Merry Christmas!

Sorry for typos/OOCness!

Happy Reading!

Chapter 16

Jason

"You have to be kidding me," Jason mumbled under his breath, kicking a mini boulder with anger.

Nico was an amnesiac? Seriously? That was the last thing that they needed. Nico was supposed to be the guy who knew where to go and what to do. But he didn't even remember what had happened while he had been in Tartarus.

"Try harder to remember," Jason pushed.

"Yeah, really think back to it," Leo added.

"Guys, I can't try harder than I already am," groaned Nico. "No one wants to remember more than I do, considering it was me who was in Tartarus."

"Lay off a little bit," Hazel said, patting Nico's shoulder. "He'll remember when he can."

"Yeah, there's no sense in pressuring him," Piper said. "It's like when you had amnesia Jason. The more we tried to make you remember, the worse it got. All we can do is hope that the memories come back to him sometime."

A horrible thought struck Jason. "You guys don't think it was Juno, do you?"

The cavern seemed to get even darker than it already was. A torch on the wall went out by a sudden gust of wind. The torch they were holding went out too. The only light in the entire place was the fire that was floating across Leo's palm. Frank inched away from him.

"That seems right," Nico said furiously. "Hera has hated me for years."

"Why?" Frank asked, still eyeballing the fire.

"Well, Hera only likes to have the perfect family, and a son of Hades apparently does not fit into that. She pretty much gave me up for the Titans, thinking I was useless and unwanted."

"That's terrible!" cried Hazel, throwing her arms up in the air. "Why would she say something like that?"

"It's not what she said, it's what she did. I was stuck on a ranch with Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover." Half of them opened their mouths to ask questions, but Nico put his hand up to stop them. "Don't even ask, just listen.

"So Hera was 'friends' with Percy and Annabeth back then, so she paid for them to be able to pass through the ranch. Not me. So Percy challenged Geryon- again, don't even ask- to let me go, and Percy won, so I also got to leave. In the middle of the night, I left them."

"Like left the ranch or left all of them?"

"All of them. I wasn't the best of friends with Percy back then for personal reasons. But after that quest was finished, Percy and Annabeth kind of got mad at Hera for a lot of things, including what happened to me, and they became enemies. And that's the story of why we all hate Hera's guts. Yay, story time is over, let's get a move on."

Nico began to trudge ahead, leaving everyone else. Jason stayed frozen for a second, processing what had just happened, before following the son of Hades.

Jason walked up next to Nico. The shadows made him look even more ominous than usual.

"What do you want?" asked Nico with a sighing breath.

"You really must remember something more than just falling. Even when I had amnesia I could remember glimpses of battles and a few names. What happened? You have to try and think."

Nico looked horrible. "I'm not sure. I mean, there was the fall…"

"Let's start with that. What happened there?"

"Um, there were a bunch of voices calling to me. And once I got too close to the pit, it sucked me in. The fall was really long. I kept hitting the rocks and stuff. I think I got knocked out for a little while, and then when I woke up, I was still falling."

Jason gulped. Some fall that had to be. He thought back to what Dylan had told him. Percy and Annabeth were dead. But no…. if Nico had survived the fall and everything else, they had to be able to, right? But still, Jason wasn't sure.

"After that?" asked Jason.

"Pain," Nico said automatically. "When I landed there was so much pain. I couldn't breathe for the longest time. I just laid there doing nothing for the longest time."

Long enough to get attacked and killed, Jason wanted to say, but he didn't. He wasn't sure if he was ready to tell everyone his burden. What would they say about it?

"And after that?"

"I got up eventually. I think I broke a few fingers, but that was okay. I'd lost my sword in the fall, which really sucked. I wandered around for a long time."

They were really getting somewhere. This was good. "What did the area look like?"

"Nothing. It was all like a waste land, or a desert. There weren't any monsters, and the ones that did attack just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. It was crazy. And there was only a little moon… and the sky was green I think." Nico winced and put his hands on his temples.

"What attacked you?"

"I'm not sure," Nico whispered.

"What do you mean?" Jason asked shocked. "Come on, you were on a role!"

"I really don't know. My memory after that is just gone. Gods, Jason! Put me down!"

Jason hadn't realized that he had grabbed Nico by the shirt and started shaking him in the air. Slowly, he lowered the kid down. He was sort of embarrassed, but suddenly just really mad. They needed to know what was going on in Tartarus.

"Jason!" gasped Piper running over and pushing him back a little. "What's gotten into you?"

I have no idea. Jason shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm sure Nico will remember more when he can, but that is clearly not now," Hazel said.

Frank and Leo looked they were too scared to get near him. They were actually standing next to each other, even with fire in Leo's palms, and looked ready to jump into action if needed.

Jason started walking on. "What's gotten into me?" he asked himself, so softly that no one else could hear.

Jason heard someone coming up to him as they continued through the maze of walls and stone. He was thoroughly surprised when he saw that it was Nico.

"Sorry," Jason said quietly.

Nico waved his hand. "Don't worry about. I'm used to mood swings. But I have my own question to ask you now."

"And what is that?"

"What did Dylan tell you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I know Dylan told you something while you were fighting. I saw you guys talking to each other, so do not try to say that never happened. And whatever he said is clearly haunting you, so fess up. If it was something about Percy and Annabeth, then we all want to hear."

Apparently everyone else was listening too, because they all looked at him with expecting eyes. He couldn't lie to any of them, especially Piper. Her kaleidoscope eyes were huge and curious.

Jason took a deep breath. "Dylan told me that Percy and Annabeth were already dead."

It got so silent that you could've dropped a pin and heard it. Then all at once everyone started talking.

"NO!" screamed Piper, tears coming to her eyes. Hazel was by her side, mumbling something.

Frank and Leo's jaws were practically on the ground. Nessie was on top of Leo's head, walking in little circles. Nico just shook his head. "That's not possible though. I would've known. He has to be lying. He's just trying to get to us." But even he sounded unsure.

"Yeah," Piper agreed, her voice thick. She wiped away some tears. "They can't be dead. If anyone can make it through Tartarus, it's them."

Everyone mumbled in agreement. Jason felt a little better. That is until he looked in front of himself and lost all of his breath.

"Looks like we made it to the House of Hades," Nico said.

Jason looked around the new area they were in. He was confused as to why they hadn't seen any monsters yet, and that wasn't right, but the new area was quite impressive, even if it was scary and plain.

There was a giant gate made of black iron that stretched to the ceiling of the cave. Greek fire replaced the regular fire along the walls, and Leo extinguished the flame in his hand.

"This is the place from my dreams," Nico said. "This must be the entrance to the House of Hades."

"But that says 'Gate of No Return'," Frank pointed out. "Not 'House of Hades'."

"Maybe it's just a saying," said Piper. "Maybe they're warning us to stay away or we'll never return."

Nico kept glancing up at the ceiling, like he expected something to appear.

"Well, first, we need to learn how to actually get the gate open. There's a lock." Nico stepped forward and showed them the giant lock like he was Vanna White. "And we can't climb over the fence. I doubt Jason can take us all without dropping us on our heads, so someone needs to find out how to open this thing up."

"Pfft," scoffed Leo. "You act like I'm not even here. Son of Hephaestus at your service."

He came forward and reached into his tool belt. He pulled out a key. "It's universal," he explained, putting it inside the lock. He twisted it around and there was a click. The gate swung open with a loud, horror-movie creak.

"Ta da!"

"Here goes nothing," whispered Jason. "Time to close these Doors of Death once and for all."

At the same time, they stepped through the gates. Jason heard a scream from one of the girls, a gasp from Frank. Leo cursed. Someone, maybe Leo or Nico, or both, knocked into him hard. But he wasn't really paying attention, because everything was spinning and he felt like he was going to throw up all over everyone. He couldn't even see them.

When the spinning stopped, and the lights started to flicker on, Jason heard multiple gasps. He could barely see what was in front of him.

"Well, this sure doesn't look like the House of Hades," said Nico. Jason blinked a few times so that he could finally see. His jaw dropped.

No, it certainly did not.

Dun. Dun. DUN! Whadaya think this may mean?

So, how was your Christmas? What was your favorite part of the holiday? I got a lot of books!

Reviews/Ideas are loved! Maybe as a Christmas present?

-BBH