Lillith woke up early in the morning to Lou Ellen, Fran, Danny and John stood up her bed, backpack in hand. Lillith rubbed her eyes and sat up.

"Morning." Said John cheerfully.

"Morning." Lillith replied getting out of bed with a small yawn. "What's that?" She asked looking at the back pack. Lou Ellen held it out to her.

"It's a backpack for you. We gathered as much as we could. There are a long of new clothes in there. Nectar, ambrosia and as much cash as we could find. I think there's about 70 dollars in there." Lillth took the bag and looked at her new found siblings.

"Thanks but you guys didn't have to do that." She said, also thinking that she couldn't even have the nectar and ambrosia but it would be good if Nico or Aurora got hurt.

"Cause we did." Said Fran with a smile.

"None of us have been on a mission before." Danny added.

"Your the first one. So go out there and show everyone what a child of Hecate can do." Said Lou Ellen with a smile. Lillith nodded.

"Will do. You guys go to breakfast I'll be there in a minute." She said.

"Okay see you there." Said Lou Ellen as she walked out of the cabin. The others gave her a small wave as they followed her. Lillith flashed them a smile and then waited for a while in silence after they left. She sighed and put the bag on her bed. Then she knelt down and reaches under her mattress. She felt her hand slide over a small bottle and pulled it out. She looked at the liquid inside, it was half empty already. She took a deep breath and took a swig of the medicine Chiron made her. She coughed afterwards, it tasted awful but it did seem to work well. She took her pyjamas off and looked as the strange black vein like markings covering her body. It now covered her leg reaching her ankle, it had spread up her leg up the right side of her body, stretching across her stomach. It stopped just below her chest area. How long did she have left? Not long by the looks of things. It was starting to hurt now too, her muscles left weak and tired and her skin was un naturally pale. She got dressed and left the cabin to find Nico stood outside, leant against the side waiting for her. When he saw her he frowned.

"What's the frown for?" She asked him.

"You just look a lot paler than usual." He said.

"Your not really one to talk about pale Nico." She replied shutting her cabin door. She moved forward when he grabbed her arm stopping her.

"Something's been wrong with you these last few days. Your actions have been slow, your pale, you don't eat much, you've stopped smiling and you look like your in pain when you think no one is looking. How long do I have to wait before you tell me what's going on?"

"Nico it's nothing alright. Honestly I'm fine." Lillith lied. She didn't want to lie but she couldn't tell him what she was or what was happening.

"Your lying." Nico said letting go of her, he was clearly getting mad now.

"Why can't you just leave it? You're not exactly one to share either." She replied. She wasn't angry but if she was herself she would have been. It was unlike her to be so placid, she just didn't have the energy to get angry. Nico knew all this but she clearly didn't want to tell him. The thought bothered him. His senses told him that something was very wrong, she had started giving off a sense of death. A feeling he would often get when he saw something dying. He didn't like it but at the same time it was different. There was also a sense of great life there, almost an immortal life. Like the sense he would get around his Father. That immortal life covered by the stench of death from the Underworld. That was very similar to what he had been sensing around Lillith in the last week. It made sense with his Father but it didn't with Lillith. She was hiding something big but why wouldn't she tell him.

"You don't want to tell me then fine don't." He said angrily as he turned and began to walk away. Lillith looked at the floor.

"Nico..." She called softly. Nico stopped and looked back around. She looked sad and depressed and didn't meet his eyes. "You came to that school to look for a monster...you thought that monster might be me...but then I was claimed by Hecate. The truth is Nico I might need you to stick to what you were originally going to do. I need you to kill me when the time is right. I know that it is selfish...I know that you said that you don't think you could but you might have no choice. It's the only way everyone will be safe...there's no way around it. You the only one that can..."

"Lillith what are you talking about?" Nico asked moving a little closer to her. Lillith however continued to look at the ground. Talking as if he wasn't there, as if she was in a daze.

"Annabeth probably could. She would take the route that resulted in the least amount of death...which means that I would have to die. It would only be logical to kill me...yes she would be able to do it...but even so...she might not be able too. My power would be too great but even my power would not be able to surpass that of a child of the big three. So that would be you and Percy...but I don't have much time left...I'll probably change on this quest and Percy isn't coming with us. That leave only you...only Nico to deliver my final punishment...I couldn't thing of anyone I rather die at the hands off..." Nico walked forward and placed his hand on her shoulders.

"Lillith." He called to her and she seemed to snap out of whatever strange state she was in. "What was that about?"

"What?" She asked not knowing what he was talking about.

"You were telling me that I would have to kill you. Something about your power being to great and only a child of big three could do it. About how everyone will be safe if your dead."

"What?" Lillith repeated. How exactly did Nico know so much? She hadn't said that, her mind was hazy. Like the last few minutes weren't there. They were like a black spot in her memory. What just happened?

"Lillith just tell me what is going on."

"Nico..."

"Don't lie to me. You just stood there and asked me to kill you when the time was right. You were bringing up things about the past. About me thinking you were a monster, what exactly is going on Lillith? I know that you have information. Just tell me."

"I can't."

"Why not?" He said angrily.

"It's complicated alright..."

"That's a cowards way out. I need to know why your being like this, why you have been so distant..."

"Because I'm dying." Lillith shouted cutting him off as tears run down her face. All anger left Nico in a flash as he stared at her. "There I said it...I-I'm dying Nico. I don't have long left to live."

"Ho-how?" He stuttered.

"The manticore poison, it is still running through my veins. The wound healed by itself but I kept throwing the nectar back up. I could drink it, my body was rejecting it and without that there was no way to stop the poison from spreading. It's slowly spreading and soon it's going to kill me." Lillith whipped tears from her face. "But that isn't all. It's so much worse than that. The thing is you were right all along. I'm the dangerous monster your Father told you to kill it was me all along."

"No that's not possible. I would have been able to tell."

"But it is possible. My Mother came to me in a dream last night to explain what I am. She told me that I was another one of her creations. A creation that needed mortal blood so she took my Fathers blood. She created me, something very similar to a manticore. I lived with her until I was five but then things changed. She said the mortal blood in my veins was stopping me from becoming immortal but it was also making me conscious of what I was doing. I hated myself so Mother used the mortal blood in my veins to make me a mortal form, this form but the manticore poison is slowly killing the mortal form she gave me. When this forms dies I will return to the monster I was born as but this time it will be different. I wouldn't know what I'm doing...or at least I won't care anymore...and she can't make me another because with me the mortal blood in my veins dies to. I will become an immortal monster...just like all those other ones. I will be no different, expect that I will be ten times more powerful than any of those. Don't you see? If...no when this happens you and Aurora are going to be in danger...of me. I need you to kill me before I take on my monster form, don't let me become immortal because if I do...I will be sent into Tartarus and then I will come back to life in a few years. I don't want to turn into that...won't you help me?" She asked him.

"No there has to be another way. I have to find a way to save you."

"Nico there's no time. I'm not coming back from this quest. One with be lost in the battle for life, that's what the prophecy said."

"I can't lose you." Nico said. "Don't go on the quest."

"I can's do that Nico. Aurora needs me to save her brother and plus if I stayed here it wouldn't change the fact that I'm dying. The only thing it would mean is that when I turn into that monster I will be inside the camp...full of demigods and I will try to kill them all. Not even a child of Hades can stop this...it is how it's meant to be. You can't mess with fate Nico, even if you want to." Nico moved forward and pulled her into a hug without warning. Lillith sobbed quietly into his shoulder.

"How long?" He said after a little while.

"I don't know...less than a month, that's for sure. Chiron made some medicine that will slow the poison down and it works but...it's not enough." Lillith pulled away and lifted then hem of her top up. "It's already spreading pretty fast." She said. Nico stared at the pattern running across her skin and slowly reached out and run a thumb over it.

"I'm really going to lose you...just like I lost Bianca..."