Chp 1

                                    

                                          

This is a stupid idea.
Correction.  This wasn't a stupid idea, this was Nico making sure he had all of his ducks in a row before he snuck back out to New Rome or wherever else he was frequenting at the moment.  Maybe that one graveyard in Orleans. 
	He kicked off snow as he crossed the border into camp, slowly walking down the hill and past the tree with the Fleece.  It's cold out, enough to have him pulling his jacket closer and Nico feels as out of place as he always does when he returns to camp.
	Bit like a raven among swallows.  Everyone is so bright and hopeful and he can see a few campers glance to him, away again when they realize the death kid is here.  Not that he cares, he doesn't.
	It's a stupid idea.
	This is dumb, he should turn around—
	"Di'Angelo."
	Shit.
	Nico stopped and waited as the camp director trotted over, looking as normally concerned as one old as hell centaur could when it came to running a camp of teenagers.  Chiron made it to him, backed up a step and Nico craned his head upward to stare up at the centaur.
	"Mr. D?"
	"Not here."
	Shit shit shit.  This was a stupid idea.  How the fuck is Nico supposed to talk to a god about Death missing if there's no god here? And his father won't speak to him anymore, he'd practically been flung from the Underworld the last time he slipped in.  Death missing for a bit wasn't exactly uncommon, it's what made it so that Nico could sneak Hazel out back in November, but it's nearing January and there is still not sign of Thanatos.  Not among the Greeks, and certainly not in Camp Jupiter.  Nico needed an ear to the ground and the gods- especially ones close to death- were always the best shot.  
	It was that or talking to nymphs, gossipy spirits they were.  Unfortunately most nymphs would just pinch his cheeks and call him cute.  And that was if they weren't staying back in wariness because of his status and his father's reputation.
	He might as well go.
	"Is there a reason you were looking for him?" Chiron shifted nervously, casting a glance to the grey skies above them. "Perhaps a favor?"
	Nico twisted his ring and kicked at frozen ground.  "Monsters aren't dying.  Sir."  
	"Ah.  Close encounter?"
	More than his fair share. He shrugged and the centaur sighed, hiding his own agitation well.
	"There was, there was a quest earlier, young Di'Angelo.  The members of it might have more context for you."
	His head snapped up, and Nico twisted his ring again, the skull facing in as he balled his hand into a fist.
	"There was a quest?  Percy–"
	"Still missing.  But there is a son of Zeus, he will have context."
	Nico's frankly sick of any Big Three kids. 
	"Anyone else?" Please say someone, anyone else.  Nico has standards.  Sort of.  Maybe. Kinda.
	Percy's green eyes flash in his mind and he pushes down the traitorous thoughts that come with such a line of thought.  No guys, no crushes, absolutely no emotion.  He can't care, nope.
	"Piper McLean perhap–"
	"Anyone else?" Nico interrupted. "Is Chase here?  Or literally anyone I know? Or someone that's easy to talk to?"
	The faster he can get information, the faster he can get the fuck out of here.  Chiron leveled him with a look, the one that most people did when Nico got a bit too close to showing anything other than casual apathy for the world around him.
"A son of Hephaestus.  He's,, chatty.  A bit busy."
Busy means distracted. And distracted means that Nico can pry for information that wouldn't normally be given up.  Does he feel bad about maybe manipulating a camper?