Since I have been writing so much lately, I'm going to try to post updates every morning for the next few days, but it may be more like afternoon if I don't get reviews. And if that hint was far too subtle, I NEED REVIEWS TO MOTIVATE ME TO UPLOAD CHAPTERS! PLEASE!

Disclaimer: I only own my ocs.

Nico's POV

After about ten minutes of trying to follow Lukas, they arrived at a gate.

There was fog shrouding whatever lay beyond the gate, which spanned between two cliffs.

There were two people standing at the gates. One was in red armor, which almost caused Nico to believe that this was another child of Nemesis, were it not for the sense of calm that radiated off the guard. The armor was obscuring his features, but burned into the chest plate was a seven petaled flower, or a seven pointed star, Nico wasn't sure which.

The other guard was even stranger. She had long light brown hair which seemed to be braided back in an intricate pattern, woven among small metal objects which Nico thought looked to be keys. Silver, gold, and iron, modern house keys and large old-fashioned ones. She was wearing a light purple blouse with a pin shaped like a bee on it, and a brown leather skirt with the hem having lavender embroidered keys on it. She wore leather sandals and had brown eyes which sparkled gold at the edges and were lined in kohl. Transparent wings extended down her back, with a quiver straight up and down between her shoulder blades and a polished bow slung slanting over her shoulders. She also had earrings with small golden keys hanging down from her earlobes.

"Hello I am Jessie RuleBreaker of Janus and Neith how is your day going I cannot let you pass thank you and have a nice day," she said, all in one breath, very quickly.

Lukas closed his eyes. There was a flash of light, and suddenly, in the place that the cat was standing, there was a boy with shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes.

"Knock it off, Jessica," He spoke tiredly. "I don't have the energy to argue with you.

"Good," she said, tossing her braid over her shoulder, sounding like a wind chime. "Go away."

"Jessie," the other guard extended hand towards her. She slapped it away.

"I am the gatekeeper, and I say-."

"I have an order from Anacaona to let them pass."

Both RuleBreakers turned around them. Libby was there, in an off-white linen dress, barefoot, with a golden tiara in her loose red hair. She held what appeared to be a small sphere of glowing blue green energy, laced with golden threads.

"And why did she send you to deliver this?" Jessie said waspishly. "I believe Messenger Nymphs are quite capable of delivering their messages themselves?"

Libby shrugged. "I'm more an enforcer, if you know what I mean."

"Anacaona's pet!" She spat.

Libby flicked a finger at it, and the gate swung open. She gestured for the demigods to come in, which they quickly did, not wanting to spend more time than necessary with the self-proclaimed gatekeeper, who was currently sputtering insults at her.

Libby closed the gate and spun on her heel, continuing into the space between the cliffs.

"Thanks," Percy spoke, breaking the silence.

"De nada, SeƱor," she said. "Jessie can be a little crazy."

Suddenly, the steep canyon walls fell away into nothingness, revealing a barren desert wasteland. No movement. No life.

And it didn't feel genuine.

"You've got to be kidding me." Leo said. "Your super secret home base is a desert?!"

"No," Nico said, causing all of the other demigods to stare at him. Conscious of their gazes on him, he turned away, scanning the desolate landscape.

"Do you see something that we don't? 'Cause that's pretty much all there is," Percy added.

"It doesn't make sense," Nico muttered. "Look, I can't sense any life force."

They stared at him more. Finally, Piper said, "Well, that's probably because it's a desert."

"No. Just because it's a desert doesn't mean it's completely void of life," Nico argued.

"Yep," Libertita agreed. "You'd be surprised by how much life is in a desert. This landscape should have scorpions, snakes, cougars, frogs/toads, rabbits, insects, tarantulas-,"

"Spiders?" Annabeth inhaled sharply.

"Actually, I was going to say Tarantula hawks, followed by tarantulas, but yeah, there should be all those," Libertita said. "All those creatures emit energy signatures, which some," she inclined her head towards Nico, "Are able to sense as a life force."

She raised her hands in front of her. Golden swirls of light extended from her hands, heading towards the landscape. They condensed before reaching the subtle change in the sand that signified the start of the desert, and built as if they had reached an invisible wall, spreading in either direction in a perfect line. Libby thrust her hands forward and the 'invisible wall' broke, revealing the front of a temple built of white stone and carved with images, some that Nico recognized, some he didn't, but all radiated power.

There was a door to the temple. It looked to be nothing more than a white slab, but written on it clearly in Latin, Greek, English, Italian, and numerous other languages he didn't recognize was the word RuleBreaker.

Standing on the west side of the door (the left, really, but the compass burned into the granite walkway leading up to the temple made it clear that it was also the west) stood a hooded figure. Their features were cloaked in the long black robe they wore, which had swirling streams of purple weaving across it.

Strangest of all, they radiated a dark energy not unlike his own aura, but different, as if it was a different dialect of a language he knew well, which wasn't entirely inaccurate.

"What is-," Percy began.

"She is Kayletei, RuleBreaker of Hecate and Anubis." Libby growled. "She does not appreciate being referred to as a what."

"Well, she can't hear us from over here," Percy responded reasonably.

Libby turned her lamp like gaze upon him. "It would be wise for you to assume nothing here, with anyone. Do not tell Zariah that she looks like Persephone, you will be impaled with her spear. Do not ask Yggdrasil why she fights if she is a daughter of Demeter, she'll flay you alive. We are a special people, what may seem to be merely the castoffs of society have formed this order. We will assist those in need, yet many of us remain touchy enough to resort to our darker instincts at the slightest insult."

Percy shifted his weight. "Wait, so Hecate is goddess of magic. Who's Anubis?"

"God of mummification," Libby said offhandedly. She didn't seem to notice their sudden stares as they looked at her incredulously. "Yeah, this would be one of the worse people to anger. She's been known to mummify people alive. Egyptian mummification, by the way, involves the deceased's liver, lungs, intestines, and stomach being removed and placed in separate canopic jars. The brain was liquefied with a hook and poured out through the nose, while the heart was left in the body because it was considered to be part of the soul. Scared of her yet?"

She looked at their faces, all of which displayed some degree of disgust, nausea, or fear. "Ready to meet her? She's our last line of defense. By the way, who among you is the most honest person?"

They stared at her again. "Sorry, but why?" Piper asked.

"Just think on it." Libby started walking towards Kayletei, and the demigods really had no choice but to follow.