XVI

Nico

Nico had no idea how they were going to get out of this one. There was a giant ring of Cyclopes around them, one who was going to leave nothing between them and her dinner, and another one who could crush boulders with his fist. Not the best conditions to go around fighting with.

Nico raised his arms, and a giant chasm opened up around them. The dead started to crawl out. Although they would stall the Cyclopes for a while, they needed a plan. A really good one. Very quickly.

"Guys, get over to Polyphemus." Nico said. "Dodge his scythe. If that thing touches you, your soul gets sucked out."

Realization dawned in Reyna's eyes as he spoke. "So we go and use the blade."

"Yep." Nico said. "GO!"

They ran towards Polyphemus, the dead parting to let them pass. They yelled and slashed him with their swords. The other Cyclopes charged towards them, but backed away when Polyphemus waved his hand and yelled, "No! No help! I'll crush them myself!" he swung his scythe in a circle. Nico barely managed to dodge it when it got to him. He ducked just in time to get his hair out of the way. The blade whipped over his head, and as soon as it passed he leapt up and tried to get to the blade. Unfortunately, Polyphemus had already lifted it back up.

He hefted the scythe over his shoulder, grunting with the effort to not let it touch his skin. Nico at first thought about unbalancing him, but after taking a look at the sharp edge of the dark blade that would probably kill him with a single hit, he decided against it.

Polyphemus growled down at them. His eye was pretty bloody, Nico realized-courtesy of Percy.

Thoughts started to fill his mind. He forced them away.

Polyphemus was primarily focused on Coach Hedge. He hefted his blade back in front of him carefully, then yelled, "YOU ALL DIE!" he ran straight towards Coach Hedge. Luckily, Hedge jumped out of the way just in time to avoid touching the blade.

"YEAH!" Coach Hedge yelled. "YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?" he ran straight towards Polyphemus.

"Coach Hedge, NO!" Nico yelled. Coach Hedge didn't listen. He ran straight towards the Cyclops, and as Polyphemus raised his axe, Coach Hedge delivered a giant flying kick at the center of his belly.

"OW!" Polyphemus staggered backwards and fell down. He lost his grip on the scythe, and he rolled just as it was about to touch him.

He fell to the ground and got a large bump on his head. His eyes rolled up.

Nico saw the Cyclopes around him, ready to charge. There was no way they would be able to take on an army of this size. He needed a plan. A good one. And he needed one quickly.

There was no way any of them would be able to touch the blade of the scythe. Their souls would get sucked out.

Then a light went off in his head.

Souls, he thought. Do dead zombies have souls?

He created a little rip in the ground, and the dead swarmed out. Here, Nico realized, there were and insane number of dead people.

"The scythe!" Nico yelled to them. "Get the scythe!"

They didn't even budge. They just stood there lazily, almost as if they were daydreaming.

Forget about picking it up. Getting them to do their job was hard enough.

Reyna and Hedge were staring at the zombies. "Just go get it!" Nico yelled. "But be careful!"

They started to pick their way through the wandering zombies, trying to get to the blade. The density was incredible, and more and more zombies were swarming out.

Nico finally broke through, and he saw Reyna gingerly holding the handle of the scythe. It was pretty big, even longer than Reyna was tall. Nico saw her try a couple times, but it was just too heavy. Meanwhile, Polyphemus was stirring.

"GET THE SCYTHE!" Nico tried again. The dead just weren't going to listen. Nico yelled again, but to no avail.

Polyphemus was starting to get his consciousness back. "Uh…" he sat up, blinking his eyes. He spotted them trying to take his scythe, and he immediately jolted up even more. He got up and lumbered straight towards them.

"Um, Nico?" Reyna asked. "Maybe running away would be nice?"

But just as she said that, she was overrun by a giant wave of undead, Greek zombies. They all seemed to have finally gotten into their ears that they were needed, and they swarmed the scythe. Some of them even sat down on it.

So dead zombies didn't have souls. Nico was going to have to remember that.

The zombies carried the blade up together. The faced Polyphemus, who backed away slowly as the scythe faced him.

"NO!" Nico yelled. "Get the army!"

As soon as the battalion of zombies started running straight into them, the Cyclops army scattered, ducking and rolling to avoid the blade. Meanwhile, Polyphemus had regained his composure, and was charging towards them with his bare hands. Nico was pretty sure that he could probably kill them easily with his fists, and he did not want to become a puddle of goo on the floor. "Over here!" he yelled. The zombies ran over, and Polyphemus retreated. The zombies herded him into the mob of Cyclopes, which was regaining its own composure as well, driving them nuts.

But then something went wrong. A Cyclops yelled in pain and a loud thump was heard as he fell to the ground.

"Nico," Reyna noted. "You could have used better phrasing. Maybe 'distract them' or something?"

"Whatever." Nico said. "They've been distracted enough. We need to get to the other side of the warehouse. Hopefully we'll get the Athena Parthenos back. And get out."

They dashed towards the other door. Luckily, no-one followed them, thanks to the zombies unleashing all Hades.

"I lead!" Coach Hedge yelled.

Pretty soon, they were going down dark corridors, Nico's dagger lighting the way, in a pattern that not even Nico couldn't understand. And he was supposed to be the underground master.

"Well, so much for getting out." Reyna panted. "We've doubled back-what, the eleventh time?"

"Shut up!" Coach Hedge yelled back. "I know exactly where we're going! Don't panic!"

And that was when they saw the dim light. Naturally, being battle-hungry idiots as always, they ran towards it. As they peeked in, Nico's eyes widened. "Holy…"

There was a giant cavern, probably about a hundred feet tall. Lava gushed from little geysers in the walls, forming little pools. The smell of sulfur hung in the air. The heat was incredible.

And at the end of the giant cave, was a giant lava pit, with what looked like Cyclopes around it. And suspended over it, hanging from a couple dozen giant chains, was-

Reyna finished the thought for him. "It's the Athena Parthenos."