Hey! I'm back with another update. I may not update for a little while after this because mine and my sister's computers have broken down so often and my mom's reported it every time, that they've stopped selling the computers. Yeah, I cause the samsung chromebook shutdown, sorry! And, its tech week for my school play, so I'm really busy. Anyways, I have a message to one of my 8 reviews. Yea! I got 8 reviews!

Here's your reply OMG: Don't worry I'm not stalking you. Just because you happen to share a name with one of my character's and your friends name is Nico does not mean I am a weirdo and a stalker (but I do stalk some people JK!).

Other Messages:

Happy Birthday! To my friend who was mentioned earlier and to my other friend whose birthday is tomorrow and you two are like best friend so that's kind of funny.

I really am super sorry about them stopping selling chromebooks. And they aren't that wear and tear friendly either.

On with the story!

Chapter 14

It was deadly hot, for any normal person. I could hear screeching and screaming all around me. I saw a man in the distance, pushing a rock up a hill, and another man, being boiled in cheese fondue. Next to me, I saw a woman listening to opera music. The music was kind of pretty, but the woman looked like she was going to rip someone's head off. I spun to see a built guy speaking to a guy who was steaming. Behind them, a harpy was walking on top of glowing coals. I moved my dream closer, so I could hear them, The screams started to fade out, and I could hear the harpy's whimperings. As I got closer, I realized the built man had a tinge of blue on his skin (for some reason, thats how I picture Krios, god of strength). He was obviously a god.

The blue skinned man said, "I know you have the information. Now, how can I make a demigod's power not affect me?" Ah, he was worried about us. Well, if this really has anything to do with our quest.

"It will cost you a price... but, no, you'd never be able to do it." Greedy pig. Well, I'd assume, just like I assumed I was in the fields of punishment. I was sure that when I died, I never wanted to end up here.

The god grabbed the man and said, "I am the great god Krios! Once I have these puny demigods out of the way, there will be nothing I can't do!"

"Good," the man responded. "I'll tell you what you want to know, if you swear on the river Styx, that when you're demigods are done for, I get sent to Elysium. I want to be with the rest of my family. Just because I died in the second titan war and served with the titans, and not with my family, does not mean i deserve this. I curse that stupid son of Hades. Kronos should have killed him not me, I understand that now. I took pity on a sweet little boy. The enemy is the enemy, no matter if their 11 or 16." I saw now, that the man was not a man at all. He was a kid, about 16 or 17.

"Alright, its a deal. Now, tell me what I want to know, and just so you know, that son of Hades is one of the demigods I'm trying to defeat. He has more power than he knows, and soon that darned sea spawn will figure it out. They'll make an unbeatable pair. Now, tell me!"

"This only works if the demigods are thinking negatively, but here you go. You must gain something personal from the demigod, then melt it, and turn it into something you can wear. Choose wisely, because it must be an item from the demigod world, like a dagger. And it must be something the demigod owns, not has given to someone else." Krios was deep in thought. The guy was smirking, as if proud of himself for betraying fellow demigods, or I assumed he was a demigod.

"Good, come Carlton. We must go and protect ourselves!" The harpy hopped off the coals. Krios pushed the man onto the coals.

"My name is Clara!" the harpy protested, but Krios let out an evil laugh and walked off.

I woke up sweating again. That was a freaky dream. I sat up. It looked like I was thrashing around. Nico was staring at me from across the room. He was soaking wet. There was concern in his eyes.

"What's up and why were you watching me sleep?" I asked. He looked mortally embarrassed.

Nico started, "I, uh... Well you were thrashing around a lot and I was kind of scared to wake you up because, well, I once tried to wake up Percy. Lets just say that didn't go well."

"So, why were you watching me sleep? That didn't really answer either of my questions."

"Deal with it."

"Hey, where are Shannon and Lisa?"

"Shannon wanted to get breakfast and Lisa went to talk to Cheryl."

"Who's Cheryl?"

"The lady at the front desk."

"Oh," well I felt dumb. "So, why were you watching me sleep, and just so you know, I really am getting sick of asking this question?"

"No," he threw me my pack, "Now go and change in the bathroom."

"Well I'm not gonna change out here," I joked. I went to the bathroom and grabbed the top stupid Aphrodite cabin outfit (ok this is weird cuz I'm watching an old TV show called Xena and this is an episode all about Aphrodite)! I came out to find Nico, Shannon, and Lisa arguing about something. "Shut up! Now, will someone please tell me whats up and then I can tell you about my dream, unless you'd rather wait here for more monsters to find us?"

"This is just pointless Nico! Lets just get out of here and then you guys can argue about who's older and more powerful and all that." Shannon concluded their fight. "Besides, this is my quest, and I call the shots. Not the oldest, not the most powerful, and not the one with the father who rules the freaking underworld! Am I clear?"

Nico said, "Dang, love can be pretty scary sometimes. Has anyone else realized that we have a pretty bizarre group?"

"Random," Lisa commented in a sing song voice.

"Nah, I'm serious. We've got death, sea, love, and, well, what element would you say you represent?" Nico, my silent warning! I know Lisa, and she will not hesitate for revenge. She thought for a minute before something really strange happened. Nico was on the ground faster than a blink, and Lisa had her forearm against his neck.

"I guess you could say I'm pretty speedy, but thats an understatement. How do you think we got to Richmond so fast?" Oh, Lisa sped up our trip, that makes a lot of sense now. Nico coughed as she removed her elbow, got up, and hoisted Nico onto his feet.

"That explains a lot, like how one minute you're speaking with someone outside my window, and the next you're knocking on the door." Shannon, that was weird.

"Yeah, now, how are we gonna get out of here?" Lisa responded.

"Divide and-" Nico started.

"Conquer, I know. You wouldn't believe how many times Julias said that a day. Stupid man, but great tactician," Lisa finished. She continued, "We need two distractions and two to break through. We stick in pairs, no one goes alone. I vote that Andy and I should be the distraction because we're the fastest runners. Wait, you can still run fast, right?" I nodded. "Good. I can help speed you up, but just a warning, this is going to be really dangerous. Nico you start head on, and Shannon, you start shooting arrows from the roof."

I had an idea, "Wait, can't we shadow travel out?"

Lisa smacked her forehead. "Wow! I'm so stupid! Nico, can you do it?"

"That's a way better idea and maybe. It depends on how far you want to travel. Uh, last summer I was able to transport 8 people about 50 meters. But, that was with my sister's help. I would only shadow travel us about 50 meters to be on the safe side." Nico was very nervous about this. "I don't want to take any chances, but this is the best we've got. I don't think I want to really risk hurting you all. So, we could probably get just past them but we'd have to run away really fast. Unless... Would you guys be OK with two jumps?"

"Is that safe for you?" I asked. I really didn't want Nico to be hurt.

"Probably not, jumping once, coming out, then being pulled into the shadows, definitely a challenge. I honestly have no idea if I'll pass out right after or what, but it's worth it. If we can get past the monsters then yeah, we should be good. Last summer, I transported the Athena Parthenos, Reyna, and myself to camp. I passed out pretty much every jump. I think I can get us the two jumps, but no more. You guys are gonna need to keep moving and get me out of there as well. I should be out for at least an hour. I can do it and get us out of here, but its you guys that are gonna have the hard part in this." He was trying to joke around, bad, bad, bad.

I asked, "How badly are you gonna get hurt?"

He sighed, "Most likely not at all. Just knocked out for an hour or so. Like I said, you'll have the hardest part." I guess that's alright if its the safest way for everyone.

There were murmurs of agreements from Lisa and I, but Shannon asked, "Are you sure? How are we even gonna move you?"

"It's the safest way and I can carry him," Lisa replied. I stared at her in disbelief. She was the scrawniest one in our group.

"That'll work." I looked at Nico quizzically. "Immortals are stronger than normal half-bloods, even if they're not gods," he explained.

"But how-" Shannon started.

Lisa cut her off, "Just trust me, alright? I've done a lot of heavy lifting in my time. Great wall of China, that was almost unbearable! I mean a block actually landed on me. Do you know what the Chinese do to their dead? Lets just say that was an unpleasant experience that I do to wish to repeat." I remembered somewhere reading that in ancient China, they beheaded their dead.

"Alright, lets go down to the lobby and get the Hades out of here," Nico covered for her. I had a feeling she didn't want to remember the experience either. We all grabbed our backpacks and headed down towards the lobby. Nico said, "grab hands," and we all got in a circle. I felt like I was being pulled through shadows. It was like being dragged through water, except thicker, and you're completely surrounded, though you can still breath, but you're wet. I could feel myself resurfacing, and then dragged back through. When we came back, I opened my eyes which I hadn't realized were closed. Nico was standing just fine, not unconscious, so I wondered what was happening.

"Nico..." Shannon started.

He shrugged, "I guess I'm getting better at this." We ran off towards the bus station we were near. At the desk, we found tickets for a bus that went all the way down to Atlanta, Georgia. We played another game of BS, and to everyone's surprise, I actually called every one of Lisa's bluffs. Shannon was a horrible liar and started giggling every time. After a couple months of spending time with Nico, I noticed that every time he lied, he would run his hand through his hair. This being, I won the game. Yeah! I actually won a card game.

After Lisa asked, "How the Hades did you do that?"

I thought for a minute, "Maybe some powers I really am allergic to. I mean, pretty much every time I called your bluffs I wanted to sneeze." She laughed.

We rode in silence on the rest of the way, with the occasional murmur from Shannon, who'd fallen asleep. I rested my head on Nico's shoulder and didn't realized I'd fallen into a dreamless sleep until I was awoken a little later, literally by a pinch. I slapped whoever did it and I heard Nico chuckle. I opened my eyes to see Shannon cradling her hand and Lisa holding back a laugh. Nico asked, "Sleep well? I'm pretty sure you're gonna be up all night." Oh, crap he's right. I lightly slapped him. Lisa couldn't hold it in anymore and I slapped her lightly too. Shannon was glaring at me because I slapped her the hardest.

"Yeah, well, I guess we know who's taking watch now! Where are we?" I saw plam trees going past.

"We're crossing the border into Florida," Nico told me.

"Just how long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Most of the day."

"Holy Hephaestus! Then why the Hades do I feel so drowsy?"

Lisa butted in, "Maybe you're sick or something." She felt my forehead and nodded. "Yeah, you've got a fever. Nico, how come you haven't noticed this?" He shrugged.

"I'm always cold. I can't really tell the difference." True, he was always really cold.

"I think I've got a thermometer somewhere." Lisa rummaged through her pack until she pulled out a thermometer. She pulled a probe cover over it and stuck it in my mouth. When she pulled it out, she and Shannon had worried expressions on their faces.

"What's wrong? I feel fine!" I chided.

Shannon shook her head, "Dude, you are so not fine. You got a fever of 111!"

"How did she..." Nico started, but let the question linger.

"Maybe she's got mono or something," Shannon suggested.

I kicked her shin, "Idiot!"

Lisa corrected me, "It can be as simple as accidentally grabbing the wrong coffee cup." I smacked her again.

"I'm not that dumb! Guys, it's just a tiny fever. I feel fine. We can deal with this after the quest." They looked reluctant, but finally agreed.

Shannon's was most interesting, "Fine. But if your brain fries don't come cryin' to me."

"It won't. Now, lets talk about our quest... Woah! How the Hades did we get here already?" We were already near Disney. Like, driving through the gates near.

Lisa spoke, "Like I said, I've been speeding up our trip, but it depletes my energy." She looked ready to pass out. We were driving in the gates now. You could see the castle off in the distance.

"How come the mortals don't notice this?" Shannon asked.

Lisa and Nico replied at the same time, "The Mist."

I asked, "What's mist?"

"The Mist is a kind of blanket, that covers the eyes of mortals. Its controlled by the goddess Hecate." Nico explained this to me.

"Nice." We entered the foyer kind of thing to the park. Nico got me past the barrier and Lisa got Shannon through by speeding through the line. There were two options for getting to the park.

Shannon asked, "Boat, or monorail?"

Nico said, "Monorail," at the same time I said, "Boat." I'd forgotten he was a child of Hades, so boats weren't a good idea. Then again, hurtling through the air on a single track wasn't a good idea either.

I calmly explained, "It's not like the boat's gonna sink. And in case you haven't forgotten, the monorail is 100 feet in the air at times and goes t like 50-60 miles an hour."

"Ok, lets do the boat then," he gave up. I honestly didn't expect that to come so easily. He gave me a playful glare. I guess I said that out loud, oops!

Yo my peeps! Ok, I litterally just gave myself a stupid paper cut while posting this and I've bleed for 15 minutes straight and gone through 2 bandaids HAHA! Oh the irony but it hurts like Hades! Oh yeah, and please review!