Hello! The next chapter is finished and ready to be read. It's not the most exciting of all chapters but it is necessary. And I just beat my longest chapter record… Again!

Nico's POV

The Blood Thief

It would be wonderful to tell you that I had a perfect sleep in which I dreamed about dancing skeletons and fast food. But unfortunately I can't. Demigods have this problem where they often dream about things that are either happening, have happened, or will happen. So when I dreamt that lord Zeus was wearing a flower patterned shirt with the word 'groovy' written in big purple letters across the front I could only hope that this had happened in the past.

The dream took place in the throne room of Olympus. Well, I guess you can call it a room. The place is the size of a regular mortal neighborhood morphed together with about five football stadiums. Eleven thrones were placed along the walls of the room and they each had a personality. Poseidon's, for instance, was made up of various sized pieces of seaweed while Hera's was all white and gave off light worse than a million flashlights. You're probably wondering why there are eleven thrones and not twelve. This is because my father is considered some sort of outcast so whenever he comes he is forced to bring his own chair. This of course results in much arguing over the fact that his chair is a simple spinney desk thing while everyone else's is nailed to the floor. So in the scene I was watching, Hades and Zeus were having a small squabble over the fact that Hades might get the chair pulled out from under him in the middle of an important conversation.

"But Zeus!" Cried the lord of the dead. "It is extraordinarily important that there is no risk of my falling off. If that were to happen then I would have to find someone else to take care of the underworld while I'm stuck in bed. There is absolutely no one I trust more than myself." He looked intensely at Zeus, waiting to see his reaction.

"Oh can it Hades. If you fell off of your chair the worst thing that could happen would be that you would get the seat of your pants a little dusty."

Hades fumed and glared his dark, evil glare at the lord of the sky. "I am the all powerful lord Hades and I insist upon having my own throne."

Zeus crossed his arms across his chest, underlining the word 'groovy'. "Well tell me when you're willing to get off your lazy bum and come build one."

"Hey! You did not just call my bum lazy, because if you-"

"Both of you be quiet." Said Athena with a roll of her eyes. "We are a group of very serious, problem solving gods and goddesses. We cannot afford to have small arguments over things as dumb as which chairs you sit in."

"Yes." Agreed Apollo. "Someone might try to blow someone else up."

He stroked his chin with his right hand, thinking over what he had just said. "Actually, on second thought; go right ahead and fight."

"Apollo!" Exclaimed Artemis.

"Sorry lil sis; just ruling out my opponents one by one." He smiled evilly and all of the gods shuddered.

"Anyway." Said Zeus. "We are gathered here today to discuss the important job of recreating what has been destroyed." His eyes became softer and he looked at the ground. "We are all to blame for the recent loss of our daughter, and we are all going to make this right." He looked up and his eyes moved to the god of messengers. "I would like to thank Hermes for the smart idea to make this new daughter all of ours."

The gods all clapped and Hermes nodded, trying to look professional but allowing his mouth to curve up slightly. "Thank you lord Zeus."

The god of the sky nodded and then continued. "This service is going to be short, and each and every one of us will have a part in it. We are going to start on the right with Aphrodite and work our way around the circle to everybody. When we get to you, you will cut a slit in your wrist with a knife and fill this small Dixie cup with your blood until it reaches the two inch mark. When your cup is full you will walk over and place your cup on the long table in the front of the room." He pointed to the white table that was right next to me.

They all turned their heads and I expected them to see me instantly but apparently I was invisible to them, for they turned back to Zeus after only a second or two.

"Once your cup is on the table you will follow Aphrodite over to the mold in the center of the room."

I looked inside the ring of immortals and sure enough a golden mold was placed smack dab in the middle. It was the form of a girl, cut in half with the two parts lying right next to each other. I doubted that all the blood would come even close to filling the entire thing but it wasn't like I could ask anybody.

"Aphrodite will be the first of us to carefully poor her cup into the mold and then recite these lines." Zeus continued, holding up a sheet of paper at the word 'lines'. "Everyone will have to say the last line of each person's chant together or else the spell will not take. When Aphrodite is through, Hephaestus will go, and then Ares and so on. When we are all done there is one last spell we will need to recite together that is very short and easy to say. Aphrodite, please begin passing around the knife."

The goddess of love, her hair brown and curly, sat cross legged on her throne staring disgustedly at the sharp blade in her hand. It was obvious that she did not want to touch any part of her body with that thing and that she wasn't planning on doing so any time soon. Zeus tapped his foot and scratched his blackish grayish beard edgily.

"My dear, are you going to do it or not. Hades is going to begin getting impatient."

"Of course, I'm the impatient one." Hades mumbled under his breath.

"I'm sorry father," said Aphrodite. "But scars just aren't my forte. Is there any other way to do it?"

Apollo chuckled but Zeus scowled. "No, my daughter. There is no other way to do it. Now please hurry. I let you go first so that you wouldn't complain about the germs on the knife. If you don't do it now than we are going to have to make you last when the knife will be covered in blood." His mouth twitched to show that he knew he'd won.

"Ugh!" Groaned the love goddess. "Do I have to do it?"

"Well…" Thought Zeus. "Not necessarily. It will still work the same if one of us doesn't contribute, but this means that the girl will not have as much beauty."

Aphrodite pouted and examined her perfect wrist. "I can't just spit into it?"

Apollo burst out laughing and Artemis fixed him with a disapproving glare.

"No Aphrodite." Zeus said in an irritated voice. "Saliva will do absolutely nothing even with the chant. The only thing that will have an effect is blood. So either cut your wrist or pass the knife over to Hephaestus."

She pouted at the ruler of the gods and closed her eyes but reluctantly held the blade over her wrist. She grimaced as she brought it down and whimpered as she traced a short line along her pale arm.

"Good job darling." Said Zeus.

She handed the knife to her husband and positioned her wrist cautiously over the cup. The golden liquid trickled into it but the wound was closing fast. Gods have abnormal healing powers so for a small cut such as this one it was unlikely that she would get enough blood out before the entire scrape was gone. Aphrodite realized this and groaned as she pulled the skin on either sides of the slit in opposite ways. The healing stopped abruptly and the ichor fell into the cup at a much faster speed. Eventually it made its way up to the pre drawn line on the outside of the cup and she let go of her wrist.

"That was disgusting." Apollo confirmed.

"No, you think?" Aphrodite said sarcastically.

Apollo smiled happily, not even measuring her sarcasm. He was probably looking forward to his turn, just to prove that he was tougher than the love goddess.

"So what do I do now?" She asked, staring at the cup of golden liquid with a look of revulsion.

"Place your cup on the table over by the door and when everyone has done the same you will pour it into the mold."

Aphrodite nodded and got up to put the cup on the table. She passed me quickly but I was still able to identify the scent of her perfume as she sauntered by.

"Now Hephaestus, go ahead and do the same thing Aphrodite did."

Hephaestus did so quickly, and the blade passed around from person to person, immortal to immortal, until it had made its way around the entire circle.

The last god to contribute was Zeus himself and Apollo smiled as he noticed the slight grimace sound he made.

"I knew I was the toughest." He whispered to himself. Ares socked him in the nose.

Zeus finished up his turn and placed his cup on the table that already had eleven cups on it.

"What's next?" Asked Aphrodite.

"Come and poor yours into the mold." Said Zeus, hopping off his throne.

The other gods followed his example and crowded around the metal, two pieced girl. A spot was left for Aphrodite and she carried the cup of blood carefully over to it. Once in her place, she began to pour.

The golden liquid dripped slowly into the mold. It was thicker than most blood and it stuck to the sides of the cup. Zeus handed her a spatula (from who knows where) and she got the remains out. The blood was not much and it barely filled the mold girls' nose. Aphrodite realized this and pouted.

"How is our blood supposed to fill all of her?"

"When magic is involved, anything is possible." Zeus said, smiling at his cheesy line. All but Apollo (who was massaging his nose) groaned.

"So what do I do now?" Asked Aphrodite.

Zeus handed her a sheet of paper with black Greek letters written on it. "Read these lines out loud," he said pointing at the paper. "And everyone else, recite this line in unison with her."

He passed a sheet around to everybody and they all nodded. "Go ahead and begin my dear daughter."

Aphrodite followed his instructions and started.

"Όταν όλες οι χάθηκε κάναμε μια συμφωνία για να αναδημιουργήσουν αυτό που μας άφησε. Έτσι κάνετε το κορίτσι ζωντανός και καλά, χαρούμενος, και χρήσιμη όσο και τα άλλα ήταν μια φορά.Δώστε ζωή της από όλους μας, εμένα και όλους τους άλλους. Και βεβαιωθείτε ότι κανείς δεν έχει περισσότερη δύναμη από τον καθένα. Πάρτε αυτό το αίμα, μετατρέποντάς το σε μια μορφή αθάνατη ζωή. Πάρτε αυτό το αίμα και να ξαναφτιάξει Λαϊνά!"

Aphrodite chanted the words, carefully and perfectly; not even breaking in between sentences. Her voice echoed around the large chamber and made her sound much bigger than she actually was (well compared to the other gods anyway. If this hadn't been a dream then she would be the size of a skyscraper to me). I recognized almost all of the words and together it was something like this:

"When all was lost we made a pact to recreate what left us. So make the girl alive and well, happy, and helpful as the other once was. Give her life from all of us, me and everyone else. And make sure that no one has more power than anyone. Take this blood and turn it into a form of immortal life. Take this blood and recreate Laina!"

The last line about recreating Laina was when all of the others chimed in and said the words together. I was amazed at how good they all were. The kids back at camp couldn't chant half this well. I smiled at the perfectness and then realized that I was happy that the Greek gods knew Greek.

Aphrodite tossed her cup into a convenient trash can and everyone watched as Hephaestus repeated the procedure. After he was done he passed the paper to Ares, then Apollo, then Artemis then Demeter and so on. They repeated the same thing over and over again and I began to get bored. I sat down on the tiled floor and watched them through the corner of my eye. I didn't know if it was possible to be tired while you're sleeping but I felt like I was.

Why would I be shown something as boring as this? I wondered. I mean, I know I'll be helping this girl tomorrow but is it really important that I know her entire background?

I sighed and naturally it made no noise. I looked down at my wrist, forgetting that I had no watch, before absentmindedly twirling a strand of my longish hair around my index finger (yeah, yeah, girly I know. But when you're bored and invisible there are some things that you are allowed to resort to).

I was just about to go over and see what would happen if I tried to poke someone when I heard the sound of breathing behind me.

I whirled around and was surprised to see that nobody was there.

"Annabeth?" I called, because I knew she had that magical baseball cap that can turn her invisible.

There was no response.

I was about to turn back around when I heard the pitter patter of shoes on the tile floor. They were very quiet and seemed to be coming more from below me then next to me. I looked down and was surprised to find that a small caped figure was running right next to my left foot. I attempted to grab it but because it was a dream it ran right threw my hand. It continued its sprint until it reached the leg of the small table with the blood on top. It's hands were gloved and it's pants matched his black cape so I had no way if identifying it at all. It had one of those hooks attached to a piece of rope in its hand and it swung it around like a lasso. It threw the rope up at the table and it caught the edge just like in the movies.

I looked over at the gods, trying to tell if anyone had seen it. It was Dionysus's turn to chant and he was about halfway through it, only at the part about 'giving her life from everyone'.

I looked back at the figure and was surprised to see that it was a fast runner and was already almost to the top of the rope. It was panting like heck and seemed very tired for such a fast climber. It reached the top and bundled the whole rope into a knot before slipping it under it's cape. I watched intently as it ran around the cups, touching them and shaking it's head after each time. The gods, still clueless as ever, listened as Dionysus got to the part of the spell where it talks about equal power in the girl. Luckily for the figure, the god of the wine was a very slow reader so it had a while before it needed to worry about being caught. It had chosen the right time to come.

I looked at the table and gasped as I saw that the figure had stopped. The cup that it was touching was the one on the far left of the tabletop. It had been the last one put up there so I knew that it was lord Zeus's.

I could've sworn I saw the caped person smile as they attached some sort of mechanism to the side of the cup.

Is it seriously trying to clone the ruler of the sky? I wondered. Maybe it's just borrowing a bit of the blood for a research project.

The cup began to shake violently.

Yeah, doubtful.

The cup continued trembling and I was surprised that the gods hadn't noticed it yet. Dionysus was finishing his last few lines and the figure was running out of time. I found myself rooting for it, hoping that it makes it, much like how you feel watching a T.V. show. But this was no T.V. show.

No, this was reality.

The cup shook for a few more seconds before suddenly shrinking. It caught me off guard and I took a jump back from the table as the cup continued getting smaller and smaller. Soon it was small enough for the figure to hold and it took the mechanism off the side. It pulled something else out from under it's cape and attached the mechanism to it. It fiddled with the thing for a few moments before pressing one last button, causing the new object to get bigger and bigger. Dionysus was onto his last line by himself and I knew that the caped thing had to move it if it didn't intend on getting caught. The new object continued it's growing and soon I was able to recognize it as another cup, identical to the one that it had taken.

It has stolen Zeus' blood. I realized with a tremble.

The cup finished growing and the thief pulled the machine off of its side. It then looked at the cup of stolen blood in it's hand and began to tremble with excitement. It pulled it's mask up to it's nose before doing the grossest thing that I had ever seen anyone do before in there life (and I live with a bunch of teenagers).

It held the cup up to it's lips and drank the blood down in one gulp.

I very nearly barfed.

The figure finished drinking in only a few seconds and almost instantly a blue glow surrounded it making it look very powerful. It put the cup back under it's cape and walked over to the edge of the table.

How is it going to get down? I wondered. It can't use the lasso thing again.

It answered my question by jumping off the table.

I expected it to hit the ground with a thud and roll over on it's back to die but instead it touched the ground gracefully, landing perfectly on it's feet. It wiped it's gloved hands off on it's pants before exploding into a small column of fire. The gods who had just finished reciting Dionysus' line all looked over in surprise.

"What was that?" Asked Hera who was supposed to go next.

"I have no idea." Said Zeus. "It must have been one of the minor godlings outside."

They all nodded and turned to Hera who walked gracefully over to the table to get her cup.

I watched astonishment as the gods continued their business as though they didn't just make one of the biggest mistakes of their lives. Each remaining god poured their blood and said there lines, and eventually it was time for Zeus to go. He got out of his throne casually and walked over to the table. Only one cup of blood remained there and I wanted to scream at him that it was phony. He picked up the cup and walked back over to the mold. He poured it slowly and carefully into the body as if to say, 'hey look at my blood! It's so cool and powerful looking!'. I half expected the god to announce that it was fake and that his real blood had been stolen, but he didn't and the process went as usual.

My stomach felt sick and I wanted to grab lord Zeus by the shoulders and shake him until he understood. He recited the lines and I sat on the ground hopeless. I felt nauseous and corrupt and it didn't help much when I felt someone shaking me.

"Nico! Get up, it's important!" Someone said loudly, seeming like they were right next to my ear. I turned around and looked in every which way but the room was empty except for me and the gods.

I looked over at them to see if they heard the voices too but they were beginning to fade away.

The weird voice continued it's yelling. "Wake up already, my gods you're a heavy sleeper!"

I recognized the voice from somewhere, some girl I knew, but I wasn't quite sure who it was.

"Come on! Wake up!" The voice screeched.

The entire scene went black and I gasped as my eyes opened. Annabeth was standing next to my bed and she was shaking my shoulders. Her face looked serious and scared.

"What do you want Annabeth?" I groaned, unhappy that someone was waking me up during such an important dream.

She ignored my rudeness and continued in the same rushed tone. "It's Laina." She said anxiously.

"She's here?" I asked. "Already?"

She nodded and her messy blonde hair flopped around on her shoulders. "Yes, she flew in on a Pegasus with Rachel a few minutes ago."

I opened my mouth and closed it a few times before answering in the most polite voice I could manage. "So you woke me up, because?"

She crossed her arms and looked at me appallingly, her jaw hard and angry. "Well, excuse me Mr. di Angelo. I just thought you would be at least slightly concerned about the fact that at this moment she's unconscious, practically drowning in her own blood, and barely breathing."

I hoped you like it. I know, unsatisfying ending. I am excited for this next chapter so I'm hoping that it will make me want to post sooner. You know what else will make me want to post sooner? *wink wink* I have a feeling you know. I'm hoping that this chapter wasn't boring for you. It was boring for me, I'll tell you that. It's hard to write a scene about someone when you don't know their gender so you have to call them 'it'. I had to keep rereading it over and over again. So I am pretty much sick of this one! I hoped you were not as bored as I.