A/N: I'm sooo sorry for the long wait! I hit a bit of writers block, and I didn't write anything until I got inspiration. I put a lot of effort behind this story and I want it to be as good as I can possibly make it. And Carter's my favorite character (besides for Nico and Leo) so I took extra-long perfecting this chapter. I hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER TEN

CARTER

It's official. Never, ever trust some random demon.

Okay, maybe it wasn't totally the demon's fault, but still I lay on the blame on it. As we traveled across the United States for Washington, which was where the coordinates pointed us to, the monster attacks kept getting worse and worse. Of course this was just another day in the park for us - you really get used to getting attacked when you're a magician. Or a demigod, I suppose. I was kind of glad to be able to focus on something else besides the knew prophecy. Now that the gods could return I felt more energy. Sadie and I had deducted that Isis and Horus taken their normal spots hitchhiking in us again, so at least I was strong enough the fight the curse.

Fine by me, as long as I get to hit some demons. It must be the war god coming out in me, but really, it was refreshing to rid the world of killer demons and monsters. After hosting Horus, I felt urges to challenge people - and animals, strangely - to duels to the death. Thankfully, I could control those urges, but it made training fun with the other initiates. They knew that there in for a treat sparring me. I really preferred swords and hand-to-hand combat - I'd been working on my martial arts with Bast, and I'm proud to say I feel like Chuck Norris - to spells. It's my inner war god coming out in me.

So, getting off topic here.

The demon wasn't a normal demon. I had a sneaking suspicion that what it said about once being human might be real. Either that, or it had the worse case of multiple personality disorder ever. I couldn't be sure, though, because old Red-Eye would not relinquish control for Green-Eye to save his life. Even after Percy threatened to send him to - what was it? - Tartarus, it kept its mouth shut. We decided that it would do better for us alive, so we didn't press to have any interviews with Green-Eye. I agreed with Percy: as soon as we get to the enchanted pool thing, we were dumping this guy in so fast he couldn't blink.

I wished I had a camera for the expression that will be on the demon's face. No doubt it would be priceless.

Bast had left a few hours ago for the 21st Nome, stating that without me, Sadie and Zia there it wouldn't be adequately defended. I really think that all of our initiates could handle themselves wonderfully in a fight, but there is no arguing with the cat goddess. The girl Calypso also left, saying that Festus - the happy dragon - had just taken off and she'd been curious as to where he was going. I personally think she was just looking for an excuse to see Leo Valdez. I kept the thought hidden, but it was written all over Percy and Sadie's faces. Those two are way too much alike for my tastes. One Sadie was hard enough. Now her personality twin is here. Talk about a never-ending nightmare.

Sadie almost killed me for that.

We were crossing Texas. It was bittersweet, I remembered going across Texas on my first mission with Sadie to defeat Set and save our father, along with the rest of the world. That hadn't worked out as planned. We never even completely defeated Set, we had to let him go so he would be on our side during the war with the bigger bad guy, Apophis. That had been one of the hardest choices of my life: letting the man who killed my father go free. Even after we defeat the Serpent we still weren't in an exactly friend-like relationship with the god of evil. Yes, sweet memories.

I closed my eyes, and all the magicians that had died in the Nome in Texas during the war with Apophis flashed by. Explosions, a lone stay buckle, a broken violin. A lump formed in my throat, and countless nights when I'd woken up in a cold sweat came back. I still had nightmares about the 51st Nome. It wasn't fair. All those people deserved to see the end; they should have been able to watch as the Serpent was should have been present at the party after, livening up the 1st Nome in Egypt.

Just thinking about it, and then remembering that Apophis was rising, again, made me angry. It was almost disrespectful for their memory. No, it was disrespectful to their memory. As I looked out at the flat, dry land of Texas, I promised myself that their sacrifice would be useless. We will prevail, again. Even if I had to travel the way to the Sea of Chaos again, and execrate him again, we'd win. I pounded my fist on the railing, wishing I had a dummy or something to release my anger on.

Sadie walked over and leaned against the railing. She pursed her lips. "I know what your thinking," she said. "It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault." She said it like a chant, as if she was trying to convince herself as well as me.

"I know, I know," I sighed. "But it's hard, you know?"

"I know," said a voice from behind.

I turned and saw, to my surprise, Leo. He fidgeted nervously. "Sadie told me about what happened here. I know what it's like to blame yourself for someone's death. I'm a fire user, and . . . well, one night Gaea came and freaked me out. I lost control and my mom's workshop burned down. She didn't -" He cut himself off. "Yeah, just don't blame yourself for stuff. It will only weigh you down." He hesitated, and then continued. "I had that on my conscious for awhile - I still do - and it's hard to live with. At least you weren't directly the reason for your mom or dad's deaths."

I was mildly surprised. I didn't think that Leo was capable of such heavy talking. "Um, thanks. I'll try that." Really, what do you say to story like that? That's pretty deep.

I probably would have said something else really intelligent, like: "Oh, a fire?" When Annabeth yelled, "Green-Eyes!"

That was kind of a code word for when the demon had green eyes and would speak to us. Real creative, I know. We should get a reward.

We rushed over, and the demon - who was still stuck in a giant ball of ice with his face peeking out - scowled, its eyes brilliant green. "You have to stop here! There's another of-of . . . my kind here!" Green-Eyes scrambled for words, like he was having a hard time finding the right sentences. He sounded frantic.

I was skeptical, and so was everyone else. "Why should we go down and get this other demon?"

"I-It's important!" Green-Eyes begged.

"But why?" I pressed, despite feeling bad for it. It really looked desperate.

"Because he has the final coordinates to the actual birthplace of the gods!" The demon snapped.

I scowled. "You didn't feel it necessary to tell us this earlier?"

Leo suddenly called to us with the inter-com from the controls. "Um, guys, I was looking at the coordinates, and -"

"They only take us to the edge of Washington," Annabeth cut him off. "I know. This guy is saying we need the other demon to get there."

Zia frowned. I felt my hairs rise on end, because she had a look that I hadn't seen since she was lobbing fireballs at flowerpots in the Duat, and for the second time that day I felt the urge to yell, dunk!. "How do we know you aren't lying to us again."

Green-Eyes answered by going back to Red-Eyes. A chorus of groans followed this change, and the demon started shouting again. "I'll never tell you anything! Never, ever, ever, ever -"

Jason rolled his eyes. "What about the little thing about there being another demon like you in Texas?"

The demon snorted. "Right. That. Uh-"

"Answer enough," Octavian interrupted. "Think we can pull it off? I'm pretty confident that we're going to need this other demon to find the birthplace of the gods. We could search Washington for months and not find anything."

Nico, who had sneaked up on us again, scowled in synchronicity with everyone else. "I hate to admit it, but he's right. We're going to have to risk it."

Sadie nodded. "But we can't send everyone. A few people need to stay behind and watch this freak of nature over here."

"Hey!" Green-Eyes had returned. "I am not a freak of nature!"

Percy winced. "Sorry to break this to you, but you are."

The demon scoffed. "Nonsense! I am the best-looking bloke in the world." Sarcasm? Well, that was new.

Nico raised an eyebrow. "'Bloke?' are we British now?"

"Hey!" Sadie snapped. "Watch it, Death Breath."

I rolled my eyes. Time to bring it back to topic. Really, the ADHD was getting a little over-the-top. "So who is staying and who is leaving?"

Leo shrugged, "I don't know about anyone else but I want to be on this mission."

Zia perked up. "I wish to go as well."

I immediately felt better. "That's three people, counting me. Anyone else?"

Nico raised his hand weakly. "Count me in. This Setne character is an insult to my father."

Of course. Nico was the son of Hades. An escaped ghost was going to be a bit annoying to him.

The ship jerked, startling everyone from their thoughts. Leo called over that they were about going in for a land but needed to know where the base was that Setne had the other demon hidden. Green-Eyes was happy to oblige, which made my internal-betrayal radar go crazy. Why was this demon so willing to help us out? He was frozen, and we were not treating him like an honored guest. Maybe Green-Eyes figured that there was no point in being rude. I wished he would bang that into Red-Eye's head. The whole split personality thing was giving me a headache. There was a groaning sound, and I knew the landing gear was coming out. The ship shuddered briefly, and we touched down on the earth.

Annabeth was fine with staying behind - she wanted to question the demon longer. Sadie was having fun teasing the Green-Eyes about how he looked - man that demon was touchy - and ticking Red-Eyes off to no end. I swear that he was about to blow a fuse somewhere inside his brain. If he were free he would have blasted Sadie to kingdom come right then and there. Percy seemed a little put-out about not coming, and Jason wasn't much better. We had to tell them that it was the Egyptian's turn to take the spotlight, besides, the ship would be better protected and we couldn't afford the demon escaping. Felix was having fun with his penguins, and was keeping an eye on the controls. He seemed to have been taken under Leo's wing.

It didn't take Zia and me long to get ready for the trip - we kept most of our stuff in a storage compartment-like thing in the Duat. Leo and Nico didn't need to get ready. Nico's sword was always on his finger in ring form, and Leo's weapons came from a mixture of his brain and his magical tool belt. I tried to explain to him that the tool belt was actually a link between this world and the Duat, which is why he could store anything in there, whether it's very large or small. I don't really think he got or - or cared - but he nodded.

We left. There was no large goodbye thing, and I was glad for it. It made me hope that maybe we wouldn't have much trouble in this fortress.

It was like the sun was physically beating down on our backs. We'd only been walking for a few minutes, but Leo and Nico, whose skin was fairer than Zia and me, were turning red. We didn't speak much, but the ugly scowl on Nico's face betrayed his irritation. Leo didn't look much better, although he still seemed have a permanent smile on his face. We stumbled through dry desert, with a cloudless sky stretching overhead and tumbleweed blowing around. Leo occupied himself by setting the tumbleweed on fire when it crossed his path.

The Argo II never seemed to get any smaller or make any sign that we were getting farther away. It was like we were walking on a treadmill and were getting no where. Leo groaned and pulled a device out of his tool belt and consulted to it, and then released a breath of relief. "Okay," he said. "We aren't walking in place after all. We've gone almost four miles."

"It should be around here somewhere, right?" Zia asked.

"Duh," Nico sniped.

She shot him an evil look, but Leo cut her off before she cursed - the Egyptian hieroglyph type of curse - Nico to oblivion. "We're almost there. Here!"

He pointed to an innocent-looking board laying on the ground. It was half covered in sand and had white mold scattered up it. Leo knelt and pulled it aside, revealing a trap-door. Leo gave his wild-man grin. "Think we'll find Reyna this time?"

"Who?" I asked.

"Nevermind," he muttered. He pulled at the latch, and to all of our surprise, it opened freely. "That was too easy," he said in a low voice.

I couldn't agree more, but we had to take the risk. I glared at the innocent-looking shaft in the ground leading gods-know how far down. I was very relieved to see the metal rungs sticking out of the side of the shaft. At least I would had to awkwardly slide down. Too late, I wished we'd taken Percy and Felix with us so they could do the ice-box prison thing again. Zia and I would have to rely on a really good binding spell to trap the demon when we ran across it. I ground my teeth. There was no point drawing it out any longer; I swung myself over the edge and lowered myself down.

I was a long descent, and I wanted to personally kill whoever built this so far down. Well it's good to know that I'm going to die of exhaustion before I even got to the second demon. I decided that I was going to kill the demon back on the Argo II if this was a trap. I looked down, and - hallelujah - the floor, close enough to drop down with breaking any bones! I let go of the rungs and hit the ground, landing lightly while using hands to help me keep my balance - like a cat. Bast would be proud, I though with a grin.

I moved out of the way, and Zia dropped beside me, followed by Leo and Nico. Leo was still grinning like a madman and was randomly bursting into flames. "I feel like James Bond or something!" He said.

You know, Apophis could scream in Leo's face and I don't think the son of Hephaestus would lessen that smile by even one molar. I imagined Leo grinning while blow-torching the Serpent in the face. The image made me snicker.

"What?" Leo asked.

"Nothing," I said. Some things are better kept to ourselves.

I surveyed the fortress. I felt a wave of deja vu. It was as if I'd stepped into one of the countless Egyptian tombs I'd been in with my dad while we were still travelling the world together. The walls were made of sandstone and were covered in elaborately painted pictures, hieroglyphs and carvings. The ceiling was black, painted with hundreds of thousands of stars, vaguely in the shape of the sky goddess Nut. On the floor, which had a thin layer of sand, was faded images of Geb, the god of the earth. I realized along the was were paintings of Shu holding the and earth apart. I had conflicted feelings about Shu. He had helped us, but then he was also a major git to Sadie and Walt/Anubis (or Walubis, as she sometimes called him to irritated him . . . them, whatever.)

Leo and Nico looked around in awe. Nico gave a low whistle. "You Egyptians really go all-out in the decorating, don't you?"

I shrugged. "When you want to make sure you have two eyes, a nose, mouth and ears in the afterlife, but not have six arms, you get really descriptive."

Leo gave me a look that said: I don't even want to know.

No you don't, I silently agreed.

I led the other down the corridor to the left, as that was the only way to go. The other way was a dead end. I went a few paces, and then stopped, cursing myself for being an idiot. "I forgot! We should put up an invisibility shield." It was ancient magic, only recently discovered and I was still having some difficulty controlling it. But I'd have to try, and the last few times I'd practiced I had been pretty successful. Basically what I did was snap, mutter a few words, concentrate, and image everyone in my immediate vicinity going invisible.

I frowned with concentration, thinking how the hall would look if we weren't there, empty. I felt a rush of cool air and I stopped chanting. I looked up and reached out, touching the edge of the barrier. A shimmering ripple spread out, and I grinned. "It worked!"

Zia smiled, a teasing glint in her eyes. "At least it doesn't look like a shimmering globe anymore."

I scowled at her, and pushed ahead, willing the shield to move with us. I was pleased by how well it was going. That was a terrible thing to think, I mean I'm in an enemy fortress, going down corridors with sharp turns. Bad things were bound to happen. I was just thinking how screwed we'd be if a monster flew around the corner, when it happened.

Three demons marched around the corner, and froze when they saw us. We mirrored them. One of them sniffed the air, and roared. I kind of lost control and the shield let out a sparkling shimmers before collapsing. For a second we just stood there.

Zia was the first to break into action. She pulled her staff out of the Duat, and I unsheathed my khopesh. Nico had his Stygian iron sword - which was wickedly awesome, by the way - and Leo had his flaming club. The demons didn't stand a chance. Or at least they didn't before twelve more crowded the narrow passageways. I cursed in ancient Egyptian; the corridors were too small for me to pull off my Horus avatar. I wondered briefly if they were designed this small for that very reason.

Leo and Zia glanced at each other and seemed to come to some silent agreement. Leo's hands filled with fire, and threw the fire in white-hot balls of torture and death, and Zia shot her staff out, directing them to the crowd of demons. Pretty soon the disgusting smell of barbecue monsters filled my nostrils, making me gag. Nico and I cut through the rest of them, and soon there was nothing but an area of the halls where the sand was a litter deeper. There was one more demon, smaller than the rest, looking at us with wide eyes. Why did I recognize the eyes?

They were green. Green-Eyes!

I gasped, "Him! We need him alive!"

The demon did what was logical when a bunch of kids who just killed his companions. He turned tail and ran.

We ran after him, which was unfortunately much slower than him. The demon dunked and swerved gracefully out of the way of our magical attacks, and flew around the corners of halls. We nearly lost him twice, first when he sent an attack of his own at us and cause plumes of dust to billow into the air, obscuring our vision. He almost got away again when he tricked us by somehow 'throwing' his footsteps down a corridor to our right, while he crept off to the right. Thankfully Nico was very vigilant.

"How did you notice that?" I gasped.

"When you're stuck in Tartarus for days," Nico snapped back, "you learn to become aware of your surroundings."

Finally the demon made a mistake and got cornered in a dead-end corridor. We all stood there for a few seconds, trying to catch our breath. The demon raised his hand, and I lifted my khopesh. "Whatever you're going, don't" I warned.

The demon scowled. "What do you want?"

"Uh, tell you later?" I suggested, before slamming the pommel of my sword on its head. I tried not to feel guilty as it crumpled. Zia worked on the binding spell, and I helped by pouring some of my magical energy into her so she could make it as powerful as possible. I wished she could use the ribbons of Hathor, but there was a year-limit of them and we'd used them only six months ago on a prisoner in my dad's court who was trying to escape. The dude had looked like a pink mummy all throughout his trial. It was quite funny at the time.

Hieroglyphs floated in the air around the demon, and I slung him over my shoulder. It was covered in glowing purple chains, the best thing we could be besides the ribbons. I turned, and hieroglyphs that ran across the walls lit up and glowed blue briefly before fading out. Then it did it again, like a pulsating alarm. Alarm.

Great. Just great. I guess we were going have every monster and its mother's brothers over here pretty soon.

We doubled back, and stumbled through several passages. If I'd paid more attention at the time I would have noticed the hieroglyphs changing - much like how they did in the Red Pyramid - becoming more gruesome and showing images of a snake curling around the world. One particular mural showed the Earth dissolving into a black sea of destruction. Apophis slithered in the ocean, splashing in his pool of death, while the whole time Setne floated above, watching haughtily. I growled angrily. Set was going to pay for his stupid megalomaniac dreams. With each new hieroglyphic, picture, and carving, I felt my temper rising dangerously. Finally another mural of Setne's ugly face set me off the edge.

I stopped and glowered at it, feeling my magic stir with my anger. Suddenly the whole wall shattered, sending rocks and dust into the air. I got cut on the arm pretty bad, but it was definitely worth it. Zia raised her eyebrows at me, and I shrugged. "I was getting sick of seeing his beaky nose."

Leo snickered, but Zia started pushing me on. "Come on! We don't want to get caught."

"I'd help if I even knew how to get out," I muttered. The truth? I had absolutely NO idea how to get out. I had gotten turned around while chasing the demon around. If that monster could not tell us how to get to the spring, I was going to send him to the Underworld myself.

I huffed and started off again, not running but more of a fast walk. Then by some divine luck, I found on the scratches in the walls that I'd left to find my way back. I let out a breath of relief and followed it. We took a few turns, but with every turn I was getting more and more confused. I didn't recognize anything . . . Just as I realized it was probably a trap, we stumbled into a large chamber.

For second I was reminded of the red pyramid, and I expected to see a large throne with Set sitting it, all red and gloating. Instead, it was empty. Large support pillars reached up, holding up the immense ceiling, with more carvings spiraling around them. I looked down at the floor, and saw - too late - the binding hieroglyphs on the floor. I yelped and jumped out of the way as earthen tendrils sprang from the ground, and closed into a cage of dirt. Zia and Leo weren't so lucky, but Nico also escaped.

Leo banged the earthen bars with a screw driver. "UGH! Gaea makes her comeback!"

Zia started lobbing fireballs at the cage bars, her face an angry mask. When none her attacks worked, she muttered a spell that turned into a khopesh similar to mine, and started hacking at the cage. Still her efforts did nothing to destroy the cage. Finally she gave up and cursed. "Carter you're going to have to find the glyphs that break the binding spell. This isn't like any magic I've seen before."

Nico scowled. "It's because it isn't completely Egyptian magic." He studied the bars of Leo's cage, a dark look on his face. "It more like a hybrid of them both. I'm guessing that if we destroy the hieroglyphs that control the magic -"

"Yes, yes," a sardonic voice boomed as though it was on a loud speaker. "All of this brainstorming is rather interesting, isn't it?" They said it in a tone that made it clear they thought it was very boring.

I growled. "Setne? Is that you? Show yourself!"

The ghost materialized in front of me, that manic grin on his face. "Carter, I'm impressed. You made it this far!"

I really wished he'd just drop the nice-talk and get to business. "What in the name of Egypt are you doing?! Why are you bringing back Apophis?" My voice went a touch hysterical on the last part as my anger grew. Even though it had barely been four days, I was beginning to lose patience. What was Setne playing at? Was he crazy?

Setne frowned at me. "I'm not sure I should explain everything to you. But I will assure you that I have everything under control. You see, it's more like I'm recreating Apophis how I want him - powerful, but not so deadly that I can't rule over him."

"Yes, because clearly Apophis loves to be second-in-command!" I snapped sarcastically.

Setne rolled his eyes at my expense. "Okay, sure, Apophis is a bit of rebel. But even he doesn't want to get banished again, right snakey boy?"

The ground rumbled - and I was pretty sure it was in irritation, agreement.

I struggled to reign in my rather scattered patience. "Setne, without sounding too cliche, why are you playing god? Is causing a country-wide mass-panic not enough?"

Setne pouted. "Yes, but as we all know, your daddy dearest doesn't approve of me being free. Plus what fun doing mischief if you aren't a god? Yes, I'm looking forward to being Setne, the king of the gods. Perhaps I can even be known as the god of mischief. . ." His voice trailed off, weighing the possibilities of godhood.

"HEY LISTEN!" We swung around to Leo.

"Never. Do. That. Again." I said slowly.

Despite being held in a cage of dirt, he grinned. "Figured you'd get that. Anyways, as honorable as wanting to be king of the gods, mischief-maker extraordinaire, do you really have to dissolve to world into nothingness? What does that give you?"

The crazy ghost laughed maniacally. "Did any of those murals show the world being completely destroyed?"

Leo muttered under his breath, "how can you just destroy half of the world? Wouldn't the gravitational pull and orbit of the sun kind of ruin that plan?"

Before Setne could open his big mouth for some long-drawn out explanation, I interrupted. "Whatever. For the last time, what do you want, Setne?" I was so-o-o fed up with this old ghost it wasn't even funny. Sadie was going to have competition on who threw Setne's heart down Ammit's throat.

Setne gave a long-suffering sigh. "Carter, Carter. I like you, I really do! But you're in my way, I know from our past . . . interactions that you will stop at nothing to keep me from completing my goals."

"Stole the words right from my mouth," I muttered.

Nico snorted. "Right. Setne, when my father get his hands on you, you will wish your heart went to Ammit."

Wait, what? I turned around to face the son of Hades. "What do you mean he will wish his heart went to Ammit? Of course it will!"

Nico gave a creepy laugh, and I almost felt bad for Setne. Then I remembered how he set Blood-Stain Blade against me and Zia and I forgot the feeling. "This has gone past the Egyptian side of things, Carter. Believe it or not, I think my father actually cares that Setne's threatening to kill me. And I'm the Ghost King, in case that ghost has forgotten. Setne will have a lovely time in the Fields of Punishment." There was something dark in Nico's eyes as he said that sent chills up my spine. It left be with to doubt that you did not want to go the Greek punishment.

Maybe I should have defended the Egyptian side, said that he belonged to Osiris and Osiris only. But honestly, after everything Setne's done, I wouldn't mind seeing him get a little punishment for a while. I shrugged. "Okay."

Setne looked down-right outraged. "Excuse me? 'The ghost' is still standing right in front of you!"

"Unfortunately," Nico muttered. Leo snickered.

"And you have no power over me, Nico di Angelo. The chaos magic of Apophis ensures that." Setne continued. He started to fade out, calling as he disappeared. "Carter, to answer your question, this is what I plan to do to you!"

An army of demon started to flood in, brandishing weapons and yelling - well, as much as they could with axes and wrenches as heads - for my blood. I sighed irritably. Here we go again. I turned to Zia. "Are you working on this cages?" I asked.

She nodded, still looking frustrated. "Yes, but it will take awhile."

Nico rolled his eyes sarcastically. "By all means, take your time." He swung his sword, the dark blade gleaming in the blue and white lights radiating from the pulsating hieroglyphs. "We'll hold the monsters off."

I was glad we in a large chamber - it meant I could take on my Horus warrior avatar. I concentrated, and for the first time in a while, I heard the voice of Horus in my head. Long time no see, Carter.

Not the time for smart comments, I sent back.

Well it's great to see you too, Carter. I could feel Horus pouring through my memories, trying to come up-to-date on what has happened over the last few months. He stopped on Leo's comment and snickered. 'Hey listen,' I hate Navi.

REALLY? I yelled at him mentally. I need the avatar! We're about to be slaughtered, in case you haven't noticed.

Yeah, yeah, fine. Horus muttered back sulkily.

Really, what was the point of having a god in my head, if all they did was act like an immature five year old?

A surge of energy spread through me, and a holographic body flickered to life around me, lifting me into the air. My khopesh became enormous in the avatar's hand, power crackling in the air as my inner war strained to attack. I now towered a good fifteen feet in the air, literally filled to the brim with energy from Horus. I realized I hadn't felt this powerful since . . . well since I'd been the Eye of Horus during the battle with Apophis. It was a refreshing feeling, but also dangerous. I knew that I shouldn't get used to the feeling. It was still a bit dangerous to house a god fully for too long. Unless your name is Walt.

Getting off topic. Ugh, Sadie would perk up when I mentioned Walt's name.

I glanced over at Nico, curious about how he'd fight. I've never seen him in battle, but judging by the dark aura that always seemed to follow him around, he was powerful. He took a fighting stance, his sword ready. I noticed the shadows in the room were bending and twisting around him, swathing him in darkness. Fear and death seemed to emanate from him in thick waves, making the entire demon army hesitate. I realized just how powerful Nico di Angelo was at that moment, and he didn't even look like he was trying. He had a glint in his eyes that hinted he still had a few cards up his sleeve.

Then the demons got over the irrational fear handing in the air and attacked.

A/N:

So there you go! Again, I'm really really sorry for the long wait! It's not that I'm super lazy - well not mostly - I just kind of took my time on this chapter :D SHould the next chapter be Zia or Nico? Neither have gotten a chapter yet and I'm at a lose on who to pick!

I know I ended it without much of a battle scene, - and a bit of cliffhanger - but it was already almost 6000 words long and I didn't really want to have a chapter that long. I like to keep each chapter relatively even in length, and it's too hard to scrounge out 6000 words every chapter. If I did it would take this long for every chapter.

I really like getting ideas from other people (it makes it all the more fun!) so comment anything you want me to add, or any story line twists you think are cool. Or if it sucks. I honestly don't care if you flame, if only it's constructive to make me a better writer.

Maybe the 'hey listen!' Navi reference was stupid, but I just couldn't resist!

~LuneEtSidera