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Chapter twenty-eight
Nico POV
I looked around me, we were in the pit.
A wave of terror washed over me.
This was the place from my nightmares.
What if I ended up in the jar again?
Wait, no, I had to think logically.
I looked at the river surrounding me, yes, it was the Phlegethon, the river of fire.
We had to get there, or the poison in the air would kill us.
I turned to Arya and Jay, they were looking around with scared, wide eyes.
They then turned to me, and I knew they wanted me to tell them we would be fine.
But I wasn't going to lie to them.
We could die at any moment.
But I had to save Will.
That's why we came down here.
"Over there." my voice came out cracked.
The other two turned to see where I was pointing, then Jay nodded.
"That's the Phlegethon, right?" I nodded.
"The Phele-what?" Arya asked.
"The river of fire," I explained, "We need to drink the water to survive."
"But we can go three days without drinking, right?"
"Normally, but there's poison in the air, it will kill us in minuets if we don't drink the water from that river."
"Fire-water, it must kill the poison in your bodies." Jay guessed.
"Yeah, in a way. But, if I remember, we must drink from it at least three times a day, or we'll be dead in a few minutes." I said and started walking towards the river.
"Wait, that's fire-water." Arya said as she and Jay walked after me, "Won't it, I don't know, burn us?"
"Yep." I said, and they both looked at me like I was mad.
"What?!" They said as one.
"You heard me, but it also heals, so it burns you, then it heals you."
"Oh, that's cool." Jay said.
"So, what, we just drink it from our hand?" Arya asked.
"Yep, come on, we need to drink before the poison kills us." I kneeled by the water's edge, picking some of the water up in my hands and wincing as it burnt its way down my throat.
Arya and Jay kneeled next to me, scooping up some of the fire-water in their hands and forcing themselves to drink it.
"Gods, it burns." Jay choked out.
"Well, you better get used to it." I said, already standing up and trying to figure out how close we were.
"Do you know were we are?" Arya asked, getting up and joining me.
"I think we're close, the giants found me around here. I recognize it."
I pushed down the memories and fears that threatened to surface.
Not here, this was not the time to be over-run by my mind. Not when we could be attacked at any moment.
"Do you know which way to go?" Jay asked, joining us a few moments after speaking.
"I-I think so…" I started walking in what I hoped was the right way but stopped when I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye.
Arya and Jay must have seen my hand moving to my sword, as they too reached for their weapons.
"What is it?" Arya asked.
"I don't know, keep an eye out." I turned to face a large rock spire.
That was a good place to hide, it looked like there was a cave behind it too.
"Over there." I whispered.
The other two turned to see what I was looking at, and, as they did, a very familiar monster appeared.
"You." I hissed, drawing my sword and getting into my battle stance.
"Why, hello Nico di Angelo. How is your sister?"
I growled and heard Arya asking what it was behind me.
"Shut up! You have no right to speak of her!" I yelled, preparing to charge.
"Are you going to kill me? But you know you can't, don't you?" The monster smiled innocently. "If the great hero Percy Jackson can't kill me, along with those worthless hunters, a goddess, the child of Athena, and Zeus' spawn, then, how can you?"
"I'm sure I'll find a way." I growled, before charging into battle.
The manticore in front of me laughed, like this was what he wanted me to do.
Well, if he wanted to be killed, I was glad to help.
"Nico!" I heard Jay yell, but I payed no attention, this creature was responsible for the death of my sister. If he had never showed up, we would have got to camp safely, she never would have joined the hunters, never would have gone on that suicide quest.
But she did, and it was all his fault!
I swung my sword at him, aiming for his tail, but he dodged my strike, and shot a thorn at me. I sliced the thorn in half with my blade, then went back on the offensive, throwing blow after blow at him, most of which he dodged, but I dodged all his attacks, except one that just barely grazed my shoulder.
I finally managed to slice of his tail, and he yowled in pain, before I through a knife I had at my side at him, hitting him straight in his heart, and he dissolved into dust.
I walked over to the pile of dust and picked my knife up, before sheathing my sword and turning to my friends.
"Nico! Are you okay?" "What the hell was that?!" Jay and Arya asked, and I walked over to them, trying to ignore the poison pulsing through my veins, I knew it wouldn't kill me, It just hurt.
"I was just grazed, I'm fine, and that was a manticore, going by the name of Dr Thorn."
"He spoke like he knew you." Arya said, the question of whether it was true was left unsaid.
"Yeah, that would be because he does, when me and my sister, Bianca, first found out about being Demigods, it was when Thalia, Annabeth and Percy found us at our school. Thorn was there, he attacked us, and soon we were over powered, the hunters of Artemis and the goddess herself appeared, and with their help, we managed to defeat him, but he didn't die, he just used some sort of magic to disappear, along with Annabeth. Long story short, Bianca joined the hunters and died on a quest that same year."
"How old were you?" Jay asked.
"10."
"I'm sorry." Arya said.
"Don't be, the past is in the past after all. Now, let's start walking, we want to stay by the river, and we don't want to be down here any longer than we have to be."
A/N- Hi! I'm so sorry that this is so late! I have a new story up, so here's the new update plan-thing:
Demigods at Hogwarts XD - Sunday/Monday- once or twice a fortnight.
Voltron! With six lions? – Wednesday- once or twice a fortnight.
Thanks for reading and everything!
-Solangelo21
