AN: I'm sorry if the last chapter was short but I decided I wanted to leave you guys hanging even though I already feel guilty and am updating. NO COPYRIGHT INTENDED: All these characters and settings belong to Rick Riordan. R&R sorry for any OOCness. I am also sorry if I use big words sometimes I do that and people have no idea what I'm trying to say. ENJOY!

Nico

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Well okay technically Hephaestus dropped a staple not a pin but the effect was just the same. Athena spoke first.

"Which one," She sounded shaken, "which one was it?"

"Hard to say," Hades had been very calm the entire time which was odd for him, "they are in Tartarus so I can't get a clear signal."

"What are you a cell phone?" Poseidon shouted at his brother, "If you do not know then summon Thanatos! We shall ask him!"

"Alas, brother he will not know either." The Lord of the Dead smiled sorrowfully, "We will find out when the survivor returns," he sighed, "if the survivor returns."

"What do you mean 'if'," Frank questioned, "we defeated Gaea that should make it an easy return, right?"

"Tartarus is never easy Frank, trust me I know." Nico said, "Closing the doors might have actually made it harder to get out which is both good and bad."

"How is that," Thalia asked in her snotty way, "in any way good?"

"Monsters stay dead longer," Nico snapped back, "like as long as they used to before they were open and Death got kidnapped and all that stuff." Someone giggled and they stopped arguing to see Piper holding her hand over her mouth trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Thalia asked looking behind her to see if someone or something back there was making her laugh.

"Y…you g…guys…," She burst out laughing again. Nico looked at everyone else to see if they knew what was going on. They didn't seem to know either. When Piper finally got control of herself again she took Thalia's arm and led her out of earshot from the others. Nico knew what they were saying though lip reading was one of his hidden talents. Their conversation went something like this:

Thalia: 2 minutes ago you were crying your eyes out now your laughing like there's not a care in the world.

Piper: You guys just look so cute together though.

Thalia: Who? Nico and I?! No way! I can't date and I…I don't like him.

Piper: You're a terrible liar you know, you need to stop making excuses and confront him about it.

Thalia: NO! NO! NO! AND NO! (End of conversation).

Thalia stormed away from Piper and Nico quickly looked away and pretended to clean off his silver skull ring.

"Okay then," Zeus continued, "are we all calmed down now?" Thalia, Piper, and Nico all nodded their heads in unison. "Okay, let the council continue as planned then."

Nico stood there through the whole council thinking. What if she does like me? What if I like her? Wait! What kind of question is that 'What if I like her?'? Do I like her?

"Nico," Hazel elbowed me in the ribs, "earth to Nico. You have to tell them more about Tartarus. You awake in there? Nico? NNNNNiiiiiiccooo?"

"Huh?" he asked as he shook his head to clear his mind. Hazel groaned and repeated what she said. "Oh," Nico said, "uh, okay." He didn't remember much but he told them what he remembered; falling for what seemed like hours, the overwhelming smell of fear, death, pain, misery, blood, and evil swarming around him as soon as he regained consciousness. (AN: My crazy demonic laughing that is so horrifying that you have nightmares for weeks-Insert demonic Mwah ha ha laugh here-) You know the happy stuff, he tried to leave the worst parts out but that was pretty hard considering he was describing Tartarus. Several time his voice even quavered. This was way harder to tell than it was to experience.