Nico's unexpected encounters

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Annabeth landed the flying chariot next to what looked like an abandoned barn. The paint was flaking off and most of the roof had caved in. yellow fields grew as far as the eyes could see in all directions.

Percy hopped off the chariot and landed with a thump. "This doesn't look sketchy at all." He said sarcastically.

Annabeth huffed "Well, it's better than a big empty warehouse that anyone can ambush you in."

Will nodded. "Yeah until we figure out how to fix Nico, this will have to do."

Percy grabbed Modeus' leg and started to drag him out of the chariot while Will guided a zombie-like Nico to the barn. Annabeth gave the pegasi some of the nearby wheat stalks before following the boys.

"Should we tie him up or something?" Percy asked Annabeth when she walked into his line of sight. "Yeah, we don't want him causing any-" she snapped her eyes to the far corner of the barn behind her boyfriend. "Percy," she whispered. "Slowly walk toward me. Leave the mortal."

He brought riptide out of his pocket in pen form and did as she asked. He carefully moved to take a step but stopped when he felt something breathe hot breath down his neck.

Will warily stood from where he was crouched next to Nico, who was sitting against the wall. "What is that thing?" he whispered to Annabeth.

She didn't have time to answer as the wolf-like monster opened its wide jaws and moved to bite Percy's head off. The son of Poseidon was quick to move before death came. He uncapped Riptide and slashed out at the monster. He missed by inches as the monster launched backward. Its tail swished almost hypnotically behind it. If you didn't focus too hard on the lion's mane, sharp wolf teeth, and its huge size, you could almost pretend it was a regular dog ready to play tug of war with you.

Unfortunately, the demigods didn't have a playful dog in front of them.

Will fired an arrow into the monster's side. It grilled and turned its beady eyes on the son of Apollo. The wolf monster shifted itself to attack Will.

Percy used the distraction to his advantage and went for the monster's head. Its wide jaws snapped around Riptide. The two pulled hard on the sword. It looked like they were playing a game of tug of war with a stick that could kill either one of them. Will fired a few more arrows but they didn't even faze the beast. Percy's sweaty hands slipped from his grasp and he crashed onto the ground. The monster threw Riptide into the wall and stood above his prey. 

"Percy!" Will yelled. The monster was seconds away from killing the demigod when it exploded into golden dust. Percy coughed on the golden dust that had landed in his mouth.

Annabeth pulled her boyfriend up to his feet. "I hope you weren't going to let a crocotta kill the only demigod son of Poseidon that easily." She grinned at him.

He grinned back. "No way that would have happened. I was handling it."

"Riiight. Not like it would have bitten your head off or anything."

"Exactly!" Annabeth rolled her eyes. She knew which battles to win and which ones to just let go of.

"Yep." Will swung his bow onto his back and spread his arms wide. "Just another day of the hunted demigod. Near-death experiences for everyone. Now that the cotta-watta is dead can we take a look at Nico?"

Both teens nodded and agreed to tie up their mortal captive first. They turned around only to find him standing with wide eyes and a trembling finger pointing at the trio. "W- what did you just say?" He whispered.

"Uhh, nothing. We weren't talking about anything. Especially not about monsters... or our daily lives." Percy clasped his hand behind his back and started bouncing on his toes.