Percy looked at Grover helplessly. He just shook his head.

"Nico, I-uh Bianca didn't make it. She sacrificed herself for us. For me I guess." He watched Nico's face crumple.

"No. No you promised." The words were like a punch in the gut.

"I'm sorry, Nico, I really am."

"You promised!" he yelled, "you promised you would protect her!" Percy scanned the buildings around them. There was no way this commotion was going unnoticed.

"You have to stop shouting, Nico, and we need to get out of here."

"No. I'm not going anywhere with you. Ever." He turned and started running down the street. "And don't come after me!"

"Nico stop!" called Percy. He stood to go after him but Grover grabbed him.

"You can't go after him, Percy."

Percy struggled to break free. "I have to, it's my fault."

"You can't save everyone. He's not your responsibility."

Percy knew Grover was right, but he wanted to protect Nico, to save him. If he was on his own he'd surely be killed. Then it struck Percy so he would he. Odds are both he and Grover would be dead by the end of this thing, and so would everyone else. Everyone else but one. And that one person probably would not be him.

"You're right," Percy said hollowly, "let's get out of here."

They jogged down the street for a spell, neither really knew where they were going. The sun was well up by then, the last of the morning chill gone, and Percy could appreciate the fresh air. The tunnels might have provided safety, but they weren't pleasant.

"That building looks good," said Grover, pointing ahead to a reasonable tall building with glass windows.

"Yeah," Percy said.

They settled in on the top floor, so they could see in all directions. The sun streamed in all the windows and Percy took his jacket off.

"Feel like eating anything?" Grover asked.

"Not especially."

Percy stared out the window at the street below. The buildings were gray, the street was gray, the tunnels were gray, he was starting to get tired of it. It reminded him a bit of Annabeth. Her eyes were gray, but not dull like the buildings. They sparkled, shown, turned to fire when she got mad. Percy wondered where she might be. As of last night she was alive, and he was pretty sure the only canon fired today was Bianca's. He thought of Bianca and a wave of guilt rose that he had to swallow to keep down. Poor Nico. The kid never stood a chance. A sudden movement below jolted him out of his trance.

"Grover come look at this," Percy said.

Grover joined him at the window and they stared down at the street.

"Can you tell who that is?" Grover asked.

Percy squinted, that bright red hair could only belong to one person.

"I thinks that's Rachel Dare."

"What's she doing?"

Percy watched her crouch behind a short metallic structure.

"I don't know, looking for something?"

He watched her go still. From around the corner two more people came jogging. A blond guy and a dark haired girl. Jason and Thalia Grace, district 2.

"Oh she's hiding. They're hunting her."

"What?" said Grover, "oh I don't want to watch this."

But Percy couldn't look away. Thalia had a silver bow drawn, Jason had a golden sword. Rachel waited a moment, then sprinted across the street to the base of their building. It took Percy a second to put it all together.

"Grover, she just came in our building."

They looked at each other in horror.

"We gotta get out of here," Grover said, tossing stuff into his pack, "district two is gonna search this place top to bottom."

"They'll enter the building from the east side, and we can slip out the west," Percy said. "Let's go!"

They didn't run down the stairs, that would have been too loud. But they hurried, forcing their burning legs to keep going. They reached the bottom without incident. They were about to slip out the back when Percy saw her crouched behind a cylinder. Rachel was shaking, hair a mess. Percy immediately felt bad for her all alone. Like Nico.

"Hey," he whispered, "come out the back with us."

Rachel whirled around, a knife rattling in her hand. The alarm in her eyes was unmistakeable. But her voice was level.

"Are you serious? Get out of here. They're after me, they don't even know you're here."

Percy blinked. "Are you serious? We're giving you a way out. Take it!"

Rachel looked at Percy and Grover, sizing them up. "Fine. Just don't kill me or something."

Percy heard the other door start to open, saw the tip of an arrowhead.

"We have to go right now," he hissed.

As they slipped out the door, they heard behind them "there they are!"

"Run!" said Grover.

A silver arrow whistled past Percy's face as they sprinted down the street. A left, a right, they were faster, but Thalia had a bow. Percy has no idea how Rachel kept up, she was exhausted and starving, but she was right with them.

Finally they slipped into a building, ducked into the stairwell, and collapsed gasping.

"I think," Grover said, "we lost them."

Rachel groaned and slumped against the wall. "You guys have any food?"