A/N Hey! This is my rewrite of Stumbling into the Greek World! Hope you like it!

Nico's POV

I noticed that the city was surprisingly quiet as I walked down the street. Although the buildings were still light up and all the bright lights almost made it look like daytime, New York seemed empty. Hardly anyone was out and only a few cars had passed me the whole time I had been walking. I found this very strange, but I didn't give it much thought.

A few hours ago Percy had accidentally flooded the dining pavilion and I'd decided I needed a little time away from camp, so I shadow traveled to the first place I'd thought of. I guess I just couldn't get the city out of my mind. I couldn't help but smile a little at a passing taxi with yet another Twilight advertisement. "There's a new world out there, just waiting to be discovered," it said.

If they only knew, I thought, chuckling to myself.

All of a sudden I got the feeling I was being watched. I did a quick 180, my eyes scanning over every inch, every corner that I could see. I stayed calm and headed toward one of the alleys, where I would be out of sight. Sticking to the shadows, I walked as silently as possible, listening for anything threatening. A trash can fell over and I jumped, a small gasp escaping my mouth. When I saw it was only an alley cat, I couldn't help but laugh at myself.

I relaxed a bit and continued walking, although I still stayed close to the darkness, in case I needed a quick escape.

Almost as soon as I began walking, I heard a soft chattering behind me. I turned around and came face to face with one of my father's skeleton soldiers.

"Hey," I said. "How'd you get up here?" I gestured toward it and commanded it to go back to the underworld, but he just stood there, staring at me with his glowing eyes. "Huh?" I said, confused. After all, the skeletons are warriors for my father, and they are supposed to follow my command.

"Go," I demanded. "I do not need you now."

The soldier stepped forward, causing me to step back, and as I did so, I backed into something. Turning my head, I saw there were three more skeletons behind me. I told them a few more times to leave me alone, but they wouldn't listen.

"Why won't you obey me?" I asked them, almost expecting them to answer me. The only reply I got were two more dead warriors coming into the alley, soon followed by another four. They walked towards be, backing me into the wall.

"What's going on? Why won't you listen?" This had never happened to me before, and I began to panic.

I unsheathed my Stygian iron sword and prepared to fight.

Christa's POV

I ran. I had no idea where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there, but I couldn't stop running. If I stopped, they might find me. If I stopped, they would hurt me too. My lungs were aching for air and my feet were killing me, but I didn't care. I just had to get away. I was terrified, and I couldn't get the images out of my mind. Maybe if I ran, they would disappear. Maybe if I ran, everything would be okay.

Eventually, I couldn't run any longer. My sprint slowed to a jog, which soon became a slow, steady pace. After a while, I just stopped moving all together. The reality of what had just happened came crashing down on me all at once. My knees gave way and I fell to the ground. I wrapped my arms around my legs and let my tears fall.

No, I thought. No, that didn't just happen. Unable to accept it, I kept repeating that over and over in my head. No. No! That didn't just happen! It didn't!

My body shook violently as I sobbed. His yells echoed in my mind, and I could almost feel his pain shoot through my body. My mind started to go numb and I felt like I had entered a dream world. Everything around me just seemed so unreal, like I wasn't part of what was going on. I saw the city around me, the darkness of the alley I had hidden in, and the lights of the buildings, but I felt like I wasn't really there, like I was watching the scene from the outside.

Feeling heavyhearted and numb, I stood up and looked around me. No one was in sight, not even a car. I was confused. After all, they didn't call New York the City That Never Sleeps for nothing.

All of a sudden, I heard a yell. I wasn't thinking clearly and so I did what any person who's out of their mind would do; I went toward the scream. At first, I just walked quickly, then jogged, and finally I was sprinting. After running for so long, my legs were cold and my feet were very sore, but I felt like I needed to find the person in danger, like I needed to help him. It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, but looking back on my decision, I don't understand what made me try to help. It seems crazy, but I had to try and save him, I just had to.

I didn't even know where I was going, but I ran a few blocks and I found myself in an especially dark alley. There, in front of me was a boy about my age with a torn t-shirt underneath a leather jacket, black jeans, dark, messy black hair, and pale skin. He was on his knees and his head hung down. I knew I should turn around, run away, and forget what I saw. Because I had never seen anything like it: about ten men wearing camouflage were standing before the boy. Well, I can't really call them men because... they weren't. They looked like relatively human, but they were these weird transparent….. things. You could see the creatures' bones and everything! I guess you could call them skeletons because that's what they looked like, but these creatures looked so different than the skeletons in the movies. For one thing, they were wearing camouflage clothing and had glowing yellow eyes. The looks of them made me shutter and step back.

The skeletons started walking forward. The boy raised a sword, (yes; a sword) and muttered something under his breath. Apparently, whatever he was doing hadn't worked because he cursed under his breath and swung his sword at the creatures. As soon as his blade made contact with the bone, it caught fire and began to crumble into ashes.

I heard chattering sounds behind me and I turned around, seeing ten of the things were behind me. One of them reached out and grabbed my arm and I kicked it in the gut. At first, I thought I had hurt it, but it straightened right back up as if I hadn't touched it at all. I screamed as three more came and drew swords and took out guns. Out of the corner of my eye, I say the boy glance over at me and then turn back to kill another skeleton.

I was backed into the wall and I began to panic. My heart beat wildly, and I realized that trying to help had been the dumbest idea I had ever had. I sank to the ground and my arms flew over my head, providing me with a sort of shield. I prepared myself for the pain, but it never came. Bright colors danced across my eyelids and I felt heat on my skin. I parted my arms and peeked up. Standing above me was the boy, and it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen.

"My God.. Oh my! Oh my God!" I jumped up and threw my arms around his neck. Almost immediately, he pulled away and looked at me strangely.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

My eyes strayed to his muscular arms and I gasped.

"Your... your arm..."

He glanced down and shook his head. "Just a cut. Don't avoid the question. Who are you? What did you see?"

"What did I see? I saw..." I made wild gestures in the air that probably made me look retarded. "that! T-the things. They were attacking you and... Thank you."

"Huh?"

"Thank you. They would have probably killed me. You saved my life."

He scoffed and glanced toward the street, as if he had heard something. When he turned back to me, he looked into my eyes and made an odd motion with his hand. "You didn't see anything." He said.

"What? What are you doing?"

He stepped closer. "I'm Nico, your friend. You were just on your way home when you saw me and stopped to say hi."

"Are you... trying to hypnotize me?"

The boy, Nico, looked at me strangely and swore under his breath. "What's going on?" He whispered to himself.

I shook my head. "Look," I said, placing my arm on his shoulder. "I want to repay you somehow. I have no idea how to make up for what you did, but I'll try. Whatever you want, just say the word and I'll get it."

"What I want," He picked up my arm and put it down at my side, but didn't take his hand off my wrist. "is for you to leave and forget what you saw."

"What?" I asked. "But... I definitely can't forget that."

"Try. After all," he added, turning away. "you did say you would do anything."

He began to walk away and I rushed to catch up with him.

"Hey, where do you think you're going!?"

"Back home."

I nodded, trying to keep up with him. "Well, I'm on my way home too. Do you think we could walk together?"

"No." Huh, what a gentleman.

"B-but." I searched for an answer but I decided to just tell him the truth. "Look, some really weird stuff has been happening and I really think it would be good for me to walk home with you."

"No." He repeated.

"But those things could come back! There could be more of them, and I need protection! I don't have a... a sword like you do."

"Without me around, you won't need one. You'll be fine. I promise."

"Nuhhuh!" I argued, taking a leap over the curb. "Look," I said desperately. "You don't understand. I need you to help me. Something has happened... It's all my fault.. I-I... I don't know what's happening. Please. I just..." I felt tears fill my eyes and a lump began to form in my throat. "Please."

He groaned and I could tell he was annoyed with me. "I understand that you're afraid, but the best way to stay safe is to stay away from me."

"You don't get it-"

He halted immediately and spun around to face me. "Kid, stop following me, alright! I don't want to be responsible for a dead girl!"

"But if you leave me all alone in the middle of the city, you will be responsible for my death! And I am not a kid. I'm almost thirteen! Probably the same age as you."

He shot me a glare. "Can't you take a hint!? I don't want you with me." He spoke through gritted teeth. "You were in danger. I helped you. The end! I don't want to have anything to do with you! Just leave me alone!"

It started to sprinkle and Nico pulled up the collar of his leather jacket. "Just leave me alone." He repeated.

I didn't try to follow him. After all, he didn't want me to. I think he made that pretty clear. I just watched him as he walked away. Soon, the light drizzle turned into a downpour and I had to get to shelter from the icy rain. My body began to feel numb as I stood there, but I don't think it was from the cold. My heart felt like it weighed a few hundred pounds and it ached in my chest. Now that I was alone, the world felt dark and cruel. Images of what had happened just an hour ago flashed in my mind. I choked back a sob as I took a shaky step forward. My knees immediately failed me and I fell to the ground, my arms wrapped around my shaking body as I wailed and cried. I sat there for what felt like hours, but what probably only a few minutes. Between my sobbing I began to hear noises. I felt like my heart stopped as my mind finally registered the sounds as quiet, but rough growling behind me. I turned, but couldn't see anything clearly between my tears. Terror seized me and my tears stopped as I sat there numb. I looked past the other side of the street and thought I saw a large shadow moving out between two buildings.

I only had time to scream before it attacked.