XI. Nico Ashford

Thank you so much for being patient while I was doing the other book. Thank you, for reviewing. I deleted the chapter containing the first chapter of the other book because people might steal my ideas and claim them. Anyways, on to the chapter. Please Review! And I'm sorry this chapter is short.

NICO WAS HAVING THE WORST DAY OF HIS LIFE. After being dragged to Tartarus with Chloe, who was his girlfriend by the way, he was attacked by Kelli, the empousa from the hospital, along with two other empousai, then a group of arai, then met a Titan named Bob, then a flying pig and a group of drakons came at them.

Chloe cried out and stumbled. He looked down to see her foot bleeding. He quickly took some cloth out of his pack and wrapped her foot. After feeding her some ambrosia, she was able to walk. As they walked, they had to kill all the monsters that flew at them. In between fights, they talked to keep each other company, laughing and exchanging jokes, but the mood always remained the same: scared, tired and unhappy. Bob often helped, fighting the monsters as well. After a while, Nico found that he was glad that Bob was around. Small Bob was also a sweet one; the kitten often rubbed against Nico's shins to keep him company.

Nico was sick and tired of this place. His nightmare problem had increased, and being there felt as if the world had ended and they had to endure punishment for eternity. Nico was scared that he might never see his friends again, the crew of the Argo II. He wished that he could wake up and say this whole thing was a dream. But it wasn't. Now he understood why Percy and the rest had looked upon them pitifully when they had been claimed, and why they had said it was better that they didn't exist.

"Do you want to Iris Message the crew and tell them that we're okay?" Chloe asked. But we're not okay. We need to get out of here. Nico thought.

"Yeah, go ahead. I don't mind. Where did we put the drachmas?"

"It's in my pouch, silly."

"Oh, there they are."

"Bob!" rang out Chloe's voice. It was one of Nico's favorite things about her. Her voice was music to his ears, and left a delightful ringing in his ears. "Bob!" she called again.

"Here am! What need?" asked Bob.

"Do you know what we have to do to Iris Message our friends?" Chloe asked. "I forgot."

"Just say 'Oh, Iris, goddess of de rainbows, please accept my offering.' Den throw drachma in rainbow. If disappear, then say name and place. One drachma per person." Bob said, as Small Bob climbed out of his hair and rubbed against Nico's shins.

"Thank you." she said, as she opened the pouch and said the words. She called the crew on the Argo II and Chiron.

"'Sup!" said the crew when they saw them.

"Hey! We want to tell you that we're okay here. See? We're alive!" He spread his arms to lighten the mood. Unfortunately, the people on the Argo II were still sad and silent. "What's wrong? Why are y'all so sad?"

"We got word that Chiron was attacked by Luke and Thalia and he now has his two front legs and his left arm broken. They also called war upon the campers with help from the Minotaur and a few other nasty creatures. Half of camp is dead." Annabeth said tearfully.

"WHAT! Half of camp is dead? Is there any good news?" Nico half-yelled. To Chiron, he said, "I'm sorry for you."

"I'm sorry. And to make it worse, the gods have shut themselves out. They won't answer any of our prayers, and only the minor gods will. And even that's hard. None of them will take the time to talk to their children because Typhon and Oceanus are back. And you know what that means. Poseidon can't defeat Typhon, and his underwater palace was destroyed too much." During this statement, Percy and Nico were sad at the fact thet Poseidon's underwater palace might be destroyed again.

Nico remained silent. The silence was broken by Chloe who exclaimed, "At least I can try to contact my mom, Hecate! She's a minor god."

"Like I said before, that would be difficult, but it could happen. I think it would be worth it, though. You should definitely try." Annabeth said.

"I don't know how to contact them, though."

"Pray, mainly. You might get her to answer through your dreams, but I don't know."

"What about Iris-Messaging?" she asked.

"I doubt that. All the times I've tried it never worked."

"I've seen a few campers be able to, but the chances are unlikely, since the gods are probably too busy wrapped up with Typhon." Chiron said. This news sparked some hope, but not much. He wondered if they would be able to ask the gods for help. Right now, however, they were too busy fighting monsters and trying to find Tartarus that they didn't notice a small detail important to the quest.

That's the chapter, and I'm incredibly sorry for not updating sooner. I think that you'll have to read other books on this site to keep you interested while I'm doing the other book. Meanwhile, y'all can review. If you could, and please.

-Chloe