The second that Percy's head broke the water's surface with a gasp Nico knew instinctively that something was very wrong. The group met him at the side of the river and Nico had his suspicions confirmed almost instantly. "Dragons!" Percy said immediately. "Dragons are guarding Python!"

"Don't worry about the clothes then," Will said decisively, "Just get the rest of us to the door."

"It's gone!" Percy said, desperation in every word. "Once Ryker went through it closed and disappeared."

"Where did it go?" Piper demanded of no one in particular. She glanced to Hazel in a silent question, but the daughter of Pluto shook her head vigorously. "How do we find it again? It took us hours to find it the first time!"

"That's assuming that it only moved positions." Nico said, hating the thought but knowing that he had to be the rational one. "The Doors of Death move so that only Thanatos knows where they are at. These doors might lock themselves once someone goes through. Apollo was the only one who rescued Delphi before after all. Maybe the trap is that only one god or demigod can go there at a time."

The others assumed a stunned silence at Nico's thought and they lapsed into a silence, all of them working desperately to come up with a solution to go to their friend's aid. Nico's own mind was no different. He mentally ran through each of their individual powers, including his own, but none of them were of any particular use when it came to quickly locating something that may not have even been there. He saw the others desperately cast their eyes to the sky, undoubtedly beseeching their godly parents for advice or some sort of assistance. Though it was a long shot, Nico did the same. He however did not cast his eyes up at the sky. He gazed down at the earth, down to where the Underworld was, to where his father resided in his dark palace. Listen, Dad, I know you might not be able to help, Nico began lamely. He gave an inward sigh, unhappy with asking his father for help. Though their relationship had begun to take a relatively positive turn, Nico knew that his father was still unlikely to help. But right now we really need you, or any of the gods, to help. Otherwise we are screwed.

The others were still looking at the sky hopefully, almost as though they expected their godly parent to appear in the sky driving their divine chariots to their aid. None of them seemed to be having much luck, their expressions growing bleaker by the second. Hazel was the first one to give up, her gaze snapping back to the earth and then crouching down to place a hand against the dirt. "Can you feel the cavern still?" Nico asked, kneeling in the dirt beside her.

Hazel shook her head in aggravation and dismay. "No, not even slightly." She said, "Which shouldn't be possible. It isn't exactly small, it's huge."

"Which means that it is probably being hidden magically." Nico muttered.

"You mean, like the Labyrinth?" Annabeth inquired, her brow still furrowed as her analytical mind undoubtedly dissected the problem on a microscopic level. "The Labyrinth constantly rearranges itself. Do you think that the chamber could have just relocated?"

"It's possible." Nico allowed, though he wasn't convinced. He glanced to Hazel and then added the rest. "But moving a cavern as big as this one would definitely take a lot of magic."

"And I didn't sense anything." Thankfully, Hazel seemed to instantly understand what Nico was getting at. "I bet it's still there just… hidden."

"We have to do something!" Percy said, his voice now on the edge of panic.

Nico knew this side of Percy well. It was his fatal flaw. He could simply not fathom letting a friend die, particularly when he was helpless to stop it. Such a fatal flaw, while immensely reassuring to his friends, was something that Nico saw as a true weakness. Percy could not separate himself enough from the problem for his emotions to not become an issue. Soon, Percy would undoubtedly dive into the river and begin tearing apart the river bed in a desperate attempt to reach the cavern through sheer force of will. Will caught his eye and Nico knew that he had reached the same conclusion. Will was stubborn, Nico had unfortunately learned this through many experiences, but he could retain a certain amount of level-headedness when it was needed. Nico looked down at the earth again and blinked in surprise. At his feet, resting on what looked like a small animal's ribcage, was a small folded piece of paper. He stooped down at picked it up, sending the bones back into the earth. Will and Hazel had seen Nico retrieve the paper and looked at him curiously as he unfolded it. He immediately recognized the handwriting as his father's.

All shadows have a source.

Those five words were the only thing written on the paper. At the bottom it looked like Hades had stamped in; 'Hades, Lord of the Underworld, Curator of Di Angelo Funeral Homes.' Nico frowned at the last. He wasn't entirely sure when his father had opened up a funeral home with his last name, moreover why he had. It made sense, Nico had to admit, that the Lord of the Dead would run a funeral home but he wished that Hades would have picked a different name.

Will tried to peek around Nico's hand to see the paper, but Nico turned the paper into a shadow on instinct. Will shot him a glare and Nico shrugged. He didn't want anyone knowing about the funeral home thing. Too many potential bad jokes. "What was that?" Hazel inquired. "From Dad?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah," He hesitated and then sighed. His father's advice, while actually helpful for a change, was not particularly good advice. He clapped his hands together loudly and instantly drew the attention of everyone assembled. "I might have a way to get to Ryker." He said slowly.

Percy instantly seized upon the thought. "Then why are we still standing here?" He demanded. "How do we get to him?"

"I said might." Nico repeated. He sighed and then launched into a quick explanation. "It could, and I stress could, be possible to shadow-travel to him."

Percy opened his mouth but Nico shot him a look. He did not like being interrupted very much, especially when time was something they had in short supply. "Every shadow has a source." The words felt odd on his lips, but he forged on. "That means pretty much every shadow can be reached. As long as Ryker is casting a shadow, it's theoretically possible to get to him."

"I sense a 'but' incoming." Piper noted, but Nico was sure she saw the glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"But," Nico agreed, "The problem is that I have an idea at best as to where Ryker is. Shadow-travel is not an exact science by any means. Not even a little bit. I usually have to have a pretty good idea of where I am going to even end up close to there."

"What about when you were moving the Athena statue?" Annabeth asked, "You didn't have an idea where you were going there, right? You just moved several hundred miles at a time."

"That was different." Nico told her. "Moving in a general direction is easier because there is no precision required, it just takes energy. Ending up in a specific shadow is extremely difficult. I usually have to be alone. People make shadow-travel harder, mostly because it's more people to transport. It takes an incredible amount of concentration to keep you from ending up all over the place."

"You have Hazel now, though." Percy said eagerly. "You both got us out of-."

Nico shook his head, not bothering to hear him finish. "Again, different." He said simply. "It would actually be even harder with Hazel. We would both have to have the exact same place in mind, down to the exact mental picture. A single detail off and half of us could end up with Ryker and the other half could end up back in Camp Half-Blood, if you are lucky."

"So if it is so risky, why would you bring it up?" Will asked, his tone not angry. Instead he was prompting Nico, a trusting smile on his face. Nico smiled back, the trust boosting his confidence slightly.

"Every shadow has a different feel to it." Nico paused for a moment as he considered how best to explain this. "Everyone has a different personality, shadows are the same way. No two shadows are the same. I've felt Ryker's shadow before, it was unique. Just like him. There's a chance I could find him using that. It's still very risky though, if I go too far by accident I will be too tired to shadow-travel again."

"So our choice is to either risk shadow-travel or wait and see if the door reappears." Annabeth summarized. The others seemed to consider this problem facing them. "We have to take a vote, it's only fair."

"Shadow-travel." Percy said immediately, shooting Nico a thumbs-up. "I believe in you man."

"Believing in me has nothing to do with is." Nico said dryly. "You can believe in me all you want and we could still end up in Italy."

"Shadow-travel." Annabeth nodded. "It's our best chance."

"Shadow-travel." Piper agreed.

"I agree." Hazel said, and Will echoed her agreement with a nod.

The group looked at Nico as one and he nodded. "Everyone hold hands." He commanded, taking Will's hand in one and Hazel's in the other. The others quickly formed a ring and Nico closed his eyes. He gathered forth all the energy he could muster and focused on Ryker's shadow. What he hadn't told the others is what his shadow felt like. Putting it into words would have been difficult anyways. Ryker's shadow felt like the howls of wolves, the screech of hawks, the hiss of snakes, and many more predators' warnings. It wasn't a particularly evil feeling, but it was also something that warned to stay away. When Nico had formed a mental picture of Ryker and put the feeling of his shadow with the image. He released his stored energy and the group disappeared the next instant.

The shadow-travel was extremely quick but Nico still felt the massive drain on his energy as they moved. When they solidified, Nico was temporarily confused. He was certain that the shadow travel had worked, dragons were everywhere, but Ryker was nowhere to be seen. It seemed as though they had actually ended up in a dragon's shadow. Curiously, the beast had not seemed to notice them. It was an average sized dark green dragon with wings that were covered in golden ichor. In fact, the dragon seemed to be in pain. Its claws worked at its chest, opening up new wounds.

"What's going on?" Percy asked, Riptide uncapped and held before him at the ready. He, like the others, were alternating glances from the dragons that surrounded them and the one who stood over them in obvious distress.

"I don't know." Will answered, his voice stressed as he drew his own sword. "Why is it acting like it is in pain?"

"And where is Ryker?" Annabeth's eyes roamed the cavern for the missing demigod.

Nico's body seemed ready to shut down after transporting so many people into a specific point. He managed to avoid that by falling to one knee, but that wasn't much better. "I'm not going to be much use." He warned, though he drew his Stygian iron sword all the same. The dark blade seemed eager for the fray, drinking up the darkness of the cavern and making it just a bit darker.

"We'll protect you." Hazel promised, moving to stand in front of him. It was a slightly unnecessary and futile gesture with dragons surrounding them, but Nico appreciated it nonetheless. "But this would be better if we knew where Ryker was."

All of their questions were answered the next moment when the dragon that writhed in pain suddenly stopped moving. Its chest rose as it took in a breath, and then continued rising as something pushed beneath its skin. Several muffled snaps seemed to come from within the dragon's chest and then all at once Ryker broke free from the dragon's ribcage. He climbed out of the dragon's chest, landing on the ground when the beast crumbled to dust. Ryker's shirt had been ripped away and his shorts hung in tatters. Several long scars covered his chest and his back. Some of his skin had clearly been burned away by the dragon's stomach acid leaving angry red patches behind. But despite his wounds Nico saw that Ryker had barely slowed a step.

His eyes were different than Nico had ever seen them and Nico realized with a start that Ryker was not the same. A faint aura seemed to be surrounding the son of Cybele, just enough for Ryker to tell that it was there. When Nico focused on it he saw various shapes forming, flickering, and then be replaced by a different form. Ryker turned towards the demigods and Percy grinned at him in greeting. "Found you!" He called.

Nico would have warned him against such a course of action until they knew what it was that was affecting Ryker. But he didn't have the chance. The hunter studied them with a predator's eyes before turning away from them and dropping to all fours, his claws digging into the cavern's floor. Ryker then loosed a terrible roar, one that was just as menacing as the dragons' and then charged off at the beasts.