I'm so sorry for the long wait. I wanted to make this chapter really long. It covers 100 pages of The House of Hades. It's also got Tartarus seens in it. So anyway, long chapters equals a long time to write. Also, I've been getting a lot more hoemwork so I can't write everyday like I used to. I hope I can get up another chapter within two weeks though.

Reviews:

Dark Princess: Thanks

DP JacksAniBrony: I know. Don't worry, Nico will still be the same.

DatLama: I think I might just use option 2.

Guest: Fratello and Sorella do mean brother and sister. Fratelino and Sorrelina mean either baby sister/brother or little sister/brother. There's a slight difference.

TheBookWormGirl2020: Thank you:)

321: Here's your update.

Lbunny: I was so upset writing the last part.

Kiki: Freya's my favorite character by far.

Guest: Totally.

Guest: Ikr.

Iris-Saphire: Here's your update.

Chapter 84: Not So Friendly Gods

I groaned as the ship rocked again. Apollo caught me before I could fall into the wall for the third time that day. We were crossing the Apennine Mountains. The mountain gods, children of Gaea, didn't like that. Apollo righted me and helped lead me into the kitchen. I had was seriously lacking any sense of balance in the air. Eventually, we made it to the kitchen where Coach Hedge was sitting.

"How's Mellie?" Apollo asked innocently. I looked at him curiously. Apollo smirked slightly. "Mellie's Gleeson's wife. She's the aurai you ran into on Aeolus' palace. She's pregnant!"

"Congrats, Gleeson!" I squealed. "You must be so excited.

"I am," Gleeson said. "I'm just worried with the whole war thing going on."

I nodded. "I'm worried about Freya," I agreed.

"I won't let my baby get hurt," Apollo said.

"I know, love," I sighed. "I still worry though." Apollo wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple. We sat down and I summoned some pancakes from the charm on my bracelet.

"That reminds me," Apollo said suddenly. He pulled a silver charm out of his pocket. "I wanted to give this to you before we sent you to the Roman camp, but Hera didn't give me enough time." He dropped the silver charm into my hand. It was an interlocking moon and sun. "Incase you ever need Artemis or me for something. You can talk to us mentally while holding that."

I threw my arms around my boyfriend's neck. "Thanks, 'Pollo," I whispered into his soft, golden hair. Grinning, I pulled away. "Ti amo."

"Ti amo troppo." Apollo wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into his lap. Being a god, Apollo had completely healed in three days.
Lavender's POV

I was screaming. I knew I was. I wouldn't deny it either. I clung to Percy. He had one arm wrapped around my waist. "I love you!" I shouted over the wind blowing through my ears. I could see the ground coming closer and closer to us.

"I love you too!" Percy yelled. He pulled me tighter against him. My eyes widened when I saw a black stream going across the red, dusty surface below us.

"Percy!" I shouted. "Water!" I could practically feel Percy's smirk. He waved his hand and the water rose up to engulf us. The water was ice cold. I mean I was literally frozen stiff. I couldn't move at all. My hands went numb and, without meaning to, I released Percy's hand from my death grip. I started sinking to the bottom. I could feel the water filling up my lungs. I went into shock until Percy grabbed my hand and pulled me up out of the water. I landed on the shore, coughing and hacking. Percy sat next to me, rubbing my back.

Percy looked so depressed. I felt the same way. Any feelings I had while taking the nine day plunge into Tartarus had disappeared when I went under water. "The river Cocytus," Percy said. "It's made of pure misery." I shivered involuntarily and curled up tighter against Percy.

"We should keep moving," I sighed. Percy nodded and helped me stand up. I felt my wrists. I gasped. They were gone. My twin daggers were gone. I looked at Percy with wide eyes. He grabbed my hand and pulled out RIptide without saying a word. I could feel the tears coming to my eyes. Silena had helped me make those. While she was still alive, her close call with death last summer had made me paranoid. What if I never saw her again and those were all I had left of her? Now they were gone.

"This place smells like my ex-stepfather," Percy groaned as we started walking. I had never met Gabe. Nina had told Vati and me horror stories about him though. Hermione had scoffed at her and told her to stop over-reacting. "Look," Percy hissed, pointing at a sports car that was crashed some 50 feet from us.

"That's where Arachne should be," I murmured back. Percy nodded. We slowly made our way over to it. Arachne lay underneath it, crushed. "Let's keep going," I suggested. Percy nodded and we walked over to a cliff edge. "The river Phlegethon," I gasped. "The river of fire."

"Shall we?" Percy asked sarcastically. I rolled my eyes and followed him down the narrow ledge running diagonally across the cliff face. I almost fell five times. Percy almost fell a few times too.

"We have to drink," I gasped as we made it to the banks of the river." I was completely soaked with sweat and misery water.

"Drink fire?" Percy asked. I nodded and cupped my hands. I scooped up fire water and brought it to my lips. I could feel the skin burning and cracking as any moisture that was there evaporated. I sipped the fire. It was like eating a huge bucket full of Widower Curry Vati had given me from a Bindi Restaurant in England. I coughed after I managed to choke down the handful of fire. On the bright side, I instantly felt reenergized.

"Percy, it worked, you have to-Percy?" I turned around to see Percy slumped on the ground next to me. "No," I gasped. I scooped up a handful of fire water and tilted it into Percy's mouth. His eyes shot open as he coughed and spluttered.

"Ugh," he groaned. "Spicy, yet disgusting."

"You are a freaking idiot," I groaned. Percy grinned weakly at me. "Look over there," I pointed over to the right.

"Kelli," Percy snarled.

"Empousai," I agreed. I had almost forgotten about Percy's history with Kelly the empousai. "We need to follow them." Percy nodded and we started along the river path, taking drinks as necessary.
Nina's POV

I sat at the table with the rest of the crew. Apollo was on my left, Freya in his lap. He was spoon feeding his daughter purple waffles. When I looked at him, he just shrugged, shoved a forkful of waffle into his own mouth, and continued feeding Freya, who was enjoying being babied. I smiled. It was nice to know there were still some normal things, or at least normal for my messed up family, going on in such a dangerous time.

"What do we do now?" Jason asked sadly. Nobody knew what to say. Not even Annabeth or Apollo spoke up. Annabeth had been strangely quiet since Percy and Lavender fell into Tartarus. Everytime she saw me she would start saying apologies. It was obvious she blamed herself. "The House of Hades. Nico?"

I looked over at Nico, who was sitting between me and Annabeth. His skin was sunken and his eyes looked dead. "I communed with the dead last night," Nico yawned. "They told me the House of Hades was a major site for greek pilgrims. They would come to speak to the dead and honor their ancestors. They'd work their way through different levels of tunnels, leaving offerings and drinking potions. The ghost said at the bottom there's a giant named Clytius."

Apollo shuddered. "Nasty guy. Born to oppose Hecate. Almost wiped out half the minor gods single handedly."

"And Hecate wants Hazel to destroy him," Frank groaned.

"We're all doing this together," Annabeth corrected. "No more splitting up. That's why..."

She broke off. She didn't need to finish. We all knew what she meant. That was the real reason we Percy and Lav fell into Tartarus.

"There's a witch there too," Hazel sighed. "I'm not sure who, but she's another mortal Gaea brought back."

"Great," I groaned. "Any other things we should know about?"

"I have good news," Sirius smirked as he walked into the room, closely followed by a grinning Cassie.

"Uncle Siri!" Freya squealed. She launched herself at Sirius.

"What's your amazing news?" Leo asked.

"Remus and Tonks are dating," Cassie said bluntly. Sirius pouted at his girlfriend.

"I wanted to tell them," he whined.

"That lightened the mood," I snorted. Apollo nodded his head in agreement.

"Okay," Frank said. "Let's get back to planning, as amazing as your news is. Theoretically, we should have enough time to get to the House of Hades, find the headquarters of Gaea, and defeat her and her giants by August first.

"It's July fifth," Sirius added helpfully. "It should, theoretically take us only four or five days to reach Epirus."

"That's counting no monster attacks," Cassie added.

"Which never happens," I muttered.

"We're over Bologna," Sirius muttered. "We need to find those dwarves Hecate was talk-" he didn't get to finish the sentence. The ship lurched sideways, knocking me into Apollo's side. He quickly caught me. I looked over at the enchanted walls to see two warty, hairy faces giggling madly.

"Not possible," Leo murmured under his breath.

The dwarves backed up from the camera and we could see the entire ship. Tonks was unconscious on the ground. Remmy was bound to the mast next to her. Gleeson was on the other side. Piper was duct taped to the console. "They're stealing my stuff!" Leo shouted as they grabbed the Archimedes sphere and jumped over the side of the ship. Nico fell sideways, out cold.

"Go!" Apollo shouted. "I'll take care of him. We all ran up onto the deck. Hazel and Freya stayed behind.

"This sucks," Leo groaned. "Who wants to go after them with me?"

"I'll go," Jason offered, finishing unwrapping Piper. I knelt down next to Remus and Gleeson, untying them. Sirius shot a quick Enervate! at Tonks.

"I'll come too, with Annabeth," Cassie said. "We'll be able to watch each other's backs better with larger groups." Leo, Jason, and Annabeth nodded in agreement.

"We'll clean the ship up," Sirius said, giving Cassie a quick kiss on the lips. he four who were going down to Bologna grabbed hands, and Cassie apparated them away. I helped Remus stand up before going back below deck. I saw no need to stay on deck. Frank went downstairs with me. We went to check on Nico.
Percy's POV

Lav and I have gone on plenty of romantic walks. This was so not one of them. We were stumbling along the sand, which was made of glass. Lav had used my sword to cut off a strip of denim from her shorts. She had used it to tie up her long, brown hair. We had to be careful to stay far enough behind the empousai. I couldn't help but glare at the back of Kelli's head. She caused me so much trouble when I was younger.

I saw something that looked like a beached sea monster on the side of the river. The empousai surrounded it. They completely devoured it. Lav groaned and buried her face in my shirt. "I so didn't need to see that," she muttered. I chuckled weakly.

"C'mon, they're moving again," I encouraged her. I was a little more wary of following them now. I had no doubt they ate demigod with even more gusto. Soon we reached a cliff. The empousai were carefully picking their way down it. The ground at the bottom of the cliff was disgusting. It was flaky. There were tall, black trees that looked like long hairs. The ground was covered in blisters that would occasionally pop, and out would come a monster. I suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.

"Shall we?" Lav asked. I nodded and began my way down the cliff. Lav was right above me. About half way down, she begged to take a break. We had reached a little flat spot. We sat down next to each other with our feet hanging over the edge. "Stupid," Lav hissed.

"Hey," I said. "I didn't do anything this time."

"Not you," she groaned. She reached up her sleeve and smiled. "Still there." She pulled out her wand and pointed it at a rock. It changed into a clear glass. With another wave it was filled with water. Lav took a sip before handing it to me. We kept passing it back and forth, taking small sips so as not to choke ourselves.

"Things could be worse," I said optimistically.

"We could have fallen into the River Lethe," Lav added. "What was the name of that titan again?"

"Iapetus?"

"No, what did you call him after he lost his memory? Steve?"

"Oh, Bob," I laughed. Thalia, Nico, and I had gone on a quest through the Underworld. I had dumped Bob into the River Lethe. "I wonder how he's doing."

Lav shrugged. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. "We should keep going. I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier." She waved her wand again and we floated to the bottom. When we reached the bottom, she shoved her wand back up her sleeve.

"The ground," I whispered, looking down.

"The skin of Tartarus," Lavender groaned. "Let's not talk about it, yeah?" I nodded and started forward, grabbing Lav's hand. "Wait, where are the empousai?" I looked around and pulled out Riptide. Too late.

"Percy Jackson," Kelli cooed. "How awesome! I don't even have to return to the mortal world to destroy you!"

"You have a lot of monsters after you," Lavender muttered in my ear.

"And your friend Lavender is with you! Oh, yeah, I totally remember her."

"She's after you too," I whispered back to Lavender.

"You follow Hecate, don't you?" I asked.

"So?" Kelli sneered.

Lav seemed to catch on to what I was doing. "So, she's on our side now. She'll be pretty upset if you kill us."

"Is this true, Kelli?" another empousa asked. "Has our lady made peace with Olympus?"

"Shut up, Serephone," Kelli sneered. "Gods you're annoying."

"I will not cross the Dark Lady," Serephone said.

"You'd all be better following Serephone," Lav said. "She's older and wiser." Kelli snarled and lashed out at Serephone. Soon there was just a pile of dust.

"Any other disagreers?" Kelli asked. The demons shook their heads.

"This sucks," I said calmly.

"I wonder what happens when a demigod is killed in Tartarus, Lavender Brown," Kelli snarled. I lunged forward, swinging my sword in a large arc. Riptide vaporized the empousa standing next to Kelli. Kelli dodged and lunged for Lavender. An empousa grabbed my arm, and the other one jumped on my back. I turned to struggle towards Lavender. I was determined to go down protecting her.
Lav's POV

I'd like to say I heroically pulled out my wand and stunned Kelli or sent a blasting hex at her. The truth is I froze. I couldn't move out of fear. I tried to summon the courage I had when I attacked the Lamia. It wasn't there. I could only watch Kelli run towards me. I vaguely noticed Percy coming at me to protect me. I saw two empousai on his back. That's when I unfroze. I couldn't let them hurt Percy.

Bending down, I grabbed a rock at m feet. I flung it at Kelli's face. It hit her nose, and she stumbled backwards. I gave myself a mental pat on the back. That just made Kelli mad, though. She lunged at me again, talons outstretched. I screamed and fell to the ground as they raked across my stomach. I saw an empousa sink her fangs into Percy's neck out of the corner of my eye. This was it. We were going to die.

That's what I thought until I saw a giant titan jump onto the empousa on Percy's back, squishing her into monster dust. He was in a blue janitor's outfit. His nametag read Bob! "SWEEP!" the 10-foot titan shouted. "Sweep, sweep, sweep!" He swung his broom around. It hit the other empousa holding Percy. She slammed into a rock, instantly turning to gold dust.

"H-how?" I stammered.

"Percy called me," Bob said happily. "Yes, he did."

Called you?" I asked. "He-wait. You're Bob? The Bob?"

The giant stared at me. "Owie." He gestured at my stomach, which was bleeding profusely. (A.N.I just learned how to use the word, cut me some slack. Yes, I do know that Lavender would never use the word.) I took out my wand and waved it over the deep cuts. They instantly scarred.

"I love that charm," I grinned. Bob smiled and ran over to Percy. He put his hand on his neck, and the spot where the empousa bit him healed instantaneously.

"All better," Bob said. "I am Bob. Percy is my friend."

"Uh, yeah, Bob," Percy grinned. "Thanks a lot. It's really great to see you again."

"I heard my friend call," Bob said sincerely. "Percy said Bob. Come friends. They are coming. Bob knows a way. Yes, he does."

"Who's coming?" Percy asked, but we were already being dragged away by the friendly titan.
Nina's POV

"What are they, Mommy?" Freya asked.

"Um...Apollo?" I asked.

"Katoblepones," Apollo sighed. "They're pretty harmless as long as you don't breath in their breath. That's poison. They won't bother you either as long as you don't touch their food."

"Got it," Frank said. "So, we're trying to get to La Casa Nera. Calle Frezzeria."

"The Black House," Nico and I said in unison.

"You speak Italian?" Tonks asked.

"I learned it because I thought it would be interesting," I admitted. "Percy speaks it too." My voice caught on Percy's name.

"I was born here in Venice," Nico sighed. "I don't remember it much, but I still speak the language."

"Nico and Nina should definitely go then," Piper said.

"Nina's not going anywhere without me," Apollo said.

"Frank and I will go too," Hazel said.

"I'll be the adult supervision," Sirius grinned crazily.

"I'm millennia older than you," Apollo pointed out.

"That ruined the fun," Sirius groaned.

You're an idiot," Cassie said, shaking her head exasperatedly.

"The rest of us can stay behind and fix up the mast. We need all you wizard folk to help."

"It's settled then," Frank said.

"Can I come too, Mommy, Daddy?" Freya asked sweetly.

"Sure," Apollo grinned.

"Apollo," I said, "she could get hurt!"

"She'll be fine, Sparkles," Apollo smiled gently. "Won't you, Sunshine?" Apollo lifted Freya into his arms and spun her around. She squealed in delight.

Nico led the way through the streets, er, sidewalks of Venice. Apollo, Freya, and I followed closely behind him. Freya was holding Apollo's and my hands. We were swinging her in between us. She kept giggling. A few mortals cast us curious looks. We were a little young to have a daughter, even if she technically wasn't mine. Frank and Hazel were walking behind us with their hands interlocked. They made a cute couple.

"There," Nico pointed. We stopped in front of a small plaza. La Casa Nera."

"The plaza," Hazel muttered, "it feels cold."

"Lemures," Nico nodded.

"King Julian from Madagascar?" Freya asked innocently. I giggled.

"Lemures," Apollo corrected. "Angry ghosts, Sunshine."

"Oh."

"My mom used to tell me about the ghosts of Venice," Nico said. "She used to live here. She met Hades here back in the 1930's. When she sensed World War II getting closer she fled with Bianca and me to America."

"You''ll do anything for the one you love," Frank agreed.

"Yeah," Nico sighed. He looked down. Did Nico love somebody? "We should be safe. I sent out a message to the lemures that they should ignore us."

"I think we should back away slowly," Apollo muttered.

"Why?" Frank asked. Apollo pointed to the ground. "Oh." We all started walking back slowly as the monster's food source grew closer and closer to us. The katoblepones were glaring.

"Don't meet their eyes," Apollo warned. "Their glare will make you sick."

"Thanks for the warning, Archer Boy," I groaned. Apollo hid Freya's face in his shoulder.

"We're screwed," Nico said helpfully.

"I'll distract them," Frank offered. The next minute he was a full grown lion.

"That's helpful," I said. Frank charged at the katoblepones. One came around him and toward us. Apollo pulled me against him and I buried my face in his chest.

"Don't breath!" he shouted before shutting his mouth. Nico quickly shut his mouth too, but Hazel was too late. She collapsed against Nico. I heard Frank yowl in pain. When I felt Apollo breathing again, I pulled my face out of his shirt. I saw Frank, in human form, running towards us.

"Get Hazel back to the Argo II!" Frank shouted to Hazel.

"You're friends can help, but why bother when you have two gods here?" a black haired man in jeans asked, smiling. "Lord Apollo," he sneered.

"Triptolemus," Apollo snapped. He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer.

"You must be the daughter of Poseidon," Triptolemus said, gesturing to me. "You poor girl, stuck with him for the rest of your life. You'll end up dead. They always die young, his demigod lovers."

"Shut the Hades up," Apollo growled. "Your patron may be Demeter, but I still have no problem obliterating you."

Triptolemus raised a black eyebrow. "You'd be much better off leaving him," he smirked. "He isn't worth it. I'm sure there are much better, hm, fish in the sea."

I glared at him. "Don't you have a terrible empty feeling?" I asked him. "In your skull?"

Triptolemus glared at me. "And this is why I love you," Apollo grinned. I grinned up at him.

"Follow me," Triptolemus scowled. He turned and strutted towards the black house. Frank lifted Hazel up bridal style and followed after him quickly. Nico walked behind them, and Apollo, Freya, and I followed after him. "Put her there," Triptolemus said, gesturing to a bed.

"Can you cure her?" Frank asked as he put Hazel on a bed.

"Possibly," Triptolemus shrugged. Apollo opened his mouth to say something, but I elbowed him in the stomach to shut him up.

Frank put his hand over Hazel's nose. "She's not breathing. Nico, please tell me she's not doing that death-trance thing you did in the bronze jar."

Nico frowned. "Hazel's a child of Pluto. I think only children of Hades can do that."

"Hades!" Triptolemus yelled. "That's what I smelled. Children of the Underworld. If I had known that, I never would have let you in. The only reason I let the idiot in-"

"Congratulations," Apollo said sarcastically. "You learned your name."

Triptolemus glared at him. "-is because he's higher up than me."

"Hazel's a good person," Frank frowned. "You promised you'd help her."

"I did no such thing," Triptolemus scowled.

"You're a meanie," Freya glared at him. "Willie told me that you don't like Daddy because he's better than you. Well, my daddy is way nicer than you, and you're a meanie face." Freya walked up to Hazel and jumped up onto the bed next to her. She poked Hazel's side. "Wakie wakie, Hazie." Hazel's eyes fluttered open.

"Fr-freya?" she asked.

Freya giggled and clapped her hands. "Yay, you're awake."

"How did she get so powerful?" Apollo asked in shock. I shrugged.

"That doesn't mean I'll let you go," Triptolemus warned.

"I can beat you," Apollo snarled.

"Not quite. You still haven't recovered your full strength and you know it. Sure, you can still put up quite a fight, but in the end, I'll win. One or two of them may be able to escape while I'm distracted with you, but in the end, they'll still be trapped."

"I'll distract him," Apollo whispered to me. "You and the others make a run for it."

"We're not leaving you behind," I hissed back.

"I'll fix that," Frank said, pointing to Triptolemus' chariot. "If I do, will you let us go?"

"I swear on the Styx," Triptolemus promised. Frank nodded and hugged Hazel.

"I'll be back," he promised.

Apollo and I spent the hour before frank returned playing tic tac toe on old napkins we found laying around. Freya was busy playing with Hazel. Nico kept staring out the window. "He's here," he said just as the door burst open. Frank thrust a live snake into Triptolemus' hands.

"Here," he grunted. Frank looked different. He was even taller now. He surpassed Apollo's six feet two inches by at least another three inches. He looked out of place standing next to Hazel, who was five feet six inches, which was an inch taller than me, might I add. Frank looked fitter too. All his baby fat was gone. Frank pulled something else out of his bag. "Here's your book too. We found it in Bologna." Triptolemus grinned gleefully. He waved his hand and the door flew open. We all rushed out.

"I hate that guy," I grumbled as we grabbed hands for Apollo to bring us back to the ship.

"Me too," Apollo grumbled.