Chiron wished us luck as he sent us off at the border of the camp. The sun had only set, so the sky wasn't still as dark as I originally thought. Plus, what should I be afraid of? I have the son of Hades with me.

This is just between you and me, but he'll protect me right? I've been told he was loyal to his friends. I mean, we are friends, right? Right?

Nico and I then head out to the unknown, walking until we reached a road. It was the very same I was dropped off from. I took a deep breath and smiled. I liked camp a lot, but most of me still preferred the outside world.

"Hey, do you know where we should head off to first?" Nico asked, pulling me back as I put a step on the road.

I stared at him, "You don't?"

He let out an exasperated sigh, "That tone suggests that you don't?"

I raised my hands in defense, "I thought you were the quest man- dude here. You're famous for completing quests and fighting in war, are you not?"

Nico shook his head, "I don't even want to get mad at you anymore, it's a waste of time. I should have expected this,"

I punched him in the shoulder, but not hard enough that he'll double in pain, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it means," He said "The prophecy we should head east, I don't know how far to east though,"

"Maybe I can ask one of my sisters," I muttered, afraid of getting smacked by Nico's Stygian Iron sword if he didn't like my idea so much.

Nico paused, "Which sister?"

"Kimberly, she's not really my sister. She and Kaya were the ones who took me to camp, saying stuff like I was weak and that I didn't have any power left because they've depleted over time so I got here to camp because I was threatened by Kaya that she'll harm my brother but if only I had known that-"

"Get to the point!" He hissed, flicking my hair

I rolled my eyes, "Anyway, she's not technically my sister. She's one of Hecate's creation, an empousa. She sent me here to camp," I swiftly turned my bag around and picked up the wallet Gavin had given me and fished out for Kim's business card.

When I spotted the hot pink card on my wallet, I pulled it out and handed it to Nico.

"Are you not surprised I'm interacting with a monster?" I asked as he accepted the card and carefully read it but he quickly gave it back.

"No, and can you read it? My dyslexia's acting up," He mumbled

"O-oh, sure" I mean I was dyslexic too, but I realized my dyslexia wasn't as bad as the other demigods.

Because you still think you're mortal, my stupid subconsciousness spoke.

After I read it I stuffed it back to my wallet and I turned to Nico, "So? Do you think she might have an answer?"

Nico shrugged, "She might, you should decide. This is your quest after all,"

My shoulders slumped, "Oh come on, help me out a little"

"That's just in New York? Let's ask Argus to drive us," He walked back to camp and I followed him like a lost little girl.

Soon enough, we found ourselves cramped in a little car enough for two people that Leo and his cabinmates had built, with Argus driving, and his eyes still on me, and on the road- it makes sense. He has lots of eyes.

"Who do you think can hold my mother captive?" I asked Nico, fiddling with the book keychain attached on one of the belt loops of my shorts.

Nico shifted next to me, "Someone more powerful than her,"

I started thinking back on all the informative classes I've taken at camp, but not a name entered my mind. The car was silent for a while, and for a moment I could feel myself dozing off but Nico constantly squished me to keep me awake.

When Argus dropped us off in the city, the night was still young so there were still so many people crowding around. Argus couldn't exactly drop us off to Kim's exact location because it was located in a subway.

"Treya," Nico called out I looked back at him and he pointed at a subway station, so I walked beside him but he paused and made me turn to him. I was gonna ask him what was the matter but he beat me to it.

"Listen, there are lots of mortals, meaning they can currently mask our scent. But it's not enough, bringing me was a huge risk, and with you, we're an ultimate monster magnet, I believe your mist manipulation is good?" He raised an eyebrow and I nodded

"Okay, can you at least make sure we're hidden well? This quest look like it'll take time, I don't want to waste my energy almost immediately. If I do, you'll be left to fend off on your own," He said in a serious tone, almost in a tone begging me not to joke around.

"But you're strong," I say

Nico shook his head, and gently pushed me closer when a crowd was approaching.

"I'm strong, but I have my limits too. I'm trying to avoid using my abilities for now, which is why I asked Argus to drive us. I'm drained easily if I use too much of my abilities," He explained carefully

I gave him a sloppy salute, "Got it ghost king,"

He gave me an agitated glance before we started walking down the subway again. After an hour of finding Kim's tattoo shop, we finally found it, in the isolated part of the subway station. The mist was strong, it fooled Nico, but I managed to concentrate the mist, and we found it in a nick of time.

We were in front of the hot pink door of the tattoo shop, but the lights were out.

Just as I was about to open the door, Nico grabbed my wrist. His expression was calculating.

"I have a bad feeling about this," He muttered, taking out his sword from behind, which was attached with a sword strap that wrapped diagonally around his body, clinging onto his black Ramones shirt. If I didn't dodge it, the blade would've cut me.

"I told you, Kim can be trusted-" I protested but he cut me off

"Not that, something's wrong" He said as he quietly opened the door, to our surprise was unlocked. He entered the room cautiously and I followed holding the hilt of the knife hanging on one of my belt loops. I wasn't exactly skilled with a knife but it was an emergency weapon since my sword was still strapped on my back.

It was dark, so naturally I did the first thing I thought of, I reached for the lights and surprisingly it was working. I had expected a monster to jump off of the ceiling or a monster giving us a fright but there was nothing.

"Should we call her?" I asked Nico, pulling out the phone Leo had built especially made for demigods.

Nico looked around before nodding. I dialed Kim's phone number but I wasn't very techy at all so I dialed pretty slowly. I grew up with no cellphone and barely any internet, sucks but it was a demigod thing.

The phone started ringing, but no one answered. Nico entered the tattoo room where Kim must have had her session, and came out with a vibrating hot pink Motorola flip phone.

"That's weird," I note, putting the phone down.

Nico sighed, "There's something else," He held out a piece of paper with writing on it.

"I can't read it," Nico muttered and handed the paper to me.

I knew you'd come for Kimberly. But I guess you're a little too late, if you want her and information on your mother go to 25 and 71. I'll be waiting, xoxo

I read aloud and once I finished I could feel my heart racing, "Who-"

"Someone who works for your mother's captor, genius," Nico beat me to it

I still had the audacity to glare at him, "Okay mister-i'm-a-genius-when-it-comes-to-quests, what do we suggest we do now? I'm sure any of the empousa have a clue as to why my mother was taken and where she was taken,"

Nico glanced at the paper, "Read the last part again,"

"I-um, 'I'll be waiting, xoxo'" I told him but he frowned.

"What?" I asked, "You said the last part,"

"The part before that," He emphasized

I looked at the paper again, the words floating, but I tried hard to read, "information on my mother go to 25 and 71,"

Nico snapped his fingers, "That's it! 25 and 71, we need to IM Percy, you got a drachma?"

I sat on one of the chairs and took out my backpack and pulled out a drachma from the wallet my siblings got for me, "Is this enough?"

He nodded, taking the drachma from my hand and signaled me to get up.

"Where are we going?" I asked him

"We're asking Percy, if you think I'm a genius when it comes to quests, wait until you meet this guy," He muttered, as we walked out of the subway.

"But, Iris Messaging, we have to have water nearby right?"

He gave me a small nod, "I saw one earlier,"

"In the subway?" I asked as if he was joking

He chuckled, "Of course not,"

"Why do I feel like you're constantly making fun of me?" I mumbled, walking beside him.

Nico only glanced at me with a small smile on his lips as we continued to walk in silence, and finally found the fountain Nico was looking for.

Then he groaned in annoyance. "What is it?" I asked

"We have no rainbow," He grumbled

I suddenly remembered how Iris messaging worked, and we had to have a rainbow, Iris was the goddess of rainbows after all.

Nico sighed, "I already know where we should go, I was just gonna ask if Percy had a method of transportation that didn't involve me travelling in the shadows,"

I was gonna ask but Nico cut me off, "Before you ask, shadow travelling is very draining. Like I told you, if I'm gonna be drained, you're gonna have to fend off for yourself and we should avoid that when we just started the quest"

"I was gonna ask where we were gonna go," I frowned, hitting his arm lightly.

"Oh, that's easy. Those were the coordinates to the sea of monsters,"