Nico's POV

It'd been a year. A year since Percy died peacefully in the woods after completing his last quest. Everything was pretty normal around camp. Life as a demigod was pretty usual. Life was good.

I don't know when I first noticed it. Maybe it was the firework show on the Fourth of July. Or maybe it was her birthday. I see him more often now. It's like he's trying to blend right in.

It was a day late in August and we all strolled around the beach together. He would've turned nineteen a week and a half ago. It was Leo, Piper, Jason, Annabeth, Hazel, Frank, Will, Reyna, and I that day.

I seemed to notice him later in the day. Some time in the afternoon, when the sun was just starting its dip into the horizon.

Today was the clearest I'd seen him. I was at the back of the group, watching with a smile as my friends goofed around. Piper shoved Annabeth and she laughed and shoved her back. That's when I saw him, standing there beside her.

He was laughing along, though silently as if some mysterious force had put him on mute. It was Percy. My smile wavered. It always caught me off guard when he appeared. Only I could see him.

He looked back at me and I caught his eye. I waved and he smiled widely, laughing silently. He saluted me and his transparent form was lost in the suns rays.

I lowered my hand and smiled to myself. What a Seaweed Brain.