UPDATE TIME!

TinyUnicorn: Hehe don't worry. Thanks :D (::)

thegirlwiththerainboweyes: I update as and when I can, but thanks anyway because it means that you (hopefully) like it :D

I heart vamps: Again, I update when I can...but still thanks :D

Gabriel POV

In the end Nico agrees to shadow-travel the thing to the top, whilst the rest of us climb. I don't know what the hell it is.

For starters, it has thing huge funnel thing, like a gramophone. Leo explains that, basically, anything with 'shadow' energy will be sucked into it. There are lasers on the way down that shrink whatever the shadow is.

So the thing ends up in a little bullet-proof glass bubble, where we can all stare at it.

"I haven't turned it on yet." Leo warns. "Nico will have to get out of the way before I do, or he'll be sucked in."

Nico takes a couple of quick steps back and almost goes over the edge. Then he just looks at us, before melting into the shadows. It's unnatural how he does it.

"Okay." Leo grins, then flicks the 'ON' switch. The entire machine judders and whirrs to life. Green and red lasers appear in the funnel. We all look at it expectantly. Then Rue looks over at the wall and yells "DUCK!"

We all hit the ground, except for Will who yells something about never trusting ducks and leaps over the side of the roof. Stupid man.

Shadows swarm the funnel, all being sucked in at once. Leo frantically slams the 'off' button and the rest are repelled back to the wall. I get up gingerly.

"Let's have a look."

Newt POV

In the end, we decide to go The Fault in Our Stars wing because there are less people there. Gus leads the way to a small common room.

"You have a common room?" Chuck says. "No fair!"

"Any other fandom would have wrecked theirs...or at least had a huge fight in it." Gus points to a little coffee table "Put it there."

Leo dumps the machine onto the table and disconnects the bubble from the rest of the machine. Three little shadowy creatures scrabble about inside it.

"Well, it looks like there are two different types of shadow." Leo says squinting at them. "One of them is surrounded by a shadow, and the others have little lighters in them"

"Huh?" I lean closer to get a better look. He's right. One of them looks like it's in a cloud of darkness, and I see a glint of metal within it. The others spark each time they touch the glass. It leaves a little engraving.

"I could probably figure out where they're getting signals from." Leo says. "They're all robots."

Nico POV

Leo arrives back at Camp Half-Blood carrying the bubble and staring at the little robots trapped inside. He disappears straight into Bunker 9 and it's clear that we probably won't see him for about a week.

Meanwhile, Percy had decided that there needs to be a strawberry fight and apparently the Hades cabin is allied with the Poseidon cabin...and the Athena and Apollo cabins...

In fact, it's pretty much every cabin against Jason. He's done a good job of starting a prank war, and I'm guessing this is payback.

I duck a flying strawberry and throw a couple back. This is going to be interesting, to say the least.

Will H. POV

NEVER TRUST A DUCK.

NEVER JUMP OFF THE SIDE OF A TALL BUILDING EITHER.

IT HURTS.

Leo POV

After four solid days of studying the robots, I found the signal from the sparky ones. It's a little weird.

I take the bubble to Nico and he sighs, before shadow-travelling us both to the underworld. The strawberry war has been going on for five days and Nico is covered in red juice, which is hilarious until he shoves a strawberry in your face.

I ring the door-bell and this time Rue answers it. She sees my excited face and raises her eyebrows at the strawberry juice covering the pair of us. "Come in..."

Gus stops dead when he sees us, before he cracks up laughing. Chuck, Max and Prim join in when they see. Newt hides a grin. We meet more people on our way to The Fault in our Stars common room and they all goggle as though we are some alien species.

We are not aliens. We are demigods who have been involved in a strawberry fight against Jason.

Eventually, when everyone is sat down, I can start.

"I found the signal. It's a little weird..." I tap the bubble for effect.

"Get on with it." Gabriel mutters. Gus nods in agreement and leans forwards.

"Fine. The signal...is from Hades."

Nico POV

Why the hell is my dad sending shadows to scorch the side of the underworld? Leo apparently has the answer for that too.

"Well, from what I can read, they're trying to scorch the words 'Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus' which according to Jason is Latin for 'Never tickle a sleeping dragon'." Leo says "Why the hell would Hades put that on a wall?"

Fred coughs at the sound of the Hogwarts school motto.

I face-palm. I really shouldn't have let dad read the Harry Potter books...

Another short chapter...I know how it's gonna end, but I don't want to put everything into one looong chapter...

Updates will not be frequent. Just putting that out there. I'm sorry :(