I literally had to re-read chapter 46 because I don't even remember what happened.

Oh yeah I killed Thalia.

• • •

Harry was wincing and cradling his chest, crawling towards the back of the library.

"Excuse me idiot?" Drew yelled at him, throwing mean words his way. "Are you running away just because you broke some bones?"

"Tactical...retreat," he muttered, shooting her a dirty look.

Draco was now protecting both Wilby and Drew with his wand, since Drew's broken arm was making it hard for her to move.

"Hurry Luna, hurry," Ginny prayed. They'd sent Luna out to get help, since they hadn't expected three of the most skilled Night servants to be in a single room. Drew had considered waking Madam Pince, but Araceli had realized what she was thinking and buried the librarian under a mountain of books.

Ethan was fighting Draco and Ron, Araceli was sparring with Ginny, and Drew was distracting the last girl.

Ethan made a quick sudden swipe, and sheared off the tip of Draco's wand.

He said something sweary, and Ron covered for him while he yanked his sword out of his sheath again.

"Hey," Ron panted, "I feel like I'm okay at this."

With those words, Ethan disarmed him. "Easy peasy."

Ron gaped, 'You didn't have to be mean about it!"

Ethan's sword raced towards his throat, but Draco knocked it aside. "It's not nice to decapitate someone."

Ron fumbled as he switched his wand to his dominant hand, "Obscuro!"

As Ethan was distracted with Draco, the unnamed girl with blank black eyes intercepted the spell with a well-thrown book. A blindfold appeared around the book as it thumped to the floor.

This always happened when someone used spells. This girl would stop them.

"Idiot," Ethan snapped. "A blindfold spell? I can fight in pure darkness; that won't work on me."

Ron grumbled a few choice words, but let loose on a tornado of spells, same with Ginny.

Ron sent a spell at Araceli, the girl Ginny was battling, at the same time as Ginny. Araceli was blown backwards through a window, where she tumbled out of sight.

That was fortunate, but unfortunately, sending a spell at her instead of Ethan made him open for a throwing knife in the shoulder.

He howled in pain, "OW this hurts. Oh god."

The crazy book-throwing girl flung her arm back for another throw, but before she could, a random book landed at her feet.

Her throw missed by a hair, and the whistling sound nearly gave Ron a heart attack. She blinked down at the thick old volume, then at Harry, who had thrown it.

The book flipped open, and a column of fire burst forth and scorched her right in the face. She let out a high pitched scream and fell off the table, her clothes in flames. Still screaming, she latched onto Ginny's leg and held on, burning her.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Ginny shrieked. The girl's limbs snapped together and she fell on the floor, but not before Harry extinguished all the flames with a Water-Making Spell.

Harry hurled another book at Ethan, a black one. Ethan sliced the book in half in midair, timing and aiming it so that his sword still met with Draco's.

The old shredded paper scattered everywhere, then seemed to turn into flying insects, which flapped at both Ethan and Draco.

One flew straight at Ethan's eye, and Ginny used his brief moment of vulnerability to sweep his legs out from under him.

"Incarcerous!" Ron yelled. Ethan was wrapped in ropes, so tight he had to drop his sword.

Drew pointed her wand in the air, "Immobulus!" Once the crazy paper butterflies froze, she gaped at Harry, "What did you do?"

"I found my wand," Harry said, waving it. "Oh, you mean the book thing? I got them from the Restricted Section." He glared at her, "I wasn't running away."

"Got it," she mumbled. Then she went off to wake Wilby. Ginny started digging out Madam Pince.

"How do we defeat Nyx?" Draco demanded, shaking Ethan. "Tell us!"

He rolled his eye, "Are you serious? I told you, you can't. She's not Gaea, she's not Kronos. Kronos was prideful. Gaea was capable of loving, but Nyx didn't love anyone. She has no mercy or kindness. It's impossible."

"FREE HIM," someone yelled.

They all spun around to see Araceli, who they'd completely forgotten about. She had climbed back up the side of the castle, her fingers white as she gripped the windowsill. She raised her left arm, revealing that she was holding onto someone. Someone whose voice was muffled, like they'd been gagged. "Cut Nakamura free, or I'll drop this blondie into the fire at the ground floor."

"Fire?" Harry repeated.

"Yes, fire," she sneered. "The battle's not going well outside."

"We won't cut him free," Drew said, planting her feet.

Harry looked at her horrified, "There's an innocent person about to be dropped—"

"They can't be worth cutting Ethan free," she said indifferently. In truth, she was thinking that villains never kept promises, and that Ara was going to drop the person anyway. Might as well try and get a better deal.

"I like the way you think," Ara said reluctantly, her black eyes flashing and blonde hair flying in the wind and smoke. "A bit Roman, all about sacrifice. But hey, I don't care if you decide to free him or not. I'm dropping Luna Lovegood either way. So bye bye!"

She opened her hand.

They all raced to the windowsill. Ara leapt past them, towards the bad-tempered tied up Ethan.

None of them got there.

Nico di Angelo materialized in front of Ara, with his sword to her neck and Luna beside him.

"H...how," Ara's eyes couldn't get any wider. Then her brain found the answer, "She Iris Messaged you. That's why—"

"That's why you found her in the bathroom," Nico interrupted. "Yeah, I was down at the ground. Looked up and saw you crawling in there, grabbing her, and then climbing here. Good thing I caught you both in time."

Luna spat out something that looked like a torn piece from her robe. "I'm very sorry it took so long. There was a hellhound."

Nico scanned the library, which had four hapless Night servants. "You guys did good." He narrowed his eyes at Ara, "Now pray tell us how to defeat Nyx. Would the strategy with Gaea work?"

She laughed. "Absolutely not, because you can't actually destroy her."

"Then where's Hemera?"

She went silent. "I'm sure she's somewhere around here."

"You don't know?"

"Mother didn't tell me!"

"You better stop with these lies Minerva girl."

"Don't tell him anything!" Ethan shouted.

Ara growled at him.

Nico glared at them both.

Are rolled her eyes, " I suppose I don't actually care much for the goddess of night. Hemera's in the Chamber of Secrets."

"Araceli!" Ethan wailed, looking like he was in actual pain.

"I don't care," she snapped. "I don't like mother. I only did all this out of fear."

"Get word to Annabeth," Nico said, nodding to Draco. "The rest of us will deal with these four."

• • •

Annabeth was a whirlwind of motion. She was outside now, having swapped with Jason, Piper, and Hermione. Percy was trying to put out a fire that had started on one side of the school. When the Iris Message popped up, it did nothing to disturb her.

"This girl says Hemera's in the Chamber," Nico said, making it quick. "I know she's telling the truth."

"She's going appear from the ominous vortex? We figured that much."

"She'll appear at sundown," Araceli shouted from the background. "I don't know how it works, or why she's not already there. Nyx doesn't want to give you much of an opportunity to free her I guess."

Ethan was lying facedown on the floor, looking depressed. "We're all dead," he said darkly.

"We might live," Ginny said.

"What is life?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, then shot a Cushioning Charm at a student who'd gotten pushed off a balcony.

"How many people do you think we'll need?" Nico asked.

She thought, "Assuming that she's only guarded by the mist? I'd say five, maybe even three. Preferably people who are very close. The shadow things might be less effective if they have each other."

"Right, and everyone else will come out to distract Nyx. We still have no plan on that. Are the gods going to help?"

Annabeth cut down a laistrygonian, "Doubt it. Even Zeu—I mean, the sky god—was afraid of her. They'll interfere only if we're all killed."

Nico muttered something angrily. "I'll tell the others."

"Thanks, Nico."

The connection cut.

"Who's going down?" Drew asked. "Can I—"

"I'd prefer demigods," Nico said. He really meant it better be demigods. "And you don't count," he added. "You're pretty much mortal. Nyx is a demigod danger, okay? Your kind of magic won't work against the mist thingy she makes. It's better that you distract her on the surface, where there's like, slightly more light. There's going to be more action here, anyway."

Drew was sold, "Never mind, I'm staying here."

"I have to go down," Harry said, "this is my home, and my responsiblity just as much as yours. You guys came to help us, not to do the work for us."

"Hey," Draco said, "I know you hate me, but listen. Freeing Hemera might be the way to defeat Nyx, but distracting her—or fighting her—is just as important.

"Yeah," Nico agreed. "So stop arguing and leave Hemera to us."

"Oh," Harry said. "Fine then."

Nico made sure the ropes were tight enough on all the defeated Night servants. He glanced at everyone else, including Madam Pince, who was dazed but alive, and Wilby, who was humming "Shake It Off" to himself. Nico gave him a concerned look, then barked, "All of you, get out of here and fight. Downstairs needs lots of help. There's still a ton of monsters out there, both mythical and magical."

Harry was about to leave, but Nico stopped him, "Harry, wait. Mind telling me how to open the Chamber of Secrets? I'd prefer doing it more quietly than busting the doors open."

"Sure." Harry made some Parseltongue hissy noises.

Nico copied him.

"No," Harry waved a disapproving hand. "You need to lose that American accent of yours."

Nico wasn't aware that accents were discernable when speaking Parseltongue. "What."

"Never mind, it's close enough. You're still saying 'open', but with that accent it sounds less fancy."

"...go away."

Harry did.

Nico not only tied all the bad guys up, he tied them to the ground so they couldn't scoot over and untie each other with their teeth or something. "Sit tight guys."

"What difference does it make?" Ethan asked. "I'm going to die."

"Stop being so morbid," Ara snapped. "You're making me want to die."

• • •

Thalia survived.

Right after the sword pierced her, Piper McLean had come to her side. She'd been about to run into the castle to switch places with Annabeth. The empousa who'd stabbed Thalia exploded into dust once Katropis chopped off her head.

"You Graces always getting stabbed," Piper grumbled through stuffing ambrosia in Thalia's mouth.

Then Jason squatted down too, his glasses cracked. "Sis, stay with me. I—"

"You got stabbed," she accused. "When?"

"It's not important!" Piper interrupted. "Thalia, you are going to heal. Trust me on this."

"Schist, I'm out of unicorn powder," Jason fretted. He shook off his jacket and pressed it to the wound, which was thankfully not smoking.

"Thalia, no, stay awake," Piper commanded, her kaleidoscopic eyes boring into her very soul. "Stay still and stay alive. I'm going to try some spells."

Then Dumbledore appeared in front of them, and with a flick of his wand, Thalia felt everything stop. She wasn't breathing; she wasn't moving at all. The blood had stopped flowing out of her. She'd been frozen.

"Just relax," he said calmly. "Jason, Piper, you did good. Hurry off to your posts, now. She'll be fine."

He gently took her arm and Disapparated, and the Hospital Wing came into view.

Madam Pomfrey was there in a flash, and Will Solace was there too, helping her. The reinforcements from the camps had finally arrived.

Thalia lay there wishing she could fight.

"It was a normal steel sword," Will assured her. "I mean, it was poisoned a little, but just a little. It won't take that long to heal."

She sure hoped so. She didn't want to spend another battle being unable to do anything.

Turning to the window, she watched the sun fall out of sight.

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Don't you love it when I pretend I killed someone? First Wilby, now Thalia. Haha.

Jk. I truly meant to kill those two, but couldn't.

I just couldn't, especially with y'all screaming in the comments.

But I sort of want someone to die, because it just..I don't know, makes the story more meaningful. So I'm starting to muster up the courage and strength to actually commit the murder. You guys can still expect a main character's death, alright?

Peace out ☮