I hereby pledge that the disclaimer, as always, belongs here.

CHAPTER SIX.

"Urgh."

Waking up that morning was a total blur . . . actually, now that I think about it, that whole morning was a blur and I barely remember any of it. Honestly, I could be dreaming right now since I don't even remember waking up.

I try to sit up, but I don't think any part of my body even twitched, therefore not showing any sign of capability.

I stay there for a moment, scared that my lungs, too, had stopped working, when I suddenly become aware of my very weak and spasmodic breathing. But there's something around my throat, trying to stop my breathing. I try to open my eyes once more, but only see blurs through my tears, and my impaired vision didn't help much either. I close my eyes again and feel my head move side to side stiffly as I attempt to shake the tears out of my eyes.

The pain is so immense I can't feel it anymore.

Then . . . nothing – I feel absolutely nothing. Not even the blunted sensation of being strangled, or the slight movement of my fingers twitching, itching to move.

I don't know where I am. I don't know what time of day it is, or what's happening right now. The only things I know are the basics – like that I'm Nico di Angelo, I'm a son of Hades, and I am floating in the middle of nothingness.

The last thing I remember that isn't a blur is getting to Thalia in Arizona safely, and being scared out of my wits by Artemis, who had made me promise a mouthful of things – things I don't remember anymore.

"Somebody," I croak, my voice sounding like I haven't used it in years. "Help." My voice shrieks pathetically.

I freeze again, this time not because my body can't move anymore – I don't think paralysis includes my imaginary self – but because I find myself face-to-face with Apollo. He is looking at me, his blindingly white teeth showing as he grins at me, but his eyes filled with a grim kind of seriousness I choose not to look at it.

"What's happening?" I whisper. My voice could not become any louder.

He laughs. I feel like strangling him. He's the god of medicine, isn't he? Can't he see that I'm suffering?

He winks. "So," he begins. "You're afraid of my sister?"

"Yes," I answer immediately. "Don't avoid my question," I add.

"Weird things," he replies grimly. "I can't say. And even if I could, I'd rather not."

"Why am I here? I thought I was safe . . . I thought I made it to . . . to . . . to wherever I was going in one piece? I remember Thalia – and Artemis!"

"Thing is," he says. "Did any of that really happen?"

I open my mouth to reply, when he raises his hand, signaling me not to interrupt.

"You're going to say that you remember it happening, but do you really?" He smirks mischievously. "I can honestly say that we don't really remember what happens; what we remember becomes what happens. With the added fact that you can't even remember waking up this morning, how can you be so sure of remembering anything right now?"

"I – I –" I stutter, but I can't form complete sentences.

His smile never wavers from his face.

"You know what dreams usually mean for a demigod, right?"

"Dreams are usually . . . foreboding," I reply.

He nods.

"But – what are you trying to tell me?" I snap. "I made it safely. I'm in no danger."

"Then why don't you remember waking up this morning? Why don't you remember passing out because someone was trying to strangle you to death?" He replies calmly, though very quickly.

"What kind of warning is this supposed to be? The only thing in this dream is you and I – no one else. I would've been alone if you hadn't shown up."

"And that's what's going to happen if you don't get your act together and start using your common sense." I've never seen Apollo so serious. "Reckless actions often result in messy endings, never happily-ever-after's."

Then he disappears.

This has to be one of the things I hate the most about being a demigod – the fact that when you get a clue about something, you have to figure it out yourself, and chances are that you'll figure it out right before anything urgent happens. Sometimes, you don't even figure it out at all, and you just have to make do without it.

I walk around nothingness for a while, until I feel in my stomach, then the warmth suddenly surges through the rest of my body. I close my eyes and smile. When I open them again, I see the bright yellow the tent, and I hear my breathing slowly becoming normal again. A wave of memories rushes into my mind once more, but doesn't push the dream out of my mind. I sit up slowly, afraid of straining my body anymore, and see that someone had just left moments before I had woken up. There was an empty glass sitting a foot away from where I had been resting, along with a muddy footprint.

I sit there, trying to piece together my dream, but I start to forget. I snap my eyes shut, feeling my face contort as I try to squeeze the dream out of my memory, but it's no use. I've forgotten a big chunk of my dream – a big chunk of what Apollo had said. All I remember is, him saying something about 'remembering,' and 'happily-never-after's," then me feeling a surge of warmth as I'm pulled back out of lala-land and back into reality.

"Finally awake, sleeping beauty?" I see Thalia's shadow move towards the opening of my tent. She sticks half her torso in to peek at me, her face grinning mischievously at me. "I've been out hunting, and all the times I dropped by to check on you, you were snoozing away. I even poked you with my arrow once, but you didn't even budge. Slept like a log." She laughed.

I chuckled nervously.

"Something wrong?" she asks.

I shake my head vigorously.

Her eyebrows scrunch up suspiciously.

"Honest," I cough out.

Her face relaxes a bit. "How about a bit of fresh air, then? Artemis allows it, for as long as you're far enough away from the other Hunters." She unzips the tent completely and she swoops into the tent, grabs my arm then drags me out.

The sun is really bright. I'm not so sure how I feel about that. The breeze, however, blowing the hair away from my face – I loved that. I take in as much of the fresh mountain air as I can.

"How long was I out this time?" I turn to Thalia, who has been eyeing a bush a few feet away from us for a while now.

"Not that long this time, not like last week. You kind of just overslept today. I think you're getting better."

My heart drops. 'I think you're getting better.'

Thalia's words echo in my mind.

I'm getting better, which means, probably the moment I am 'all better,' I have to pack up my stuff and head back to camp – or anywhere, as far as Artemis is concerned, as long as it's far away from here, or wherever she and her Hunters are.

"I just have to say, I'm really going to miss you." Thalia smiles. "It was kind of like having a piece of camp here with me."

I smile weakly.

The past week I spent in forest rejuvenating from my unfortunate shadow traveling accident had been amazing. This was the longest time I'd spent with Thalia ever since she left camp last year. I probably spent more time with her here than in camp, because in camp she was either always with Annabeth, Percy, Chiron, or one of the Hunters. The only time I'd spend with her was usually in a swordfight, or racing up and down the Climbing Wall.

Thinking about returning to camp got me to remember all the consequences I'd have once I set foot on campgrounds. I'd be in huge trouble – especially with Percy, who was the one person that was hell-bent on keeping me away from Arizona.

"I think Percy's going to kill me right when I get back to camp," I mutter. "I wouldn't be surprised if he caused a tidal wave because he was so angry."

"He wouldn't." But even with all Thalia's swagger, the uncertainty of her voice is still there.

A few leaves from the bush Thalia was eyeing a moment ago starts to shake, and a giant beetle flies from it and lands flat on my face. I whimper in panic and slap it off my face frantically.

I hear Thalia laugh as I shiver, still grossed out by that beetle.

"Nico di Angelo, are you afraid of bugs?" she guffaws.

"Maybe," I scoff. "Aren't you afraid of heights?"

But she didn't hear my very insulting comeback, because she was laughing so hard she was practically screaming.

I cross my arms and turn away from her childishly.

So what if I'm afraid of bugs? Everyone's afraid of something! And bugs have NO SOULS. It doesn't make sense! They're not alive! They're just empty vessels filled with systems functioning robotically because of natural instincts! They're like zombies! Which totally explains why mosquitoes want to suck you dry, right?

"Anyway, I uhm – "

"Had a weird dream?" Thalia cocks an eyebrow. She crosses her arms over her chest, her silver bracelets dancing with her movements. It's really hard to believe that with just one tap, the bracelets become one full-fledged weapon that could shish kebab you.

"Only one, and I can barely even remember it," I complain.

"Tell me about it."

I bite my lower lip before taking a deep breath and sighing. "As the seconds pass by, a little chunk of the dream goes away with it, and no matter what I do, I can't seem to –"

"Just tell me about your dream already," Thalia demands.

"I was in the middle of nothingness. Seriously. It was all white, and I was all alone . . . well, for most of it. Apollo was there for a while, the gods know why."

"Apollo?" her eyebrows scrunch up showing a very subtle but still noticeable expression of anxiety and suspicion. "Did he say anything?"

"Like I told you before, I don't remember much." Just as I finish my sentence, Thalia glares at me. I then conk my head trying to wrack my brain for every trace of my dream I could squeeze out, just to be sure that Thalia wouldn't suddenly give her bracelet that little tap and . . . well, you get the picture. "But um, he found it funny that I was afraid of Artemis!"

Thalia smirks a bit at this, and nods, urging me to go on.

I wrack my brain some more. I think my brain is in danger of overuse. What if my system crashes?

Stupid Hephaestus kids.

"And he told me something like . . . if I didn't get my act together, the nothingness that surrounded me would become me . . . and that how could anything really be happening if I don't even remember any of it, not even waking up that morning."

Thalia remains silent for a while.

"Tha –" I begin to say, but she intercepts me.

"Anything else?" she says hastily.

"No, that's really all I can remember –"

"It's fine," she says quickly before I can even finish my sentence. "Strange. Really strange." She starts mumbling incoherently to herself.

"Thalia, I –"

"Should get some rest," she intercepts me yet again. I can't seem to finish a sentence nowadays! "I don't think you're in the right, er, state of mind, or just state in general, to be walking around or doing anything physical. Just stay in the tent." She orders me like I was some dog that would just obey.

I'm about to be rebellious and stand up for myself but she starts to walk away before I can even open my mouth.

"Oh and, did you leave your tent a while ago? I saw an empty glass in there."

I'm about to say 'no, I thought you made me drink that nectar, since you're the only one allowed to be near me, and the Hunters – the only place in which nectar is available in the area – at the same time,' but I think twice and shrug instead. "I don't remember." It's best not to add to the tensions already piling up.

She looks down at my feet. "Your shoes are filthy. They're all muddy. Honestly, I don't believe that you stayed in your tent the whole time." She stares at me, expecting me to explain myself (even if I really had nothing to say), but leaves even before I can take a breath.

I look down at my muddy shoe, and remember the muddy footprint next to the empty glass in my tent. I feel like I'm supposed to be able to put two-and-two together right about now, but I can't. None of the possibilities make sense.

Frustrated and tired, I go back inside my tent, slipping off my shoes restlessly and plopping onto my sleeping back, forgetting that it's not a bed and plopping on it may come with pain.

Hades? Apollo? Anyone?

Even Aphrodite would be nice.

REVIEW!

First of all, I want to say: SORRY SORRY SORRY!

It's really been forever since I updated, and I feel really bad about it. It's just, I've been swamped by school, training, being a teenager with all those teenager-ish problems attached, and I also went on an exchange program to Japan for a month. You wouldn't believe the workload when I got back, ugh, awful. Simply awful.

I promise that, since I've got the time, I will update. I just need a while to channel my past self and remember what I planned for this story, and maybe tweak it a bit here and there to make it better.

This chapter isn't much (and again, I'm sorry), it's basically just me setting up the climax and twists and stuff coming up, so yup. Stay tuned! (Can you say that for a story?)

Ideas, reviews = always welcome and very well appreciated.

Sitting here, apologizing - Schoe! (:

PS. Did I say I was sorry?