Okay, now you can officially kill me. I know I set out for one update a week, but things have been hectic here, sorry. Forgiveness? Anyways, I hope you enjoy what I've done with this chapter, personally, I'm not too happy with the ending, but that can be for you to decide. I have two really awesome ideas for new stories, but I have to finish at least one. Darn it! Okay, enough rambling, on with the story!

Disclaimer: Don't own PJO.

Percy POV

Hazel and I made our way upstairs and to a door at the end of a long hallway.

"Nico?" Hazel called, knocking on the obsidian door, "You in there?" No response.

I added my voice to Hazel's. "Nico? Hey little dude? You there?"

We looked at each other and shrugged. She slipped a hand into her pocket and pulled out an ornate key made of bone and silver and a ruby glittered in the head. "Skeleton key." She explained, seeing my confused expression. "Hopefully he hasn't skeleton keyed proof the door." She placed the key inside the keyhole and turned, the door swinging on its hinges. "Yes!" She cheered.

We walked into the room and I was a little unsurprised as to what I saw in there. A large bay window stood adjacent from us and two large doors with full pane windows leading onto a balcony that overlooked Persephone's garden. In the distance, fires danced on the horizon from the Fields of Punishment and faint screaming could be heard as the harpies worked their whips on the evil spirits. Inside the room, a large four poster bed stood to one side, clad in black sheets with tiny skulls on it. A fireplace was nestled in one corner with a small couch in front of it.

I was looking at the carvings on the fireplace when a door opened near the bed. Nico came out of the bathroom drying his hands on a dark grey towel. He saw us and stopped where he was, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Hazel, Percy. Uhm, what're you doing here?"

Hazel placed her hands on her hips. "Nico, why didn't you tell me you were back?"

"Didn't think I needed to." He tossed the towel onto his bed and stuck his hands into his pockets. "So, what's going on?"

"I came here to ask the same thing." I piped up. "Haven't seen you since Annabeth and I took down Gaia. Or was it Circe?" I waved my hand in the air like I was brushing the matter aside. "Anyways, what have you been up to?"

He sat on the bed and sighed. "Here and there. Mainly running reconnaissance for dad. Going to Tartarus for the most part and finding exits that lead out of the Underworld."

I raised an eyebrow. "Tartarus?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Dad wanted to find out how Circe broke out, or how this Loki character broke in."

"Seems fair, find out anything?"

"Yeah." He dived across the bed and scooped up a small black notebook. "I wrote everything down in here." He flipped through a bunch of pages muttering quietly until he landed on the correct page with a triumphant 'Aha!' He cleared his throat and began. "The prison where we were keeping Circe was made of- blah, blah, blah- oh here we go. There was a blast that caused a hole 20 feet by 20 feet. Not entirely sure what caused it. Inside the cell, obsidian and Celestial Bronze chains were on the floor."

I held up a hand to stop him. "Wait, the chains were just lying there?"

Nico nodded. He flipped to the next page and turned the notebook for us to see. On the page was a photo of the chains. Like he said, they were just lying there, no broken links and the padlock that held the chains together was lying open but without a single scratch.

I scratched the back of my head. "What the-"

"Right?" He asked. "I examined the padlock. There was nothing on it. It looked like someone just touched it and it popped open."

"Could it be Loki's magic?" Hazel asked. "And where did the hole and blast come from?"

"Maybe the staff thing?" I speculated. "We don't know what it does or what powers it has."

"Very true." Nico agreed. "My dad and I are looking into it, but so far no leads."

I flopped down on the couch that was in front of the fireplace. "So nothing more than we already have."

He shrugged. "Pretty much."

An awkward silence filled the air. Nico cleared his throat. "Well, this is awkward." Without saying anymore, he stood and walked over to the balcony doors, opened them and slipped outside.

I picked up Nico's journal and continued to flip through it. I found various sketches of weapons and a full page of calculations on troop numbers with a bunch of question marks.

Hazel came up behind me and placed a hand in my shoulder. "Find anything?"

"Nope." I sighed.

"So, you never told me. How's Annabeth doing? I haven't seen her in forever. Not since she got blamed for conspiring with Circe."

I plastered a smile on my face. "Fan-freaking- tastic. She's living the safe life on Olympus. Her mom is making her stay there until the fighting is over."

Hazel sat down beside me. "Oh man. That's gotta be rough. Hey, come train with us Romans. Once Reyna arrives, I'm sure she'll find something for you to do. Maybe Vitellius will come and make you clean out the stables." She said the last part with a twinkle in her eye.

"No, no, no. No complaining here." I replied quickly.

She tucked a cinnamon colored piece of hair behind her ear and opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment, a siren blared and Hades voice broadcast throughout the palace and surrounding grounds on a PA system:

Attention, there has been a large security breach in the west underground prisons. Prisoner 3739-47-38352632225 is confirmed missing. Also, it is most likely that she's being aided by Khione. Be on alert.

With that, the speakers grew quiet. Hazel and I looked at each other and Nico came in from the balcony. One look at Nico and my fears were confirmed: this was just the beginning.

Yeah, so that happened… What'd you think? Any questions or comments? PM me or review!