"Oh gods . . ."

Nico recovered enough presence of mind when he saw Alyssa reaching for his wound to realize that would not be good. He flung his arms up in front of him, weakly blocking her aid, trying to fend her away from him.

"Don't touch me!" he screamed, his voice shrill with pain. "Don't touch my blood!"

"Nico, calm down!" Alyssa grabbed his hands, which wasn't really necessary, because Nico couldn't have done more. "Shh, shh, easy . . . Gods . . . Someone get Percy in here!"

"Alyssa . . . get . . . back," Nico tried to warn her. "Not safe. Don't . . . touch my . . . blood!" Then he screamed in pain and would have curled in on himself, but his muscles weren't obeying him. It just hurt so much. Worse than anything except the times when he or Anubis had tried to pull his heart scarab out of his chest, and then that pain had only come in a flash, then it had been over with. This pain wouldn't go away.

"Shh, you're going to be okay," said Alyssa.

"Don't touch . . . don't touch . . . blood . . . don't . . ."

"I don't understand. What . . .? Your blood," Alyssa seemed to have finally seen what Nico was afraid of. "It's . . . black."

"Don't . . . touch! Bad . . . power . . . Please . . . stay . . . back . . ."

"Okay, I won't touch you . . . But I can't just leave you alone," said Alyssa. "Hang on. Percy's on his way."

Nico groaned and closed his eyes. He could hear Anubis murmuring prayers to other gods for healing in his mind, and Alyssa making soothing sounds, but it all ran together, and was drowned out by his pain. It seemed like a very long time, but was probably only a few minutes before Percy arrived, and broke through the haze that was obscuring Nico's entire world.

He felt a warm hand on his forehead, then another near his wound, and his eyes flew open again, as he tried to warn whoever was trying to help him. "Don't . . . touch . . . blood . . ."

"It's okay, I know," said Percy. His face was grave and worried, but his presence made Nico feel a little better anyway, even though he was in just as much pain as ever.

They had decided after learning the effects that Nico's blood had on other humans and demigods, that Percy should avoid contact with it if at all possible. His curse of Achilles might protect him, but they'd already learned that Nico's blood could dissolve Egyptian protective enchantments, and didn't see any reason to tempt the Greek Fates. So Percy was very careful as he cut away the part of Nico's shirt around his wound, that had already been eaten away by his corrosive blood.

"I'm going to pull the blade out," warned Percy.

"Are you sure you should do that?" asked Felix. "I've seen stuff like this on TV! They say in some cases it's better to leave whatever injured them in, until they're in the hospital."

"No hospital," rasped Nico. "Can't . . ."

"Nico can't be taken to a hospital," said Percy. "His blood causes spontaneous decay. Any doctor trying to work on him would probably die. Now all of you, get back."

Percy seemed to have an ample amount of gauze on hand, Nico noted in the seconds before his world flared up in even more pain, when Percy pulled the dagger out of his abdomen. Nico screamed and clawed at the air, then sobbed when Percy pressed a heap bandages over the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood. He dropped the dagger, or what was left of it, into a bucket that someone must have brought when Nico wasn't paying attention. But Nico was able to get a glimpse of the dagger. It looked like it had been dipped in a vat of chemicals specifically designed to eat metal. The edges had been corroded away, and there were holes burned through the center. The tip of it was actually missing. Under normal circumstances, that would have been a terrible thing, because it would have needed to be removed, but in this case, Nico's black blood would simply finish it off, melting it to nothing inside the wound.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Percy said as Nico continued to scream in pain. "I'm sorry, Nico, I know it hurts. Just hang on, okay? The worst is almost over . . ."

"Please stop!" Nico screamed, and tried to claw at Percy. He tried to grab his wrists and stop him from applying pressure because it felt like it was burning him alive. "Percy, stop! Please!"

"I'm sorry . . ."

"Stop! Gods! Stop!"

"Just hang on -"

"Someone help me! Bianca! Bianca, help me!" Nico was out of his mind with pain. Otherwise he would have never screamed for his dead sister, who he knew very well could do nothing for him. "Someone! Help!"

Percy looked like he was crying now too, but he didn't relent. He added another fistful of bandages to what he was using to apply pressure now, when what he was already using was eaten away by Nico's blood. "I'm sorry," he said again, his voice breaking.

"Anubis! Help me! Father!"

"What are you doing to him, you filthy sea-god scum?" screamed a familiar voice that cut right through to Nico's consciousness like it had a direct line. "Get away from him right now!"

Nico stopped screaming for a second, caught up in disbelief. "Mama?" he asked hoarsely to no one in particular.

Anger flashed across Percy's face, and he barely glanced at Zia. "I don't have time for your idiocies right now, Zia!" he shouted. "You stay back and let me treat him!"

Nico barely heard what Percy said, and didn't understand what he did hear. What was Percy talking about? Who was Zia? And how, how, how had his mother gotten into Brooklyn House? Was it because he was dying? Was she coming to get him?

"Mama?" he called out to her.

In his mind he heard a very sad voice. Nico... I'm sorry.

"What?" Nico didn't understand.

I'm going to have to take control. Otherwise Percy and Zia might come to blows.

"Huh?" Nico started to ask, but suddenly his mouth stopped working.

"Zia, stop," he heard himself say. "Percy is . . . doing . . . his best to help . . . me."

It took him several long moments to realize that it was Anubis who was in charge now, even though the god had told him what he was about to do in as many words. And it seemed like the god was having just as hard a time of talking through the pain as Nico was.

Suddenly Zia was right beside him, smoothing down his hair, her face so worried that it nearly broke Nico's heart. Doubly so when he realized how confused he'd been. Zia wasn't his mother. He wasn't her son. She might be looking at him with love and worry, but those feelings were fake.

Percy looked down at him with surprise, then understanding seemed to cross his face. He went back to tending Nico's wound, taking advantage of Anubis's control.

Zia, on the other hand, seemed to draw close to having a meltdown. "Don't die, Nico, okay?" she said, looking almost panicked. "You can't die. Just . . . just hold on."

Anubis must have felt too awkward to speak, so he merely inclined Nico's head slightly, in what could be considered a nod.

"Alyssa, I'm sorry, but could you go back up to the roof," said Percy. "If Zia and Nico are both down here, Julian and Walt will be in trouble if they attack again."

"Right. Sure." Alyssa looked very worried, but obeyed Percy's request, pausing only to touch Nico's hand for a second. "Be strong, Nico," she whispered. "Don't give up on us, you hear?"

Anubis gave another slight nod.

Hey Anubis? Nico had a hard time concentrating enough to string his thoughts together coherently, but Anubis seemed to understand him anyway.

Yes, Nico?

It hurts. A lot. Is it . . . is it as bad as it feels?

Anubis was silent.

Am I going to die? The question sounded so pathetic, even though it wasn't voiced out loud, but Nico was in too much pain to care.

I think so, said Anubis. His mental voice was thick with regret. The wound is in a bad place.

Wh-what's going to happen to my soul, do you think? Nico wondered. Am I going to be sent to my father's realm? Or since I'm fused with you, am I going to get sucked back to the Duat to have my heart weighed?

I don't know, admitted Anubis.

Oh... but I don't even have a heart now. I forgot. But there's no way that stone scarab weighs less than a feather. So is Ammit going to eat me?

I wish I had answers for you, said Anubis. But I promise... if you're drawn back to the Duat, and fall under my jurisdiction, you needn't fear the future. I promise I'll take care of you.

What's going to happen when my father finds out? wondered Nico. Oh no, he's not going to like this. He's going to be so disappointed in me... and he might blame you. This is bad...

Try not to worry about it. Worrying really won't help anything.

I'm scared,admitted Nico.

I'm sorry. I never meant to bring this fate down on you.

They were silent as Percy tended to Nico's wound as best as he could. It seemed like he finally managed to get the bleeding to stop, then he poured half of his remaining nectar into the wound, and the other half down Nico's throat. Nico was only partly aware of what was happening. Pain still dulled all of his senses and kept his mind half removed from what was going on around him. He was partly aware when Bast and Amos came in to check on what was happening, and he heard their grim conversation when they saw where his wound was located, and what they had to say when Percy asked them for help.

"I'm sorry. There's no way to save him. There's nothing we can do."

Zia got into an argument with them, demanding to know who their best healer was, and why she wasn't trying to help them. Percy tried to contact the Apollo Cabin via an Iris message, despite the fact that he and Nico had never wanted the other demigods to know about their connection with the Egyptians. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like there was anything capable of being used for IM reception in the Apollo cabin, and he wasn't able to get through.

"There is only one thing I can think of that could possibly save him now," said Amos, when everything else had already been tried.

"What?" demanded Percy and Zia in unison. Both looked like they were ready to jump up and strangle Amos if he didn't answer quickly enough.

"In the oldest legends recorded by the House of Life, there are tales of Ra's power restoring his allies with each coming dawn," said Amos. "All injuries received by his comrades who guarded him on his ship, or his vassals who fought chaos in this world, in his absence, would be healed upon his rebirth each morning. If this bit of lore is true . . ."

"Then Nico might be healed if Sadie and Carter succeed," breathed Zia. She squeezed Nico's hand and her eyes sparkled with hope. "You hear that, Nico? Just . . . just hold on until day-break and you'll be healed."

"We do not know if that legend is true or not -" started Amos.

"It is," said Bast. She too looked more hopeful now. "I had forgotten about it, it was so long ago, but there is truth in that legend. Ra's powers restored those of us who fought for him. But Nico . . . I can't say for sure that it will work for Greeks."

"It will," insisted Zia. "It has too."

"And Nico's not exactly your ordinary Greek," Percy reminded them. "He . . . you know . . . uses Egyptian magic too, and stuff." He wisely didn't announce that Nico was hosting Anubis, but it was clear to everyone who already knew that was what he meant.

"It's only a little over an hour until the sun rises," said Percy. "Then we'll know if Sadie and Carter have succeeded. Hold on until then, Nico. Please. You have to."

Nico was still in more pain than he had words to describe, but he had no intentions of giving up. Certainly not without a fight. He gave Anubis a mental nudge, signifying that he wanted control back, then spoke when the god obliged. "They say . . . they say it's . . . always darkest just . . . before . . . dawn . . . That should . . . be a good thing . . . right?"

"What do you mean?" Bast asked.

"Don't make him talk!" snapped Zia. "Save your strength, Nico."

"He means that he draws strength from the darkness," explained Percy so that Nico wouldn't have to. "He means that he's not going to give up."

"Yes," agreed Nico. That one word was the most he could manage. He wanted to close his eyes, but he knew that if he did that, he might never open them again. If he fell asleep, he probably wouldn't wake up. And he wanted to live. More than anything, despite how much it hurt, he wanted to live.