Percy

We stopped under some depressing tree and just waited until Nico caught his breath.

"Just…need….some….time…" And he passed out. Apparently, shadow travel, riding a hellhound, and saving your friend from utter imprisonment forever was tiring to him. Go figure.

So Mrs. O'Leary and I just waited there. We would probably be lost if it weren't for Nico, so we definitely needed him to guide us. I stood with Riptide and looked in the distance. There was a big looming cave high up and about 3 miles from here. Around the cave were 5 rivers that intertwined around each other and flowed into each other. I could recognize them immediately.

The black swirling one full of objects in it was the Styx, of course. The clear one after that was probably the Lethe.

Then, there was a river that looked silver and deathly, as if it was full of knives. That was probably the Akheron.

The river flowing diagonal from that was Kokytos, which was a deep purple. The river that I saw had images and clips of people's lives where they had done something that they regretted. The images and clips were sort of projected onto the water, except there was no projector.

Then, it was the most obvious; it literally was on fire; a blazing fire burned onto the surface of the river and inside the river seemed like columns of endless flames. River Phelegrthon.

Annabeth was there somewehere. What if Perseus was making her bathe in one of them? That would be disastrous! Motivated, I kicked Nico who woke up swinging his sword with surprising strength. I parried and disarmed him, but he still caught me off guard. I stumbled and fell backwards to the depressing, deathly ground.

He shook his head. "I shouldn't have passed out. Especially not that long. But I know what it is. It's…the effect of Hypnos himself."

I was so tired of gods who think they can pick on little demigods. Thinking of the word tired actually made me take a huge yawn. "Who's he? The god of something worthless?"

Nico looked up at me with panic in his eyes. "No. Not a god. The personification of sleep. Much more deadly and dangerous."

"Wait, I thought Morpheus was the god-the personification of sleep or whatever?"

Nico shook his head again. "He's the god of dreams. Not even the god of sleep. He is actually one of the sons of Hypnos."

The deathly air that was normally lukewarm turned colder. "Are you saying that the dude who put Grover to sleep for 3 months works for this guy?"

Nico nodded gravely. "Let's keep going. Or else we might stumble into the Labyrinth and you would have déjà vu all over again."

"Stumble into what?"

"Never seen the movie Wrath of the Titans?"

"Um, don't think so."

"Starring Sam Worthington?"

"Definitely not."

Nico sighed and shrugged. "Well, never mind then. We need to stay moving as much as possible to get to Hypnos' cave as quickly as possible. I think you'll love the cave. It's the closest connection to the outside world; it has rivers and actual grass in it."

I had to admit, I would probably love it. I patted Mrs. O'Leary and we rode on and on. We rode in complete silence. It was understandable. It was a solemn mission; no time for messing around or meaningless conversations.

I started to notice little things like ghosts appearing and disappearing in thin air. One of them was an old man right in front of me with an eyepatch who whispered, "Graecus!" and disappeared.

"Yeah, never heard that one before." I grumbled. A Roman ghost. I almost forgot that the Underworld holds all types of souls.

What if Beckendorf and Silena were here? What about Zoe? They would be in Elysium, of course, but I wondered where if I was able to visit them.

The cave was above everything else, so even if we got to the cave, we would have to climb some deathly mountains to reach it. I didn't have much time to think about that, because about a mile from the cave, a huge black shadow passed over us. Have you ever had a cloud of mist just settle on your body? That's how it felt, and my eyes started to close. I was so sleepy. My eyes felt heavy. It was almost as bad as going to one of Annabeth's architectural conventions or orientations. Almost.

I looked over at Nico with all my effort and saw that he was knocked out. The ghosts that appeared in the air didn't even have the energy to disappear. They just passed out and fell to the ground, sleeping.

Mrs. O'Leary stopped and starting barking at the shadow in general. She seemed to be the only one not to be affected by this. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came from behind me and blew my hood up. I suddenly felt awake and alert. Okay, that was a lie, but I felt more awake and not like I was going to pass out. I looked ahead and got out Riptide. A black hooded figure came materialized out of the black cloud. The being reminded me of Thanatos when we had first met him, except this person seemed much more…unfriendly. As if Death itself was friendly.

The being landed on the ground and I made a conscious decision that it was a man. No woman has shoulders as broad as his. He spoke in a slow, ominous, raspy voice. Really, does every godly figure need pills to clear up their throats?

"Still awake? You should not have come back." Come back? The hooded figure tilted its head at Mrs. O'Leary, who was barking her head off. The figure flicked its pinky finger and my menacing hellhound fell to the ground, sleeping like a poodle. I knew who this guy was. I also knew that my ADHD was helping to keep me awake, and probably alive also.

"I know who you are. You're-"

"Please don't invoke my name out loud. Honestly, it's just a pain. Yes, I know my own name."

I felt kind of hurt. That had become a sort of ritual for fighting bad guys. They arrive in a dramatic fashion, I recognize them after a while, tell them who they are, they laugh and tell their plan, and I beat them.

Hypnos tilted his head again, as if he knew what I was thinking. He landed on the deathly ground. He took a step towards me, and my knees buckled from tiredness. I collapsed to the ground, fighting to stay awake. Riptide scattered across the face. I knew if I fell asleep, I would be in for a bad time. "Why-….are you….doing…"

"I must admit, playing dumb seems to be one of your strengths. Just because you have the pathetic hood on, doesn't mean I didn't see your face." Hypnos reached into his cloak and pulled out a huge black sword that seemed to make me fall asleep just looking at it. He flicked his hand at me, and my hood fell off.

"Look at me." I gritted my teeth, and tried to look somewhere else. If I closed my eyes, I would fall asleep. If I looked at him, I would fall asleep. I fell to the ground, eyes closing involuntarily. He grunted. "You think that just because your friend encountered my son and lived, means that you could stand up to me?"

He raised his sword and came down on me…..

Only to get stopped by a black-ground glove who just stopped the sword's path like it was nothing. It should've cut right through the palm, but it was untouched. I was saved by someone or…something. I closed my eyes as I heard Hypnos crying in outrage. "This isn't your fight, cousin! You think that you could beat me in a fight? This demigod upstart came right into the Cave holding some blond girl. He beat me using the rivers in the cave, knocked me out, and continued into the cave. Now he comes back-"

A ghost of a voice answered, dripping with slight amusement. "Hypnos, honestly, that doesn't make any sense. Why would he defeat you, then come back? That is not sensible. This is the demigod upstart's….twin brother. He's come to stop his brother."

"LIES! I will kill him and then we will see about you!"

The other voice, the reasonable voice sighed. "We're all already dead."

"Under what authority are you telling this from?"

Another voice, deep and commanding, rang through the area. "Of me. Wake up, Jackson."

I heard a snap of fingers and my eyes shot open. I saw Hypnos, then I turned around and saw my good old friend Thanatos, and flying above him with robes that had the dying faces of people intertwined in it, was my good old enemy Hades.

He raised an eyebrow at me, then at Nico lying on the ground, still snoring.

"Let's not make this a habit, shall we?"