borrow a hose from someone's house." Loki says, a wicked grin on his face making Nico think his intentions were to mean more than borrow.

"Yes, we will. And then immediately head to Evan's house as a rondevu point to meet with our friend. Noah, you said you knew who it may be?" Nico turns to him.

Scratching his chin, Noah nods "you're not going to like it, but he's our best shot against her mother."

Nico groans just thinking about it.

There is only one demigod alive that could possibly fight with as much intensity as necessary.

It was time to fight fire with fire. Well in this case, ice with water.

"Let's call Percy."

-Agent Emily