Daughter of the Sea God

Chapter 18

HUGE THANKS TO MY GIRLFRIEND KuudereGenki FOR HELPING ME WITH THIS CHAPPIE! WE HAVE MANY SURPRISES IN STORE FOR YOU GUYS (y'all might want to read Vitiligo Boy by my bae so you'll understand the other side of the story that is to come. Happy confuzzling!)

The thing that Nico forgot to mention to me about shadow traveling is it takes you through the shortest route possible. Say you wanted to get to China, which you probably wouldn't, but let's say you did. Instead of going around the freaking world, you kind of just go through it by way of the Underworld. And sometimes, you end up stuck in the middle, which is exactly what happened.

After everything went dark, it kind of just stayed that way. The pressure alleviated, and we weren't whipping through a cold place at breakneck speeds, we were just left kneeling in that cold place.

"What the Hades," I muttered, standing from my kneeling position as I waited for my eyes to adjust. When I could start to see, I looked over Nico. He seemed totally out of it. His shoulder was oozing quite badly, and his eyes were rolled back, though he somehow managed to support at least some of his weight... That, or he was extremely light. I squinted at our surroundings. We had to be back in the Underworld. No other place smelled quite as deathly, I guess you could say.  I could only hope we were near camp, but with demigod luck always going against us, that wasn't likely.

I adjusted Nico's arm around my shoulders and started walking, twisting the dracaena spear in my hand anxiously. I had no idea where I was, but I knew I had to get out. It'd be a hell of a lot easier if I had Death Boy to guide me, but I was going to have to wing it. If Nico had made us a way in, he must've made us a way out.

My head whipped around as I heard something, faint as if it was far away, but not for long. I really hoped nothing could follow us into the Underworld. I knew there had to be monsters that had been alerted to our presence. Two kids of the big three together tended to do that. I picked up the pace as I heard a that noise again, closer this time.

"Schist," I muttered, dragging Nico along. I was definitely being slowed down by him so I stopped, hauling him over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He was way too light, but at this point I was glad. I took off running in the opposite direction of the noise, which was getting louder and louder. I took turns as much as possible, knowing I could very well be going deeper into the Underworld, but since I had no idea where I was anyway, it didn't really matter to me at this point.

Suddenly I crashed into something dark and muscular, covered in fur. I froze and slowly looked up, seeing huge eyes staring back at me.  My eyes widened in fear as large teeth made an appearance. I was shocked when those teeth were followed by a tongue, covering both Nico and I with dog slobber.

"Mrs. O'Leary," I sighed in relief, almost laughing. The hellhound had managed to find us somehow. I gently set Nico down before scratching the dog's lowered head in thanks. She flopped onto her stomach and I grabbed Nico, pulling him over Mrs. O'Leary's back and climbing up behind him.

"Let's go, girl," I urged her onward. I silently prayed she could sense the way out that Nico had hopefully made, unaware that she could shadow travel if she wanted, because no one ever tells me anything. She hauled herself up and took off through the darkness. I could still hear noises behind us, but ignored it as I focused on keeping Nico balanced on the hellhound, trusting her to get us out.

I couldn't tell how much time passed, because time is weird in the Underworld, but I knew that by the time I started seeing the darkness begin to lighten I was exhausted. I closed my eyes, leaning onto Nico in a state halfway between consciousness and sleep.

Eventually the smell of death and the pressure of being underground lifted, and I knew we were out. I lifted my eyelids slightly to see fields through my lashes. I felt Mrs. O'Leary lay down and gently roll us off her back, and then the friendly hellhound was gone.

A/N: SORRY FOR THE SHORT CHAPTER AND NOT UPDATING IN FOREVER BUT I HAD TO STOP HERE YOU'LL UNDERSTAND SOON I PROMISE.