1136: Who the heck are you?

Owch: I'm the pizza delivery guy. Would you like a pizza? *points AK-47 at 1136*

1136: Is the pizza in the gun?

Owch: Hehe. You could say that…

The next morning we woke up feeling stiff and cold, but alive. Alex stretched as she yawned, accidentally kicking me where I hate being kicked. I grunted in pain but otherwise was fine.

"I'm wondering something," Thalia said as we all stood up. "Why didn't Helen kill us when she had the chance?"

"She used Alex as bait to get us out here, so for some reason her or The Pit want us out here, looking for the ring," I reasoned.

"We'd better not disappoint them then," Thalia said. "Let's find the ring."

"There's got to be a way to track it," I mumbled. "Maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Thalia asked.

"The ring is designed to absorb Hades' energy," I reminded them. "But I can give off almost the exact same energy. And if the ring is at all close…"

I threw my arms up, and an inky cloud of darkness flew from my body. It swirled above our heads for a bit before flying off into the mountains.

"Follow that shadow energy!" I shouted.

Thalia sprinted off after it, and as soon as Alex jumped securely onto my back I was right behind her. The black energy was moving fast, and it was hard to keep up. Once we lost it completely, and twice I was running too fast and fell on my face. The mountains were a tricky terrain, and we were climbing about as much as we were running.

The energy finally disappeared when the side of the mountain sucked it in like a vacuum. I drew my sword and started hacking away at the ice and rock. Thalia took out her spear and helped, and meanwhile Alex was still huddled against my back. I'm not sure how long exactly we were slicing at the mountain, but eventually my sword struck something other than ice and rock, and small burst of energy blew me and Thalia backward.

Alex crawled out from underneath me with snow in her hair and on her clothes. She gave me a glare, but for some reason she still looked innocent and adorable. I let out a laughed. I stood up and got a look at what my sword had struck. As soon as I saw it a smile broke out on my face.

Thalia came up next to me to get a look as well. We both looked at each other.

"We found it," Thalia said smiling.

I reached in and after tugging a bit, pulled the ring out of the frozen side of the mountain. The ring was a silver skull ring with ruby eyes that had no sparkle. Thalia took out the black box and held it up to the ring. The ruby eyes started to glow as electricity arced from the box into the ring. The ring was soon fully charged.

"Daddy found da wing!" Alex yelled.

"We did it," I breathed. "All that's left now is to–"

"Hand the ring over," a voice said.

We spun around to see the kid who'd been following us, Sophiee, and Benjamin behind us. They all wore warm winter wear, and jealousy crept through my mind as I realized again how cold I was. They all drew their weapons. Thalia and I drew ours.

"You want the ring?" I asked. "Your gonna have to take it."

"Oh, and we're going to have to kill your daughter too," Benjamin added. "Helen should've done it but the damn witch decided to use her as bait instead. True it got us the ring, but it was still stupid. I swear if we didn't need her for–"

"For what?" Thalia asked.

Benjamin smiled. "None of your business." He looked to his two escorts. "Kill them, kill the girl, get the ring and the box."

I tossed Thalia the ring and she put it in the box with the bolt sliver. Thalia took off running, and I ran away in the other direction with Alex in my arms. I didn't like splitting up, but then again it was for the best.

Sophiee and the kid followed me, expertly keeping pace with me despite the terrain. The kid leapt forward and kicked me to the ground. Alex jumped from my arms as I fell and took off, with the killer little boy in close pursuit. I was about to help her, but Sophiee landed in front of me.

Our blades clashed as our fight began. I brought my sword down hard, slicing her blade in half. She hilt-slammed me in the temple in response. She was about to stab me with what was left of her sword, but I waved my hand and two skeleton warriors leapt out of the ground and tackled her. I sprinted off in the direction Evan and Alex had gone.

I rounded a snow bank and saw Alex lying in the snow with a cut on her forehead and Killer Boy hovering above her, about to finish her. I hurled my sword at him, and it sliced his side open. He fell to the ground as the snow around him tuned red. I scooped up Alex and my sword before taking off in search of Thalia.

Thalia's POV

Benjamin was still chasing me through the mountains, but he was still far behind me. Up ahead the mountain ended abruptly in a cliff, but that didn't stop me. I just kept running and when the cliff came, I jumped. I cleared the jump and landed on the snow bank of the mountain on the other side. Benjamin jumped after me, making the jump as well. I swung my spear around and ended up smacking him in the face with the shaft.

He drew his two knives and pounced, but I blocked him and shoved him back. He backed up and slowly circled me. This guy fought like a cat. He leapt forward again, this time slicing my spear in half. I knocked him the ground with one half that didn't have a point and stabbed him in the gut with the other half that did.

He coughed up blood before I kicked him off the mountain. Just as he disappeared in the snow far below, Nico and Alex came up.

"Where's Benjamin?" Nico asked.

"Gone," I answered. "Sophiee and the other one?"

"Not sure. But neither of them will be bugging us for a while," Nico assured me.

"Good. Alex are you okay?" I asked my daughter.

Alex shook her head. "My head hurts."

I took Alex in my arms and kissed Alex's forehead.

"Do you still have the ring?" Nico asked.

"Yeah it's…" my voice trailed off, because I couldn't feel the box anymore. "Oh gods. Benjamin got it."

"He must be taking it back to The Pit right now," Nico cursed.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. He's dead. We need to find his body before Sophiee and her friend can."

"This is crazy," Nico muttered.

"It's us remember?" I joked.

We slid down the side of the mountain down to where Benjamin's body had fallen. Sophiee and the other kid were already there, taking the box from their comrades' body. Sophiee saw us first.

"Evan, since your not even supposed to be here, you kill them while I run," Sophiee told him.

Evan grimaced. For the first time I noticed his side was bloody. I didn't think he'd be able to fight, but I was wrong. Evan jumped forward, no sword, no armor, and a blood stain body. He kicked me to the ground and punched Nico in the face. We both fell to the ground, and Evan jumped on top of Nico and started pummeling him.

I would've helped, but Alex beat me to it. She took off her necklace and spun it, transforming it into sword form. The Stygian iron looked even blacker against the white snow. She hit Evan in the back of the head with the flat of it. Evan collapsed, unconscious. Nico shoved the body off of him and stood up.

Alex turned her sword back into a necklace and replace it on her neck. I took off after Sophiee, following the tracks in the snow. I soon caught up, and before long I was almost with reach. In desperation she kicked backward, but I had jumped at her at the same instant, and we both rolled to the ground. The black box containing the ring and bolt sliver rolled away, almost falling off the mountain.

I scrambled up after it, but Sophiee grabbed my ankle. Meanwhile the box continued to slowly slide over the edge.

I kicked her off and grabbed the box, but ended up punched in the face by Sophiee as she took the box back. Sophiee was struck by lightning, but she held onto the box. I was about t hit her with more lightning when the chopping of helicopter blades filled my ears.

Sophiee smiled as her ride showed up. She jumped for the ladder dangling from the helicopter, and it flew away into the sky.

Nico and Alex showed up a second later. They saw the copter as it continued to fly away.

"They're not gone yet we can still catch them," Nico insisted.

"How?" I asked.

"How strong is your control over the wind?"

And that concludes that chapter. Can they catch that helicopter? What happens once they get the ring? Are Percy and Annabeth the only ones to be resurrected? Tune in next time to find out!