just to get to the next town. Thankfully, the Laistrygonian Giants no longer followed us. When Nico noticed my sleepy state, not having to sleep for so long, and betting that the sun was to rise soon, he summoned an undead horse.

"Sleep, it's your turn" Nico said, as I got comfortable in front of him. It was odd to ride an undead horse but it seemed okay, I'll just have to forget that the horse wasn't even alive.

"Are you sure?" I asked, half dozing off.

Nico nodded, "I promise I won't let you fall off," He sounded so certain that I just followed his words and drifted off, leaning on his chest as the horse galloped onwards.

But because I chose to sleep, I should've known my fate. Nightmares again.

I thought this was going to be one of my visions, and I'd be like a ghost but no, I was actually in my body this time. I was back home, sitting on the couch with a video game controller on my other hand. I looked at the television, that was nothing but static.

Everything else looked normal, when suddenly, Hecate entered the living room.

"Is this from the past again?" I said out loud and covered my mouth when I realized I could speak willingly.

Hecate gave me a small smile and sat on the other side of the couch.

"This is now, this is where a huge part of heart still yearns for. I expected it to be Camp Half Blood, but alas, that is not why I'm here,"

I almost fell off the couch, "Wh-what!? But aren't you trapped? Imprisoned somewhere? Can you help me find you? Can you teach me more magic? Why did Circe betray you? Mom, I have so many questions,"

Hecate raised a hand up, "Yes. I don't have long. We gods and goddesses can exist in multiple planes even when captured. I wish to appear to you in person, but my draining power can no longer do so. Today, I appear to you not as your mother, but as the goddess of crossroads. I wish there was another way for you to save me, but even I cannot fight the Fates,"

"You have to choose a path. I give you three paths. In the first path, along the way, you'll have to meet Circe again and get trapped in a time controlled place. In the second path, you'll encounter a dark god, and Nico, your companion, may never recover. In the third path, you'll meet some Eidolons, suffer a terrible wound. You have to choose,"

I stared at my mother like she was crazy and dropped the controller.

"Those are all horrible! You gave me a warning thank you, but is there any other way?"

Hecate shook her head, "Sadly none child, I wish I could take away your misery"

"Do I have to tell you now?"

"No, but I appear to you now to warn and to choose. You will have to choose, even if you keep it to yourself, a choice will be made" She started fading and noticed it, fear crossed her face.

"He senses me, I have to go Eretria"

"Mom! Please tell me where you are!" I cried out

".don't.....mountains," She faltered and disappeared.

I suddenly sat up straight, waking up.

Someone held my shoulder tightly, I looked back and was relieved to see that it was Nico. The sun was already up and shining. Nico seemed to have dug around my backpack because he was already eating the other cheeseburger. Not that I minded, it was meant for him anyway.

"Are we near?" I asked, rubbing my eyes

"I asked and we're about ten miles away from the next town. We should be arriving soon," He said

"How long was I out?"

Nico paused, "Maybe an hour,"

"Thanks," I say, and turn to the road again.

"For?"

"For keeping your promise," I smile, he didn't see but it was alright.

But I couldn't keep everything inside of me. I turned back to Nico who was slightly surprised that I turned back again and didn't manage to fall off of the horse. I told Nico everything that happened in my dream, and that my mother asked me to choose.

"It'll be fine, don't be pressured to choose-" Nico consoled but I interrupted him

"I already did,"

He raised an eyebrow, "What did you choose?"

"The Eidolons obviously," I said, although fear was already starting to creep up on me.

Nico's expression darkened, "Don't, choose something else. Choose the dark god,"

"And have you get hurt? No way!" I say in defense, but I realized how stupid that sounded and a blush creeped up to my cheeks.

Nico seemed to have noticed, because he looked away. A part of my heart chipped off, but not minding it I tried turning back again but this time I actually tripped on the undead's horse body because I had my mind in the clouds.

But Nico reacted quicker, he caught my arm and gently tugged me back.

"You have to choose properly," Nico muttered while chewing.

I looked back at him and managed a nervous smile, "It's all part of the demigod experience right? Getting hurt? Bring me back the Nico who disliked me and didn't care about me,"

Besides, even if I was nervous that I was gonna get wounded. I was only get wounded. I wasn't gonna die. Otherwise, my mother would have told me and I would have chosen the option to go back to Circe.

Nico's face softened for a second, "I-"

"Ah, I'm not letting you finish that sentence. If you say you don't care about me you'd be a big fat liar," I looked ahead again, the blinding sun hitting me, but I didn't want to look back. I didn't dare look back.

-

"I don't suppose we have to ask around?" I asked Nico as we wandered around town.

Nico walked beside me, "What do you mean?"

I pointed at the large warehouse, "Surplus!"

It really was there. I giant gray warehouse, with its doors completely open, signaling that they were open for business. The entire town surrounded it, as if it was its heart. And there were definitely more people here than the last town.

Nico squinted his eyes, "It's.. covered in a thick layer of mist," He pointed out

I hardly noticed, but now that he mentioned it, it was getting clearer that there was a thick layer of mist surrounding it.

I was gonna skip my way to the surplus when Nico said, "Wait," I looked back at him and he seemed a little distressed.

He looked around, and exhaled "There are lots of ghosts here, they're aggressive but I've told them to stay put,"

I looked at him with surprise, I nearly forgot that Nico was a son of Hades because he was so sparkly.

"You can do that?" I asked, beaming at him.

Nico raised an eyebrow, "Uh, yeah" He said slowly, as if he wanted to ask why I wanted to know but I've asked him a lot about his abilities, he probably got tired reacting like that

I wiped a fake tear, "That's my ghost king"

Nico's eyes widened, and I tried covering it up but utterly failed. I was only supposed to make it seem like a tease to lighten the mood but I managed to make it worse. I instantly facepalmed and waved my hands around in defense.

"No! I meant, you're the camp's ghost king. I didn't really mean me as in mine, but- ugh you get the point!" I said a little flustered.

Nico twisted his skull ring, but he didn't seem to care about what I said because he looked ahead and walked ahead.

I get it, you're not interested in me. Can you make it less obvious? I wanted to tell him but held it in.

"Come on," Nico looked back to see that I was still in a bit of a daze. I ran after him and we entered the giant warehouse.

"WELCOME DEMIGODS!" The loud speaker boomed, I thought I jumped ten feet in the air.

The entire warehouse was really, um, unorganized. Things from here and there were just scattered and was collecting dust, I wondered if he could actually sell these things.

But boy was I wrong, the moment Nico and I entered the first aisle I saw all sorts of valuable things.

I reached out to touch but the booming voice scared me again but this time it wasn't from the speaker.

"If you're not gonna buy, then don't touch!"

I looked back, to see a middle aged man with a beer belly glaring a little then smiling all of the sudden. This dude was Apollo's descendant?

"These items, they're all for sale?" I asked

The man laughed, "Yes, all items are worth one hundred golden drachmas each. Are you interested?"

My eyes widened, I barely even had fifty drachmas from both of my wallets, how can everything be so expensive?

"N-no, actually, we're here to ask for information," I say, turning down the offer.

The man guffawed again, "Nothing comes for free! Information comes at two hundred golden drachmas!"

The loud man's voice was starting to irritate Nico because he was glaring at him. He fished for the compass in his pocket and held it out for the man to see.

"This is from Apollo, he said you'd answer any of our questions if we gave this to you,"

The man's eyes sparkled almost like Nico's sparkles but Nico was still more sparkly. He tried to snatch the compass away from Nico's hand but Nico was quicker than him. He put it back in his pocket again and glared.

"So?"

The man sighed, "Fine. Information can be given through an exchange"

"Do you swear on the River Styx?" Nico asked

The guy looked up before grinning like a maniac and snapped his finger towards me, and in a flash I suddenly couldn't breathe.

"I swear on the River Styx I'll give you information, if you find this girlie among the rest. You get one chance and if you don't find her, I get to keep her and her belongings including the compass!" He laughed like a madman again but that wasn't the point.

All of the sudden it was so hard to breathe and the mad man and Nico seemed like thirty feet tall.

Nico gaped at me and glared at the man before drawing his sword.

The man picks me up with his fingers, and plops me on a bowl of water. When I saw my own reflection, I screamed but I was only a goldfish and all that came from me were bubbles.

He then carried the small bowl next to more goldfish bowls, snapped his fingers and all of the sudden all of the bowls were interchanged. I looked at the other goldfishies, they were also sad and were begging for the outside world to help.

Nico glared even harder, the ground started to crack. The man only smiled.

"You've got five minutes," He said and walked away.

Nico immediately rushed the dozen of bowls filled with water and a goldfish, one of each.

He looked over it confusingly and I tried to tell him that I was Treya, by letting out bubbles but that didn't seem to work because all of the other goldfishes were doing the same. Meaning we looked the same, and looked like we all needed saving, which we probably did.

"Now which one of you are Treya?"

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