Ta da! Longish chapter! In which there is a scary moment, an oh no moment, an oh yes moment and an uh oh moment. Enjoy! Review for more words to read!

~oh yes. There shall be either three or four more chapters before the Big Escape you've all been waiting for...~

Nico's POV

Nico was walking down the beach at Camp Half Blood, heading towards the big rock where Kole sat. She was perched on top of the rock, her knees pulled up close to her. She wore a long white Greek style gown, and a gold circlet around her forehead. The setting sun illuminated her face, and she looked like a goddess. As Nico approached the rock, he found himself staring, admiring her: the way her hair whipped around her face, the way her face glowed in the light of the sun, how brightly her eyes shone. He climbed the rock and sat beside her, taking her hand, but when he did, he realized her hands were shackled to the rock. Kole turned toward him, sorrow in her face. She looked at him so sadly, it broke his heart.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Nico tried to ask. But he couldn't speak. He could only watch as the tide came in rapidly, higher than it should've, covering the rock. Nico frantically tried to pull against the thick iron chains holding Kole against the rock, but she shook her head at him. She kissed his forehead gently, meeting his eyes, then pushed him away.

He tried to scream, to protest, but he was carried away by the water and could only watch as Kole was swallowed by the water, taken from her favorite place into the cold darkness.

When the water receded, the rock was empty. Nico stood safely on the beach, but Kole was gone. Nico searched the boulder, the beach, the water. But there was nothing to be found, the water was peaceful, waves barely lapping the shore.

And Kole, was gone. Lost to him forever.

Nico's eyes flew open, his heart racing in terror. The dream faded away, and Nico sat up, pulling his knees against his chest. He had raised the dead for hours, watching as they were sustained by Lyssa's magic, but then he'd blacked out from pure exhaustion.

Nico found himself in a small cell. Empty of anything interesting, with an invisible door that he had no chance of finding. Just like the one he was kept in before. But there was one difference. This one had a single glass wall, that looked into the cell opposite him. And in that cell…

"Oh my gods." Nico shot to his feet and ran to the glass wall, leaning heavily against it to support himself. He peered through the glass, his eyes resting on the small figure curled in the corner. "Kole!" Nico banged on the glass with balled fists.

The girl stirred, sitting up and seeing him. Her eyes widened and she shot to her feet. Kole raced towards the wall. The chain around her neck kept her from coming all the way to it, but she reached out her hand and pressed it against the glass. Relief showed in every line of her body as she studied Nico, checking him for injuries. She tried to say something but Nico couldn't hear her through the glass. He shrugged his shoulders sadly, but Kole did something else. She shaped her fingers into a heart and pressed it to the glass. Nico smiled weakly and did the same, his much larger heart encircling hers entirely. Kole smiled bravely at him, and he couldn't help but admire her strength. Through all this, she still had hope that they could get out of this mess.

Kole tapped the glass a bit so Nico's eyes went back to her face, and she mouthed we'll be okay. I swear you'll get out of this alive. Nico tried a smile, but failed miserably. Only after Kole started trying to tell him something else did he realize she'd said 'you' and not 'us'…

Kole's POV

Kole knew that Lyssa did not plan on letting them go. She knew that she'd sworn to let them go when Nico finished her job, but somehow Kole thought that 'let us go' had a different meaning then they thought it did, something much more painful and less enjoyable that would probably end up with them in the Underworld the hard way. And that was why she needed to save Nico. And she had a plan to do it.

When she finally convinced Nico to go to sleep, that she'd be fine here, she sat against the wall of her cell opposite the glass one. Her jeans were shredded and rather bloody, and her tank top from Aphrodite that she was still wearing had slashes across the back and burn marks all over it, also covered in blood. She was absolutely grimy. What she wouldn't give for a Roman bath. Or a Roman friend. Or a Greek friend. Or pretty much anything good.

For her plan to work, Kole had to wait until Lyssa dragged them with her on her conquest to take over the world. Which she knew wouldn't happen until after Nico finished raising her army, and she didn't know if he could handle that. He would have to get through it though, there was nothing she could do to help him. And then, all Kole needed to do was ask Elle for some cookies, and they'd be just fine.

Kole went back to fiddling with the bolt attaching her chain to the wall. Her fingernails were shredded and bloody, but she had almost worked the screws out of the stone wall. After hours of twisting and pulling, she had six screws in her pocket. A single screw held the metal plate her chain was attached to on the wall, but she could easily yank it off with a tug. And now she had half of the things she needed for her escape plan.

But the hardest part was going to be staying alive until her plan could be put into action.

A few hours later, Lyssa appeared to take Nico back to 'work'. Though Kole protested, she knew it was useless. She just had to hope that he was strong enough to do it. While he was gone, she used one of her screws to scrape away at the glass, making a rectangular groove in the wall that would be big enough for her to crawl through. The glass was almost three inches thick, to thick for her to break, but she'd dealt with situations like this before. Capture, torture, imprisonment, that was her home turf.

As Kole scraped, she thought. She thought about what Nico would do if he knew about her plan. What he would do if her plan worked. But then she couldn't anymore. So instead of thinking, she remembered.

"Wanna go to the canoe lake with me? I have class." Nico asked.

"Duh!" Kole grabbed his hand and dragged him off, laughing. Nico smiled widely.

When they reached the docks, they were way early. Apparently Nico's class wasn't for another hour, but that didn't bother Kole. She simply pushed Nico off the edge of the dock. He yelped and just managed to grab her hand and pull her in before he hit the water. They made a huge splash when they crashed into the warm water. Kole propelled herself to the surface easily, but Nico was clumsy and slow in keeping himself above the water.

"You sir, need swimming lessons." Kole laughed as Nico spit out water.

"I am a great swimmer, thank you very much."

Kole raised an eyebrow and ducked under water. A moment later, Nico yelped as he was pulled underwater. He struggled against the girl who pulled him down, and after he kicked her in the face, Kole let go. They both broke the surface gasping, and Kole laughed and cupped her face where Nico had kicked her.

"Oh gods are you okay? I'm so sorry!" Nico said frantically.

"I'm fine, Nico!" Kole laughed. Nico brushed his thumb over the small growing bruise forming on her jaw. Then Kole jabbed him in the stomach and started tickling him. Nico laughed uncontrollably, and Kole ended up having to drag him up to shore. She dropped him on the grassy shore and started walking away, shaking water off herself. Nico took a deep breath, trying to control his laughter.

"Where are you going?" He called, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"To get my swimsuit so I can teach you how to swim right." Kole called over her shoulder. "And I advise you do the same."

Kole had had so much fun that day. It had been a total blast, even though it had ended with both of them covered in mud and having to hike through the forest. She couldn't help but smile, remembering it. And that memory, gave her hope.

And she knew then, that somehow, they'd get through this. She didn't know how, but she knew that they had to. Because it was always worth getting through the problems so that she could have memories like that, so that she could make people smile.

Kole worked at the glass with renewed vigor. She knew that she was going to have to have this window done if she planned on keeping Nico alive through the time it took to raise an army.

DA DA DAAAAAA