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‘Well, not completely,’ said Will. ‘If I learned anything from this quest, it’s that eradicating the past isn’t really possible. Or healthy, for that matter. It’s better if you learn how to live with it.’ Hereached down and petted the Cocoa Puff with tusks. ‘And I think Nico is going to do a wonderful job of that.’

Heat rushed to Nico’s face. ‘Thank you,’ he said quietly.

Will put his hand on Nico’s left leg and squeezed.

Nico sat back, his hands on his bloated belly, and he realized it had been a long time since he’d last been this full. He’d always been known as the demigod who wouldn’t eat. Why had he let himself get to the point of starvation over and over again?

Because it was what he was used to.

But Nico’s life was changing.Hadchanged. What he was used to now was different than what his life had been like even a year ago. Back then, the idea that he could be in a relationship seemed impossible.

Things changed.

That wasn’t abadthing.

But something needled at Nico as he sat there, watching Will’s animated storytelling as he described Tartarus to the two directors. Something was missing. Incomplete. There was a thread left that still needed to be pulled.

He looked down at the Cocoa Puffs. They, too, had gorged themselves and were now napping under the table. Mr D rested his chin on his hands and stared at Will dreamily, soaking up every detail of the Underworld.

The Underworld.

There it was.

The other piece.

Nico stood and excused himself. ‘I’ll be right back,’ he said to Will. ‘There’s something I need to do.’

‘Of course,’ Will said. ‘Meet me in my cabin when you’re done?’

Nico nodded, and then he wandered away from the dining pavilion.

He headed for the Hades cabin. It was eerie being in the clearing with all the gods’ cabins; there were so many more of them than there had been when Nico had first arrived at Camp Half-Blood.

Yet another sign of how much had changed.

The door to Hades’s cabin creaked as he opened it, and it smelled a bit stale inside. It still amused him that it had been decorated as if every child of Hades was a teenage goth, but there was a comfort in the dark decor. He made his way to his part of the cabin and lifted his mattress to pull out a drachma.

Then he sat on his bed and took a small crystal and a drachma from a pocket on the inside of his bomber jacket. He opened the window shutter and held the crystal up to the sunlight. In the rainbow that formed, he tossed the coin, while reciting the offering.

And then he said: ‘Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Piper McLean.’

Moments later, there was an image of Piper, smiling, the morning sun illuminating the two brown braids that sat on either shoulder. Next to her was a brown-skinned girl with dark hair in a pixie cut. The stud in her nostril sparkled.

‘Nico!’ said Piper. ‘Wow, this is a surprise. You haven’t met Shel before, have you?’

Nico shook his head and promptly burst into tears.

After some consoling – which Nico thought was probably really hard to do over Iris-message – Piper asked Shel to give them some space.

‘No, it’s okay,’ said Nico, wiping at his face. ‘She can stay.’

Piper raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you sure?’

He smiled. ‘If she’s important to you, she’s important to me.’

‘It’s okay,’ said Shel. ‘I don’t have to be here.’

‘Stay,’ said Nico. ‘Maybe you can help.’