New York City is alive. The streets are packed, neon signs flickering in puddles on the pavement, the air thick with car exhaust and the distant sounds of subway trains rattling underground. You and Nico weave through the crowd, unnoticed, just two more shadows slipping between the faceless mass of people.

"Remind me again why we got stuck with this?" you mutter, pulling your jacket tighter around you as a gust of cold air rushes past. "If Percy was in real danger, wouldn’t we know by now?"

Nico walks beside you, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his black hoodie, looking as unimpressed as ever. "Because Chiron thinks I can track him, and you’re the only one who doesn’t annoy me."

"Wow," you mutter. "Almost sounded like a compliment."

"It wasn’t," Nico mutters back.

You roll your eyes but keep pace. Percy had supposedly gone missing—hadn’t checked in for hours, hadn’t responded to messages, and the last anyone had heard, he was somewhere in Manhattan. Given his track record, you were half-convinced he’d been kidnapped by some rogue monster or, more likely, had gotten distracted and forgotten to text back.

Still, running around NYC like headless chickens with the child of Hades wasn't the most fun thing you could be doing on a Friday afternoon, and you're half tempted to tell Nico to just ditch and grab some food. You glance at him, watching as he scowls as he walks, darkness clinging to him like a second skin, his brows furrowed.

"If we don't find him in the next thirty minutes, I'm going to key his new car," Nico mutters, shaggy black hair falling over his eyes as he dodges some passerby who almost shoulder checks him. Goddamn New York.