Howdy guys!

I know, I know. You're very pleased to see me. Well that's probably because you only want to know and read the next chapter…

Anyway, enough of the pep talk. Let's get going with this!

Chapter Five - This Doesn't Make Sense

Annabeth's POV

That smirk on that Death brat's face was really pissing me off. Nico Di Angelo. That name rang quite a bell. It makes me really nervous knowing that he might remember me, heck, he already does. What would happen if he spills my problems to Percy and his family? I wouldn't really want them to worry because it doesn't have anything to do with them.

When Percy left the room to get some beverages, I pulled on Nico's arm and glared at him. He gave me a fake shocking expression but it faded when he saw my intimidating grey eyes.

"Annabeth Chase. You know your folks are looking for you, putting up posters like they lost a beloved daughter…or should I say dog?" He gave another smirk as he crossed his legs.

I let go of his arm and glowered at him. "I don't give a shit about them anymore and you shouldn't peek into their business."

Nico chuckled humorlessly. "You should know that I love to peek. How else do you think I knew where you're staying – which is shocking because the person you're living with is my best friend!"

"Don't you DARE tell the Jackson family about my situation and promise me you won't spill my whereabouts to the-family-that-shall-not-be-named…ever!" I warned him.

"What do I get out of this?" He leaned in and gave me his dead eyes, looking for a negotiation.

I leaned back on the couch and grinned. Nico was well aware of this and suddenly shifted away. He knew things that others didn't and the expression I'd given him wasn't warm.

"W-what?" His voice broke slightly, as if scared of me.

"Hmm…I was just talking to Percy earlier, when you went to the bathroom. It was about you and…" I looked straight at Nico. "Thalia."

His eyes widened and his back straightened. He looked away, trying to stop himself from frowning. "What do you…mean?"

Oh he knew exactly what I meant and knowing him, he'd try and lie about things.

~Flashback~

"Hmm…Annabeth Chase, such a nice name. Quite unusual but…nice…" Nico grinned. "Anyway, I'm going to use the bathroom for a bit."

He walked off down the hallway and turned a left to the bathroom. I turned my head from the direction that Nico left to Percy. He shook his head and looked at me, giving me a warming smile that made my insides hurt. What was the deal with this guy and doing things that are just wrong?

"Sorry about Nico. He can be quite rude and…dark, sometimes." Percy apologized.

I shook my head and smiled back at him. "Don't worry."

"I mean he wasn't like this before…"

"He wasn't?"

As far as I knew, Nico had been mean since the first time I encountered with him. It wasn't a nice memory and he did ruin the mood when we engaged in a chat.

Percy shook his head. "He was happier before…Thalia's previous birthday."

I blinked a couple of times. "What do you mean by that? I'm sure Nico have always been like that…" My eyes widened realizing I was spilling things, that I knew Nico. I tried to cover it up by saying: "I mean…from what I've seen and heard about him…"

Luckily Percy hadn't noticed and carried on talking. "Well, he uh, I shouldn't be telling you this and we've only known each other for a couple of days but…I think I can trust you with this secret. The reason why he's like that is because a few days before Thalia's birthday, he found out that he actually…liked her, a lot."

I was shocked. I knew Nico back when I lived with my parents and trust me, he was never the type to like a girl. I almost thought he was gay. "And…Did he tell her?"

Percy shook his head. "No. Instead, he ignored her and that got her seriously pissed. See, he was her best friend and after that, things fell apart. Though Thalia is quite dense not to know Nico's feelings."

~End of Flashback~

"You like Thalia~" I smirked.

Nico had gone frustrated at me repetitively saying it. "I bet that jackass, Percy, told you." He muttered but sighed after a raised a brow at him. "Fine! What do you want from me?"

I stopped my playful smirk and became dead serious. "Like I said a few minutes ago, don't tell a soul about my history with my family and my current situation."

This time Nico raised a brow. "Ah, you don't want Percy to know about the Chase family? You don't want anyone to know how bad and miserable your life had been with them, do you? Wow, the almighty Annabeth Chase is running away?"

"Shut up, Nico! Just hush and don't tell anyone! It would cause trouble for me and the Jackson residence."

He shut his mouth for once then sighed. "I guess if it's for my best friend then…I won't tell a living soul."

I nodded.

We sat in silence for about a minute until Percy came in with the drinks.

"Whoa. I feel a weird tension going on in the room. Did something happen?" Percy asked as he placed the tray of drinks down onto the coffee table.

I turned my head over to Nico, giving him my intimidating look and he gulped. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Anyway, I came here for what I wanted and now, I'll be leaving."

Percy looked confused. "What did you come here for?"

Nico shrugged. "Doesn't matter."

"Oh, come on! Spill the beans, man!" Percy begged.

"Where's your bean cans then?" Nico smirked and crossed his arms.

I sighed and pulled Percy down to sit next to me. "Stop being nosy, Percy. He probably has his reasons."

Percy was silent for a moment, "Wait don't tell me you stole something because if you did-"

"Perce, calm down. I ain't done nothing…yet." Nico smirked again and walked to the door. "I'll see you guys soon, mostly probably at school though."

"Alright, bye Nico!" I yelled out and Percy waved goodbye.

Nico nodded and walked out the door, closing it behind him as he left. And when he left, Percy let out a loud and long sigh, which got me curious to why he did that.

"What's wrong, Percy?"

"It's just that now I think about it, I feel sad for him." Percy said.

I tilted my head to the side a little and gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"Ever since Nico's dad had lost some profit in his funeral service, Nico's been down and not to mention the Thalia thing. It's probably been over a month since the father and son had interacted…"

I nodded, understanding a little of what Percy had just said. I knew that Nico's father had ran a funeral service, that's how I met him. When my father's mother died, he hired a guy from 'Hades' Funeral Service' to do the funeral and Nico had tagged along. It wasn't that long ago, maybe a year or so, since our first meeting and after that, my dad had asked for Nico to come around to our house. I never really noticed Nico's changes in attitude because it was all the same to me.

Percy's POV

"But let's not get on the gloomy side of things. Right now we should be getting ready! School starts in three days and we still haven't gotten you your st-"

"Percy Kelp-Head Jackson!" Thalia stormed into the living room with a furious look on her face.

"Oh, Thalia. Nice surprise to see you here. How did you get in, anyway?" I asked.

"Your mom gave me the keys to the house- but that's not the important part!" Thalia said.

"Then…what is?" I asked, a little scared because if you've known Thalia for as long as I have, you know that you wouldn't want to see one little bit of her dark side.

Thalia pointed to the window. "I just saw Nico coming out of here in his slick black, cool car! Why the heck was he here!?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You hate Nico but compliment his car?" I asked again, in disbelief.

"Yes, I hate him but I love his car, so what?"

I was about to say something but Annabeth raised her hand and our arguing stopped. "Ah, Nico actually came for me."

"Really?" Thalia and I both said in unison.

We looked at each other then turned back to Annabeth, me not understanding what she just said.

"This doesn't make any sense! Why would Nico be here for…for you! Wait, don't tell me that you two are actually dating?" Thalia rubbed her forehead.

"What? No! We're just…acquaintances."

I furrowed my brows. Firstly, why did Thalia ask such a question like that and stuttering a little about it and secondly, "Why do you care, Thals? Didn't you say that he was a piece of bull that doesn't need your worries?"

"I did but you're my cousin and he's my enemy! Two things that should never meet in life!"

"Actually those aren't the two things that should never- anyway! He's my best friend! I can do whatever the hell I want!" I shouted.

"Oh really? Who was the one who introduced you to Nico, huh?" Thalia asked.

"Bianca!" I shouted then went silent at the thought.

Thalia did the same too and the mood had suddenly changed. Bianca Di Angelo. Nico's older sister who'd supposedly had been killed in a freak accident last fall. No one knew where her body was or if she was dead but everyone had assumed she's passed on because there was no trace or sign of her. We never spoke of her after her funeral because of Nico and no one had the guts to even speak of her name because we all felt guilty for it. Until now.

"…Bianca introduced me to Nico…" I said in a shaky voice. Even now, I couldn't shake off the guilt. Everyone who had been with Bianca on that day had been involved and blamed themselves for what had happened.

"Percy, who's Bianca?" Annabeth asked. Of course she didn't know. She's only been here for a couple of days.

Thalia had started tearing up. Obviously she would. Bianca was her closest friend. They'd been through many things together.

"It's nothing, Annabeth. Bi-she's just a friend." I struggled. I was about to say her name again. I guess Annabeth noticed something about Bianca because she didn't question or say anything. I was glad she didn't.

"I think I should go. See you two tomorrow but, our talk of Nico isn't over. You got me?" Thalia said before she ran out of the house.

I chuckled a little after calming down. "She can still talk like that?"

In the corner of my eye, I could see Annabeth giving me a worried expression but it soon wore off and she turned to the hallway.

"We should go to sleep. Piper's coming over tomorrow, right?" I nodded and she then walked down the hall to her room.

I did the same and closed my door behind me, dropping on my bed on my back. Pretty soon, I fell asleep. And my sleep wasn't that good…

A girl with brown hair and slightly the same features as Nico sat in front of me. She was laughing and Thalia nudged her, a little annoyed. I was laughing too.

"Come on Thals, it was funny." She said with a little chuckle.

Thalia huffed and crossed her arms. "Aren't you supposed to be going on your date with Luke tonight?"

Nico frowned a little and put a hand on his sister's arm with a brotherly, which was rare, worry. "Are you sure it's okay to go out with him? I still don't trust him…"

"Come on Nico. Castellan isn't that bad." I said.

Nico hesitated and looked at his sister who just brought his small but teenage hands into hers.

"Nico, I'm going to be okay. Like Percy said, Luke's not a bad guy."

"I just…I just don't think I can trust him, sis. He reeks of danger. For all we know, he could be a lying murderer!"

She patted Nico on the head. "You're overthinking things, Nico. I can handle things myself too."

"Yeah, zombie-kid! She can handle things on her own." Leo chuckled as he walked in.

"Leo, don't be rude to Nico. He does have a point. I don't really trust Luke myself." Piper replied as she sat on the arm rest of the couch.

"That's because the last time you two spoke, you both got into a brawl." Leo pointed out.

"It's not my fault he insulted my hair." She snapped back.

Jason stood in between them with his arms out. "Guys, let's just support each other's decisions."

Nico's sister smiled at Jason and stood up. "Thank you Jason, you too Leo. Now I really must go. Don't want to be late."

I grinned up at her before she left. "Good luck on your date Bianca. Have a safe trip."

.

.

.

'-A phone tower had crash landed onto a motorway. Several casualties has occurred. Those that have lived has major injuries. In one of the cars near to the crashed phone tower, one young man lay covered in blood. His friend who was in the passenger seat before the incident had disappeared when the police checked on the car.'

"Oi…Guys. That's-that's Luke!" Leo screamed.

Nico was the first to react on the screaming and ran straight to the door. Everyone else ran too afterwards and standing on the other side of the door was no other than Luke Castellan, covered in bruises and bandages.

"I came as quickly as I could…I'm sorry…I really am!" His voice was a mixture of loss and confusion, as if he couldn't process everything that had happened.

I stared at Luke, a tear urging to slide out from under my eye lid. He was standing there, his back hunched over and his head beckoning down at the floor in an apologetic way. I would have been convinced that he truly was sorry but when I saw a twitch rising from the corner of his lips, I knew. I knew then that it wasn't an accident of what happened to Bianca. And I was certain that Nico felt the same.

I then saw myself at the scene. Staring at the blood covered passenger seat. No trace. No sign. It was like she vanished after bleeding out. She was gone.

"-ERCY! PERCY! WAKE UP!"

My eyes opened when I saw Piper shaking my shoulders worryingly. Then I touched my face. I was sweating.

"Percy…Are you okay?"

I nodded and sat up. "What time is it?"

"It's twelve in the afternoon." Piper crossed her arms. "Are you sure you're alright? You seemed…scared."

I waved my hand lazily. "I swear. I'm good. But you got here early."

Piper blinked at me, leaning on her left leg and raising a brow as if I was crazy. "Percy…It's twelve in the afternoon."

I nodded back at her slowly. "Yeah…I know. That's too early."

Throwing her hands up in the air in a sighing motion, Piper gave up on asking. "You and your lazy days. Hurry up and get ready. Everyone's waiting."

With that, Piper walked out of my room. I had to take some time to stare up at my bedroom ceiling before jumping up from bed and getting myself freshened up. It took a while but when I came down to the living room, I could hear the loud noises of a very loud person, to be specific, a 'boy'.

"Seriously? You really need to get one! It's the most freakin' and awesome robot dog ever!"

And when I walked in, I saw a curly haired scrawny boy. Leo- "Valdez. What are you doing here?" I asked, leaning on the door frame.

Jason, who was sitting on an armchair turned his head and stared at me. On his lap was Piper who was too busy texting on her phone to acknowledge my presence. Annabeth was sitting on the couch in between Leo, who was probably talking about robots again and Nico who looked like he was gone from the world and transported into his own creepy fantasy. Only Jason, Annabeth and Leo had noticed me speaking and when Annabeth nudged Nico in the side and Jason tapped Piper on the waist, they were all looking at me.

"Well, if you could already see, I was introducing my expertise and love of technology to your beautiful friend, Annabeth." Leo replied.

"You're good at gadgets yet you can't even cook a proper meal, Leo. Even Beckendorf is better than you." I said.

Leo's ears went red and he huffed. "Well, I can cook basic meals and come on, that's not fair! Beckendorf worked in Zoe's kitchen for what? Three years? Of course he's better than me!"

Jason laughed. "Yeah but you're his brother. Surely you'd want to surpass him and take the rightful place of Tría Megála's king of the kitchen!"

Leo rolled his eyes. "I don't want to work at Zoe's for my whole life, you know. And I- I mean we still have like, three more years of college." He pointed out.

I sighed and sat on the arm of the couch, right next to Nico.

"Speaking of college, I heard that Annabeth's coming to our college." Piper said, perking up a brow and grin.

I nodded. "Yeah. My mum sent them the form. The gang's gonna be so shocked when they hear about our new girl."

Annabeth looked at little confused. "You guys are in a…gang?"

Nico snickered and shook his head. "It's another term for group. Percy just wants to be 'cool' about it."

I opened my mouth. "Hey! No I don't!"

Piper giggled and nodded at Annabeth. "Anyway, did you know that we all met at Princeton?"

I looked from Piper to Annabeth who was staring at me in shock. "Really?" She asked.

I simply nodded but continued with Piper's little story. "We met a month after entering- well, I met Piper and then I introduced her to Jason, Grover and Thalia. Leo came in after a couple of weeks with Jason introducing and then-"

I halted. We were about to go onto the topic of Bianca. I couldn't say more, even though Annabeth wanted me to. I just couldn't. Not when everyone else was here, especially Nico.

Piper seemed to have noticed and quickly drove our conversation away from danger. "We'll introduce you to everyone else when we get there."

Jason nodded and at that moment, Nico stood up. I looked at him but he didn't look back. Instead he walked out of the living room and out of the front door. We were all silent for a second until Leo cleared his throat.

"…How about we go now? Didn't you say that you wanted to show Annabeth the clothes shop at the mall, Pipes?"

Piper blinked then nodded, her mood changing from distraught to excited. "Let's get going!"

It turned out that the only highlight of the shopping spree was because of Piper's constant blabber about how her sister made a fool of herself on live television. It was hilarious a first but when she went into detail, things just kind of gotten out of hand. In the end, Jason calmed her down and averted her attention towards some boots.

Annabeth let out a long and loud sigh that didn't seem to be intentional.

"How are you coping with this?" I asked her.

She gave me a weird look then shook her head. "We've been here for two hours and all I got were socks. Not even nice socks. Just plain white and black socks."

This time I gave her a weird look. "I'm getting the feeling that you have a strange obsession with socks."

She then gave me a light punch in the arm to which I presented an exaggerated groan. "Get over it, Percy. Stop being such a crybaby."

I let out a small laugh then flung my arms over my head, taking in my surrounding. This was the fifteenth shop we've been in, sixteenth if you counted the lingerie shop. Piper's made us spent over twenty minutes in each shop, discounting the perfume shops, and so far she's purchased the most products.

"Hey, Annabeth." I said, pointing towards the men's section. "Why don't you go check out that part? It had your taste in clothes."

I found it very amusing but she didn't take it very much as a joke. Instead of ignoring, like she did for most of the jokes I made in other stores, she kicked my leg.

"Ow!" With one flash of those furious – and fascinating – gray eyes, I shut my mouth.

The blonde wonder marched off to where Piper and Jason were, obviously not going to forgive me for the rest of today. I sighed at the thought. Surely she'll forget about it. I mean, we live in the same house. We're practically siblings and siblings generally forgive one another.

Leo let a low whistle beside me, definitely impressed by her expression. "Boy, does she like to play hard-to-get."

"You have no idea, Valdez." I replied.

He looked up at me, because he was five feet shorter than me. "You kidding me? I know more about girls than you do, you oblivious lanky swimmer."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes and laugh. He was kind of right. He's the closest person to Piper, who was an expert – and I emphasis on the word 'expert' – at love and romance. Not to mention he's experienced the most rejections and have observed every chick flick films and relationships in all of history. He could have been called the Romance King if only he had a girlfriend.

"Shut up."

At the end of the day, Annabeth was able to get all the clothing she needed, with the help and money provided by Piper who apparently became her best friend. Jason and Leo had somehow ended up lost in one of the shopping stores and I ended up being stranded in the parking lot when Nico had "forgotten" to pick me up. Yeah. Nico knew how to drive a car and he has a car too. I was the only one out of us who didn't have a car. It sucked.

"Percy!" Nico yelled, poking his head out of his new and fresh black BMW. "Sorry for the wait up. I had to pick up the dry cleaning!"

I hopped into the passenger's seat and shook my head. "No worries. I understand you, man." I pulled on the seat belt and clasped it tight, leaning back on the leather of the seat. "I mean, I'm upset but not too much."

A bead of sweat slowly slid down the side of Nico's cheek as he backed up, looking at the rear mirror. "Ah, shit!" He cursed as he hit the gas pedal.

Not even warning or an early notice, just a swear word and slam on the gas pedal. How nice was he? Anyway, I ended up, on the sudden speed, hitting my head on top of the glove compartment, which by the way hurt.

"What the heck, man!" I looked immediately at the mirror on the side to find a faint red mark on my forehead.

Nico didn't even pay attention to me, he just cursed under his breath about animals and kids. It seemed that some kids or rodent was running across or behind the car. Once we were off to head back to my house, Nico finally apologized. He was also sipping some coffee on his way back – well, he was chugging it down.

"You know that Thalia hates the smell of coffee, right?" At that, Nico swerved his car a little from shock.

"W-what? She does?" Nico said, looking at me for a second before going back to the road.

"Yeah. That's the reason why she doesn't like meeting at Starbucks or any coffee shop."

As soon as he heard that, the window came down and out went his half empty cup of coffee. He then had the windows go back up and let his hand wander to the side of the door, looking for something.

"Ugh. Perce, can you get the chewing gum in the glove compartment, please?"

Boy, did this guy want to impress a certain lady.

I did as I was told and gave him a piece for him to throw in his mouth. We were already outside the house when Nico 'cleaned' himself up. He didn't smell like coffee and the taste was out of his mouth. Boy did he want to impress.

The front door was open, indicating that either we were robbed or everyone was back and waiting for us. Of course I took the latter decision, knowing that Nico and I was late. The both of us still rushed in, just in case we'll be scolded at for being late. Everyone took their seats in the living room. My mom was out with Tyson, taking him to the movies most probably. Piper and Annabeth were by the window sitting on cushions, holding cups of hot chocolate in their hands and talking. Leo and Jason were both watching Breaking Bad on the telly, trying to guess how to make crystal.

"Guys! Guess who's made a sudden appearance?" Leo said, jumping out of his seat and pointing behind him. He looked really hyper with his eyes wide.

Nico and I looked at each other for a couple of seconds before turning back to Leo to give him an answer.

"Uh…Thalia?" Nico replied, a small voice of hope that was covered over with a low and growling tone.

Leo gasped and nodded. "Yeah! She's like, passed out- but how'd you know?"

Nico's eyes widened and so did mine.

"WHAT?!" We both said in unison before rushing to Thalia's side.

Without even able to think, Nico swooped her up into his small arms and trying but failing to take her upstairs to my room. I paused for a moment, smirking at how much Nico needed to work on his arms before getting up myself and helping.

"I CAN DO IT!" Nico snapped, glaring at me.

I took a step back, raising my arms and looking away. "Sorry, Prince Nico. I didn't know the princess means that much to you."

Another smirk crept onto my lips. Nico didn't reply. He just left the room with an unconscious Thalia in his arms.

I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT!

It's been very long since I've actually had the imagination to carry this on. It might take a longer time to update another chapter.

I hope y'all be patient with me. I do like this story and it pumps me up but I do need to focus on studying. The reviews I get actually helps to motivate me into finishing chapters.

The next chapter will involve a lot of Thalico and also have a timeskip to the long awaited day of college!

You've just read: This Doesn't Make Sense

Next chapter coming to Fanfiction: The Battles I Face

R&R

~Dan~