A second chance.

30. Rescue

Nico

I brought my sword up, pointing it at my cousin as he smirked at us. Hades drew his sword, and Artemis and Apollo both aimed their bows at Percy. 

"Get out of our way." Hades said coldly, shadows appearing around his legs as he addressed the King of Olympus. "We have some prisoners to free." 

"Your plan was really easy to interpret." Percy said, acting as if my dad had never spoken. He stopped leaning on his scythe and causally ran a finger along the sharp end of the blade. "It was quite obvious to figure out that you would try and rescue the prisoners along the way." 

Artemis' silver eyes cut into Percy like daggers. "We're not going to say it again. Get out of our way." 

My cousin sighed and ran a hand through his messy black hair. "Do you really think you'll be able to get past me?" Apollo gave a dry laugh before responding. "No, not at all. But we'll certainly be able to distract you." 

Percy looked confused for a moment, giving Artemis and Apollo the chance to shoot their arrows. Percy raised his scythe to deflect the attack, and Artemis yelled "Hades, take Nico and go!" 

Hades grabbed me by the wrist, pulling me along as we ran past Percy. Before my cousin could stop us, an arrow pierced the exposed flesh on his hand, giving us enough time to sprint down the hall. 

"What about Artemis and Apollo?" I asked as Hades continued to pull me with him. "They'll hold off Perseus for as long as they can. They're giving us time to search for the prisoners!" 

We dashed through the corridor, and was about to turn when I collided with someone else. I stumbled back to see a guy with blonde hair and electric blue eyes staring at me with disbelief. 

"Nico?!" Jason Grace spluttered in shock. "What the-" "Come with us, son of Jupiter! We're going to free the other prisoners while Artemis and Apollo distract Perseus!" Hades yelled, rushing past Jason and not giving him a chance to respond. 

I glanced back to see Jason quickly run after us, dropping the broom he had been holding when I accidentally ran into him. "Wait! Frank, he's somewhere here as well!" 

"We'll get him along the way! We don't have much time!" Hades growled. "Where are the other prisoners being kept?" 

"Annabeth is in the dungeons, Reyna is in the training quarters along with Hestia and Ares!" Jason shouted as we continued to hurtle through the many hallways in Olympus. "And Poseidon is in Percy's personal room-" 

"I know where Zeus is, let's go!" I yelled. The three of us dashed into another room and I saw a familiar girl with long black hair wearing a set of tattered clothes sitting against the wall, her head in her hands. 

Jason stepped up next to me and said "Reyna!" The former Praetor of Camp Jupiter looked up when Jason called her name, and her eyes widened. She jumped to her feet and stared at Hades and I. 

"Are we getting out of here?" Reyna asked, a smile making it's way onto her bruised face. 

I couldn't help but grin back at her despite the situation we were in. "Yes, we are. We're getting everyone out of here." "About damn time." Reyna said, cracking her knuckles. She walked up to stand next to Jason with a determined expression.

We were almost going to leave when a rough voice called out "Are you really going to leave us here?" I turned to see Ares and Hestia standing at the back of the training room, huge grins on their faces. 

"Oh wow, we almost forgot about them." I said to no one in particular as Hades face-palmed. Hestia walked up to Hades, her gaze never leaving his face. "You've finally come to rescue us, brother?"