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Joel had been a mess of tears.

"Why can't I come?" I managed to decipher the sob-filled sentence. He sat in my lap in our tiny little front yard, his head propped up against my chest. Who knows how long we sat like that. I made sure to cement the feeling of his hair and the sound of his voice in my brain- hopefully further down in there this time, so it couldn't be erased. Quintenn was going to stay here to guard him while I was gone. That gave me quite a lot of comfort.

"You wouldn't like it," I whispered back. "It's a long, boring road trip, and they won't even be playing good music along the way." The others should be here any minute to pick me up, first to head back to camp. Then off we go.

"But... you'd be there."

He talked like I was leaving for good, and it just about killed me. I reached into my backpack and pulled out two devices, exactly the same. They looked like 4-by-4 inch box TV's attached to a thick metal stand to hold. "You remember Leo?" I Wasn't actually sure if Joel had met Leo, but he nodded tearily. "You remember he came to visit yesterday? He gave me these. You keep one, and I keep one, and and night we can talk to each other." I think Leo had told me how to operate it, but it took me a minute to figure it out again. "You hold this button here to turn it on... and as soon as you do, the other one turns on too." Both screens popped to life, reflecting a puffy-eyed Joel and myself.

He fiddled with it a minute, sniffling quietly to himself, before turning around to squeeze the life out of me. "I love you, Son," he whispered in my ear.

"I love you too, little man."

Annabeth and Calypso had come in our "questing car" to get me- which happened to be a rather huge minivan. Annabeth was driving, but her eyes were wide open and her knuckles were white, so I drove back to camp. Let me tell you, driving a minivan is like trying to direct an elephant with a carrot on a stick.

We stopped on the road outside the barrier where Nico and Milo waited with Chiron and some "send-off" campers, including Will. He had come to visit while Jake was there (and they'd gotten along well), which is why I remember his name now. But before, I didn't even remember meeting him.

"How you feeling?" He seemed a little apprehensive. Possibly because I was driving again.

"To tell you the truth, just tired and feeling-less right now." These pain meds are really strong. I found out last night in bed that if I focus hard enough, I can make my legs feel like lead.

He handed a plastic bag through the window. "The drinks were made specially for you by the rest of the Apollo cabin," he said. "They're supposed to be pain-relieving without side effects. And the snacks are for everyone, just better than fast food crap."

All I could think was, I must've been really great friends with this guy.

The only other driver in the group was Milo, who, unlike Annabeth, had a license. So after we all piled into the van and settled down, Annabeth calculated how often we had to stop for gas, sleep, food, bathrooms, switching drivers, etc. Milo chimed in that he had a bladder of steel, and that he had once taken a 6 hour trip with his parents without excreting anything but sweat. Calypso in her motherly tone asked if that was really something to be proud of, and if he wanted a medal.

I noted that Nico was silent in the seat behind me.

I had been driving for hours. My brain told me it wasn't sleepy, but definitely wanted a break soon.

"Take the next ramp off the highway," Annabeth mumbled through a yawn. "We'll sleep in a hotel." Perfect timing, although everyone else was already asleep. The headlights guided me through the dark and I managed to keep the van from tipping as we made the tight turn. The harshly-glowing neon red "8" had never seemed so welcoming before. I pulled the car to a stop outside the doors and unbuckled before Annabeth could. "I'm the most awake. I'll just ask if they have available rooms before anyone has to wake up."

She was too tired to argue. When I approached the man at the desk, I realized he was staring at my forehead. The stitches were still in, so it must've looked pretty bad. "Do you have a 2-bed room available?"

His stare never left my head. "Yes sir, we do," he answered politely, like nothing was wrong with his fascination with my injury. He pushed a clipboard in my direction. "Just sign here," he pointed without looking. The nametag read Menny. I glanced back down at my signature and frowned when I noticed an extra "e" on my last name. Have I been putting extra "e's" in everything I've written in the past few days? Boy, that'll be embarrassing when someone notices. Unfortunately, I'd signed in pen. Oh well.

I went back to the van, handed Annabeth a room key, and told her to just get everyone inside. She basically sleep-walked herself out to pull the other half-dead demigods from their seats and into the tall brick buliding. Milo complained about having to pee.

I was unloading luggage and weapons and food from the trunk, and nearly jumped into the door above my head when Nico's hands reached past to grab a bag. "Oh man..." I clutched my head, which began to ache again. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry." His white teeth flashed a smile through the night. That's the first word he's said to me since the accident, and I reveled in his voice. All too soon it was replaced with a sad frown. "I mean that in a lot of ways."

"I'm sorry I broke your ribs." He probably got them healed up in a couple of hours by the Apollo cabin. We pulled luggage and swords through the reception area and up the stairs- elevator out of order. I found myself smiling with giddy happiness. "At least you're not mad at me like I thought you were."

He didn't answer. Maybe he is mad. We shoved bags and bodies through the door to the 3rd floor and I decided I didn't want to know if he was or not. Room 316. 5 people, 2 double beds. I reaaally don't want to sleep on the floor, especially after driving so long. I swiped the keycard in the door handle.

"You're a little... different."

My hand tensed on the handle. Is different bad? Was I better before? Do other people think I'm different too? Does... does Joel think I'm different?

"The past few days I've been scared of a lot of things. That you would forget me, or hate me. I was scared for you, that you'd not be able to socialize anymore, or become totally mentally disabled and I thought if you were and you hated me, I wouldn't be able to take care of you properly because you wouldn't want me to-"

I was still processing "different". Is this supposed to be some kind of apology, for something he didn't even cause? "Nico," I interrupted, turning to face him. Sure enough, his face was guilt-ridden and heavy with sadness. "I am a little different now. Things won't be the same. You didn't make it happen. Nobody can do anything about it. I definitely don't hate you, so you can take care of me all you want. I'll be needing it. But if you keep freaking out and ignoring me, I start freaking out and going a little crazy. So quit it."

5 seconds of silence felt like ages. Then the smirk was back, and I knew everything was ok. I swiped the card and pushed the door open, feeling... resolved.

No one had even waited to change: Calypso and Annabeth were fast asleep in one bed and Milo waited to share the other. Nico muttered about taking the floor, so I gladly and without question parked the bag by the TV and slid in next to a half-asleep Swede. He gave me a goofy, lidded smile and pulled me down before I was even under the covers. I struggled to pull the sheets over me while still in his sleepy death-grip, already shivering. Nico made a makeshift bed on the floor out of extra blankets we'd brought. I could see his shadowy form moving in the pitch black of the small room.

Within minutes, the room was filled with long and even breathing. Milo's warm, heavy breath slid over my neck comfortingly, and should've lulled me to sleep too. It didn't. That was the night I began to expect regular insomnia.