Second Chances: Another Wrong Move

Chapter Two

**Nico di Angelo**

"Where the Hades is Perseus?" I growled, eyes scanning over Elysium while trying to feel for his soul. I could not feel it, and it was pissing me off. "If any of you know where he went, you better fucking tell me. I cannot believe my father misplaced another spirit - especially someone that nearly took out Olympus."

I regretted the words as soon as I spoke them, but it didn't stop me from meaning the words I had said. Percy was technically incredibly dangerous. If he were to find out that Gaea was planning on raising Tartarus on Earth, there were going to be serious issues. I was trying my hardest to search for all of the missing spirits, but it was hard when all of those ghosts weren't dead anymore.

"Nico, calm down," my sister Bianca put her hand on my upper arm. "I don't think we have to worry about a dead demigod roaming around betraying our dad and the others again."

"I can't feel his spirit here, Bia!" I threw my arms up with an exasperated cry. "Whether or not he's going to fight the gods doesn't tell me if he's dead or alive."

My sister sighed and buried her face in one of her hands. I tried not to blow up at the spirits around us who were smirking at the way my sister and I were acting. I had a feeling anger was the last thing that would help me find the missing son of Poseidon.

They all watched me as I slowly lowered my hands from their perch above my head. Bianca gave me a reassuring smile. With the calming looks everyone else was giving me, I almost overlooked the fact that Percy wasn't the only one that had disappeared.

"Where is Castellan...?"

Bianca raised an eyebrow and looked around with me. Her brown eyes met my own. The group of dead demigods looked at one another until Beckendorf finally spoke.

"He went to look for Percy," he said casually.

"Where did he go?" I asked, narrowing my eyes. "I know he's been gone this entire time."

"He went through the doors on the east side of Elysium," Conner sighed. "He watched Percy go through them. We all did. We haven't seen either of them since."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I screamed, glaring at them all. "Hades, Bianca, and I should have been investigating this as soon as it had happened!"

I reached for my sister's hand and shadow traveled us away. I had no doubt what Bianca was looking at me judgmentally. There weren't many times I simply yelled at people before completely disappearing. Bianca knew me as usually peppy and overexcitable.

"Nico-" Bianca bit her lip, looking at the entrance of the Underworld palace nervously.

"Save it, Bia," I glared at her. "I need to talk to dad. He needs to know that people are leaving the Underworld."

I shoved open the doors and listened to my sister sigh.

"If you're going in, I'm coming with you."

**Hades**

"What are you doing here, children?"

I looked down at Bianca and Nico, hoping my expression conveyed how unimpressed I was with their sudden appearance. My daughter seemed to see it, but my son appeared to be on too much of a mission. I raised an eyebrow and looked at him expectantly.

"There are demigods escaping the Underworld," Nico said matter of factly.

My expression didn't change. "I know."

"Why aren't you doing anything to fix it?" Nico asked, glaring at me. "We can't have lost spirits roaming the world of the living."

I sighed and slowly got down off my throne, walking over to the two teenagers in front of me. My hand moved to rest on one of their shoulders. The demigods turned to look at me, and I knew they both wanted some kind of answer.

"The spirits are walking through the Doors of Death," I said quietly. "The Doors have the ability to bring the people that walk through... back to life. Thanatos and I have been trying to fix the issue, but the Doors are in Tartarus. That isn't our realm."

"How are the spirits getting from Elysium to Tartarus?" Bianca asked slowly.

"There seems to be a projection of the doors in Elysium because based on two of the people that have escaped, they most likely wouldn't want to step into Tartarus purposefully-"

"Percy and Luke. They're both alive?" Nico asked slowly.

"Yes," I took another deep breath. "Percy is being taken to camp. He has no memories, and we're hoping can get it into his head that the gods are good. We can't have him going against us. We have no idea where Luke ended up, but we have a feeling that he is without memories, too. That may give us an advantage if we can find him before Gaea does."

I let my children process the news before flashing out of the underground throne room.

10/28/18