~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico had, admittedly, been in worse situations before, at least he woke up in a bed this time. He groaned in a combination of irritation and the dull ache of his body from the fight the night prior. Nectar could only help so much, and he really wished he had all of his stuff back. He also wanted a full night's sleep, but Nico knew that was a bit much to ask for.

Nico received an apple from Jace when he practically slammed the doors of the infirmary open, chucked the fruit at him, told him to be in the library by 8, then left again. Nico checked the time on his phone, it was roughly 7:45 now, but it wasn't like he had to change clothes or anything, but a shower did sound nice. He pulled himself achingly out of the infirmary cot and straightened out his clothes the best he could. He fixed the chains attached to his jeans, then summoned his sword and attached it to his waist. There was no saving his hair.

Nico crunched on the apple as he walked out of the infirmary, attempting to make his way to the library, glancing up and down the hallways as he went. He wanted to memorize the layout of the "Institute", just in case, but the angelic decor was getting very old, very quick. The place was also built like a maze, full of similar-looking doors, only a few with labels. Nico managed to find the training room again, which he supposed was useful to know, he had also found the exit, which was even better. But of course, he was spotted.

The second he entered the main entrance hall, the door opened to reveal the dark-haired girl and the boy with glasses. They each had a coffee in their hand and Isabelle carried several more in a tray. They seemed just as surprised to see him as he was to see them.

"Good morning, Nico!" Isabella greeted sweetly, "Glad to see you here, were just about to begin in the library."

Nico paused, sure about her attitude, and whether that's just how she was, or if it was an act. Judging by the look odd Glasses gave her, it was probably an act. She waved him over, and he followed a few paces behind her. Glasses glanced back every few moments to make sure he was still following them.

The other shadowhunters were mulling over scattered papers(Jace was actually asleep in his chair but would never have admitted it), and Nico fought the urge to fidget once more when they caught sight of him, Jace starting awake and resuming his work. Nico held his composure and made his way to the table, glancing over the papers, a gracious reminder he couldn't read. Nico wondered if there were more used coffee cups of papers on the table, it was close, but papers won.

"Good, you're here. Now we can actually begin," Maryse said, giving him half a glance before returning to her document, marking something down on another sheet that looked vaguely like a map, "We need to know everything so we can get a better idea of how you, the murders, and Valentine's revival are connected."

Nico frowned, "Only if I get to know what pieces I'm missing too," Nico proposed.

Maryse narrowed her eyes, a frown on her face. "I still have no intention of letting you get involved in this."

"Not your call," Nico retorted.

"It's whoever contacted you on the phone last night's call, then?" Jace questioned.

"Maybe," Nico growled. "Maybe it's because I have a job to do and it's none of your business Golden Boy."

"Okay!" Clary exclaimed with exasperation, slicing through the budding animosity. "How about we share first, and then you share what you know, so at least we have all the pieces in one place?" Clary proposed.

Jace didn't seem to like the idea, but Maryse let out a forlorn sigh, Nico let his shoulders loosen up a fraction. "Fine."

Nico followed in suit and took a set at the table, slouching in his chair and making no effort to help as papers were gathered and organized by five sets of hands. He frowned, noticing which of the shadowhunters were missing.

"Where's the one with the bow, Alec?" Nico asked.

"He's out trying to make sure Valentine doesn't get any more ideas and warning the downworlder communities who exactly has been targeting them," Isabelle said, taking a seat across from Nico with Glasses taking a seat right next to her.

Nico nodded, "Ok, so can I properly know about the murders now?"

Clary glanced to Maryse before starting her explanation on his behalf, "Well, for about the past three weeks, there have been a string of downworlder murders all with a similar memo, but the patterns been erratic enough that we couldn't place when or where the next one would occur."

Clary passed him a map, and Nico took note of every location and the time date. The latest one occurred just a few days prior, and the one before that just two days before that, the first murders were more of an erratic spree than the latter ones. Nico frowned, something about the dates seeming familiar.

The murders began approximately a week after the end of the second Giant War, which made sense since a number of spirits escaped the Underworld during that time. Nico locked on to the second to last date. That was the day that Maria had died, her funeral was supposed to be today. Nico's frown deepened.

"Can you tell me about this one here?" Nico asked Clary pointing to the location and date.

Jace was the one who answered. "there were apparently two people who died that day, a half-fae boy and a clear-sighted mundane girl, but the girl's body was never found. Their names were August and Maria Aribola."

Nico's back stiffened, remembering his conversation about who had found Maria and what she had promised.

"The name Lou Ellen Blackwater doesn't ring any bells does it?" Nico asked, hesitantly.

Jace narrowed his eyes, "It does, why?"

Nico hesitated before answering. Lou had said she would 'take care' of the situation with Maria's murder, and he had an awful gut feeling at the moment that she was involved in something much more complicated than she knew.

"She's a friend," Nico said and left it at that.

Nico looked more closely at the date just following Maria's murder. That was the day both Clarisse and Lou had been out, Clarisse on a supply run, and Lou apparently meeting with the Shadowhunters. Nico took that connection and looked at the less recent murders. Those connected with demigod supply runs too, growing more precise as time went on. Nico was suddenly very grateful no demigods had been caught before Maria. They were always used to being hunted by monsters, a target constantly painted on their backs, but this still left a bitter taste in his mouth, especially because Valentine was after him in particular and was willing to go through other demigods to find him first.

Nico wanted to check with Lou when he managed to get to the camp for Maria's funeral this evening.

"You just put some pieces together, share with the class." Jace huffed, glaring at Nico from his own place at the table.

"Well, I definitely know it's me Valentine's after, but there are others in danger too. Lou is one of them," Nico said, not bothering to respond to Jace's sass this time.

"Why is the Blackwater girl in danger?" Jace asked, prying for more information.

"Outside of the obvious? Because she knows things. She didn't happen to give you a way to connect her, did she?" Nico asked. He wanted to make sure Lou at least knew what was going on, and the danger she was in.

Isabelle grabbed a torn piece of notebook paper from one of the increasingly neat stacks, and handed it to Nico, "She gave them a number to contact with updates."

Nico snatched it and pulled out his "phone", doing his best to dial the number he'd been given. It ran for a moment before a tone answered, "[This number is currently not in use, please make sure you dialed the correct number before trying again]"

Nico did, redialing the number, "[This number is currently not in use, please make sure you dialed the correct number before trying again.]"

Nico swore, this time in Ancient Greek.

Jace snickered, then got smacked by Isabelle.

"What's wrong?" Glasses asked.

"Lou probably gave a fake number, I'll have to see her later today." Nico sighed, grudgingly putting his phone away.

Maryse gave Nico a look, "Why would she give us a fake number?"

Nico decided to dilute the truth for this answer, "Probably didn't want to be found, she'll show up when she wants to," he answered, but left 'at least I hope so,' unspoken.

Jace looked personally insulted that he'd been given a fake number, though Nico doubted this would be the first time it had happened to the Golden Nuisance

After a moment to calm himself, Nico began asking questions. "Is there anything else I should know? Do you have anything on who Valentine is working with?"

"Hey Clary, think he'd know anything about your visions?" Glasses asked.

"Simon!" Isabelle hissed, smacking Simon (not Glasses), on his arm, and getting a glare from both Maryse and Jace.

Nico perked up, sitting up straight from his slouched position in his chair. "You get visions?" Nico asked tenaciously.

Clary looked almost sheepish, "Yeah..."

"Tell me."

Clary looked almost uncomfortable under his gaze but then shifted in her seat before beginning. "I've had several, most of which don't make much sense at all," she started, as if to discourage him but Nico didn't yield. He knew better than to completely disregard visions.

"One of the first ones was just this girl who looked eerily similar to me, painting in a cave-"

"Did you happen to see what she was painting?" Nico interjected.

Clary paused for a moment, "No... I don't clearly remember."

"Okay, I think I might know who you saw, but continue first." Nico said, adding 'checkup with Rachel' to his to-do list for later today.

"Another was of a Hispanic bow and this other girl riding what looked to be a dragon, there was a fire in the background..." Nico fought the urge to burst into a grin.

Leo. Leo was coming back. Nico knew he wasn't dead. This was the most confirmation that Nico had gotten that Leo was not, in fact, dead, especially if he wasn't alone.

"Then there was something burning behind me, I think I was somewhere off Long Island Sound, but I'm not too sure."

Nico's mood dropped exponentially. The camp was going to burn, not a new thought but definitely not a welcome one. They had just finished repairs last week too.

"And the final one was of Valentine, at least I think it was Valentine now," Nico paid more attention to this. The others were good to know, but this was the important one.

"He was talking to something. He was making a deal of some sort with this voice coming from an impossibly deep pit-"

Nico started, hard enough that he jumped out of his chair that clattered to the stone floor with a loud bang. His blood ran cold as soon as Clary spoke the word 'pit'. The temperature in the room dropped with his reaction, and all attention snapped to him. Nico hoped with everything in his being that this didn't mean that he thought it did. But it all fit together too well. But Nico needed more evidence before he could make that assumption. It scared him too much to make without confirmation first.

"What?! You obviously know something, and we need to know to stop this," Jace demanded.

Nico took a shaky breath and slowly picked up his chair before sitting down again.

"Okay... okay. So first thing, I do know the people in your visions. The first one, the girl in the cave, she's another friend. She's probably fine, but I'll go see her later today," Jace looked ready to say something again, but Nico continued. "The next one is good. I don't know the woman he was with, but he's a friend and I'm glad he's alive. The third, not so much, but I have a good guess on what was burning."

"And the final one?" Isabelle asked.

"Well, I have an awful guess on who Valentine is working with..." Nico trailed off, unsure how to explain this. He really didn't want to say anything, but he knew they wouldn't stop pestering him until he gave them something.

"Who?" Maryse demanded.

"Something bad, really bad. World-ending bad. And he's pissed, probably at me and a few others. He's powerful enough to provide Valentine with whatever he needs, but can't do anything himself, not easily," Nico explained, intentionally being vague.

"Like, how world ending are we talking? Greater demon? Prince of Hell?" Simon asked, squeaking out the last one.

Nico had read the Codex through that part so he could accurately say, "It's probably closer to the latter, but if it all doesn't fall tragically apart, he won't be able to do anything."

Nico's gut twisted and he was definitely in need of a subject change, so he turned to Maryse, "Hey, can I have my stuff back? I have somewhere to be this afternoon." Nico asked, his tough demeanor failing him.

Maryse looked conflicted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There had been another hour of argument before Nico had convinced the Shadowhunters to give him back his stuff and let him go for the evening, promising to be back the next day, or even that night. He was forced to leave his phone behind as collateral, but Nico knew it would return to him, so he really didn't care. He had stopped at this local McDonald's for lunch before shadow traveling back to camp, happy to have his jacket back and know Leo was alive, unhappy to know that his worst nightmare had sent a revived Nephilium after him, and probably Annabeth and Percy too.

When Nico got back to camp around 2 pm, the preparations for the funeral were almost done in the arena. Nico was obliged to be here. As a son of Hades, he had the responsibility of doing funeral rights. At the moment, however, he had priorities, the first to visit Rachel, however, he didn't get that far.

"I see you got your favorite jacket back. Where were you last night?" a familiar voice demanded.

Nico turned to see Will in all his glory glaring at him, an angry pout on his face. Nico returned with an awkward smile, fidgeting with his ring. His clothes were still torn from the fight with Valentine and he still had a slight limp, Will had most definitely noticed.

"Got kidnapped again?" Nico offered and Will just sighed.

"Are they the ones who injured you too?"

Nico shook his head, "No that was a different mess and a pack of hellhounds," Nico said, offering no explanation, "But I'm fine now!" he quickly added, "I'm just a bit bruised still, but I'll heal up as soon as I get a chance to rest!"

"Why can't you rest now?" Will had transitioned from upset boyfriend to doctor mode.

"Because I have something really important to do right now and I love you?" Nico said and Will let out a long exaggerated sigh.

"Fine, but you are explaining to me in detail what trouble you've gotten yourself into when you get the chance." Will huffed and Nico nodded. He gave Will a quick kiss before continuing his half-jog to Rachel's cave.

Inside it was much darker than she normally kept it, most of the colorful paintings decorating the wall obscured by shadows, he did however catch sight of himself in one, a violin perched under his chin, wings spread out behind him, and a rising army of skeletons. Strange, Nico didn't even know how to play the violin.

"Rachel?" Nico called out but received silence as his answer. He almost thought she had left when he spotted her slumped figure sleeping restfully on a paint-stained sofa.

Nico jogged up to her and went to shake her awake. Her eyes burst open, gleaning with the light of the oracle. The airy, raspy voice of the Oracle of Delphi echoed in the too-silent ambiance of the cave.

"A trampled flower,

A hunted secret

Death's chosen

is who must keep it.

A fallen foe,

A primal's pride

drives a hunt

in terror's stride.

Nico's twisted more tightly than it had before, especially when Rachel resumed her nap without pause. A prophecy had been spoken, of course, it had. barely a month after the end of the Second Giant War, now there was another. Demigod luck at its finest. Nico quickly pulled out his phone and transcribed the prophecy the best he could into the notes. He could easily piece the pieces together most of the meaning, especially now that he knew about Clary's visions.

Maria's death was the "trampled flower", Nico was "Death's chosen", the secret was most likely in reference to the Greek gods. "Fallen foe" could be Valentine, Lou was the "daughter of magic", and the last stanza had something to do with Leo's return and the camp burning. Overall, not the hardest thing he'd ever had to figure out, especially since he knew most of the pieces now. But the third Stanza worried him. He had to find Lou.

Nico left the cave, careful not the wake Rachel with his panic, and went on a frantic search for Lou or one of the other Hecate kids who would know where she was. he was able to pin down one of the Hecate kids by the mess hall, Ricky, or something.

"No, I haven't seen her since last night, no one has. I really thought she'd back by now since maria's funeral is today. A lot of her stuff is gone too."

The awful feeling that Nico had had for the hour spiked tenfold. Lou was missing. "I'll take care of it" suddenly made a lot more sense in a morbid way. Lou had gone after Valentine alone.

Nico broke off into a sprint, taking a piece of Lou's clothing with him as he fled, leaving a confused (maybe) Richard behind. With the way Valentine had been tracking demigods as of late, Lou was in over her head, especially since she wasn't the best fighter, even with all her magic and tricks.

Not knowing what else to do, Nico vanished back into the shadows, determined to find Lou before Valentine did.

But it was too late.