Alexander ~

I told Thalia about my dream. Her eyes were wide with shock, for a moment, I thought they would fall out of their sockets.

"Where's Chiron?" Thalia said.

"It's breakfast time, so he'll be at the Mess Hall." Nico replied.

We ran down the dirt path, pushing past a bunch of campers to get inside.

"Chiron!" Thalia yelled.

The centaur galloped over at the sound of his name.

"We need to leave now," Thalia said urgently. "The lost one is a goddess, we must save her. Her identity however, is unknown"

"Go now then! Iris message me once you have new information. Do all of you have everything you need? Nectar? Ambrosia?"

"We do," the three of us replied at the same time.

"Good. Be careful, and good luck!"

We nodded then went to our cabins to grab our stuff.

"Nico! Hurry up before we get one thousand volts from Thalia for taking too long!"

"Hold on."

"You know what Nico, I'll just go to Thalia's pine and wait for you there."

"Fine then, be a ditcher."

I stuck my tongue out at my half-brother and I decided to shadow travel instead of walking. It was one of the best parts of being a child of Hades. I closed my eyes and focused on shadows and the darkness. After a couple of seconds, I opened my eyes, and found myself standing under the shade of the tree. Thalia was standing on the other side of the pine, leaning against it with her arms folded over her chest. She turned her head to acknowledge my presence, and then turned her attention to her iPod. She was listening to a song by the Foo Fighters. Her music was turned on loud; I could hear it on the other side of the tree.

I continued to look at Thalia, the thoughts of her continued to plague through my mind. I noticed everything about her, the short spiky black hair, the punk rebellious attitude, and her eyes, the eyes that reflected the color of the sky.

"She's beautiful isn't she," a voice spoke in my head.

"Aphrodite!" I growled mentally at her.

"I am a goddess and member of the Olympian Council, so I think you should address me respectfully Alexander."

I groaned. "Lady Aphrodite, what are you doing inside my head?" I said venomously.

The goddess of love laughed. "You are in my domain, so I'm going to guide you through. It's about time Artemis and her hunters are proven wrong. Sheesh, following some no love policy that they've blinded themselves with; they seriously, they need to learn how to live life."

"Lady Aphrodite, I've sworn on the River Styx that I would protect Thalia Grace from any harm. That includes love. If she falls in love, her immortality would be taken away. I cannot break my vow, especially if I promised something to Lady Artemis, who takes oaths most seriously."

"Very well then Alexander, I will leave you now. Remember though, I will be watching."

I was glad that I could finally take control over my own mind again. When the love goddess is inside your head talking to you, it gets kind of annoying.

"Hey! I heard that!"

"Lady Aphrodite? I thought you said that you would leave my mind alone."

"Oh right. Sorry about that. I'm leaving your mind now, officially."

I turned around so that my back faced Thalia. I couldn't continue to look at her anymore for now, since I've just had a talk with Aphrodite. I looked back at the cabin area and sighed. I had just arrived here, and now a day after, I was leaving this place for Zeus knows how long. Finally after about ten minutes, I saw Nico sprinting over towards us. He was wearing a Megadeth shirt with black jeans, his Stygian iron sword hanging at the side of his belt.

"Nico, you could have saved us some time by shadow traveling." I said.

"Well, I'm not a master like you, so I'll pass out if I shadow travel too much. I have to save some of my strength to get to the Underworld."

"Guys, quit arguing and get moving already," Thalia said.

"Anger management problems," Nico muttered under his breath.

Unfortunately for him, the lieutenant of the hunt heard him.

"What did you say dead boy?" Thalia yelled.

"Nothing," Nico replied.

"I thought so!"

I sighed. This was never going to end.

"I agree with Thalia, we should get going now. We've already wasted a lot of time."

"You're agreeing with her?" Nico asked, while pointing to Thalia.

"Yes. Why?"

"It's just that I thought you were a cool bro."

"Excuse me?"

"Gods Alex, I was just joking, you're awesome I mean you survived when you were hit by Zeus's master bolt! Anyways Thalia looks like she's going to fry both of us, so see you in the underworld."

He shadow travelled himself to the underworld; leaving me with Thalia, which was no doubt, awkward for me.

"Ok … Thalia hold onto my hand."

She looked at me weirdly for a second, and then reluctantly put her hand on mine. This time when I closed my eyes, I had to concentrate and focus more on the power that was within me. Soon enough, we were engulfed by the darkness and were in a sense, teleported to the banks of the River Styx; right next to Charon's ferry port.

"Alexander, son of the lord himself. It's been quite a while." Charon said. Who do we have here? Your girlfriend?"

"What? Um … no!" Thalia and I both blushed. "This is Thalia, the daughter of Zeus." I said, gesturing over to her.

"We need a ride across so we can get to father's palace," I told Charon.

"You know my policy Alex, no free rides under any circumstances." Charon replied, looking bored.

"You and money," I said. "Fine, here." I handed him 10 drachmas. "That's the fare for both of us."

"Alright then," Charon said, while smiling at the gleaming gold coins he held in his hands. "Get in the ferry, and I'll make it quick."

Thalia and I both got in, sitting next to a bunch of souls who were lucky enough that their families and friends still had faith in the gods.

"Where's Nico?" Thalia asked.

"He's on the other side of the river waiting for us. Usually, children of Hades would just shadow travel to the gates of dad's palace, but since I'm bringing you along, there would be some complications from doing that."

"Oh," Thalia said. "You know, I've actually never been here before."

"Really? I'll show you around when we have time."

She nodded, and turned to look around.

"We're here," Charon announced.

Once we both got out of the ferry and were about to leave, Charon tapped me on the shoulder. "Remember to talk about my pay raise boy." After saying those words, he left, channeling for the hundred millionth time across the river.

"You're here!" Nico said.

"Yes we are," I replied.

"This way to dad's palace." Nico pointed down the path that led to the iron gates of the palace. "Enter if you dare," Nico said.

Sorry for the long wait. I've been having a very bad writer's block for this fic. I've also been very busy with tests and exams. Let's see ... how will Hades react when he sees Thalia? Hopefully I'll get some time to think and write. Remember to R&R.