And, whoa!" He turned to Mr.D. "Your the wine dude? No way!"Mr.D turned hi eyes away from me and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?""Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! I've got your figurine!""My figurine.""In my game, Mythomagic. And holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks your the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!""Ah." Mr.D seemed truly perplexed, which probably saved my life. "Well, that's...gratifying.

Grover and Nico came back from their walk, and Grover helped me fix up my wounded arm."It's green!" Nico said with delight.

I held out a lead figurine of Hades—the little Mythomagic statue Nico had abandoned when he fled camp last winter.Nico hesitated. "I don’t play that game anymore. It’s for kids.""It’s got four thousand attack power," I coaxed."Five thousand," Nico corrected. "But only if your opponent attacks first."I smiled. "Maybe it’s okay to still be a kid once in a while.

Hades smiled coldly. "Hello, Father. You're looking...young.""Hades," Kronos growled. "I hope you and the ladies have come to pledge your allegi

Nico di Angelo ran up to me with a big grin on his face."Percy, this is awesome!" His blue-feathered bronze helmet was falling in his eyes, and his breastplate was about six sizes too big. I wondered if there was any way I'd looked that ridiculous when I'd first arrived.

Don't talk to my sister that way." Nico said. His voice quivered, but I was impressed that he had the guts to say anything at all. — Percy

I (Percy) set Nico on guard duty with Beckendorf and the Stoll brothers, figuring he'd be safely out of the way...."What's happening?" Nico demanded, trying to climb up next to me.