XXIV

Nico

(A/N: Hey guys. Thanks for reading this story for so long- you guys are awesome! I really want to give you guys good quality writing, so please tell me what you think in the reviews section. I just want to clarify 1 thing, which is that the Nico storyline and the storyline with everyone else in it follow different timelines. That's why it's the 28th and the 26th at the same time. Well, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!)

When Nico woke up, he was on a nice, soft, comfortable bed, in a very nice-smelling hotel room. For a second, he was completely puzzled. Where was he? Then it all came crashing down.

The statue! He thought. Where's the Athena Parthenos?

He got up quickly- and went straight into Reyna's face. For a strange reason, he started to smile. Then he cut it off.

"Where's the statue?" he asked, pulling off the covers. He was wearing his regular old clothes- thank the gods- minus the shoes, which were on the floor.

Reyna frowned. "Do you know how long it took for us to get you in here? Everyone was staring at us. You were draped over our shoulders like you were drunk or something. Anyways, you dropped us off right next to a mountain, which was right next to this huge city, which we now know as Milan. So we decided, you know what, rest there and find a hotel. So we found this little hotel on the edges of the city, and the statue is only a short walk away."

"What's the date today?" Nico asked.

"The 26th of July." Reyna replied. "So, we'd better hurry."

So they found themselves walking the "short" walk to the statue. "Any minute now…" Reyna said.

But after a full half hour, they couldn't find it.

"Okay," coach Hedge said, flopping down on the floor. "I give up!"

Obviously, the statue wasn't there. "What were you thinking?" he asked Reyna. "That thing is like a food convention for the monsters! They probably took it to Gaia or something."

Reyna slapped her face and yelled some unspeakable things to the air. "Then she sat on the ground. "Well, we're screwed. Without the statue, there's no hope for the Greeks and Romans to reconcile. We're just going to kill each other, just like we did in the past."

"No." Nico said. "No, we're not. We are going to find the statue and bring it back."

"How?" Reyna asked. "We have no idea where it is. For all we know, it could be halfway across the Greece, right underneath our feet, way up in space, or underneath the Pacific."

We'll have to find some way of getting to it, then. Even if it had been flown up into the air, there must have been some trail left behind.

Suddenly, Coach Hedge's face lit up. They all turned to look at him. "What?"

"I left a giant open bottle of Red Bull on the pedestal of the statue." He said, grinning.

So they started trekking through the mountains. It was the most obvious path to take. The monsters- or whoever- had taken it would have wanted to go that way, to hinder their progress. So they kept walking forward. They had no idea where they were going, but once they reached the peak of the mountain, it gave way to a giant plateau. "Hey!" Reyna ran over to their left.

"What's that?" there was a giant bottle of Red Bull that would have held at least two liters. There was a trail of Red Bull from the opening, and it was flowing towards the city.

"So they flew that way." Reyna pointed to the direction where the bottle's base was facing. "The Red Bull must have spilled out of the bottle, then the bottle must have come down with it."

Nico was fine with that. His only question was how Coach Hedge had managed to get a labeled two-liter bottle. Of Red Bull, no less, which only came in cans and 330ml bottles.

So, they found themselves trekking through the mountains, presumably in the right direction. But after nearly an hour of walking, they still hadn't found anything useful. The hills had sloped slightly down and dipped into a valley, which had then sloped back up into a slightly taller hill.

"What's that?" Coach Hedge pointed into the distance. There was a smudge of black in the sky about 10 miles away, shifting and molding constantly.

"I don't know what they are." Reyna said. "But we need to get there fast. I'm not sure running will do the trick. Nico, can you shadow-travel us over there?"

Nico concentrated, and he started to feel the Earth beneath him give way. "Hold hands!" he yelled, and they did. And they fell into the darkness.

They popped out right underneath the giant flock of monsters. Thankfully, Nico didn't feel fatigued at all. It had only been 10 miles. But now that they were underneath the flock, it was so high up that they wouldn't be able to reach it if they tried. It was so big that it looked like it was much closer than it actually was. Nico still couldn't identify what any of the birds were, but suddenly, a part of the flock separated from it, revealing a tiny bit of white in the center. They hovered over them, and they dropped.

"Stymphalian Birds! How many do we have to encounter?" Reyna asked as Nico built a makeshift shelter out of stone. "We'll never find the statue!"

"Not unless we kill everything around it." Coach Hedge said. "What?" he asked. "I have a plan."

So Nico ended up shadow- travelling them into an armpit.

Well, it was the closest shadow that he could find. They dropped out of it, dazed. That was when Nico realized they were going to fall. Luckily, they hung on for dear life, and gently fell onto the statue's pedestal with a thud.

The birds were getting whipped into a frenzy by their demigod scent. They were pecking at Nico and his friends, and they were slicing at them as hard as they could, trying to kill as many of them as possible. But they didn't stop, carrying the statue south. After what seemed like forever, Nico's shirt had practically been torn to shreds, his sword was covered in monster dust and he was exhausted. Shadow travelling, then fighting was not good for your health.

As the assortment of Stymphalian Birds, Harpies, and other various assorted flying monsters began to thin, Nico finally could be sure that they were on the Athena Parthenos. But then, he realized that they were dropping- and in front of them was a giant lake of lava.

It was ridiculously hot, even when they were over half a mile away. He was sweating profusely- there wasn't a single thing he could do except sit there and await his fate. He was way too tired to shadow-travel himself out of there, much less two other people and a giant statue. Plus, he couldn't kill the monsters even if he wanted to. They were keeping well clear of him, which made it impossible to slice them with his sword.

"What do we do now?" Reyna asked. "They melt the statue, it's all over. We have no chance after this."

Suddenly, a figure stood on the statue in front of them. It was the same guy from the Cyclops cave, but he was in a new outfit. He had on a maroon suit, pants and tie, plus a matching watch and black shoes so pointy that if he had poked Nico with them, blood would have been drawn.

Reyna and Coach Hedge backed off slightly, but Nico didn't. "What do you want?" he asked, trembling, hoping that he would get an answer. But the ghost didn't respond; he simply winked at them. Then he disappeared.

"What was that all about?" Reyna asked.

Suddenly, all the monsters were blown away from the statue by some sort of wind. They all tried to get back at the statue, but something was blocking them from doing so. They spontaneously combusted, which looked amazing from Nico's perspective- almost like Fourth of July fireworks.

The statue crashed onto the ground, causing a tiny tremor. The ghost reappeared in front of them, grinning with a crazy smile on his face. He waved his hand, as if saying, "Shoo, shoo."

The safe barrier around them disappeared, and all the monsters attacked at the same time. "NOW!" Nico yelled. They all held hands, and they, and the statue disappeared into the darkness.