"Alright, class! Be sure to have pages forty through forty-five read and the answers to the problems on those pages handed to me by Monday! Have a good weekend!" shouted the teacher as students filed out of the classroom. She had shot a glance at Nico that told him she wanted him to stay behind, again. He merely let out a grumble as he lowered his head onto his arms. What did she want this time? Yes, she only took the job of teacher as a way to keep an eye on him and Hazel, as their father commanded her, but he, like everybody else, really didn't want to chat with a Fury for long. When he heard the door closing behind the retreating students, he let out a sigh as he brought his head up.

"What did you want now, Alecto?" He paused, that was no Fury standing at the teacher's desk. "Dad?" he asked as he half rose from his chair.

"Yes, it's me. I found it."

With the biggest grin to be ever seen on his face, he bounded forward, exclaiming, "Yes! What took you so long?"

"Oh, I asked Hephaestus to clean it up and to make it grow as you grow," Hades stated as he grinned back and pulled out a little box. "Here, from me, and your sister."

Tears began to well up in Nico's eyes as he took the box, "Th-thanks, Dad." He stepped forward as if to hug Hades, but paused and began to pull back. Hades let out a soft sigh followed by a soft chuckle as he held out his arms. Nico rushed in to them and the two squeezed each other tight.

"No matter what happens, Nico, no matter what anyone says, I'm proud of you."

"Not even what you said, about preferring Bianca over me?"

"That was wrong of me Nico, I see that now, I'm sorry I ever thought it. I'm just happy to have had the three of you, all of you are wonderful. I'm sorry, but I must go now. Another busy day in the underworld, and I still have a few other things to take care of real quick before I head back. Oh, and before I forget, there is one other modification. You'll see what I mean when you put it on. But no matter what happens, don't tell anyone, alright?" Hades' voice became so low it was just barely a whisper. "Remember, don't say a word to anyone." With that, he patted his son's head and was gone. With his curiosity thoroughly aroused, Nico quickly shadowed back to his cabin. It was a homely little spot complete with a small living room, a kitchenette, and two bedrooms with adjoining bathrooms. It was made of dark ebony wood and fixed up with golden accents, thanks to Hazel's superior decorating skills. She made it feel like a home, and made it look much less dreary than before she arrived at Jupiter High. Thinking of Hazel, he quickly checked the cabin to see if she had gotten back yet. She hadn't shown up, thankfully. Then again, she was a lot more social than he was, and she couldn't shadow travel as easily as he could either. But, to be on the safe side, he locked himself in his room and closed all the curtains. He was going to take his father's words seriously and make sure that no one knew. He quickly opened the little box, and let out a shaky gasp. If Hephaestus really cleaned it up, he outdid himself. The silver skull gleamed under the pale light of Nico's lamp and the obsidian seemed to give off an almost eerie, black glow. Nico merely smiled sadly at it while thoughts of his sister Bianca flashed through his mind. She had asked their father to give him the ring to remember her by, and now here it was, finally in his hands. He let out a sigh as his thoughts turned to the conversation with Hades, what in the world did he mean by a modification that no one could know about? It didn't seem like anyone wouldn't see the ring, that is, if anyone besides Hazel and Alecto even acknowledged his presence. Still mulling over the oddness of his father's command, he slipped the ring on. The obsidian seemed to glow even more and it seemed to shoot something out of the gemstones. Nico let out a yelp as something definitely flew past his face and landed on his bed. He slowly got up and went over to his bed to see what exactly it was when it rolled over. Nico let out a gasp as he recognised the miniature form of the guardian of his father's gates.

"C-Cerberus?"

"Master!" barked all three heads.

"What? How did you get so small? Were you inside of my ring? How did you get in there? What in Hades is going on?"

"Shh! Please, Master, Master Hades said that no one can know!"

"And, and how can you be talking?" blurted Nico, though he had lowered his voice.

Cerberus sighed as each head took a turn in replying, "Master Hades thinks it's something to do with the gems. Whenever a creature is tied to one, it seems we have the ability to talk. Your father hasn't been able to do too much research into it as we're running out of time."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"There have been monsters escaping Tartarus left and right, right under everyone's noses. Master Hades thinks Gaia is behind all of it, as it deals with stones. Each monster has been transferred into a stone, just like me, and they come out stronger. Master Hades heard of a few reports to the north of Narnia, that's how he found out what was going on. He was able to capture one and immediately began to research into it. He took the tale straight up to Lord Zeus, but he has refused to do nothing, thinking Master Hades was simply lying." All three heads growled. "But Master Hades went behind his back and did more research. He found out that he could do the same with any creature he wanted to. He also found out that whoever wears the stone can control the creature's powers." Here, all three heads spoke, "Hence, you."

"But, why didn't Dad just tell me this?"

Cerberus went back to alternating heads, "He couldn't stay long in Narnia. It would have alerted Zeus to his presence and made him wonder what was going on. Plus, he had two more creatures to deliver."

"Two more?"

"Yes, the Phoenix and the Nemean Lion."

"Th-the Nemean Lion? Is he sure that's such a good idea?"

"The Nemean Lion made a deal with Master Hades. If the Nemean Lion does well, then Master Hades will not return it to Tartarus. But the instant the Nemean Lion reverts back to its evil ways, it's heading back to Tartarus for good."

"Who's getting them?"

Cerberus shrugged, "Don't know."

Nico sighed, "OK, let me get this straight. Dad finds out that someone, most likely Gaia, has been taking monsters out of Tartarus from right under his nose and turning them into gems to give them more power, right?" All three heads nodded. "And Dad found out that he could do the same thing, so he chose you, the Phoenix, and the Nemean Lion, to be the creatures to send them back to Tartarus, but you need me and two others to use your powers to do that, right?" The heads nodded again. "OK, so, how does that work again?"

Cerberus shrugged, "Like I said, Master Hades did not get much time to research thoroughly. He only got what he needed to know that this will work for good. And that it will have no side effects on either you or me."

"Well that's good to know."

"Do you want to try it out?"

"What, now?"

"Yes! No one else is here. Right?"

"Um, uh, yeah, yeah, we're the only ones here."

"Then simply say . . . Cerberus, power up!"

"What? That sounds lame."

"What? It sounded better than, 'Cerberus, heads up'."
"OK, yes, that's even worse, but, power up? That sounds like something out of a cheesy TV show or something."

"What? It was the best thing we could come up with on such short notice. Unless you've got a few bright ideas."

Nico sighed, "Alright fine, we'll try it out real quick. Cerberus, power up!" Cerberus gave a little excited bark before his body flew into the ring. The obsidian stones glowed and a shadow burst forth that proceeded to cover Nico. Nico closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he waited for the transformation to finish. After a minute, he slowly opened his right eye for a peek and noticed he could see his room. With both eyes wide open, he saw that the skull ring was no longer on his hand as now both hands were in black leather gloves that were reminiscent of dog paws. And though the ring had disappeared from his hand, he could see the spot where it was supposed to be, illuminated, as it were, by a soft silver glow. "Cool," muttered Nico as a grin began to grow on his face. He glanced down at the rest of his costume. It was all primarily black leather, with a pair of black boots on his feet. He touched his face and felt the mask, prompting him to rush into his bathroom to see what he looked like with it on. He gasped, sure, the mask nearly covered his face and was reminiscent of a dog's head, but the other two heads of Cerberus had changed into scythes that were strapped to his back. "Whoa! Wait, what can I do? Uh, Cerberus, power down?" The change happened much quicker as the suit disappeared into a cloud of inky shadows, and Cerberus and the ring reappeared. Cerberus landed on the counter, but immediately popped up with tail and tongues wagging.

"Well? What did you think? Was it awesome?"

"It was pretty cool, but, I need to know more."

"Of course! But first, I'm hungry. Got anything to eat?"

Nico chuckled as he picked up Cerberus, "Yeah, I do. Come on, we'll find you something to eat, but you had better start talking." Nico quickly checked to see if Hazel had gotten back yet, but when he saw no sign of her, he and Cerberus chatted while Cerberus ate an assortment of food, since there was always at least one mouth available to talk. Nico learned that he had super strength and speed, as to be expected; could shadow travel further and for longer than he had ever done before; wrap shadows around himself and others; turn his scythes into swords or one long, double-headed spear; could kill anything, except the Nemean Lion and the Phoenix, with one strike of his blades; could practically control the earth; and could use his super attack only once during each fight, which was when the double scythes glowed a pale green. That's when he could strike any monster and turn it into a stone. Cerberus also learned that he liked and gained more energy from pomegranates, of course, cabbage, and black forest ham.

"Well, looks like we're going to have to get more ham," sighed Nico as he picked up the rest of the ham and began cleaning up. Cerberus merely rolled over on the table as happy, satisfied smiles widened on each head. "But at least the pomegranate seeds should be easy enough, I take those with me for a snack everyday. You can snack on those at school. Would also probably make less noise than cabbage or ham." He paused, he could hear a soft snoring sound coming from three mouths. He glanced at the little three-headed dog, sound asleep on the table. He chuckled as he picked up Cerberus gently and placed him on his bed so he could finish the clean-up before Hazel got back. He went straight away to his homework and worked on that until he heard Hazel coming in. He wished he could tell her about Cerberus and the new dangers their father had found out about, but both Hades and Cerberus instructed him not to say a word to anyone, as such, he didn't breathe a word of it to Hazel. But he did realize he kind of wanted to meet his teammates. Did his dad choose well? What was he saying, more than likely, Nico couldn't work with just about anybody, he needed specific people. And he needed people who would step up to the plate when he needed them to. He pondered over what his teammates were like before he drifted off to sleep, not realizing, he was going to find out very soon.

The next morning, Hazel practically dragged him out of bed on what he thought was a pretext for aid in preparing the school for the first social event of the year, the Michaelmas Festival. What he thought she really wanted was for him to get out and socialize. Socialize? With whom? He didn't care for the snobs, who made up half the students at Jupiter High, and the few people he did become acquainted with over the summer at Camp Half-Blood, well, not all were in the same class, much less in the same country. Reyna, the Coopers, and Hazel's boyfriend Frank were attending Romulus High in Archenland, while Scipio, Riccio, and Mosca were attending Dionysus High near Lantern Waste. But Nico only hastily bounced out of bed when he realized that Hazel was getting close to finding out about Cerberus. And he quickly promised to go with her to set up if she got out of his room long enough for him to get dressed. She seemed fine with the proposal and left the room. Nico heaved a sigh of relief as he closed the door behind her. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought, making sure Hazel didn't find out about Cerberus. And now he got himself roped into going with Hazel to school, on a Saturday, and maybe having to deal with people. Ugh. Like Monday through Friday wasn't bad enough, but he never broke a promise to his half-sister and went about getting dressed. Cerberus began to wake up in the meantime and mumbled something about breakfast.

"Well, if you want breakfast, you had better get up. But, Hazel's here, so you've got to be quiet," Nico told him. Cerberus's eyes popped open and nodded solemnly. He quickly dove into Nico's coat pocket before he walked out of the room. Hazel talked quite a bit, while Nico would only nod and mumble his replies, all while getting some food to Cerberus. It wasn't easy, but Nico managed to slip enough eggs and ham into the pocket where Cerberus was hiding to keep him satisfied until lunch. For extra measure, Nico tossed in a few pomegranate seeds, just in case Cerberus needed a mid-morning snack, or an afternoon snack if they couldn't get back until dinner. Nico trudged begrudgingly after Hazel, quite upset with his Saturday routine being interrupted. The auditorium was already filling up with other teens eager to get the rest of the decorating done in time for the evening's festivities. There were Jason and Piper, making sure Leo kept his eyes off the other girls long enough to get his job done, Percy was helping Annabeth with some project in the corner, Cecil and Lou Ellen were heading up the streamer committee with help from Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb, while Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke were helping the Pevensies in decorating the walls. They were the ones who noticed the newcomers first.

"Hey Hazel! Wanna come help us?" asked Jesse as he handed off another one of his hand-painted decorations to Lucy. Cut-outs of autumn leaves, cornucopias, geese, blackberries, asters, and chrysanthemums were laid out on the table Jesse was working solo at. Nico had to hand it to the kid, he knew how to paint.

"Oh, sorry, I already promised Lou Ellen I'd help her, but, Nico's not doing anything." Nico glared at his half-sister.

Leslie laughed, "Seems to me that Nico doesn't appreciate being volunteered."

"I don't blame him," grumbled Edmund as he snatched up a decoration, proving that he was pretty much in the same position.

"Oh do knock it off, Ed, it's not like you had anything else more important to do," quipped Susan.

"I had sleeping to catch up on. Sleeping is very important."

"I have to agree with him there," sighed Peter.

Jesse grinned sheepishly at Nico, "So, um, you don't have to help if you don't, uh, want to."

"So, Nico, you've got a choice. You can either come help us with streamers, or you can help them with the walls," stated Hazel.

Nico glanced between the two groups before letting out a groan, "I'll help with the walls."

Lucy clapped her hands, "Yay! Thank you so much!"

"Alright, then, keep him busy," winked Hazel before just about bouncing off towards Lou Ellen.

Nico sighed, "What do I have to do?"

Lucy grabbed a few decorations before replying, "You can follow me to the next wall, we're just about done with this one, and I can show you what to do. Once you've got the hang of it, you'll get into a rhythm."

"Fine," Nico begrudgingly trudged after her. He did notice that her hair was pulled back with an elegant lion barrette. Always lions for the youngest member of the royal family, especially after the siblings' encounter with the Great Lion himself. Lucy showed him which cut-outs were to be taped to the wall, and which ones were to be pinned. As Lucy had said, once he got the hang of it, he was able to get into a rhythm. And though Lucy asked a few courteous questions about him, for the most part, he was left alone. Well, sort of. He kept to himself mostly, just working, and he was perfectly fine with that. He really wasn't in the mood for socialization, but he couldn't help but overhear the conversations the Pevensies were having with Jesse and Leslie. Kind of hard not to considering they were working as a team, somewhat, and they were talking so loud the whole auditorium could hear them. But it was fun to listen to, especially when the four royal siblings were taking turns poking fun at each other. Now Nico understood why Jesse didn't have a problem with him working somewhere else, their words were coming out of their mouths like rapid fire. Sometimes Jesse would pipe in with something, but for the most part he would just groan and roll his eyes and kept his attention on his own work, though one could easily see the smile on his face as he too listened. When Piper called out for lunch break, they got about a little more than half the walls taken care of.

"Man, this is going by in a cinch. We should be done pretty soon after lunch!" Leslie remarked as the group sat down for a picnic lunch. All of the volunteers were clustered together on the floor, munching away at sandwiches and sipping from juice boxes. Nico mentally thanked both Hades and Aslan, he got a black forest ham sandwich and would sneak a few pieces into his coat pocket for Cerberus whenever he could.

"Yeah, our new helper has been plowing away like a champ," remarked Jesse as he grinned at Nico.

Jason scoffed, "Lucky you, our whole job is to make sure Leo gets his work done."

"What? Not my problem if half the volunteers are such pretty girls," grinned Leo as he winked at a couple of them.

Piper sighed, "You know, if you could just hurry it up, you might be able to talk to one of those pretty girls."

"Why should I? I can do it right now. Any of you ladies wanna go out with this hot muffin?"

"Did he just say what I think he said?" asked Susan as she glanced at Edmund.

Edmund merely grinned, "Yes, you did. The only problem is that muffin is going to start getting stale."

"What? Impossible, practically fresh from the oven and a shelf life of a good forty years."

Edmund guwaffed, "Oh yeah? Last I heard, the only time a muffin lasted that long it was rock solid!"

"Yeah, well, guess what, Eddy, this muffin ain't that hard."

"No, but it will be, and then you'll be nothing but shelf-worthy." Edmund grinned, followed by an elfish grin from Leo, and the two practically bounced into a wrestling match.

"Well, thank you for keeping it away from us and the food," Lucy called out nonchalantly before turning back to her juice. Jason and Peter merely glanced at each other and let out a sigh before slowly standing up to separate the two. Percy kept an eye on them in case they needed any help, but they were able to bring back the two troublemakers without much of a problem, and two big grins on their faces despite every attempt to pout.

Nico glanced at Jesse, "Do they do that all the time?"

"You have no idea." But too soon, lunch was over and everyone was back at work. They were in the final lap of decorating when Nico felt a sudden dread overcome him. He wasn't sure if anyone else sensed it too, or if it had just been happening gradually and he didn't notice, but, everyone else was becoming more quiet. That probably was what allowed them to hear a crash in the distance.

"Did, did anyone hear that?" asked Jesse worriedly.

"I, I think so," replied Jason. Everyone in the room began to tense up, though they continued to work albeit slowly. But the cherry on top came in the form of Grover, who burst through the door while flailing his arms, his eyes full of panic.

"Everyone, head to the barracks! Now!"

Percy leapt towards his best friend, "Grover, what's going on?" Jason and Peter soon joined him.

"Everyone needs to get out now! There's . . . the Hydra's here! It's heading this way! We need to go, now!" Everyone glanced at each other in alarm, but Jason, Percy, and Peter were the first to respond and sprang out the door, Leo and Edmund not far behind. Peter came sprinting back in.

"Everybody, out now!" Everyone dropped what they were doing and dashed out of the building. Nico made sure he was the last one out on purpose, especially when Cerberus popped out and nodded his heads. This was it, it was beginning.

"What in Hades?"

"By the Lion's Mane, it, it . . ."

"Percy, it looks different!" shrieked Annabeth. Nico gasped when he finally got a look at the modified Hydra. It was modified, alright, the original Hydra was still there, but it was now covered in an almost silvery armour with spikes on the sides of its body and heads.

"Run, just, run! Everybody to the barracks!" called out Grover, The group started running. Nico did as well, straight into a shadow.

"Nico!" Hazel called out, right before he disappeared. He came out on top of the school building and quickly made sure that no one could see him before he let out Cerberus.

"Alright, looks like this is it."

"Yup, that Hydra is definitely one of them," growled Cerberus.

"Then let's do this. Cerberus, power up!" Cerberus flew into the ring and Nico was instantly changed into his super hero garb. He leapt off the building and landed in direct sight of the hydra. The hydra's five heads slowly turned towards the lone figure in black.

"Cerberus," all five heads hissed at him.

"Kind of, I'm using his powers, but you do know what he's here to do, right?"

"Send us back to Tartarus!"

"That's right," replied Nico as he pulled out his two scythes. He found to his surprise, relief, and delight that they were much lighter than they looked, but he could still feel the power surging through them.

"No! I will kill you first!" shrieked the hydra as it charged at him. Nico lept backwards, drawing the creature away from the civilians. He hoped his teammates would be able to get there in time to help him, that is, if they could get away to help, or if they even heard about the attack yet. There were too many possibilities for Nico to even consider, especially now that he had an angry, five headed, fire-breathing monster rushing towards him. He lept back a few more times, pulling the Hydra even further away, and to give them ample room to fight without harming anyone else. The hydra gave no thought as to Nico's strategy as it seemed to only be concerned with destroying him before he destroyed it. When Nico got the Hydra to a spot he was satisfied with, he turned and attacked. He wished ever so much more for the Phoenix as its fiery powers would have kept any severed heads from growing back. But that really left Nico with one option, to attempt to attack its body. He flipped over the heads, completely clearing them, and in its surprise, he brought his scythes down hard. But when the scythes and the armour made contact, it emitted a sonic wave that sent Nico flying into a boulder. He groaned as he tried to get back up.

The Hydra laughed, "Like my new armour? It protects the gem's source from you, and nothing can cut through it." Except the Nemean Lion, realized Nico. He got up and yelped as the Hydra's claws wrapped around his waist, and squeezed. "Whoever thought they could stop us is a fool. You shouldn't have gotten involved, because now, you're going to die." Nico fought frantically against the claws as he wheezed for breath before noticing with horror that the Hydra was going to torch him.

"They say two heads are better than one, but this is a bit much!" Both the hydra and Nico jumped when the new voice spoke. Nico's spirit began to soar, perhaps that was one of his teammates! "Hey big fella, I'm over here!" The two glanced around at the surrounding areas to find the speaker. "No, no, over here! Come on man, I'm waving my arms! Can't you see me?"

"Where are you?" roared the hydra.

"Apparently only two heads are better than one. You have five heads, and you're dumb and blind!"

"Show yourself!"

"I am! You're just not looking! Come on! My arms are getting tired of waving at you!" That's when both Nico and the hydra noticed the fiery feathered figure in the treetops. Nico blinked in surprise, he was pretty visible! How did the hydra not notice him before? Nico's only excuse for not being able to see him was because the hydra was blocking his vision half the time. But Nico didn't get to think more on it as the hydra shrieked in pain, and Nico was falling. He was caught by the Nemean Lion, though the only real definitive feature was the mane-like hoodie. The rest of it certainly looked like a girl in a lion-colored suit.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Um, uh, yeah, thanks."

"Are you going to say something about me being a girl too?"

"No, no, you just took me by surprise, and well . . . look out!" The hydra let loose a stream of fire, but the Nemean Lion stepped between the flames and Nico, the flames passing around them harmlessly. When the creature finally stopped, it let out a roar.

"Traitor!"

"No, Nemea was just given a better deal, that's all," quipped the girl. Nico grabbed her arm as the Phoenix swooped down for an attack.

"I need you to get that armour off of it. It's the only way I can get to the gem's source."

"Right, on it. Hey Phoenix, I need you to help me take care of these heads!" she called out as she raced towards the two fire-throwing combatants.

He grinned at her, "With pleasure!" With a grunt, the Nemean Lion jumped up and extended her claws. As soon as she swiped her hand across the hydra's first head, the Phoenix threw a fireball at it. Two more heads did not pop out. They quickly worked their way through the other four heads before the Nemean Lion slashed her claws across the armour that lay on the hydra's back. Nico had his scythes glowing and ready, and when he saw a faint, greenish glow on the hydra's back, he charged and brought both scythes down hard. The hydra began to disintegrate, every single bit being sucked into a stone surrounded by a green glow. When it stopped glowing, it fell to the ground. Nico picked it up and realized that it was a coral.

"Alright, that was awesome, man!" Phoenix approached Nico and raised his hand for a high-five. Nico just glanced at him before turning back to the stone.

"Is that what they'll turn into?" asked the Nemean Lion.

"Kind of, they might turn into different stones, but, yes."

"So, now what?"

"I have to bring this to Hades. Uh, thanks for your help, looks like we're done for today."

"Hey man, come on, be nice! This is the first time for all of us. Phoenix did say we are a team."

"Speaking of, should we continue to use our creatures' names, or should we come up with something else for each of us? This guy here blatantly pointed out that the Nemean Lion isn't a girl."

"Yeah, so you could be . . ."

"Lioness," mumbled Nico. The girl glanced at him in surprise. Why? Lioness meant a female lion, so it was the logical result.

"Yeah, that's what I was going to say! And you can call me . . . Hot Stuff!"

"No, you're going to be Firebird, and I'll be Ghost Hound. There, simple enough."

"What? No, Firebird's way too simple. I want something hot and sizzling . . . ooh, maybe McSizzle!"

"No, absolutely not, it's Firebird. Now, if you'll excuse me . . ."

"Should we reveal our identities?" asked Lioness.

Nico shook his head, "It's best that we don't. I don't want anyone to accidentally slip something about one of the others."

"Oh, um, OK."

Nico sighed, "But, when I hand this to Hades, I can ask if he thinks it's a good idea. I'll let you know when the next monster comes."

"Thank you," Lioness smiled. "See you for the next round!" With a smile and a wave, she lept away.

"Huh, nice move, doing that to win the lady's favor."

"I wasn't doing it to win her favor or anything."

"Oh, so I've got first dibs!"

"What? No! You . . . we're supposed to be a team to stop monsters from destroying Narnia, we're not here to flirt with girls!" As he said it, Nico thought it odd that he heard something similar being said somewhere before.

Firebird chuckled, "Whatever man. We'll talk about this later. I've got something to get back to. See ya!" With that, his annoyingly grinning face finally flew away, leaving Nico alone in the former battlefield. Heaving a sigh, he shadowed quickly to his father's realm. He let Cerberus do the guiding as he had no idea where Hades would have wanted him to go. But he found out quickly when he stepped out of the shadows and saw that he was in a room filled with jewel cabinets.

"Well done, you have captured your first monster," came Hades' voice. Nico turned around, there was his father, walking towards him.

"Won't Zeus suspect something now?"

"Oh, he already knows. But now he also finally realizes the extent of the danger that you are in and why I had to do what I had to do. So, for now, you're not going to get a lightning bolt down your back."

"Oh, thanks."

Hades chuckled as he patted Nico's head, "And thank you, for taking care of this. I apologize for not being able to tell you everything and had to leave that to Cerberus, but it was for the best." Nico merely nodded as he opened the palm of his hand, the coral left by the Hydra was still there. "Ah yes, thank you." Hades took the stone and placed it in one of the cabinets. "Things are going to get worse."

"With monsters on the loose, how could it get any better?"

Hades glanced at him, a sad smile on his face, "That is true, but, the monsters are to get more and more powerful. Hephaestus is creating four more pieces, just in case you need aid."

"Well, thank you . . . thank you, for looking out for us."

Hades patted his shoulder, "It's supposed to be my job, and since I've basically chosen you to fight this, well, what kind of a father would I be if I let my only son get killed?"

"Uh, Lycaon?"

Hades snorted, "Well, yes, but, let's not go there, shall we? Point is, I do care about your well-being, and though I can't be there for you all the time, I will try to take care of you the best way that I can."

Nico nodded, "I know."

"Well, I suggest you get back to Narnia, Cerberus must be needing some food and rest."

"Right, um, real quick question."

"Yes?"

"The others were wondering, should we reveal our true identities to each other?"

"Maybe later, but not right now. You three just started working together. Perhaps later, when you know for certain that, no matter who's beneath the mask, you can and will trust them."

Nico blinked, "Oh, um, OK, good point. But, you're worried more about them trusting me, than me trusting them."

Hades shrugged, "It could go either way. It's better to gain that trust and then reveal yourselves. Do you think that answer will satisfy them?"

"M-maybe, if not . . . I'll think of something."

Hades nodded, "Alright, but if you need any help, don't hesitate to ask."

"Right, goodbye Dad."

"Goodbye, my son." The two vanished into the shadows, though Nico felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. His father was thinking about how Lioness and Firebird would react to him without his mask. His dad noticed how many people acted around Nico. Sure, there were a few who didn't seem to mind him, but most of them were in other high schools. As for everyone at Jupiter High, he always noticed the looks of relief when he was leaving. Perhaps Hades also saw this as a way to help his son get a social life? If it was, it was turning out to be a pretty good idea so far. Neither Lioness nor Firebird seemed to have a problem with him. At least, not that he had noticed as of yet. Maybe once they fought more monsters together, he would be able to tell for sure. Nico heard a little whimper, quickly realizing that Cerberus was about to change him back. He quickly found a spot not far from the school where no one could see him, right as Cerberus flew out of his ring.

"Yay, we did it," barked Cerberus tiredly.

"That we did, Cerberus. Are there any pomegranate seeds left?"

"A few."

"Think that should hold you until supper?"

"I think so. Right now, I just want to take a nap, I'm so tired," Cerberus yawned.

"Alright, but please try not to snore, I have to go find Hazel and the others." Cerberus' three heads slowly nodded as he fought to keep his eyes open long enough to dive into Nico's pocket. Nico watched as each head took a pomegranate seed, chewed on it, and instantly fell asleep before he set out to find the volunteers.

"Nico, where have you been?" asked Hazel when he nearly ran into them on their way back to the school.

"Uh, um . . ." Oh shoot, he didn't have a ready excuse.

"Trying to sneak off and get a piece of the action, eh?" quipped Edmund.

"S-something like that, yeah." Keep it steady, keep it smooth, or they'll figure it out real quick.

"Did Ghost Hound have to save you?" grinned Leo.

Nico blinked, "Say what?"

"Guess the guy didn't give you his name then. But Firebird and Lioness came to the barracks to make sure everyone was alright. They told us Ghost Hound was bringing the monster down to Hades," commented Susan, acting a bit flustered. Had she been flirting with Firebird?

"And that the monsters change into stones?" wondered Peter as he scratched his head.

"Which would make sense if Gaia is somehow involved," mused Jason. But Nico alone noticed the glances the four Pevensies shot each other. Were they wondering about the White Witch too? It would in fact make sense, Chiron had mentioned a few witches and dwarves had attempted to bring her back once before, who's to say Gaia couldn't do it? And if she had, they were in for some real trouble. She was only defeated thanks to Aslan. Would he come back to defeat her a second time?

"Well, as much as we would all like to speculate about everything, there's still an auditorium to finish decorating," quipped Jesse.

"Oh man, you're right!"

"And we've only got a few minutes!" exclaimed Hazel as she glanced at her watch.

"Then let's get a move-on!"

"I only hope the hydra made everybody late," mumbled Leo as everyone dashed back to the school and rushed around, getting the final touches put up. The festival went on without a hitch, the talk focusing on the superheroes who saved the day and wondering what was going on with the monsters. Nico couldn't say a word even if he wanted to, as soon as he attempted to talk about it, everyone seemed to clam up or he was just outright ignored. Why? He wasn't going to combust or randomly call up zombies or kill anyone. Why did they fear him so much? Why did they fear Hades so much? After several attempts, Nico just about gave up, until a girl his age in a sky blue dress approached him. It took him a second, but he was startled to recognise Lucy Pevensie.

"What do you want?" he grumbled.

"We thought you were going to join us. Well, aren't you?" asked Lucy. Nico blinked, they were expecting him? He glanced over at the table where her siblings and their friends sat. A few of them noticed he was looking their way and waved him over. "I know we're not demigods and might not entirely understand what you're going through, but, we'd like to try. I mean, my brothers, sister, and I are the kings and queens of Narnia, we want to be sure we're doing right by everyone, including you."

"But, you were expecting me?"

"Well, yes. We noticed you were trying to make the rounds. I mean, unless, you don't want to hang out with us."

"Oh, no, it's just, well, I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I guess I misjudged you. I thought you'd be like everybody else and shun me."

"What? Oh no! After what happened this afternoon?"

Nico glanced at her warily, "What do you mean?"

"Well, Ghost Hound, Lioness, and Firebird are clearly working for Hades to protect us. Why should we shun the son of the one deity who seems to be actively looking out for our welfare?"

"Looks like someone was paying attention."

"So, are you going to come?" she asked again. He glanced over at the table as a few of them began to laugh.

His lips began to curl into a smile, "Sure."

"Great!" Lucy grabbed his arm and practically dragged him to the table. He was surprised at how strong she was. There was more to this girl than met the eye. That's when Nico took a double take at her barrette. Was it glowing? If so, was Queen Lucy Lioness? If so, she was an invaluable member of their team, and that meant Nico had to make extra sure that nothing happened to her. But she did have the Nemean Lion, maybe that was all she needed. Those thoughts were soon pushed to the side when Lucy's group practically welcomed him with open arms. They did seem a bit nervous, but Nico quickly found out that it had more to do with trying to find out what they could talk about with him rather than being cautious of him for being a son of Hades. And, surprisingly, he enjoyed himself that evening, they were a great group. Maybe things weren't so bad after all, even with the monsters. But, as he was soon to find out, as his father had mentioned, things were only going to get worse.