"Oh yeah! Triple bogey!" Leo yells and waves his golf club around in the air, narrowly missing Frank.

"Gods, man, watch where you swing that thing!" Frank scolds.

Nico laughs and raises his beer. These guys are nuts.

"Let's see you do better, Frank!" Leo shouts.

"Ooh, cocky much?" Percy teases.

Frank lines his putter up against a neon pink ball, takes a few practice swings, and then a deep breath.

"You got this, Frank!" Nico shouts from the other side. He'd finished the hole long before the others, scoring a birdie, but who's counting? If he gets anything out of this wedding trip, it's going to be a lot of free beer.

Frank swings for real this time, and his ball goes around the loop de loop, back into the turf, bounces off the wall, and then... stops just a few inches short of the hole.

"Oh, so close. Better luck next time, buddy!" Leo says.

"It's not over until it's over," Frank says calmly.

Nico wishes it was over now. Frank's minigolf skills don't even come close to his pool skills. For that matter, Leo and Percy aren't much better.

Frank ever so slightly taps his ball into the hole.

"See that? Slow and steady wins the race," he says.

"Woo! Let's keep going! I'm gonna win that free non-alcoholic Slush Puppie!" Leo shouts.

Leave it to Leo Valdez to ignore the 'no pregaming' rule. He was practically tripping over himself when he showed up to decorate the venue.

Nico fusses with the zipper on his aviator jacket. It's not the best choice for a hot summer evening, but he likes to have it just in case. You never know when you might need an extra layer.

The guys trek towards the next hole, which of course, glows in the dark.

Percy throws his blue golf ball into the air and catches it with one hand. His wrist is covered in blue glow stick bracelets from the arcade. "Alrighty, since Frank's got the highest score, he can go first on this next hole."

"Hey!" Frank objects.

"Do you want the advantage or not?" Percy asks. "Leo can go next, then me, and then Nico since he's winning."

"Yeah, who knew Death Boy over here was so good at miniature golf? I'm sure that's a helpful skill," Leo says.

Nico shrugs and retrieves a neon orange ball from his pocket. It's completely covered in dirt and grime, but alas, Percy had already claimed the blue ball.

The men survey the next hole. Nico takes note of the crooked hill leading up to the gator's mouth (or is it a crocodile?) and decides that trial and error might be the best method here. He'll see what works for the other guys, what doesn't work, and try to do better.

Is this a new competitive edge in Nico di Angelo? Not necessarily, although he loves winning, and beer for him on someone else's tab is always an incentive.

"Shoot!" Frank trips over the sparkly 'GROOM' sash that Leo bought for him and his golf ball flies straight into the bushes.

"Do you want to just go again?" Percy asks. "We won't count that fluke."

Frank waves him off. "Nah, it's Leo's turn."

Leo tugs on his suspenders. "Alright, ladies! I know Super-Sized McShizzle's been on a slump, but this is it! He's bringing it back! Now, who's going to hold my beer?"

"Mhmm, sure," Nico says. He can't help it; teasing Leo is just too funny.

"You'll see, di Angelo!" Leo wacks his ball so hard, turf comes up with it. It skips the hill completely and goes straight into the alligator's mouth.

Everyone runs to the other side to see where it'll land.

"Any minute now," Leo says, anticipating a big win.

"Is it supposed to be this slow?" Percy asks, anxiously holding his tiny pencil to the scorepad. Who put Percy in charge of scorekeeping?

"Should we give it a shake or something?" Nico asks.

"No," Frank says. "I don't want to get in trouble."

"Or you just don't want to lose to moi." Leo attempts balancing his weight on his child-sized putter, only to fall onto the turf with a thud.

Percy grabs his adult-sized putter and retreats back to the other side of the ceramic alligator. "I'll just take my turn and maybe I can knock Leo's ball out the other side."

He licks his finger and holds it up to the sky, pretending to check the wind. He reaches for his ankles as if stretching can remedy his poor minigolf skills. At last, Percy lines himself up, takes a practice swing just for show, and taps his ball up the hill. Much to everyone's disappointment, he doesn't hit it hard enough, and it falls back down to its starting spot.

"Fuck me in the ass!" he shouts.

Frank's eyes widen at that curse, and Leo slaps his thigh in amusement.

Nico clears his throat. How... unlike Percy.

"Sorry," Percy says. "I've been spending too much time with Annabeth apparently."

"I have to say, I'm a big fan of the new catchphrase," Nico says, trying to save face for both Percy and Annabeth.

"I guess Di Immortales was a little lame," agrees Leo.

"Take it away, Nico," Percy says. His face is still as red as the flowers on his Hawaiian shirt.

Nico actually takes note of the wind speed and actually does a few practice swings. Finally, he finishes off his beer, places his ball, and takes a deep breath.

The little orange ball zooms up the hill and directly into the alligator's mouth.

Once again, the guys race to the other side of the structure to see if Nico can successfully save Leo's golf ball.

Nico clenches his fists up in anticipation and Leo grabs his arm tight enough to tear it off.

There's some clinking around within the alligator's stomach and what do you know? Nico's golf ball emerges, quickly followed by Leo's green one. As Nico's comes to a stop just before its target, Leo's ball bumps into it, knocking it right in and scoring a hole-in-one!

"Woo!" Nico likes this weird Dutch game.

"Nice one, Nico!" Frank says.

"No way! That's totally a cheat!" Leo shouts.

Percy pencils the new score onto the notepad anyway.

Nico pockets his golf ball. "Wanna try again, Frank? Percy?"

***

The final hole, according to Percy, is the most classic minigolf hole ever: The Dutch Windmill.

Nico and the others study it in awe. It's white with purple polka-dots, and its propeller is comically large. Never has Nico seen something more impractical in his entire life. Aren't windmills supposed to make wind, or harvest it for energy or something? This thing is moving so incredibly slow. He thought that the hard part of this hole would be a wind gust coming straight at your golf ball, but that's impossible, so he's not sure what the challenge here is supposed to be.

"Alright boys," Percy says. "This is the one. The scoring doesn't matter anymore. If anyone can get a hole in one, he'll win a free Slush Puppie."

"A free non-alcoholic Slush Puppie," Leo corrects.

"You just interrupted his main character inspirational speech, man!" Nico jokes.

"Whatever," says Percy. "Anyone who wins this hole is a hero in my eyes. Frank! It's all you."

"Okay." Frank lines his ball up in front of the windmill. He looks ridiculous, such a large man holding a tiny club he could probably snap in half if he wanted to.

He pulls back, trying to be gentle this time. By the eighteenth hole, he should probably have a better grasp of his strength. Finally, he swings the putter, sending the golf ball speeding towards the windmill. Frank's aim is actually on point for once.

The golf ball collides with a rotor and rolls into the water. How anticlimactic.

"Shoot," curses Frank. He still has the biggest grin on his face. That's probably something that happens when you're about to marry the love of your life.

"It's okay," says Leo. "I'll win that Slush Puppie for ya!"

"Uh, thanks, Leo," Frank says.

Leo passes his beer to Frank and points his putter at the windmill.

"What are you doing?" Percy asks.

"Shh, don't question my genius."

Percy throws his hands up in defense.

Leo sets his golf ball down on the turf and gets into position, wiggling his butt towards Frank as he does so.

Frank rolls his eyes. "C'mon, we're supposed to keep a pace so people aren't waiting for us."

"Relax, there's nobody here," says Leo. "Ugh, you messed up my pattern!"

"Pattern, my ass!" Frank shouts back.

"Fine, fine." Leo hits the ball. Smoothly and gracefully it sails to the center of the windmill.

Leo leans over the fence, hoping to see himself make a hole in one and win a coveted Slush Puppie.

"Hey, where's my ball? It should have come out the other side."

Percy presses his pencil to his lips. "Do you think maybe you hit it through the first hole at an angle, and it got stuck in the windmill?"

"No way! I know physics, and that ball had to have at least come out the other side!"

Frank steps forward. "Leo, it's okay-"

"No! I was going to win that Slush Puppie for you!"

Leo and Frank continue to argue over Slush Puppies while Nico gets on all fours to peer underneath the windmill. Maybe he can get Leo's ball back and give him a second chance at winning the prize for Frank. It probably won't mean much to Leo tomorrow morning anyway, since he's pretty drunk right now, but at least he's not as drunk as the girl passed out inside the windmill.

"Cazzo!"

"What is it, Nico?" Percy asks.

"I found the ball, uh among other things. Can someone hold the rotors still so I can get under?"

"I appreciate you helping, but it's not a big deal. I don't even like Slush Puppies, honestly," Frank says.

Nico purses his lips. "No, I think you need to hold these still."

"Just do it, Frank," Leo says.

"Fine."

The rotors stop against their will and now Nico slips through the gap in the windmill.

First and foremost, he tosses Leo's ball back to him.

Then, he grabs the woman by the waist and pulls her out, hitting his head a few times in the process.

"Whatcha got there, Nico?" asks Leo. "Hopefully whatever was stopping me from making a hole in one because-"

"What in Pluto?" Frank yells. In a state of surprise, he lets go of the rotors, sending one into Nico's head.

It hurts, but not as much as Nico anticipated. He guesses they're probably made out of styrofoam or something.

Nico presses his head to Annabeth's chest. Her heart is beating, but slowly. At least she's not dead. That's good.

"Oh my gods, Annabeth!" Percy crouches down next to Nico and Annabeth's mostly limp body. "What happened?"

Nico may not be an expert, but he does know a few things about first aid from being a Camp Half-Blood counselor. He examines Annabeth's arms and finds a lot of little cuts and... bites?

He takes in a sharp breath through his teeth.

"What is it?" Percy demands. "Nico!"

"Spider bites. See how they're bruising?" Nico shows Percy.

Annabeth starts to stir. "Er..."

Percy pushes Nico out of the way. "Oh, my gods, Annabeth what happened? Are you okay? Oh, this is all my fault I should've-"

"Move it, Kelp Head!" Nico reclaims his spot at Annabeth's side. He speaks to her in a gentler tone. "Hey, Annabeth. Do you know where you are?"

Her eyes are bloodshot. It's more haunting than any ghost Nico's ever met.

"Holy shit, is this Disney World?" she asks.

Nico answers as if that isn't a weird thing to ask right now. "No, we're on a minigolf course in New Rome. Can you see how many fingers I'm holding up?"

Annabeth giggles. "Your hair is like spaghetti."

"Well, good thing I'm Italian. Can you stand?" Nico asks.

Annabeth props herself onto her elbows and uses Percy's head for leverage.

Nico quickly stands, wrapping her arm around his shoulder so she doesn't have to stand on her own.

"Should I call an ambulance?" Frank asks.

"It seems like just a bad trip or something. I'll take her back to Will. He's probably more experienced with this than I am," Nico says.

"Wait," says Percy. "Let me take her. You hang out with the guys."

Nico blows some of Annabeth's hair off of his face. "No offense, but you're probably the last person she'll want to see after... whatever just happened to her. I've got this."

Percy tucks his hands into his pockets and lets Nico have this. Honestly, Nico's not entirely sure why he cares so much about it; it's Percy's high ex-girlfriend, for crying out loud.

Annabeth mumbles under her breath, "Patrick Swayze's hot, right?"

"Yeah, Annabeth. That's why they say 'Crazy for Swayze,'" Nico says. "Let's get you back to Will, okay?"

"Where's Reyna?"

"She's uh, probably back in her room. C'mon, let's see what Will's doing." This is starting to remind Nico of one of those post-wisdom teeth removal surgery videos.

Annabeth stops walking and turns to look at Nico. "He's probably listening to Taylor Swift still!" she slurs.

Nico urges her on towards the hotel, hoping he isn't earning any strange looks from passersby. It's a resort. Plenty of people get blackout drunk here, right?

At least it's dark.