Sorry for not updating in forever! Life has been hectic! I'm sick today so I thought I'd start this story back up! If you are reading this, please just review! Even if it's just "I like it" or "I hate it." Reviews give me inspiration! The more reviews I get, the more I update! Please enjoy! Hope you like it!

Nico didn't return for hours. I paced the house, hating his guts. How could he just leave me? I was terrified he would never come back. What if something had happened? There was a whole bookshelf of books so I picked up the thinnest one. I hated reading books. Desperate times called for desperate measures. I read the first page but didn't process a single word. I threw the book across the room.

So I went to the kitchen and gave into my craving of sugar cookies. I found a recipe online and stared at the ingredients. Even with instructions, I didn't know where to start. I added too much sugar and not enough flower. I didn't have the right kind of oil, so I used a different type. They were turning a funny color. I put them in the oven and went to take a shower.

When I returned, the kitchen was filled with smoke. The cookies had caught on fire. I prayed…no hoped…that the fire alarm wouldn't go off. I opened the oven and smoke wafted into my face. I gagged and grabbed the cookie sheet. My hand burned. I had forgotten to grab a towel. I blew on my new burn and found a towel. I put the scorched cookies on the counter and stared at them.

"I will never leave you alone again," I heard Nico say. I turned and couldn't help but run to him and hug him.

"I thought you weren't coming back," I whispered. Nico stepped away, uncomfortable by the sign of affection. He looked at the dirty, smoky kitchen. "I can clean it."

"It is a woman's job," Nico replied, his face dead serious. I hit him with a towel. He caught a glimpse of my burned hand. "You can't cook again."

"It's fine," I replied, even though my red hand felt like it was on fire. "It'll go away. I'm stronger than I look." I remembered working out and realized I wasn't as strong as I thought I was. "Let's go to the store and get some hot wings and sugar cookies." I looked him over, "Did you go shopping?" He was wearing a Hollister shirt and new jeans. "You didn't take me?"

There was a faint smile on Nico's face, "I didn't have enough money to buy you everything you wanted. So I left you here."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my keys. "Let's go."

"It's not safe out there. I'm pretty sure I was being followed," Nico replied.

"I won't be cooped up in this house," I replied. Levi had seemed pretty harmless. He was probably just a spy for one of the titans. He couldn't hurt us. I looked down at my sweat pants and my tank top that was covered in flour. Oh well. We got in the car and I turned on Adele. "I like this town." I loved this town. It was a small town, two hours away from any big cities like New York City. There was a beautiful park, several cafes and an old city hall. "Wish I could stay here forever."

He didn't reply. It was during times like this that I wished he would ask where I had been. I wished he would take time to find out who I was now. We found a Wal-Mart and I carefully parked the car. "I've become a good driver," I spoke up as we got out of the car, "It's because I'm so experienced. I would drive my brother almost every day." I wondered what Alex was doing right now. It was better that he had forgotten me. If only I could forget him. Something's are impossible to forget.

"Did you bring money?" Nico asked. I smiled wearily at him. "Fine, I guess I'm paying for your damn food."

"You can eat some of it too," I replied. We both knew I didn't share my food. Ever. We stepped inside the store and both froze. "There's a monster here."

Nico cursed in Greek, "We should have never left."

"Let's get our food and see if we can leave without it-" I didn't have a chance to finish my sentence. There was a roar from across the store and food fell from shelves. Boxes flew into the air and a monster I had never seen before stood there.

Time froze.

Literally.

People stopped in mid scream, their hands blocking their faces from the flying cans. Boxes stopped in the air. No one moved. Not even the monster.

Nico and I looked at each other.

"What just happened?" I finally asked.

"Someone else is here," he replied. We walked down the aisles, trying to find any movement. I kept my eye on the giant monster. "It shouldn't be here."

"What is it?" I was horrified by its green hued skin, bleeding cheeks and overgrown nails.

"Achyls, the demon of misery. He isn't supposed to be out of the underworld. I kept him trapped there."

Then it hit me. How selfish I was being. Nico was the ruler of the underworld. He was needed there. The underworld could become chaotic because he wasn't there. "Do you need to go back?"

"A good friend is taking over for me," he replied with a slight smile. It seemed as if I knew who this friend was and we were sharing a quiet secret. We couldn't find anyone. Who had stopped time? I glanced out the entrance and into the parking lot. People outside were frozen too. It was as if the whole world had stopped.

Time unfroze. Suddenly, everything seemed faster than normal. Something exploded from the corner of the room and we ducked. Debris fell over us. People began to scream again.

"How do we kill it?" I asked Nico.

"You can't kill them, just send them back to where they belong," his eyes darted around the building. "You distract him and I can push him back to the underworld." I nodded. Leave it to Nico to always have a plan. We ran in opposite directions. I ran in front of Achyls, waving my arms and yelling inappropriate insults at it.

It lunged at me and I easily dodged it. It bared it's long teeth at me, and I looked into its eyes. Pain. Sadness. The spirit of misery was crying. I bit my lip and refused to cry with it. Nico ran behind it and slit its throat. It turned to black smoke and disappeared through the ground.

People were crying and staring at us. We had to get out of this town. We ran out of the building and I fumbled with my keys and turned on the car. Sirens wailed in the distance.

"What happened in there?" I finally found my voice. Nico didn't say anything because he didn't know either. "What is happening to our world?"

"We can't go back to the house," he finally said.

"Why not?"

"Where there is one spirit, there is always more. They've known we are since this morning. This spirit was probably sent to scare us back to the house, where the rest of them will attack us," Nico thought aloud. I hoped he was right. Then at least we knew what was going on.

"One more place I can't return to," I let out a deep sigh. "Where do we go?" Usually the gods helped by giving a clue or a guide. This time, we had nothing. I began to wonder if the gods were even on our side anymore. Maybe they were tired of waiting a week to find out if Nico and I would help.

I looked in the rearview mirror and caught a glance at the face of the driver behind us.

Levi was following us.