Previously:
I was one of the last to crest the hill despite Penny pulling me but I could tell before I even got there that what they saw was not what they were expecting.

"Woah," Harry said.

When Penny and I finally got there, the others were speechless, looking down the hill at what limited view we had of Camp Half-Blood from here.

"Perry Johnson, what a surprise," a dry tone came from behind a set of cards at the playing table that I found Chiron at. Obviously Dionysus was loosing if his tone and Chiron's much too calm face was anything to go by.

"Mr. D," I said calmly in reply. "Hey, Chiron. Guys, this is Lord Dionysus, god of wine, and Chiron, trainer of heroes."

"Percy,  my boy, how was the trip?" Chiron put down his cards for a moment and smiled up at me from his wheelchair.

"Over before we knew it," I said happily. My old mentor rolled over to embrace me, which I accepted gladly. "What's with the wheelchair? It's not like they haven't seen a centaur before."

"We're awaiting the arrival of Mr. Underwood." Chiron explained. He tried swiping at a tear without my notice but I saw it. "He got an urgent call from a saytr in the field for an extraction. You know how that goes."

"Extraction?" Penny questioned.

She and the others had followed my example and sat down at the table in the empty seats. Poor Harry and Hermione was sat on either side of Mr. D and were shifting in their seats uncomfortably.

"Something caused alarm in the mortal world to where the demigod that the saytr was watching would be in danger enough to need to be brought immediately to camp," I said. "Sometimes that means a monster has figured out that there was a demigod there or the demigod somehow figured out who they were without outside help."

"Yes, nothing to worry about," Chiron said pleasantly. "Mr. Underwood will get them here safely, though he is sure to be sad to have missed your arrival." He glanced down at his watch. "Though he's been gone long enough so they should be back by now."

It was then that I heard a goat-like bleat. "Percy!"

Looking over my shoulder, I saw a familiar rapidly incoming saytr charging in our direction with a trail of what I assumed to be a demigod and the other saytr that called it in.

"Grover!" I stood up from the table and prepared to be plowed over. Grover can be fast, yes, but his brakes aren't that fine tuned.

True to form, I had to put out a hand on the railing of the porch to keep from the both of us toppling over.

"I'm so glad you made it! I was called away to help bring a demigod to camp because some empousae caught onto his scent." He explained after his hug. "It was a close thing but not as close as some other jobs I've had."

"Like me?" I asked with a smile.

He laughed. "Only one person beats you in that category!"

"Well, let's get them settled, Grover, shall we?" Chiron cut in before we could really get going. "I will take over with young Austin here and you can take them to their cabins and show them the ropes. Percy, I expect you to visit afterwards so we can catch up."

"Will do, Chiron," I said, beckoning to the rest of the group. "Guys, you remember Grover?"

"You have donkey legs?" Ron asked, his eyes trained on the especially furry legs of my oldest friend.

"A goat, Ron," I corrected. "Be careful how you describe some things in this part of the mythical world. Any other saytr would probably have trampled you for that."

"Right, thanks, Perce," Grover started. "Anyways, Hecate has offered her cabin for you all to stay while you're here but Percy's also told me that you might want to bunk with him in his cabin. I made sure to keep it dust free for you, dude."

"Thanks, man," I replied, feeling a wave of relief wash over me. I was dreading the clean up before I crashed for the night.

"Penny, you will have to bunk in the Hecate cabin anyways, we have a rule against couples sharing a cabin."

"What?" I don't remember that rule. It was just the one of two demigods from different parents alone in a cabin. "Who started that one?"

"You don't want to know." Grover said with a sigh. "After we get you settled, I'll show you around camp; it's changed some since you've been gone. Let's go."

As we headed toward the cabin area, I watched my siblings and their friends for the reaction to the parts of camp we were about to see. We first passed the volleyball courts where it looked like some children of Ares and children of Apollo were arguing about a pass. No one seemed too impressed with that.

"What's with the strawberry fields by the house?" Hermione asked. "Wouldn't the god of wine's crop be grapes?"

"He's on probation for about 100 years here. Which means he can't have wine and that means no grapes." I answered. "But he is proficient with just about any fruit that grows on vines. The strawberries are how the camp gets the funds for supplies. We're not completely self reliant. It's also the cover for what camp really is."

By this time, we were passing the forges and amphitheater.

"This is where we have camp meetings and the campfire sing-alongs." Grover pointed. "The campfire will change colors with the mood of the audience and grow higher the louder we sing."

"Wicked!" Ron said, watching it as if it was going to change colors right then.

"That is where the children of Hephaestus work, bother them at your own risk." Grover pointed again. "The last camper to go in without warning had a mechanical dragonfly attack them and they were in the infirmary for the next three days."

That was a recent one. The last incident I remember was that the door triggered a rouge crossbow to start randomly firing.

"Who's that, tending the fire?" Harry suddenly said.

Grover and I shared a look before looking at the campfire to see Lady Hestia dutifully sitting by the fire.

"I just noticed her, Harry, how did you see her?" Hermione asked.

"That is Lady Hestia, goddess of the hearth." Grover told them respectfully.

"She's one of the kinder gods." I added. "One of my personal favorites." As I was looking, I swore I saw her slight smile get a little wider, as if she had heard what I said.

"Moving on," Grover said, leading the way. "This is the cabins. Used to only have 12 when Percy first got here but since he saved Olympus the first time, there has been more made and more room for campers in the Hermes cabin."

"Oh," Penny said. "I forgot how you said that the gods wouldn't claim their children sometimes. This is much better than I expected, honestly."

I smiled. Telling them stories of my early demigod days certainly is making explaining camp a lot easier.

As we approached the Hecate cabin, I started to remember how trippy the stones that made up the building were. When they were building the cabin, someone had dropped one and the result was every demigod turning into a tree within a half-mile radius. Another time it just exploded. The stones on the outside had enchanted writings on them and as we walked in, I was reminded of how much this place seemed so otherworldly.

The beds were carved with runes of protection and there were floating crystals around the cabin lighting up the room. It was much bigger on the inside than it looked. Crossroads on the floor pointed to different rooms for laundry, bathrooms, and practice. (Some spells were best practiced away from the rest of camp).

"Woah," Penny breathed.

"This place is epic." Ginny said, looking up at the ceiling. It was similar to the ceiling in the Great Hall but was perpetually on the night sky.

"Percy!"

The familiar voice snapped my head to the right. "Lou Ellen!"

"You're here!" She crushed me in a lung squeezing hug. "Welcome back! Mom told me to prepare some beds but I thought it was for more siblings, I didn't realize it would be for your friends!"

She was a dark haired, green eyed, short but fierce demigod. When she was taking classes at Hogwarts, I remember how she would accidentally overpower all of her spells.

"I didn't realize you were still at camp," I started.

"Yeah, I haven't decided what I'm going to do with my life just yet and Chiron said I could stay here as a counselor until I figured it out. You brought friends!"

"This is Penny, my girlfriend," I gestured to my left. "I'm sure you remember Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron and Ginny Weasley."

"Of course!" Lou Ellen exclaimed. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood! We are going to have so much fun! I had so many more questions than what I was able to answer while at Hogwarts! And we can teach you a few things here too!"

"Maybe later, Lou," Grover started uneasily. "I need to give them the tour of camp first."

"Of course," she was now blushing but was still smiling widely. "Come right back after, I'll have something ready for y'all to try."

I followed everyone to my cabin then I left the rest of the tour to Grover. Penny and I went to talk with Chiron. We had some work to do.

"Percy, my boy, how are they treating you over there in the wizarding world?" Chiron started. "Better than we did, I hope."

"It's amazing over there, Chiron, you should come visit sometime." I answered. "I'm sure the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest would love to meet you."

"Oh, I'm sure," he said with a far off smile. "It has been a while, I wonder if they would remember..."

"You've visited before?" Penny asked.

"Oh, yes," Chiron said. "Back when the spirit of the west was in that part of the world. I think you would find that we used to have a camp there too. It is likely nothing but an abandoned campsite by now, however."

"That is incredible," Penny breathed. "Do you think you could show us where it used to be when you come to visit?"

"Why of course, my dear." Chiron said happily. "Now, I feel that you two have more important things to talk about than the old days. What can I do for you?"

"We need to talk about something called a Horcrux." I said immediately and as quiet as I could. Despite the fact we were in the rec room where we should pretty isolated from eavesdropping ears, I would rather not risk it.

"What would that be?" Chiron asked, genuinely confused for the first time I ever remember.

"It is an object that a wizard or witch would create with a piece of their soul inside it as a way to preserve their existence in life." Penny answered.

"A piece of one's soul?" Chiron said, surprised. "How would one take just a piece of their soul in order to do that?"

"To create a Horcrux is a horrific thing, the act of tearing your soul in half is terrible enough without also having to kill an innocent person." I answered lowly. "However, the enemy has figured out how to do it more than once."

"More than once?" Chiron looked horrified. "How many times?"

"We do not know, that is why we need to talk to you," I said, leaning forward. "We know of at least two but we want to be sure of the number before we go searching and destroying these objects."

"Wise decision." The old centaur leaned back in his wheelchair. "I have never heard of such an object and I can only imagine the dark power that comes from, or what it would take to do it. Am I correct in thinking that if you destroy these objects, your enemy will die?"

"Yes," Penny answered. "He has already 'died' before but it was not a true death because his soul was anchored to this world."

"I think that you would need to talk to young Nico to find the answer to your question." Chiron said thoughtfully.

I slapped my hand against my forehead. "Of course," I muttered. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Don't we need to talk to Thanatos about this, though?" Penny asked. "He would be the one that is meant to be gathering souls."

"Nico is much more accessible and would be able to know how to find our answers." I said. "He is the son of Hades and he visits the Underworld a lot more frequently than anyone else I know. Maybe he can get us in contact with him."

"Other than you?" Chiron interjected with a raise of his eyebrow.

"I went like two times, it's not that big of a deal." I waved my hand.

"I thought it was closer to three."

"Whatever."

- - -

"Percy, what the Hades are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too Neeks."

"Don't call me that."

Nico and I stood staring at each other in the Hades cabin. Penny stood awkwardly trying to avoid all eye contact by the door. Nico and I had no qualms about staring into each other's eyes. He had his skinny arms crossed over his chest and his foot was tapping the floor.

"What do you want?"

"C'mon, Nico, didn't you miss me?" I smiled goofily and spread my arms as if to welcome a hug which I knew he would ignore.

Nico looked right at Penny. "I can't believe I used to have a crush on this dude." He said.

Penny snorted. "Sometimes I am surprised I like him as well."

The corners of Nico's lips twitched upwards. He then proceeded to ignore me completely and walked over to Penny. He bowed. "I don't think proper introductions were made what with everything going on at Hogwarts last year. My name is Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades."

Penny beamed. "Penelope Clearwater, you can call me Penny."

"You're dating this idiot?"

"Yes," she sighed dramatically, ignoring the indignant noise I made.

"I apologize for whatever dangerous activities my cousin has done." Nico said, still pretending I wasn't there. "What can I do to make up for it?"

"Would you mind aiding in another dangerous activity?" Penny asked, a devious smile on her face.

I got an uneasy feeling. I wasn't completely sure if she was talking about trying to talk with Thanatos or a gods forbidden prank on yours truly. "Um, guys? I'm right here!"

"Tell me," Nico said, as if he had fully agreed before hearing the details. No way he just did that...right? Not to mention he was still not paying me any attention.

"Wonderful!" Penny clapped her hands. "Do you know what a Horcrux is?"

Nico's countenance darkened. "If I'd known that is what you wanted to talk about, I'd have thought a little more carefully about helping you."

My eyes widened. Penny just got Nico to agree to help us without telling him what was going on. My respect for my girlfriend rose significantly.

"So you do know what it is?" I pushed.

"Of course." Nico said. "I read up on everything to do with 'death magic' while I was there. According to them, I'd be a necromancer. How fun is that?"

"Great, that makes explaining the situation a lot easier." I sighed.

"I think we should sit," Penny said. "We have a lot to tell you about this war with You-Know-Who."

An hour later, it was growing dark outside and if I remembered correctly, the dinner horn would be sounding soon.

Nico sat in the leather arm chair that was in his cabin, thinking about everything we just told him. About Harry, Voldemort, and Horcruxes. We told him everything we knew. Including about what Dumbledore thought about the protection put there by his mother. I even told him what I suspected about Harry's scar and Thanatos.

"All of these questions can only be answered by the god of death." Nico said. "But I knew there was something off about Voldemort. This could also explain the slivers of soul that Thanatos gathered in the last few years."

"Thanatos found got Voldemort's soul scraps?" I asked. I'm surprised he found them. They weren't even the whole thing.

"The first one was a whole half of a soul," Nico said. "It was the first he'd seen something like that in centuries. The second was even less than that. If what you say is true, the pieces are only going to get smaller."

"Great."

"That wont be a problem, Thanatos gathers souls no matter the size of them." Nico reassured me. "The problem will be finding him to get the answers. We may need to visit Rachel."

I mentally sighed. Let's just visit all the people that have liked me in the past, why don't we?

"Who's Rachel?" Penny asked.

"The Oracle of Delphi," I answered. "She could issue a prophecy to help us figure out where to start. You sure he wouldn't just be in the Underworld?"

"He may visit a lot because he works closely with my dad but that doesn't mean it's a guarantee that he'll be there." Nico told me. "Besides, I'd like to avoid going there as much as possible. It's summer right now so all of father's self pity would be directed at me."

"Self pity?" Penny asked.

"Persephone isn't there right now." I said by way of explanation.

"I thought she hated being there." Penny said, looking confused.

"They try to hide it, especially from me, but I know they secretly love being around each other." Nico said, a slight smile crossing his face. "He gets particularly irritable when she's away."

"That is so sweet!" Penny gushed.

Nico and I shared a stunned look. Never have I heard the Lord of the Underworld described as 'sweet'.

"Penny, don't say that to his face, please." Nico begged.

"Nico?"

A voice at the door startled us so much, I fell out of my seat.

"Rachel?" Nico's confused voice calmed my suddenly beating heart. I wasn't sure who I expected it to be but for some reason, Rachel is not as bad as it was.

"I had a strange feeling a while ago that you needed to see me—or rather, the Oracle." A familiar redhead walked through the doors. "And since it's getting closer to dinner, I thought I'd stop by so we wouldn't be late."

She stopped short when she realized who was in here. She stared wide eyed at me, her face pale as if she'd seen a ghost. "Percy?"

"Hey, Rachel." I waved slightly from the floor.

Next thing I knew, I was on my feet being squeezed to death by a redhead speckled with paint. "I thought I'd never see you again when everyone came back this summer without you!"

I laughed nervously. "Well, I'm here."

"I'm so glad you came to visit!" She sniffled then laughed as she stepped away, wiping at tears. "I didn't even see it coming! Oh!" She finally caught sight of Penny. "You must be the Penelope Clearwater everyone was talking about!"

Penny smiled brightly. "I am. Nice to meet you."

"Alright, now that that is over, ask your question," Rachel said, composing herself as she plopped into an armchair nearby.

"Oh, Oracle of Delphi, where can we find Thanatos?" Nico spoke up since I was frozen, thrown off by the sudden change of topic.

"Demigods and Witch facing dangers untold,
Travel south to fields of gold.
North and South must they search,
Only to be found and sent with a voice.
For Death has made his choice."

"Di immortales," I muttered just as Rachel came out of the green mist trance. "Way to make it sound as morbid as possible."