Saving a Hero

CHAPTER 12

Nico was completely still, trying to listen to the things around us. I didn't hear a thing. I would have tuned into a nearby water source, if there was one, already.  

"No... I don't hear a thing?"

Not hearing a thing was also weird. I shrugged off the conversation and looked ahead. The cave turned a corner so we couldn't see the corridor ahead of us. Nico and I stopped. A light shone around the caves corner.

"I'll check that out first."

Nico huffed in protest. I quietly sneaked over to the beginning of the bend. I glanced at Nico. His black hair was messy, his hand was gripped tightly onto his swords hilt. His wide determined eyes were focused on me. I took a breath and jumped around the corner, Riptide in hand. There were no monsters, no other demigods, and no gods or goddesses. I clicked Riptide back into a pen.

"There's nothing here, your good."

I informed Nico. He walked from the pervious corridor to my side. The hall opened up into a giant room. The 10 foot high hallway opened up to a 50 foot high room. The ceiling had holes in it for light, but other than that, there was nothing in it.

"I wonder which tunnel we'll have to take."

I looked at Nico quizzically. There were no tunnels. What was he talking about?

"There aren't any? What do you mean?"

It was Nico's turn to look at me quizzically.

"Percy. There are like, four tunnels right in front of your face..."

To prove his point, Nico walked about five yards in front of me. He looked at me and plunged his hand through the wall. My eyes widened in confusion.

"How did you do that?"

I jogged over to him. I reached out my hand and placed it a few inches over his. It didn't go through. We both were confused at this point.

"This is so weird. Maybe these lead to the underworld or something? Only Hades's children can see them?"

Nico suggested, confusion dripping from his voice. His tone explained exactly how I've been feeling this whole quest.

"Yeah... Maybe."

"Are you two done yet?"

Nico and I whipped around to an empty room. Where had the voice come from? It was a woman's voice, it sounded like ten other people saying the same thing a few seconds apart. Her voice echoed through the room.

"Who are you!"

Nico called to the invisible lady. She just chuckled. My eyes were scanning the while room, there was nothing except me and Nico. Before I could register what was happening, my instincts took over and I turned away from the middle of the room. A bright light illuminated the whole room. It was a flash like a camera, there one second then gone the next. I turned back and the room was still empty. Nico paled and stared at something in the middle of the room. I focused on the same spot, trying to blink out the burned light from my eyes. Finally I could focus on what Nico was looking at. He was staring at the middle of the room. But there was nothing there. I wrinkled my eyebrows and looked at Nico for an explanation.

"What are you looking at?"

I asked him. He looked at me and scrunched his nose.

"You can't see that either? What's going on here..? When there was a flash I looked away, and when I looked back a stone pedestal was sitting there, in the middle of the room, with that glass orb on it."

Nico pointed to the middle of the room to tell me where it was. I walked over to where Nico pointed and tried to touch it. But like the tunnels my hand didn't touch anything. I was just swatting the air.

"Weird."

Nico muttered behind me.

"Okay! Now that I know who will get the most out of this experience, I'll introduce myself. I'm Nemesis, goddess of devine retribution. In other words, I'm going to make you pay Perseus Jackson, for breaking your promise on the river Styx."

I tried to remember when I'd broken a Styx promise. Nico looked at me, and then my arms. I looked down to the healed scars that were nearly impossible to see, they looked like little scratches that were a lighter color of my skin. Oh, I remember when I'd broken the promise now. When Nico had made me swear on the Styx that I wouldn't cut myself when he had gone into the bathroom for a shower. I inwardly cringed. I had forgotten about that, and Nico didn't even know about it.

"Oh yes,"

The invisible woman's voice echoed through the room. She was obviously enjoying her job right now.

"I know you've forgotten, but you should know that you never break a promise on the river of Styx. Your punishment will not come right now, but soon on this quest."

Nico walked over to the middle of the room like the lady had gestured for him. But of course I couldn't see her so I didn't know. Nico raised his hands and they landed on something round. The orb he said was on the stone pedestal. His hands moved in a circular motion and he stared intensely into the object at his hands. I waited about two minutes. Nico finally stopped moving his hands and glanced at me with tears running down his face. I could hear Nemesis whispering to Nico as he cried.

"Ok boys, as fun as that was,"

She said cheerily and clapped her hands, like she didn't just show Nico something that made him cry.

"Perseus the Olympians have done my job for me. I could not have thought of a better line of punishments for breaking a swear on the Styx than this quest of yours! I do truly hope that you get everything you deserve."

Again my instincts took over and I looked to a wall. Nemesis disappeared with a blinding flick of a light. Nico wasn't crying anymore but he looked almost scared and defiently worried.

"She's gone."

He announced in a sad, hollow voice.

"What happened? Did she show you something in the orb thingie?"

I tried to meet Nico's eyes but he was avoididng me. Nemesis knew the outcome of the quest, maybe she showed Nico and something bad happened. Hopefully it wasn't another war, I couldn't take that again.

"It's nothing really. She told me that we have to go to my dad's kingdom."

Nico finally looked at me and manged a smile.

"We have to go through the tunnels that I can't get into?"

Nico put his weight on one foot and thought for a moment. He strangely looked like Annabeth.

"Maybe.."

Nico muttered.

"Here, come on."

He jogged over to the tunnel entrances. I followed him and looked at the walls. He grabbed my hand and moved it to the wall. Instead of my hand hitting the wall, it passed through and into the tunnel! I looked at Nico with amazement, he looked a little surprised too, like he hadn't expected that to work. Now all we had to do was navigate the underworld. Fun.