Chapter 16

Hades pov

Today was the day my son was sent to Tartarus. Hecate, Poisedon, and I are all miserable. Ever since that terrible day the three crystal balls have sat on a pedestal in the corner of the room. Unmoving, and untouched. Most of the gods were arguing about something at the moment, though I have no idea what, when a large cracking sound filled the room. The gods immediately stopped arguing and everyone looked at the three crystal balls. All three were slowly cracking. Everyone was joyous, but I knew something was wrong. I could feel it. Just then the color in the purple ball faded out till it was clear. I was the only one who saw it because everyone else was celebrating the fact that the heroes were coming back. But then Hecate saw it. I watched as her face drained of color. She sat back down. "No" She whispered. Nico's and Percy's balls continued cracking until they were completely split in half. Everyone sat down and started talking. Finally Zeus silenced them. "Hecate what is the matter. They have escaped." He said with a smile. "And no one died." Obviously they still hadn't seen the clear orb. "Someone did die though." She whispered. "What?" Zeus asked. All she could do was lift her hand and point a shaky finger at her daughters clear orb. Everyone looked and gasped. "I will flash them in." We all nodded and there was a great flash of light. When the light faded Percy, Nico, and another girl were standing there, with Emma in Nicos arms. Apollo, Artemis, Zeus, Poisedon, Hecate and I all stood up. Apollo, Hecate and I rushed over to Nico, but both the girl and Percy formed a wall in front of him, while he took a step back. "Let me see my daughter." Hecate said. They moved aside. Hecate and I walked past them but they blocked Apollos' way. "You don't get to go through." Percy said "Why not. I could help her." He said. "No you voted to send us to Tartarus. You killed her. You don't get to see her." Zeus and Artimes walked up. "Emily?" Zeus said. "What do you want Zeus?" She said with an annoyed tone. Zeus looked confused. "You can call me father." Some of the gods gasped. Zeus had another kid? How many times did he break the oath? "No you are not my father. You sent my two best friends into Tartarus." She answered. "Wait, you're the Emily from Emma's childhood?" Hecate said turning around. "Yes why do you care?" She answered. "Because you caused my daughter much sadness." Hecate fired back at her. "Yes well everyone is over that now. She is like a sister to me and she always will be." Emily shot back. "Anyways, everyone is a bit out of it at the moment so i will tell you this before they try to kill you. Their names are no longer Emma,Nico,or Percy. Percy's name is Trident. Nicos name is Reaper. And my name is Bolt. Emma's name was Shadow and always will be. If you use our old names it will not end well for you." She finished. "Is that a threat?" Ares asked. "Yes. Now when and how can we get to camp half blood." She answered. "We-we will flash you in." Zeus stuttered. "What are we going to do about Em-Shadow?" I asked. "We are taking her with us." Nico said standing up with Emma in his arms. "Okay but what about a funeral?" Poisedon asked. "We will do it in a week." Reaper answered. "The only gods who can come are Hecate, Poisedon, Hades, and Iris." He said. Some of the gods started to protest. "NO!" Nico shouted, silencing the rest of the room. "IT IS YOUR FAULT SHE IS DEAD IN THE FIRST PLACE! YOU CAN NOT COME!" The gods stayed silent. "You should flash them in now, Zeus." I said. "R-right." he stuttered, still shocked that Emily practically disowned him. There was a flash of light and they were gone.

Nico pov

We were flashed into Olympus and I could hear people talking but I wasn't listening. She's dead. She's gone. I will never see her smile again. I won't hear her voice. I won't hear her laugh. She's gone. I was stuck on that thought until i heard my dad ask about the body "We are taking her with us." I said suddenly as I stood up. "Okay but what about a funeral?" Poisedon asked. "We will do it in a week." I answered. "The only gods who can come are Hecate, Poisedon, Hades, and Iris." I continued. Some of the gods started to protest. "NO!" I yelled. "IT IS YOUR FAULT SHE IS DEAD IN THE FIRST PLACE! YOU CAN NOT COME!" The gods stayed silent. "You should flash them in now, Zeus." Hades said. "R-right." he stuttered. We all put our hoods up. I closed my eyes and reopened them when I felt solid ground.

It was night and everyone was sitting next to the camp fire in silence. After the light faded and they saw us everyone grabbed their weapons and pointed them at us. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Annabeth asked, I saw Percy was about to take his hood off and MM'd him "wait. Let's find out why they were so silent" He nodded "we are old campers but before we reveal ourselves we would like to know why everyone was so silent when usually the campfire is so loud." I said. "Ten years ago today we lost 3 great warriors." Annabeth answered."Wow was that today?" Percy asked in my head. I shrugged. "And eight years ago we lost a hunter." A voice behind me said. Wait, that was also today?" Emily asked. Again I shrugged. "Wait you went to Tartarus the same day as us?" Percy asked. "I guess." She answered I turned around and saw the hunters, with Thalia at the front. "Thalia you're here." Annabeth stated. "Obviously." Thalia said with a smile, "Can we just show them please?" Emily asked "Yeah pleeeease." Percy begged. They continued begging until I had had enough. "Shut up!" I said out loud. "Excuse me?" Thalia said. I looked up and saw she looked mad. Percy and Emily were both silently laughing. "Dang it i said that out loud." I said. "Umm what?" Annabeth asked. "Hey Reaper can we show them before you look any more like a crazy person?" Percy asked. "Shut it kelp head." Thalia and Annabeth gasped. "Dang it deathbreath now look what you did!" He pouted. "Too bad, so sad." I countered. "You two are such doofuses." Emily said. "Yeah but you love us for it." Percy answered. "Guys just take your hoods off before they die of anticipation." I said, looking at Annabeth who was bouncing on the balls of her feet and had a very hopeful face. "Fine fine." Percy said. He pulled off his hood. Everyone gasped. Annabeth walked up to him and judo flipped him. "Ow." Percy said simply. Emily and I both knew that didn't actually hurt him but we also know he doesn't want Annabeth to know what he'd gone through. Annabeth pulled him up and hugged him. When she finally let go of him Thalia walked up to him and slapped him across the face then hugged him. Next Grover walked up and hugged him. "I missed you man." "Missed you too,Grover." Then it was the rest of the sevens turn. They all took turns either punching, kicking or flipping him then hugging him. "Okay thank you so much for all the attention but shouldn't Nico get a little 'attention' too?" Percy said, putting air quotes around the word attention, also with his voice dripping with sarcasm. Everyone turned and looked at me. "Trident can you pull my hood down? I kind of have my arms full." I said, motioning towards Emma's body with my head. "Course." He said getting off the ground from when Piper flipped him, and walking over to me. He pulled my hood down and everyone gasped. Percy motioned for me to give him Emma and after a lot of hesitation I did. Thalia walked over and slapped me then hugged me. I pretty much got the same treatment that Percy did. By the end I had barely felt the punches and slaps but acted like it hurt a little bit. Just like Percy I didn't want them to know what I had been through. Hazel turned towards Emily. "Does that mean.." Immediately we understood. "Sorry I'm not emma. And i wasn't technically a camper." Emily said. "Wait does that mean your.." Thalia started. Emily put her hood down. "Hey girls." She said. For a moment it was quiet. Then all the hunters shrieked and piled onto her. Apparently she had become really really good friends with the hunters for the one week she had been there. "Girls, I don't think she can breathe." Percy said. I looked and saw he was right, her face was starting to go blue. The hunters got off of her and backed up. "Wait then where's Emily?" Hazel asked. I walked over to Percy and said. "Trident we need to show them." He just nodded and let me take her. I walked back to the center of the circle that everyone was standing in and pulled her hood off. Everyone gasped. Some of the younger campers were confused, "Is she asleep?" A little girl asked, walking forward. "No what's your name?" I asked her, shaking my head. "Carly and I am six." She said. "Hello Carly im Nico." "So she's not sleeping?" Carly asked. "I wish she was but no she is not sleeping." I answered as tears started falling down my cheeks. I felt someone rest their hand on my shoulder but I knocked it off. "Emma was the only person that he would let touch him when he's like this." Just then Carly walked closer and hugged me. I didn't shrug her off. "Well apparently Carly is now the only person that can touch him when he's sad." Percy said again. "Why are you sad?" Carly asked. "Because Emmas gone forever." I said through my tears. "Did she go on a fieldtrip?" Carly asked. "Yes she did." I answered. "Where did she go?" She asked. "Elysium." I answered. "Oh." I looked up and could tell by her face she didn't know what Elysium was but she could tell I didn't want to talk about it. I stopped my tears and looked up at Carly. "Thank you Carly." I said. "For what?" She asked her eyes wide. "For helping me." "Oh ok.." She said uncertainly. The rest of the night was spent catching up with old friends although I didn't talk much. I was still in my own head. Two things bouncing around. The first one being, Emma's gone. She's really gone. Forever. The second being the fact that the prophecy said two must die. So who's the second one? I don't think I can bare to lose anyone else close to me.

Emma's pov

I opened my eyes and saw a man standing next to a boat. "Hello my name is Charon." He said. "Um hi" I answered. "So you died." He said. That's why this place looks so familiar. "Wait you don't recognize me?" I asked."No have you died before?" "Um yes." He looked startled. Guess he hadn't expected that answer. "Well how did you die this time?" he asked. "I pushed my friend out of the way and got stabbed instead. Guess I bled out." I answered. "Okay well climb on." he stated, motioning to the boat. I stepped on and he pushed the boat out and started to steer it towards the hall of judgment. We got to the hall of judgement and he dropped me off.

I opened the doors and walked through. I sat down in a chair. I looked around and saw three other people. There was a girl probably around 18. She had fiery red hair and a lot of freckles. She was clutching a weird stick and was glaring at the boy also sitting in the room. I shifted my attention to the boy and saw he had platinum blond hair and was also clutching a stick. Both of them were wearing robes but the girls' robes were red and black while the boys were green and black. The boy looked to be around the same age as the girl. I shifted my attention to the last person. This was an old man with a long, white beard and a pointy hat. He also carried a stick and was sporting robes, but his were different from the two teens robes. The man's hand was black like it had been burned and he looked very tired and sad. "Ginny Weasly." a voice called. The girl got up and walked past the boy who stuck his foot out and tried to trip her. She stepped over it and walked into the judgment room. A few minutes later the voice called another name. "Albus Too many middle names Dumbledoor." it said. The old man stood up and walked in. After about ten minutes the voice said "Emma Baker." I stood up and walked into the room.

I looked up and saw four people sitting behind a very long desk. "Emma Hailey Baker. Age 20. Nicknamed Shadow. Main subject of great prophecy one time. Best friend of Perseus Achilles jackson, Nico Sabastion Di Angelo, and Emily Grace Sanchez." One of them said. "Yes?" I said, timidly. "Lets see what you have done in your lifetime." The second one said. So we watched from the beginning. The very beginning. "Yes I see." The fourth one said once we had relived all my memories. First and second life. "Well you most certainly deserve Elysium." The third one said. I was relieved. "Thank you." I said. They just nodded and flashed me to Elysium. As I was flashed away I heard the name "Draco Malfoy." being called.

I was flashed to a beautiful place. To my right there was a beach and on my left was a grassy field. I heard laughter and saw a group of people sitting on a picnic blanket on the beach. I looked closer and saw a girl that looked alot like nico. A boy with blond hair and a scar down his face. Another girl that looked a lot like the description I got of Zoe. Then another boy who had brown skin and black hair holding hands with a girl with black hair and very pale skin. The blond boy, the brown boy and the very pale girl were all wearing camp half blood t shirts. The other two girls were both wearing what I imagined were the hunters uniform. I walked over. "Hi." I said. They all turned to look at me. "Hello." The black haired girl said. "Um are you Bianca and Zoe?" I asked looking at the two girls in silver. "Maybe who's asking." the girl that looked like Zoe answered. "Emma Baker otherwise known as Shadow but you wouldn't know that. Anyways, I'm Percy's childhood best friend and Nicos best friend." I said. "Nico!? How is he? Is he all right?" the one that looked like Nico asked. "Yes and I take it that means you are Bianca and Zoe then?" I stated. "Yes. And this is-" "Let me guess. Luke, Beckendorf, Silena." I interrupted. "Y-yes how did you know?" Luke asked. "Percy speaks very highly of you. All of you." I said , looking at luke.

We became fast friends and I spent a couple days hanging out by the beach. It had been six days and we were all hanging out at the beach again when there was a flash of light and Hades was standing there. "I have finalized your papers. You are returning to the real world, but we must hurry. They are going to burn your shroud in one hour and if we are too late then you won't be able to return to your body." He said looking at me. "Wait what." I asked,confused. "I am returning you to the real world. You still need to fulfill the prophecy. Besides maybe this time you won't die while in Tartarus. Third times the charm." I turned to look at my new friends. "Well i guess i will see you next time i die. Need me to bring any messages?" I said mainly looking at Bianca, knowing she would want me to tell Nico something. "Oh yes please. Can you tell Nico that i love him and that i don't want to see him down here anytime soon." Bianca asked. "Of course. Anyone else?" "Can you tell camp half blood that I'm sorry?" Luke asked. "Yup. Anyone else?" "Can you tell Thalia that she is doing a wonderful job as lieutenant? Also tell the rest of them i said hello. One more thing. I know Percy is blaming himself for my death. Please tell him it wasn't his fault." Zoe ranted. "Oh yeah same." Beckendorf said. "Same here." Silena said. "Yeah make sure he knows he wasn't the cause of any of our deaths." Bianca said. "Of course." I turned back to Hades. "Ready." "Good." he answered. "Because we only have a half an hour left." He put a hand on my shoulder and flashed us to camp half blood. I was a ghost so no one could see me except Hades and Nico but Nico wasn't around. I floated around camp trying to find my body. I found the arena and saw Hades stalling so that I could get to my body. I saw my body and floated as fast as I could over to it. I merged with my body and sat up. It's nice to be alive again.