p style="margin: 0px 0px 13.3px; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Nico took a deep breath, he was seconds away from leaving for Camp Half Blood. They had forged a plan. Nico stood in the center carrying the statue, surrounded by Lysander, Coach Hedge and Reyna, weapons poised facing away from Nico. Prepared for any sort of attack they may encounter. The plan was for Nico to shadow travel them as close to the gateway as possible and then to shadow travel himself and the statue through the gate as soon as it was in sight, incase they were to be attacked. They were all extremely nervous. With each of them holding on to a different part of him, Nico asked "Ready?" Curt nods were his only response. "Three, two, one!" And they materialized into darkness. Nico barely had a few seconds to get his bearings, when utter chaos broke out around him. They were entirely surrounded by a group of five fire breathing horses. On closer inspection he realized, that they were in fact only half horse, they had the legs and feathers of a chicken. The name Hippalectryon surfaced into his mind. They could breathe fire and had razor sharp poisonous talons. He felt a desire to laugh at their slightly humorous appearance, but was cut short as Reyna narrowly avoided a blast of their flames. Nico looked around him and then he spotted it, a few feet away, the gate. Effortlessly he was able to call upon the shadows to transport him through the gate. Immediately he was seized by greek guards. "It's me! Take this," he said flinging the statue at them, "bring it to Chiron, he'll know what to do with it! I need to help my friends! And don't leave your post!" Nico snarled, as they showed signs of wanting to help. He ran back amidst the action, pulling his Stygian sword out of it's sheath. "Come on!" he shouted at Reyna and Coach Hedge "We need to get through the gate!" Reyna and Coach Hedge retreated towards the gate, Nico close behind them. Reyna was losing pace, holding a bloody gash on her arm. Nico suspected she had become a victim to the talons of the Hippalectryon. She gasped and tumbled to the ground. "I'll get her!" Coach shouted, pushing Nico to the side. Together they trooped towards the gate. Ten feet. Nine feet. The Hippalectryon were close behind. Seven feet. Nico could feel the heat on his heels. Two feet, and then he heard a scream. He had forgotten about Lysander. Apparently Coach had too, because he turned around looking concerned. "No! Take Reyna to the infirmary, I'll get him! GO!" Nico shouted, as coach showed signs of protest. Rolling sideways to avoid a blast of fire, he ducked into a patch of shadow, reappearing a few feet back, from where he had thought Lysander's scream had come. Lysander was lying tangled in a patch of roots, apparently stuck. Nico slashed at them, freeing his feet. "We have to hurry!" Nico yelled, as he saw two of the Hippalectryon advance on them. "Why don't you shadow travel?!" "I don't know if I have the strength to do that! Can you run?" Lysander got to his feet and nodded. And so they sprinted towards the gate, they were mere feet away, when he saw Lysander trip, falling head first into the ground. Nico groaned but spun around none the less. That's when one of the Hippalectryon came charging at him. Rolling forward, he took it by surprise and was able to stab it through it's stomach. The thing burst into flames, but not before it managed to spew Nico's shoulder. Gasping in agony, he gripped his shoulder and made his way over to Lysander. One of his legs stuck out at an awkward angle. "Come on! I'll help you walk." Hurriedly, he pulled up Lysander and flung one of his arms over Nico's good shoulder. " Now let's GO!" Together they made their way as fast as possible to the gate. Lysander was hobbling and Nico's shoulder throbbed horribly. But the the last Hippalectryon was still on their heels, this one was larger than the other four had been, larger than Nico and Lysander together. It positively towered over them. To Nico's relief he saw the gate was only three feet away. Picking up the pace, Lysander's arm fell off Nico's shoulder. Snatching his wrist, Nico pulled Lysander behind him. And that's when he made it through the gate. Nico sank to the ground in relief. That's when he realized, Lysander hadn't. Groaning he got up to retrieve his friend. He didn't understand, hadn't he dragged Lysander through the gate? Nico spotted Lysander lying just barely outside the gate. Running toward him he barked, „What are you doing?! We need to get through the-" " I can't!" Lysander objected. Nico ignored Lysander and pulled him through the gate. The gateway glowed and shot Lysander backward into a tree, "What-?" Nico thought, and then he realized. Lysander wasn't able to get through the boundaries of the camp. Lysander lay knocked out cold at the foot of the tree, with the ginormous Hippalectryon bounding at him. He had only one option left. Lysander could not get into the camp and Nico doubted he could finish off the last monster, so he called upon all his remaining energy and lunged toward Lysander. Together the shadows enveloped them. Nico caught a glimpse of thick forest before toppling to the ground./p