After much debate, Will and I finally convinced Luke that the only way to get out of this nightmare was to get to the Doors of Death, kill all the monsters inside the elevator, and decide what to do once we were back in the mortal world.

"News flash," Luke said, "monsters can smell demigods, and we're not exactly children of Iris if you're catching my drift."

"I'll take care of that," I said, fishing through my bag, my hand closing around the extra charms I carried with me everywhere. I handed both boys their stars, watching as they threaded them onto their Camp Half-Blood necklaces, hidden by the end of summer beads. "They dampen your scent."

"Are you wearing one?" Will asked, pointing to my bracelet.

"Even if I was, it wouldn't work on me," I said. "They only work on demigods. That being said, if things go horribly wrong, you'll get into the elevator and leave me here."

"What, Andy-?!" they protested, but I cut across them, saying, "If something happened to me, I'll reform – you won't. I can't lose you. I'm not doing this to be a hero but because I'm selfish, and I want you both to live and get back to the mortal world. Understand?"

"Andromeda Lilliana Collins, I refuse-"

"Please don't argue with me about this, Luke." I sheathed my knives at my waist, freeing my hands. Then I cupped Luke's face in my hands, gently tracing his cheekbones with my thumbs and taking in the feeling of him being here, alive, and free from Tartarus at last. I pulled his face closer to mine, closing the distance between our lips and savoring the familiar pressure of his lips of mine, of the way he tasted of salt and blood. Life's too short to not enjoy little pleasures like kissing your boyfriend. "I care about you, Lucas Oliver Castellan, and I want you to get out of here, even if it means leaving me behind. I'll be okay, I promise."

"But what about me?" Luke clutched my hands in his own. "I won't be okay knowing that I left you down here to save my own skin."

"Wow, I feel so loved," Will retorted, rolling his eyes.

Luke ignored him and continued. "I won't be okay if something happened to you. I love you too much for that."

"Well, we'll all die down here if we don't start moving soon," Will said. He pointed towards the cliff overlooking the River Acheron, where masses of shadows were starting to grow restless. "They don't look too friendly, and I seriously doubt a spartoi's femur would do much damage against the children of Night."

"You're right, Will." I unsheathed my knives again, adjusting my grip on their hilts. "Let's go before we become someone's breakfast."

Despite being able to see the Doors of Death looming in the distance, it wasn't a hop, skip, and a jump away, taking us hours to even get what might've been halfway between the Mansion of Night and the Doors.

Personally, I was doing fine physically, Salina's energy having given me enough strength to keep moving despite any pain or discomfort I might've been in. Screw the fact that every bone in my body ached, that every muscle trembled from overexertion – the only thing stopping me now was death. However, Luke and Will were still mortals, so we had to stop occasionally for food, water, and rest. As far as rest went, I'd sling one of the boys across my shoulders in a fireman's carry and let them sleep there while I kept the conversation going with the other, not wasting time in that way.

Right now, Will hung limply over my shoulders, snoring softly as Luke and I continued walking, our feet aching as the terrain underfoot transformed from uncomfortable to damn near impossible to walk on. I swear, I've almost stepped in a pothole at least seven different times and nearly sprained my ankles at least fifteen times by now. My knee didn't appreciate the rough terrain either, a swear leaving my lips every other word, much to Luke's amusement.

Luke didn't seem to be doing much better, being cautious about where he'd step, taking a split second to see if the ground would hold his weight before moving forward. In one hand, he still held his sharpened bone, and in the other, he held Epithymia, its glow much more subdued in his hand than in my own. I figured if worse came to pass, I wanted Luke to have his weapon of choice, not just a femur.

"So," Luke said, clearing his throat. "Are we going to talk about what I said earlier?"

"What about it?"

"You know, the three words that I said?"

"My full name?"

"No, not that." Luke hesitated for a moment. He swallowed hard and said, "I love you. I said that to you for the first time today."

I stopped dead in my tracks, turning to face Luke, the blood draining from my face. "Oh, gods. I'm sorry for doing that in a place like this. You deserved to say that in a much happier place, at a much better time."

Luke laughed bitterly. "Don't apologize that this isn't Camp Half-Blood. It's not your fault that we're here."

"But it is," I groaned miserably. "If I hadn't helped Jason-"

"Hera would've been destroyed, and a giant would've been resurrected. Being captured was worth delaying Mother Earth's plans, even if it only lasted a few months."

A watery laugh escaped my lips. "How can you say that? How is it that you don't hate my guts for not coming earlier? How are you coping so well with this?"

"I never said I was doing a good job coping." Luke wiped some sweat away from his forehead with the back of his hand. "I'm doing a good job of masking the pain, but I'm not coping, not by a longshot."

I cringed. "Sorry."

"Don't be. You weren't the one who liked to play with us like worthless dummies."

"I could probably help with your injuries if they're hurting, or…"

"No, no, it's fine." Luke moved his hand closer to his stomach, which had probably been sliced open countless times over the course of the past six months. He then glanced down at his forearm and frowned. What was he hiding from me? His hand curled into a tight fist around Epithymia's hilt. "Maybe when we get back to camp, but for the time being, I'll survive."

Just then, Will started thrashing on my back, so I had to put him down before he fell off. He went to scream, but I clapped a hand over his mouth while Luke tried to wake him up. I grimaced as I felt Will bite my hand, but once his eyes flew open and he realized what was going on, he let go.

"Sorry about that, Andy," Will said, wiping away stray tears with the back of his hand.

"Don't sweat it, kid." I looked at my hand, glad that he hadn't broken any skin. I seriously didn't feel like fighting off an infection at the moment. "Here, have some chocolate. You'll feel better."

I handed over one of my fun-sized Snicker bars, and Will chewed thoughtfully, his breathing finally slowing enough that he wasn't hyperventilating anymore. I brushed away the last of his tears with the pads of my thumbs, holding him until he stopped trembling.

"Andy," Will said, his voice impossibly soft, "I'm scared. I want to go home."

As if I needed another reason to want to tear Tartarus's face off. Nico and Will, both of them newly fourteen, were forced to suffer unspeakable horrors. Because as much death and destruction as Will has seen, being here was nothing compared to the mortal world.

This was one of my best friends, one of the most positive souls on the entire planet, wanting nothing more than to go home and live to see the next day.

Gods, I'm going to murder Tartarus.

"You'll go home, I promise. But we have to keep going to do that. Can you stand?"

Will got to his feet, exhaling one last shaky breath before holding out a hand towards me. "Can I use your bow? I don't like being here unarmed."

I handed Will my bow and quiver. Not wanting to be caught unprepared, he notched an arrow onto the string but didn't draw back the string, merely holding it in such a way that he could fire if he had to.

With that being settled, the three of us continued our trek onward, fighting whenever necessary and doing our best to not attract any unwanted attention. As we got closer to the horde of monsters waiting to enter the Doors of Death, I began distancing myself from Luke and Will, hoping that even if I was sensed, they'd come after me first.

I would die before I'd let anything happen to my friends.

It took us a grand total of thirteen hours, fifty-three minutes, and fifty-six seconds to reach the plateau that overlooked the Doors of Death, every muscle in our bodies crying for us to rest. And if my muscles felt like they were on fire, I wondered how Luke and Will must've been feeling.

I turned around, frowning at the sight of either boy holding onto the other like a human crutch. Okay, I had to find somewhere for us to rest, because there's absolutely no way we could even get close to the Doors of Death and survive in these conditions.

There weren't any caves nearby, much to my disappointment, and I knew we had to keep moving because I could hear the demonic cries of the arai heading this way, wailing about how they wished to place gods know how many curses on us.

I walked towards the edge of the plateau, small pebbles tumbling off the side from my footsteps. Watching the pebbles, I got an idea. It was definitely on the far-fetched side of things, but we probably didn't have much of a choice at this point. And seeing that Will was struggling to stay awake, most of his weight supported by Luke so that he wasn't face first on the ground, I knew we were running out of time.

Will suffered the most out of the three of us – children of the sun god can't thrive in this much darkness. He needed genuine sunlight, something I couldn't provide in this pit of eternal night. Since he'd been here for six months, I could only imagine how weak he must've been feeling at the moment.

"Hang tight for a sec," I told Luke, still eyeing the edge of the cliff.

Then in my infamous reckless fashion, I pushed myself off the edge, holding on by my fingertips as I kicked around in search of a foothold. Once I found a foothold, I began a slow descent down the precipice, moving in every which way until I finally found a large opening in the rock. I grabbed a loose stone and chucked it down the opening, waiting for something to lash out or try to rip my face off.

Luckily enough, nothing responded.

I pushed myself towards the opening, only dropping down once I was sure that the floor would hold my weight. I walked towards the back of the cave, which wasn't very far in, about ten feet at most, and now that I knew nothing lived here, I decided that this seemed like the type of place where we could spend the night.

Pulling out some rope from my bag, I tied the end of the rope to a large stalactite at the mouth of the cave and climbed up again, where I found Luke pacing back and forth nervously, constantly on the lookout for monsters, while Will slept fitfully at his feet.

"Thank God I spent so much time on that climbing wall," Luke said when I told him my plan. He strapped Epithymia and the femur bone to his back before beginning his descent, trailing next to the rope.

As for Will, with the remaining rope, I tied him to my back as if he was a backpack and started to climb back down, ignoring the stinging feeling in my hands as I kept moving downwards, away from the screeching arai and bloodthirsty daemons that quickly approached.

Once I was in the cave with Luke, I set Will down against one of the walls and reached into my bag, where I had a lighter. Now if I could just find some fuel…

"Damn," I swore, shoving the lighter back in my bag. "The only wood was around Damasen's hut, and I didn't stop by there. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Hey, don't do that," Luke said, catching my hands, preventing me from continuing my vicious face-palming. "There's not that much wind in here. We should be fine."

As he said that, I became painfully aware of the sound of Will's chattering teeth. Maybe I could try to summon fire, I mean, Tartarus was still sleeping at the moment. Maybe whatever restrictions he had against a god's powers had weakened during his two-day nap.

Then again, I had controlled time and paid the price for it. I couldn't afford to weaken myself so drastically before our great escapade, not if I was going to have the energy to do what I had to do to get my friends out of here alive.

Finally, my memory started functioning again, and I started thanking every god under the sun that I went to school with people who were perpetually freezing. I got onto my knees and shoved both arms into my bag, rummaging around until my hands finally closed around the soft fabric, pulling it out so intensely that I landed flat on my back.

"Always prepared," I mumbled, draping the huge, fluffy blanket over Will's curled up body, making sure to prop some of the blanket under his head so that he didn't cut his face while he slept. I rummaged around even more and found my second blanket. "Come here," I told Luke, patting the ground next to me.

He sat down beside me, and I wrapped the blanket around our shoulders, pressing the both of us closer together. I relished in the heat radiating from his body, suddenly aware of just how cold I'd been until now. I rubbed my hands together in an attempt to warm them, the pins and needle feeling having gone on for so long that I'd become immune to the sensation.

"You know," Luke said, "if I had to be stuck in Tartarus with someone, I'm glad I'm stuck here with you."

My cheeks burned. Somehow, despite the darkness, Luke was still able to make out my blush, and he laughed before pressing a gentle kiss onto my forehead.

"I'll take the first watch," I said, drawing different symbols in the glassy sand that was the floor with the tips of my knives. "Get some rest."

"I think I'll take you up on your offer." Luke yawned, placing an arm over my shoulders. "Goodnight, love. Wake me up in four hours."

"Okay," I lied. No, he needed his rest, and so did Will. I'd take guard duty for the whole night, and they could both get at least eight hours before we absolutely had to move. Plus, I'd found a way to have my physical body rest while keeping my mind alert, so I would do just that.

Luke snuggled his head into the crook of my neck, and within a few seconds, he was sound asleep.

Like I promised myself, I woke the boys eight hours later. For breakfast, I handed out some cereal bars and water bottles, which we all quickly downed. Though I was fine with a single water bottle, I gave Luke and Will as many as they wanted (I'd packed like three or four entire cases in my bag, so I could do that) until it was finally time to move.

I packed away the blankets and finished breaking down camp, taking the garbage with us if only to keep our tracks covered. Once I was sure that we were good to go, I tied off the rope to a sturdy looking stalagmite and tied Will onto my back again. He didn't argue, telling me that it was a miracle that he could still stand on his two feet at this point.

Luke and I shared a worried glance, but I could tell we were on the same page. Will was fading fast, so the sooner we could get out of here, the better.

It took a lot of sweating and cursing and general feelings of discomfort before our feet finally touched the webbed flooring that was Tartarus's heart, the elevated webbing throbbing like an unsteady pulse. If I punctured one of these veins, water from one of the five rivers would explode in my face, so I made sure to keep my knives from dangling too low in my grip.

After setting Will back on the ground, the three of us began walking towards the Doors of Death. Now, I don't know about the others, but I felt this pull in my gut drawing me towards the Doors, and any step back caused my innards to feel like they were being burned with acid.

"How are we going to get to the Doors?" Will asked once we came to the edge of the horde, the three of us pressed tightly against the backside of a large rock to avoid being seen. "The second we move away from this rock, we're going to be detected."

"I'll cause a distraction," Luke said, his face grim. Once again, he looked down at his arm, frowning. What wasn't he showing us, showing me? "Then you two get to the Doors and get the hell out of here."

"Woah there, tiger," I said, grabbing hold of Luke's arm before he could go and play scapegoat without hearing any alternatives. He hissed in pain at my grip, and I immediately let go. He hid his arm behind him when I tried to catch a glimpse of it. "As much as we appreciate the sentiment, we'd still get caught even if you did cause a diversion. There are too many monsters. We need to move around undetected."

"Well, unless you have something in that bag of yours, I don't know how we'll get through."

I stayed silent, summoning my bag.

Luke's jaw dropped. "Okay, fine, you win. What's this plan of yours?"

My fingers curled around a vial I'd become all too familiar with over the past few months, the ridges and curves of the glass as distinctive as my own name. Inside held a potion that I'd nearly killed myself brewing, and even then, it was only enough for two people.

I took out the vial and an empty vial, pouring the black liquid evenly between both vials before pressing them into Luke and Will's hands. "Drink this," I said, glancing behind me when I thought I heard something heading this way. "You'll turn into pure darkness, blending in with everything else. You'll still be able to move around and see, but no one can see you, not even me."

Will's face blanched. "What about you? There's not enough left for you."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about me. I'll take care of a disguise for myself. All I want for you two to do is to get to the Doors. Don't draw attention to yourself, and you'll be fine. But please remember that while you may not be seen, you can be heard and felt, so be careful."

"I'm not drinking this until I know you'll be safe," Luke said, eyeing the vial like he was prepared to smash it on the ground.

"Luke, I'll-"

"No, I want proof."

I merely sighed and shut my eyes, imagining myself transforming into a dracaena, my legs fusing together into a scaly, slithering serpent's tail, wicked sharp fangs protruding from my mouth. My curly brown hair straightened until it was as sleek as a wig, reaching down to the small of my back. I'd sheathed my knives and concealed my bracelet, and knowing the snake women's weapon of choice, I now held a spear, the tip a dark red and coated with barbed wire.

When I opened my eyes, I had to blink a few times, thoroughly disoriented by the fact that I could only see in infrared light instead of visible light. Will and Luke were nothing more than blobs of red and orange in my vision, but I could still make out their outlines.

"Happy?" I asked, cringing at the feeling of the forked tongue that now resided in my mouth.

"Andy, I say this in the kindest way possible," Will said, "but what the hell?!"

"Gods can change their shape into anything, and seeing that I'm the goddess of snakes, I figured this would be as good a monster as any." I shrugged. "Oh, and I forgot, that potion only lasts for an hour, so we need to get moving the second you take it. Follow me if you want, but if we get separated, head straight for the Doors. Understand?"

"Understood," both boys said, placing the vial to their lips before downing it in one go. Their bodies convulsed for a few seconds, and when I blinked, their heat signatures had disappeared from my field of view.

"You guys there?" I asked, finally slithering out from behind the rock, heading towards the rest of the horde.

"Right behind you," Luke whispered. "Lead the way."

I gave an imperceptible nod and moved forward, deciding that the best way to do this without getting noticed would be to skirt the edges. That worked for a bit until a few other dracaenae slithered towards me, their fangs bared like they wanted to tear my throat out.

"Where have you been?" the one on my left demanded, her red hair glowing so brightly I thought that she was going to catch fire. "Because of you, we missed our time slot." She held up a blue card that had the number seven written on it. "We went from A-35 to Blue Seven! Do you know how time consuming that is?"

"Oh, calm down, Liv," the one on the right admonished. "Sylvia here was probably flirting with that hunk of a Cyclops, Joe Bob! Isn't that right, Syl?"

"Even if that was the case," Liv seethed, "we have to wait another five minutes to have our turn in the Doors! I really wanted to go to Rome, where we could definitely have some fun with those demigods heading our way. Now we're going to be sent to New York, ugh. It's so cliché."

"Sorry for wanting to say goodbye to a possible boyfriend before being sent to different parts of the globe," I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest, quickly falling into character. Thank the gods for Dionysus' acting lessons! "And as much as New York is a cliché, it's rife with demigods for the picking."

Liv nodded her head. "It seems that you're using that brain of yours for once because you're absolutely right. Gods, it's been so long since I tore into a demigod. There's nothing like the thrill of the hunt and then watching the light fade from their eyes when you're victorious."

My stomach churned violently. No wonder we had to be prepared to fight off these kinds of monsters, especially if they viewed us as prey to play with at their disclosure.

Before the conversation of how much fun it was to kill demigods could continue, the Titan Krios called out, "Blue Seven, all members of Blue Seven approach the Doors!"

"Come on, Syl," the one on the right, who still hadn't introduced herself, said, linking her arm through mine. "Time to go wreak some havoc."

I allowed myself to be dragged forward, praying to every single god in existence that Luke and Will were following me right now.

It took a few minutes to get situated, but once the whole group (gaggle, flock, what do you call a horde of dracaenae?) was safely inside the elevator, Krios pressed the button from the outside, forcing the Doors shut. Seeing that I was towards the front, it became my responsibility to hold the Doors shut for the twelve minute long ascent, giving me too much time to overanalyze the painfully familiar art deco designs etched onto the doors. But instead of going to and from Olympus, I was going back to the mortal world from the depths of Hell.

As the next few minutes ticked on, I heard both Luke and Will finally speak to me, causing my shoulders to visibly sag with relief. I wanted to let go of the Doors and hug them, but if I did that, we'd be flung God knows where, so I resisted the urge and held the Doors shut.

"We only have five minutes until we reach the mortal world," Luke whispered, and I felt his hand brush over my own, having slipped as he was helping me keep the Doors closed as well. "What are we going to do about these monsters?"

A moment later, I felt something within me snap, and suddenly I felt my powers coursing through my veins at full force, like someone had flipped a switch within me.

"I'll take care of it."

With one low, guttural scream a golden explosion burst from my chest, freezing everything in the elevator, including Luke and Will. The Doors started to slide open, causing me to swear under my breath as I reanimated my friends before turning my focus onto the dracaenae currently in our presence.

I whipped out my knives and ran through every snake woman until the three of us were the only ones left in the elevator, gold dust littering the floor underfoot. I then had the boys crack open the doors just a bit, and with a wave of my hands, I swept all the dust out of the elevator, preventing any of the dracaenae from reforming in here with us.

When I finally let go of the time bonds, I collapsed onto my knees, sweat streaming down my face as I heaved, gasping for breath. My hands shook so badly that it was a miracle they were still able to keep me upright, and on second glance, I noticed that once again my fingertips had started to fade away. Gods, Nico and Bob were going to kill me the second they found out.

"Andy, are you okay?" Luke asked, turning to face me. That's when I realized the potion had worn off – it hadn't seemed like an hour, but time runs differently in Tartarus – and he accidentally let go of the Doors.

The wind violently swirled around the enclosed space, pulling me towards the opening. Luke slammed the Doors shut again at the last second, narrowly avoiding slicing my feet off. With the Doors precariously closed, I managed to crawl towards the back, shaking violently all the way, and emptied my stomach of its contents. Afterward, I trembled even worse than before, watching as the translucency climbed past my fingertips and towards my palms.

"Damn it," Luke swore, reaching out with one hand and repeatedly hitting the UP button on his side of the elevator. "Hold on, Andy, you'll be okay. Will, take care of her. I'll hold the Doors."

"No," I gasped out, my voice raw. "I'm fine."

"You are not fine," Will said, pausing to see how Luke was doing when he let go. When Luke proved that he could hold the Doors closed without Will's help, Will dropped next to me, gasping when he felt around for my hands. He found them, and I could feel his warmth flooding into me, but he didn't understand why he couldn't see them. "My gods, your hands!"

I grit my teeth, trying to force myself to stop shaking. "It's fine."

"People's hands don't just disappear, Andy! This is not fine!"

"Will, what's going on?" Luke asked.

"Nico," I cried, feeling my grip on reality starting to slip away. "I want Nico."

"Nico isn't here," Will said softly, his eyes glazed over with unshed tears. "Remember?"

"I remember."

Then I felt my eyes roll into the back of my head and faded away to the sound of Will and Luke shouting my name.