Holy Hera!~ I'm so sorry I didn't update on Tuesday like I normally do! I was stuck on what to do with this chapter until an idea hit me while I was watching 'The Chronicles of Narnia' earlier. Actually I'm still watching it... or at least the third movie. I wrote this entire chapter while I watched the first and second. XD. Nothing says inspiration like a giant all knowing lion and four dysfunctional kids. Anyway it's finally here so be happy already!

Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own PJATO. If I did there would be more Nico love. And dragons, everyone loves dragons so long as they're not eating you. Sadly there are no dragons in this story either. For some reason I've had a strange fixation on snakes through this series. Oh well. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Somehow Chiron managed to get the sing along going again and at the same time extract Nico and Chloe from the mass of campers that surrounded them. He led the two away from the others and only stopped when they were well out of hearing range.

"Chiron what-"Chloe began to speak but then saw the look on Chiron's face and stopped midsentence.

"I had hoped that we could at least wait until Mr. D got back before we sought a quest." He sighed "But it seems we have no choice in the matter."

"You're actually letting us go?" Nico asked raising an eyebrow.

"It is unlikely that I could stop you if I wanted to Nico, and Chloe you are too stubborn to let this drop so yes, against normal camp policy I am going to let you go. Usually we would wait for Mr. D to give the go ahead but I sense that we have little time left for you to accomplish what you need to." Chiron said.

"Which would be what?" Chloe asked.

"That is for you to figure out. Now both of you get some rest for tonight, we'll send you off first thing in the morning so make sure you are ready."

It was futile to argue so the two half-bloods agreed and headed back toward the cabin area while Chiron went back to the camp fire to make sure things were settled there. They didn't talk as they walked back side by side. There really was nothing to say and Chloe was absorbed with the lines of the prophesy anyway. She was trying to figure out what it all meant. Obviously they had to save someone from 'the source of discord', that had to be the woman in the throne room she had seen in her dreams. But if that was the case they had even less time than she had hoped. The woman had said the world would be thrown into chaos by the end of the week. That was five days from now, not including tonight.

She stopped walking abruptly with a frown on her face. Nico noticed her stop and glanced back at her. "What do you think it meant... past lands of death and beyond?" She asked "I know the underworld is the land of the dead, that's obvious. But is there anything beyond the underworld?"

"I don't know. It could mean some place anywhere in the underworld. We could ask my dad, he might know."

"Shouldn't he be up on Olympus squabbling with the other gods?" She wondered out loud with a bland expression on her face.

"It's unlikely, he doesn't leave the underworld much. He wouldn't consider something trivial like Artemis having a daughter reason to visit his already dysfunctional family... no offence."

"None taken. I kind of agree." She shrugged. Though she really wasn't sure she wanted to be visiting the Lord of the Dead. Going to the underworld would be unpleasant enough, if what she heard about it was anything to go by, she didn't want to intrude upon Hades' palace when some minor god was spreading conflict through the world trying to start wars and get people killed.

"Look we should probably pack what we need and get some sleep. We'll likely need it."

"Yeah right... well... night then." She said feeling a bit awkward as she turned to go back to her cabin which now luminously glowed under the light of the moon.

She packed some things she considered to be necessary for the quest into her duffle bag. A couple changes of clothes went in first followed by a small bag of drachmas that she figured would come in handy. The last to go in was the Hunter's coat from the bottom of her trunk, she wasn't sure she should be taking such a thing, it wasn't hers after all, but she figured it would be cold in the underworld and her old winter jacket was in dire need of a replacement.

When she was done packing her things she extinguished the brazier in the center of the room and lay back on her bed staring at the underside of the bunk above her. There was light in the room due to the glowing stars on the ceiling and the moon light was very nearly full giving the room a dim glow. The light, which mirrored the phases of the moon as Chloe expected, would be full soon. Probably within the week, if not at the end of it. Five days to be exact, the same amount of time she would have to save the world.

Holy Hera, how could she be expected to save the world within five days? That was like asking her to climb mount Everest in an hour, there was no way she could do it, no way anyone could do it. Sure Percy had managed to save the world in less time... more than once in fact. But she wasn't Percy; she wasn't a child of the Big Three. She was Chloe... the sole child of Artemis who had no idea what kind of powers she had aside from her ability with a bow and knives.

Chloe rolled onto her stomach and buried her face into her pillow to block out the light from the painted stars and moon. She needed sleep. But sleep would not come to her. She tossed and turned the whole night, long after she had heard the other campers head for bed she was still awake, thoughts running through her head.

~O~

It wasn't until the early morning hours that she finally managed to doze off into an uneasy sleep but even that didn't last very long. All too soon a knock came at the door with a call to wake up. Chloe groaned and rolled over onto her side pillow over her head to block out the noise and the light. If she had taken the pillow off her head she might have heard the door creak open then she might have been prepared for when her blankets were harshly pulled away.

Eyes snapping open when she felt a cold hand on her ankle, Chloe kicked out viciously, sending whoever had grabbed her stumbling across the room. In seconds Chloe was sitting up in a crouching position ready to defend herself from any rouge Hermes campers as she had temporarily forgotten where she was. After a moment, when she had gathered her bearings, she looked around to see who she had kicked.

"What is your problem with hitting and kicking me in the stomach?" Nico groaned from the floor.

"What in Hades! Nico how did you get in here! There's a charm around the door to keep boys out!" Chloe exclaimed as she jumped from her bed to help Nico off of the floor.

Once he was sitting, still holding his stomach from the blow her foot had given him, he looked up at her from under his dark eyelashes. "Chiron sent me to get you. I knocked but you weren't answering." He said.

"That doesn't explain how you go in here without being turned into a fluffy bunny!" She threw her hand up in the air in exasperation.

"Oh that. I knew about the charm, instead of coming through the door I shadow traveled in. I didn't know if it would work or not. Glad I don't have a cotton tail though."

Chloe couldn't help but grin at that one and stuck her hand out to help him off of the floor. He took it and she heaved him to his feet. When he was standing Chloe had to take a step back, realizing how close he was and abruptly let go of his hand.

"I heard the door open." She muttered looking towards the still open door.

"Yeah I had to open it to get a good look at the cabin before I traveled in. I didn't want to take another unfortunate trip to China."

Chloe vaguely wondered how he had managed to send himself to China but decided that that was a story for another time."Alright well I'm up."

"Good lets go."Nico said motioning to the door.

"Nuh uh, not so fast Houdini. I still have to get ready. I'm not walking out of here in my pyjamas." Chloe said putting her hands on her hips intimidating. Nico looked at what she was wearing and for a moment she could have sworn she was the boy's face turn red but then he turned away and cleared his throat.

"Right sorry. You get ready, I'll meet you by Thalia's tree with Chiron and the rest." He said stepping into a shadow created in the corner and when Chloe blinked he was gone.

She huffed and marched over to the door to close it lest anyone else decide to try to barge in on her and quickly got ready. Donning her clothes and the bow and quiver left for her by her mother she pulled up her copper colored hair and glanced at herself in the mirror that was in the bathroom after she had splashed her face to get rid of the last of the sleepiness from her. Her face was drawn and tired, she looked terrified and she was if the clenching in her stomach was anything to go by. She wished she could look calm and ready to take on this challenge. But the reality was that she wasn't and yet she couldn't back out of this either. Everyone was counting on her to fulfil the prophesy.

Taking a deep breath she left the bathroom, grabbed her bag and then shut the cabin door behind her. She knew... hoped she would be back soon but the click of the door sounded so definite that she had the urge to make sure it would open for her again. She didn't, she turned her back on the cabin and made her way through the camp.

Everything was quiet, the campers were not yet awake, even the sky was not very light, but it was for the best that they leave early. That way a commotion was not made by their departure. Chloe walked slowly, taking in everything. She had lived her whole life here and now for the first time other than a solstice she was leaving. It felt strange, and all too soon she was beside Thalia's tree with Chiron the head counselors, and Nico.

She noticed Chiron and Annabeth, as well as some of the others eye the bow and quiver she brought, some with surprise others curiosity but none spoke of it. For that at least she was grateful, she did not want to explain anything to anyone.

"Argus will take you into the city; discuss your course of action on the way. It is clear you will have to go to the underworld in order to finish this quest. It may be best to start there." Chiron said looking down at the two demigods who stood side by side. Nico looked cool and composed Chloe was fidgeting with her bag and quiver doing her best not to meet anyone's eyes.

"If that's the case we should head for the door of Orpheus, it's the closest entrance to the underworld." Nico said sharing a nod with Percy. The two had been that way before, hopefully it was still there.

"Be careful you two. Let's see you come back so we don't have to burn any shrouds" Annabeth said giving both a brief hug. Nico coughed when he was let go and Chloe stood frozen like a statue. She understood why Nico got a hug, he and Annabeth were friends but she did not understand why she had been hugged until the blonde girl whispered in her ear. "Make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid."

Chloe choked out a laugh which earned the two strange glances from everyone else and a venomous glare from Clarisse who obviously thought that they should be taking this quest seriously and not laughing about it. They said farewell and Chloe was about to hop into the camp van after Nico when someone called to her. She shifted slightly to look over her shoulder and was both relieved and a bit disappointed to see Sophia there. She did not fail to notice that Sam was nowhere in sight.

"I'm glad I caught you before you left." Sophia said panting slightly. She had run all the way here from her cabin after spending an all-nighter if the bags under her eyes were anything to go by. "I spent the last week making these for you, stayed up last night to finish, figured you would need them for what you're about to do."

She pulled out a box from behind her back and handed it to Chloe who was aware that everyone was staring at them. She took the box and opened it to reveal two celestial bronze hunting knives sitting on red velvet. They were a beautiful piece of work, the handles made of a different material than the blade but just a lethal looking, it almost looked as if Sophia had stolen a few scales from Clarisse's Draken hide. Chloe smiled and ran a hand over the detailing which depicted the faces of different animal and shut the case. She threw herself at Sophia and wrapped her in a tight hug which was gladly returned.

"Don't go getting yourself killed Knickers. We want you back in one piece." She said into her ear. Chloe nodded not failing to notice that her friend had said we and not me. She knew Sophia did not mean any of the campers standing there with them, but Sam.

"I'll be back before you can say hippocampus." She said withdrawing from the hug and going to sit in the van. She waved to everyone as the door shut and as she looked out she saw Sophia waving and mouth the word 'hippocampus' to her. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time but held it in. Now was the time for her to swallow her fear and be the fighter she was trained to be and was before on the battlefield during the wars.

"So this door... Where exactly is it?" she asked turning to Nico once they were on the road.

"New York." He answered shortly. "I asked Argus to just take us as far as the city. I can Shadow Travel the both of us to Central park from there."

Chloe simply nodded. She wasn't sure how she felt about Shadow Travel. She had never done anything like it before but stories went around that Percy had before and that it had not been a pleasant experience. Then again she was never one to believe gossip so she would just have to wait to see how it was before she formed an opinion.

"You know you should calm down a bit, you'll be no help in the underworld if you're anxious. There are things there that feed on your fears." He said, his dark eyes turned to her and she felt her face go red from both anger and embarrassment.

"I'm calm." She said pulling her face into a neutral expression as best she could. She wasn't very good at hiding her emotions she was often told by her friends that she wore her heart on her sleeve. So she didn't expect that she would be successful and she was entirely right.

"I'm serious Chloe." He looked her straight in the face and this time she blushed for an entirely different reason, one she couldn't really place. "It's just a quest. People go on them all the time and come back completely fine. It's simple we go to the underworld ask my dad where to go, we go we free whoever needs freeing and we're done."

Oh but things were rarely that easy. And he did forget to mention the few times campers did not return from quests and funeral rights were performed for them, shrouds burned and campers silently mourning their loss. Chloe shook those thoughts from her head and looked down at her hands which hung near her legs. "Yeah, I know." She said quietly. She knew she shouldn't be worrying, worrying just caused her to lose sight of what needed to be done so she pulled on her reserves of courage and took a deep breath.

They did not speak for the remainder of the trip, but sat in a comfortable silence. Chloe rummaged through her bag and pulled out a bag of trail mix to munch on, she hadn't eaten breakfast and she had been grateful when Chiron had given the two of them some extra food as well as Nectar squares and a thermos of Ambrosia. She offered some to Nico silently and together the two of them had polished off the bag by the time they had reached the outskirts of the nearest city.

They bid farewell to Argus who wished them luck in his own silent way then drove off leaving the two of them surrounded by a mass of towering concrete buildings.

"Cities always made me uncomfortable. There aren't enough trees." Chloe said looking around trying to find any source of greenery in the vicinity. Some trees lined the streets evenly spaced apart from each other in small cramped boxes that surely did nothing to contain the roots. She felt bad for the plants that were here, they could not grow as they wanted and there was hardly any wildlife here aside from the birds that sat on the sides of the buildings watching them.

"Figures you would say that. The other campers told me you practically lived in the woods." Nico said waving to her so she would follow him down the street.

"What are you a stalker?" She asked wondering what kind of conversation he would be having with people that would lead to her being in the woods.

"When you're rescued by a girl in the middle of the woods who has the gall to punch you out you tend to be curious." Nico said with a shrug as if it wasn't weird at all.

Chloe pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest as she walked. She understood his curiosity, she would have been too. But she wasn't sure how she felt about people talking about her and telling people she hardly knew how she liked to spend her time. She'd let it go... just this once, and only because she knew that Nico would probably save her life more than once on this quest as she knew very little about the underworld.

"So where are we going?" Chloe after was seemed like at least twenty minutes of walking. There was no way that they were just wandering for the sake of it. There had to be a reason.

"I'm going to visit Percy's mom." He replied. "There's something I need to pick up there."

Now Chloe was definitely confused, what would Percy's mom have that Nico needed. She was just a mortal wasn't she? Well she'd find out soon enough she supposed since Nico had just turned and walked up to a quaint little home. The mailbox displayed the name 'Blofis' and Chloe wondered if thios really was the right place. Wasn't Percy's last name 'Jackson'? Then again hadn't his mother gotten remarried a few years ago? She was sure she had heard some of the campers talking about it at the time.

Nico walked right up to the door and knocked on it then stuck his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans. Chloe had to admit he looked pretty cool like that. After a few seconds there was some noise from the house and the door opened up to reveal a tall man with laugh lines on his face. He seemed kind enough. He looked at Nico, clearly surprised and then to Chloe who stood slightly behind him then back. There were gears working in his head she could almost see it.

"Hello Nico, it's been a while." The man said at last and a small smile warmed his face.

"Hey Paul, is Sally home. I need to ask her a favor." Nico said sounding casual. Chloe absently wondered how often he was at this house to be able to call them by their first names.

"She's just in the back room painting. Come inside while I go get her." He motioned for the two to come in and once they were over the threshold, closed the door behind them. The moment they stepped into the house Chloe felt at home. She took off her sneakers and followed Nico to the living room which was painted a calming light blue color and there were plants everywhere. Small trees and flowers in the window boxes, a few hanging plants.

"By the way," Paul said getting her attention. She turned and found him standing close while he looked at her. "I'm Paul Blofis, I don't believe we've met."

"Oh um... I'm Chloe... Theron." She said taking his outstretched hand to shake it. She had to make up the last part of her name, she'd never been told if she had a surname so she had chosen a name that kept her close to her mother. The name meant 'Hunter' in Greek. She had sometimes heard it used when people referred to her mother in old history books sometimes.

"Nice to meet you Chloe Theron." Paul said giving her the same smile he had given Nico. "I'll go get Sally. So sit down and relax for a bit."

Chloe did as she was told and sat down on the blue-green colored sofa while Nico took up the chair across from her. It wasn't long until they heard footsteps approaching the room again and this time Paul was with a pretty lady blue eyes who had her brown hair tied back haphazardously as if she had been in the middle of doing something. She went right over to Nico and pulled him into a crushing hug.

"Nico! It's been too long. How are you dear, would you like something to eat?"

"No thanks Sally, I'm fine." Nico said with a small smile on his face when the older woman released him. That was when she turned to Chloe who froze like a deer in headlights. She had been fidgeting nervously the whole time.

"And who's this?" She asked sending Nico a look that wasn't hard to interpret. It caused both teenagers to go red in the face.

"C-Chloe Ms.. ummm" She didn't know if she still went by Jackson or by Blofis.

"Just call me Sally dear. It's nice to meet you, it's rare Nico shows up here these days, even rarer that he brings a girl along and by that I mean never." Sally said with a laugh. If possible Chloe felt her face go even more red.

"Um... I'm not sure why you think he brought me here but we actually came because we're on a quest." She said looking at her feet and shuffling them awkwardly. She almost knew if she looked up she would see Sally frowning at her.

"Really? Well what is it you need kids? I'm always happy to help friends of Percy's." She said

"Well I was wondering if we could borrow Mrs. O'Leary for a bit. We need to travel to New York in as little time as we can and I don't have much practise Shadow Traveling with an extra person." Nico explained. At this Chloe did look up. Mrs. O'Leary was a Hellhound that Percy took care of after her original owner had died. She hadn't seen the hound at camp lately; it appeared she had been here the whole time.

"I'm sure Percy wouldn't mind." Sally said with a light smile. "But why on earth are you going to New York?"

"We're heading to the underworld to find something. Don't worry it's totally safe." Nico said and Chloe felt as if he was flat out lying just to make sure this woman didn't worry. Going to the underworld was far from safe for someone who had never been there, and even for people who had been. Sally pursed her lips but said nothing about what Nico told her.

"Alright. Mrs. O'Leary is in the back yard. You two be careful okay?" She said watching the two as they stood to leave.

"We will." Nico said and once again motioned for Chloe to follow.

Chloe smiled to the woman and gave a small wave and a "Thanks" before she followed Nico down the hall and out the back door to a medium sized back yard. There was a small tree there and in the shade of it was the biggest dog that was possibly in the mortal realm.

Mrs. O'Leary lifted her head and barked at them as she got up and bounded over. Chloe stood frozen in place. She had always been wary of the Hellhound and now she was required to ride one through a shadow to get to New York. Oh Nico so owed her for this.

Whew *wipes brow* That one was a bit longer than the others by like a page and a half, not a whole lot I know but still I just couldn't stop when I got going.

Right, so I want to address a few things here the first of which being how Nico got into the Artemis Cabin. I know I said boys couldn't enter, but that situation was calling to me. I could totally see it happening and I even laughed a bit when I wrote it cause hey, even though we all love Nico, it's just too easy to beat him up.

Second I'm sorry if anyone seems a bit out of character. It's been almost a year since I last read through all of the books so i keep having to go back and check things every once in a while. So if I got anything wrong let me know.

And third MRS. O'LEARY! I HAD to add her in here along with Sally and Paul. I simply love them. I wanted to make sure they appeared somewhere and this just fit too well in my head so I hope you like that I managed to get them in there as well as embarrass Nico and Chloe a bit. I found that fun.

Shout out to anon andDragonine09 for reviewing. Thank to anyone else who has Faved or Alerted. It means a lot to me that you guys are reading this and hopefully liking it? Remember reviews mean love and cookies!

~Peter