TO HELL AND BACK

Prologue

(Every chapter is going to have a note.)

I was tired of looking for my sister. I'd been lost for hours, after getting separated with Hylla in a cyclops attack. My only weapon was a silver pocket knife, which she held in front of her. I was losing hope. I'd killed at least 10 monsters by now. I was almost out of the forest. I saw a girl outside of the forest. I ran for her. Halfway there, I heard something behind her. I turned, and found a Earthborn, with rocks in each hand, about to throw. I ran at it. It grinned, then melted into the earth. A ring of them popped up around me. They threw the rocks. I deflected one of them and rolled under another. I sliced at 3 or 4 of them and they melted into mud. I stabbed at another as pain flared in her left elbow. Of course. An Earthborn. It stabbed the rock deeper, and I winced. I stabbed the monster behind me and it turns out it was the last monster. I fell.

CHAPTER 1

Reyna

(Present tense, now.)

I appear in a room. I'm not sure which one. I've never seen anything like it. Then I notice the man sitting behind the counter. Charon? Does that mean I'm... dead? I go about what happened in those woods. I see flashes back of what happened after I passed out. Hylla giving me nectar and ambrosia... I can't stand watching this. I turn from the thought. Charon grins. "I thought you would be here soon." He says. I see those drachma in your pocket. Give them to me and I will give you a ferry ride to the Underworld. Or, you could just stay here as a ghost." I hand over the drachma. He presses a button, and a sliding door opens. I follow him in, and he pushes out some other spirits. Instead of going upwards, we begin moving sideways, along the Styx river.

I stare ahead, thinking about having another chance at life. Suddenly, my knees buckle. I've changed places, but I'm still only a ghost. I Hylla dragging my body to the camp, the doctors agreeing that I'm dead. I see the ceremony they have. I watch as my shroud is burned, as well as my sword. I snap back to reality. I have my sword sheathed, now, and a backpack of supplies. Charon drops me off at the gates. I walk to the shorter line, the judging. I only have to wait a few minutes as it is my turn to judge."Praetor of New Rome." One says. "Delivered the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood to help kill Gaea. You can have Elysium, young demigod. Or, since you've recovered such a important artifact..." He touches his earpiece.

"Hades says you might be able to... have another go at life. You just have to pass a quest. The Oracle of Delphi has a prophecy for you." He hands me the earpiece.

The hold of death, its grip released, The hold on souls have now been ceased

Their army will stretch on for miles, to fail will cause infinite trials.

I forgot where you need to cross. If you dare touch it, it's your loss.

To reach the path that once forgot, and ghosts derail the juggernaut."

The son of Death shall lead the path, Or inevitable bloodbath.

"Reyna, is that you?" I hear Rachel ask."Yes..." I say weakly. "Rachel... I'll see you again. I promise." I hand back the earpiece."I'll do it." I say."But remember one thing. If you don't succeed, you will be gone. Forever." I take it in. I nod."I'm still doing it.""Good luck," he says, and calls for the next person in line.

I scan the area. There's a hill, and I stand on it. In the far distance, I see a tunnel. A bit of sun peers out of it. That's my destination. I notice all the challenges that await me. I begin walking. The ground is red. I step forward, and there is a flash. Suddenly, voices surround me."You have failed your sister..." the voice says. "You didn't stop Leo Valdez's death..." There are many other comments like that. I realize I'm approaching a river. Annabeth told me about this. This drips down into Tartarus. I'm being tormented by these voices.

"Come join us..." the river says. "You deserve it."No I don't." I say. I hear footsteps behind me. Instantly, I draw my sword and lunge. It's Nico. He deflects my blade with his own."Nico!" I exclaim. "Why are you here?""Came to help." He answers calmly. I throw my knife at a shadow above him, spearing an empousa.

He grabs my arm and we shadow travel over the river."I think I know where we're going." Nico says. We lock eyes. I nod. I know where. Melinoe's cave."I can't shadow travel all the way there," Nico says, "I have boundaries. Plus, you have to do some of this on your own. Anyway..." He's interrupted by a screeching sound. A horde of bat ladies, arai, as Annabeth had said, attacked us. I sliced the first one in half, then stumble back as I find a imperial gold sword, that could dissolve my spirit, coming at me. It misses, but the sword does cut through many monsters, as well. My father. He cursed me with this. How could he?

"I brought some friends." Nico says. Argum and Argentium bound over to me. I hold out my hand, but it vaporizes where it touches. Of course. silver and gold. The dogs take down the rest of the monsters, no curses affecting them. I look ahead and realize the dangerous path ahead of me. And I also doubt that Hades will let me go. We walk along the barred landscape as a shadow falls over us. We draw our swords. Then I see a harpy behind me. I let it fly at me. I turn into a spirit, and the harpy crashes into my sword hilt. There's a pain in my stomach, and I fall once more.

CHAPTER 2

Reyna

(Each chapter is a challenge.)

I think I can stop falling now. As it turned out, my body reforms faster than I would like. All that is left of the harpy was a few claws that have been imbedded in my stomach. A bit of each claw is sticking out from my back. I watch as Nico takes out the other monsters. He reaches down and touches my back. Pain flares in my back so bad, I black out. When I come to, I feel my back. It's bandaged. It doesn't hurt as much as before, though. Nico stands over me, giving me ambrosia. I sit up and immediately regret it. I see red spots, and I lay back down.

"You need to rest, Reyna." Nico says. I attempt to move my legs. As I do, my left leg begins to get more and more painful. I wince. "One managed to get ahold of you and dislocate your leg before I had to shadow travel up there to get you. Then you took a big hit falling from there." I kick him."You do realize I'm only a spirit, right? You don't have to do this." Reynico moments! Then I notice the care that shows in his eyes. He has dark rings underneath his eyes. He hasn't slept, even though he overused his powers.

"I'm going to..." he says, then collapses of exhaustion. I grab my backpack and slip it under his head. I sit up, this time without pain. The ambrosia must have done it's thing... I stand, and my knee almost buckles. I stumble. Once again, the earth moves. The same Earthborn pop up, this time armed with imperial gold weapons. I lash out at them with my sword and roll, dodging the Earthborn behind me. I change my spear into a pilum and jab at the ones that were behind me. One remains, and it holds a bunch of assorted weapons. It throws it's knife and I barely deflect it. It grins. It notices something I don't. I feel something rundown my arm, but I don't take notice. I jab the pilum into his chest and it dissolves into mud.

Nico's awake now. He gapes in fear. I turn, and see nothing. Then I see little drops of red scattered on the ground in front of me. Blood. So he did hit me, after all. Somehow, I feel my spirit beginning to wane. The scar is literally sucking the life out of me. This is my father's curse. Until he's made a scratch, he will not relent this attack. Now he's succeeded in ensuring death in his killer. Me. By my calculations, I have about 3 days to get out. And I still wonder what Rachel was talking about with the bloodbath. I tell Nico the prophecy. He nods."This will be tough. But they need you." He says.

We trudge along the path. It takes longer than I'd like, but we manage to make OK progress. We've gone about an hour when our next attack comes. This time, a wave of darkness sweeps over us, filling my mind with all the anguishes and fears I've ever had."Hades..." I say, remembering his helm. "He's here somewhere."

"Yesss..." A voice rings in my head. "I'm part of your challenge... Endure it." The voice is gone. I have flashbacks of when Hylla and I were still in the torture of our father. I see myself surrounded by a ring of fire, at Circe's spa after it blew up. I see the ring of pirates that captured us."Just run!" Nico says, but his movements are sluggish. After all, he's been through Tartarus, been trapped by a bronze jar, and has suffered far more than I have. He has tears in his eyes."Bianca..." He says, and grabs for an invisible hand. He shakes his head.

I grab Nico's arm and drag him forwards. My hand passes through him, though. He clutches his head and runs, following me. We plow through the various trees, and eventually we break free of the helm's range. Nico immediately collapses, darkness smoking off of him. Something tells me I shouldn't touch him, or be I will vaporize into nothing. I sit down and rub my eyes. After that experience, all my fears are more real. I glance at Nico, and he is getting up. His eyes glow red, and he aims his arm at me."You..." He says. "You drew me down here just to suffer... didn't you?" He shoots a beam of darkness at me, and I dodge it.

"Nico..." I say. "Don't do this..." He draws his blade, and a fissure opens up into the ground. He's running out of life force. He's going to devour my life force as his own, just because of Hades. The crack widens, and opens up underneath me. I fall into it. It's not as deep as I expected; only about 6 feet. I feel the life sucking out of me. He needs energy. I lock eyes with him, and I drain my energy and give it to him. The glow fades from his eyes, and he falls to his knees. The crack begins to close. I climb out of the crack just as it closes on my foot. It begins to close even more, until Nico opens it. I hop out and check on him. He doesn't have any dark energy flowing from him anymore. I get backlash right there, and I see Nico's worst memories. I thought I was prepared for it. I'm not. I fall into Nico's arm and I'm immediately drawn into an illusion.

Just a note guys, I'm going to update the Demigod Conspiracies regularly, but this is going to be the 2nd fastest story. I'm working on the next chapter.

CHAPTER 3

(Totally the 2nd fastest story.)

Reyna

These memories are even sharper than the ones before, maybe because they were enhanced by Hades. I fall into a room. I can't move, but I'm standing in the corner watching this unfold. Percy walks into the room, lighting it with his sword. Next to me stands a manticore. It silently shoots a spike at him. It hits him in the elbow. I suddenly see the manticore lead him outside, and then they begin fighting. Annabeth goes over with the manticore. I watch as Bianca dying in the desert inside Talos. I see his memories of Tartarus, the jar, and much, much more. I finally force myself out of it."You've been out for about an hour now." Nico says.

I clutch my head, trying to forget everything Nico has showed me. I ask myself a question I've asked myself a million times before: "How does Nico stand these memories?" I get up.

Immediately, I'm racked with pain. My side begins to bleed freely as the claws puncture my skin from the inside. Nico hands me a piece of ambrosia.

"You OK?" He asks.
"I think I'll be fine." I say. He helps me up.
"We need to get moving." He says. As he plans the route, I watch him. "We need to cross the Lethe and whatnot. We need to go through the cave of Melinoe. It's the only way I know to get out of the Underworld. That's how Ethan Nakamura...

"Right: I forgot where the place is... that's the Lethe, alright." I look at him in confusion. "Who's Ethan?" I ask.

"Nothing. Titan war."

I mouth, "Oh."

He shakes his head.

"You still never told me about your fight with Krios. In fact, you've never told ANY of the Greeks. I feel offended." He says sarcastically.
"Lets get going, shall we?"

As soon we take a step, I hear an announcement.
The voice Hades rings out: "Reyna... BAH! Whatever. A girl named RA RA has escaped the underworld. Capture her."

"My flipping god! I THOUGHT YOU WERE TRYING TO FUC-"
"Shut up, Nico. Do you want to get caught?"
"Right."

"Hide!" I shout-whisper. I tackle him behind a rock as soon as a pair of skeletons walk by.

"They're never going to get to the most likely exit. I believe Hades is already creating a wall of bones and an army guarding it. Least that's what I heard."

"Shut it! You have too big a mouth. They could be anywhere."

...

"They could be anywhere." Hades growls. "I'm not allowed to directly interfere. Stupid ancient laws."
"Yes, sire. We will find them." Alecto said. "Listen up, sisters. WE SHALL FEAST ON DEMIGOD!"

...

"We need to move."
"I know, Reyna. But it's too risky." He points at the ever stretching line of skeletons marching.
"Where are they going?"
He smiles.
"Lead the way." I say.

...

Why does it feel like forever? In only a few minutes, I begin to get bored. ADHD does something to a person.

After a few hours of walking, I can't stand it anymore.

"UGHHHH," I complain.
"Shut it, unless you want to be-"

"We found them!" A harpy flies up to us. I immediately begin to cut it down. Nico stops me.
"They don't see us yet. They're talking about the army." As he says that, a huge swarm of harpies swarm the skeletons, wreaking havoc and what not.

"A message from Hazel." The harpy says, then clears its throat. "I sent this swarm to help. This should give you time to get-"

"ELLA?" I practically yell. "IZZAT YOU?"

"Ella is here to help." Says Ella. ("You need to get the resurrection stone."

"But that's a HP Reference!"

"But Sadie and Carter exist."

"Pretty much the same fandom."

"This is America. Hogwarts is in London."

"I'm not in London."

"Where do ya think the resurrection stone went?") JK THIS NEVER HAPPENED!

...

Sorry HP Fans...

"Go left. Ella has spend at least five minutes surveying the area and this is a diversion."

"That's straight through..." I say, but the swarm of harpies leave.

"We need to break through the line." I tell Nico.

"Wait until tomorrow."

"Good idea." I say, and promptly pass out.

"This marks the grave of Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano." Frank mutters. "A good praetor. And everyone, take a moment to appreciate that Octavian is not going to take the position."

They take the coffin and raise it into the flame.

"Collect call, Camp Jupiter, from Nico DiAngelo." An iris message screen appears.

They drop my coffin.

"Hey, guys." Nico says.

"Hey Nico." Jason says. Apparently, the 7 from the prophecy have gathered for a small funeral.

"Will you shut up for a second? Reyna is sleeping right now." Everyone turns toward my coffin. "No, you idiots, shut up! Have you heard the prophecy?"

"I thought that was fake!" Percy says.

"It's not. First off, I need you to pay collect, cause I don't have anything on me now."

Annabeth tosses a coin into the mist.

"Thanks. Now, Reyna is with me. We need to find the cave of Melinoe."

"That place?" Percy says.

"Yes. It's the only way out."

"Wake up! Quick, we have visitors!" Percy says, but it's not his voice.

I snap awake.

HURRAH! I feel so proud for updating. I forgot how fun this is to write about. Sorry for losing motivation, but I'm back. I'll keep writing this series. Won't stop till I do on hiatus for another year! And you can wait... about the rest of eternity for this update. (JK, coming out soon in TWE time, AKA about 1 week at 1 year, hopefully earlier.) YOU'RE WELCOME, LOST STAR OF OLYMPUS!

That's all! BAI~~~!

("~")