Yeah. I know. It's been a while. Still working on the…um…not feeling awkward at school thing. Also, band is super hard. 6:45 in the morning (for color guard, that it) every morning except for Wednesday's, not to mention Monday's with the team and Thursday's with the entire band. I tripped over a prop. I hit myself in the head with a six-foot-pole. I also was bleeding from my FACE. And I almost took out a flute player while we marched.

I think I'm doing pretty well!

Nico di Angelo, son of Hades

"Nathan? Nathan, do you copy?"

"Nico."

"What about Nico?"

"I'm Nico."

"Oh. Why do you have Nathan's walkie-talkie?"

I looked at the gray thing in my hands, truly awed at the Grace's…whatever it is. It's a hard thing to name. "Why do you two have walkie-talkies?"

"Because," Ella hissed into the microphone on her walkie-talkie, down on the ground, where she had just had a nice, pleasant chat with Miss Daphne, the Eternally Cryptic Wonder. "Unlike some demigods I know and won't name (Nico), when we Grace's enter the lair of a possible kidnapper, which is filled with monster and deranged demigods, and could be a hostile environment, we like being prepared." She but her hands on her hips and looked up at me. "Why do you have Nathan's communication device?"

"Well, see—"

"You know what?" Ella interrupted. "I don't really care."

"Thanks, Ella. I appreciate that."

"You're welcome." I looked over to David, who was sitting behind me, and mouthed, how do you put up with this thing?

He grinned. As smoothly as possible.

"Now, be quite, for I have some news to tell you so we don't fail to save the entirety of Western Civilization. And tell David to stop talking about me behind my back."

How can someone being so cheerfully annoying from a walkie-talkie? It takes skill, I'll give her that. David grinned at me.

"We have a problem," she said into the speaker. "A big one. Now, I'm going to tell you. Make sure you're sitting down."

"You can see me from where you are, Ella."

"We're having a problem and you're being snarky? I have no need for your snark, Nico di Angelo. No need at all. Watch it or I'll fire you as my sidekick."

David looked hurt. "I thought I was your sidekick."

Ella grinned. "You are a lot different from sidekick, love."

"I'll try to keep my snark and skepticism at minimum," I told her, interrupting their conversation as smoothly as possible like David said.

"Good. Well, while you double check that you're sitting down, make sure that Cass can't hear you. Because we all know how you get that high-pitched girl voice when you're shocked and it would draw her attention."

I tired my hardest to ignore the Ella-insult. "That's what I was trying to tell you before."

"You didn't tell me anything, sidekick."

"I was trying to tell you why Nathan gave me his walkie-talkie."

"What does that have to do with Cass being within earshot of your girly voice?"

"I do not have a girly voice," I said, indignant, into the walkie-talkie, even as David nodded in agreement, but shook my head and continued, because I didn't really have time. "And yes, it applies."

"Then shoot, Mister Storyteller. But hurry. I have a problem that I need to convey to you."

"Cass got tired of waiting and left. Towards Thea. Nathan got up, handed me the walkie-talkie, and went after her," I explained, rubbing my temples. "And now the guy behind us isn't letting us leave."

"And he is really imposing," David informed her. "He just stares. It's creeping me out."

"Well, that is a problem. Not as important a problem as mine, of course. Because mine is, like, catastrophic."

Karson rolled her eyes as Ella's bragging radiated from my communication device.

"And tell Karson to stop rolling her eyes at me. It's rude and quite frankly it's an unattractive habit."

How does she know that? Karson mouthed to me.

"I just do. It's a talent."

I almost rolled my eyes myself. "Ella. Catastrophic problem? Ringing any bells?" I reminded her before the two girls got into it.

"Oh, right!" I saw Ella jump up and down. "Thea wants Cass to kill her."

"What?" David exclaimed. I motioned for him to lower her level and looked behind me at the Death Eater. "Now who has a girly voice?"

"Still you."

Ella continued. "Thea wants Cass to kill her. She thinks that if that happens, Cass will be just as twisted as she is and Cass can take over whatever business type thing is going on here. Like, with her murder she's going to pass down the Psychomaniac Throne."

"That's really creepy," I agreed.

"But Thea has to go," said Karson. "We can't just let her off the hook."

"Nope," Ella said. "That's the second issue."

"So what, are you going to kill her?" I asked skeptically. "Like Lucifer?"

"Oh," Karson said sarcastically beside me. "Like you've never killed anyone."

"In the war with Kronos, sure," I told her, rubbing my temple because I was tired of this conversation happening on repeat whenever something bad happened. "But that was a war. I didn't go in looking to kill a certain person. It was just mass mayhem. And that is not something that I would like to repeat."

Now, before Ella started telling this story in the restaurant all that time ago (anyone remember) I was doing a lot of stuff. No, I did not disappear in the three years that occurred between Kronos' war and when I popped out of a bush (which is another long story). I was doing what half of the more powerful demigods were doing—traveling around the world, taking care of the remains of that stupid army, and rescuing new half-bloods from an early death.

You wouldn't think that you'd need a lot of people, or really, anyone at all, to that job. But monsters are like any other type of animal. They live in certain areas, while some live in other. I saw monster I don't think anyone even knew existed. Not to mention around three different kinds of dracanea. Anther thing I would not like to repeat. You don't want unqualified heroes dealing with monsters they don't know how to beat. It's amazing how some people completely lack the ability to improvise.

With that comes a lot of explaining. I am now a pro at giving the whole "you are a demigod, welcome to the end of life as you know it and basically death on a platter" speech. Some took it better than others. One guy threw a chair at my head. A pair of sisters attacked me with other various household items, including a toilet brush. Sometimes, I explained in a room with a calm setting. Sometimes, I had to explain while running for my life with a monster poised to take off my head. One of those runs included me running down the street without a shirt on, because it came for me and three others in the middle of my morning routine. That was somewhere in Italy. I got a lot of whistles.

And it's weird. The first thing a lot of people asked me was is I had ever killed anyone. Not, "what's it like being part-god?" or "how do you handle constantly being chased by lethal …things?" Nope. It's like they see the sword and BAM. "Have you ever killed someone?"

That is definitely not the first thing that came to mind when I found out.

Of course, I was being chased by a Manticore and met a bunch of centaurs, so there were a lot of different things for my ADHD brain focus on.

Oh, the simple days.

The answer the question stated above, just in case you totally missed everything else, is yes. Yes, I have killed someone. It's different with monsters, because they don't have souls, so it doesn't count. They just pop back up out of the Evil Goo of All that is Nasty about Everything anyway. With half-bloods, it's worse. Afterwards, I had to go around and apologize to everyone I'd killed in the afterlife just so that I could sleep at night.

Some were happier to see me than others. Although none tried to decapitate me with a chair, so I guess it went pretty well.

"You did what you had to do," Ella said into her walkie-talkie. "If you didn't, they'd just die anyway."

I sighed. "What kind of twisted sense does that make?"

"The perfect kind."

"Thea's got to go," Karson said.

"When we met Nyx, you were the only one adverse to this," I reminded her.

"And you were all like, 'it's our duty,' and blah, blah, blah." Karson rolled her eyes again. Ella's right. That's a bad habit. "You aren't backing out, are you?"

"No, of course not. I agree that something needs to be done." I looked at the door Nathan and Cass had disappeared into. "But killing her seems extreme."

I saw a flash of white from below as Ella grinned into the walkie-talkie. "You can apologize to her later when she's in ghost form."

"Way to be sensitive."

"You're a big boy, Nico," she said in that annoying way. "You can handle to truth. If we let Thea go, we'll just be paving a path for more people like Cass and the rest of the poor souls here. I don't want that on my conscious either. I'd much rather feel guilty for killing a dictator."

"Don't kid around, Ella," I said, rolling my eyes (Karson's rubbing off). "We all know you wouldn't feel guilty."

David smiled. "You won't lose one bit of sleep."

"I'm an insomniac," Ella said. "I hardly sleep at all."

"You aren't allowed to leave."

I looked at the hand the Death Eater held in front of my face, blocking my only exit. "You let Cass and Nathan go," David reminded him.

His menacing look would have bothered me if I didn't have the god of the dead for a father.

"As were my orders."

"Screw orders, I want through," I snapped.

"I can't allow you to do that, sir."

"So you're a 'sir' now?" Ella asked, running up the steps to meet up as she fiddled with her ponytail.

"Ella," Karson said. "Mess with his head for me please."

"With pleasure." She cocked her head at the guy, who just scoffed like he would eat his own shoe before he let Ella mess with him.

I heard wearing one shoe is uncomfortable. He was about to test that hypothesis.

Ella reached her hand out and planted it on the guy's forehead and closed her eyes, rubbing her temple in concentration with her opposite hand. He did the sane thing and looked at her like she was not.

"You're the youngest of…four?" she asked, keeping her eyes closed. "No, three."

He tensed up like she was feral. Which she might have been. It's hard to tell with those Grace kids.

"Your father is mortal. You're mom is a minor goddess, whom you've never met. You were forced to join up, but quickly warmed up to the things that were happening here. Thea values you for you hand-to-hand skills, but you are lacking in sword technique."

He took a step back so her hand couldn't touch him.

"Sorry," Ella said sheepishly, rubbing her head like she was shamed when we knew she wasn't. "I always get a little carried away. After the first time you see it, it isn't nearly as awkward, don't worry."

"Who are you?" he asked warily.

"Your worst nightmare?" she said, asking him uncertainly. "It's hard to tell yet. I think I need to scare you just a little bit more before we get into that phase of our relationship."

"Do you have any idea how handy she is to have around?" Karson whispered in my ear, poking my side. "She did it at the mall and we got, like, tons of stuff for free."

Ella was still freaking out the guard. "You know, if you feel that insecure about your technique I'd be happy to help you after we break down this entire house brick by brick. That takes priority, of course, but we should be done soon, if everyone is in your sorry condition."

He narrowed his eyes, but I could tell he was sweating. Ella raked her eyes over him and pointed to me. I almost took a step back, because it was Ella and she could have attacked me for no reason at any second because it would freak the guy out even more.

She had a different idea.

"You see that guy over there?" she said, wagging her finger at. "Do you?" she asked again when he didn't respond, not continuing until he nodded. "Guess who his daddy is."

Silence.

"Go on, guess. You can do it."

"Who?" he said finally, almost snarling.

"Hades!" Ella exclaimed, excited, like she was telling someone they had just won a years supply of every candy on the planet. "He's the god of the dead, in case you're as bad at that sort of thing as you are with any type of weapon at all. And you know what he's going to do if you don't let us pass?"

He looked at her like he was curious but didn't want to give her the satisfaction of asking. Like something so trivial would ever stop Ella Grace.

"He's going to bring back your sister from beyond the grave and explain out whole situation to her," she continued, hardly skipping a beat, clapping her hands like she was excited. "What would she think of that? Think of the fact that you were turning against the very gods themselves? Would she like that? Would she look at you the same?" Pause, most likely for dramatic effect. "I don't think she would."

His eyes flickered from Ella's to mine.

"Now, will you move aside, or am I going to have to make you feel like an even bigger piece of crap than I already have?" Ella smiled at him innocently to finish it off, but he had already taken a step aside. "Why thank you, kind sir." She skipped off passed the rows of chairs towards the black of the doorway like she was prancing through a meadow, and Karson just shrugged and followed, dragging David behind her.

I patted the poor by on the shoulder as I passed. "Sorry, man. Better men have fallen before that freak of nature."

"Nico, shut it or I'll go ninja on your sad excuse for a behind."

I shrugged, grinning, and followed Ella out after Karson. "Once again, my humblest apologies. Try not to cry out in the open. I find a nice dark corner is the best thing."

"Nico!"

"Shut up, Karson, I'm coming."

"You guys are like an old married couple," Ella informed us as I caught up to the two of them. "Don't you start moving like one. We've got to be speedy. Speedy Gonzalez'."

"Ella."

"Alright, fine. I'll shut it. But we have simply got to hur—"

Ella hit the ground with an oomph. "Avalee?"

"I told you we were supposed to go in the other direction!" Alan said. Avalee sat up on the floor, her golden hair practically glowing in the darkness, almost as much as Ella's skin.

"Are you alright?" Karson asked, picking Ella up under the arms. Avalee hopped up onto my back with no warning, so it was just like old times. Sophie and Yuki followed, running and panting, chasing after the twins just moments before.

"Oh, nice to see you four again," he said, waving. Sophie panted, her sequins sparkling like a disco ball in the gloom.

"Those two run fast," she said between breaths. "Where are the rest of you?"

Ella cocked her head to side. "Lora disappeared, Cass and Nathan ran down this hallway to an unknown destination, Avalee is on Nico, Alan is tugging on my pant leg for some reason, which I am going to ask him about promptly. Why are you pulling on my leg?"

Alan looked up at her. "Do you have my picture?"

"You're what?" David asked.

"My picture," he said urgently. "I drew it in the hospital wing before Ella and Nathan got taken away by Thea and you guys started a major battle upstairs but after we all went to see Nyx."

"Right, totally followed that," I told him. He grinned at me.

"I have it in my pocket," Ella said. "Nathan gave it to me before we came down into this forsaken maze of entrapment and turmoil." She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a folded up bit of paper. "Why?"

"I think you should look at it," Avalee said softly, her breath hot on my ear.

Karson and Ella shared a looked as Alan looked at him feet. I walked over to them to see it better as Ella carefully unfolded the crinkled piece of paper, and David looked like he wasn't sure whether he wanted to see it or not. Once it was completely opened, Ella closed her eyes and wrinkled her forehead like she was in pain. "Oh no."

Karson caught her breath in her chest. Sophie said frantically, "What? What?" over and over again. Yuki looked really confused. I was shocked, but not as much as I could have been. Something like this would have to happen eventually.

"We have to hurry," I said forcefully. Ella nodded numbly. I started running off. Karson grabbed her left arm and David grabbed her right and they both pulled her down the hallway, forcing her stumbling feet to run so she wouldn't trip over her legs. Avalee rode on my back, Alan gripping Karson's free hand, and Sophie and Yuki tailing behind, still totally confused.

"We're not going to make it," Ella muttered morbidly. I stepped on her foot on purpose.

"You're pessimism is really throwing off my groove, right now," I informed her hotly. "Pull it together, woman, before you make me leave you behind."

"You wouldn't dare!" she flashed in a more Ella-like manner.

"Leave being a pessimist to Karson," David said, and Karson huffed on Ella's other side.

"Okay, I'm just born that way. That particular personality flaw is not my fault."

"This isn't the time," Sophie said behind us. "Is what I would say if I had any idea what was going on whatsoever."

A door came up as we reached the end of the tunnel-like hallway. Yukie and I pulled it open as quickly as we could, but that door was so dang heavy. I've always felt bad about that. Like if I had been a bit strong we would have gotten there in time to prevent what was happening on the other side when we opened it, that perfect reenactment of the scene draw flawlessly on that crinkled piece of paper.

Thea, standing with Lee as her feet, facing down Cass as the daughter of Poseidon screamed bloody murder. Because Tobias, Lora's brother, had finally come back, and he was skewering Nathan through the side right next to her.

Sorry it took so long. I made it twice as dramatic just for you. Please review. I was debating which of the two would be the bad guy. I think this works. And I feel your pain, by the way. I cried when I wrote it. Because, in case you didn't know, Nathan is my soul mate. So review if you don't want Nathan to die, because I don't!

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