Happy Friday, gang! Thanks bunches for the reviews! I know that last chapter was a bit of a rollercoaster, and I fully expected a few outbursts, haha. But like I said, just trust me! I've got a plan. For anyone with doubts, remember this: There are going to be 54 chapters in this story. I do not once break my narrator pattern. Do the math. I promise it will make you feel better.

So this chapter's really short, shortest of the whole story actually. Hope you guys like it all the same. Thanks again for the reviews! Enjoy!

XXXIV
NICO

Nico had the barest glimpse of the trunk of a tree and hoped for a second that they'd reached Camp Half-Blood before all of his energy drained out of him and he blacked out.

When he came to, he was lying on the ground and something was shaking him roughly. His head was buzzing louder than a hornet's nest, muffling the sound of some voice frantically shouting in his ear. He groaned and tried to sit up, but an intense wave of nausea hit him like a tsunami and he rolled over sideways and vomited onto the grass.

Rather than back away in surprise, the person hovering over him placed their hand on his shoulder. "Nectar," he heard her (it was decidedly a 'her') say as the fogginess in his head started to fade. "Somebody bring me some nectar! Now!"

Nico coughed and pushed himself away from the ground, sitting back and taking a few deep breaths. His arms and legs felt like rubber and all he wanted to do was lie back down and take a nap. But some tiny voice in the back of his mind insisted that this wasn't the time for such things, so he blinked hard in an effort to fight off the pull of unconsciousness. When his vision came into focus, the first thing he saw was a net of curly, blonde hair tied into a messy braid before its owner turned around and fixed him with an intense gaze.

"Nico, are you alright?" Annabeth asked urgently, gray eyes fierce and worried.

"What happened?" he croaked, voice hoarse. He looked around and realized he was at Camp Half-Blood, sitting on the ground near the edge of the forest. Behind Annabeth, he could see Roman and Greek demigods dressed in varying degrees of battle armor scurrying about and shouting at one another.

Annabeth frowned. "I was hoping you could tell me," she answered. "Did you shadow-travel all the way from California? Do you realize how reckless that was?"

"I'm fine," Nico argued, though to be honest he was feeling quite the opposite. "I've never gone that far with another person before. I just need a minute to…" His voice trailed off as the memories swimming in his brain started to solidify. "Reyna," he remembered suddenly. "Where's Reyna? She was hurt—"

"Reyna's okay," Annabeth assured him. "We already took her to the infirmary." She twisted around as a girl from the Apollo cabin rushed up and handed her a canteen of nectar. She said a hurried thank you and uncapped it, practically shoving it into Nico's hands. He still felt nauseous, but he forced himself to drink, glad he did when the warm, sugary taste of fried fritole slid down his throat and brought back some of his energy.

"What's going on?" Nico asked, craning his neck to see over Annabeth's shoulder. A few people were standing around them, whispering to each other and watching curiously, but it seemed most of the camp was occupied with some sort of military arrangement.

"We had a message from Erebos earlier this evening."

"What?"

"I'll explain later, okay? You need rest." She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet, starting off immediately toward the infirmary tent across the camp.

"No," Nico argued, drawing his arm from her grasp and shaking his head, trying to focus. "There's something I…"

Annabeth huffed and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Why don't you at least tell me what happened, then? Like why you guys suddenly just appeared back? And—where's Leo?"

Nico's heart skipped a beat. "Leo…" he repeated. He rounded on Annabeth and demanded, "How long's it been since I got here?"

She blinked, looking a bit startled at his sudden urgency. "I don't know, fifteen minutes?" Nico cursed under his breath and spun around, heading back toward the forest. Annabeth hurried after him, saying, "Why, what's wrong? Nico, what are you doing? Where's Leo?"

"Castle," Nico said distractedly. "Fighting Nyx."

"Fighting—what? Hey, stop!" She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him around to face her. He shot her a glare, but she stared back just as fiercely. "What. Happened," she said in slow, firm voice.

Nico breathed out shortly. He didn't want to waste any time, but it didn't look like Annabeth was backing down. It wasn't exactly her style. "We made it to Death Valley," he explained quickly. "We found Hypnos, but Nyx found us. Reyna was hurt so I brought her here and Leo stayed behind. But now that she's safe, we've still got him to worry about."

"He stayed behind? Why?"

"He was… worried about Reyna," Nico answered sort of uncertainly. "I think he knew I wouldn't be able to take them both." Leo and Reyna's weird and unexpected secret relationship (if that was what it was) had caught him pretty completely off-guard, and as far as he knew no one else was any wiser. To his surprise, though, Annabeth muttered a small "Oh," of understanding and bit her lip, looking anxiously at the ground. Did she actually know?

Nico shook his head. That wasn't important. He lifted the canteen of nectar still gripped in his hand and swallowed another mouthful, glad when it worked instantly. He could barely even feel the wound in his leg anymore. Satisfied, he shoved it back into Annabeth's hands and said, "Thanks. Wait here. I'll be back."

She frowned in alarm, predictably and annoyingly rushing after him as he stepped through the line of trees and into the dark forest. "What—You're not going back to Death Valley?" she said in disbelief. "That last trip almost killed you!"

She tried to dodge around in front of him but he evaded her. "It'll be easier by myself," he said impatiently, which was entirely true. Dragging along things that didn't belong in darkness like he did drained him five times as quickly as shadow-traveling alone. He was confident that he could make it.

Apparently, though, Annabeth wasn't. "No!" she shouted adamantly, shooting forward and grabbing tightly onto his arm. "I can't let you do that."

Nico stumbled to a halt and turned to give her one of his darkest glares. She actually seemed to shrink a bit in response. "Let go of me," he said, voice low.

But she didn't relent. "No."

Nico growled in frustration. "Annabeth, I'm going whether you try to stop me or not. If you keep holding on and I'm forced to take you with me, I'll die. Let go."

That must have done it. Her eyebrows drew together in a conflicted mixture of worry and defiance, and with a short sigh she released her grip on his arm. "Fine," she conceded. "But Nico, please—Nico!" She was too late. The second he was free, Nico stepped back into the darker shadow of a tree and let the darkness close over him. Camp Half-Blood disappeared, taking the desperate look on Annabeth's face with it. He felt a bit bad about that exchange, but she'd get over it. He had to get back to Death Valley and help Leo before it was too late.

But when the shadows around Nico thinned and faded, Nyx's Midnight Palace was in ruins.

Wuh-oh. Well, we all knew that was coming. Next chapter's a bit more exciting, I promise. I'll get it up some time next week. In the meantime, how about a review? Pretty please? :)

Side-note, I finally got a chance to read the first chapter of Blood of Olympus that got released last month. Any of you guys get it? I thought it was pretty funny, actually, haha. Makes me excited for the rest of the book. Only... four months? Ugh, that's so far away... (Also the Lost Hero graphic novel comes out the same day, though. Too much sweetness on one day! Haha)

Later days, gang!

-oMM