Hey gang! Happy Monday! I really like this chapter, though for different reasons than most. It's not particularly exciting, but it was super fun to write. You'll see as you read, hehe.

Thanks as always to those of you who reviewed for me! :D Love you guys! Enjoy!

XXIV
NICO

What happened next was something Nico could never have predicted.

He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the brief flash of pain before death as the hellhound's teeth found him. But what found him instead was something flat, coarse, and extremely slimy—something that smelled like dog breath amplified by eighty. The thing sloshed across his face and shoulders—the only parts not covered by the monster's paw—drenching him in thick, foul-smelling liquid. Gagging, he opened one eye in an effort not to be blinded by the stuff and saw something very strange. The hellhound was still hovering over him, but instead of a snarl he saw on its face what could only be described as an excited grin. Its mouth was open wide, giant pink tongue hanging out between two teeth. It panted like a puppy and tilted its head to the side, its eyes glancing inquisitively down at its prisoner.

Nico was dumbfounded. He stared at the monster, at a total loss for what to do about its sudden drastic change in demeanor. His attempt to break through the woman's voice (Nyx's voice, he was now able to remember; she must have employed the same control technique that he had; fortunately, eye contact was necessary to establish the connection, which meant that as long as this hellhound stayed away from Nyx, it would be free) must have worked, seeing as he was still alive, but this hadn't exactly been what he'd had in mind. To tell the truth, he wasn't sure what he'd had in mind—what he'd expected to happen once he convinced the hellhound not to kill him.

"Um…" he said awkwardly as the hound continued to watch him expectantly. "Hi."

The hellhound let out a deafening bark. A rhythmic thumping sound behind it made Nico suspect it was wagging its enormous tail.

"Yeah, okay." Nico winced and shook his head. His ears rang from the volume of the dog's bark. "How about, you know… getting off me?"

The hellhound barked again and lifted its paw, backing away. Nico bit back another scream as its claw was pulled from his leg, and he forced himself into a sitting position to see a wide, ugly puncture wound just below his right knee. Blood soaked nearly every inch of the bottom half of his pant leg.

The hellhound sat down on its stomach and whimpered in apparent sympathy. Nico shifted in alarm as it laid its head down and sniffed at his leg, before opening its mouth and brushing its tongue across the entire lower half of his body. This didn't exactly help, despite whatever the animal's intentions had been, and only really served to ensure that Nico was now covered from head to toe in monster slobber.

"Great," he grumbled, shaking his arms and flinging globs of drool onto the ground. "That's great. Thanks for that." Apparently, this made the hellhound think it had done something good, and it sat back on its haunches and barked into the sky, looking proud of itself.

Alright, Nico thought with a sigh, now what? The hellhound didn't seem to be a threat anymore, which meant that he could probably return safely to the crash site and see how Leo and Reyna were coming on the dragon. The sooner they got out of that forest, the better. The problem would be getting there. That little control trick had worn him out, even more so when taken into account the blood he'd lost. He could try shadow-traveling, but even if he made it to the right place he'd likely pass out upon arrival, which would just set them back even further.

Gritting his teeth, Nico stood up unsteadily—only to stumble back to his knees as soon as he put some test weight on his right leg. The hellhound, which was watching questioningly, whimpered and leaned down again, resting its head on the ground and nudging Nico's arm. Looking over, he saw the animal watching him expectantly. Reluctantly, he swung his arm over the hound's nose and it huffed in approval, as though that was exactly what it was waiting for. It lifted its head slowly, helping Nico to his feet and allowing him to lean on it for support.

"Uh… thanks," he said uncertainly. The hellhound blinked and wagged its tail, its head still bent low to provide Nico with a sort of crutch.

So walking was out of the question, Nico realized as he gingerly pressed his right foot against the ground and the resulting pain that shot up his leg was too persistent for his liking. No walking, no running, no shadow-travel—

An odd idea struck him. All Underworld beings use shadow-travel—including hellhounds. Nico wasn't exactly keen on bringing the monster with him, but the more he thought about it the more he realized it was his only viable way back. "Could you, uh…" he said to it, not sure how this was supposed to work, "help me get back to my friends?" He reached out to the hound's mind again and tried to show it a picture of the crash site. It must have recognized the place because it gave a low whine of acquiescence and slid its nose out from under Nico's arm. It then grabbed the back of his shirt in its teeth and lifted him uncomfortably into the air, lowering him onto its back as he cried out in surprise.

"Wait, Reyna's sword!" he said quickly, remembering that he'd already lost her dagger and didn't really want to see her face if he came back with neither of her weapons. He'd been talking more to himself than the hellhound, but it seemed to take this as a command and whirled around, sniffing at the ground. When it located the gold sword, it picked it up between its teeth and Nico barely had time to grab hold of its fur before it bounded off into the shadow between two trees and darkness enveloped them.

When it faded a second later, the hellhound's paws slammed into the torn-up ground at Festus's crash site. There was a loud banging sound and someone shouted, "It's back!"

Nico quickly leaned as far up from the hellhound's back as he could and looked around its head to see Leo and Reyna scrambling to attention. "Guys, wait, it's okay!" he shouted, and they both nearly fell over from shock when they noticed him.

"Nico?" Leo said in wonder as Reyna demanded, "What are you doing?" The hound dropped Reyna's drool-covered sword onto the dirt and she stared at it, eyes narrowing a fraction of an inch. Nico noticed that the scratch marks on her arm and side no longer looked to be bothering her.

"You wanna let me down?" Nico asked the hellhound, and it obliged by lowering itself to lie flat on the ground. Nico swung his good leg over its back and slid the remaining ten feet to the dirt, stumbling to his hands and knees again. Leo and Reyna were still frozen in place, eyes shifting from Nico to the hellhound and back again. "It's okay," Nico repeated. "It's not gonna kill us anymore. At least… I don't think it is."

"What did…?" Reyna said in disbelief as Leo stepped slowly toward the monster, eyeing it warily. "What did you do to it? Are you saying you… tamed it?"

Nico struggled to his feet, glancing toward the hound, which was still panting merrily with its tongue hanging out. He hadn't thought of it that way, but he supposed that it was technically true. "I guess so."

"Awesome," Leo said, his expression breaking into a grin.

"What happened to your leg?" Reyna asked suddenly, eyes going to the blood coating Nico's shin. The hellhound whimpered and placed its humongous paws over its nose and eyes, looking ashamed.

Nico patted it awkwardly on the side of the head. "It's, uh… okay. You didn't… mean to." This, apparently, was exactly what the hound wanted to hear, because its ears perked up instantly and it gave an excited bark before once again bathing Nico with its tongue. "Ulgh…" he muttered as he backed away, wiping a handful of foul slime from his face.

Leo laughed. "Aw, he likes you!" he said as he approached the hellhound and looked up at it. "So what are you gonna call him?"

"Call him?" Nico repeated as Reyna jogged over to them and handed him a sizeable chunk of ambrosia. "I'm not calling him anything. He's a hellhound."

"So's Mrs. O'Leary, but we keep her around," Leo pointed out. "Come on, don't you think she could use a friend?"

Nico stared at Leo as the son of Hephaestus reached up and started scratching the hellhound beneath the chin. It hummed and twisted its head, allowing him to reach behind its ears. "You're not suggesting we keep him, are you?"

"I'm not saying he should live at camp, but it sure would be useful to have a giant hellhound on call, wouldn't it?"

Nico frowned, not wanting to admit that Leo had a point. The hellhound shook its head happily and all of a sudden rolled sideways onto its back with a great, rumbling thud, its massive legs sticking up into the air. It nudged Leo with its nose and he chuckled, scratching at the base of its neck.

"Since when are you so good with dogs?" Nico asked as a change of subject.

"Well," Reyna said thoughtfully, "they do say animals tend to get on well with their own kind."

Was that a joke? From Reyna? Nico wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly, but when Leo leaned around the hound's head with an eyebrow raised and asked suspiciously, "Are you calling me a dog?" and her only reply was a shrug and a nonchalant, "If the collar fits," Nico was forced to believe it. Leo laughed and returned his attention to the monster, not appearing surprised or fazed by the conversation at all.

Nico chose not to comment on Reyna's change of character. She and Leo seemed to be getting along just fine now, despite the warnings Leo had given to the contrary, which meant that whatever problems they'd had must have been worked out. Nico had to admit he was glad. Like he'd told Leo before they'd left, the three of them were going to have to work like a team. And if Leo somehow rubbed off on Reyna in the process and relaxed her attitude, it was all for the better.

"How about Benny?" Leo suggested after a minute. The hellhound barked its approval.

Nico rolled his eyes. "I am not calling a hellhound Benny."

"Well, I am. Besides, he likes that name. Don't you, boy?" The hellhound once again gave a deafening bark, rolling back onto its belly and using its nose to nudge Leo so enthusiastically that he was knocked over onto his back. He only laughed in response.

"Is the dragon ready?" Nico asked insistently.

"Just about," Leo promised, returning his attention to the situation at hand. "Dents are banged out, tears are fixed, power and communication are back online. All I need to do is rewire the left frontal bearing sensor, which should only take a few minutes, and then run a full, line-in system diagnostic."

Reyna looked pointedly at Nico and reiterated, "He needs to fix the left eye and test it out."

"Hey, it's not just an 'eye'," Leo argued, climbing to his feet and dusting off his clothes. "It's got an important function. Anyway, give me twenty minutes and we can pack up and jet."

As Leo headed back toward the dragon and Reyna took her slimy sword to clean it off, the hellhound turned toward Nico expectantly, as though waiting for him to resume Leo's scratching of its head. "Not gonna happen, buddy," he told it flatly, but it didn't seem to mind. On the contrary, it nudged Nico on the arm and dropped its head to the ground with purpose, watching him with its beady red eyes. He shrugged and sat down beside it. It moved to rest its head on his lap, obviously forgetting that said head weighed a few hundred pounds and Nico already had an injured leg. He yelled as the weight pressed down on him and the monster whimpered and settled for resting its nose against his shoulder.

Reyna brought Nico a roll of bandages a few minutes later and he wrapped them tightly around the stab wound in his leg. It had since stopped bleeding, thanks to the ambrosia, and the pain had reduced marginally. Hopefully by the time they landed in Death Valley, he'd at least be able to walk on it again. To his surprise, Reyna also handed over his iron sword.

"How'd you find this?" he asked incredulously, examining the blade.

She looked over her shoulder toward the line of partly-collapsed trees. "Followed the path of destruction you came from," she said. "It wasn't too far. Not like I could help Leo, so I needed something useful to do."

True to his word, Leo reported roughly twenty minutes later that Festus the dragon was cleared for takeoff. The automaton still looked a little worse for wear—its bronze hide had been patched with silver metal in some places and dirt still caked its legs and tail. But it was moving again like always, stretching and furling its metallic wings and shaking its heavy head, jaw opening and closing with a baffling series of clicks and whirrs.

The hellhound seemed to take great interest in the giant mechanical reptile, bounding over to sniff at it the second it stood on its bulky metal legs. The dragon twisted its long neck around and tilted its head at the hound, machine sounds emanating from its hinged mouth.

"No, Festus, don't filet it," Leo answered the dragon's apparent question. "This is Benny. He's a new friend." The hellhound gave a thunderous bark a foot behind Leo and he cringed, twisting a finger in his ear with a grimace. "A very loud friend." The dragon leaned its head up and shot a stream of blue fire into the sky, as though determined not to be outdone by this noisy creature. The hellhound seemed to enjoy the show and barked again, jumping up and down so that the ground shook and Leo, Reyna, and Nico (who was leaning on Reyna's shoulder) all stumbled. "Alright, alright! Calm down!" Leo called to the hellhound, staggering up to it and holding up both hands—which was rather brave, as it could easily have crushed him inadvertently in its excitement.

"Let's just get going," Reyna suggested impatiently and she and Nico strode up to the dragon. They'd already packed their supplies back in Festus's cargo chamber, and all that was left to do was to climb aboard and set off.

"Right," Leo agreed, leading the way by vaulting onto the dragon's back and seating himself in the first seat at the base of its neck. Reyna followed, this time taking the second seat directly behind him, and Nico settled into the third. He'd never been a huge fan of flying—Zeus's territory and all that—but for whatever reason it was a lot easier in the dark. Besides, they had an important mission to get on with. They were a day behind schedule already.

"Later, Benny!" Leo called to the hellhound, who had taken a few steps back and was sitting on its hind legs, watching them.

Nico turned sideways and the hellhound—Benny—met his eyes with a sad sort of look. "Stay away from Nyx!" he ordered him, and he barked in response. Strangely, Nico felt a sudden spark of reluctance, like part of him didn't want to leave. But that was stupid. There was no way he was actually growing attached to the friendly monster.

But as the dragon beat its heavy wings and kicked off from the ground, and Benny laid his head on his paws with a mournful howl, Nico couldn't help but hope that somehow, someday, they'd see him again.

Awww, Nico made a friend! He deserves one, wouldn't you say? Naturally, this won't be the last time we see ol' Benny, hehe.

Back at camp next chapter :D Drop me a review on your way out! Next update will be Thursday or Friday. Next chapter set is a good one, imo. Remember I said I can't wait to show it to you guys? Heh heh ;)

Later days!

-oMM