Hi everyone, how was your holiday? Did you have a good Thanksgiving? I guess its time to apologize... I am so sorry it took so long! Please forgive me!

I do however want to thank everyone who reviewed,favorited, or followed my story. It really means a lot of to me.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to C. and Rick Riordan.

Chapter 11

Nico's POV

This kid was crazy. He kept muttering to himself and kept walking as though he didn't care who heard. He never even seemed to consider he was being followed and thought he was so clever to have gotten away. He finally reached a hill that overlooked a large lake. On the frozen lake there was a castle that seemed to be entirely made of ice. I continued after Edmund, but I had to admire the castle that was before me. It was nothing compared to my father's castle, but it was still able to send off the same message.

I am to be respected and feared.

Edmund walked straight to the gates and opened them, walking straight through. If he would have looked behind him he would have seen the gate stay open longer than necessary as I slipped through, but he was to determined not pay attention. He jumped and suddenly stopped and picked up a charred stick. He began to draw on a very life like statue of some kind of big cat.

He laughed and said, "I can't believe I was scared of you. I have nothing to fear here especially once I meet the queen."

I nearly stopped in my tracks. From what I learned this so called queen was evil. Yet he talked about her as though they were friends. He was doing to his family what I had done to Percy. That struck to close to home and I was about to reach out to grab him when he stepped over what I had thought was a stature of a wolf until it jumped up and slammed him to the ground. I instantly twisted the skull ring on my finger and it turned into my stygian sword. I released the shadows that concealed and jumped forward. Just as I was about to strike the wolf spoke.

"Take one more step stranger and he dies." To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I had heard monsters talk, but not ordinary animals, but I concealed the surprise from my face and snarled. The air around me if possible, grew colder and darker.

"You dare challenge me? I am the ghost king! You do not threaten me!" I said in a deadly calm voice as I suddenly lunged forward. The wolf caught off guard took a step back, but I quickly followed and sliced down cutting straight into the wolf's back. He did not explode into dust though, but actually whimpered and collapsed to the ground. I looked down at him in disgust as I twisted the handle of my sword to turn it back into its ring form.

"What are you? You are a freak! Get away from me. " I heard behind me. I turned and saw Edmund crawling back and looking at me with a look of horror and disgust plastered on his face. Fury was still beneath the surface and I stepped quickly forward and grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted him into the air.

"You are calling me a freak? You, who just betrayed his family and has no remorse for it? You disgust me!" I said as I dropped him and glared down at him. He squirmed under my gaze and looked away quickly. I suddenly felt a prick in my neck and blackness began to cloud my vision.

"Well done Edmund. It seems you may have not failed me yet." Said an icy voice somewhere behind me. I felt unconsciousness coming, but I stepped in front of Edmund and turned around to face another threat. What stood in front of me was not a monster though, but a woman. Her hair seemed to have frost wove into it and her coat was of the softest white furs. Her skin was almost as pale as mine and her eyes held hatred beyond what most mortals held. I knew then that there was something off about her, but I returned her look with a glare of my own that usually made people whimper and try to flee from my presence, yet she only smirked at me. I began to pull the shadows around me and was surrounded by my darkness and snarled at her.

"Back away Witch. I know who you are and I have no fear for you." I said as I fought consciousness, but let nothing but hatred show on my face. Slight surprise showed on her face before suddenly her smile was back and wider than ever.

"My, my, what do we have here? You are no ordinary Son of Adam are you? Yes, you will do nicely at my side." She said as she ignored my warning and continued to walk forward. I raised a single skeletal archer and had him hide behind a statue and wait. I didn't want to show too much of my power since I didn't know what she had in mind, but I knew I couldn't let her near Edmund.

Suddenly he spoke, "W-w-ait, I was supposed to rule by your side. That was our deal." He whined and she turned to him in fury, causing him to scurry behind me.

"You failed me! You did not bring me your siblings, but someone unknown to us. Yet it was not a complete loss I could use him and his extraordinary powers." She said looking at me with malice in her eyes. I signaled for my archer to fire and he began to shoot. A single arrow almost pierced her heart until she shot an icy blast from her staff that I didn't realize she had. It froze in the air and was instantly concrete. She then shot another blast in the direction of my archer and I released him to the underworld so she could not see what had been shooting.

"I will never join you. No matter what you can offer." I said with another snarl.

She then looked behind me to Edmund and smiled, "You will if you want him to live." She said simply and my stomach dropped. I was just on the verge of unconsciousness which I had been fighting, but it was coming so I gathered the shadows and prepared to shadow travel.

"Oh no, I do not think I can let you do that my little prince. I do not know the exempt of your powers, but I know that you are going nowhere." With that she stepped forward and pressed her staff to my head. I cried out in pain and felt icy tendrils began to weave through mind trying to extract what they wanted. I began to try to push them out; I couldn't let her know about my friends. Suddenly time seemed to stop and the feeling I had felt from the light post returned and a voice filled my brain.

"My son there is only so much I can do now that you are in the clutches of the White Witch. But I can do one thing if you will allow me. I can cloud your memories not allowing her to see into your past or anything you have experienced. I will leave enough for you to know who you are and what you are here to do but nothing else. When the time is right I will give them back to you, but it is your choice to make. So tell me my son what will it be."

I stood there and quickly made my choice and suddenly my mind went blank. I couldn't remember anything except that my name was Nico and I was here to protect this boy at my feet.

The presence left and I again felt the pain in my head and screamed in pain.

"What is this?! Why can I not find anything?!" a female voice said somewhere in front of me, but I couldn't focus enough to see.

"If I cannot find anything then I might as well extinguish these powers until I am in need of them." She growled before I suddenly felt what felt like a red hot knife in the back of my mind. I screamed in pain and then it was gone, but something was missing. It felt like my left hand had been taken from me. Like I was missing something that made me, me. I finally fell to my knees and slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing I saw was a female looking down at me with a look of disgust and hatred upon her face.