"What in Hades'-?" Nico di Angelo stuttered when he stumbled from the shadows into a dark, gloomy room. It struck him. Hades. He was in the underworld. But why? Nico hadn't willingly shadow-travelled there-in fact, he had just been playing ball with Mrs O'Leary in Camp Half-blood's forest. Percy had been too grief-stricken to entertain her ever since Annabeth fell into a coma. Hence, when the hellhound had approached the son of Hades with a red rubber ball in between her teeth, he couldn't refuse. Especially when Mrs O'Leary gave him the large begging eyes. Yeah, yeah, you may be thinking: What? Nico di Angelo, son of Hades and walking oddball, AKA Death Boy, took pity on a hellhound, and thought that she was cute?

Yes, Nico did, but he had a not-so-good reputation to uphold, so not a word to anyone else. At times, he also wondered if he had become comatose, would Percy worry that much about him? Probably not. Maybe that guy would at least eat some food and not starve himself like what he was doing now.

Nico's train of thoughts came to a standstill when a figure emerged from the shadows. He knelt down, knight-style, and spoke solemnly, "You called me, Father?"

"You may rise. Yes, I called you, Son. But this time, it is for a quest," a deep voice boomed in the room. A woman entered the room. She wore a flowing white dress and her smooth raven-black hair was braided with flowers. Nico felt his fingers itching to grab the hilt of his stygian-iron sword. Seriously, who would like a step-mother who had turned them into dandelions? Perhaps some flower freaks like Persephone, but no, definitely not Nico di Angelo.

"Step-mother," he greeted, but this time with more hostility. Persephone nodded curtly and stood beside her husband. Hades focused his obsidian eyes on his son. "Recently, I had the Cyclops forge a dagger for my wife. This dagger, Egeiro, can raise anyone she wants from the dead."

Nico resisted the urge to snort. Yeah, right, Dad, good time trying to get your wife back. Persephone was probably going to resurrect some good-looking dude who was as dead as a dodo, then cheat on Hades with him. Nico had never trusted his step-mother.

"You see," Hades continued, "the dagger was stolen a few days ago. We tried to find the thief, but he or she had already exited the underworld. I want you to help us locate the dagger and bring it back, Son."

Okay. Wow. Did history just repeat itself? "Not to be rude, but isn't this like the half-made sword quest last time?"

Hades frowned. "You can say that. However, this time, the thief has mastered very complicated magic. No one can teleport out of the underworld. Hence, tracking him or her is very difficult. In the wrong hands, Egeiro can be very dangerous."

The son of Hades mentally groaned. What was it with gods and goddesses? They were almost the most powerful beings in the universe, yet they always needed help of demigods, who were 'inferior' to them, to complete their quests. It looked like the peaceful afternoon would not be so peaceful after all.

Nico trudged towards the Hades Cabin, rubbing his ears. Ouch. The Apollo camper had a really good pair of lungs, and a horrible voice. There should be a sentence in Hades' court that stated 'You are sentenced to eternal torture by a singing male spawn of Apollo.' It was so much worse than 'You are sentenced to bathing in a tub of boiling oil for eternity.'

Currently, Nico had a lot on his mind. The worst part was that he had no one to talk to about it. Hazel was in Camp Jupiter and Mrs O'Leary would bark and drown him in hellhound drool. If he started talking to himself, the other campers would think that the Death Boy had officially become a Muttering Maniac and send him to the nearest asylum. Chiron and Dionysus would probably support the GRODB campaign. 'Get Rid of Death Boy'. Not really creative, yes, but who had time for creativity when there was the weight of a quest on one's shoulders?

The inside of the Hades Cabin was dark like the Underworld. Gems glowed from the bricks which they were engraved in. Sighing, Nico plopped down onto his bed. He hardly ever stayed overnight in camp. That day, he was so exhausted that he could hardly shadow travel out of the Hades Cabin if he tried to. Taking off his chain belt and aviator jacket, Nico slipped under the blanket, too tired to take a bath.

Oh, man. Nico forgot about one thing. Sleeping meant dreams. Another reason why he liked it in the Underworld was that he didn't dream as much as he did on the surface. He felt like slapping himself, but there was no way he could when he was sleeping. So all Nico could do was to stand helplessly while a bright (yes, that was the first thing that he noticed) room appeared before him.

He couldn't believe it. Since when did his Mythomagic cards start appearing in his dreams? On a chair in front of him sat a beautiful woman in a midnight-blue dress. Shadows seemed to be dancing on the fabric. Her hair was as black as Hades' eyes and her irises were like swirling, green potion. Exactly how Nico remembered the picture on his Circe Mythomagic card to be.

"No, demigod, I am not a character from a game. I am Circe, one of the most powerful sorceresses in this universe. I am here to barter with you. Yes, I stole Persephone's dagger. You see, after Kronos and Gaea fell, it is time for me to rise. Let me keep the dagger, and I will make you the god of the Underworld once I rise," the woman said.

Nico felt the urge to nod his head, and then realized that Circe was using charmspeak. He gripped the hilt of his sword, trying to concentrate. "NO!"

Circe looked unimpressed. "I can even give Percy a love potion. Bring Bianca back. I can give you whatever you want. Just let me keep the dagger."

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Nico screamed, and the marble floor cracked, revealing a deep chasm. Zombie soldiers crawled out one after another, advancing towards Circe. The sorceress merely laughed and waved her arm. Suddenly, the whole scene plunged into darkness.

Let me keep the dagger, Nico di Angelo, half-blood son of Hades. The voice swamped him, and he fainted on the spot.

Some campers gave Nico curious looks when he took his seat at the mess hall. He was obviously shaken and he had gone to the mess hall earlier than usual. He gulped and licked his lips. Nico had to escape from his cabin. For once, he was scared of darkness. It reminded him of the voice in his dream and the suffocating feeling. The sentence made his blood run cold, if it wasn't cold enough already.

Nico glanced at the Poseidon Cabin's table. Percy wasn't there. He had already left for Camp Jupiter. Looking down at his plate, Nico felt like cursing Eros. He wished that that stupid love god could be swallowed into Tartarus or something. Or maybe he could just fade, like Pan. But no, love would never fade. There were still so many people around the world believing in love. Just search YouTube and you'll get more than a hundred songs about love. Yes, Nico knew about YouTube. He had to, since his dad had an iPhone. Seriously, it would be embarrassing if you didn't know something about modern technology that your dad knew. After all, Nico was in the 21st Century, wasn't he? He had to learn.

After the 'morning rituals', the campers tucked into their breakfast. Nico rolled his grapes around his plate with a fork, his eyes following the purple fruit. His drink was plain water. Percy had always nagged at him to eat more during meals, occasionally offering him a slice of pizza. Nico knew that Percy treated him like a little brother. Why did Eros, or the Fates for that matter, have to do this to him?

Cling! Nico looked down at his plate and realised that his fork had pierced through a grape and the metal tips of the fork had hit the plate.

Sorry if Nico wasn't depressed enough. I tried my best. It's hard writing from so many people's perspectives.

-L