Chapter 14

3rd person pov

Trident had said that he knew where to find Damasen and that Bob would probably be there too so they followed him through Tartarus. Monsters and giants alike attacked as they walked, trying to kill the famous, feared, killing quadruplet. At one point they were walking along the river lethe when the giants Polybotes and Mimas attacked. They fought for a while, slashing, stabbing, and dodging. Bolt and Trident were back to back, cornered when Bolt said "Can't you just control the river?" He smacked his head. "Oh my word I'm such a seaweed brain." She shook her head. "You're such an idiot." She said with a smile. With that Trident created a huge wave out of the river and washed the giants in it. When he put the water back into the river bed they looked at the quadruplet in confusion. "Where are we and who are you?" Polybotes asked. "I'm Shadow. This is Trident, Reaper, and Bolt." Shadow said. "Do you remember your names?" Reaper asked. They both shook their heads. "Your name is joe." Trident said pointing at Mimas. "And your name is… Percy." He said pointing at Polybotes. All of them were surprised when he gave Polybotes his old name. After they left the giant and kept walking Shadow asked, "Why Percy?"

He was silent for a minute. "Well… because..Percy was a fun kid who didn't know about his godly parentage and monsters and didnt have a care in the world. I'm Trident now. I do miss Percy but the real full Percy will never be back. Tartarus has changed me. It's changed all of us, and I don't think any of us will completely be the old us again.

I just…...needed a reminder of when I was oblivious and innocent."

Reapers pov

"I get it." I said. They looked at me. "What? I mean, Trident was one of the first people to care enough to get to know me. The kid he got to know at first was happy and carefree. His only worry was to make sure his sister always stayed with him." I paused and looked at Trident a few tears going down both of our cheeks. "Then his sister was sent on a quest. She…..died on that quest. The day Percy came back and told him his sister died saving everyone else was the day that childish, carefree little boy died. Then Nico became dark, gloomy, and trusted no one." By now we had stopped walking and the girls were watching us as tears streamed down both our faces. "He was mad at everyone, especially Percy. he regrets it now but he ran away. It was a while before they campers found him and took him in. He stayed at the camp for a while but decided he liked roaming the world better. That way he could pretend his sister was waiting at home for him. Now he's changed again. He is stronger, he has three best friends that he would die to protect, and a life he would never trade out. No matter how hard it gets, but he still misses his sister so much and would love to see her one last time." I finished and sank to the red hard ground, sobbing into my hands. I felt someone come over and put an arm around me and pull me into them but i didn't know who it was till i heard her soothing voice in my head. "Shh it's okay Neeks." Shadow said. After about 10 Tartar years the group had developed a special bond that allowed them to talk through their heads. Shadow knew I liked this nickname but she didn't know why. Slowly my tears slowed and I could think straight again. "Do you want to know why i like that nickname?" I asked. I felt her nod. Still not looking up, I MM (Mind message). "That was my sister's nickname for me." I started sobbing again. "Oh Nico." She MM'd. After about 5 minutes I looked up and saw Trident being comforted by Bolt. I reluctantly crawled out of Shadow's arms and walked over to Trident and Bolt. I put my hand on his shoulder and he looked up. "It wasn't your fault." I said. "But if i had gone into-" He started "No" I said firmly. "If you had gone into the giant metal robot thingy then you would have died. Which means Olympus would have fallen a long time ago and we would all be dead." he nodded and calmed himself down. "Okay guys we should really get going, we've been here too long." Bolt said "Yeah your right." Trident said, standing up. We walked for another 2 hours. Trident, Bolt, and Shadow were all talking in the front while I was thinking in the back with a stray tear sliding down my face every once in a while. Eventually, I don't know when, I realized Shadow was walking next to me. "Hey." I said quietly. "Hey." She said back, "How are you? Because I know that had to be really hard to talk about." "I'm fine i guess." I answered. Trident was the only one who knew about that stuff i talked about and none of us liked talking about before tartarus so it was a huge breakthrough whenever we did. "Do you want to tell me about her?" She asked. That was one of the things I love about Shadow. She doesn't push or rush you. "Sure." I said,

"There was one time when we were younger and our mom was still alive. We were playing hide and seek. I was hiding and obviously she was seeking. Our mom had just made red velvet cupcakes which are my favorite. I was 5 at the time so naturally I decided to hide in the kitchen. My mother wasn't in there but the cupcakes were all frosted and sitting on the counter. I couldn't help myself and I took a bite of one. It was so good that I finished the cupcake. I had forgotten that I was supposed to be hiding so I just stood there eating cupcake after cupcake. I was on my 6th cupcake when Bianca came in. She sneaked up behind me and grabbed the cupcake right out of my hand. I realized that I was supposed to be hiding and tried to run away. She grabbed me and pulled me into her saying, 'Gotcha!' I laughed and tried to get away but she held me tight and started tickling me." Shadow interrupted. "So you're ticklish huh? I could use that someday." I blushed and continued with my story not realizing that Bolt and Trident had stopped talking and were listening. "I stopped struggling and tried to make her stop, but I couldn't stop giggling. Finally she stopped and I was out of breath from giggling so much. She swiped her finger through the frosting on the cupcake next to her and dabbed my nose. I remember giggling and grabbing a cupcake. Then I smashed it on her face and ran away. She grabbed a cupcake and started chasing me through the house. At one point she caught me and smashed it into my hair. It turned into a full out cupcake war and there were cupcakes and icing everywhere. That was one of the best days of my life." I ended and my wistful smile faded. "She seems like an amazing big sister, Reaper." Shadow said. "She was." I said, staring at the ground, letting a few tears fall. "You probably miss her a lot too." She continued. "I do." I whispered. "How'd it happen?" She asked. "What?" I said "You said that if Trident went into the big metal robot thingy he would have died instead. How did she die?" "You should ask Trident I wasn't there." I said.

"She saved all of us." Trident said. I looked up and realized that him and Bolt had slowed down so that they were walking next to us. "We were in a junkyard, and if you took something a giant automaton would attack. We told everyone not to take anything but someone didn't listen. So we were attacked by the automaton. The only way to stop it was from the inside. The only way to get inside was through the bottom of its heel. She got in but was killed when it blew up. Before she ran off though she handed me a figure of Hades and said that it was the only one her little brother didn't have. I still think it's my fault, I could have stopped her. I could have gone in instead." "No it isn't your fault." I said. "Reapers right." Bolt said. "You need to stop blaming yourself." "I know.. It's just..." he said "No if it's anyone's fault it's mine. She was getting the statue for me." I said. "Reaper, it's not your fault either." Shadow said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "It was her choice. She was a great person and sacrificed herself for the rest of the world." "I know." I said quietly.

We fell back into silence and walked for another hour when we heard a drakon roar. The sound of the roar made Trident perk up for some reason. "YES!! Guys, come on we're almost there!!!" he yelled, starting to run. We chased after him and saw 2 giants fighting a drakon.

As we watched one of the giants pulled a tree out of the ground and threw it to the other one. The second giant caught the tree and stabbed the bottom of it into the drakon's back. As the tree hit the ground its roots shot out and dug themselves into the earth, killing the drakon in the process. "BOB!! DAMASEN!!" Trident yelled. The two giant's heads snapped towards us. Trident ran forward and hugged the first giant saying, "Bob, I thought you guys died." "Percy?" he asked. A shadow crossed his face. "That's not my name anymore." He said. Then he walked over to the second giant and hugged him too. "Hello Damasen." "Hello." He said. "What are you doing here?" Bob asked. I stepped forward "Can we come inside please?" I asked "NICO!" Bob boomed. "Hello bob but as Trident said that is not my name anymore." I said "oh ok." "Anyways yes you can come in and explain everything." Damasen said. So we went in and explained everything. Mostly Trident did the talking. But Shadow also talked a lot with Bolt and I jumping in every once in a while. When we were done Bob looked like he was going to cry and Damasen looked very mad. "Those gods are foul loathsome little cockroaches and they deserve to be down here not you!" "Yes well there is one more thing." Shadow said. "What?" Bob asked "the prophecy dragon told us the doors of death were chained down here again and that you could help us get to them." She said. Bob jumped up "YES we know where they are. We can help you!!" He yelled. "Wait Bob are you sure? There is a chance you will still get stuck down here again." Trident said. "We are aware, Per-Trident." Damasen said "Then lets go!" bolt said standing up.

We left the house and traveled for a few hours. We were walking when we heard a clomp of an empousai hoof. "Quick behind that rock!" I whispered. We dashed behind the huge rock just as Kelli and her gang of evil cheerleaders walked into view. "They are so annoying. I wish someone would kill them!" We heard Kelli say. We all knew they were talking about us. "Hey guys, can I take them? I need to kill something." Shadow whispered "Yeah sure." We answered. "Thanks." She stepped out from behind the rocks. "I know right they are so annoying." she said sarcastically. "Sh-shadow w-what are you doing h-here." Kelli stuttered "Oh you know i was bored so i decided to come kill something." She answered. Now kelli looked really scared but then she put on a mask of bravery. "Yeah well we're going to kill you." She said. Shadow laughed "Ha okay" She said with sarcasm obvious in her voice.

Shadow pov

"HA okay." I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I am so done with kelli and her gang they are annoying me. They just don't know how to stay dead. Kelli lunged for my neck but I side-stepped and she flew headfirst into the rock everybody was hiding behind. The empousai on her left lunged next but she lunged for my stomach. I side-stepped again but she didn't go flying, instead she turned around and tried to rake her claws down my face. I took my sword out and cut her hand off before it was able to reach me. She howled in pain and backed away. Then the last Empousai cautiously walked towards me. When she was about a yard away I lunged and stabbed her in the stomach. She turned into dust and I turned my attention back to the second one. She had been trying to sneak up on me but it hadn't worked. I turned around and cut off her head but before I killed her, her claw raked down my arm. It hurt. A LOT. "Styx." I mumbled and she turned to dust. I turned towards Kelli who was just getting up. She saw that both her companions were dead and a look of fear crossed her face. Then she saw my arm and a smug look crossed her face. "Our claws are poisonous you know." She said. "Im aware." I said through my clenched teeth. "Well where are your little friends now?" She said. "Right here." Reaper said coming out from behind the rock. He stabbed her in the stomach and said, "Maybe you should try to stay dead this time." With those words she poofed into dust and I blacked out.

Dream

We were on Olympus and Bolt,Trident,Reaper and I were all fighting back to back. I was fighting Nyx and Reaper was about 5 yards away fighting Kronos, Trident was fighting Tartarus and Bolt was fighting Gaei. I defeated Nyx and turned. What I saw nearly killed me. I turned to see Kronos plunge his scythe into Reaper's stomach. "NO!" I yelled. Reaper collapsed and I ran towards him. Kronos was standing over him laughing. I was so mad that I became a whirl of color. I killed Kronos and bent down next to Reaper. I looked down at him, cradling his chest. "Come on stay with us Neeks you can do it." I said, tears streaming down my face. He gently pushed my hand away as I tried to feed him ambrosia. "You know that wont happen." He whispered. "No no Neeks you can't die." I said. He reached up and gently touched my cheek. "I will see you again." He said. He took his last breath, his hand fell, and he went limp. "NO!" I shouted. He was dead.

Dream over