"Nico!" I felt solid ground under me and stumbled.

"Clair!" He steadied me. Once I got my bearings I slapped him away.

"Nico di Angelo, what did you do?!" I yelled at him with a glare.

He slowly backed away, the guilt still in his eyes.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know-"

"Well you should've! You know your father could've done something as sneaky as that!" I scolded him as he looked at the ground.

And I felt sorry for him. I could tell he really wanted to help. Probably to make up for being a brat to Percy last year. But his plan backfired.

I sighed and walked up to Nico, putting my hands on his shoulders.

"I know you want to know about your past, Nico. I can understand that. But-"

"Wait," He looked up at me. "Earlier, you said that you could've helped with my past. What did you mean by that?"

I let out a breath and looked away, seeing Nico's room. It was a huge hollow, stone cube. A huge black bed was against the far wall. A shelf holding Mythomagic figures was opposite that. A wardrobe was next to the shelf. And a huge window showing the Fields of Asphodel and Elysium was next to us.

I took his hand and led us to the ledge of the window. I sat with sigh.

"I have the Oracle within me. Simple as that," I answered.

Nico took me by the shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me that before?!" He demanded, shaking me.

"Because I wanted you to find out on your own!" I said, stopping his shaking. "I didn't want to be intrusive alright? It's harder than it looks to just go into someone's past! I, myself, would've had to look into your past and then tell you with words. I couldn't bring you with me to see for yourself,"

Nico's eyes held conflicting emotions: anger, relief, realization... a lot of stuff.

"But-"

"I'm sorry, Nico. I couldn't just do that to you. Besides, I wouldn't want to. It's unsettling. The last time I did that..." I just let my voice trail off.

Nico let out a breath and let go of my shoulders. "Sorry, Clair. Throughout this whole thing I was just blinded by trying to find out about my past. If you can forgive me, I know how to get Percy back,"

"I will forgive you. In fact, I already have. I trust that you know this wasn't going to happen," I looked up at him with a small smile.

Nico let out a breath. "Then let's go get Percy back,"

***

We had snuck past many skeletal guards and such, going through a maze of corridors before finally reaching a solid stone wall.

"So... this is him?" I looked at Nico.

He nodded then reached his hand out to the wall. It disappeared revealing a curled up, sleeping Percy.

I rolled my eyes. "Go wake him up. I'll be lookout,"

"And why can't you wake him up?" Nico asked.

"Eh. You'll see," I shrugged and readied my bow.

I had retrieved it along with my quiver from my backpack while in Nico's room and kept Bluetide securely tucked in my ear.

After a few seconds, I heard a scuffle behind me and turned to see Percy pinning Nico down with Riptide at Nico's throat.

Nico choked out the fact that we were rescuing him. But my brother seemed to be too angry to even see me standing next to them.

"Oi, we don't have much time," I said, making Percy look up at me.

"You trust him?"

"Didn't I say it before? I trust him and in turn he trusts me. I doubt he'd have the guts to hurt you with me around," I said, gripping my bow.

Percy let out a sigh and recapped Riptide.

"Fine,"

I hauled both boys up and then Nico led the way through the corridors.

Now, since we really had to start rushing, Nico just decided to make the skeletal guards pass out. But every time he used that power, it seemed to tire him as well.

By the time we made it to the Fields of Asphodel, both Percy and I were lugging Nico along.

I almost let go of Nico out of relief but then the sound of gongs rang out.

"Alarms..." Nico mumbled tiredly.

"So what now?" I looked down at him.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stretched. He let out a breath and closed his eyes in thought. "Let's run,"

Percy and I did the running. Nico allowed himself to be half-dragged along with half-walking.

Percy had his sword out while I still clutched my bow.

When it seemed to be impossible to make it to anywhere but being captured a huge "WOOOOOF!" sounded.

Our beloved hellhound rushed toward us out of the shadows and ran around us, most likely happy we were here to play with her.

"Hey, girl," I grinned at her.

"Uh, can you give us a ride to the Styx?" Percy asked.

She barked happily and chased her tail a bit before calming down so we could get Nico on her back.

Percy sat in front while I sat behind Nico to keep him steady.

Then Mrs. O'Leary took off toward the shores of the Styx, past all of the security.

***

The first thing that happened when we reached the Styx: Nico's tired body dragged me off Mrs. O'Leary and onto the black sand in a huge heap.

"Nico!" I exclaimed and immediately got my backpack. I took out a square of ambrosia from a Ziploc bag and slowly fed it to him.

He coughed and slowly stood, having to use me as a crutch.

"Ugh. Better," He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Your powers drain you too much, idiot," I sighed and placed a hand on his forehead, checking for anything life threatening.

"I'll be fine. Cause with great power... comes great need to take a nap. Wake me up later,"

And right before Nico could pass out, I let go of him, stood him up straight, and brought my hand down on his cheek in a solid slap.

His eyes shot open and he gasped in surprise.

"Do you need another?" I raised my hand for the other side of his face but he held up his hands in surrender.

"I'm up, I'm up!" He yelled. "Geez did you have to slap me?"

"Yeah, you almost passed out," I rolled my eyes. "Anyway, what does Percy need to do?"

"Um..." He rubbed his cheek as he closed his eyes. "Right. You have to prepare yourself before you go in or the river will destroy you. It would burn away your body and soul,"

"Fun..." Percy mumbled.

"Percy! At least be a little serious right now," I glared at my brother.

Nico just continued. "There's only one way to stay anchored to your mortal life. You have to..." he faltered.

Both Nico and I had looked behind Percy. Nico was shocked while I wasn't particularly surprised.

It made sense to see the first warrior that had taken a dip in the Styx and had died by an arrow to the heel.

"Achilles," Percy mumbled, making me somewhat proud about the fact that he knew at least one Greek hero's name without my help.

The ghost of Achilles said that he had warned the other one to not go in the Styx, probably meaning Luke. And the way Achilles spoke definitely spoke from experience. He sounded completely honest as if he really was trying to save Percy from doing anything else. 

But of course, we had to continue with the plan. Percy seriously would not be able to stand a chance if he didn't take on this power... curse.

So then Achilles went on to explain how the process worked. He had to concentrate on a part of his body that would be vulnerable. That was what would keep Percy anchored to the world. 

And then Achilles vanished.

"Percy, maybe he's right," Nico said making me glare at him.

"Don't bail on us now. We're already here," I mumbled.

"But now that we're here-"

"Just wait here. If anything happens to me... Well, then Hades will have one less child of Poseidon to go through to get his wish," Percy sighed.

Then he faced the roaring River Styx. And after a few moments finally took the first step in. Only to fall face first into the black water.

"Percy!" I exclaimed, surprised, only for Nico to hold me back.

After a few silent minutes of suspense, something jumped out of the water and landed right on me, taking me down with it.

I immediately recognized it as Percy and just kept my arms wrapped around him in relief when I heard him breathing.

"You...  are such an idiot, sometimes," I breathed out and closed my eyes.

"What's with the soft landing?" He mumbled into the sand.

"It was your fault, barnacle head," I said as Mrs. O'Leary walked over and sniffed Percy. And then I noticed. His arms were bright red like they'd been cooking over an open flame.

I slowly rolled him off me and laid my hand on his forehead but he seemed fine to me.

Nico had knelt next to us.

"So... do you feel stronger?" He asked.

But before Percy could answer, a loud voice rang out: "There!"

And an army of the dead marched toward us. Tons of skeletal warriors held spears, shields, bayonets. And within the middle of the army, Hades rode in on a black and gold chariot.

"You will not escape me this time, Percy Jackson! Destroy him!" Hades declared.

"Father, no!" Nico yelled, but he was a bit too late on that.

The army started to advance and I got my bow ready, an arrow notched in straight away.

But before I could fire, Percy had already let the Styx rage up into a wave and crash into the front, disintegrating the whole front line.

And then Percy charged.

What happened next was just... amazing. I'll admit, it made me super jealous. Percy just kept hacking away at everything, all of the attacks from the dead just bouncing off him.

But throughout the whole battle, I kept getting worried that they'd hit his weak point. Only to realize: nothing was aiming for his back. Or more specifically his lower back.

Though it was just pure speculation, I did have a feeling that Percy wouldn't want to pick a point on his front. But I decided to dwell on that later. Because Percy had ended up holding the Lord of the Dead's face at sword point.

But he vanished before anything else happened and Percy made his way over to us.

Nico was just too stunned to speak while I just looked at my brother. Though I couldn't just straight up search him for his weak point, I kept looking at him as my mind kept thinking.

"Y-You just... with a sword... you-"

"Yeah, I think the river thing worked," Percy nodded.

"Gee. Ya think?" Nico scoffed, sarcastically.

Then Percy noticed me looking at him. "You trying to check me for wounds or...?"

"Just thinking," I shook my head. Then I saw Hades' robes in his hands.

Percy looked down at them then walked to the Styx and let the cloth go with the current. "Be free,"

And that was when I could look at him properly. And my current theory was correct. Most of his wounds were either at his front or upper back. Almost nothing had touched his lower back. I doubted he'd be stupid enough to pick all of his lower back so I just had to figure out which side of his back was his weak point.

"Go back to your father," Percy started talking to Nico. "Tell him he owes me for letting him go. Find out what's going to happen to Mount Olympus and convince him to help,"

"I... I can't. He'll hate me now. Well... even more," Nico said as Percy turned to him.

I just stood at the sidelines, letting the two boys talk. Sometimes a little sister had to let her big brother take the reins.

"You have to. You owe me too," Percy said. "The both of us," He gestured to me too.

And Nico's ears turned red. "Percy, Clair I told you I was sorry. Let me come with you. I want to fight,"

"You'll be of more help down here," Percy insisted.

"You mean you don't trust me anymore," Nico mumbled, looking down. Then Nico caught my eye.

"Do you have anything to say about this?" He asked.

"Yes, actually," And I saw his eyes light up, as if I was his ticket out. "I agree with Percy. And you know exactly why, Nico. I promised her. I mean, I could keep an eye on you 24/7 but... you know how that's always turned out,"

Nico's shoulders sagged but he nodded. "Alright. I'll do my best, I guess. Besides, he's still hiding something from me about my mother. Hopefully I can find out what,"

"Alright then, Death Boy. Come here," I walked up and wrapped my arms around him, burying my face into the crook of his neck. "Take care of you father for us, alright?" I muttered, as he hugged me tightly.

"I will," He said back.

And then I pulled away from him, looking up at his eyes. Not looking for him this time. 

I was looking for his sister.

And when I did, I smirked. "He's doing just fine, huh?" I mumbled so low, that even I could barely hear my words.

And the wind passed by, lifting my hair as if saying something in response.

"Clair!" a voice called for me. I turned to see Percy and Mrs. O'Leary. "We have to go,"

I nodded and started making my way toward him.

"Where?" Nico asked.

I took a look at Nico one last time. "We're getting this war started," I smiled at him.

"It's time I found Luke," Percy said.

***

Oh, snap! The action is on its way! Yes!

So glad this book is doing fairly well. I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for reading and I'll see ya in the next chappie!
:D