Hi gang! Tuesday again. Ready for some action?

Thanks to everybody who reviewed last chapter! Glad you all liked it! Enjoy!

XXII
NICO

"Tell me the dragon's working."

Leo scowled at Nico. "The dragon has a name. And no, not quite yet."

Nico clucked his tongue in disappointment. "Well, then I hope you guys are up for some running." His grip tightened unconsciously over his shoulder as a painful twinge shot through the torn muscle. The scratch marks weren't that deep—nothing a little ambrosia wouldn't heal. More than anything, he was annoyed that he'd let his guard down. Though, all things considered, he probably should have just run straightaway when his watch had been interrupted.

"Are you gonna tell us what's going on?" Reyna demanded, drawing the gold dagger from her belt.

Nico opened his mouth to answer, but at that moment a deafening growl sounded behind him, making him flinch and Leo and Reyna jump in alarm. "I would," he said dryly, turning slowly to the sound of snapping wood, "but I think he can explain it better."

Right on cue, the tree nearest them was pushed over, roots pulling messily from the dirt, by a hulking, black shadow forcing its way into the crash site. The shadow snarled and climbed over the fallen tree, and Leo and Reyna both gasped in unison as they realized that they were now staring up at the form of a gigantic hellhound—a black boxer the size of a semi truck. Great globs of drool that could drown a squirrel fell from its bared jaws, sloshing to the ground around its huge front paws, each of which was armed with claws that were rather like full-size scimitars. It was larger even than Mrs. O'Leary, the hellhound Camp Half-Blood had inherited from her previous owner, Daedalus, but nowhere near as friendly.

For a minute it simply stood and stared at them, lowering its head and releasing a deep, rumbling growl. Nico and the others froze. He knew they would probably have to fight, seeing as the hound didn't appear to be the sort of thing you could outrun easily. But he didn't exactly relish the prospect. He'd lost his sword when the hellhound had first attacked him a few minutes ago, which left him with only his power over the dead to defend himself. Why couldn't they have just been left alone after Moros?

"Nice doggie," Leo said slowly as Reyna started backing carefully toward their piles of supplies. "You don't want to eat us. You want something with a little more meat on its bones. There's probably a nice deer or a moose or something around here."

Nico turned and raised an eyebrow at Leo. "A moose?"

Leo shrugged, eyes on the hellhound. "My wit's indirectly proportionate to the amount of danger I'm in. Still think running's an option?"

"Only if you feel like being tackled by thirty tons of monster. No way we can outrun it now it's seen us."

"I was afraid you'd say that."

The hellhound finally decided it was done taking the measure of its prey and let out a vicious roar before leaning back on its haunches and pouncing. Nico and Leo scrambled out of the way, diving to either side to avoid being crushed by the hound's weight. It landed where they'd been standing, its heavy paws digging deep into the dirt as it slid a few yards and bounded around, searching for its missing dinner.

By this time, Reyna had retrieved the golden sword she'd brought along and was edging around the hound's side, trying to stay out of its sight. She must have succeeded, because when she surged forward and buried her blade in its back right leg it didn't try to stop her. The dog howled and whipped its head toward the disturbance, snapping its jaws with alarming speed. Reyna let go of the sword, which appeared to be stuck in the hellhound's fur, and leapt backward out of the way just in time.

An intense heat suddenly appeared from Nico's right and he looked to see Leo, whose arms were bathed in fire, shooting a constant column of flame straight at the hound. It slammed into its side and forced it back a few feet. It snarled and tried to bite at the fire, but apparently it didn't like it much, and instead it swung its head and ducked to the ground, trying to avoid the blast.

While it was distracted, Nico dropped to a crouch and placed a hand against the dirt, deciding that if his own power was all he had then he might as well use it. He reached toward the Underworld with his mind, searching for souls that had died near the area (it was always easier that way, as they already had a connection to the world of the living; the disparate state of the Underworld would likely only hinder any attempt to summon souls that didn't belong). Closing his eyes and mentally reciting a brief incantation, Nico climbed slowly to his feet, feeling resistance against his arm as he pulled it upward like a heavy weight had just attached itself to his wrist. When he spread his hand, the dirt in front of him erupted from beneath as a small host of ethereal figures dressed in what looked like Civil War garb and holding rifles and muskets broke through. They all looked around confusedly until they spotted him, some of them nudging their neighbors and pointing his way.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Yeah, hey, how ya doin'," he said half-heartedly. "That hellhound over there? Stray. Not following orders. Gotta put it down."

"Put it down!" one of the undead soldiers repeated, saying it like a battle cry. He waved his musket over his head as the others answered in kind, recanting the phrase or just yelling incoherently. Nico tried not to roll his eyes again as they turned and charged the hound, which was now bounding in and out of the line of mostly-unbroken trees as it tried to dodge Leo's constant stream of fire.

When the soldiers rushed in to overtake the monster, Leo dropped his arms, looking exhausted. And Nico wasn't surprised. He'd never seen Leo keep up that much fire for such a long time. He staggered backward and dropped to his knees as the hellhound's full attention was drawn to the small army now surrounding it from all sides, and seemingly from nowhere Reyna appeared at his side within seconds. Leo looked up and gave her a weak smile.

Nico ran toward them. "We should get out of here while we can," he said once they were within earshot.

"And leave that thing within smashing distance of Festus?" Leo said. "Nuh-uh. Not happening."

"Well, we'd better do something fast, because I don't think—" Nico broke off and spun around at the sound of snapping wood to see the hellhound bowl over yet another tree as it slashed through over a half-dozen of the ghostly soldiers, all of whom fizzled and faded with dramatic cries. "…Those guys are gonna last," Nico finished dully.

"Then let's do something," Reyna decided, and gripping her dagger she rushed past Nico and into the group of undead.

"Wait—Reyna!" Nico called after her, frustrated. He spun back toward Leo, who was already on his feet, and said firmly, "Stay here."

But Leo shot back, "Yeah, right," and followed immediately after Reyna. Nico gave an exasperated growl and followed as the hellhound bit through another handful of spirits. The last dozen or so split into two teams and flanked the monster, which didn't seem to know which group to focus on and compromised by swinging its head back and forth between the two. It eventually decided on the group on its right just as Reyna reached the group on its left and pounced, flattening most of them beneath its claws and chomping the remaining few between its teeth. All of them faded to smoke.

While the hellhound was distracted trying to figure out where its prey had gone, the other group fired their weapons as one, dotting the monster's left flank with tiny bullet holes. It howled and turned its head as Reyna dashed through the soldiers and sliced her dagger across the hellhound's back left leg. Black dust poured from the wound and in a second it had spun around, snarling and flinging hail-like spit in all directions.

"Round two!" one of the soldiers shouted as they all raised their guns for the second time. "Fire!" The sound of gunfire split the air as another barrage of bullets pierced the hound, this time above the left shoulder. It opened its jaws and roared in displeasure, bathing Nico, Leo, and Reyna in monster drool. Reyna, who was closest, stumbled backward and collided with Nico, who staggered and grabbed her beneath the arms to keep her from knocking him to the ground. Leo stepped in front of the soldiers and raised an arm, shooting a thin stream of fire directly into the hellhound's left eye. It screeched in pain and swung its head dangerously, slashing out blindly with a paw. Leo threw himself onto the ground to avoid being smacked, but no one else was quite as lucky. The remaining soldiers were run through and disappeared, just before the hound's paw collided with Nico and Reyna, knocking them both into the air. They landed a few feet in front of the automaton dragon, Nico's injured shoulder dragging on the ground painfully.

With a groan, Nico sat up and glared across the clearing at Leo, who was back on his feet and looking apologetic. "Sorry!" he called to them an instant before Reyna shouted "Look out!" Leo spun around just in time to jump back and dodge a deadly snap of the hellhound's jaws, but the monster seemed to have decided that playtime was over. It followed the bite immediately with a lash of its claws, and the back of its paw slammed into Leo and sent flying backward with a surprised yell. His back hit a tree on the opposite side of the crash site from Nico and Reyna and he slid to the ground.

The hellhound turned its attention to the others. Reyna was eyeing the sword still stuck in its back right leg and Nico was really wishing he had his own right about now. Before he could think of a plan, the hound pounced, clearing the distance between itself and its prey in barely a second. Nico leapt aside and heard Reyna yell something as she followed. The monster landed on the ground and slid in the uneven dirt, ramming sideways into Festus and pushing the dragon as well a few feet across the ground. The sound of creaking metal joined the hound's growling as the dragon's hide was bent inward just above its back left leg.

"Not good!" Leo shouted from across the crash site. Nico looked over to see him struggling to his feet and looking anxiously between the dragon, the hound, and his friends. "If that thing wrecks Festus we'll be stuck here!"

"Definitely not good," Nico agreed, spinning back around as the hellhound regained its footing and looked around for them. He then noticed that Reyna was still on her knees a few feet away and was breathing heavily, right hand pressed to her left side. With a quick glance at the hound to make sure it wasn't on the attack yet, Nico rushed over to Reyna and knelt down beside her. "What's wrong?"

He probably didn't need to have asked. Just looking, he could see the deep twin scratch marks running horizontally across her left arm, just above her elbow. She lifted her hand to show another one over the ribs on her left side, though that one thankfully looked shallower.

"Uh-oh," he muttered, raising his head to look around the crash site. The hellhound was now sniffing at Festus as though trying to decide whether or not the dragon was potential food. Leo was leaning against a tree across the way with an arm wrapped around his stomach, and was glaring at the hellhound as though daring it to make a move. This fight wasn't exactly going as planned. The size of the hellhound made it more than a little difficult to kill—their swords and daggers probably felt like needles to the thirty-ton monster. Nico could probably shadow-travel Leo and Reyna to safety, but that would mean leaving Festus at the mercy of a rampaging beast—which, as Leo said, would be extremely detrimental to their plans. Ideally, they had to get the hellhound away from the dragon somehow, but Reyna likely wasn't up for a high-speed chase—or even a low-speed chase, for that matter.

Which meant there was only one thing to do: they had to split up.

Nico grabbed a hold of Reyna's uninjured arm and shut his eyes, jerking himself backward into that cold plane of dark nothingness. A raging, empty wind blew for half a second before the shadow thinned and they appeared beside Leo some distance from where they'd just been. The hellhound didn't seem to have noticed.

"Ouch… How about a warning?" Reyna said bitterly, pulling her arm from Nico's grasp.

"No time. Look, I'm gonna try to lead that thing away from here. You guys—"

"What?" Reyna demanded at the same time Leo exclaimed, "Are you nuts?"

"Chill, I've got a plan!" Nico shot back impatiently. "Look, you can't run and you need to stay here and get that dragon fixed as quickly as possible so that when I get back we can leave."

"Okay," Leo said slowly, "but it might take some time. That new dent's gonna be rough to bang out."

"Whatever you have to do, just do it quickly." He turned to Reyna and asked, "Can I borrow your dagger?" She nodded, a pained grimace on her face, and handed it to him. He wiped off the monster dust with the corner of his shirt and said, "Stay here until we're gone." And before either of them could argue anymore, Nico turned away and sprinted across the clearing toward where the hound had moved to Festus's head and was growling threateningly at its one working eye.

Moving carefully and quietly, Nico crept around behind the hound to its left side so as to better turn its attention away from Leo and Reyna. With the best impression of a calming breath that he could muster, Nico gripped Reyna's dagger and plunged the blade into the hound's left leg, pulling it back out at an angle and slicing through the coarse fur. The hellhound roared in pain and anger as black dust began to slide from the wound, caking its leg, and it turned with surprising speed. Nico threw himself to the side to avoid being chomped in two as the monster's teeth snapped closed beside him.

"Now that I've got your attention," he said, backing up slowly, "how about a walk?" The hound darted forward to bite at him again and he dodged to the side, holding out the dagger and this time giving the animal a slice across the nose. It whined loudly and pawed at its face, shaking its massive head, before turning to glare at Nico with its teeth bared in a snarl. It leaned back on its haunches, preparing to pounce, and with a brief mutter of, "I'll take that as a yes," Nico turned and bolted into the trees, hearing the sounds of destructive pursuit right behind him and wondering gravely what he'd just gotten himself into.

Hellhounds and more hellhounds. This one has a purpose, though. You'll see, heh heh.

Reviews are love, you guys! See you Friday!

-oMM