A/N: I'm not happy with this chapter. It is short but eh...If you all think everyone is too hard on Nico in this piece, feel free to let me know so I can back off him. If its too confusing, again let me know. If you ask question or question something I might be able to fix it in the next chapter. If this seems like it is going to fast, please let me know. I was hoping to have this wrapped up in ten chapters but I don't know. It may be a little chapter more. Also I'd like to say that the spider character and Diesel belong to 'Idonotget'. I did change the name to Diesel of the boy character. idonotget character may be seen in a story called ' Reversing Lives ' by Soozin Hevincarrr who did an 'summit your own character' kind of story. I really liked Idonotget's character and asked permission to use them by Idonotget.

Thanks for the three reviews in the last chapter Awesome, mosspath and Thalia I really appreciate the support. I hope to have another chapter up in the next day or two.


The Tunnel of Non-Living

The slide was everything Nico had said and as Percy thought, a little more than what Nico explained. One by one the group descended down into the small well like hole. There was no moment to prepare themselves for the thrill for as soon as they let go of the outside world their bodies plumage down a smooth, cold marble like tunnel. It was like a straw that had been inserted in the ground and this was it, this was the ride inside that big straw of marble stone. They had to lay back for fear of hitting their heads against the top of the tunnel. Immediately darkness engulfed them and for all the bumps, loops and turns, one could not see the light at the end of the tunnel. It was a rush with a straight downward decline at the start. There was a moment where it did tampered off, where they slid slightly and smoothly on a leveled area and were able to catch up to their breaths. That's when the ride became open. It was then when the ceiling of the tunnel opened into a large cavern, no longer like a straw but more so of a slide. That was a moment. Hardly a minute. Just a few seconds of time. When suddenly, once again, the ride took the demi-gods shooting down towards the home of the dead. The small bumps were constant from this point on. They were big enough to make one feel as their inners were being air lifted. There was a fear of falling off the slide when a loop lurked around a sharp corner but luck for speed kept them on track. So in this case, it was everything Nico had explained.

What he neglected to tell them was that the tunnel was damp and even pooled water on its tracks at certain places. By the time the ride had ended, everyone was cold and wet. Nor did he mention the bats were dwelling inside the start of the carven. It was probably why he had wanted to go first. It was he who stirred the bats up in his descended slight and naturally they flew towards the opening of the cave, the opposite direction that everyone else was coming. Needless to say, getting bat faced at a high speed was indeed unpleasant. Still, that wasn't all Nico left out. He left out two important things.

The first important thing he intentionally left out was about the safety net. It wasn't a weaving vertical net that would catch them as Nico let the others believed. Instead it was a dump truck size web that caught them.

The second important thing Nico intentionally left out was that a really big spider made that web and it wasn't the friendly Spiderman.

Nico knew what was at the end of the tunnel and he also remembered when the slide of doom ended, which allow him an advantage of knowing when to get off before he became stuck in the oversized fly trap.

The sixty seconds allowed time for him to scramble away as the yelling Tyson slide and slammed into the web. Nico quickly drew his sword out can begin to free Tyson. Since the web was magical, only a demi-god sword would have cut the thread apart.

'That was fun, Nico!' Tyson beamed seem to brighten up the dark cave. 'I want to do it again!'

'It was pretty wild ride, wasn't?' Nico grinned back. 'I especially loved the loop!'

'I thought I was going to fall upside down!' Tyson agreed. He made a snake motion with his hand. 'I liked the turns! My butt went this way but my head went that way! It was fun!'

'Yeah…' Nico started to say more but a screaming Thalia shot passed them. 'Er, better help me get her out of the web.'

Both boys rushed over to Thalia who instantly started to struggle to get un-webbed. She was about four inches off the ground from her ride tossing her into the net. Nico got lucky with Tyson who barely went air born. Thalia however, Nico had to do a bit of web climbing and was constantly cutting himself free from the web.

'I got you, Thalia.' Tyson spoke from behind her as he grabbed her by the waist and waited for Nico to free her and then placed her on her feet.

'I think I'm going to be sick.' Thalia's cheeks were flushed and hands were shaking. She turned to Nico, her eyes narrowing. 'You didn't say how high that loop was!'

'Um…mortal world.' Nico held his left hand above his hand then placed his right hand at his waist level. 'Underworld. It's a straight downward slope, Thalia. Easy math. What's the big deal? Oh!' Nico's eyes grew a bit wider and he made a yo-yo movement with his hands. 'Heights. Yea, I um…forgot.'

Getting the others out of the web should have been no problem at all but of course, there was a problem. Annabeth was terrified of spiders and she had such a quick wit about her, it didn't take long at all to know that she was caught in a spider web. She freaked out, saying it lightly. Screaming, kicking and batting anyone that got close to her. This of course made the web tangle into her hair, pulling her scalp. Her arms and legs started to become bond with web thread from her struggles. Needless to say, she made matters much worse than it ought to be. It didn't help that she landed a little higher in the web net either. Nico had to climb a higher length just to reach her.

'Stop moving, Annabeth!' Nico growled at the screaming girl who was able to kick him in the ribs twice and knock her fist into his cheek so hard he started to taste blood. 'Stop it! I'm going to cut off a hand if you keep hitting me!'

'Annabeth, it's okay!' Thalia had braved the web as well. Annabeth wasn't high enough to cause fear in heights. Thalia put an arm around the girls shoulder, trying to calm her as she herself hung onto a web cord. 'Nico will have you free. Tyson is right below you to catch you.' Thalia started to cut pieces of web off to free Annabeth's hair.

Just when they thought she was calm, Percy slammed into the net. Annabeth couldn't look over at him because of her hair being tangled in the web caused her to be immobile so instead she envisioned that the quick bouncing movement of the web meant that the owner of the web had come to claim its prize. She freaked out again.

'Annabeth!' Nico yelled once more as she nailed him in the shoulder, almost knocking him out of the web.

Percy quickly assessed his situation and having Tyson help him, he was free in no time at all. 'Annabeth!' Percy called out to her, quickly climbing the web to reach her. He reached out to touch the back of her knee, just to let her know he was there. Instantly she started to calm down as Percy climbed higher to help cut her loose. With the three of them working together, the problem became manageable rather quickly and Annabeth was lowered into Tyson's waiting arms. Tyson put her on her feet but hugged her tightly as she sobbed. He petted her head softly. 'It's okay, Annabeth. It's okay.'

Percy quickly climbed down, cutting himself loose when he became stuck. On reaching the ground he quickly went over to Annabeth, taking her from Tyson's arms and into his own. Percy wrapped her tightly in his arms, whispering to her as she was able to get her nerves under control.

'You idiotic little boy!' Thalia turned on Nico as he finally reached the bottom of the web. 'You stupid idiot!' She punched him in the chest. 'That isn't a net! It's a freaking spider web! A monstrous web!'

'I know and I'm not an idiot. I told you I'd check it out on my own but no, you had to tag along!' Nico yelled back. 'And I didn't tell her because I knew she would hyperventilate.' Nico rubbed his chest, then his cheek where Annabeth had hit him. 'Didn't expect her to get all mental!'

'And what? You thought that was sane?' Thalia asked, waving a hand back at the mangled web.

'I thought her demi-god instincts would kick in and it wouldn't be a problem, that it wouldn't give her time to think about it. I didn't think she would totally freak out like that.' Nico explained. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's not me you need owe an apology too.' Thalia hissed at him while giving him a death glare before storming over to Percy and Annabeth. 'We should go before t-that thing comes investigating.'

'Thalia's right. Let's move out of here.' Percy told the group, keeping his arm around Annabeth though. 'Nico?' Percy had to work on keeping his anger at the younger boy in check. 'Can you get us to somewhere warmer so we could dry off.'

'Same temperature all year long throughout the Underworld.' Nico headed towards a passage way on his right. 'No matter where you go, this is about as warm as it gets.'


In The Spider's Lair

The cavern that the adventurous heroes wandered in is veined with catacombs where ancient bones littered the floor in a dust of snow like substance. The bones crunched under their steps, echoing in the narrow passageways. Newer bones were also visible, though not so many. Full skeleton clothed in armor were placed in a few corners where the victim met its own ending.

'Where are we?' Percy whispered to Nico who was leading the group. Percy would look over his shoulder at the girls, who were in the back of the group, weapons drawn and ready. Tyson made up the middle, his eye every searching around him.

The ghost king gave his normal reply, a shrug of his shoulders. 'I only ventured down the slide, not the whole way through.'

'I don't like it here.' Tyson whispered. 'Bad things happened here.'

'It's the underworld.' Nico sighed. 'Not much good is done dead.'

'What made these tunnels?' Thalia asked.

Once again, Nico gave a shrug. 'I mean I found out a lot of what the Underworld held but not all of the secrets.'

'Just stop.' Annabeth held onto her dagger. Everyone froze and turned around to face her. 'Let's just stop playing games of skipping pebbles in the pond. Whatever made that s-spider web made these tunnels.' She pointed back the way they had just come. 'Whatever it is probably already know we are here. So let's not beat around the bush.'

'Fine.' Nico threw his hands in the air. 'It's a huge she-spider thing.'

'A what?' Percy looked at the other demi-god.

'She's a person, kind of but you know…' Nico made hand direction to his waist. 'The other half isn't.'

'She's a spider?' Annabeth's grey eyes started searching the walls of the tunnel.

'Only half!' Nico pointed out.

'You knew and you led us here?' Percy growled, taking a step closer to Nico.

'Bad Nico!' Tyson shook his head.

'I knew! Okay, I knew but I also said that I would handle it but you all had to follow!' Nico reminded them. 'You weren't part of my plan! You were to go chasing down Eros above surface and I was going to do the leg work down here!' He looked at Annabeth. 'I should have told you but I honestly thought your battle mode would just kick right in.' Nico turned to Percy, his eyes pleading for him to understand. 'I wouldn't have put her through this if I thought she was this terrified of spiders. I thought it was more of a girly thing.'

'A girly thing!' Thalia eyes narrowed.

Nico, knowing he just dug his grave a little deeper, gave the cave's wall a kick that knocked a nick in the surface.

'We'll deal.' Percy paced a small circle in the little tunnel. 'Nico's right. Annabeth, won't let this affect her.' Percy turned to his girlfriend. 'You won't. You haven't before and you won't now. We've been through it before and we will do it again.'

Annabeth gave Percy a weak smile and put a hand on his arm to try to keep him still. 'I'll be okay, you're right.' She cleared her throat. 'Okay, Nico. Tell us what we are up against and…' She eyed him sharply. 'Don't you be holding back anything?'

'Her name is Aikaterine. She's a demon monster thing..' Nico started to explain. 'She's the daughter of Pan and Echidna.'

'What?' Percy looked at the others, his expression of discust matched theirs.

'I'm just saying what I have heard and let me tell you people down here have secrets they are willing to share now that they are dead.' Nico said. 'It was one of Eros' targets I'm told. Anyways her upper torso does have very similarities of a human but lower half is that very large and dark spider abdomen. She's about the size of a mastiff. I haven't seen her myself mind you. This is all hearsay.'

'Big enough, I say.' Annabeth had her arms folded in front of her, rubbing them for comfort.

'She makes a web but she also lures her pry to her or the web by singing.' Nico went on.

'She's a siren of some sort?' Thalia frowned at this.

'I hate sirens.' Percy pinched the bridge of his nose as if he was getting a headache.

'That's how she catches her meals.' Nico went on after giving Annabeth a sympathized look.

'We just need to make sure we don't get between her and the web.' Thalia gave a shrug of no big deal. 'Besides, we already know our weapons can saw through her cords.'

'That's easier said. For eight legs, she is awful quiet.' Nico explained. 'The story is that no one ever got away from her but Hercules and that is only because she had a bit of an obsessed liking towards him. It was how he got away. She allowed him to go out of the tunnels for a wedding present with his promise of returning.'

'Let me guess.' Thalia rolled her eyes. 'Broke his promise and never returned.'

'What is an obsessed liking?' Annabeth asked.

'Ah come on.' Percy cut in. 'What did you expect him to do? She ate people. If he told her the truth about how he felt, she would have eaten him too.'

'She was a bit overly fond of him.' Nico ignored Percy and Thalia as his eyes made contact with Annabeth. 'Wanted him to spend forever with her. He allowed her to believe the feeling was neutral but of course it wasn't. When he left, she waited and grew depressed and became more reclusive.


Near the Spider's Den

'W-wait.' Phobos put a finger in the air, as if he was testing for a breeze. 'Let me get this straight. You handed weapons out to the souls! Why?'

'It's his mind.' Deimos squinted at Diesel as if he could see through his skull. He gave the boy a quick hard tap on the head. 'I don't think it is working.'

'There isn't anything wrong with my mind. I was just doing what you two loons told me.' Diesel stepped away from the two gods, rubbing his head.

'What did you call us?' Phobos cracked the knuckles of his left fist.

'Er…goons. You know, like big bullies.' Diesel gave a weak smile.

'Oh. Yes. That is what we are but we are much better.' Phobos told him.

'Well, yeah.' Diesel nodded as he held up an empty sack. 'See, you told me to carry this sack around under this wonderful world of the lifeless souls, remember?' He watched both of the gods nod their heads. 'And you said that you'll help me get what I'm after and all I have to do is drag the junk round. Well, I did. I went in this huge circle because I got lost. Let me tell you, people down here, they don't give good directions. It's not really their fault either. I mean, they don't even know where they are going until they pay the toll booth. And it's not like they are selling any maps down here. So I'm dragging this heavy bag around like its priceless loot and I got to thinking about what I want. What I am looking for. I know what it is now. What I really want is to get out of here. I don't like it down here. If you haven't noticed there are dead people here and ugly things that want to kill you if you aren't dead. So that's what I want. Out of here and you two are supposed to help me. But you won't 'cause you want me down here. So I have to help myself and by making deals with the souls, I have found a way out and all I had to do was give them something out of the goodie bag.'

'I don't think you understand.' Phobos hooked his arm around the child. 'The dead people as you put it are somewhat like prisoners down here. This is like a big prison and you just handed weapons to all the prisoners.'

'Toy weapons.' Diesels reminded him.

'Not all that stuff was fake. Deimos hissed. 'Like that golden arrow! Do you have any idea how valuable that is on the current market?'

'J-just calm down.' Diesel held up his hands for them to back off. 'The arrow is nearby. I gave it to that guy near that place somewhere in the middle of that big stone thingy. You know?'

The two god brothers looked at each other a bit confused.

'Ah, come on. You know where I mean, dontcha?' Diesel green eyes glimmered. 'You two being god of fear and all that good evilish stuff, I betcha come down here a lot. Probably know the place better than most gods. Nearly as well as Hades who undoubtedly needs your services from time to time. Being as great you two are. Terrifying. Frightful. Panic-al even.'

'Yes.' Phobos puffed up his chest. 'We are great terrifying gods.'

'And clever.' Diesel added.

'Yes, that is true as well.' Deimos nodded his head.

'I'm sure if you do that immortal vanishing trick and leave, you probably catch up to him before he's chained up to a fallen rock or something.'

Diesel watched the two gods fizzle into smoke and disappeared. He quickly turned towards the Swiss cheese looking structure. That was his way out. Somewhere in those tunnels led to the outside world. He hosted up the bag with a few insufficient weapons still inside and headed for the tunnels before the gods came back.