A hero will step forth,

In a land of no joy,

To save the lost one,

With three instead of a convoy.

One will emerge as the man of forgetfulness,

Hell and sky will reunite,

Sons of death, and daughter of lightning,

Brave the Underworld's bite.

All against three,

And at one's great cost,

A loved one,

Will be lost.

The man of forgetfulness was Nico, and the loved one that will be lost, was Bianca di Angelo.

Alexander ~

I looked over at Thalia, who stood next to me. Her face was grim with a mask of remorse and grief. It was definitely a rare sight to see a hunter of Artemis, especially the lieutenant of the hunt feel … penitence for a male.

Thalia and I both knew that there was nothing we could do about Nico's memory now. Once Nico stepped out of the River Leethe, his memories would be gone;, wiped away completely. I sighed. What are we going to do now? Thalia seemed to be able to read my mind because she replied with a simple "we must carry on with the quest. The prophecies are always right." We both turned to look back at Nico, who was swimming back towards us. Thalia stepped forward and stuck her hand out to help pull Nico out, carefully avoiding the water. We both knew that any contact with the water would take away memories, and she definitely had not intention of losing them.

"Who are you?" Nico asked. "And who am I?"

Thalia and I looked at each other, and then sighed.

"My name is Thalia, the daughter of Zeus," she said. Thalia then proceeded to point to me, signaling for me to speak.

"My name is Alexander, but everyone calls me Alex." I said. "I'm your half-brother, and our father is Hades, the Greek god of the underworld."

"Ok …" Nico said. "Who's Zeus?"

"Zeus is the lord of the sky, and the king of the gods," I said. "Come on Nico, we need to go now."

"Oh ok then," Nico said. "You two seem like nice people, so I guess I'll follow you then."

"Good," I said. "Now Thalia, where should we go now?"

"We should go back to where we fought Bianca, and check out the other side of the tunnel."

"Who's Bianca?" Nico asked.

Thalia and I looked at each other uncomfortably.

"Uh … she's a friend," Thalia replied solemnly.

"Oh," Nico said. "So, should we be going to that tunnel place you were talking about?"

"Right," Thalia said. "Let's go then."

Thalia led us through the tunnel again, and fortunately for us this time, there were no more attacks. I heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that we had safely crossed.

"Now remind me Alex," Thalia said. "About your dreams that you've been having about the goddess."

"She was lying on a black alter, and ichor was spilling all over. It was almost like she was dying, but obviously she can't."

"Woah!" Nico yelled. "You have creepy dreams."

I face palmed, while Nico rambled on about how dreams like that could affect you mentally. I really wanted to tell Nico to shut up, but I just felt sorry for the kid, I mean on the same day, he loses his sister, and then his memories.

"Hey Alex! Are you even listening?" Nico said, while waving his hand around my face.

"Um … yeah?" I said, while I shot Thalia a desperate look. She just laughed and stuck her tongue out at me. Oh that girl is evil, I thought to myself.

"Oh look! It's a big black thing!" Nico yelled.

"Yeah, whatever," I said. That was when I suddenly realized what Nico had said.

"Where is it?" I asked my half-brother.

"Oh, so now you're interested!" Nico said. "Well, I'm not going to tell you! That's for not listening to me just now."

"Nico," I said. "You need to tell us now! It's a matter of great importance!"

"Hmmm …" Nico said. "I'll tell you once I get a kiss from the pretty lady over there," he said, while pointing at Thalia.

Oh he didn't just say that to a regular hunter of Artemis, but to Thalia herself. I cursed, and then grabbed Nico, holding him by the neck.

"You tell us right now where it is!" I yelled.

"Ok, ok. Chill. It's just over there," Nico said, pointing to the far end. "Now can you put me down? Can't … breathe …"

I growled, and finally put him down. Once Nico hit the floor, he quickly scrambled back up, and glared at me, then smirked.

"Protective much?" Nico said. "Someone's got a crush!"

Crap! It must be Lady Aphrodite controlling him, and making him say that in front of … Thalia. I blushed deep red, and looked over at Thalia, who had an amused smirk on her face.

"Uh … shall we carry on?" I asked, completely embarrassed.

"Yes," Thalia said as she laughed.

I know Nico seemed quite OOC, but since he's lost his memory, why not have fun by messing with him right? Well, there you go, another update. I hope you all enjoyed that. Again, I'll try to update asap, but I do have to study for my semester exams, even though it's Christmas break. Oh, and a little heads up: the lost goddess will be found in the next chapter. Anyone want to take a shot at guessing who she is? (Hint: She is not an Olympian) Farewell, for now ...

~ the ghost king