"I'll go first", Naomi yelled as she sprinted ahead of Percy and Annabeth toward the window.
"As if!!", Nico boomed as he outstretched his hands.
His temples pulsed, his veins stuck out of his neck, and the room began to darken as if the sun had been blotted out.
"You will not escape me Perseus", he hissed, "I WILL PREVAIL!!" And with that he clapped his hands together, sending out a sonic boom that made the room shake violently.
"I WILL KILL YOU!!", he shouted as the room continued to shake uncontrollably sending Percy, Naomi, and Annabeth flying to opposite corners, and far away from any exits.
"PERCY!! DO SOMETHING!!!", Annabeth yelled, unable to get to her feet.
"I WOULD IF I COULD!!", Percy screamed back as he was tossed from side to side from the shaking.
Then as if the shaking couldn't get any worse, Nico let out an ear-splitting screech that ripped a chasm through the center of the room. Black mist swirled from the ground as the stench of dead bodies filled the air. Slowly the room stopped shaking, but the battle was far from over.
A skeletal hand reached up from the chasm and gripped the edge.
"PER…CY!!", Annabeth screamed shaking, "WHAT'S GOING ON!!"
"Welcome to my world!!!", Nico laughed as more skeletal hands gripped the edge of the chasm, "LET THE DEAD RISE!!!"
As he spoke this the skeletons began to rise, only they weren't just glistening white bone. Each one looked like a camper we knew that we had lost in the war with Kronos, except for the part they were dead with flesh oozing from their skeletal remains. Beckendorf, Silena, Lee Fletcher, Leneus, and the worst one of all Luke filled out the skeletons as they waited for Nico's signal for attack.
"How do you like that Percy, a door straight to the Underworld."
"You're crazy Nico. If your sister…"
"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER!!"
"Oh is that a problem… Bianca, Bianca, BIANCA!!", Percy shouted.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!", Nico screamed as tears began to fill in his eyes.
"That's great Nico. It's about the third time you've promised in the last ten minutes!!"
"AHH!!", Nico screamed as tears flew from his face, "YOU'RE MINE!!"
His Stygian blade connected with Percy's knife with a flurry of sparks.
"I WILL AVENGE HER!!!", he screamed as he sent a series of parries and combinations with his blade that Percy had never seen before, sending him to the defensive.
"NICO LISTEN I…", Nico's blade hit the hilt of Percy's knife, sending it skittering across the floor.
Placing his blade on Percy's neck he seethed, "I HATE YOU!!"
"FOR WHAT?!?"
"FOR EVERYTHING!! FOR MY SISTER'S DEATH!! FOR THE CHILDREN OF HADES BEING AN OUTCAST!!! FOR BEING EVERYTHING!!", he screamed as he gave the signal for the skeletons to attack.
Beckendorf, Silena, Leneus, and Lee instantly focused their attacks on Naomi. Staggering toward her, their bloody entrails oozed from their bodies causing a terrible odor to leak through the room. But if being gruesome wasn't enough, each packed their own secret. Reaching inside the back of his half decomposed leg, Leneus pulled out his reeds. Placing them to his lips, he let out a rapid fire of notes that caused thick, heavy roots to rip their way out of the chasm and encase themselves around Naomi.
"NAOMI!!", Percy screamed as he knocked Nico's blade out of his hand and spinning down into the abyss below.
"NO!!", Nico screamed as he threw himself into the side of Percy.
The vines swirled around Naomi, slowly wrapping themselves tightly around her legs, working their way up.
Seeing that they may have taken care of Naomi; Beckendorf, Silena, and Lee turned their attention on Annabeth who was so stricken with fear of Luke that she didn't move. If Lee hadn't shot an arrow that narrowly missed Annabeth's face then she might have died at the hands of skeletal Luke.
Suddenly coming back to her regular state of mind, she jabbed her knife into skeletal Luke causing him to explode into dust. But she wasn't ready for Lee to have another arrow ready so quickly and he shot an arrow into her left shoulder blade.
"ANNABETH!!", Percy screamed as he kicked Nico off from on top of him and clapped his ears that gave a sickening pop that even Percy could hear.
Nico collapsed to the ground screaming, withering in pain. He should have gotten back up, it wasn't that bad of a hit, but it was like something had magnified the pain by a hundred folds.
"Of course", Percy thought to himself, "His Achilles heel."
But Percy didn't waste his time on Nico, instead he ran toward Annabeth, picking up his knife and stabbing it into the side of Silena and Lee who promptly exploded into dust.
"Percy", she murmured as he reached her side.
"It's okay I'm here", he whispered softly as he assessed her wound. It was a nasty shot, directly in the shoulder that probably severed some of her tendons and veins.
"How bad is it", she muttered as she groaned from the pain.
"It's not bad…", Percy struggled to get out. There was no way that he was going to tell her that she may never be able to use the arm again.
"Here", Percy whispered, "Let me get you…AHH!!"
Beckendorf had stabbed with his blade, narrowly missing Percy's exposed Achilles heel by inches.
Acting quickly, Percy jabbed his elbow back catching skeletal Beckendorf by surprise and causing him to lose his footing and stumble backward. Taking this chance, Percy leapt to his feet, placed a well aimed knee into Beckendorf's chest and send him spiraling back down into the Underworld.
"PERCY!!", screamed Naomi who now had vines that encircled her body up across her belly and were still continuing to rise.
Glancing back at Annabeth she shot him a glance that said, "Well go on. I'm fine here", as she pulled some nectar and ambrosia squares from her pocket.
Nico was still collapsed on the floor, or so Percy thought as he tried to leap over his body.
Catching Percy in mid stride, Nico flipped him back into a wall.
"I will prevail", he seethed, "I will not lose my sister again."
"Wait a minute Nico", Percy said shaking his head as he tried to recover from his recent throw into the wall, "This is about bringing her back?!?!"
"Among other thing", he said before he raised his hand like a gun and pointed it at Percy.
"Oh come on Nico. You really think you can kill me by making a gun out of your hand!!"
"No, but I can do this!!", he yelled turning it on Annabeth. Darkness energy began to flow straight from the Underworld and circled itself around Nico. Then with an evil laugh he funneled it out through his fingers and directed it at Annabeth.
"ANNABETH!!", Percy screamed. But he couldn't do anything. The dark energy flew across the room and struck Annabeth in the chest. Her body began to jerk violently as Nico continued to pour dark energy into her.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!", Percy screamed running at Nico.
"Filling her heart with darkness, and her mind with evil", he laughed. "She will never be the Annabeth you knew!!"
Percy was nearly on him when Nico dropped his finger and let loose a scream that sent Percy flying backwards.
"Look Percy, your no match for the Fallen."
"You're wrong."
"Really", he said turning his head to the side.
"Annabeth is finished, and so is she", he said pointing toward Naomi as the vines began to encircle her head.
"Not if I have something to say about it", Percy yelled as he ran toward Annabeth's body.
,gone."
"It's not her I need", Percy said pulling the arrow out of her body, "IT'S THIS!!!", he screamed throwing the arrow at Nico.
Nico leaned to the side and easily dodge it, "So that you're plan", he said not watching the arrow fly straight into Leneus, causing him to turn to dust, "You're just going to throw and arrow."
The vines began to dry up and fall off of Naomi, freeing her.
"You really thought you could defeat me?", Nico said walking toward Percy, "You really thought that didn't you?"
"Yes, Nico…", Percy sighed, trying to hide that fact that Naomi had escaped and was now advancing toward Nico.
"See Percy, the Gods are weak. Join me and the Fallen and reach your full potential."
"As if", Percy spat in his face.
"Then you leave me no choice. This will be the day you remember as…"
"The little ghost boy underestimated a girl", Naomi said gripping him by the back of his shirt and tossing him into the chasm.
Silence filled the room before Percy turned to Naomi and muttered, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it", she said looking down at the ground before she ran over to Percy and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Just leave me alone for right now. Okay?", he said pushing her away and turning toward Annabeth.
"I'm sorry", she muttered, "I shouldn't have."
"That right you shouldn't have!!!!", Percy screamed with a little more anger then he meant.
"I just…"
"You just, WHAT?", he yelled turning at her with a scowl.
"I just…"
"I'M NOT DONE YET JACKSON!!", screamed Nico's voice from the chasm as more dark energy shot up from the chasm and wrapped itself around Percy, pulling him in.
"PERCY!!", Naomi screamed helplessly.
All Percy could do was let out a muffled scream before the chasm closed above him and everything went black.
