Nelson's PoV

What. The. Dionysius. Just. Happened.

First, we had a terrifying discussion with the lord of the dark, smelly pit, then Annie gave Ari a necklace that supposedly contained a lot of power that made Ari pass out, and finally, Nico and Will jump into the abyss like this was all a comedy show.

Except, no one was laughing.

Ari began to stir. "What the bloody hell just happened?" She muttered.

"Well she's awake enough to cuss with a fake British accent, so she must be okay," Annie said. She still looked worried though.

"Shut up, or I'll keep speaking in a British accent," Ari grumbled. She stood up shakily, and she would have fallen down again if Gab and I hadn't caught her. "Can someone please explain to me what happened?"

I looked at the others uneasily. I really didn't want to be the one to bring up her brother. (Wouldn't know that feeling. *laughs nervously* Oh look, the Hades cabin. *runs away screaming*) Especially since she asked me to try and protect him. Thankfully, Gab started talking.

"How much do you remember?" Ze asked worriedly.

"I remember putting on the locket and pain. Lots of pain. I remember screaming, and..." Ari sat there, struggling to remember. Suddenly her eyes grew wide, and she jumped to her feet. "Nico! I thought I heard Nico! What happened to him?! Where is he?!" She started looking around frantically as if he was hiding.

"Ari, Nico... He was chasing Will..." Gab was struggling to find the right words that would not get zeir head cut off.

"It all happened so fast. There was nothing we could do." Annie said quietly.

Ari stared at us for a second. "No. No no NO! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS NOTHING YOU COULD DO?? YOU WERE RIGHT THERE!! DON'T TELL ME HE ACTUALLY... THAT DUMBASS WHAT... AGH!!" Ari collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder gently. "Ari, I'm so s-"

"DON'T FUCKING TELL ME YOU'RE SORRY!! SORRY DOESN'T FIX ANYTHING!!" She screamed and slapped my hand away. The shadows around the cave started to bend around her. Tendrils of darkness came at us in an attempt to strangle us.

"Uh... Ari?" Gab said in warning.

"Don't you dare Ari me!" Ari yelled.

"Ari, the shadows!" Annie yelped in alarm.

She looked around and noticed the shadows. The darkness retreated and swirled around her. She got up and glared at me. "You promised."

"I know. I'm really sorry." I said quietly, not knowing what else to say.

Ari's eyes swept around the cavern one last time before she glared at us again. "This quest is over. I'll do as Dad asked of me, and I guess Nico and Will will find the rift and close it. Don't follow me. Don't even look at me ever again." She ran out of the cavern, leaving us in the darkness.

It was silent for a long time. Finally, Gab broke the silence. "I'm going down there."

"What?! Are you crazy? You'll die!" I yelled at her.

"I can't just let them stay down there by themselves! Also, I owe it to Ari and... A lot of people." Gab hesitated on the last part.

I crossed my arms. "Fine. Then I'm going with you."

"So am I!" Annie said.

"What? No! I'm not letting you guys go with me on this suicide mission!" Gab said in frustration.

"Well, we're not asking for permission," I said.

"Besides, we're a family, and as Stitch says it, 'Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten'." Annie said.

Gab and I stared at her. "You did not just quote Lilo and Stitch at a time like this," ze said in exasperation.

Annie shrugged. "So what if I did? I'm still coming with you."

"Then who is going to go tell camp?" Gab asked.

"I don't know, but we better come up with something fast because the longer they're down there, the less chance they have at survival," I said.

Gab glared at me. "Fine. I have an idea, but we might get killed in the process."

Annie and I exchanged looks. "What do you mean?" Annie asked.

Gab pulled out a silver and gold whistle. Ze blew into it, but it made no sound. "Was that a dog whistle?" Annie asked in disbelief. "How is that going to help us?"

"I don't know, but if Reyna does as she promised..." Gab muttered.

"Wait, when did Reyna give you a-" my question was cut off by loud barking. We turned around, and two large metallic dogs, one silver and one gold, came running into the cavern. Reyna was holding on tightly to the gold dog's neck.

She jumped off and raised her gold sword. "What's going on? What happened?"

Gab looked shocked. "Those dogs are beautiful!"

Reyna seemed to recognize we were not in any immediate danger, so she put down her sword and walked over. "The gold one is name Aurum, and the silver one is named Argentum." She explained while stroking Argentum's neck.

"Gold and silver. Cute." Gab said as ze petted Aurum.

"Anyway, if you guys aren't in danger, then why did you call me? Where's Ari?" Reyna asked.

We explained to her what happened, and Gab kept gradually shrinking into the shadows as if ze wanted to be able to shadow travel away. When we finished explaining, Reyna stood there in shock. "Oh my gods. I left for two minutes! This is all my fault! I should have realized-"

"It wasn't your fault, Reyna. We should have done something." Gab said, cutting her off.

"No you don't understand! Will had tried to leave shortly after you guys, so the seven and I set up a watch. We were supposed to be with them until you guys came back! Will said he need to take a shower when it was my turn, so I let him. Then I heard a commotion outside of the Hades cabin, so I ran to go see what it was. When I came back, Nico was gone, and Aurum and Argentum had appeared. Will must have taken Orpheus's entrance in Central Park, and Nico shadow traveled to stop him! I'm coming with you guys." Reyna explained, pulling out her sword again.

"No, Reyna we need you to go tell the others. Tartarus is planning on rising soon. We'll find a way to close the rift, and hopefully we'll find a way for Will and Nico to return safely." Gab said.

"I can't let you do that-" Reyna began, but ze gave her an intense look I had never seen em have before.

"Reyna, I have to do this." They stared at each other for a long time before Reyna ran up to em and hugged em.

"Don't do anything stupid and try not to die. I'll help you as soon as I can!" Reyna said.

Gab looked shocked, but ze wrapped zeir arms around her. "I'll try not to."

They let go, and Reyna grabbed a hold of Aurum's neck. Then they disappeared into the darkness. Gab wiped zeir eyes, and I realized ze was crying slightly. "Come on, we have to go." We stepped up to the edge of the abyss and grabbed hands one more time. Then we jumped into eternal darkness.

I hope you guys liked this chapter! I thought I should probably update another chapter because you guys were going to kill me. *cough cough JMpieguy2001 cough cough* I dedicate this chapter to you by the way. I told you you didn't have to go into Tartarus to save them! The characters are going instead! 😁 I hope you guys have a great day knowing that they are still in Tartarus! *dodges many more knives*