1136: Why does he always leave me with the hard jobs? Clean the toilets on Taco Fridays (What? Not everybody does Taco Tuesdays!), battle the giant robot, handle this chapters opening AN, always go out in public dressed either as Spider-Man or a bunny. I HATE YOU 003!

003: I know.

Thalia's POV

"We see if we're being followed," I told Alex, not sure she understood though.

"Otay," she said.

I wasn't sure if The Pit had anyone else after us, but if they were close I was going to draw them out. That's how Alex and I found ourselves on top of the sickeningly high US Bank Tower, which rose seventy-three stories above the ground. Telling Alex to go sit down, I summoned up a pretty decent sized lightning storm that flared and struck across the roof. If anyone from The Pit was stalking us, they'd know what the lightning meant.

"Wonder if they got the message," I mumbled after a few minutes.

"Oh I got it," I heard a voice say. "Hello Thalia. Going it alone I see."

"Helen," I seethed as I drew my spear and spun around.

"So, where's your man? Or did he leave again?" Helen teased.

"He's ring shopping," I shot back, because in a funny way that was true. He was looking for a ring, just not the ring.

"Well then, wedding present anyone?" Helen laughed.

She snapped her fingers, and my spear turned into a snake. I gasped and threw it across the roof.

"Is that all you got?" I shouted.

Helen waved her hand and I slowly started sinking into the roof like it was quicksand. Damn I hate magic.

Evan POV

It wasn't hard getting into the Underworld, I just had to cling to the side of Charon's boat as it left. Getting past Cerberus took a little more effort, and I ended up riding him like a bull for a bit before jumping off and onto the other side. But I'd set off some kind of living alarm or something, because the next thing I knew I was being chased by security ghouls. I lost them somewhere in the Fields of Asphodel, but as I looked around, I realized I was lost in the fields. Apparently, I wasn't the only one.

"I'm telling you we're lost!" I heard a guy say. "Just ask for directions!"

"I'm sorry," a girl sarcastically apologized, "but do you speak Dead?"

It was Sophiee and Brock. It had to be. It was pretty easy to find them. They were the ones rudely shoving aside any spirit that got in their way. I was behind them in an instant.

"You two," I greeted. "Where's the son of Hades and his family?"

They both spun around. Brock transformed his hand into a buzz saw and Sophiee drew her sword. They lowered their weapons when they saw it was me though.

"Aren't you supposed to be back with The Pit short stack?" Sophiee asked.

I grabbed Sophiee by the shirt and shoved her to the ground, hard. "I don't have time for this! Do you hear me? Where are they?"

Brock yanked me off of her and his saw started spinning again. "Easy little guy. We don't even know where we are. How could we know where Nico and Thalia are?"

"You people are useless," I spat and walked off, finding my way out of the Fields of Asphodel surprisingly quickly after that.

Nico's POV

My first stop was Elysium, where I hoped to find at the very least Perseus. Theseus, well he did abandon that girl like that, so I wasn't entirely sure where the judges sent him. I stopped at the gates. I'd never actually gone inside Elysium before. Slowly, I entered. I was met by a huge block party with people dancing in the streets and spilling their drinks.

I shook my head. This part of Elysium was too modern. The classic era section would have Perseus. Besides, if I stayed in the modern era part of Elysium too long, I might run into a different Perseus.

When I got to the classical area, I found Perseus fighting in the gladiator pits. Swords clashed, and both Perseus and his opponent staggered back. They were already dead, so they didn't have to worry about getting killed. They could just have fun beating each other up.

A large crowd was watching the fight, cheering. One girl in particular was excited.

"Alright! Knock him on his butt! Woo!" It took me a second to realize that was Princess Andromeda, cheering for her husband.

I waited until after the fight to talk to him.

"Excuse me, Perseus," I called. He turned around.

"What can I do for you?" he asked.

"Do you remember those rings you helped create in case the gods ever got carried away?" I asked.

Perseus slowly nodded. "Why do you ask?"

"We're gonna need the Hades ring, and I was wondering if you would no where it was," I told him.

Perseus shook his head. "Only one who would know that is Hades, and he won't tell you. You would have had to have been there when the rings were scattered. Obviously, you weren't."

"Good point," I sighed. "Thank you for your time."

This was a bit of a problem. I can't travel through time…But there might be someone who can. Question is, am I willing to cross that line? I left Elysium pondering my choice. Part of me was screaming: DON'T DO IT! NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES AND NOT FOR ANY REASON! But a (thankfully) much quieter part was telling me: It's the only way.

I was so caught up in my thoughts, I didn't notice the footsteps behind me until it was too late.

"Die!" a voice ordered.

I spun around in time to see the kid from the junkyard. I drew my sword and swatted him aside. He landed on his feet with his own knife drawn. Our blades clashed again, and our fight started. The kid was good, I'll give him that. He fought with surprising speed and skill, and since I was trying to avoid killing him, he had something of an upper hand. I hilt-slammed his stomach and kicked him under the chin, knocking him into the air.

He kicked out with both legs, hitting me squarely in the chest. He landed on his feet again, and I got knocked on my ass. I rolled to the side as he stabbed down, which left him wide open to attack. I grabbed his arm with my left hand and used my right hand to bring the hilt of my sword down sharply on his shoulder. He cried out in pain and kicked me where I hate being kicked.

We both tried to get over or shocks of pain, and he recovered first as he forced his dislocated shoulder back into place. He swung with his knife, almost taking my head off. I managed to dodge and counter by giving him a cut across his armpit. He staggered back and threw the knife.

The blade embedded into my hand and I dropped my sword. The kid charged and ripped his knife from my hand. I punched him in the stomach and threw him to the ground, but he just kept coming.

"Who are you!" I shouted as I yanked the knife out of his hands and kneed him in the face.

"Your death!" was the only response I got out of him.

He tackled me to the ground and punched me in the face a few times before I kicked him off of me and scrambled for my sword.

Just as he came up behind me, I spun around and sliced, and his shirt tore open to reveal a line of blood. He staggered back, angry.

"Surrender while you still have the chance," I ordered.

In response, he flipped me off and ran deeper into the Underworld. I was tempted to follow him, but something told me it was better if I go now.

1136: As if this stupid bunny costume wasn't enough, he's making me do the closing AN too! Ugh. Will Thalia survive her fight with Helen, and what about Alex? What was Nico thinking about doing when Evan attacked? And how long before Ethan takes things into his own e-vile hands? Tune in next time to watch me STRANGLE 003!