They shadow traveled to a graveyard outside of New York City, right after the sun set. The graveyard they picked was a big one, but a quiet one that didn't see a lot of traffic. No one wanted any interruptions, after all.

"It has to be set up perfectly," said Nico, grabbing the McDonald's bag that was filled with discarded packaging from various McDonald's foods and setting it so that it was propped against a nearby bench.

Anubis appeared in his human-looking form, right on top of a sarcophagus-style grave and began laying down cards. Nico jumped up, fished out his own deck, and began arranging them as well, trusting Percy to line up the McDonald's toys from the twenty-odd Happy Meals they'd picked up that afternoon. Until he saw the incredibly sloppy job that Percy was doing.

"No, not like that!" he said, hopping back down and storming over, not sure why he was so irrationally angered about it. All he knew was that it was wrong and it bothered him.

"Like what then?" asked Percy.

"Straight," said Nico. "Perfectly straight. Like this." He began rearranging the figures. "Grouped by predominant color, starting with red on the left side, and moving along in the same order that they appear in the color spectrum. Then grouped by relative heights once they've been grouped by color, putting the tallest on the left and working your way down to the shortest. And when you line them up-"

"I'll just let you do it," decided Percy, stepping back.

"OCD much?" asked Sadie.

"I don't know what that means," said Nico impatiently as he began lining up his toys the proper way.

"Obsessive Compulsive Disorder," said Carter.

"I still don't know what that means."

"It's a -"

"He doesn't really care either," said Anubis. The god had finished setting up his half of the Mythomagic game. "Now's really not the time for explanations about psychology either."

"I told you to get out of my head," said Nico. "Or as much out of it as you can. If you can read my thoughts you're in too deep."

He immediately felt Anubis's presence in his mind begin to retreat until only the faintest echo of the god's presence was still there. But he could feel Anubis' power all around him, seeping into the graveyard, saturating every tombstone and statue, and even the earth itself. That kind of power was heady, almost intoxicating. It was also unexpected. Nico didn't think that the Lotus Casino could have had a stronger pull on him than Anubis' power. He felt like he could stay there forever, living only on that raw death energy. He wondered if he was going to have some sort of withdrawl symptom when this was over, but decided it would be worth the extra realism that it added to his plan.

The others' reaction to Anubis' power seeping into everything was very, very different. Percy's expression grew more and more uncomfortable. He could sense the danger he was in. Death radiation wasn't any better for him than it was for anyone else, even if he was invulnerable everywhere except for that one weak spot. A weak spot that Nico as pretty sure he'd figured out where it was, despite the fact that he'd been deliberately trying not to figure it out. The death that the graveyard was radiating wouldn't kill Percy, unless Anubis willed it to, but Percy's instincts still made him want to avoid it and be anywhere else in the world than where he was at that moment. .

Carter and Sadie were affected much more drastically. Nico saw their hands start shaking, and they kept looking around kind of fearfully, like they thought something was trying to sneak up on them.

"You should get clear now, Percy," said Nico. He felt a bit guilty about subjecting Percy to this, especially since Percy wasn't needed here for the plan at all. He'd tried to get his cousin to stay behind, but Percy would have none of it, and so he'd brought him along. Just like both of the Kanes, even though they only really needed one of them. At least the stupid cat had stayed behind. Nico wasn't sure if it was a result of having Anubis in his head, or if he would have felt that way anyway, but he couldn't bring himself to really like Bast.

"You're sure you'll be okay?' asked Percy, obstinate as usual.

"No," Nico answered honestly. "But this is the best chance we've got, isn't it? Carter, you should go with him."

"I want to stay," said Carter, but his teeth were chattering together and he was shaking like he was shivering, even though he was dressed for the cool night.

Sadie was keeping herself together a little bit better, maybe because of their short stint in prison together. Maybe napping beside of him had helped her get some tolerance to the death energy that they were all now literally breathing, because only her hands were shaking, and her scared glances weren't much worse than what any normal twelve-year-old girl would be giving if she was in a strange graveyard in the middle of the night. More than that, Nico found that he actually preferred Sadie to be the one who stayed rather than Carter. Maybe because he had a better idea of how she was likely to act since he'd spent more time with her.

"The more people there are here, the higher the risks are," pointed out Anubis. "Go with Percy, Carter."

Carter only hesitated a few more seconds before he nodded.

"Do you really think this will work?" asked Sadie, once the other boys were gone.

Nico probably would have started to get a headache if not for the fact that he was inhaling pure power. Everyone seemed to want reassurance from him. Reassurance that he couldn't give them. Hades' moods were difficult to predict and he would doublessly be on edge right now.

"All children of Hades start to get a little . . . unhinged as we grow older," Nico told her instead of answering outright. "For some of us it's worse than others. We can use that, and the fact that he knows I'm stupid to our advantage."

"He thinks you're stupid?" asked Sadie hotly. "You're not stupid."

"I've done a lot of stupid things," said Nico. "He knows about most of them. Do the math."

"You're not stupid."

"He thinks I am, and that's what matters," said Nico. "We have to use that. There's no other way that this would work."

Sadie looked like she wanted to argue but knew that they didn't have the time. "Is there anything else I can do to help set up?" she asked instead.

Nico shook his head. "This has to be done perfectly. Every detail has to be right. If he sees even one thing wrong that could ruin everything."

Setting up the toys took longer than anything else, but neither Sadie nor Anubis tried to rush him. Sadie's patience surprised Nico. Anubis's didn't really. The god had seen everything there was to see in his head, after all. He knew how important it was that Nico get it exactly right. Or at least he knew how important it was to Nico that he get it exactly right. He also knew what could happen if Hades saw through their charade.

Finally, everything was set up. Nico stepped away from his toys and hopped back up on top of the sarcophagus.

"And now we play cards," said Anubis, with something very close to a challenge in his voice.

"You better be glad this isn't a real match," Nico told him.

"Why? Because I'd have to hear your pitiful whining in my head once you'd lost?"

"I wouldn't lose," sneered Nico. "Especially not to someone who favors an earth-element offense. What is this crap?" He motioned toward Anubis' set-up.

"This is the deck that I used to school Thoth!"

"You really can't count it as a victory if you play someone when they're tripping on acid."

"He was not-"

"Boys," said Sadie. "Focus?"

Nico and Anubis glowered at each other, and began playing, but not for real. They made the same moves they would have made if they had been playing for real, but both knew that this was a game they wouldn't finish. When Anubis had taken three turns and Nico had taken four, they stopped and put their hands down, face down, as though they had every intention of finishing the game.

"Alright, it's time," said Nico. He tugged on the jackal charm that Anubis had given him before they came, and reminded himself that he needed to fiddle with it during the next and final part of his plan. "Try to look unnerved, Sadie."

"I think I've got that covered," Sadie told him dryly.

"You're ready, Anubis?"

The death god nodded.

Nico took a deep breath then began chanting in Greek to raise a spirit. He needed to send a messenger to his father.

-------------------------------------------------

Hades dropped everything he was doing and shot toward the surface the moment his son's spirit messenger reached him. Call him an over-protective parent, but somehow the message, "I'm fine. You don't need to kill the House of Life. And you don't need to worry about me," didn't set his mind at ease.

Any other being, even Zeus himself, would have needed to take one of the pre-existing exits out of the Underworld. Not Hades. He created a new one that opened up right in the middle of the graveyard from which his son's message had been sent.

He felt a foreign god's power even before he broke through the surface, and drew on the power of the souls he'd collected, preparing for a fight.

And then he actually saw what was in front of him and stopped dead.

His son was perched on top of a sarcophagus-style grave, with Anubis, Egyptian god of death, playing Mythomagic. Or rather they had been playing. Now he was looking at his father with big, shocked eyes, while Anubis, the annoying jackal, leaned over to try to sneak a look at the cards in Nico's hand.

"What is the meaning of this?" roared Hades.

"Um, hello Father," said Nico. He put his cards down face down and slid off the vault grave, then knelt respectfully. "Maybe . . . my messenger wasn't as clear as I meant for him to be, and I'm sorry that you had to come all this way, but . . . I haven't been kidnapped by the House of Life, my lord."

"You, jackal," snarled Hades. "How dare you interfere with my son?"

Anubis stood up but didn't jump off the sarcophagus. He just looked at Hades coldly and crossed his arms over his chest. Hades couldn't help but notice the form he'd taken and the clothes he'd decided to wear. The Egyptian looked like he was trying to pass himself off as Nico's big brother.

"The only one interfering is you, Corpse Breath," Anubis snarled right back. "We were playing Mythomagic."

"So you felt it necessary to block my mental connection to him!"

"You act like I care enough about you to do something like that deliberately," said Anubis. "Feel where you are, Greek. I'm inhabiting this graveyard. Every stone, coffin, grain of dirt, and blade of grass is brimming with my power. And you wonder why your little message did not get through?"

The aura of death was indeed very strong here. If there was to be a fight, Hades would be at a double disadvantage. One because his son was there, and he was not willing to chalk his death up as collateral damage, and two because Anubis had the advantage of the terrain.

Hades grabbed his son roughly by the shoulder and pulled him off the ground and away from the Egyptian god. "You've held my son here for nearly a week and you thought that I would be okay with that?"

"He didn't hold me here against my will, father," said Nico, sounding shocked and frantic. "No one held me anywhere against my will. I've been here with Anubis all week playing Mythomagic!"

Hades looked down and stared at his son incredulously. "What?"

Nico nodded. "We've just been playing Mythomagic. He didn't force me to stay. I was here because I wanted to be."

"You've been here playing that stupid game with the Egyptian god of death for an entire week?" demanded Hades.

"Not quite an entire week . . ." said Nico, his voice squeaking as he obviously grew more and more unsettled. He tugged at something around his neck. A black cord with a jackal silver hieroglyphic hanging from it, that Hades had never seen him wearing before. Power emanated from the charm. Not much, but it was definitely there, and it was definitely Anubis's.

Now Hades was confused. The Egyptian gods did not give their favors lightly. For Anubis to have given an amulet like that to Nico suggested that they were on good terms, which was almost unheard of for demigods and Egyptian gods or magicians. And he'd just noticed something else, a young girl close to Nico's age, dressed in all cotton, behind Anubis, cringing and keeping a tombstone that came up to her waist between them. The girl reaked of Egyptian magic, but not Anubis' death magic. She had the feel of someone from the House of Life.

"Maybe I should explain what happened," said Nico before Hades could question her presence. "I think . . . from what Sadie said . . . it sounded like some things got misinterpreted, but . . . It started a couple days ago. Six days, maybe? I've lost count because these Mythomagic battles have been completely epic, and you wouldn't believe how many times I've pwned Anubis, Dad - Err, I mean, my lord." Nico bowed his head. "Anubis is . . . my friend. We play cards sometimes, and he always loses -"

"No I don't," growled Anubis.

"Well, he wins every now and then, but hardly ever," amended Nico. "But he's still better than any humans or other demigods I've played, so I like playing with him. But six or so days ago, right after I left the Underworld, I came here to meet him, and suddenly these freaks with staffs showed up and wanted to exorcise me or something. They attacked me with a jackal, which I sent to Cerberus as a chew toy, then Anubis showed up and chased them off. Then we started playing cards, and we've been playing ever since, until a couple minutes ago, when Sadie showed up and said you were going to kill the House of Life."

"Since when do House of Life magicians consort with their gods?" asked Hades suspiciously. "Did they not decide they were better off without you and try to kill you all a couple thousand years ago?"

"Sadie is not of the House of Life," said Anubis. Now he got off the sarcophagus and moved to stand defensively between her and Hades. "She is the daughter of the host of Osiris, who was cast out of the House of Life. If you attempt to harm her you will have a war with our entire pantheon on your hands."

"I summoned a ghost and sent him to tell you that you didn't need to kill the House of Life because they don't really have anything to do with . . . well, anything," said Nico quickly, before Hades could make a response to the threat. "They only threw a jackal at me because they thought I was Anubis. They didn't kidnap me or anything. And they sure as heck didn't hurt me." He smirked, like he thought the idea was funny. "Like they could."

"And so you've been here, in this graveyard, playing cards all week?"

"Almost all week."

"I thought you had been kidnapped by the House of Life. I was prepared to start a war to get you back, and now I find that you have been here, playing a game?"

"I didn't know! I'm sorry, lord," said Nico. "If I'd known, I would have sent a message sooner. I'm sorry."

"It's not his fault, Greek," said Anubis. "Don't get mad at him because you're such an alarmist. You see one jackal in your realm and you think the House of Life is invading?" The older death god laughed. "Good job."

"You shut up, Egyptian!" snarled Hades. "This is more your fault than his! You had no right to block my connection to his mind -"

"I didn't do it deliberately!" Anubis puffed up angrily. "I inhabited this graveyard so that we wouldn't have anymore interruptions. Do you know how annoying it is when you're about to pwn a young upstart like your son, but suddenly a caretaker shows up and starts shouting at you to get off the tombstone, or a magician turns up to try to exorcise you? Do you!"

"I don't care how annoying it is! Your power kept my son prisoner here whether he knew it or not! It's so thick that he can't help but breathe it, and it's addled the meager amount of brains he had to begin with!"

Anubis pointed. "He left several times to seek sustenance and returned of his own free will!"

Hades' gaze followed Anubis' finger toward a nearby bench. A McDonald's bag full of trash was leaning up against it. Hades saw crumpled Happy Meal bags, hamburger wrappers, and soda cups about ready to start falling out of it. And lined up on top of the bench, with the sort of meticulousness that only Nico could manage, was an assortment of cheap toys that had come in the Happy Meals. If he hadn't been convinced that Nico had really been there all week, playing cards, he was after seeing that.

"Of course he returned," Hades growled. "It would have only taken him about two breathes in this place to get addicted to all this!"

"He was addicted to Mythomagic long before I met him, Hades," said Anubis. "And I've already taken precautions to make certain that he is not altered or harmed from exposure to my powers."

Hades looked at his son again and looked at the jackal charm he was wearing. So that explained that.

"He did nothing wrong," growled Anubis. "So you should stop acting like he did. Your parenting skills are even worse than my father's, and that's saying something."

"I don't need advice on raising my own children from you, old man!" said Hades angrily.

"I wasn't giving advice. I was just criticizing."

"Umm," interrupted Nico, "I'm sorry but . . . you're not going to make me stop playing with Anubis, are you Father?"

Hades glared down at his son. The sight of Nico's glassy puppy-dog eyes weakened his anger but only fractionally. Minutely, even. Barely at all. "Your amulet will prevent your powers from harming him?" he asked Anubis instead of answering his son.

Anubis nodded. "And you have my word that while he is in any graveyard I am inhabiting, he will be safe from all House of Life freaks and other Egyptian deities and monsters. As well as any Greek monsters or anyone from your pantheon. If anyone other than you had come charging in here while I was inhabiting it, I would have sealed them away in the Duat for half a millennium. But I thought that would have upset my card partner, and his game really can't afford anymore distractions."

Nico looked irate. "Why you-"

"Silence," Hades ordered his son. He stared at the boy, then at the other death god for a moment, then back to Nico. He sighed. "You can keep . . . playing with your . . . friend." Hades felt incredibly ridiculous saying this. It was the sort of thing he'd never expected to be saying and it made him feel like a character on some family sitcom. And then there was the fact that the friend he was giving his son permission to play with was a god even older than Hades himself. "Just . . . know that if you harm him, jackal, there will be war."

Anubis nodded curtly.

Hades looked to his son again and sighed. Only Nico would be so young and foolish that he'd spend an entire week in a graveyard, playing Mythomagic with an Egyptian death god. He almost couldn't believe it. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't have believed it. But it was Nico. Foolish, naïve Nico.

It wasn't in Hades' nature at all to look on the bright side, but he knew that this could have turned out much worse. If what he'd feared had really been true, then the Greek pantheon would have been going to war with the House of Life. Or, if Nico was as demented as Hades' last son, he could have been off figuring out how to stir up World War III on his own, instead of playing Mythomagic with a . . . fairly responsible . . . pseudo-adult.

Hades sighed and gave his son his usual parting instructions. Don't take any crap from the Ares Cabin, don't let gods-damned Percy Jackson show you up, and don't you dare come back home to the Underworld without your body, because if you get yourself killed I will be very disappointed in you, was the gist of what he had to say. Then he left, because he had a war to call off, some excuses to make to his fellow gods, and an irate wife to deal with.

-------------------------------------------------

Nico slumped to the ground and leaned his back against a giant tombstone, feeling mentally exhausted. Being in his father's presence was always tiring. Deliberately lying to him took just about everything he had.

Anubis sat down beside him and leaned back against the tombstone as well. "That went . . . perfectly."

"Yeah," said Nico. "I can't believe it."

Sadie moved to stand in front of them but didn't slouch down against a headstone like they were. "So it worked?" she asked, sounding like she couldn't believe it either. "He really bought it?"

Nico nodded. "He thinks I'm crazy enough to spend an entire week doing nothing but playing Mythomagic in a graveyard, with a death god."

"Aren't you?" teased Anubis.

"I never said I wasn't." Nico chuckled.

"But you know," said Sadie, "You're not stupid. Only a genius could have come up with a plan like that . . . or a madman."

"Which one are you accusing me of being?" Nico wanted to know.

"Which do you think?" asked Sadie.

"You know, this isn't over," said Anubis, after they'd all had a good chuckle over that.

"Of course I know that," said Nico. "You're still stuck in my head. My father's still going to freak out if he finds out. And we're still the most likely candidates for the next big doomsday prophecy."

"But we won this round," said Sadie. "Hades won't be wiping out the House of Life, and he won't be immediately declaring war on the Egyptian pantheon. I'd call that a victory, wouldn't you?"

Nico and Anubis both nodded in unison, which made Sadie laugh. She actually had a nice laugh, and a nice smile when she wasn't being overly sarcastic, Nico thought.

"We should go get Carter and Percy," said Sadie after they stayed there in silence for about half a minute, either basking in their victory or catching their breath and steadying their nerves.

"Yeah," he said. "We should." But he didn't get up immediately, even though Anubis did. "I'm just so tired," he muttered. "I feel like I could sleep a week."

"Come on," Sadie told him. She held out a hand to help him up, at the exact same time that Anubis did the exact same thing. They looked at each other a bit surprised, while Nico looked at both of them, with equal surprise. But then he took their hands and let them pull him to his feet because he was too tired to pretend to be dignified.

"It seems a shame though . . ." said Anubis.

"What does?" asked Nico.

"I was right about to crush your pathetic Gorgon card like a bug," Anubis told him.

"What? No you weren't!" said Nico indignantly. "She has mega earth defense and a plus 10 retaliation stat! That match would so have been mine."

The god and the demigodling both gave each other hard looks then turned their gazes to where the cards were still set up on the sarcophagus. Then, as one, they both turned to look at Sadie who sighed.

"Go on," she told them. "Finish your game. I'll go get the others." She started to walk away then stopped. "But just this one game," she said sternly. "It's winner-take-all. No rematches, no do-overs, none of that. Got it, Death Boys?"

"Yes," said Anubis, disappearing from where he stood right next to them, and reappearing in his place on top of the grave vault as if he'd shadow traveled.

"Yes," Nico echoed, but took his time striding over to the sarcophagus and climbing back up on it. He was tired, after all, but not too tired to taunt his opponent once he was situated and had picked up his cards once more. "Get ready to die, death god."