The Demigod King; Book 2

"Circle Up, Everyone"

Nico POV

He took Harry and Jason's hands, closed his eyes, and melted into the shadows.

The three stumbled from the corner of the Hospital Wing, emerging from the dark. Jason and Harry both looked shaken by the shadows but quickly shook it off.

"Nico! Jason, Harry--did it work? Did you get the chains?" Annabeth asked, running over to them.

Nico nodded. He reached down to his belt, where he'd placed the chains before jumping. A wave of nausea rolled over him and he stumbled, falling on the stone wall for support. Will jumped up and ran over to him, looping one arm around Nico's waist and wrapping Nico's arm around his shoulders.

"Nico, are you okay? Did Cupid hurt you?" Will asked, examining his boyfriend for injuries.

Nico recoiled slightly at the touch, the memories of his encounter with Cupid still fresh. But he reminded himself of what Jason and Harry had said, and relaxed. This was normal. This was right.

"Yeah," Nico replied, shaking his head as Will lowered him to a sitting position on a bed. "I'm fine. Just...tired."

"That's understandable, considering you just shadow traveled three people to a different country and back," Hazel observed.

Nico traded looks with Jason and Harry and then looked away. "Right, yeah."

Jason approached Nico and held out his hand. 

The son of Hades unfastened the stygian iron chains, handing the loop of metal to Jason.

The older demigod took the chains and examined them. "It's weird," he observed aloud. "It's like the metal is sucking at me...at my strength."

Nico nodded. "That's how stygian iron works. It literally saps away at a being's essence. It's why we had to use it to destroy Voldemort," he added, nodding at the wizards, "and its why I use it. The metal reacts best to children of the Underworld."

Ron shook his head in bewilderment. "How do you know all this stuff, mate? You always seem to know the most random, creepiest bits of information."

Nico shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable. "I spend a lot of time in the Underworld," he explained. "Doing errands for my father and, ehm, things. I pick up a lot talking to the ghosts and such."

Ron's eyes widened. "Oh."

"So how do we use this thing?" Frank asked, watching the chains with intent interest.

Jason shrugged, handing the iron back to Nico. He seemed unable to stay in contact with the iron.

"Fighting Percy--Ouranos--will be up to us," Nico said slowly, twisting his ring. "All the chains can do is hold him, but that's only after we capture him."

"And how do we do that?" Piper asked, crossing her arms. "In case you've forgotten, Ouranos is a primordial. And we were entirely and hopelessly outmatched." 

"We have to try," Annabeth insisted. "Together, maybe we can match him."

Nico shook his head. "No, we can't. Piper's right. Ouranos is worse than Tartarus. We're like...like bugs to him. We stand as no threat at all."

"And us?" Hermione asked, frowning. She looked deep in thought. "Are we any threat?"

Nico scoffed. "As if mortals could ever--"

"wait, Hermione might be on to something," Hazel interrupted. She gestured to the witch. "Continue."

Hermione nodded gratefully. "Well, Ouranos definitely knew about us witches and wizards, since he's a primordial and had the whole plot with blaming us for the Wolf House. But maybe, together, we can pose a threat." She looked at Annabeth, nodding at the other girl. "When we were in the library, Annabeth told me about how she combined her Greek heritage with Egyptian magic--"