Hades looked more or less amused as he responded, "what, (Y/n)?"

"Where'd you have it last?" I demanded as Nico and Percy came trailing in bahind me.

"I lended it to Persephone and she lost it." He said as if trying to prove to me that he couldn't possibly be so lame as to loose his helm.

"What'd she want it for?"

Hades shrugged his shoulders, "said something about needing it for a while."

"And that doesn't seem suspisious?!"

"No, not really. She's my wife."

"And you call yourself a god." I muttered. "So, she lost it in her possession?"

"Yeah, I thought you guys were supposed to be finding it." He said sighing. "Which reminds me I need it back in 3 days."

"Where is it?"

"I don't know, (Y/n)." He said. "It can't leave the Underworld without my permission or in my possession."

"There, finally some useful information!" I said exasperated.

"Oh, (Y/n), here's this," he handed me a silver chain connected to an amulet with a black stone in the middle on it. "The stone will glow and become warm when you're near it and it will become cold when you're farther away from it."

I snatched it out of his hand without any gratitude and stormed out of the palace as soon as I realized Hades couldn't help us anymore. I put on the necklace. It laid on my chest, cold as ice.

"(Y/n), maybe we should go this way since we just came from the other way." Nico offered.

I nodded and we all started walking that way. The boys walked on either side of me, as if gaurding me from the souls. We all had our swords out in front of us. And if I wasn't so worried about who stole the Helm I would've realized how badass this trio must have looked. The amulet remained cold and dead. I was starting to loose hope when it started to grow warm.

We walked onwards in the endless darkness. I had a flashlight out and the light reflected off of the swords and made the area around us glow. I cheated the flashlight by inhancing the brightness of the lightbulb. I filled with a warm feeling. I was surrounded by my friends and I wasn't scared.

The amuet's temperature was climbing and soon it became a searing pain, but I still kept it on not knowing where else to put it.

"Are we close?" Percy asked. I almost jumped out of my pants because we had walked for a great amount of time in silence and that was the first time someone talked in a while.

The burning pain flooded across my body, I forced a smile. "Yeah."

"Good, I'm starting to get tired."

"We could take a break for some sleep." I said stopping and dropping my backpack.

"Sure," Percy said.

"Okay," Nico said. "I'll take first watch."

"You sure? I can stay up." I said but Nico insisted that I sleep.

I settled uncomfortably on the ground using my backpack as a pillow. I laid on my back staring at the top of the cave. I glanced at Nico who was comfortably sitting on the ground holding his sword and the flashlight.

"Good night, Neeks," I whispered.

"Night, (L/n)," he responded and I fell into a deep and tired sleep.

><><><><><>

I don't know whether it was the sound of screaming that woke me up or the feeling of liquid dripping on my face. Both made me bolt awake, looking around for signs of danger. Immediately I touched my face and looked at my hand, revealing the mystery liquid was blood. And, oh look... where the bloody hell is Nico?! I frantically looked around for him.

"(Y/n)! I'll be okay!" I heard Nico scream. "Go and get the helm! I'll be fine!"

The furies surrounded him and he disappeared into the darkness.

"No!" I cried. "Nico!"

"(Y/n), it's going to be okay," Percy said as he put an arm around me. "I'll go look for Nico and you go after the Helm. We've got a deadline, remember?"

"Oh, right," I said. "That deadline."

Percy started to get up and grab his backpack. I picked up my backpack too and slung it over my shoulder. He uncapped his sword and faced me.

"Just... You know... In case..." He paused looking into my eyes. "We don't see each other again..." He leaned down and our lips met, interlocking. Our bodies were pressed together and I was smiling.

"I love you, Percy," I said smiling. "I'm not letting you go. We're going to go find Nico together."

And I took his hand.