Hey guys, I know I said I'd have 2-3 chapters by Monday, but I sent most of you a PM saying publishing wasn't working. I heard it was happening to a lot of people, but thanks to Annabeth Supporter, I GOT THIS UP! YAY FOR HER! So so sorry about how late it is :(

I WON! I WON I WON I WON! Surprisingly enough, Being 14 is Tough won for the romance section even though it really doesn't have romance in it… BUT WHO CARES? Woo! That was the best birthday present evahh! So thank you so so so much to everyone who voted! And to everyone who tried to vote, but kept getting sent to that "Oops! Looks like we have a sneaky one!" (The key was to press that little period thing). OH! And happy birthday to…

Manser77

HiThereSmiley

Annabeth Supporter

NoWordsDiscribeMe

We're all March buddies XD

Okay, so here's the first out of two or three new chapters. It's kinda short though, I'm warning you now. The next one should be longer.

Disclaimer: Let's just put it this way: If I owned this series, it would have a lot more Nico in it

"Can't you just shadow travel us out of here?" whined Riley after about an hour of walking under the hot sun along the railroad tracks.

I sighed irritably. "Oh, I'm sorry." I said sarcastically, "I didn't even think of that! Wow, can you find me a shadow that's big enough for four teenagers and a demonic little girl to fit in?" that earned me a shout of complaint from the "demonic little girl", but no reply from Riley. "No? Oh, obviously not considering there are no shadows!"

It was true. For as far as we could see, there was just sandy dirt surrounding the railroad tracks. Getting a ride on the train had managed to get us somewhere. Unfortunately, that somewhere happened to be the absolute middle of nowhere.

The sun was painfully hot; seeping right through my shirt and warming my skin to the point I had desperately wished someone had brought sunscreen. I could feel my skin burning, especially where the protection of my t-shirt ended and my skin was bare and vulnerable to Apollo's evil ways. Riley was wearing a Red Sox hat that was protecting his head and face, while Jill was holding up her jacket over her head at a position that it also covered her younger sister. Hailey, on the other hand, had closed her eyes and thrown her head back as she happily basked in the sun. After just an hour of walking, she already seemed two shades tanner while the rest of us were practically drowning in our sweat.

Stupid children of Apollo.

I had felt like one of those explorers lost in the deserts of Egypt as they searched for the tomb of King Tut, but ended up wandering around, dehydrated and badly sunburned until they eventually were killed off from dehydration or just some random poisonous snake attack. Then again, I wasn't anywhere near Egypt and I had only been walking for an hour, so I didn't think I had much to worry about…

Sighing, I looked desperately for any sign of darkness that I could use to cool myself down, but the only shadow I saw was my own. It was too close to noon for me to have a big enough shadow to transport through, sadly. I wished I could use the small shadow I was casting to my advantage; pick it up off of the ground and use it to shield my body. Better yet, I wished I could expand it, and make it just big enough to get the five of us out of there and to somewhere nice and cold.

"And did you know that the day Julius Caesar died – which was, by the way, March 15th, 44 BC – his wife warned him th-"

And just then, as she was talking about the death of the Roman dictator, I started thinking about something that some people may classify as crazy. If I could manipulate shadows, use them to transport me to any place I wanted to go, why couldn't I manipulate them in other ways? Make them bigger or smaller, perhaps?

Seconds after thinking about it, I quietly laughed to myself at the ridiculous idea. If I had more super awesome powers, I think I would've discovered them years ago. Still, a part of my mind continued to stare at my shadow hopefully, waiting for it to magically expand.

Isabella continued her lecture on Julius Caesar. "And that's when he said 'Et tu, Brute?' which is Latin and roughly translates into-"

"Mmmm… don't you just love the sun?" happily interrupted Hailey as she skipped and twirled along the path, earning glares from the rest of us.

"No." snapped Jill.

"Not even a little bit." I told her.

"Actually, I hate it." added in Riley.

"Well, you are all missing out!" yelled Hailey, though the smile was soon back on her face.

The sweat that had been dripping down my face for a while was now nearly unbearable; it found its way into my eyes and burned like Hades. I swiped at it frequently, but it still managed to make my eyes irritated. Everybody, besides Hailey of course, was withering in the harsh heat. Even Isabella, who was practically being carried by Jill, seemed like she was about to pass out.

We walked on for another mile or so. Though none of us knew where we were going, we just continued walking along the railroad track. Hopefully it would lead us to some sign of civilization sometime soon. Hopefully, there would be another Taco Bell wherever we ended up.

Sand had slipped into my sneakers and socks and irritated my feet the way only sand can do.

To entertain himself, Riley had made flowers pop up wherever we went, so that there was a trail of daisies following our path. Meanwhile, Hailey had tried to play twenty questions with us. Unfortunately for her, nobody was answering her questions.

"What's your favorite color?" she happily asked.

Silence.

"Okay, what's your favorite… band?"

More silence.

"Uh… weirdest piercing you have?"

It was pretty obvious nobody answered that one.

"Here's one for Riley: What's your favorite flower?"

Though he looked like he was at war with himself, debating whether or not to answer, he stuck with the rest of us and kept his mouth quiet.

"Hmph! Fine! What is your… worst fear?"

As predicted, nobody said a word.

"If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?"

I thought of camp. Though cooler, it was still pretty darn hot there. Then I thought of someplace cold: Antarctica. Though, while I wasn't one to complain about the temperature, I don't think I would do so well in -20 degree temperature with a blizzard to go along with it.

And then it hit me:

The Underworld.

Cool, dark, and damp; I was nearly salivating at the thought of being in my father's kingdom again. Though I was there just the day before, it had felt like a million years ago and I was only able to enjoy it for a short amount of time before I had woken up. While there was the unappealing stench of sulfur that always seemed to hang in the air, as well as the annoyingly clingy ghosts and spirits that followed you around, I would happily retreat into the Underworld for a few hours (or days) to cool off. Absorbed in my fantasy thoughts, I had no idea what was going on until I heard gasps and screams of shock from the rest of the group.

Zoning back into reality, I focused on my surroundings for just enough time to see a large black mass encircle itself around our feet.

And then we fell.

(Hey guys, Robert's out sick, but I'm his cousin James and I'll be taking his place as the line today)

We fell.

And fell, and fell, and fell.

And then, we fell some more.

Basically, we were falling for a really long time. Darkness surrounded us, and for a moment even I was terrified. Screams of terror rang in my ears, and I didn't know whether to be horrified or relieved when I realized they were the cries of my friends. We fell freely for hours, arms and legs dangling and flying around us, and all we could do was scream and pray for it to finally end. But then, and this is the exciting part so you may want to hold onto your hats, we stopped falling and hit the ground hardly with a loud thump.

Momentarily dazed, I remained on my back where I had landed and stared up at the dark ceiling. The darkness came along with a cold chill in the air that seemed to into my bones within seconds. The heat that just seconds ago had felt like a suffocating nuisance now seemed like a welcoming summer breeze. I felt engulfed in darkness, but it was somehow lighter there than it was when we were falling. There was a strangely familiar feeling about the whole place, but the fall had knocked my senses off balance, and I couldn't quite place where we had landed. There was a strange smell in the air, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

A loud, horrifying, agonizing sound that sent shivers throughout my body echoed throughout the area. It sounded like the pitiful cry of a dying animal. Scared to see what had produced that whimper, I hesitated getting up. When I did, it was much too quickly and I was immediately dizzy, but stood up anyway and wobbled over until I found the source of a continuous moaning that was heard.

I was horrified to see a tangle of blonde hair, an unnatural and very painful looking body position, and lots and lots of blood.