chapter 8: underworld

"So... Can we cover the plan one last time?"

Hoa rolled her eyes. "We're not even going into the river. We're just camping by the Styx."

"But isn't that, like, dangerous?"

She sighed. "Look, everything is dangerous in the life of a demigod. You have to take risks sometimes, and most importantly, trust your gut. And since this is what my gut is telling me to do, I'm doing it."

"Fine." Nico said. "Number one, steal an item out of the Styx's polluted waters."

"Correct." Percy told her that the river was polluted with lost hopes and dreams, leaving discarded items as waste. There would probably be a demigod weapon there too, right?

"Number two, try and summon a ghost to guide us through the maze. Why can't I just navigate it myself again?"

"We don't know the full extent of your powers."

"So you want me to summon a ghost?"

"Sounds about right."

He sighed. "Number three, camp there until we have enough energy to go back into the maze."

She clapped. "Right on all three dots! Congrats, Nico!"

"Shut up."

"My bad. Sorry for congratulating you."

They walked to the Styx as she passed Nico lửa and kept tia chớp for herself. The long-range weapon she had kept her confidence up as she grabbed an arrow from the quiver that appeared.

Finally after what felt like an hour of walking, they reached the river.  It was full of junk like discarded toys, books, and photos.

"Damn," Hoa breathed out. "This is depressing as fuck."

Nico stared at the river. "So... where are we supposed to find a weapon here?"

"In the river."

"Very funny, Hoa. Where am I supposed to find anything?"

"Nico, I am being for real. Look in the goddamn river."

"How do you know that there's actually something here?"

She sighed. "In the myths, there is this type of metal that only children of Hades can use called Stygian Iron. Supposedly, you're supposed to mine out the materials here, forge it, and cool it off in the Styx. We just have to hope that there's one laying around somewhere."

"Like that ever goes well," he muttered.

"You've got any better ideas?"

He grumbled to himself as they reached the riverbank. Hoa looked down at the murkiness of the river, so polluted with trash. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something. A gleam of dark metal. "Nico!" 

He looked in the direction of her finger. "Wow, that is some wicked sword."

She grinned. "I know, right?"

They raced down the river, catching up to the blade. Nico lunged, grabbing the sword and landing on his stomach. "Ow..."

"NICO! WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT? YOUR RIBS ARE STILL INJURED!"

"Sorry, forgive me for trying to get a potentially life-changing weapon for us."

She scowled as she pulled out ambrosia for him. When he took it, his cheeks gained a bit of color. Hoa sighed in relief, her heart still racing. "I swear to all the fucking gods, if you do that one more time—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. We got the blade now!"

"In that case, can I have my dagger back?"

Nico searched himself as his eyes widened. "Uh..."

"Nico di Angelo," she hissed. "Where is my fucking dagger?"

He frantically looked around and pointed. "There!"

She looked around, and sure enough, she saw the gleam of Celestial Bronze. She rushed over and picked it up. "Thank the gods." She slipped it back into its sheath. "Now speaking of weapons... Let's take a look at the sword you got."

He grabbed the sword's blade and passed it to her, but when she touched the hilt she hissed from pain, dropping it. "Forgot that only you can wield it. Okay, I'll just look at it, not touch."

He picked the blade up again for her to see. It was a black nightmare, with a ghostly purple arora around it. It has this cold aura to it, making her want to cower away.

Cowering? Couldn't be me.

She glanced at the blade one last time before tearing her eyes away. "Damn, that's a wicked blade."

"Sure is!"

She stood. "Well, I'm going to grab some wood for a fire. Stay here, alright?"

"Got it."

She walked off into the dark, hope for a piece of driftwood. She saw several pieces of wood in the river, but she decided not to risk it as she may fall in the murky water. A few seconds later, she spotted a dark piece of wood. When she picked it up, it crumbled to dust.

She narrowed her eyes. "Well, fuck."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another perfect piece of wood shimmer into existence. She tried picking it up, but it crumbled to dust.

Someone is messing with me.

When a third piece of wood appeared, she raised an eyebrow. "No, I'm not falling for that. Show yourself!"

Nothing moved. She sighed, reaching towards the piece of wood, slowly to tease whatever may be watching her. Then, quicker than the river flowing near her, she stabbed Fire into the piece of wood. It crumbled to dust as well. 

She rolled her eyes when another piece of wood shimmered to her right. "Wow... Still trying? You tried thrice already, there's not going to be a fourth charm."

Another piece of wood appeared.

She sighed. "Ok... You want me to figure out who you are? Gimme another piece of wood if so."

As expected, another piece of wood appeared.

"Don't put any wood out if you're a god."

Nothing appeared.

"Wow, you're making this hard on me. I'm dumb as fuck. Ok, let me think."

She racked her brain for knowledge. "So you're obviously someone who would like to play tricks on someone. That much I've gathered. I would say Hermes, but he would probably be too busy for this right now. But then again... Wood if you're not Hermes."

A piece of wood appeared and she sighed. "That's what I thought. Okay..."

She thought of gods of mischief. "So there's Atë... but isn't she like someone that would lead someone to doing something bad? She's the goddess of delusion and wouldn't be spending time making pieces of wood appear out of nowhere.

"Maybe Dolos or Apate? Wait no, Dolos is more of a craft mastermind type of guy, and Apate is a bit more extreme... Okay, how about Momus? God of mockery and stuff like that?"

A voice spoke up. "You seem smarter than most demigods, Hoa. I don't that is considered 'dumb as fuck'."

Her face went red. "Excuse me. I was trying to be humble towards a god, even though I had Annabeth freaking Chase as my teacher. Plus, I didn't recognize Horme when I first saw her."

A man stepped out of the shadows. He looked to be in his 20's, his curly, dirty blond hair bouncing when he walked. His blue eyes shimmered playfully and mischievously. "So nice to meet the survivor."

"Wait... what? I've got a nickname now? We've just met!"

"People are talking about you, dearest."

So he's flirty too. Hoa expected it, he looked like the stereotypical obnoxious kid with no respect for women. "Great, where's the wood?"

"Now, why would I tell you that?" He winked. "No pun intended."

"Ha ha, very funny. Where is it?"

He smirked. "I don't know, where is it?"

She sighed. "If you're not going to tell me, I'll go look for it myself. I'm just not having it today."

He frowned. "Come on! Where's the fun in that?"

She turned around and walked away mockingly. 

"Oh, trying to mock the god of mocking? Very bold of you."

She heard a finger snap behind her, and she almost tripped. An illusion of a piece of wood stood at her feet. She pressed her foot against it and it crumbled under the pressure.

"Look, if you're going to use illusions, at least use illusions that are at least a little more believable?"

She could practically hear the eye roll he did. "I'm the god of mockery, honey. You should know this."

Turning around, she asked, "What is it that you want?"

"I'm a minor god. It's not like I have anything to report for the gods."

A chill set into her bones as she realized what he meant. "What about the Titans?"

He put a hand over his heart. "Oh, I would never! Me, Kronos? Absolutely not!"

"If you're going to persuade me to join his side, the answer is 'kill yourself'."

His eyes flashed dangerously. "Well, that's not very nice of you."

"It wasn't very nice of you to join the Titans."

"Listen here, girl—"

"Nope. If you actually want something other than to persuade me, say now."

He opened his mouth and closed it again, clearly speechless. 

"Well, I'm going to walk away now. Tell me if you changed your mind."

She walked away slowly, leaving the god in shock.

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hi im madi, your loyal author ♥️ 

btw, im also working on another book in the murder drones fandom. the fandom is small and underrated, so i suggest checking it out!

also, schools a bitch. sry if im not uploading fast enough 😅

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also, what are some questions of your own?

anyways, tysm for reading this crappy book! 😃