“Be careful of love. It'll twist your brain around and leave you thinking up is down and right is wrong.”

“We're staying together," he promised. "You're not getting away from me. Never again.”

“The world was collapsing, and the only thing that really mattered to me was that she was alive.”

“Afterward, I had the last laugh. I made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting for us to come up, but hey-when you are the son of Poseidon, you don't have to hurry. And i...”

“You must carry on my spirit. It can no longer be carried by a god. It must be taken up by all of you. - Pan”

“They send a person who can never stay," she whispered. "Who can never accept my offer of companionship for more than a little while. They send me a hero I can't help ... just the sort of person I c...”

“You will suffer, son of Hades! What else is new? Nico thought.”

“How was your afternoon?"No one died, so it was a big improvement on my morning.”

“The light and the stars guide my way.”

“But who can remember pain, once its over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.”

“I know what you are learning to endure. There is nothing to be done. Make sure nothing is wasted. Take notes. Remember it all, every insult, every tear. Tattoo it on the inside of your mind. In lif...”

“My mind, I know, I can prove, hovers on hummingbird wings. It hovers and it churns. And when it's operating at full thrust, the churning does not stop. The machines do not rest, the systems rarely ...”

“So, Nico said, since were going to be spending at least a year seeing each other at camp, I think I should clear the air. Percys smile wavered. What do you mean?”

“Nico was devastatingly alone. Hed lost his big sister Bianca. Hed pushed away all other demigods whod tried to get close to him. His experiences at Camp Half-Blood, in the Labyrinth and in Tartarus...”

“I had a crush on Percy," Nico spat. "That's the truth. That's the big secret.”