And it's Tuesday again. Hey, here's a chapter to celebrate. This is a pretty eventful 3-chapter chain right here. Lots of stuff goin' down. Hope you guys like it! I know I sure do, haha.

Thanks to last chapter's reviewers (err... reviewer; I think there was only one. Come on, guys, you're killing me here, haha). Enjoy!

XXXI
LEO

With an extreme amount of luck that should never have been possible for a team of demigods, Leo, Nico, and Reyna reached Death Valley with no further interruptions. Granted, Leo was sure to guide Festus just a bit out of the way, taking something of a zigzagged path rather than a straight one in hopes of avoiding any more unfortunate side-trips. Thankfully, it seemed to work, and they reached their destination about an hour past midnight that night.

"Not bad, huh?" Leo called back to the others as they began circling downward toward the desert. "Well, sixteen hours or so behind schedule, but who's counting?"

"Maybe if you hadn't been unconscious for so long," Nico shouted from the back.

"Oh, sure," Leo replied, rolling his eyes. "Let's not blame the jerk who knocked me out in the first place."

"You think the others are wondering where we are?" Reyna asked. "We probably should've been back by now—or at the very least, gotten here and found Hypnos."

"Well, they haven't sent a rescue party," Leo pointed out, "so they either trust us or they've already declared us dead. Either way, I'd say the best thing to do would be to shake a leg and get this done ASAP."

"So where do we start looking?" Nico said. "Death Valley's a pretty big place."

"We're over the spot where Nyx transported New Rome last month," Leo told them, leaning over Festus's neck and peering through the thinning clouds as they circled lower. "I figured we'd start there and go until we see something that looks like… Oh. Exactly like that."

Nico and Reyna followed Leo's lead, leaning sideways and squinting through the darkness. Below them was the same deep, sandy valley in which Nyx had raised Erebos during last month's lunar eclipse. And at the bottom of the incline, in the center of the valley, was a great, black shadow that stood right where the center of New Rome had been. As they got closer, they could see it more clearly—it was a huge, towering castle. The base and foundations were made of black stone so dark it could have been formed from shadows, but the towers and spires were slick and shiny—black obsidian swirled with blue and flecked with tiny lights like stars. Strips of volcanic glass cut the stone, giving the building a strangely kaleidoscopic look. It would have been beautiful, if what Leo knew was waiting inside it wasn't so completely terrifying.

"Well, I think it's safe to say we found Nyx," Leo concluded as Festus landed a safe distance away from the upper base of the incline. As they dismounted, he asked, "Think Hypnos is inside?"

"There's a good chance," Nico said. He pushed his right foot carefully against the sand and winced, but his injured leg seemed to hold his weight, which he apparently deemed sufficient. "She'd want to keep him close, if she's using him. He's got to be in there somewhere. We've just got to find him and this'll be over."

Leo cringed. "Right. So all we have to do is break into the Queen of Night's stronghold, fight off whatever guards she's set up, beat Nyx herself, and free the god of sleep from some unknown prison. And I was worried this would be hard."

"Not helping," Reyna said dryly. "What we need is a plan." She tightened her sword belt (her dagger having been swallowed by Benny the friendly hellhound) and stalked wordlessly away from Festus toward the valley. Leo raised an eyebrow at Nico before they followed her.

"Uh, Reyna?" Leo said slowly when they came up on either side of her, just reaching the edge of the hill. She stared down into the valley. "I don't think a frontal assault is the way to go here."

"Shh," Reyna hissed. She pointed down at the castle. "What's wrong with this picture?"

"Aside from the obvious?" Leo replied. It was a palace made of black stone and glass in the middle of the desert. "Did she… leave the garage door open?"

Reyna shot him a pointed look. "There are no guards," she said flatly. "Look. The place is unprotected."

Leo frowned, realizing that she was right. "Maybe she was counting on the natural charm of the place to drive visitors away."

"Or maybe she didn't want to drive them away at all," Nico suggested darkly.

"You mean she was expecting us," Reyna said, sounding unsurprised.

"Well," Leo said as he stood up straight, "in that case, why don't we head inside? We're way past 'fashionably late' and it'd be just plain rude to keep her waiting any longer."

Nico nodded, also rising to his feet. "If Hypnos is inside, I should be able to sense him. We've just got to get close. We may not even need to beat Nyx—just keep her occupied long enough for us to find Hypnos and set him free."

"Great plan," Reyna said in a tone that implied the opposite. "Let's do it."

She led the way down the steep incline and up to the hulking front doors of the castle, two twenty-foot slabs of obsidian that rose above their heads like immovable statues. Leo gripped the smooth, ivory handle on the right in both hands and pulled, dragging the heavy door outward with a resounding creak.

"You'd think she could afford to oil these," he noted, shaking his head as Reyna and Nico slipped through the door. Leo followed, and they'd barely entered the room beyond before the door gave another horrible creak and snapped shut behind them in a way that would make the writer of any horror movie proud.

"Or maybe I prefer them that way," a cool voice rang out into the darkness, echoing off walls that were too far away to see. Leo felt his blood turn to ice—he knew that voice. It spoke inside his mind every time he closed his eyes. Inexplicably, his skin suddenly felt hot, as though that voice was calling the evil fire it had in so many of his dreams. He glanced down nervously, but there were no flames. It was all in his head.

Well—almost all of it. A dim, pale light sprang to life in the center of the room, illuminating the walls and ceiling of what Leo could now see was some sort of audience chamber. A great, black throne made of sleek obsidian stood near the back, and in front of it, watching them with a satisfied smile, was the Queen of Night, Nyx.

Nyx took a few slow steps forward, her long, ivory gown shifting around her like liquid moonlight and casting misshapen shadows on the walls and floor. She spread her hands. "Welcome, demigods, to my Midnight Palace. So rarely do I get visitors these days. It does get lonely here, so far from my dear brother. How nice of you to offer me company—if only for a short while." Her smile widened, showing pointed, white teeth.

"Did you know we were coming?" Reyna asked in a steady voice, a hand gripping the hilt of her sword.

"Did you think I set no protection around my home?" Nyx responded in kind. "A simple detection barrier. Anyone comes within five miles of here, and I know at once."

Leo found this slightly surprising—not that she had detected them, but that it had taken her so long. Controlling Hypnos must have been taking a good amount of her concentration if their tricks with Moros and Benny hadn't alerted her to their movement. It was a comforting realization, though—if she had found them sooner, they might never have made it this far.

"I was curious, though," Nyx went on, "to know who it was that made it so very far from home, past the obstacles my brother and I set throughout the country. I admit, I'm impressed." Her eyes rested on Nico and she smiled with a strange sort of cruel kindness. "Nico, dear. How nice to see you again." Nico scowled, and Nyx's gaze shifted to Reyna. "Ah. The Roman praetor who failed her city. Come for revenge?" Reyna tensed, but didn't rise to the jibe. Nyx chuckled, looking amused. "And…" Finally her eyes landed on Leo, who met her gaze and tried not to flinch. "You," she said, eyes narrowing just barely in interest. Her lips stretched in a smile, but her eyes searched Leo with a strange glint in them. Was that… apprehension?

"The child of fire," she said slowly, raising a hand and examining her fingers in the soft glow of her gown. "I think you'll find your visit here very… enlightening." Her eyes sparked brightly and suddenly dark flames burst to life around her hand, casting her face in a harsh, blue light. Leo staggered backward, feeling like he'd been hit by a bus. The fire was real. His worst nightmare—right in front of him. Nyx must have been behind the dreams after all, though for what purpose he still had no idea. Her smile widened and she laughed, extinguishing the fire with a satisfied look.

Reyna had turned in alarm as Leo had backed away from her and Nico, who was looking confused at the exchange. The troubled, worried look on her face said clearly that she'd made the connection as well. Her arm jerked oddly at her side like an uncontrollable spasm and she clenched her hand into a fist before turning to glare at Nyx.

"We didn't come here for introductions," she said coldly. "We came here to defeat you. So how about we get to it?" And without further warning, she pulled her gold sword from her belt and charged forward, straight toward the Queen of Night.

"What—?" Nico stammered at the same time Leo yelled, "Reyna!" but she wasn't listening. Nico drew his own sword and both he and Leo ran after her. Nyx swept her arm to the side and a thin blade of black glass appeared in her hand. She swung it as Reyna approached and Reyna ducked low, aiming a swing of her own sword at the goddess' legs. Nyx twirled to the side, her midnight-blue hair flying, and thrust out a hand, summoning a wall of darkness that pushed Reyna backward onto the ground.

By then Nico had come up behind her and aimed a stab of his iron sword, which grazed Nyx's right side. Her eyes gleamed angrily as she spun around, enough force behind her swing to take Nico's head off in one blow. Thankfully, that didn't happen, as he jerked backward and just barely missed the tip of her blade. Leo threw both arms out in front of him and they ignited like blowtorches, throwing a beach-ball-sized orb of orange fire at Nyx. It hit her in the back and she stumbled, then she reached out and shoved Nico savagely aside before turning quickly around. The look in her catlike eyes was murderous. She mirrored Leo's actions and used both hands to send a second ball of fire—this one black and blue—hurtling through the air. It slammed him in the chest and threw him backward, and he hit the marble floor rolling, which at least served to extinguish the fire.

Leo bit back a groan and rolled onto his stomach, pushing himself up on his elbows. He looked over to see Nico crouching on the ground and muttering under his breath while Reyna fought to dodge Nyx's sword. Suddenly, the floor below the goddess cracked and split as what looked like a tribe of Native American ghosts sprang from the earth and surrounded her, waving their spears and tomahawks and yelling in high-pitched wails. Nyx shrieked and began slicing through them, but while she was occupied Nico and Reyna were able to put some distance between themselves and the Queen of Night.

"You okay?" Reyna asked as she crouched beside Leo and gripped his arm, pulling him upright.

"Yeah," he replied with a grimace, looking down at his shirt, which now sported quite a few charred holes. "This is new, though," he noted, poking through one of the holes at a ruddy burn mark on his chest and flinching when a painful spark of heat dug into him. Probably should've expected that.

"I thought you were immune to fire," Nico said in alarm.

"Apparently not all fire."

"Look, we can't waste time here," Reyna said impatiently, shooting a glance over her shoulder toward where Nyx had already turned a fraction of the zombie-ghost-Indians to dust. "We need to find Hypnos—"

"He's close," Nico interrupted, frowning in concentration. "Below us, I think. All we need is…" His eyes swept the room and landed on a small, black door to their far right. "There."

"Good. You guys go free Hypnos. I'll keep Nyx busy."

Leo and Nico rounded on Reyna incredulously. "You're kidding, right?" Leo said. "There's no way we're leaving you alone to fight a goddess."

"Somebody has to," she shot back.

"Is this about New Rome? Because I told you, you can't—"

"No, it's not about that. This is the only way, and you know it. I know you'd do the same thing." She looked sideways at Leo and his memory suddenly flashed back to their trip last month, to the night they'd spent trapped in the hunter Orion's lodge. They'd talked about sacrifice, about risking your life for your friends. She'd said, at the time, that it was reckless. What were her words? 'In some cases, chances of success could be higher if I'm the one to survive. I wouldn't want to jeopardize more people's lives by giving up my own.' And he'd replied with some joke, as usual: 'Remind me never to get stuck in a life or death situation with you.' And now, here they were, a life or death situation—and she was the one making the sacrificial play.

"Well, whatever we decide, it's gotta be fast," Nico said urgently, watching the battle going on across the open hall.

The look on Reyna's face told them she wasn't backing down. But despite that, the simple fact was that Leo didn't want to leave her. It wasn't an outright suicide plan, but fighting the Queen of Night one-on-one couldn't have had impressive chances. If they were going to do this, he and Nico would have to move as quickly as possible.

"Alright, fine," he finally conceded. "We'll find Hypnos and come back for you. Just be smart, okay?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Who do think you're talking to?"

"We should go," Nico warned. He looked over toward the door to make sure the coast was clear.

Leo nodded and shot one last look at Reyna. She met his eyes and her arm jerked at her side again, hand rising a few inches before tightening into a fist. This time, though, Leo felt a strange jolt as he understood what it was—it wasn't an uncontrollable muscle spasm at all. She was reaching out for him and holding herself back.

It was this, more than anything, that did it. The wall he'd put up around his feelings for Reyna shattered like glass and suddenly it was all he could think about. He'd said they'd wait until after the quest—until Hypnos was free and the gods were awake and an end to the war was in sight. But now, up close, it was clear that that day might never come for one or both of them. Reyna was about to take on the Queen of Night alone, which meant that it was very possible that this would be the last time they spoke. So, knowing full well that they had to hurry but not willing to miss this tiny chance, Leo grabbed Reyna around the waist, pulled her against him, and kissed her.

The effect was immediate and overwhelming. It was just like the last time—a feeling so warm and sudden and complete that everything else just disappeared. Nothing had ever felt so real and so right, and some part of him wondered why he'd even bothered to deny it for so many weeks. He felt her hands twist unconsciously in the torn fabric of his shirt and a swell of pain ignited under her fingers, bringing back everything he didn't want to remember. Reluctantly, Leo pulled away, holding onto Reyna and suddenly feeling surprisingly out of breath. She was perfectly still, matching his rapid breathing and staring at something near his neck with unfocused eyes.

"Uh… guys?" Nico said uncertainly from behind Leo. "I wasn't kidding. We should, uh… really go."

Unable to make his mouth form words, Leo stepped backward, letting go of Reyna and watching as her arms dropped limply to her sides. She looked so perfectly stunned that it might have been funny under normal circumstances.

"Don't die," Leo forced out, his voice strangely gravelly.

Finally, she blinked and looked up, eyes locking onto his. For a wild second, he was prepared to see anger or resentment there. But all he saw was that same bemused sincerity as she responded, "You either."

Evidently tired of waiting, Nico grabbed Leo's arm and yanked him toward the side door. He stumbled after Nico, watching as Reyna shook herself off and picked up her sword before turning to face Nyx with a steely expression. Nico grabbed the door handle and yanked it open, shoving Leo inside before ducking after him and pulling the door closed tight, throwing them into darkness.

"So, uh…" Nico muttered awkwardly as their eyes adjusted to the lack of light, "you want to… explain—?"

"Not really."

"Right. …Let's go."

The son of Hades started down the slowly spiraling staircase that lay ahead of them and Leo followed wordlessly, thinking of Reyna and hoping that maybe—just maybe—he'd given her a reason to try and stay alive.

Yes! Fun times and more fun times. And hey, more to come! So how 'bout a review? Come on, guys, I know you're out there.

Anyway, I'm going away this weekend for that con I mentioned a few chapters ago, so I don't know if I'll update again this week or not. Hey, how about this: if I get a lot of reviews asking me to, I'll update Thursday before I go away. If not, you'll have to wait until at least next Tuesday because I'll be gone until then. Let's see if any of you (other than those couple faithful reviewers - I do love you guys very much!) are serious about this story, kay? Just a little experiment since this week is a special case.

Thanks, all! Later days!

-oMM