Percy

I was concerned. With good reason of course – it appeared that in the middle of the night one of my crew had decided to up and disappear. That, however, wasn't the concerning element of this situation. The bit that really had me on edge was the fact that I was currently pinned to a chair by the blunt head of a large wooden baseball bat. The club itself wasn't particularly threatening – knobbly, wooden, with a grain nice enough to keep my eyes occupied.

The person wielding it, however – well, that was a completely different story.

There were moments of my existence (frequent moments, to be honest) where I had to step back, survey my life choices, and ask myself just where I went off track. I had never intended to spend my days being threatened by tiny, angry men with hooves.

Yet here I was.

With a sigh, I let my head fall back, skull bumping against the back of the chair.

"Coach, I've already told you, I have no idea where Jason is. And no, I don't think Piper is hiding him in her closet. He's far too large – it would be impractical."

A derisive snort, and the lump of wood was somewhat removed.

"That's what they all say. But you've earned my trust before, Jackson. Just make sure I don't live to regret this."

I mulled over a witty repartee about how I'd just have to kill him then, but I decided I should probably just take the advantage of my sudden freedom and sprang to my feet instead.

"Sure Coach, of course not. Thanks. I'll tell everyone else to keep an eye out."

Hightailing it out of the room, I almost ran smack bang into Piper, leant against the doorframe with arms crossed as she was.

"Woah. Slow down there."

Obeying her instructions, I came to a halt, turning to gaze at her.

"Any sign of him yet?" came my query, but she was already shaking her head.

"It's weird – I saw him late afternoon yesterday, but after that – nothing. I mean, I was a little concerned at dinner, but I figured he'd just fallen asleep or something. This would be a pretty long nap though, even for him."

I took in Piper's words with a nod. She didn't seem all too concerned – most likely figuring that her boyfriend, the son of Zeus and a once Praetor of the Roman Legions, could look after himself. The possibility that he had somehow gotten himself kidnapped, however, still weighed on our minds.

"I don't know where else he could be, honestly." Turning, I started my way down the hallway, angling my body so that we could partially face one another as she followed. "You've checked with everyone? And none of them have any idea?"

She grimaced at my question, hand darting up to push a bang behind her ear.

"Well – almost everyone. No one's asked Nico yet. I think Hazel was planning on it, but last I heard she was busy with Frank and Leo, searching up deck in case there were any signs of the ship having been boarded."

So no-one had checked with Nico yet – well, it looked like that was what I was doing. I really should have thought to ask him earlier; even though Nico probably spent the least amount of time around the son of Zeus, crushes had this weird way of making you notice every single thing the other person did.

So now we were just riding on the hope that the son of Hades was a bit of a creeper.

Even if he didn't have any clue as to where Jason had disappeared to, I at least owed it to him to let him know about the current events. If Annabeth went missing and I wasn't informed; well, who knows what I would do.

Nothing good.

The Ghost King was probably more likely to just stab a few things and then disappear, but there was the chance I could maybe reassure him that wasn't the greatest option. We'd gotten closer in recent weeks, I'd like to think – the whole Jason saga had helped me to realise that I maybe didn't acknowledge his feelings as much as I should, and he'd really been opening up and telling me things.

Piper's hand on my shoulder roused me from my sentimental musings, her question of "This is it, right?" sending my eyes darting to the dark wooden door.

Yep. This was it alright – the domain of Nico di Angelo himself.

Leaning in, I strained my ears. Not a single sound reached out to greet me, so I pulled back, dropping my voice.

"I think he's probably still sleeping. He keeps weird hours. Try and be quiet."

Reaching out stealthily, I grasped the door handle, turning it slowly and pushing the door open.

The sight that greeted me was unexpected, to say the least.

Nico knew where the son of Zeus was, alright – unless he'd somehow managed to wrap his arms around the guys waist and snuggle his head into his shoulder without realising.

Apparently, Nico and Jason had made rather more progress than I had credited them with.

A throat cleared at my side, bringing to the very front of my mind the fact that Piper was still standing next to me.

Piper.

Jason's girlfriend.

Luckily, I wasn't the only one startled by the sound – the two boys before us leapt apart, all but turning in midair to gaze at us with panicked eyes. Jason ran his hands down his shirt, smoothing it until the strip of skin drawing a line above his waistband disappeared, as Nico's ears slowly began to redden. Staring down at the ground, he scuffed a foot into the floorboards, hands digging deep inside his jacket pockets. His body language was very clearly conveying the 'please just let Gaia choose this point in time to swallow me' message.

Sprinting through possible opening sentences in my head, I had all but opted for the simple yet eloquent 'What?!' when Piper suddenly beat me to it.

Storming over to Jason, she pulled back a fist to punch him directly in the arm. I could tell there was no real force in it, but he still gave her a puppy-eyed look in reply.

"Jason Grace! How dare you run off without telling anyone! We all thought you'd been kidnapped or something!"

Her boyfriend had the good grace to look sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck and shrugging a little as he avoided eye contact.

"Sorry … I didn't realise how late it was. I was just …. Nico and I were …. doing things, and –" I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at his word choice "- and I lost track of time."

Well. It looked like my urging had been more than successful. I couldn't help but let a slight grin creep onto my face before I schooled it back into something a little more casual. But how were they going to break this news to Piper? That had been the question preying on my mind. There was no way for everyone to be happy, a realisation that left this entire situation feeling less than ideal.

Glancing over to the corner where Nico had all but hidden himself, dark little form hunched over, I found that his eyes were already on me. I tried to send him a subliminal question, but they were already flicking away, cheeks pinking once more. It seemed that he wasn't yet entirely ready for a telepathic breakdown of his romantic life.

The sound of murmuring brought me darting back to where Piper and Jason now stood, heads leant in to one another, gazes locked and words soft. I felt awkward just being in the same room; like I was interrupting something private, the sort of quiet, special moment that Annabeth and I occasionally got to ourselves. I couldn't help but wonder just how it made Nico feel. His expression was hidden, head bowed such as it was and dark hair falling across his face. But his body language – tense shoulders, fists clenching at his sides – told me he wasn't altogether cool with this.

Cautiously, making certain not to interrupt the two Romans who lingered in our vicinity, I shuffled my way towards him until I was close enough to lean over and whisper in his ear. The lack of distance that it cost me to do so was concerning, but I pushed that thought aside in favour of more pressing matters.

"So … the two of you are doing alright, I see? What are you planning on telling Piper?"

The other boy literally flinched at my words, head turning slightly and eyes darting to meet mine with an incredulous expression. Voice low, he gave a very different reply to the one I had been expecting.

"Just … just what do you think the two of us were doing? We were just talking, and then he fell asleep! I couldn't very well move him!"

I allowed a single raised eyebrow to query his tale, but let it slide. If he didn't want to tell me, I surely wasn't going to force him. Perhaps later would be a better sort of time for storytelling – we'd see.

Our private soiree, along with that of Piper and Jason, was interrupted all too rudely by the sound of thumping heading down the hallway towards us. Brow furrowing, Piper looked first to her boyfriend, then to Nico and I, head tilting to the side.

"Anyone have any clue what that is?"

With a shrug, I shook my head, treading my way to the door with the intention of investigation. I might not know what it was, but I sure could find out.

However, I didn't quite have time to put my detective skills to use, given that in that moment the door exploded inwards, shattering into a thousand deadly splinters as a giant grey, horned head made its way into the room. Stumbling backwards as the sting of tiny little woodchips slammed into every piece of unclothed skin on my person, I stared in confusion as the rhinoceros transformed back into a panting Frank, forcing words through his gasps.

"Up on deck, you have to come quickly! Venti – and lots of them!"