(Third Person POV)

Connor and Travis stared blankly at the crumpled body at their feet. Neither would have noticed when the lava wall bucked Nico off if he hadn't fallen on top of Ria.

"Hey, get off her!" Travis exclaimed. Connor shoved the son of Hades away from them.

"I didn't mean to!" Nico looked horrified at the corpse of his best friend.

Percy wandered by on his way to go woo Annabeth. He started blankly at the group for a minute. "Uh, if his father is God of the Underworld, can't you all just go down there and ask him to bring her back to life?"

Connor, Travis, and Nico smacked their foreheads in unison.

"Duh! I'm such an idiot. Let's go now, I can shadow travel us there."

The Stoll brothers grabbed Ria's body, Connor holding her arms and Travis her legs, and with a cry of "For Sparta!" they all disappeared.

Percy shrugged and started to walk away, but stopped seeing a book on the ground. As he picked it up, he realized it was a translation of "The Boyfriend Guide For Dummies" into Ancient Greek. Ignoring the large symbols proclaiming a painful death for anyone who stole it from the Hermes cabin, he started to flip through the pages. "Give her flowers. Hmm. . ."

(Nico POV)

We stepped out of the shadows, humming the Mission Impossible theme. I cleared the way with an imaginary gun, covering for the two guys behind me. One ghost turned and started blankly as we ran by. I frantically shot at her until she drifted away.

Travis and Connor panted as they moved to talk to me.

"Nice shot," said Travis.

"That was a close one," said Connor. "We need to be careful."

We edged the remaining five feet into the throne room.

"DADDY!" I screamed as soon as I saw him.

He winced and mumbled something that sounded like, "Oh Styx."

I put my hands on my hips and pouted. "Daaaaad. I need help!"

He rubbed his temples. Maybe he had a headache? Whatever. Anyways, he said something like, "If I do, will you leave?"

And I was like, "DUUUHH!"

And he was all, "Fine, fine! Tell me what you need and get out!"

"I need you to bring Aethria back to life, like fully okay? OH, and make sure I can't kill her again okay? You never know what might happen during a Sue-Raid."

Hades snapped and Ria jumped in her brothers' arms, gasping for air and clawing dramatically at her chest.

"'Kay, thanks dad! LATERZ!"

And we shadow traveled back to camp. Connor froze and turned to Travis.

"Do you have the book?"

"What? No! I thought you had it!"

Mirrored looks of horror dawned on their faces. "Percy," they whispered in unison. They dropped their sister unceremoniously in the dirt and ran off, screaming for the son of Poseidon.

I turned to my dazed best friend and yanked her up into my arms. "Oh Ria. Don't ever do that to me ever again. I was so heartbroken. . . I thought my life was over without you. I love you so much. Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?"

Her tired eyes looked confused for a moment and then annoyed. She slapped me. Hard.

"Aethria! Is your hand alright? Should I take you to the infirmary for that? I can carry you-" I was cut off when she put a finger on my lips. She whipped out a flashlight and shone it into my eyes. I stared lovingly at hers.

She swore in Greek, and it was adorable coming from her. "Come on Ghost Kid. It looks like you caught the Sue Fever. Especially when I know for a fact you were too busy playing secret agent with my older brothers to mourn me."

I trailed behind her obediently as she led the way to the infirmary grumbling to herself, too in puppy love to consider anything but follow her.

"First I don't sleep for three days straight. Then I confess my crush and get stabbed by the guy in question. Then I fall off the lava wall, breaking my leg. Then my idiot brother dislocates my shoulder while the other twists my broken leg when they carry me. Now I have to deal with this idiot AND I'm still bleeding from the chest wound I literally got two minutes ago. Wait, that much shadow travel in such a short time means-"

My world went black.

(Aethria POV)

I turned too late to catch Nico and watched as he passed out and face planted into the dirt.

"-Means I get to drag this idiot to the infirmary by pulling with a dislocated shoulder, walking on a broken leg, and still with a giant stab wound through my chest without any help because everyone is conveniently busy until I collapse in a bed. Just great."

With that, the most painful twenty minutes of my life (including that before my resurrection) began.