XXV

Nico

Nico was looking at a movie.

He saw a dark-haired girl. A pulse of shock rippled through the other him's body, and he watched as the person punched her.

Why am I doing this? He thought. She's my friend.

But he did it anyway. Jason came over to help Piper, and Nico felt another shock course through him. Why? He thought. Jason's my friend too.

Nico watched as the other him punched, and Jason crumpled as well. Nico laughed at it, even though his brain was yelling at him, These are your friends! HELP THEM!

He was still laughing when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Nico shrugged it off, and the screen turned around, and Nico saw a girl with chocolate brown skin, yelling something that he couldn't quite make out.

Hazel. The girl was Hazel.

Hazel grabbed the shoulders of the person on the screen and started shaking him. At the same time, Nico felt his shoulders being shaken. Nico got really annoyed, and he watched as the other him punched Hazel.

She's also my friend, he dimly thought.

But suddenly, he felt a giant thud in his back. The force was so powerful that he screamed in pain and blacked out.

When Nico came to, he was lying on the ground.

"Where am I…?" he asked himself. He lifted his head. Around him, his friends were all gathered around him. Only then did Nico realize that he'd just knocked out three of his friends. "What… what happened?" he asked.

His friends' looks told him everything he needed to know.

"Oh, no…" he said. "What did I do?" he asked, looking down at the three unconscious figures on the ground.

"Your eyes started glowing… and then you punched Piper, then Jason, then…" Frank started.

"Yeah." Nico sighed. "I saw what I did, thanks. But it was like I was watching a movie or something."

Leo's eyes widened. "Oh, no… Eidolons." He turned towards the group. "I saw another 'me' firing the ballistae."

"This is bad," Hazel said. She probably had been the one to awaken him. "Why would they attack Nico?"

Then Carter asked, "What exactly are Eidolons?"

"They're possessing spirits." Nico said, trembling. His head started to feel uncomfortable, like a hot spire was being drilled in. "And I've got one of them in me."

Leo suddenly added, "So those Eidolons really were lawyers- and great tacticians too. They possessed Nico because he wasn't on the ship and he wasn't part of the "Crew" we made them swear not to possess, knocked out Piper so that she couldn't charmspeak them, and so Nico would have to board the ship in order to escape from them, so then we would have to get to the Doors of Death without his help."

"Since when did you become so smart?" Jason asked. Everyone whirled their heads around. Jason was standing up. "Nico, if you're really possessed by an Eidolon, then you do need to get back to the Argo II."

Carter asked, "But I thought you needed to guide them. Now who's going to do it?"

"I think… Hazel." Nico quickly thought. "She's a daughter of Pluto, after all. I'll try to give her the best directions I have, and well… we'll have to make do. You'll need to be careful. The temple's more confusing than you think. Even I don't quite know the way."

Then Nico thought of something else. "Oh… the Giant talked about taking Mount Olympus and "Destroying the Gods at their roots". I think we need to do that too."

Coach Hedge suddenly yelled, "Then its settled! Me, Nico, Zia and Walt will journey to Mount Olympus with Piper, then you guys head over to the Doors! Great!"

"Who told you to make up the rules?" Nico muttered, but he knew Coach Hedge was right. Someone had to do it.

After Nico had given the directions to Hazel (who got confused after the 4th instruction) over and over again until she got them, he, Zia, Walt, Coach Hedge and Piper (who was still unconscious) walked back through the forest, back to the ship. Nico occasionally would have to stop and force the Eidolon back into his mind, and it hurt like crazy. Coach Hedge didn't help much, either. He kept forcing them to go on, pretty much leaving them without much energy to walk, let alone talk.

But finally, after a non-stop 8-hour walk (with minimum breaks) they found themselves back in Athens, where the rioters were still hogging the street. Once again, they took a detour, but then they found themselves in front of a gigantic statue of Talos. As Nico leaned on it to keep his balance and catch his breath, the statue started to move- just like the sphinxes had.