Nico turned and gave me a wicked grin. He had his long hair pulled back into a pony, he had grown a bit more. He added a black and metal spikes bracelet to his emo punk look. His black ripped jeans, his black t shirt with a skull, his black Stygian iron sword at his side. But he seemed a little more relaxed since I saw him a few weeks ago.

I held my arms wide open as I walked closer. I actually let out a relieved laugh. The angry tears were forgotten momentarily.

Nico left the dog and came over and gave me a quick squeeze but pulled away with a deep frown.

"What's wrong? Who am I cursing?"

"Annabeth is just... I don't want to talk about it. I've dealt with bullies all my life and that's all she is right now."

"I don't mind cursing her. I'll summon some dead and I can take care of it for you!"

"Thanks Nico. But I'll be fine." 

I gave him a tight smile and wiped the glowing gold tears from my cheeks. His narrowed eyes and clamped jaw made him look a lot older than he was. He looked angry and absolutely capable of doing something unspeakable if I asked him to, but I felt my heart swell. After everything Percy had told me last year about this kid, and everything we had been through and he had told me...I felt honored he felt so protective.

"So why are you here?"

"Can't I just come see my one friend and pet a dog?"

"You can, that would be nice. But you only show up here when you need me...so. What do you need?"

"You make me sound...so heartless."

"Is Nico Di Angelo saying he actually has a heart?!"

"Eww no. Gross. Don't start that rumor."

I smirked at him. I walked over to Miss O'Leary who had started whining because she wanted belly rubs again.

"You're right, cold and black and dead inside."

"Thank you."

He walked back over to me and the dog.

"Fine. There is something. And I need you for it."

"I knew it. When do we leave?"

"Now if possible."

"Do I have time to pack a bag?"

Nico looked down at his wrist and dramatically rolled his eyes. "I guess."

"Oh chill. I'll be 10 minutes."

I took off towards my cabin. With everyone in the council meeting or chores the cabin was empty. I grabbed my bag, throwing my water bottle, a few Nectar Aid juice boxes, a few prepackaged Ambrosia cookies, my travel UV light, batteries, wallet of mortal and Drachmas, first aid kit and an extra t shirt. I strapped my knives around my hips and wrote a quick note to Will and Kayla saying I'd be back in a bit and left the cabin.

My bow and quiver of magic arrows are always in pendant form on my bracelet of charms. I had taken the pearl and she'll from Aphrodite off and tossed them, I wasn't going to keep those. But I had my bead from last summer, the bow pendant, the Phoenix feather, and Raph had got me a sun and music note and sunflower pendant- I'm positive Beckendorf had made them. But it was sweet and I loved them.

I shrugged my backpack on and met Nico in the training field. Miss O'Leary was wrestling a training dumby. But came bounding over to me when I walked into the area.

I smiled. She was such a big suck, sure she looked big and scary, would probably rip a head off only if certain people asked her to. But right now she was trying to lick me and I did not want to be showered in dog drool.

When I made the sign to stop and sit, she skidded to a stop and sat and then laid down, her head between her paws, her tail thumping on the ground. Nico watched with a mild surprise. But shook his head.

"Ready? I wanna leave before we're caught."

"Yeah. Come on Emo Grandpa."

"I'm never going to get ride of that name, am I?"

"Nope. So. Where we going?"

"Ever shadow travelled?"

"Nope. Seen you do it though."

Nico gave me a twisted smile. He turned to Miss O'Leary and whispered something into She tilted her head, suddenly alert.

"Hop on board," Nico told me.

I'd never considered riding a dog before, but Mrs. O'Leary was certainly big enough. I climbed onto her back and held her collar.

"This will make her very tired," Nico warned, "so you can't do it often. And it works best at night. But all shadows are part of the same substance. There is only one darkness, and creatures of the Underworld can use it as a road, or a door."

"You coming?"

"I'll meet you there. It's not far, so we'll be fine. Tell her central Park New York, The Door of Orpheus."

I stared at him for a moment. He blinked back at me expectantly. 

"Nico." I signed, "I'm mute. I cannot talk." 

His eyes went wide in realization. "Oh right. I forgot." 

"Lucky you."  I rolled my eyes. "So How do I drive this thing?" 

He groaned and made me move back and climbed on in front of me. He leaned down and whispered something into the dogs ear. She cocked her head and then took a running leap and I thought we would drive Miss O'Leary right head first into the bleachers, but we somehow became one with shadows.

I don't recommend shadow travel if you're scared of:

a) The dark

b) Cold shivers up your spine

c) Strange noises

d) Going so fast you feel like your face is peeling off

In other words, I thought it was awesome. One minute I couldn't see anything. I could only feel Mrs. O'Leary's fur and my arms wrapped around Nico's thin waist. Just when I thought my ears would explode from the pressure, my lungs were restricted and I thought I was going to suffocate, the shadows melted into a new scene. 

We were standing in Central Park, in the middle of a patch of trees, a big pile of boulders took up one section. We slid off Miss O'Leary who wobbled. I patted her snout, she gave me a big huge toothy yawn that would have scared anyone. 

"She needs a nap, but it wasn't far, as soon as we get into the underworld, she'll wake up."  

I nodded, as I scratched her ear. I turned to Nico, "So. The Doors of  Orpheus...he was the dude with the lyre..." 

Nico nodded, he looked nervous. I raised my eyebrow. "What's up?"  

"Umm...Well, the doors need to be opened." 

"Okay...I'm not following."

"It needs music to open." 

"...Okay..."  I wasn't following, maybe it was the shadow travelling that made my brain mushy, but I really had no idea what he was getting at.

"How's your singing?" 

"NICO! I'm MUTE! You are the only person in a year I've been able to hear  and only because you can work around a curse!" 

"Right."  I could see the sheepish look on his face. 

 "Can't you just, like, tell it to open? You're the son of Hades and all."

"It's not so easy. We need music." 

"Well, good thing you can sing." 

"No." 

"Dude. Did you not think this through? I can't sing. I also cant hear. So...have at 'er. Sing to your hearts content. It's a mute point."  I said as I folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at him. Waiting expectantly. 

"You mean moot." He rolled his eyes.

"I said what I meant."  

Nico snorted at my terrible pun. But I was quite pleased with it. He ran a hand down his pale face, but he turned towards the pile of rocks. He cut the link and opened his mouth. I didn't hear his voice, but the boulders trembled. A few moments later they cracked open, revealing a triangular crevice. 

I peered inside. Steps led down into the darkness. The air smelled of mildew and death. It brought back bad memories of my trip through the Labyrinth last year, but this tunnel felt even more dangerous. It led straight to the land of Hades, and that was almost always a one-way trip. My stomach twisted, and I looked at Nico. This didn't seem to bother him at all. Miss O'Leary sniffed the entrance and let out a woof and leapt around a few times, like she was excited. She  led the way down the steps. It was a pretty tight fit. I hoped she wouldn't get stuck. I couldn't imagine how much Drano we'd need to un-stick a hellhound wedged halfway down a tunnel to the Underworld.

"Ready?" Nico asked me. "It'll be fine. Don't worry."

"Who says I'm worried?" 

"Your pale, and your hand is sparking." 

"Well...I'm the daughter of a Sun Titan and Sunshine god...not a fan of dark and enclosed places..." 

"Nora...It's going to be okay. I'm not going to leave you. And this isn't a dangerous thing." 

I gave him a small smile. I inhaled deeply and nodded. I glanced up letting the sun shine on my face for a last second, wondering if I would ever enjoy the warmth again. Then we plunged into darkness. 

The stairs went on forever—narrow, steep, and slippery. It was completely dark except for the light of my sword. I tried to go slow, but Mrs. O'Leary had other ideas. She bounded ahead, barking happily. The sound echoed through the tunnel like cannon shots, and I figured we would not be catching anybody by surprise once we reached the bottom.

I froze. 

"Nico!" I screamed in my head. 

He scrambled back up the narrow stairs as quickly as he could. "What? Nora! Are you hurt? What happened?" 

"Say something. Out loud." 

"Umm...Why?" 

I gasped. I clamped my hands over my ears and then squeezed my eyes closed and then let my hands flop down. I could hear the thumps and woofs of Miss O'Leary echoing off the walls. 

"I can hear!" I yelped. "Nico! I can talk!" 

"Clearly." He said dryly. 

"Why? What's going on?" I cried again. It was crazy that I had hearing all of a sudden, after being silent for an entire year, learning to deal with silence and not being able to speak. It was such an intense feeling. Nico was frowning slightly, and his dark sad eyes were looking at me thoughtfully. Studying my face, before he spoke.

"You have a living curse. Anything living doesn't belong in the land of the dead. So I guess that includes your curse. Just like I can speak to you around the the curse." 

"Whoa." I shook my head in disbelief. 

After another hour, I started to hear the roar of a river. Despite it being in the Underworld, I grinned from ear to ear being able to actually hear! I probably talked Nico's ear off, but I didn't care, it was the first time in ever I could hear and talk! We eventually emerged at the base of a cliff, on a plain of black volcanic sand. To our right, the River Styx gushed from the rocks and roared off in a cascade of rapids. To our left, far away in the gloom, fires burned on the ramparts of Erebos, the great black walls of Hades's kingdom. 

"Okay, almost there. We just need to make our way through the fields of Asphodel. Oh and try not to draw attention to yourself, your not supposed to be here...and if my father found out..." 

"I'd die?" 

"In a sense..." 

"Nico, what the hades does that mean?" I yelped, feeling my stomach drop onto the black rocky beach we were standing on. He marched off without waiting. Or answering my question. I frowned. I didn't know what else to do, I had no idea why we were here so with my stomach twisting and my heart slamming into my chest, so reluctantly, I followed him down the beach toward the big black gates. Lines of the dead stood outside waiting to get in. It must've been a heavy day for funerals, because even the EZ-DEATH line was backed up.

"Woof!" Mrs. O'Leary said. Before I could stop her she bounded toward the security checkpoint. Cerberus, the guard dog of Hades, appeared out of the gloom- a three-headed rottweiler so big he made Mrs. O'Leary look like a toy poodle. Cerberus was half transparent, so he's really hard to see until he's close enough to kill you, but he acted like he didn't care about us. He was too busy saying hello to Mrs. O'Leary. 

"Mrs. O'Leary, no!" I shouted at her. "Don't sniff . . . Oh, man."

Nico smiled. Then he looked at me and his expression turned all serious again, like he'd remembered something unpleasant. "Come on. They won't give us any trouble in the line. You're with me."

I didn't like it, but we slipped through the security ghouls and into the Fields of Asphodel. I had to whistle for Mrs. O'Leary three times before she left Cerberus alone and ran after us. I followed behind Nico. We walked through something that looked like a forest with white birch trees. Nico told me all about the Fields of Asphodel, and how there was a bunch of red tape involved now if you wanted to go into Elysium. He told me how his father was buried in paper work right now with all the demigods dying for Luke, trying to figure out who was a hero.  

Mrs. O'Leary growled. A shadow appeared overhead—something dark, cold, and stinking of death. It swooped down and landed in the top of a poplar tree. She looked like an old woman, and a bat. She had a shriveled face, a horrible blue knit hat, and a crumpled velvet dress. Leathery bat wings sprang from her back. Her feet had sharp talons, and in her brass-clawed hands she held a flaming whip and a paisley handbag. I felt a spike of fear, she looked like the old bat human that poisoned me in IKEA last year. I tensed and apparently so did Nico. 

"What are you doing here Alecto?" Nico asked sharply. 

"Your father wants to see you." 

"How does-"

Another human bat landed on the tree, followed by another one. 

"You're the Furies!" I gasped. 

"What gave it away, honey?" Alecto asked, her voice was a mix of a growl and a weird raspy purr. I shivered. 

"Do you happen to have a long lost demigod daughter?" 

"We do not have demi god children, child!" 

"You sure?" I asked, "I had a math teacher look just like, horrible in all the same ways, also called me honey." I wrinkled my nose. 

The furies hissed at me. 

"Eh, one could dream... You're like a hundred percent she wasn't yours?"

"Enough! Nico, your father demands to see you!"  

"What? Why?" 

Two of them swooped down and plucked me up by the arms and before I knew it, I was dangling sixty feet in the air. Nico hung dejected in the clutches of the third. 

"Nico....what's going on?" 

"I have no idea! I'm sorry Nora!" 

Alecto dropped me like a sack of turnips in the middle of the palace garden. It was beautiful in a creepy way. Skeletal white trees grew from marble basins. Flower beds overflowed with golden plants and gemstones. A pair of thrones, one bone and one silver, sat on the balcony with a view of the Fields of Asphodel. It would've been a nice place to spend a Saturday morning except for the sulfurous smell and the cries of tortured souls in the distance.

Skeletal warriors guarded the only exit. They wore tattered U.S. Army desert combat fatigues and carried M16s. The third Fury deposited Nico next to me. Then all three of them settled on the top of the skeletal throne. He picked himself up from the floor and slapped his hands together dusting them off, and then held a hand out for me, and yanked me to my feet. 

"What happened to Miss O'Leary?" 

"She'll be fine. We can find her after. She's a good girl, she'll find us." 

I opened my mouth to respond, but the doors behind us banged open and two people glided into the thrown room.  For the first time I saw Hades, the god of the underworld.  He surprised me. He was very tall, and imposing and very muscular for a god. (Maybe he had a home gym- maybe him and Apollo had gym memberships together. I pressed my lips together trying to repress that thought. I ended up snorting and Nico looked at me funny from the corner of his eye) Hades skin was albino white, and the same intense black eyes as Nico, that kind of sparkled and glittered. They were either the eyes of a genius or a madman, and having a mesmerizing, evil charisma.  His arm was linked around a tall slender woman with dark hair pulled back into a typical Greek style ponytail. The last time I saw her, Persephone wore a bright vibrant dress of different colours and flowers. This time she wore a dark black dress that looked like it was made of dead, dried and pressed flower petals. Her skin was just as pale as her husbands. She looked just as beautiful in winder as she did in the summer. 

They seemed to be in the middle of a hushed discussion. But stopped abruptly when they saw Nico and I standing in their garden. 

"Father." Nico inclined his head, "Lady." 

"Son." Hades said, his voice was oddly quiet and soft. "And this is Eleanora Blofis." 

"Hades." I made an elaborate bow, waving my hands. "My Lady." I inclined my head respectfully. "You threw a beautiful party last summer. I'm terribly sorry about the whole prophecy thing." 

Her face lit up, "Are you kidding? I had the best reviews after that party, everyone is now begging for my secret on how I brought a prophetess to my party. Everyone now wants one at their party."

"Oh..." I stammered, "Uhh, then your welcome?" 

She was smiling at me, but Hades was glaring at me. 

"Why are we here father?" Nico asked.