Saving a Hero

CHAPTER 13

Nico

Okay let's see what we have here. Percy and I had just came out of Nemesis' cave? Lair maybe? Yeah, I don't know. Anyways while we were in there I guess Percy couldn't see anything in the room. And he couldn't pass through the tunnels that lead to the underworld by himself. I can understand me, the son of Hades, having to help him to the underworld, but why couldn't he see anything in Nemesis' lair? Lair it is. I can't say what Percy saw, or didn't see would be more accurate, I can only say what I saw. What I saw was a 4 foot tall stone pedestal that had a little dome shaped dip for a glass orb to be placed in. The little orb in the stone was just a glass sphere that glowed. Honestly, it looked like something I could buy at Target around Halloween for about 5 bucks. Then Nemesis appeared the orb got brighter and I could see images flickering in it. Percy, me, Will and Camp all flicked across the orb. Nemesis waved her hand to say 'come over here' to me. Percy couldn't fight her if she did something to me, but that wasn't a problem I thought of at the moment. So I walked over to her. She placed my hands on the glass sphere and told me to move them in a circular motion, so I did. I stared into the glass. The seemingly random pictures fliced across the glass again, but slower this time, slow enough for me to recognize the pictures one by one. It showed Percy and I leaving Camp Half Blood and Will in a hut? That picture zoomed by but I still made a distasteful expression about it. It showed Will with blood all over his hands and face, Percy with a white liquid across his eyes that was bubbling, and me just outside the Big House clutching Percy's lifeless body. I pulled back from the orb's trance. I didn't notice I was crying until Nemesis told me so. She also whispered to me that I shouldn't tell Percy anything I saw, and that my father would help us with our quest. With that she poofed off and went on her merry way. It was a wonderful experience, really.

So anyways, back to the now. I was holding Percy's hand! And we were walking down a tunnel to the underworld. He had to scrunch down a bit but I was fine. To be short is both a blessing and a curse I suppose. I let go of his hand after a few minutes, my hand got sweaty. Percy gave me a strange look but before he could say anything I shushed him. I could hear the water again. I don't know how but Percy didn't seem to hear it. He said he would have tuned into water if there was any nearby, (Did he have a water sonar in his head? Unclear) which he didn't. The only explanination was that it was a river in the underworld that I was hearing.

"Come on, we're gonna have to get to Hade's castle. But first I want to go to the nearest river down here, okay?"

Percy nodded his head.

"Do you know why were going to your dad's place? He really doesn't like me."

Percy looked kind of worried. I spared him the information of Hades not liking me much either.

"No, I don't know what he's going to do for us, but Nemesis told me to go there so.."

I trailed off not knowing how to end that sentence, Percy nodded again understanding. I didnt appearicate the gods throwing Percy and I into a quest just when we were getting to know each other better. But hey, what can you do. The tunnel stopped ahead and opened up like the cave did. It opened into, well, the underworld. The clouds were red and it smelled like raw meat, the dark sky made everything dark and hard to see. There were no plants, grass, flowers, or trees. The air was damp and dense. It was somewhat hard to breath in. It reminded me of when I had to walk through this whole place alone. It probably reminded Percy of his excursion through here as well. There were souls walking, floating maybe, in every direction. Adults, children, men and women. They were pale blue and gave off a slight glow of light around themselves. About 50 feet from us there was a river, I wasn't sure which one, but now that I was listening the water was a lot louder than it had been, especially in the cave. Percy still didn't seem to hear it though.

"You see that river right?"

I asked Percy. He shook his head 'yes' and closed his eyes in concentration. He opened them and looked confused.

"Yeah I see it, but I don't feel it, and I can't control it. I could control one of these rivers when I was in here last time though."

Percy informed me. That's strange that he couldn't control the water down here. But the rivers in the underworld were nothing like the rivers in the mortal world. Here they could make you invincible or even wash away all of your memories. Name a river in the mortal world that can do that. Exactly.

"Can we still check it out though? Its waters are roaring in my ears."

"Yeah. I don't see why not. As long as we don't have a water balloon fight with its water or something. I don't want to accidently loose my memories. Again."

Percy smiled at me and started walking. That wasn't fair at all! He gets a headstart in front of me, and longer legs to walk even farther! I had to jog up to him. One step of his equals two of mine.. We got to the rivers edge. It was a dark redish brown color. Faces of souls passed through it. Their faces were contorted into agonizing expressions. Like they died screaming, it was pretty unsettling.

"Oh, you've found my favorite river."

A female voice announced to Percy and I. I spun around and unseathed my stygian sword. I could hear Riptide click and turn into a sword. Percy was at my side with his sword also drawn. The voice had come from a ghostly pale woman. She looked like a lost soul at first, but she was alive. She had on a beige dress, it was torn in some places, and dirty. Her black hair, which was thin and balding, was behind her ears showing all of her face. Her cheeks were sunken in and her face was very angular. When I was imprisoned in a jar with only seeds to eat, I probably looked a lot like her. Or at least, just as skinny.

"Achyls."

Venom, dripped form Percy's voice. Achyls? She was a minor goddess. She was the daughter of Nyx, and was the goddess of misery. Of course! Her favorite river! The river was the Acheron river! It was the river of pain, yeah, Achlys would like this river. She held up her hands in surrender.

"I come in peace Persesus, really."

She had a sly grin on her face. Percy didnt lower his sword, so neither did I. His eyes bore into her like a hungry animal.

"Don't believe a word of what she says. 'Misery shall meet you in the dark, dont listen to her for she bares untrue narcs.' Achlys is the goddess of misery."