Nico's POV

I closed my eyes in concentration, slowly fading into the shadows as we traveled to London. I could feel my soul trying to disappear with the shadows and fade from reality. In a few seconds, we had arrived in London.

Although the streets were busy with cars and packed with people, it didn't remind me of New York. Many people were whispering grimly to their friends while others went on with their business, not noticing anything. The sky was dark with clouds and it seemed like it was about to rain. Nobody carried umbrellas or raincoats (Macs) to protect them from the rain.

"Is it about to rain?" Piper asked. Grover glanced around nervously, sniffing for monsters. "It doesn't seem very safe here. We should go," Grover suggested. "What is it, Grover?" Annabeth asked. "It's definitely a monster, but not a Greek monster." He said.

Annabeth shivered, looking around suspiciously. "I can sense it, too. Something's very wrong," she noted. "Should we find a hotel for the night?" Piper asked. "Fine by me," Leo responded. "How are we going to pay for the hotel rooms?" I asked. "Leave that to me," She said, smiling.

We decided that the best we could do was to walk around and hope we see a hotel, or even a motel. It wasn't long before we were standing in the safe lobby of a hotel, as Piper was talking with the person at the front desk, using charmspesk to convince him to give us a hotel room.

I watched as the person at the front desk gave Piper three keys for the hotel rooms and five passes for free food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Piper returned to us, smiled proudly. "Wow! Your charmspeak got us VIP Hotel rooms and free food! Awesome!" Leo exclaimed. "Let's go find our rooms," Annabeth suggested, already walking towards a staircase. "We can take the elevator, you know," Piper reminded her, looking at Annabeth confusedly.

Annabeth shook her head faintly before she continued up the stairs. The Doors of Death. I had never made it as far as the Doors of Death, but it must've scarred Annabeth pretty badly. "Let's go," Grover said, following Annabeth up the stairs. Piper and Leo shrugged and started to walk. I paused, staring after them in suspicion. This hotel gave me a weird sensation, shivers climbing up my back. "Nico? You coming? Or are you scared of stairs?" Leo asked teasingly.

I glared at him, forcing myself to shrug off the sensation and walk up the stairs. Leo glanced at my angry expression before sprinting up the stairs. I chased after him, slowly starting to gain on him as he clumsily ran up the stairs. His expression didn't seem worried that I'd catch up, and too late, I realized why. An invisible trip wire sprang out of nowhere and caught my foot, forcing me to plant face-first onto the stairs.

Leo laughed as he continued to sprint up the stairs. I grit my teeth and stumbled around as I tried to get up, but the trip wire seemed to wrap around my leg. I tugged against the wire, kicking and shoving. "Leo!" I raged. I heard chuckling from farther up the staircase, as he ascended farther from me. I brought out my Stygian iron sword, but it didn't even make a dent on the wire. I cursed silently to myself, closing my eyes in concentration. Suddenly, I heard a loud yelp from far away, before I laughed myself.

I grabbed the wire to try and untie myself from the huge knot the wire made. I went under, over, around, and sometimes I even had to squeeze myself in between two segments of wire. It took forever to finally untie myself and stand up. I ran upstairs to find Leo and kill him.

As I arrived near the top of the staircase, two skeleton warriors carried a scrawny Latino in between them, who struggled to escape their grasp. "Let me go, Di Angelo," He demanded. He glared at me, trying to kick one of the skeletons. "You can let him go when he learns his lesson," I instructed. Th skeleton warriors nodded, turning to me. "Have fun trying to escape," I smirked, laughing as I ran away. "Nico!" Leo screamed.

~•~

I found Annabeth outside a hotel room, waiting with a key and a pass in her hand. "Here's your key and your pass. You're going to be sharing with Leo," She exclaimed. I frowned. "I'm not sleeping in the same room as Leo," I protested. "Fine then. Sleep in the corridor," She shrugged, turning to unlock the door to her hotel room. I hesitated, before calling her name. "Alright, fine." I grudgingly agreed. Annabeth smiled, handing me the key and the pass.

"Good luck," She said, before laughing and going back to her room. I stared at the key, which was engraved with the numbers 546. It turns out that the room was right next to Annabeth's room, which was room 545. Piper was probably sharing with Annabeth, so that means that Grover gets to have his own room.

I pushed the key into the keyhole and turned. The door creaked and groaned as I opened it, peeking into the room. Inside, there were two twin sized beds, with white pillows, blankets, and sheets. In the middle of the two beds was a simple lamp, with a clock next to it. A comfy chair was placed in the far right corner of the room, where a wall lamp hung above the chair.

On the opposite wall, there was a large window with thick, heavy curtains, the color of a copper brown. The carpet on the floor was a dark shade of green, and the walls were a pale yellow. The room was pretty decent.

I stepped inside, closing the door behind me. Cool air conditioning flowed through a vent in the ceiling, blowing my hair out of my face. I walked towards the windows and pulled the curtains together, leaving the room darker and dim, the way I liked it. I chose the bed closest to the entrance door, and plopped down on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

~•~

Knock, knock, knock

I buried my head into the pillow, trying to block out the noise.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

I sighed, rolling over to face the door. "Who's there?" I asked. "It's Leo, the one you left on the stairs to the mercy of two skeleton warriors!" He exclaimed angrily. "Alright, I'm coming," I replied. I pulled myself out of bed and opened the door, revealing an outraged Leo.

He didn't seem very hurt, except for a few cuts on his arms and face. His face looked exhausted as he glared at me. He clenched a celestial bronze hammer in his hand and a screwdriver in the other.

"Thanks a lot, Di Angelo," He muttered, storming into the room. I couldn't help but silently snicker at Leo as he collapsed onto the bed on the other side of the room and began to snore loudly. I yawned and walked back to my own bed, plopping down onto the hard mattress. I hadn't realized that I fell asleep on my bed, and I must've been asleep for almost 5 hours, because the alarm clock read 10:47 PM. (22:47). I plopped back down onto my bed, pulling the blanket over me. It wasn't long before I felt my eyes getting heavier. My eyes finally closed as I fell asleep, exhausted.

~•~

Leo's POV

Jason, Reyna, Frank, and Hazel crowded a round table, muttering nervously to each other in a quiet volume. We were in a dark room, dimly lit by a few candles. The door was shut and locked, which didn't allow any source of light to leak in. Curious, I tried to lean in to hear what they were saying. I caught a few words such as Who? and Allies?

I tried to get closer, until suddenly Reyna's two automaton dogs started to growl and bark. Aurum and Argentum sniffed the air suspiciously, glaring straight at me as I creeped forward. I knew that they couldn't see me, but it wouldn't be long before they realized someone was eavesdropping.

"Who do you think our enemies will be? Gaea couldn't have possibly woken up again; it's only been a year." Jason exclaimed.
"No, it couldn't have been Gaea. But do you think Krios has awoken again?" Hazel asked. "No, I'm sure Krios was properly disposed of. Maybe a giant, one who rose again from Tartarus," Reyna suggested. "But what about our alliance with Camp Half-Blood? Could that mean the defeat of New Rome?" Frank said. The mood in the room suddenly darkened, and none of them seemed pleased that our alliance could bring the downfall of Camp Jupiter.

"And what about the Reborn and the descendant? Who could they be?" Jason wondered aloud. "The prophecy said that they will combine with the power of pendants. What pendant are they talking about?" Frank asked.

"Ugh! The prophecy makes no sense!" Hazel complained. "We should tell Camp Half-Blood. Chiron and Annabeth could really be helpful right now." She pleaded. Reyna and Frank shook their heads.

"Remember, they have their own important mission to rescue Percy. We won't bother them with this information while they're gone. Until then, we'll decide whether we should share this information or not." Reyna exclaimed, making her point clear. No one argued with her, but I could tell Hazel and Jason looked unhappy with the decision.

Suddenly, Aurum and Argentum started barking loudly, shaking the entire room. Everyone else seemed alarmed by the sudden noise. "Aurum! Argentum! Quiet!" Reyna commanded. But it was no use. Argentum came charging towards me, shredding the dream into pieces.

~•~

My eyes fluttered wide open, my breath uncontrollable. "Nightmare?" Nico asked. I nodded, my breathing slowly becoming even. Even though it was only around 2 in the morning, Nico didn't seem tired. Before I could open my mouth to ask, he said, "Couldn't fall asleep."

"Anyways, describe your nightmare." Nico ordered. "I'll tell you in the morning," I promised, before yawning, and closing my eyes again. "It's no use trying to sleep. Don't you feel like something seems wrong in this hotel?" Nico asked. It was true. Even though my entire body felt exhausted, I couldn't sleep. Dark magic seemed to surround this hotel like an aura.

"Do you think the others can feel it?" I asked. Nico shrugged. "It depends. Some of them might, some of them might not." He answered. There was an awkward silence between the two of us. We have never really talked to each other like this ever since we met each other. And just a few hours ago we were glaring at each other in hatred.

Finally, I sighed. "I'm going to try and get some sleep while I can," I decided. Nico nodded. "Alright."

"See ya in the morning," I said. "'Night," Nico said. I closed my eyes, hoping that sleep will eventually pass over me.