Nico POV

Why do I have to go get her? What about that stupid satyr? How hard could it possibly be? I fumed silently. I walked up the steps of Eleanor High School as slowly as I could. I hate boarding schools, especially after what happened with Bianca. I know it shouldn't bother me, being the son of Hades and all. I had a bad feeling about this school in particular. A group of preppy school girls passed by me in-

"Pink. Gag," I thought. It took me a minute to realize that I had said it out loud. The girls made snide remarks about my outfit in return. Whatever. I couldn't really blame them. I've been wearing black jeans, a dark grey t-shirt, and sneakers for the past two days, when I left Camp Half-Blood. I made a stop at the Underworld to give my dad some message from Chiron. I also picked up this really cool shield. It's black and turns into an athletic wristband. Being a son of Hades has its kicks.

I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going because one of those stupid girls stuck out their pink shoe and tripped me on my way up the stairs. I fell forward and I could hear them laughing. I was literally about to summon a dead army to break the heels off their shoes when a girl came over to where I was sitting.

"Ash, is that really necessary?" she said with her hands on her hips. The girl I assumed was Ash looked over to the girl and rolled her eyes.

"Oh I was just having some fun," she said in a singsong voice. Her friends snickered and walked off with her in the lead. The girl was glaring after her until she noticed that I was still there. She looked down at me quizzically and raised her eyebrows. I glared at her. I know that probably wasn't the best thing to do considering that she was the one that made the stupid girls go away, but it was sort of a reflex reaction. When people looked at me, I would automatically glare out of habit. I was a little surprised when she matched me with her own steely glare. Well, at least she's not wearing pink. I laughed inwardly.

"And you are?" she asked, still glaring at me. That was when I first noticed her startlingly bright brown eyes. No, they weren't brown, more of an orange color. Where have I seen that before?

"Nico di Angelo," I answered. It came out a little harsher than I planned. "And you are?" I mimicked with a smirk.

"Em, but my real name is Emily. Don't call me that."

"Whatever you say..."

"I have English. Maybe I'll see you later."

"Yeah maybe. Bye." With that, I turned and headed toward my first class. I almost forgot my mission. I glanced down at the scrap of paper Chiron gave me to find the girl. It read: Emily Light. Brown hair. Gold eyes. 14 years. 5'4"

Woah, I thought. This was going to be easy then. I already knew who to look for.