Disclaimer: If I were Rick Riordan I wouldn't have been waiting for The Song of Neptune the last 355 days, now would I?

What Nyssa had to do with Silena and Beckendorf, enjoy.

There are 3 dangers while working with Greek fire.

1) It can explode at contact every now and then

2) Chiron always tries to stop you

3) It can melt your tools

Nyssa was using her vocabulary to its fullest extent as she tossed the wooden handle into a forge fire to burn. That had been a birthday present from Mom! Grr…

"Hey B, can I borrow a hammer?" She called across the forge. Seeing as Beckendorf was under car changing oil right now, his answer was muffled. It sounded like 'ayenmrff' so Nyssa reasoned it was a 'yes' with the logic of a little sister that would've taken it either way.

She lifted the lid of his personal toolbox and she was about to pick up a nice hammer that was probably new, when she froze. That was not a tool…

"Yo B…" she called again. Beckendorf pulled himself from under the car he was working on and looked at her as he got to his feet. He saw what she was holding.

"Whoa- what are you doing with my toolbox?"

"Looking for a hammer, what are you doing with a ringbox?"

"Well, I'm allowed." He said.

"Yeah, but why? It's for Silena, isn't it?"

"Well it's definitely not for you, idiot." He said, his face growing redder by the minute. He made a grab for the ringbox but Nyssa jumped to the other side of the worktable.

"Nyssa-" He went to the left to try and catch her, but she moved too and they were face-to-face again.

"So, you want to marry her?"

"That's the point of a promise ring," he said feinting to the left but running to the right. Nyssa jumped over a corner and was back to facing her brother.

"That's what they're called? I thought they were engagement rings or something."

"It's a promise ring."

"So an engagement ring in denial?"

"It's another thing. It's like 'I promise to marry you when things work out, we're older, we've got money, etc'."

"That's stupid, just give her the one ring, she'll be happy either way."

"You're so thick Nyssa."

"Well so are you for not telling us."

"I think I should give it to her before I tell my bratty little sister, don't you find?" He asked.

"Well, get on with it, give it to her!"

"We're in the middle of a war, here! Why would I give her something like that when at any moment it could start raining bombs and we could all die?"

"Well I don't know, same reason you'd give her that in the first place."

Beckendorf rolled his eyes.

"Look; if Percy and I blow up the ship no problem tomorrow, I'll give it to her. Don't you dare tell Jake or Christopher- or especially not Harley! He still thinks girls have cooties."

"No worries, I don't care about the promise ring until you give her the engagement ring."

"Again; you are so thick."

"Ditto; anything else I should worry about finding in your toolbox, or can I just grab a hammer?"

Nyssa walked around the arena, looking over the 50 bodies. Under one of them was her best friend Yasmine, the girl Christopher had a crush on- Penelope, the guy Sherman that she always thought with, and the guy who supplied all of her supply jokes, Michael. Oh, and her brother's girlfriend who'd ended up saving their butts by bringing in cabin 5.

She stopped in front of that shroud.

She should be mad at that girl, but Nyssa found that she couldn't. She'd been used and tricked and died while rebelling it. Sure; Nyssa had always found Silena was too much of a girl for her liking, but she'd never, and never would, hate her.

She took the ring box out of her jacket pocket and flipped the lid open with the thumb of the arm not in a sling.

B had gone all out on it. It was a thin gold ring, with the two ends dotted with rubies curved gracefully around a circular diamond. She'd have loved it.,

Nyssa knelt next to the shroud, pulled up a corner of it and on a burnt and raw hand, slipped the engage- promise ring.

"You deserved to know what was in the toolbox." She whispered.