~ The More, the Merrier ~

SAPHIRA

"Nyx? The primordial entity of the night and all things of the darkness, has a mortal child?"

Saphira can barely contain her voice level as she repeats what Nico said in her head, over and over again. Both Percy and Annabeth look pale. Chloe seems to be gravely concerned. Based on how still he went inside her backpack, Saphira assumes Lykos is still trying to process this as well.

"That… shouldn't be possible!" Annabeth exclaims.

"Why? Asteria exists," Nico says.

Annabeth shakes her head. "That's different. Asteria's parent is the embodiment of creation itself. Chaos could have just snapped her into existence. Nyx has no such powers. She would have had to have had… intimacy, with a mortal!"

"We don't know what Nyx could be capable of. We only saw a glimpse of her power down there, and even that was intense," Percy says.

"Even the gods have limited power to create," Chloe points out.

"Very limited," Annabeth says. "It's one thing for them to whip up a beverage out of thin air. It's another to create a living, breathing child!"

Saphira tunes out their debate, losing herself in thought. She thinks over their words, Annabeth's in particular. The daughter of wisdom is right. As powerful as the Protogenoi may be, even they shouldn't be able to just create a child from nothing. The only one that has the power for that is Chaos himself. Nyx being trapped in Tartarus means she could never have had relations with a mortal man to conceive this child, so how did it come into existence?

Then, another thought takes hold.

Nyx couldn't have conceived the child herself, one way or another… but what if she didn't have to? What if it was created for her?

And what if… there are even more primordial children out there?

"We don't know if the kid would be like his mom. We shouldn't rule them off as some evil mongering manifestation of darkness," Chloe says.

"No, but if they are? How would we fight that? Primordial children are crazy powerful, going by what you said about Asteria," Annabeth says.

"You're both right. If the child of Nyx does exist, they could be just as strong as Asteria," Saphira says. "But remember, Asteria didn't know who or what she is, and likely still doesn't. The other might be in the same predicament, which means they're not inherently evil."

"They're not inherently good either," Nico mutters. "But like I said, it's just a theory. That's why Hades told me to keep it between ourselves."

"If the other gods learned of this possibility…" Percy shudders. "I don't even want to think about what they might do."

Saphira nods in agreement. The lord of the sky in particular would not react reasonably to this news.

"So, we do as Nico says," she declares. "We keep this between ourselves, until we can form some sort of plan to deal with it."

The others nod as well. Annabeth looks like she's already thinking hard of any potential plan, as expected of a daughter of Athena.

"For now, we need to get back on track. It'll take our enemies a while to figure out that their forces were destroyed, and longer for them to regroup. I say we have at least a couple days before they send more after us," Saphira says.

"The Minotaur is still alive," Annabeth reminds her, which Saphira curses inwardly over. "But with his eyes and nose out of commission, he won't be tracking us or reporting back to his friends any time soon."

"But when he does, expect him to bring hell. The next time we meet him, he's gonna be royally pissed," Percy says.

Chloe huffs. "Huh. I think pissed is just his normal mood. Anyways, it's probably a good idea if we put some distance between us and here."

"Agreed. I need to get to New Rome ASAP, so I'll be bidding you all farewell," Nico says. Still feeling hopeful that he can be swayed, Saphira stops him again.

"Are you certain that you cannot take us with you in shadow travel?" she asks.

The son of death shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Saphira, but if I try to take all of you with you, it might drain me enough to put me out for a whole day. Shadow traveling across the country by myself is easier, but six people?"

Unwilling to give up so easily, she tries again.

"Not even for one jump? We've been running and fighting all night, and Percy's leg is injured," she says. "We could really use your help."

"My leg's not that bad now that I got a brace," Percy offers, but Saphira shoots him a look that has him backtracking. "But uh, I mean. It would still mean a lot if you'd help us out, man."

Nico raises a brow at him, then closes his eyes and pinches his brow in thought. After a few seconds, his opens his eyes again with a sigh.

"Okay. I'll take you at least to Utah. But after that, I'll have to go on ahead of you," he finally says, then he adds:

"But remember. The longer we stay together, the more likely that monsters will find us. We're two Big Three sons, and an Athena daughter isn't something they ignore either. Our scents together will bring every monster on our ass if we're not careful."

"Monsters should actually be terrified of your scent," Chloe remarks. "And hellhounds shouldn't be bothering you at all."

"Normally, you'd be right, but something weird is going on. Monsters may not be acting the way we're used to," Nico replies. He clasps his hands together. "Now, if you would all be so kind as to step into the shadows with me, and make sure we all hold hands. I'd hate to lose someone halfway through the jump."

Saphira joins hands with Chloe and Percy, who joins hands with Annabeth, and she with Nico. The son of Hades takes them into the dark corner of the now ruined barn, and with a deep breath, closes them in the shadows. Saphira has never shadow traveled before, but to describe her first experience?

Frightening.

Unlike being teleported with Artemis, where it felt like all her molecules being pulled apart and yanked at light speed and put back together within the fraction of a second, this was more like being swallowed by a freezing, featureless void, sucked down into its depths as if there would never be a way out ever again. However, in the blink of an eye, she finds herself back in the mortal plane of existence, but this time in a very different setting.

"I will seriously never get used to that," Percy mutters. The gang is still joined by their hands, and thankfully, everyone is still all together.

Saphira releases Chloe's and Percy's hands to embrace herself, attempting to ward off the discomfort of being transported via absolute darkness.

"I do not think I want to get used to it," she murmurs. She looks at their surroundings. They seem to be in a park, surrounded by trees and farther off, a city around them. Towering buildings that, while they are tall, are sorely outclassed by the bustling city that was Manhattan. Beyond those buildings, Saphira can see mountaintops rising far off in the distance.

Nico sniffles and rubs his nose. "You're welcome. We're in Denver, Colorado, by the way. I shot pretty far for a group this large, so you know what that means?"

"That we owe you one?" Chloe offers.

"You do, but also, it means that I have to take a nap." He yawns and plops down to curl up right there in the grass with his arms beneath his head. "Wake me up in like six hours."

Before anyone can reply, the child of death is snoring away.

"He sleeps like…" Chloe begins, and trails off, but Saphira finishes the thought for her.

"Like the dead," she says.

"I think we should follow his example. After everything that's gone down tonight, we all seriously need some rest," Annabeth says.

"Shouldn't someone keep watch?" Percy says.

Saphira shakes her head, recalling all that occurred. "I do not think we will need to. Our enemies were defeated once again, and we also just jumped into an entirely different state. I think we bought ourselves a couple days before any monsters can pick up our trail again."

As she says this, she feels the events of the night finally catch up to her. Hours fighting and running. She can only imagine how the demigods must feel without the blessing of Artemis. Then again, they are likely used to this by now. Even so, Percy and Annabeth are already following Nico's lead, not even bothering to put up their tent. They simply drop onto the grass and use their backpacks as pillows. Soon, both are just as soundly sleeping as their friend.

"I suppose we aren't using our tent either?" Chloe asks as she unslings her backpack from her shoulders.

"As easy as it is to set, I truly do not have the energy to bother," Saphira says. She too sets down her backpack and unzips it wide enough for the wolf pup inside to wriggle out. As she lays down with her head on her pack, both Chloe and Lykos move to her sides. Both her friends pressing themselves close results in a toasty warmth that more than makes up for the lack of their tent.

Before she knows, she's taken away into the realm of Morpheus.

Author's Note

Very short one this time, folks, but I hope it wasn't too much less enjoyable. So, Nico's joined their merry little band, for now. This could be either good for the gang or bad. Will monsters hone in on them faster now that they have two Big Three kids among them? Or will the son of death keep them at bay? And how much longer will poor Lykos be stuck as a puppy?

As of the moment that this is being posted, the next chapter is roughly one third done. It will be up HOPEFULLY within the week, but as I stated before, I cannot promise anything.

Until next time.