"He did that! I can't believe he did that!" Will scorched red with fury. "So he left you all stranded with a hopeless war to win? Is he insane?"

"Calm down," Nico murmured.

"No! I will not calm down! He's the hero of Olympus and now he's allowing Gaia control his body and wreak havoc among Romans and Greeks?"

"Roles reversed," Piper noted to her friends. "Well, at least we know now that their roles switch when they're mad."

Hazel sighed and shook her head. First they had taken the Percy Says No express underwater and ended up back in Elysium. Then Nico and Will caught wind of the situation. And now the gay couple is having a heated conversation about it.

Annabeth wasn't taking this so good, but not bad either. Piper held her in her arms as her eyes were devoid of any life, like she was looking at the world through a dream or the ancient mummy oracle in the attic before Rachel replaced her.

"Any thoughts on the future?" Frank asked sheepishly. "Without Percy, we're dead meat. Um, I don't mean me when I'll probably die transforming into some animal, then it'd be elephant meat-"

"Frank," Jason said. "We get it. Thanks, buddy."

"He made it clear. He doesn't want to be involved in any part of this," Piper stated. "Actually, I can sympathize. He's been in two great prophecies, walked through Tartarus, being guilt-tripped every second because of his experiences... and I respect that he's not crazy yet."

When she said this, she kept glancing at Annabeth warily. Annabeth didn't respond.

Jason nodded at his girlfriend approvingly.

"So how are we going to get back?" Hazel asked. "We haven't exactly thought this through."

It was like someone had dropped a flash bomb amongst them. Instant silence. Hazel hadn't seen this kind of reaction ever since Ella the harpy bestowing Annabeth's prophecy at Camp Jupiter. If it were to affect that accursed Octavian solely in the past, it would be awesome.

"Nico?" Jason called to the son of Hades. "How do we get back up?"

The son of Hades ended his conversation with his boyfriend and stared at them grimly.

"I told you," he said, "there is no way. Persephone and Hades locked the Underworld down completely. And there are Furies and hellhounds out to destroy intruders. My word means nothing in my Father's realm. We can do nothing but to hide you."

"Then can you hide us?" Piper asked.

"No."

"Nico!" Will scolded.

"Shut up. The reason we can't hide you is because every soul has got the order to report intruders on sight too. We're not the only spirits here," Nico explained. "Annabeth's friends - sure, they'll help you. But not the other spirits."

"Great." Jason sighed.

"So it's the hard way," Frank decided. "Come on. I still have energy left!"

* * *

They ran right into a Fury instantly. And that is why Frank is flying as fast as his wings could carry him and three old ladies with bat wings speeding behind them screaming bloody murder.

"I can't shoot!" Frank growled. "Someone do something!"

"We can't kill them!" Jason noted. "That'll just alert Hades more!"

"Annabeth, no offense, we need a plan now!" Piper cried. "That or we'll all die!"

One of the Furies shot a flaming arrow that barely missed Hazel's hair.

"They have bows?" Piper shrieked. "Oh, come on!"

Jason deflected another arrow with his gladius. "Hazel, could you try to tell them to back down?"

Hazel stared at him and nodded weakly. Slowly and carefully, she crawled to the end of Frank's dragon and before the tail. Piper barely dodged as an arrow singed her hair.

"Furies!" she shouted at their chasers. "I am the daughter of Pluto! I command you to stand down!"

The lead one hissed, but her speed never wavered. She shot an arrow at her in response which Annabeth blocked with her ivory sword.

"Hazel," she said calmly like she'd came right out of a dream, "do it."

Hazel stared at her friend. She'd been so broken before, but now she's acting like everything's okay? Probably not a good sign because she's harbouring all that emotion inside of her or she'd let it go.

"Furies." Her voice steeled. "I command you to stand down."

Another arrow whizzed past her.

"FURIES!" she repeated. "I SAID STAND DOWN!"

We have orders to eliminate you, said the lead one. From Lord Hades himself.

"I am not from the Greek deity," Hazel managed. "Your orders means nothing to me."

Yet you are in his realm! it hissed. We will rip you to shreds! We will feast on your corpse!

"Tempting," she called back, and Hazel saw her friends stare at her in confusion.

"You know," Jason mused, "hearing only one side of your conversation is weird. All we heard was a couple of hisses."

"Where have I heard that sentence before?" Piper marvelled sarcastically.

"Look out!" Annabeth shrieked.

Frank yelped and barely dodged a rock suspended from the ceiling. Annabeth shouted some more warnings as Frank dodged more that came up ahead.

Hazel turned back sharply to their pursuitors. Sadly, they were not as affected by the terrain like they were. They simply crashed through stone like it was styrofoam.

"I hate this place," Frank sulked.

"This is Asphodel! We're in Asphodel!" Jason cried out. "Hazel! Tell them Charon's message!"

Everyone stared at him like he'd become Nike, the victory goddess. That goddess had forced Hazel, Leo, Frank and Hazel to fight in a colosseum with some mechanical Nikai or Nikettes or whatever.

"What?" Jason looked offended. "We promised the guy!"

Piper pecked Jason on his cheek. "Jason, I love you, but this is crazy. And you're Jason Grace."

"Expert on crazy!" Annabeth sassed.

"Not now," Jason grouched. "Hazel, please?"

Hazel sighed. "Fine." She turned to the trio angry grandmas and shouted: "WOULD YOU PASS A MESSAGE TO LORD HADES? 'Charon demands a pay raise!'"

What? they chorused.

"That's it!" Hazel finished abruptly. "Please and thank you! Frank, it's our chance!"

"I hear you," he wheezed, sounding weaker than usual. After this, they'd have to give the big guy more credit for being their escape taxi. Flying that fast must've taken more out of him than they'd estimated.

Annabeth pointed at the River Styx. "THERE!"

Charon was about to pack up and leave for the mortal world once more, but their wild goose chase must've caught his attention. He stared at them like, Here we go again.

Frank dove for the ground and straight into the river. Hazel didn't even have time to think as the icy acid water surrounded her.

She wanted to scream. Imagine swimming in a pool of lava. Multiply that pain by a thousand. The pain was too much.

Vaguely, she could see Frank's hand on hers through the murky water as plastic dolls floated by. She needed to survive this. She had to. For her friends.

But as every hope and determination surfaced, it was swept away by the surging currents of the River Styx. This was Greek territory, would they survive this? Will they erase their existence?

Every dear memory emersed before her eyes. Every individual that was precious to her. They faded away as it came.

But then a colorful scene floated before her.

She was eating marshmallows with her boyfriend, Frank. She was wiping away soot and mud from her face as she struggled to climb out of the lake. Frank smiled and offered her a hand.

"Careful." His voice was soothing and relaxing. She wanted to drop back into the lake and stay in the cooling waters forever... but Frank was there, urging her to take his hand.

She didn't take it.

There was a force compelling her to turn around. Away from Frank.

"Hazel?" "Frank" repeated, concerned. "Are you okay?"

As Hazel stared blankly at his hand, she slowly turned behind her. Slowly, the sky turned blood red. Fires erupted from every building in Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood. Demigods cried for fallen comrades. Nymphs slowly faded away. Satyrs' bodies littered the debris-filled ground.

Armies clashed at each other. Slowly, the purple flag emerged victorious. Then the ground tremble and a ravine appeared before the purple army, and swallowed them whole. Gaia's laughter boomed through the entire alley.

Petrified, Hazel spun back to Frank. But Frank's flesh was melting away like sand. Slowly, his entire being faded away.

Hazel screamed.

Suddenly, the water snatched her like a whirlpool and she was pulled under.

Then she emerged abruptly from the River Styx, her back hitting the ground. For a moment, she couldn't remember who she was. She started to wonder if she'd fell in the River Lethe instead.

Another body collapsed next to her.

For another scary moment, she couldn't recognize the blonde who was thrashing and gasping on the ground.

"Annabeth?" she remembered.

Her skin looked like it'd been boiled. But magically and slowly, it faded back to its normal chocolate color.

"Who... are you?" Annabeth choked.

One by one, her friends jumped out of the river, all gasping, wheezing and looking like they'd been diving into acid. But everyone was alive.

"Where's Frank?" Annabeth recovered herself.

That's when Hazel saw Frank's corpse still in the river.