XLIV

Nico

(A/N: NICO FINALE! SORRY IF I DISAPPOINTED A LOT OF YOU! THIS ISN'T NEARLY AS BADASS AS THE OTHER ENDING SO DON'T JUDGE! REMEMBER TO REVIEW! ENJOY! HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HPYE)

Nico went around nearly every fountain and plaza in the city. It was pretty big, which didn't help a lot- he was hot and sweaty in no time.

A few times, he found himself near the sea, which made him think of Percy. All of these times, he turned around and walked back inland.

He couldn't find Coach Hedge or Reyna everywhere, and when he picked up a newspaper, he saw that it was the 31st of July. With a shudder, he realized that if he didn't get the statue back today, their quest would be in vain.

It didn't help with his searching, unfortunately. He found himself in dark alleyways and fancy hotels at pretty much every turn. Once, he had turned into a cul-de-sac and heard some... erm, disturbing sounds that he would rather forget about sooner than later.

But every cloud has a silver lining. As Nico walked into an alleyway, he heard a loud thundering, like the earth was shaking. He ran towards the sound, and nearly ran into Reyna and Coach Hedge.

"Whoa!" he yelled, and screeched to a halt.

"RUN!" Reyna yelled, sprinting right past him. Nico stood there dumbly for a moment, but then the rumbling grew louder. Like, really loud. He was positive he could hear the thumping of paws and legs on the ground, the beating of wings.

Then, from the end of the alley, the largest group of monsters he had ever seen came charging straight at him. There were harpies, earthborn, hellhounds, empousa, Stymphalian birds, centaurs (obviously Roman), and a whole lot of other monsters that Nico couldn't place names on even if he tried.

He did the only rational thing a man in this situation would do. He ran away from them, as fast as his legs could take him. In no time, he caught up with Hedge and Reyna, and slowed his pace.

"Hey, what happened to you, anyways?" he asked, panting.

Reyna gave him the short version between puffs of air. As it had turned out, the Caucasian Eagle had carried the statue all the way to Portugal. There, it had been ambushed by a horde of monsters, who then carried the statue off to some random place. Then, she and Hedge had shown up, which had drawn the monsters to them. They had dropped the statue somewhere near the coast. Reyna had then told the Caucasian Eagle to find it, which it was presumably doing at the present time.

Suddenly, another horde of monsters charged from their front. They must have doubled back, hoping to catch them. Without hesitation, Nico turned into a side street, hoping that it wasn't a dead end. Thankfully, it wasn't. Nico summoned a few dead, trying to slow down the monsters. They just trampled all over the zombies.

Nico was going to have to think of something else. The midday sun beat down on him, making his head whirl from dehydration. He forced himself to stick through it.

Finally, they neared the ocean. At this point, Nico was seriously hoping that some god would just come down, get a can of celestial bronze monster spray and kill all of them. Of course, that wasn't going to happen.

"Turn right!" he yelled, turning right. Suddenly, the waves in the harbor started to rise. What the...

They battered against the shore relentlessly. It didn't really make sense, because the sky was completely clear and there was no wind. Then, a giant, slimy fish-serpent-thing leaped out of the water, spraying water all over the path. One slip, and that was it. He looked back again, just to see how far ahead they were, and it wasn't looking good. The closest monsters were only thirty or so feet away from them, and gaining fast.

The weird fish-serpent thing kept swimming beside them. Now that it was closer, Nico could see its slimy skin, the slime dripping down its side. It kept calling to them in low moans, putting its head towards them.

Nico looked behind them. It wasn't good- they were only ten feet away. Nine feet now. Eight.

Then he realized what the fish-serpent wanted.

"Guys!" he yelled. "I think that thing wants us to jump in its mouth!"

"Are you crazy?" Reyna yelled back.

"Look behind you!" Nico yelled. Reyna did and immediately changed her answer. "Yeah, sure. Whatever get in!" she jumped into the mouth, followed by Coach Hedge. Nico jumped in last, and then he saw just how close they had been. There had been about a foot between him and getting killed.

The creature shut its lips and seemed to move faster. Nico had to hold on to its teeth to keep himself from dropping into the throat. Unfortunately, they were covered in blood from the various prey that it loved to eat.

The mouth smelled of rotten fish. "What is this thing, anyway?" Nico asked.

"A Cetus." Reyna replied. "Serpentine fish, usually very harmless. Only eat small fish. Actually, they're quite intelligent, almost as smart as dolphins, in fact. So this Cetus may actually be trying to help us."

Suddenly, the mouth slanted downwards, and Nico now was stuck against its mouth. Almost as quickly as it began, the mouth leveled out, and then slowly opened.

Nico found himself in a giant cave. Behind him, the water blocked the only exit- this cave was above sea level. But what was even more interesting was that there was the constant sound of gears creaking echoing throughout the cave.

The Cetus disappeared below the water.

"Well," Reyna commented, her voice quavering and echoing across the walls, "No leaving now."

They walked up the sandy hill. When they got to the top, Nico saw two people that he'd much rather not meet again.

"Hello, Nico di Angelo." Leucophyre said. "Welcome to the end." she raised her two arms as if in a movie. The Caucasian Eagle lay next to her, but the Athena Parthenos was at the very back of the cave, nearly a hundred feet away.

"Well, well." Leucophyre commented. "Very interesting, I must say."

Actaeon, who was standing right next to her, smiled an evil smile. It was the kind of smile cliché villains used in movies. "Well then, I'm afraid that this ends here. We can't have you messing up our plans."

Nico heard a growl. Standing at the bottom of the hill was a hellhound with a harpy on its back.

Leucophyre smiled. "Hellhounds can shadow-travel. Haven't you forgotten?"

A hundred or so of them suddenly appeared in the room.

"Leave me be," creaked the Caucasian Eagle. "Saving the world is more important than saving me."

The hellhounds charged, and the three of them- Nico, Reyna and Hedge- dashed down the hill. Neither Actaeon nor Leucophyre stopped them.

When they reached the statue, the hellhounds were only fifty meters away from them.

"Make a circle!" Nico yelled. They made a hasty circle.

Leucophyre and Actaeon laughed. Nico knew why- they knew that he didn't have to power to shadow-travel the statue and themselves all the way to the USA.

Time slowed down. Nico closed his eyes imagined Eusebeia in his mind. The truth. If that was what was going to save them now, Nico had to know why it was so important. Then he remembered all the times that he hadn't gotten tired this quest, and he knew. He knew what Eusebeia had meant by truth.

He thought of Percy, but he also thought of Reyna. He could not let them die. His mind flooded with thoughts of them. He felt himself fill up with power. He was willing to do anything to save them.

"Nico?" Reyna asked, worried.

He opened his eyes. "Hold on tight." he muttered. The hellhounds came racing towards them. Ten feet. Nine feet. Eight. Seven. Six. The numbers kept going down.

Then they disappeared.

They were flying through a dark tunnel, a tunnel which Nico knew was going to end soon. As they flew through the end, Nico got a glimpse of blue.

Wait...

They landed with a huge splash, in the middle of the Atlantic. He was soaked to the skin. The horizon stretched in every direction.

The statue was slowly sinking. NO! He thought. "Quick!" he yelled, and held on to it. He went under and he started to lose consciousness, but he forced himself to think about everyone he knew. Everyone in the world was counting on this one statue. If the Greeks and Romans reconciled, the war would be over. The gods would be able to help. He feared that it might be too late, but he had to try.

They disappeared, once again zipping through the tunnel. When they neared the end, he caught a glimpse of grass. Then, they landed, smack dab in between the Greeks and Romans, who had been charging straight at each other.

There were a lot of shocked faces.

The morning sun told Nico that it was only sometime after 8. He'd completely forgotten that there was a time difference between the US and Portugal.

We did it, Nico thought. We did it...

But that trip had completely sapped his strength. He fell to his knees, and hit his head on the ground.