The explosion shook the house so violently Nico was knocked off the bed and into the laps of the four people sleeping beside it. Clarisse and Reyna were the first ones to their feet and Clarisse lunged for her weapon. Reyna grabbed her sword to her side and blinked away her confusion.

"What in Hades-"

"Get up!" Reyna ordered, grabbing up Len and Messoria by the collars of their shirts and pushed them towards the door. "We're in trouble."

Clarisse burst through the door to find a wall of flames coming towards them. She yelped and jumped back, nearly tripping over Nico as he stumbled to his own feet. Messoria nearly tipped, but regained her balance with the help of Grayson.

A deafening roar sounded before a crash that sounded suspiciously like something tearing apart the entire house. A bull appeared, crashing through the flames, aiming straight for Reyna. The Demigods scattered as the bull crashed through the opposite wall, providing them a new exit.

"Out, now, we'll need space for this one!" Reyna shouted over the roaring flames and cracking foundation. Her team followed her lead, jumping through the hole in the wall into the night air, its peace somewhat marred by the rampaging, fire-breathing bull preparing to charge them again.

"It's slow, but hot, we can't get in front of it!" Len called out to Reyna.

"It's a Khalkotauroi!" Clarisse snarled. "The last time I had to fight one of these bad boys we needed a Cyclops to take him down."

"Well," Reyna growled. "We don't have a Cyclops handy, and he's made of metal, perfect."

Messoria finally developed her own staff to be used in the fight. "Orders then?"

The bull charged directly at Messoria, she took to the sky just in time for the bull to pass under her. Its huge horn scraped the bricks as it lumbered back around to face them with a mighty roar. Reyna came back down, stabbing at the back of its neck, but that didn't seem to do anything and Messoria was thrown off and back into the house.

Reyna squinted. "Grayson, Solace, find upper ground and shoot for its eyes, maybe we have half a chance if it can't see!"

The bull charged towards Clarisse this time, but she ducked and rolled, allowing for the bull to crash into her neighbor's house. "Oops, sorry cat lady." She muttered with a smirk as the bull had to struggle to back its huge horns from the brick foundation.

Grayson and Solace had scaled a nearby house, standing side by side on the roof they nocked their arrows and shot. Most of their arrows missed their targets and bounced off of its armored body.

"Reyna!" Len called out again after dodging one of its massive hooves. "Jason used a fire-proof potion, and the Greeks used a Cyclops, I don't think we can kill this thing without being able to withstand heat!"

Reyna thought fast. "Len, the hose!"

"It'll evaporate!"

"We need to freeze it." Nico yelped, clutching at his chest.

"I got that covered." Messoria snarled as the air seemed to drop in temperature.

The bull let out a roar, throwing flame several yards outwards. "Len, get the hose, and turn it on him!" Reyna ordered. Len opened her mouth to argue. "That's an order Probatio!" She snapped.

Len flushed with anger, but fulfilled her duties anyway. She sprayed herself in the face at first, but she was able to turn the hose on towards the bull. Reyna, without hesitation, darted towards the bull and caught its attention. Meanwhile the temperature dropped considerably, so much so that Reyna could see her breath as she maneuvered the bull's head from looking at Len. "Aim for his hooves, Len!"

Len did as she was told and doused the bull's front legs with cold water, splashing Reyna a bit in the process, but all of the water evaporated into steam almost immediately. She shivered and slashed her sword at its horns. "We need more water!" She yelled. "Nico! Messoria!"

The two children of the underworld dashed to the two nearest working houses and immediately began turning on the hoses, preparing to aim it at the bull's hooves. Clarisse joined Reyna in confusing the bull. "Hey! Looking for a real fight?" Clarisse shouted at the bull, turning its fiery attention from Reyna.

Just as it reared back to shoot flames towards Clarisse, Reyna slashed one of its horns entirely off. It roared in Reyna's face, dousing her with the acrid odor of gasoline. Reyna held her ground, ready to die if she had to.

Just then the three hoses doused the bull's front hooves with so much cold water, it burned Reyna with steam. But she watched as the bull's hooves began to warp, slowly but surely, it fell to its face, hooves pointing the wrong way and bending at the wrong angles. Reyna jumped away just as a torrent of flames shot straight at her. The bull jerked its massive head to the side, nearly goring her in the process.

Reyna, clutching at her side, fell to the ground, rolled back to her feet and continued to stumble away. Grayson and Solace finally manage to pierce the bull's eyes with their arrows. Confusing it further. The three working the hoses splashed at the bull's massive nostrils and muzzle until it had warped so much that it could no longer spit fire.

While Reyna clutched at the bloody gash in her side, she watched as Len yanked her hose forward and sprayed its now gaping eyes, short circuiting the automaton and ending the battle. She huffed and stood up, pressing her wound and turning to their now burning safe house.

Clarisse, upon just noticing her burning home yelped and rushed forward. Reyna grabbed her arm before she could rush into the fire. "Clarisse!"

"No!" She snarled, pushing Reyna violently away, causing her to stumble to the ground. "I have lost everyone I care about! I will not lose my mother!" She stormed off, jumping through the wall of flames and disappearing.

Reyna glanced down to notice a charred picture frame. She picked it up and turned it over. Through the shattered glass she could see the picture Clarisse had flipped over, she removed it and placed it in her pocket to return to Clarisse later. Supposing that she made it out alive.

Reyna waved her team away from the house as they all anxiously awaited for Clarisse to return.

It was a terrifying several minutes before they heard coughing, loud thunks, and finally two ash and soot covered figures slammed through the front door and stumbled out into the street. Reyna and Len rushed forward to help the two women away from the imposing flames.

"We have to leave." Reyna snapped to her team, looking to Messoria and Nico. "Are either of you-"

"Yeah, I can get us there." Messoria sighed. "But it better be a good place because I don't have the energy to get us out of anymore sticky situations."

Reyna nodded as Grayson and Solace rejoined the group. Nico limped forward and was quickly embraced by Solace. Grayson smirked and slung an arm around Len's shoulders. She promptly shrugged him and elbowed his gut. "Where do we need to go?" Clarisse's voice was hoarse and raspy, and she doubled over in a coughing fit after speaking.

"The underworld," Messoria muttered. "I know of a relatively safer entrance that will get us to Thanatos quicker without having to go through Charon."

"Where is it?" Reyna demanded.

"I can't explain it, I'll get us nearby, but I'll have to rest before we can risk it."

Upon arrival, Messoria collapsed to the ground, and Nico wasn't far behind her. Neither were quite healthy enough for travel, even with two days of rest, but Reyna supposed they had no other choice. Clarisse tossed Reyna a square of ambrosia for her wound. But with the fire and Nico's injury, they were running low, the ambrosia was enough to stop the bleeding and close the wound a little bit but Solace gave her stitches anyway, just in case.

Messoria woke up a day later, a few hours before Nico, but she hadn't been impaled like he had. Reyna found her empty bedding and immediately went to search for her. She finally found Messoria sitting slightly above the camp in a tree overlooking the west. Reyna climbed up and sat on a branch near her and they watched the sunset together.

"You like sunsets huh?" Reyna spoke first, Messoria was looking too dull and haggard to start a conversation.

Messoria smirked before she let it drop from her face, replacing it with a dreary sigh. "Yeah, I don't get to see them very often. Actually, the first time I ever saw a sunset was at the hill in Camp Half Blood, you know the one you were sitting at?"

Reyna nodded. Where they had met before she had visited her father. Suddenly, Reyna felt as gloomy as Messoria looked. "You'd never seen a sunset before?"

"Nope," Messoria sent a small smile towards Reyna. "I live in the Underworld, and Thanatos only ever lets us out to collect souls, I'm hardly paying attention to my surroundings when I do that kind of thing. Reaping takes a lot more concentration than you'd think, you have to get to the person at just the right time and catch their souls as it leaves their bodies, and wrangle it back to the Underworld. It's hard work."

"So why did Thanatos send you to investigate the theft?"

Messoria chuckled darkly. "He thinks I'm too dimwitted to mess things up, but he thinks I'm smart enough to figure it out."

"Sounds complicated, and offensive."

"It is, both I mean. I'm not an idiot, but according to everyone else I'm dimmer than a broken light bulb."

"I doubt that." Reyna nudged her shoulder. "So, explain to me what you did to fix Nico, what happened?"

Messoria inhaled carefully. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about." She began hesitantly. "That was a deliberate wound made by a Reaper's weapon." Messoria conjured her staff. "You see this?" She allowed Reyna to hold it. "That's a certain kind of weapon, it's specifically meant to sever the soul and force it from the body. Now, this weapon is only made by Reapers, once I make it though, anyone can use it. However, I can make it disintegrate without being in contact with it." To demonstrate, the staff disintegrated in Reyna's hand. "See? Well, since Nico held on so long, shockingly long honestly. I think it's because he's Skelekid and Skelekid can do some pretty cool things. I was able to remove his soul, keep it with us, and repair it. If you were watching, I used one of my needles and threaded it with my hair, it's because my hair has the magical ability to keep souls intact. I can't cut my hair or anything, but it's the only substance strong enough and delicate enough to deal with souls."

Reyna listened carefully. "So you repaired Nico's soul, but the wound was done by a Reaper?"

"Or someone who got ahold of a Reaper's weapon. But that's highly unlikely, since we Reapers tend to avoid allowing our weapons to remain solid long enough to lose track of them. The monsters at the café were swamping Nico and I, I'm starting to wonder if we're the ones attracting them." Messoria finished miserably.

"Why'd you save him? None of them like you." Reyna asked.

Messoria chuckled. "Gee, I feel loved. I saved him because you need him."

Reyna shook her head. "You're helping us immensely, Messoria. When should we prepare to go down to the Underworld?"

"Well, first of all, the fewer that go with me the better, I'd be most comfortable if you were the only one who came along. But I'd say tomorrow afternoon we should make the trip, visit my father, see about the invisibility capes, and gather some tokens that will help us in fetching Pandora's Box."

"What tokens?"

"A Chromandae head," Messoria sighed. "Its scream will help us in the cave. We'll need wax as well but we can get that from a local general store. Also, the teeth of the Ismenus Drakon."

"What would that do?"

"It would provide us a full Spartan army. I don't think it'll be as easy to kill the second time around, though." Messoria shook her head. "Anyway, we'll need those pretty desperately. This is going to be a dangerous mission."

Reyna shrugged. "I knew that coming into this quest, no point in backing out now."

The sun dipped below the horizon and Messoria yawned. "We should get down from here. I could use some more sleep."

Messoria grabbed Reyna's shoulders and lifted up into the air, gently landing on the ground. She walked slowly, as if her feet were made of lead, but Messoria in all, looked healthy enough. "Hey, Princess Jasmine!" Clarisse sneered. "You done flying around? We await your highness's royal word!"

Reyna rolled her eyes and stalked forward, seating herself at the campfire. "Messoria and I are in agreement that the fewer that go to the underworld the better our results."

"Sweet, I'll stay here." Solace mumbled.

"Well, I can be of use-" Nico began.

"That's not a good idea." Messoria interrupted Nico. "I have some theories as to why the monsters are targeting you and the last thing you should do is enter a monster breeding ground."

"Oh really? Tell me these theories." Nico sighed.

"That's, um, that's hard to explain. Look we'll worry about it once I get some proof." Messoria stammered. "Anyway, I'm taking Reyna down to the Reapers' Hive. It's highly dangerous-"

"Like that's stopped any of us before." Len mumbled, sharing a smirk with Reyna and Clarisse.

"Yeah, well, the thing is…" Messoria hesitated, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly. "Some Reapers, uh, like the taste of demigod flesh. Honestly the fewer demigods following me into their living space the better."

Reyna was suddenly aware of the way Messoria referred to her home. As if excluding herself from her siblings. "So, why take anyone?"

"You're Praetor aren't you?" Messoria smirked. "Thanatos would only want to talk to the one in charge rather than just taking my word for it. Keep in mind what my family thinks of me."

Reyna nodded, glancing around at her team. "So, Nico can't go because he'll get attacked, Solace doesn't want to go and I'm not sending a Probatio into the underworld. That leaves Grayson and Clarisse."

Clarisse stretched. "I'll go if it means I get to fight something."

"That is the absolute worst idea." Messoria dead-panned. "The slightest provocation will get us killed in the Hive. Trust me, I've been there before."

"How many are there?"

"Thousands."

"Wow, your dad's been busy." Grayson laughed.

Messoria did not laugh and honestly Reyna couldn't blame her. "So, are you only going to be visiting the Hive?" Nico asked suspiciously.

"No, we'll be getting a few other things on the way." Reyna answered. "Grayson, I'm leaving you here, being the only other full legionnaire you'll succeed this quest from me should I die, obviously a Probatio can't run a mission and I can't risk you dying as well."

"Well, gee, the Greeks on this quest are feeling left out."

"The Greeks aren't prophesized to retrieve the Box. The Romans are." Messoria shook her head.

"That reminds me!" Grayson suddenly spoke, a bit louder than was called for, but Reyna let it slide. "Len shouldn't be a Probatio, seriously kid, you've got skill."

Len cracked a smile. "Is that so?"

Reyna nodded. "I agree, you think she's ready to be a legionnaire?"

Grayson nodded. "Yeah,"

"Alright, congrats Len."

Len smiled, elbowing Grayson's gut in retaliation to him ruffling her hair. "Wait, that's it?" Solace laughed, looking to Reyna. "You Romans in your splendor and glory and that's a promotion?"

Reyna shrugged. "Sorry, we couldn't get cake, we're in the middle of the woods in Pennsylvania."

"Here, no, the Graecus is right." Grayson sent a smug look towards his brother. "Len, I don't know your last name let's just pretend that I do, Daughter of Bellona, I hereby deem you worthy for the luxurious, honorable, fantastic status of Legionnaire in the Roman, Twelfth Legion Fulminata. I, your superior, promote you to said really awesome, awesome simply because I've run out of synonyms, position. Now, serve the Gods with every drop of the blood, sweat, and tears that you produce." He unsheathed his sword and tapped both of her shoulders like a knighting.

The Greeks and Len were laughing by the end of his speech, but Reyna only smiled crookedly. "Yeah, I think I'll leave the ceremonial things to Jason and Frank, they're better at all of that than either of us."

Nico coughed. "Alright, who's first watch?"

Reyna nodded at him. "I'll take first watch, I'm taking you off of watch, you need to sleep as much as possible so that you can heal faster."

Nico began to protest. "No, she's right." Solace slapped Nico's arm lightly. "You need to get rest or you'll never heal."

Her team filtered off to bed, finding softer spots in the grass surrounding the fire to sleep, since Reyna lost her tent in the fire. With that realization, she remembered with a twisting stomach the many Amazons and Huntresses that had given their lives in San Juan.

She rubbed at her temples trying to put the images out of her mind. Not for the first time, she wondered what Hylla was doing, but she supposed she'll find out eventually. She also wondered about Thalia Grace, Jason's sister.

That had been the only time they met, and Reyna wondered if Thalia had any huntresses survive Orion as well. Did Artemis forgive Thalia for her mistakes? Reyna knew, as Praetor, that her decisions involve thousands of lives, and one slip up could cause so much death. She didn't want to have to send those letters to that many families. The pressure of leading soldiers was almost like holding up the world, and Reyna knew the guilt of casualties. Every day she mourned the soldiers she lost in the last two wars, and she hoped Thalia was doing well despite her own loss.

Reyna shook herself from her thoughts and hummed at the quiet. Everyone had fallen asleep and Reyna was left alone, and she felt tired. She watched the fire, relying on her hearing for any threats around them. Just beyond the fire, Messoria twitched in her sleep and pulled Reyna's attention from the crackling flame.

The Reaper wasn't as agitating as she usually was, though Reyna supposed it had to do with the fact that Messoria had been unconscious for most of the week. She smiled slightly, most of her team had respect for Messoria because she saved Nico's life, but Reyna wasn't sure any of them would actually like her. She wasn't sure that this prophecy could be fulfilled if they didn't fully trust each other.

And Gods, the prophecy. It was so ominous, and no one understood what it meant, their only lead being Pandora's Box. Protected in destruction. Reyna's stomach twisted, she had a horrible feeling that her camp could be destroyed.

Reyna shook herself from her thoughts once more, stood up, and woke up Clarisse to take the next watch and get some sleep. She needed to get some rest before her mission the next morning.

A/N Hey guys! So last day of break so delayed updates from now on! Enjoy and why not review while you're at it no?