I took the lead as Jack and I crept out of the white room, which I discovered was a hut. Not like one of those little witch huts made of mud and sticks. It was in the shape of a square, clean, white, and modern.

The skeletons clicked behind us. I could sense their anticipation.

"So, how do you plan on finding our weapons?" Jack asked, keeping a wary eye on the dead people trailing us.

"Ummmm...not sure." I replied, speeding up my pace. We walked in silence for a moment, giving me time to think.

I stopped in my tracks, an idea forming in my head. "What is it?" Jack questioned, immediately becoming alert.

I turned and faced my skeleton army. "Can one of you guys get our weapons?" I asked.

One of the skeletons, wearing a WWI uniform, stepped up and nodded, his jaw clacking. He tottered off, Jack and I watching him go. "Where should we wait for him?" Jack whispered, turning back to me. "And what if he gets slaughtered on the way there?"

"Oh, please, you can't slaughter what's already dead."

I stared at the massive army behind me, trying to think of a place to hide them. It wasn't like we could all cram under a bush and hope for the best.

I tilted my head at Jack, but he seemed just as stumped as I was.

Just when I was about to suggest going back to the hut and taking refuge there, my little skeleton friend clacked back over, holding out my dagger and Jack's sword.

"Hey, thanks, Mr. Bones." Jack said, reaching out a cautious hand and wrapping his fingers around the hilt. The skeleton grinned eerily at him.

I took my dagger, obviously feeling more comfortable around the dead than Jack.

More confident now that I had my trusty weapon by my side once again, I yelled triumphantly and waved my weapon in the air. My army took up the call, though Jack did it a bit more nervously than me.

"LET'S GO KILL SOME MONSTERS!" I roared. The skeletons clacked their jaws behind me, unable to do much more.

I took up a battle cry and charged away from the hut with a fresh wave of anger. Bianca was out there somewhere, and I was ready to find her.

It didn't take us long to find the monsters. I suppose I could say that it was more them finding us.

I started slashing at every monster I could find, cutting them to dust quickly. I didn't check to see if Jack and my army were doing well too, though I figured they were since every second there were less monsters.

A flicker of pride burned in my chest, and I wondered what Bianca and Conner and my parents would have thought of me.

Waves of monsters kept coming, and I'll admit that things started to get a little harder, but I was confident in the people behind me. Just as I thought the worst of it was over, I felt something like horror, except it was almost disconnected. Like it wasn't my own.

Suddenly, I wasn't in the middle of a battle. I was standing near a bush, a girl with spiky black hair and electric blue eyes next to me, triumph written on her face. On the ground, bleeding out right before me, was a boy with shaggy brown hair. He was clutching his chest and blood dripped from between his fingers, creating a pool beside him.

Before I could move, I felt pain in my shoulder. I was back where I was supposed to be, and I had been bitten by a monster, one of those stupid snake things. Its fangs were so deep that I could feel my muscle being torn to shreds and my bone being scraped.

I was no longer standing, but sitting on the ground. Monster swarmed around me, each one taking there turn with a bite or a scratch. I didn't move, still horrified by what I had just experienced.

Finally, all of my senses came rushing back. Sadly, that included pain. You know how it feels when you do a bellyflop off of the high-dive and hit the water with a lot of force? And that water is like 300 degrees below freezing? Yeah that's what it felt like, except more painful and shocking.

I couldn't lift my dominant arm because my shoulder hurt so bad where it had been bitten. There was a terrible bite on my other arm that was bleeding so much I was surprised that I wasn't unconscious by now. Blood dripped into my eyes from a cut on my head and my leg was bent at an awkward angle.

The world spun around me as I lost more and more blood, but I refused to pass out. Sure, it was painful, but I was the freaking daughter of the son of Hades. I'm wasn't going down that easy.

Ignoring the pain in my shoulder, I lifted my arm and slashed angrily at the monsters. They were obviously surprised that I had moved, since I had given up so easily. I cut down a good chunk of them.

But soon they recovered their wits. One particularly brave monster, a bird with metal wings, flew at me. I cut it out of the air, but not before it could fling a feather at my throat.

Suddenly I shouldn't breath. I gasped and sputtered as bloody flowed from the fresh wound. I slid down against the wall, knowing that I was probably dying.

As darkness pressed in, I saw an orange blur, slicing down monsters and screaming something. "DON'T TOUCH ASHA! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ASHA!"

The world spun again. I reached my hand up and tore the feather out of my throat, fresh pain overwhelming me.

As I sunk away, I heard someone whisper my voice. Tears that were not mine dripped onto my cheek.

I let out a soft sigh and allowed myself to be swept away.

•••

I opened my eyes, laying in a black space. I saw no floor, no walls, no boundaries. Nothing.

A man stood in front of me, wearing leather. He was pale.

"Hello, Asha." He said quietly, laying his hand on my shoulder. It was cold, and icy shock after the warmth of my own blood. Suddenly, I understood who this was, though it filled me with dread.

"Hades?"
"Yes, child."

I closed my eyes and buried my face in my knees. I was dead. I knew it. I would never see Bianca again.

"You're not dead...yet." Hades said quietly. I looked up at him. "I'm not?"

But there was nothing to look at. Hades had faded away, leaving me thoroughly confused.

I could hear his voice though, like a whisper. "You will only die if you do not wish to continue. You are close."

I sighed. So I had a choice.

Like being hit by a car, all of the pain of my wounds flooded back. Sickened, I allowed myself to be torn away once again, not truly sure what to do with myself.

I could easily die.

I almost wanted to, so I could escape every struggle there was.

It was so much simpler.