Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter- and Thalia might not be one of the adoptive Jacksons but she definitely has a sibling relationship with Percy- seriously me and my brothers bicker like it constantly. Anyway, please please do review I love reading them and I love seeing your guesses at what's going to happen in the future of the fic.

They'd been travelling through the underworld for what felt like a lifetime before Thalia suddenly dropped into a crouch, "Weapons!" and all four of them drew their weapons, Percy uncapping Riptide as Nico drew his Stygian Iron blade.

Thalia's spear expanded from the mace canister and Bianca set the flower down and had her bow out in an instant- a determined gleam in her eyes. "What is it?" Percy's eyes flicked around nervously- the hair on the back of her neck was standing up- something was coming even if she wasn't quite sure what it was.

Then a ring of a dozen daemons materialized all around them from nothing and Percy let out a stream of curses that would make Sisyphus blush.

They were part humanoid female, part bat. Their faces were pug-nosed and furry, with fangs and bulging eyes. Matted grey fur and piecemeal armour covered their bodies.

They had shrivelled arms with claws for hands, leathery wings that sprouted from their backs and stubby bowed legs. They would've looked funny except for the murderous glow in their eyes.

"Keres," Nico's voice was not happy at all, "They're battlefield spirits. They feed on violent deaths."

"I know this is our dads realm so I probably shouldn't say this- but I really don't like it down here."

"Just what we needed." Thalia grimaced, "Percy this is all your fault."

"How is this all my fault?"

"I haven't decided yet it just is-"

"Gee, thanks."

"Get back." Nico's voice was confident, "The son of Hades commands you. You are in my fathers realm, you will follow my orders!"

Percy could see Bianca's eyes widening very slightly- she'd not had much chance to see just how much Nico had grown, had she? Not really.

The Keres hissed in response to Nico's words, their mouths foaming. At least they seemed wary of the weapons they were all wielding, though annoyingly enough they didn't seem too impressed by Nico's command.

"Soon Hades will be defeated." one of them snarled at him, "Our new master shall give us free reign. Why should we listen to you son of Hades?"

"New master?" Nico's eyes widened in shock and confusion- and the lead daemon took a chance and lunged, it would have probably slashed him to bits if Bianca hadn't shot an arrow at point blank range into it's ugly bat face, making the creature disintegrate.

The rest of them charged as in on cue and Thalia was a blur, lightning arching from her spear as she jabbed it through one of the daemons chests- and Percy was moving too, her blade a deadly arc of bronze as she twirled and slashed and stabbed at them in practised movements.

Nico had regained his composure as well and he was spinning and stabbing daemon after daemon- but it seemed as though as fast as they were killing them there were more coming- and as Nico killed them his sword absorbed their essence, turning the air colder around them- and Percy could remember a year earlier, his break down in the woods- and gods but it was strange to think that it had only been a year ago seeing how much he'd grown now.

Bianca had grown too- arrow after arrow hit their marks- she looked deadly and elegant- a true huntress.

"Iapetus shall crush you!" one of the daemons shouted.

"Who the fuck is Iapetus?" Percy's voice was incredulous- not that she gave the daemon a chance to respond since a second later she ran her through with Riptide.

But there were too many- it was ridiculous- and Percy spotted one coming up behind Bianca- the hunter had her back to it, shooting as many of it's buddies as she could- even if Percy called it wouldn't give Bianca time to dart away so Percy launched herself at Bianca, knocking into her with her shoulder and sending the daughter of Hades flying- and Percy had screwed up. She realized that almost instantly.

She should have flicked open her locket- her armour would have saved her- but she'd not bothered with it just to wander around the Underworld and she hadn't had much time to think when the attack started- and a set of claws raked across her shoulder, slicing into her school shirt and tearing into her skin.

Her whole left side almost seemed to explode into pain.

It wasn't quite the worst thing she'd felt, but it would come a close second and she felt her legs give out as she screamed- and she could hear someone else's scream as she dropped and curled into a ball, the pain almost overwhelming.

She heard a second horrified cry and a bellow of pure fury- and she felt the shockwave and heard the daemons shrieking cease almost instantly.

"Oh gods-" that was Bianca's voice, Percy was pretty sure of that much and she felt Bianca behind her, trying to support her weight. "She took the attack for me-"

"Fuck- Percy... shit you're going to be okay." and that was Thalia, but her voice was shaking, a sure sign that things were bad. It was very rare that Thalia showed weakness, that just wasn't who she was.

Then she felt a hand pressing against the wound and she was yelling in pain, cringing away, pressing herself back against Bianca in an attempt to get away from the burning horrible pain, though she did manage to force her eyes open and focus on Nico, who looked terrified as he pulled a bottle from his pocket.

"Seriously Percy you need to stop doing this." his hands were surprisingly steady as he uncorked the bottle, "This might sting a little bit- it's a trick I learned from Will." his voice was soothing, "You have to be careful but it should help quicker." then he was pouring a familiar golden liquid over Percy's shoulder- and instantly the pain was easing- though it was still a fresh kind of agony.

She could feel someone combing their fingers comfortingly through her hair.

"I dunno what you're talking about."

"You saved me." Bianca's voice was tight, "Percy-"

"You're family." Percy muttered the words, "Of course I saved you." she shifted slightly and whimpered in pain, "Gods this hurts."

"Of course it does." Thalia's voice was sharp, "You are such a dumbass. Throwing yourself into danger-"

"Like you're any better." as they spoke Thalia and Nico were shifting her, while Bianca held her up so that they could get her sweater off- and Will had definitely rubbed off on Nico, Percy realized as he pulled a supply of bandages out of his pockets- and his face flushed at the look she gave him- even injured as she was she was still his big sister.

"Shut up." he muttered the words, "You should be thanking me for being prepared." and together he and Thalia made short work of bandaging Percy- while Bianca kept her upright- she would certainly have slumped without Bianca since she was pretty sure she blacked out a few times while they were doing it.

When she did come too she was wrapped up in Nico's aviator jacket- her sweater had been torn to shreds and, what with the fact that Nico liked his jacket to be just a bit too big, fit her just fine.

It wasn't done up though- and she could see the stark white of the bandages against her skin- if she wasn't in so much pain she'd have been embarrassed at being so exposed- still at least they hadn't shredded her bra- that was a small mercy.

She was propped up against a rock she realized- and Thalia was breaking up some squares of ambrosia. "What happened?" her voice was weak, "The Keres?"

"They're gone." that came from Bianca- who was watching her with a terrified look on her face, "Nico... did something. It sent them all away pretty fast."

"They hurt you." Nico's voice was grim, and he was just behind Thalia, who carefully fed Percy a square of ambrosia- which tasted like chocolate and made Percy sigh softly as the pain eased just a little bit more.

"I- I'll be fine."

"We weren't so sure for a minute there." Bianca admitted quietly, "It felt like you were dying." And Percy winced as she met Nico's eyes over Thalia's shoulder and he gave a
tight nod.

"I really do have to stop doing the whole nearly dying thing." she muttered the word, "Injured isn't a good look on me."

"You'll be fine now I think." Thalia's voice was soft, "For now anyway."

"The Keres will be back," Nico warned. He looked at Percy's shoulder with concern. "That wound… the Keres are spirits of disease and pestilence as well as violence. We can slow down the infection, but eventually you'll need serious healing. I mean a god's power. Otherwise…"

"Otherwise I'm a dead demigod. Got it." Percy shifted, "How's the flower-"

"I-" Nico hesitated before reluctantly lifting it up so that Percy could see- and her breath caught. There were only five petals left.

Percy was sitting up then, gritting her teeth against the pain, "Guess that means we have to get a move on and find uncle Hades sword-"

"Percy!" Thalia protested, "You're hurt you need to rest-"

"We don't have time to rest."

"You nearly died Percy." Bianca tried, "If it was me-"

"But it's not. It's me and I've had worse."

"How have you had worse?" Bianca's voice was incredulous, and there was a moment of silence as Nico and Thalia winced.

"I just have okay? It's a long story." Percy swallowed hard, "One of the daemons mentioned Iapetus. Am I remembering right? That's a Titan?"

Thalia nodded uneasily. "The brother of Kronos, father of Atlas. He was known as the Titan of the West. His name means 'the Piercer' because that's what he likes to do to his enemies. He was cast into Tartarus along with his brothers. He's supposed to be still down there."

"But Hades sword can unlock death." Percy's voice was slow, serious.

"Then maybe," Nico said, "it can also summon the damned out of Tartarus. We can't let them try."

"Wait- this Titan they're going to try and free is the dad of the Titan Percy fought last winter?" Bianca pulled a face, "Zoe's grandfather?"

"Yeah. This is bad." Thalia grimaced. "I hate it but Percy might not be wrong we don't have much time."

"And no way am I sitting this one out and letting you guys risk your lives alone." Percy's voice was determined, "Anyway what if they come back while I'm alone. I have to come along-"

"I hate that you're right."

"C'mon." Percy hauled herself to her feet before the others could stop her, gritting her teeth, "Give me the plant, I can't fight like this, you guys need your hands free if we get attacked." and as she took it she watched one of the petals wither up and fall- great. Now there were only four petals left until the thief escaped and Kronos got a brand new weapon.

No. No way was she going to let that happen- and if it was, as she suspected, Ethan Nakamura she had a few choice words to say to him.

For example, die you traitorous little bastard die. Yeah that'd be favorite for sure.

She tried to focus on those wonderful mental images as they walked- tried to distract herself from the pain. She was pretty sure she was hiding the worst of it because as much as the others were watching her worriedly they didn't actually look like they were about to order her to sit down and wait for them- which she was sure they'd do if she looked too bad.

It worked for a few minutes, but not long enough really so she let her thoughts drift to her girlfriends- up above with no idea what was going on. They were probably at home now worrying about her, Nico and Thalia- because Nico and Thalia's disappearances would have certainly been noticed too.

She felt kind of bad for that- Annabeth and Rachel would be besides themselves with worry- they fussed over her far more these days than they had. A side effect of the whole knowing that Alabaster had held her prisoner for a week- they didn't like the thought of Kronos getting to her like that too.

But no, no she needed to focus on good things because worrying thoughts just made her feel more stressed and drained an exhausted, so she thought about their last date- the three of them had gone to the movies and sat in the back, sharing a large popcorn and giggling together Annabeth sat in the middle- though that hadn't kept Percy and Rachel from whispering and giggling- the theatre had been pretty much empty anyway so there hadn't been anyone to disturb- and as much as she'd tried to complain she'd melted when they'd swooped in in unison to kiss her cheeks.

And somehow- Percy wasn't sure how the memories kept her going until she heard Nico say "Uh oh."