The throne room was a dark. The shadows warped and shifted constantly. Hounds lay about, the souls of the dead moved in and out of the room looks of terror on their ghostly faces. Hades the god of the Underworld sat on his throne of skulls. His garments dark and ghostly shifting as souls once evil burnt in his essence. He sat on his throne impatiently. Constantly shifting his position, tapping and kicking away whatever souls dared get close his throne. Suddenly the shadows shifted at one pillar. His eyes turned towards it as he willed the shadows to disappear and reveal the disturbance. Nothing. The hounds rose sniffing into the air. One leapt into a mass of shadows and disappeared. A squeal later and it leapt out of the shadows one of its hind legs raised in pain.
The god stood to his full height, his helm resting darkly on his head.
"Show yourself intruder!" he bellowed, the shadows rising.
Silence reigned in the room before a chuckle rang out and a man walked from behind one of the pillar. His face was hidden from sight by a dark hood. Hades examined him but on looking closer he noticed the man had no weapons on him. How had he wounded that hellhound? He wondered.
"It is impolite to stare," the man said casually.
Hades glared at the man. The thought of smiting and roasting him slowly over a fire cut through his mind but he decided against it. After all he did need the man's help. No services. He sat down and spoke.
"I have a lot about you…I am in need of your services,"
"Which ones? I don't exactly do laundry you know,"
"I need you to procure two children for me. Bianca and Nico di Angelo. They are in Maine in a military school, Westover Hall. An expedition has been sent out by Camp Half Blood and another by the Hunters of Artemis. I need you to get to the children before they do and bring the here to me,"
"Why?" the man asked.
Hades thought about it. This was a secret he had kept for nearly five decades. How could he entrust such crucial information to a man who was more or less a shadow?
"They are my children," he replied ready to take such a risk.
"Gold is good. Stygian is better," the man replied his way of saying yes.
Hades waved his hand and out of the shadows came a chest filled with pure Stygian iron ore. A rare kind. The man bent to inspect his payment. Satisfied he waved and the chest shrunk to small enough a size to fit in his pocket.
"Consider the job done," he said walking into the shadow. Before he could disappear.
"Get a jacket, I hear Maine is rather cold this time of the month," Hades said.
A chuckle and a shift in the shadows and the man was gone.
MAINE, WESTOVER HALL.
Westover Hall was something out of medieval stories. Dark, grim and cold it was an evil knight's castle. The main doors burst open as three teenagers steeped in. One, a girl with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. Another girl with curly blonde hair and stormy grey eyes. Finally a boy with a large cape using crutches. They moved along the hallways before coming across two adults. The girl snapped her finger in front of their faces and sent them away. The school dance was wild with the excitement starved teenagers eagerly compensating their thirst. The group dissolved into the crowd their eyes looking about constantly searching for two demigods.
"I found them," the blonde-haired girl said twirling them in that direction. Two teenagers. A girl and a boy. The girl definitely the older one appeared to be telling on the boy. The group started towards them but a barrage of teenagers swept across carrying them. After fighting the current they searched for the siblings only to find them gone. Out of the corner of her eye the blonde-haired girl saw the siblings being dragged through one of the doors by one of the adults, the man. They chased after them. The man turned to face them.
"Children let's play," he said his features morphing into to that of a manticore's.
"Is that all you got?" asked the spiked haired girl.
Twenty monsters appeared in a flash.
"You had to ask Thalia Grace, didn't you?" asked the blonde-haired girl pulling out a daggered and a cap.
"Shut it, Annabeth!" she replied pulling out a mace canister that elongated into a spear. Tapping onto her bracelet a shield appeared onto her hand. Aegis on it was carved the face of Medusa. Some of the beast shuddered and stepped back. The boy… a satyr rather. Pulled out his pipes and began playing. The vines encircled some of the monsters pushing them into the ground. Annabeth put on her cape and charged random monsters crumbling to ashes. Thalia charged at the manticore her shield in front of her blocking the barrage of spikes it sent. With all their skill the demigods and satyr were heavily outnumbered. It was only a matter of time. The manticore got a lucky shot at Thalia's hip severely weakening her. A telekhine stabbed into the air catching Annabeth's leg. A Cyclopes tore past the vines and whacked Grover in the head. A Cyclopes turned to the children of Hades. The sister bravely picked up a spear from a fallen monster a jabbed at the monster's legs at the last the moment tilting it upward till it stab the monster in the eye. The spear met its mark. Two telekhine turned to the children. The boy grabbed a knife and hurled it catching the monster in the eye. More monsters turned to the children, surrounding them weapons leveled. The siblings stood back to back. A Cyclopes fell heavily on its back sticking out was a silver arrow. More arrows flew more monster fell. The Hunters of Artemis were here.