A/N: Long time, guys! Haven't uploaded for too long, sorry but I was working on another fanfiction. It's on Star Wars, about the final duel between Maul and Kenobi in Star Wars Rebels. It's called "End Where It Began" and its a oneshot. Anyways here's the chapter, hope you enjoy it.
Several uneventful days later, the trio managed to find the stairway to the Underworld. They checked that they had enough food and supplies, then entered the store.
"Now who do we have here?" Ghosts floated around inside the shop while Charon sat at the counter. "Master Nico expects you. Let me bring you to him."
That was easier than expected, Annabeth thought silently as she, Calypso, and Leo boarded the ship to the Underworld. Annabeth had thought it would take a lot of drachmas to persuade the daemon, but it seems that Nico had already notified him.
So engrossed she was in her thoughts she was, she never noticed they were not going towards Hades' castle, rather away from it. She only realized so upon Leo asking where they were going.
"Why, to Master Nico if course!"
"What would Nico be doing here?"
"Uh…...doing Underworld stuff, of course!"
Annabeth noticed the hesitation in Charon's eyes, and knew something was up. She unsheathed her dagger as silently as she could and was about to hold it to Charon's neck to question him when she felt the breath sucked out of her.
Then she was falling off the boat, her vision spiraling.
The dark ground rushed up to meet her.
Leo ignited his hands and blasted fire at Charon, who screamed in pain and swatted at Leo with his oar. Leo intensified his fire, the oar melted and Charon lunged at him with his bare hands, this time managing to hit him, but Leo immediately pinned down Charon's neck. Charon writhed in agony as the fire burned him. "Traitor!" Leo growled, "I will-"
Charon cackled. "Look at your friends, son of Hephaestus. Oh, they will have to pay me to get across the River Styx soon, oh they will."
Leo slammed Charon onto the boat, then turned and jumped off the boat, roasting some dark shadows on the way down.
He hit the floor with a bang. Spinning, he shot fire again, destroying more of the shapeless shadows. He then pulled out his hammers and begun whacking at them, but the hammers would pass through the shadows' bodies harmlessly. The enemies were top to bottom clad in darkness, soulless eyes staring out, dark blades in their hands. His weapons could intercept the weapons, but only his fire could actually defeat the monsters. Calypso had given up fighting long ago, she had adapted to dodging and occasional blocking already, keeping the shadows away from Annabeth who laid on the floor, neck twisted in an unnatural position. Leo dared to hope she wasn't dead, but he really couldn't be sure
He pulled out a cylinder from his backpack, throwing it down on the floor. Immediately, a large stationary large shield popped up in front of Leo, blocking off some of the monsters. He turned to aid Calypso but before he could Calypso screamed and he felt weight crushing him down on his back.
His blurry eyes managed to make out the grotesque face of Charon above him, a blade raised in his fingers. He stabbed down at his eyes, and there was a huge shadow spiraling from the sky. It hit Charon and closed down on Leo, and all Leo saw was the darkness.
