A/N: Oh. My. Gods. Thank you guys for being so supportive! I never expected to get more than, like, less than 100 people to even read this story, or review it at all, but here we are! I never expected my story to be a success, seeing as I wrote it for fun, and I'm not even in high school yet. Thanks again, and sorry for how short the last chapter was. I plan on making it up to you here!

IMPORTANT: I haven't been posting as often lately because I've been working on a story that I wrote for my communications class. I am posting it on this website, but it's an ORIGINAL story, not a fanfiction. Also, I now have an account on Wattpad. Same name and stuff, and the story is on there as well. The stuff I post there will probably be a bit more edited, so yeah.

DISCLAIMER: (I've realized I've never done one of these before) Rick Riordan owns the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. I only own my OCs and the plot of this story.


At first, Nico was a bit nervous about Serena's plan, but then again, he didn't really have a choice if he wanted to come.

Serena had gotten a few potions from Lou Ellen for their quest. Nico hadn't known that the two were friends, but apparently Lou was willing to lend Serena a hand with her things.

The potions tasted like pond-scum soup, but Nico and Will drank them anyway. When the two waded into the water after Serena, they found that they could breathe in the water. It took a little while to get used to it, but it wasn't too bad.

"You guys do know that the potions let you talk too, right?" Serena asked after a few minutes of walking (Nico and Will swam, Serena kinda just walked on the sand) in silence.

"Really?" Will asked, but his voice sounded lower than usual. "What's up with my voice?"

The daughter of Poseidon simply laughed. "You have to make your voice a little higher than usual for it to sound normal down here."

"Like this?"

"Yep, just like that," her ears perked slightly, and she quickly turned her head to the side. "Something's here. I can feel it."

That put Nico on his guard. "What is it?"

Serena thought for a moment, concentrating. "Not sure, but I think it's the same thing that tried to look though my thoughts earlier."

"What? It followed you?" Will exclaimed.

"Shush, Will!" Serena said in a hushed manner. "I don't want to let it know we're here."

The trio hid in a small formation of coral and rocks to avoid the 'thing'.

"Okay," Nico said slowly. "Serena, any idea what 'it' is?"

She shook her head. "No. I can only tell that it's there, nothing more. My powers have limits too, you know."

"Well, that's too bad, demigods," an unfamiliar voice tells the group. "Because you'll need your powers for what I have in store for you."

"Who are you?" Serena demanded.

"Why, that's for me to know and you to find out, little girl."

"Show yourself!" Nico shouted.

"Oh, whatever you wish, Ghost King." The voice said in a mocking manner. Out of the shadows, a scrawny-looking ghost/spirit appeared. He looked old, and was wearing strange clothes that looked as if they were from ancient times.

"Tell us who you are." Nico said calmly, not wanting to fight.

"Like I said to the girl, that's for me to know and you to find out."

Nico laughed coldly. "Well, I want to find out. You know I'm the Ghost King, so you must also know what I can do. Don't make me use that power on you."

The ghost squinted his see-through eyes at Nico. "I am not from your father's underworld, boy. You have no control over me. And I know more about what's going on than you do. You three are all on a little quest, correct? To investigate the 'crashed' ships, I presume? Well, you've found the cause. I've been using ships as target practice for weeks, and it takes them this long to send a search party?"

Nico was taken aback. He could tell that the ghost was not lying. Not from my father's underworld? Then where is he from? Nico wondered.

"What are you waiting for then?" Nico heard Serena say. "Aren't you going to attack? If you can destroy an entire ship, why not us?"

The ghost chuckled. "Very perceptive, aren't we child? Well, I personally don't like the idea of destroying you all at once; too simple in my opinion."

"Too simple?" Serena exclaimed. "These days, nothing seems 'too simple' to me."

The ghost looked at her quizzically for a few seconds, causing Serena's hand to creep up to her silver hair clip. "Don't bother. You wouldn't be able to hit me with that thing anyway. It looks like it's about time for me to take my leave. I will leave you with a warning this time: do not get in my way. If you do, you will regret it." With that, the ghost began to fade away until he had completely disappeared into darkness.

Nico looked over to Serena and Will, who both looked as confused as he felt. "This is going to be harder than we thought. We need to get moving, fast."


A/N: I've been changing my signature since the new one matches my screen name a bit better. Yay.

~Roxy