December 21, 1946

Nico's room was a mess. Clothes were strewn around the floor, a deck of playing cards lay scattered under the bed and the covers were balled at the foot of the four-poster mattress. What contents of the room that hadn't been dumped on the floor had been tossed carelessly into his trunk. When he had first arrived in the Underworld, Hades' undead staff had insisted on cleaning his room daily but Nico had convinced them to pull back their efforts to once a week to give him some more privacy. Even within just a week's time, his quarters were usually a pigsty by the time the maids came through.

Nico himself had flopped on the bed. He lay on his back with his fingers intertwined behind his head. A tiny model fighter jet he lifted from a storefront back in New York sat squarely on his face and he entertained himself by wriggling his nose and feeling it move.

"Ahem."

Nico jumped. The toy toppled off of his face and onto the bed covers. He sat bolt upright. Quintus stood in the doorway, looking thoroughly unimpressed. A prominent frown tugged at his lips as he surveyed the room around him.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Nico lied. Quintus raised an eyebrow at his rumpled clothes and unwashed hair. "Almost," he corrected.

"Then get to it," Quintus prompted. "You leave in thirty minutes."

Nico grimaced, then quickly wiped the look off his face, hoping that his guardian hadn't noticed. Nico had been made to do push-ups for less attitude than that. He hadn't noticed, or if he had, he wasn't going to mention it.

When Nico had in fact showered and dressed, Quintus returned to inform him that Hades was waiting for him in his office. Nico hadn't been invited in before but he knew where it was well enough. He had spent his spare time during the first two weeks of his Underworld training exploring the palace. The first time he had come across the office, Quintus had escorted him forcefully in the opposite direction with orders not to disturb his father. Now, Nico raised a fist to the wooden door and knocked.

"Enter."

Nico reached for the handle and pushed the door wide. Hades glanced up as Nico slipped into the room.

The god sat behind a large dark wood desk, silhouetted before a high arching window. An uncomfortable looking chair stood on the opposite side of the desk. Several paintings adorned the walls; a portrait of Persephone, a mountain range, another portrait, this one of Persephone with two others, a young man, two women, and a small child.

"Nico," Hades said, by way of greeting. He indicated the chair in front of the desk. "Sit."

They didn't speak for a few minutes while Hades filled out a form and signed off on a handful of papers. Nico jiggled his foot under his chair, twiddling his fingers and looking around at the office.

It was a dark room with blood-red drapes hung at the arched window, framing a view of the Fields of Punishment in the distance. The paintings Nico had noticed when he first arrived were in ornate golden frames and the leather tomes lining the two bookshelves were titled in gold and silver. A fireplace stood cold on one wall with a small chest sat centred on the mantle.

Perhaps it was the absence of a throne and skeletal guards, but Hades was not nearly as intimidating when working in his office. He seemed almost ordinary. How many times had Nico sat waiting in his grandfather's office? Except on those occasions, Bianca would be sitting beside him and they were waiting for a trip to the theatre with their mother, not a visit to Mount Olympus.

Nico could almost imagine he was a normal teenager like one of his classmates at St. Dismas'. His father was a businessman or some government official. A smiling doorman let Nico into his father's building, the secretary nodded him through to wait in his father's office. Once Hades was finished they would maybe walk home together, he would let Nico buy an ice cream cone on their way or pause to purchase some sweets for Bianca.

But then Hades set aside the final finished document and laid down his fountain pen and Nico was reminded that he was not an ordinary boy and Hades was not an ordinary man. The fires of the Fields of Punishment flickered in the distance beyond the panes of glass, lines of the dead awaited judgement at the pavilion, and Hades, in the centre of it, ruled them all. The god leaned back in his chair, hands clasped in his lap, and considered Nico over the desk. Nico met his eyes, drumming his fingers along his thigh.

"You came to me, months ago, asking for my protection and I agreed. Has this palace provided everything you wanted?"

Nico blinked. He hadn't expected to be discussing his living conditions of all things. "Yes, father," he said, unsure of exactly where the conversation was going.

"You have been fed, sheltered, trained, and of course received the protection from monsters that you asked for. I would say you have wanted for nothing since your arrival."

"Yes– I mean, no– I mean– Yes. I have everything I need." Nico reached up and rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously.

"Do you wish for that to continue?"

"Yes," Nico said immediately. "Yes, I want to be here."

"Good." Hades looked him over carefully. "What does Chiron know of your loyalties?"

"Chiron? He–"

Nico thought back to his conversations with Chiron at camp. How he had encouraged Nico's growth in his powers, but he also remembered how Chiron had urged him to make his own choices about his loyalties and not follow his father in everything. It was a harmless enough sentiment but Nico couldn't imagine not following his father. Hades had given him everything; he had saved Nico from Zeus' wrath more than once, sent him to a prestigious school, trained him in his own palace. No one else had ever gone to such lengths for him. Even his own grandfather had abandoned him – sent him across the ocean with only Bianca and a foreign aunt for company.

"The last time I spoke to Chiron about the war, he told me to make my own choice," said Nico. "I told him I wouldn't double-cross you."

Hades seemed to consider that, then nodded slowly. "So this is where your loyalties lie? Here, with me?"

"Yes," Nico said firmly. "Nowhere else."

"Tonight I want you to pretend otherwise. The council will expect evidence that you are securely in hand. After the way this war has progressed they are... frightened," his lip curled, "that you will become another Adolf. I want you to give them a show, present yourself as a mere tool for their uses." When Nico spluttered, Hades held up a hand. "Ah, no, you will make them feel safe, and secure as if they have you firmly in their pockets. We cannot afford suspicion, not before my plan is complete. You wish to remain here, do you not?"

"Yes, but–"

"Then you will do as I have said. I will not hear a word of turn from you tonight, Nico, I want them to see you blindly obedient."

"…Yes, father," Nico agreed.

"Very good. Are you ready?"

He nodded, hoping Hades couldn't tell there was nothing farther from the truth. Hades pulled open a drawer on his left and slid the stack of papers inside. Then he rose from his chair and came around to the front of the desk, motioning for Nico to stand.

He looked Nico over for a moment, scrutinizing every inch of him. Nico flinched when Hades' hand rested on his shoulder and forced himself to relax again as his father arched an eyebrow.

Nico was not prepared for the journey. The bone-crushing tightness forced all the air from his lungs, leaving him panting, and the darkness pressed in so tightly around him he thought his eyes would pop from their sockets

When he and Hades reappeared, Nico staggered and gulped down a lungful of blissfully clear air.

With an almost indifferent wave of his hand, Hades conjured a throne for himself. It was carved from obsidian rather than the bones he preferred in the Underworld, with a jewelled skull adorning each of the armrests.

Nico looked over his shoulder at his father as Hades assumed his throne. When he was given no instructions, he took a deep, steadying breath, and faced the council.

The gods sat on their thrones around him. In the middle was Hestia, human-sized and dutifully tending the hearth on her stool. She gave Nico a small smile, and Nico met her gaze with what he hoped was polite friendliness.

None of the other gods were quite as friendly. Ares no longer wore a military uniform, instead opting for a long trench coat and fedora – a combination Nico recognized from watching Larceny, Inc. with James – and cleaned his fingernails with a wicked-looking knife. Hermes had replaced his stack of telegrams from Nico's previous visit with a mailbag full to bursting.

Nico's eyes barely flicked to Zeus' face before he sank down to one knee.

"My lord," he murmured to the floor.

Zeus gave a snort of derision and Nico bit the inside of his cheek. Once he got past the initial embarrassment of debasing himself in front of so many onlookers, it was almost a game. Tricking someone like Zeus who blustered and raged with little provocation was like teasing a particularly petulant child. Zeus was enjoying the situation, Nico thought. He enjoyed having a son of Hades kneel at his feet, the humiliation of it. Let him think he owns me, he thought viciously. We'll show him.

"Oh, rise then I suppose," Zeus said after a long moment.

Nico rose on command, still not entirely meeting Zeus' eyes. The god waved a hand in dismissal and Nico retreated, taking up a place beside his father's throne with his hands folded behind his back like a soldier at parade rest. He could almost feel the smugness radiating from Hades in waves and he revelled in it, standing straighter.

Zeus was a fool to be taken in by their show, just like Hades had predicted. If he stuck to his father's plan, he wouldn't be displaced again, Nico was sure of it.

Athena cleared her throat. "The agenda, then, Hermes?"

"Right," said the god, digging around in his pockets for a moment before pulling out a rumpled flip-top notepad."Erm… first, Nico di Angelo's absence from Camp Half-Blood, I believe, in violation of an order from the Olympian Council."

Zeus straightened on his throne, looking mildly pleased, and adjusted the hold on his bolt. "Yes," he said in his deep, rumbling voice, "quite. You have broken our agreement, Hades."

Hades appeared unconcerned. "Our agreement was that the boy would live, as long as he was dedicated to fulfilling the prophecy."

"He was placed in Camp Half-Blood by order of the Council, uncle," said Athena. "The act of removing him–"

"I did not remove him from anywhere," Hades interrupted. "Nico came to me on his own, barely two weeks after being sent to that camp, and I sent him back. Two years later, after being rejected by your chosen trainer, niece, he came asking for protection. I never took him from anywhere."

"He was sent to Camp Half-Blood to be trained–"

"He was sent to be watched," Hades snapped. "Little good though it did. It has taken time to undo the damage your camp did. And look," Hades cast his callous gaze around at the assembled gods, "does he appear on the verge of rebellion to you?" Nico swallowed and tried not to think about the eyes on him. "I would think that you the Council would want your champion well-trained and with all limbs intact, not wandering the streets of New York City with no purpose."

"Is that what you have been doing, brother?" Poseidon asked. He sounded unconvinced. "Truly? You have trained this boy to protect the family who defeated your progeny just one year ago?"

"As I have said before," Hades growled, "I do not condone nor did I instigate Adolf's actions. I gained nothing from this war apart from a significant influx in expenses and staff overtime."

Zeus scoffed. "Do not pretend, brother. We know what this war was, a power play to weaken Olympus–"

"Father," Athena warned.

Nico stiffened. Just what did they think Hades had to gain from a world war? He would never do anything as horrible as what Nico had read in the papers.

…Would he?

Hades cast Nico a warning look: do nothing.

Nico put the possibility out of his mind. It was foolish. There was no way Hades would be involved in something like that, not after everything he had done to help Nico and Bianca. It was impossible.

"This is ridiculous," Hades scoffed, straightening his robes. "If you have no proof that I played any part in the war, I would ask that we turn our attention to the present."

"I agree," said Apollo. "All this war talk really gets me down, you know? Nothin' sunny about all that death."

"Perhaps it is better that the boy stays in the Underworld," Hera mused. "Out of sight– ahem. Out of harm's way, of course." The smile she gave Nico was sickeningly sweet.

"I will not have him outside of Olympus' control," Zeus snapped. "Not after what his siblings have proved themselves capable of. There is a reason we made the oath to sire no more children, they are too dangerous. After what happened in Alaska–"

The temperature in the throne room plummeted. Everyone stiffened in their seats and adjusted their grips on their various weapons. Nico immediately looked to his father for some indication of what to do but Hades wasn't looking at him.

"We agreed not to speak of that again," Hades hissed, his hands clenching the armrests of his throne.

Zeus leaned forward on his throne. "If this boy becomes so out of control…"

"Perhaps this is not the audience for this discussion," Athena interrupted, looking pointedly at Nico.

After a long pause, Hermes broke the silence. "Lord Hades," he said cautiously, "Chiron's reports from Camp Half-Blood have been… troubling to say the least."

"That brat tried to take out my children," Ares growled, jabbing his knife in Nico's direction. Nico stiffened, prepared to argue his case but a quelling look from Hades silenced him.

"If the boy is so dangerous," said Hephaestus, shifting awkwardly in his throne, "perhaps it is better if he is set aside."

"Are you saying we'll kill him?" Ares asked, a wicked grin spreading across his face.

Nico flinched. They wouldn't– they couldn't. His father would never let them–

"You will not," Hades said sharply. "Three years ago this Council assured my son's life. You will not harm him."

"You have gone soft, brother," said Zeus, "protecting this child."

"Lay a hand on my son," Hades said lowly, "and I will seek retribution." He cut his eyes at Zeus. "You still have a young son of your own, do you not, brother?"

Hera rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath. It sounded suspiciously like, "Oh, please do."

Zeus' eyes darkened. "Phillip is past the age of sixteen years, he is irrelevant to this discussion."

"Perhaps not so irrelevant," Hades murmured. His voice had taken on the silky quality Nico had come to associate with the best time to back away slowly.

Thunder rumbled through the throne room. "Are you threatening–"

Poseidon let out an exasperated sigh. "You can hardly take offence, Zeus, after your own ultimatums." Zeus spluttered indignantly and Nico caught Hestia hiding a small smile behind her hand. "We agreed, as a Council, that this boy would not be harmed until the age of sixteen. I, for one, do not intend to break that agreement."

"Lord Poseidon is quite right, Father," said Athena. "And I do not believe that it was ever explicitly said that the boy was to remain at Camp Half-Blood indefinitely."

Hades inclined his head to Athena only slightly.

"I see no issue with the boy remaining in the Underworld," Dionysus drawled. "Let Hades train him as he likes, if he is not prepared on his sixteenth birthday," he shrugged, "so be it."

Demeter nodded. "We are all aware of the alternative if the boy is not prepared to take responsibility for the prophecy." She looked a little too pleased with the possibility for Nico's comfort.

Aphrodite hummed and twirled a blonde curl around her finger. "I don't see what all this fuss is about."

Hera gave her an annoyed look. "It is against the ancient laws to directly interfere with mortal affairs."

"The champion to save Olympus is a mortal affair?" Hades sneered. "I think not. Besides, that law is riddled with loopholes for a reason: sometimes we simply must interfere."

"Lord Zeus," said Hermes, "this would appear to be a non-issue."

Zeus glowered. "I suppose," he ground out through gritted teeth, "but Hades I warn you, if this is boy steps outside of our control for even a moment, I will not hesitate to seal him away with the Lotus Eaters."

"I would not expect anything less from you, King." Hades spoke Zeus' title with no small amount of contempt.

The tension in the room was palpable. Nico tried not to fidget.

"Then it is agreed," said Athena. "The boy may stay in the Underworld under the tutelage of Hades. We will monitor his progress and the prophecy."

Artemis gave Hermes an expectant look. "Well? What is next?"

It was a little weird for Nico to see someone who looked younger than himself on the Olympian Council. The gods were such ancient beings. It was almost creepy to see eyes that old in a face so young.

Hermes peered at his crumpled piece of paper. "Erm…" he glanced up at Nico and then around at the assembled gods. "It is nothing a demigod need concern himself with."

Hades glanced down sideways at Nico. "You're dismissed, Nico. Wait for me outside."

Nico hesitated for a moment. He wanted to protest and insist that he would be quiet and stay out of the way and that he only wanted to listen. Then he looked at Zeus and back to his father and remembered that this was neither the time nor the place to be defiant.

He nodded reluctantly and stepped forward to bow to Zeus who waved him away.

The huge doors at the end of the throne room behind Hades swung inwards. Nico took the hint, exiting through them, and they slammed shut again.

Hades' palace and Olympus were identical structures in layout. Beyond the throne room was a corridor that Nico knew could lead him out to the entrance hall, to the main inner courtyard, or deeper into the palace and upstairs. Unlike Hades' palace, Olympus was all white and silver and gold instead of black and bronze. The marble floors gleamed in golden light. There were ornate vases bursting with blue, purple, and green flowers like peacock feathers and the faint scent of incense floated on the air.

He wandered down the corridor, through the entrance hall, and out of the front doors. The council's throne room was in a palace at the very summit of the mountain. From the veranda at the front, Nico could see all of Olympus spread out before him.

The city of Olympus was built on what appeared to be the decapitated peak of a mountain. Roads dusted with snow wound haphazardly down from the peak and the largest palace where Nico stood. Multileveled palaces and mansions with columned porticos and burning braziers populated the gleaming city. Gardens and balconies looked over New York City from the height of an aeroplane. At the bottom of the slope, a marble staircase twisted down through the cloud cover.

At the bottom of the steps was a garden. Nico had been expecting that since the front of Hades' own palace opened into Persephone's garden but he couldn't help thinking that Olympus' couldn't compare. The flowers were beautiful but the scent was almost overpowering and it had a delicate sort of prettiness that did not entirely appeal to him. He preferred the stark beauty of the gleaming crystals and sparkling quartz of his stepmother's garden.

In the centre of the garden was a marble fountain that bubbled and gurgled with water splashing down its many levels. A girl sat on a stone bench beside it. Her dark leather boots reached halfway up her calf and laced in the front, and on her back, she wore a bow and quiver.

"Bianca?"

She looked up at him.

"Nico?"

Before Nico knew what he was doing, they were running toward each other. They collided in the middle of the garden, arms wrapped tightly around each other in an embrace. Nico squeezed her tightly in his arms and buried his face in her hair.

"I missed you," he murmured. He pulled back from their embrace. "What are you doing here?"

Bianca looked so different from when he had last seen her. Her usual green school cap was gone and her long black hair was braided back away from her face. Physically, she hadn't aged but she seemed more confident. It was so odd to see her as younger than him. She still appeared to be around thirteen while he had grown into fourteen years. Aggravatingly, he was still not taller than her but matched her height almost exactly.

She grinned at him. "Lady Artemis invited me to accompany her to Olympus. I was hoping you would be here. How have you been? Did Hades bring you?"

Nico rolled his eyes, still grinning. "Oh, you didn't see? Father brought me along to–"

"Nico."

Hades had materialized across the garden. He stood with one arm resting upon a stone balustrade and his eyes on Nico.

At the entrance to the palace, the doors had been thrown open and several of the council were filtering down the steps. Nico spotted Artemis' auburn among them.

"Come on," said Nico, grabbing Bianca's hand.

"Oh no, Nico, I don't think–"

She was cut off as Nico practically dragged her to their father.

"Bianca," Hades said curtly. "Artemis tells me you have done well this year."

"This year?" Nico asked, looking between them. "But it's been… Have– Bianca, have you been at the Solstice before?"

She blushed. "Well… I– I thought you might be there and Lady Artemis offered…"

Nico gazed at his father in open-mouthed incredulity, to which his father responded with a cool stare of his own.

Bianca shifted awkwardly. "Father, I have to return to my lady."

Hades' lips twitched in bitter amusement. "Of course. Go." As soon as Bianca was out of earshot, Hades fixed his son with a hard stare. "It would be imprudent if you outlined the finer details of my plans to each and every person you speak to."

"I'm not," said Nico, offended, "but Bianca's my sister–"

"And pledged to serve Artemis who, I would remind you, is one of my brother's favourite children."

"Bianca wouldn't do that, she wouldn't tell anyone even if I did tell her any secrets."

"Is that so?" Hades inclined his head slightly and Nico followed his gaze across the courtyard to where Bianca and Artemis sat on a bench side by side with their heads bent together. "Then perhaps you can explain why Artemis would bring a new and inexperienced recruit to a highly sensitive and volatile meeting of the gods instead of her lieutenant."

"I–"

"A lieutenant who has been at my niece's side for thousands of years has been left behind in favour of a young, untested hunter who has only been pledged for three years. No, Bianca is a spy and a very well-placed one. She will use her connection with you to gather information and disrupt my plans. The council is using my own children to spy on me…"

"Bianca's my sister," Nico insisted. "She wouldn't do that."

Would she? She left me at Camp Half-Blood. Nico shook the traitorous thoughts from his mind.

"She may not be aware of what she is doing," said Hades. "Artemis will have taught her much the same as Chiron teaches his students; that I am the source of all the gods' troubles. Bianca is being manipulated and there is little to be done for her until I have a more secure position on the Council."

"If Artemis is using her we have to get her out!" Nico blurted. "Bring her back to the Underworld with us, the prophecy can be hers instead."

"Have you not been paying attention?" Hades demanded. "Do you remember the negotiation for your life? You are alive only because the Council reserves the right to have you removed the very moment you turn sixteen. The safest place for your sister is under Artemis' protection, even if her head is being filled with half-truths. Now come, enough of this, we are late for dinner."

Nico looked to Bianca, still sitting with Artemis. Hestia had joined them and they had moved from the stone bench to sitting cross-legged on a patch of grass.

Could he really not trust her anymore? Bianca had been his best friend when they were children. None of the others in Washington D.C had been overly friendly with them – probably because they were Italian. And then later, when they had lost their mother and were shunted from the hotel, to Nonno's, to Venice, to school, Bianca was the only constant in his entire life. How could she leave him now? Didn't everything they had been through mean anything to her?

As he watched her, his heart sank. Bianca had found a new family. She had sisters in the huntresses and a new mother in Artemis. She didn't need a little brother hanging on her coat-tails.

How had things changed so much? He had thought Bianca needed him as much as he needed her. He thought about how she had run to see him in front of the church that first Sunday at school in Italy. He remembered when an old shopkeeper had put his hand far too low on Bianca's back as he guided them around the store and Nico had stomped on his foot hard enough to make him howl. He thought of holding her hand on Olympus, and how she had pulled away from him to start a new life with someone else somewhere else.

"Let's go, Nico."

Hades put a firm hand on Nico's shoulder and whisked him away into the darkness.